Virgil — Aeneid · Georgics · Eclogues
Aeneid
Book 1
1Arms and the man I sing, who first made way, predestined exile, from the Trojan shore to Italy, the blest Lavinian strand. Smitten of storms he was on land and sea by violence of Heaven, to satisfy
6stern Juno's sleepless wrath; and much in war he suffered, seeking at the last to found the city, and bring o'er his fathers' gods to safe abode in Latium; whence arose the Latin race, old Alba's reverend lords,
11and from her hills wide-walled, imperial Rome. O Muse, the causes tell! What sacrilege, or vengeful sorrow, moved the heavenly Queen to thrust on dangers dark and endless toil a man whose largest honor in men's eyes
16was serving Heaven? Can gods such anger feel? In ages gone an ancient city stood— Carthage, a Tyrian seat, which from afar made front on Italy and on the mouths of Tiber's stream; its wealth and revenues
21were vast, and ruthless was its quest of war. 'T is said that Juno, of all lands she loved, most cherished this,—not Samos' self so dear. Here were her arms, her chariot; even then a throne of power o'er nations near and far,
26if Fate opposed not, 't was her darling hope to 'stablish here; but anxiously she heard that of the Trojan blood there was a breed then rising, which upon the destined day should utterly o'erwhelm her Tyrian towers,
31a people of wide sway and conquest proud should compass Libya's doom;—such was the web the Fatal Sisters spun. Such was the fear of Saturn's daughter, who remembered well what long and unavailing strife she waged
36for her loved Greeks at Troy. Nor did she fail to meditate th' occasions of her rage, and cherish deep within her bosom proud its griefs and wrongs: the choice by Paris made; her scorned and slighted beauty; a whole race
41rebellious to her godhead; and Jove's smile that beamed on eagle-ravished Ganymede. With all these thoughts infuriate, her power pursued with tempests o'er the boundless main the Trojans, though by Grecian victor spared
46and fierce Achilles; so she thrust them far from Latium; and they drifted, Heaven-impelled, year after year, o'er many an unknown sea— O labor vast, to found the Roman line! Below th' horizon the Sicilian isle
51just sank from view, as for the open sea with heart of hope they sailed, and every ship clove with its brazen beak the salt, white waves. But Juno of her everlasting wound knew no surcease, but from her heart of pain
56thus darkly mused: “Must I, defeated, fail of what I will, nor turn the Teucrian King from Italy away? Can Fate oppose? Had Pallas power to lay waste in flame the Argive fleet and sink its mariners,
61revenging but the sacrilege obscene by Ajax wrought, Oileus' desperate son? She, from the clouds, herself Jove's lightning threw, scattered the ships, and ploughed the sea with storms. Her foe, from his pierced breast out-breathing fire,
66in whirlwind on a deadly rock she flung. But I, who move among the gods a queen, Jove's sister and his spouse, with one weak tribe make war so long! Who now on Juno calls? What suppliant gifts henceforth her altars crown?”
71So, in her fevered heart complaining still, unto the storm-cloud land the goddess came, a region with wild whirlwinds in its womb, Aeolia named, where royal Aeolus in a high-vaulted cavern keeps control
76o'er warring winds and loud concourse of storms. There closely pent in chains and bastions strong, they, scornful, make the vacant mountain roar, chafing against their bonds. But from a throne of lofty crag, their king with sceptred hand
81allays their fury and their rage confines. Did he not so, our ocean, earth, and sky were whirled before them through the vast inane. But over-ruling Jove, of this in fear, hid them in dungeon dark: then o'er them piled
86huge mountains, and ordained a lawful king to hold them in firm sway, or know what time, with Jove's consent, to loose them o'er the world. To him proud Juno thus made lowly plea: “Thou in whose hands the Father of all gods
91and Sovereign of mankind confides the power to calm the waters or with winds upturn, great Aeolus! a race with me at war now sails the Tuscan main towards Italy, bringing their Ilium and its vanquished powers.
96Uprouse thy gales. Strike that proud navy down! Hurl far and wide, and strew the waves with dead! Twice seven nymphs are mine, of rarest mould; of whom Deiopea, the most fair, I give thee in true wedlock for thine own,
101to mate thy noble worth; she at thy side shall pass long, happy years, and fruitful bring her beauteous offspring unto thee their sire.” Then Aeolus: “'T is thy sole task, O Queen, to weigh thy wish and will. My fealty
106thy high behest obeys. This humble throne is of thy gift. Thy smiles for me obtain authority from Jove. Thy grace concedes my station at your bright Olympian board, and gives me lordship of the darkening storm.”
111Replying thus, he smote with spear reversed the hollow mountain's wall; then rush the winds through that wide breach in long, embattled line, and sweep tumultuous from land to land: with brooding pinions o'er the waters spread,
116east wind and south, and boisterous Afric gale upturn the sea; vast billows shoreward roll; the shout of mariners, the creak of cordage, follow the shock; low-hanging clouds conceal from Trojan eyes all sight of heaven and day;
121night o'er the ocean broods; from sky to sky the thunders roll, the ceaseless lightnings glare; and all things mean swift death for mortal man. Straightway Aeneas, shuddering with amaze, groaned loud, upraised both holy hands to Heaven,
126and thus did plead: “O thrice and four times blest, ye whom your sires and whom the walls of Troy looked on in your last hour! O bravest son Greece ever bore, Tydides! O that I had fallen on Ilian fields, and given this life
131struck down by thy strong hand! where by the spear of great Achilles, fiery Hector fell, and huge Sarpedon; where the Simois in furious flood engulfed and whirled away so many helms and shields and heroes slain!”
136While thus he cried to Heaven, a shrieking blast smote full upon the sail. Up surged the waves to strike the very stars; in fragments flew the shattered oars; the helpless vessel veered and gave her broadside to the roaring flood,
141where watery mountains rose and burst and fell. Now high in air she hangs, then yawning gulfs lay bare the shoals and sands o'er which she drives. Three ships a whirling south wind snatched and flung on hidden rocks,—altars of sacrifice
146Italians call them, which lie far from shore a vast ridge in the sea; three ships beside an east wind, blowing landward from the deep, drove on the shallows,—pitiable sight,— and girdled them in walls of drifting sand.
151That ship, which, with his friend Orontes, bore the Lycian mariners, a great, plunging wave struck straight astern, before Aeneas' eyes. Forward the steersman rolled and o'er the side fell headlong, while three times the circling flood
156spun the light bark through swift engulfing seas. Look, how the lonely swimmers breast the wave! And on the waste of waters wide are seen weapons of war, spars, planks, and treasures rare, once Ilium's boast, all mingled with the storm.
161Now o'er Achates and Ilioneus, now o'er the ship of Abas or Aletes, bursts the tempestuous shock; their loosened seams yawn wide and yield the angry wave its will. Meanwhile how all his smitten ocean moaned,
166and how the tempest's turbulent assault had vexed the stillness of his deepest cave, great Neptune knew; and with indignant mien uplifted o'er the sea his sovereign brow. He saw the Teucrian navy scattered far
171along the waters; and Aeneas' men o'erwhelmed in mingling shock of wave and sky. Saturnian Juno's vengeful stratagem her brother's royal glance failed not to see; and loud to eastward and to westward calling,
176he voiced this word:“What pride of birth or power is yours, ye winds, that, reckless of my will, audacious thus, ye ride through earth and heaven, and stir these mountain waves? Such rebels I— nay, first I calm this tumult! But yourselves
181by heavier chastisement shall expiate hereafter your bold trespass. Haste away and bear your king this word! Not unto him dominion o'er the seas and trident dread, but unto me, Fate gives. Let him possess
186wild mountain crags, thy favored haunt and home, O Eurus! In his barbarous mansion there, let Aeolus look proud, and play the king in yon close-bounded prison-house of storms!” He spoke, and swiftlier than his word subdued
191the swelling of the floods; dispersed afar th' assembled clouds, and brought back light to heaven. Cymothoe then and Triton, with huge toil, thrust down the vessels from the sharp-edged reef; while, with the trident, the great god's own hand
196assists the task; then, from the sand-strewn shore out-ebbing far, he calms the whole wide sea, and glides light-wheeled along the crested foam. As when, with not unwonted tumult, roars in some vast city a rebellious mob,
201and base-born passions in its bosom burn, till rocks and blazing torches fill the air (rage never lacks for arms)—if haply then some wise man comes, whose reverend looks attest a life to duty given, swift silence falls;
206all ears are turned attentive; and he sways with clear and soothing speech the people's will. So ceased the sea's uproar, when its grave Sire looked o'er th' expanse, and, riding on in light, flung free rein to his winged obedient car.
211Aeneas' wave-worn crew now landward made, and took the nearest passage, whither lay the coast of Libya. A haven there walled in by bold sides of a rocky isle, offers a spacious and secure retreat,
216where every billow from the distant main breaks, and in many a rippling curve retires. Huge crags and two confronted promontories frown heaven-high, beneath whose brows outspread the silent, sheltered waters; on the heights
221the bright and glimmering foliage seems to show a woodland amphitheatre; and yet higher rises a straight-stemmed grove of dense, dark shade. Fronting on these a grotto may be seen, o'erhung by steep cliffs; from its inmost wall
226clear springs gush out; and shelving seats it has of unhewn stone, a place the wood-nymphs love. In such a port, a weary ship rides free of weight of firm-fluked anchor or strong chain. Hither Aeneas of his scattered fleet
231saving but seven, into harbor sailed; with passionate longing for the touch of land, forth leap the Trojans to the welcome shore, and fling their dripping limbs along the ground. Then good Achates smote a flinty stone,
236secured a flashing spark, heaped on light leaves, and with dry branches nursed the mounting flame. Then Ceres' gift from the corrupting sea they bring away; and wearied utterly ply Ceres' cunning on the rescued corn,
241and parch in flames, and mill 'twixt two smooth stones. Aeneas meanwhile climbed the cliffs, and searched the wide sea-prospect; haply Antheus there, storm-buffeted, might sail within his ken, with biremes, and his Phrygian mariners,
246or Capys or Caicus armor-clad, upon a towering deck. No ship is seen; but while he looks, three stags along the shore come straying by, and close behind them comes the whole herd, browsing through the lowland vale
251in one long line. Aeneas stopped and seized his bow and swift-winged arrows, which his friend, trusty Achates, close beside him bore. His first shafts brought to earth the lordly heads of the high-antlered chiefs; his next assailed
256the general herd, and drove them one and all in panic through the leafy wood, nor ceased the victory of his bow, till on the ground lay seven huge forms, one gift for every ship. Then back to shore he sped, and to his friends
261distributed the spoil, with that rare wine which good Acestes while in Sicily had stored in jars, and prince-like sent away with his Ioved guest;—this too Aeneas gave; and with these words their mournful mood consoled.
266“Companions mine, we have not failed to feel calamity till now. O, ye have borne far heavier sorrow: Jove will make an end also of this. Ye sailed a course hard by infuriate Scylla's howling cliffs and caves.
271Ye knew the Cyclops' crags. Lift up your hearts! No more complaint and fear! It well may be some happier hour will find this memory fair. Through chance and change and hazard without end, our goal is Latium; where our destinies
276beckon to blest abodes, and have ordained that Troy shall rise new-born! Have patience all! And bide expectantly that golden day.” Such was his word, but vexed with grief and care, feigned hopes upon his forehead firm he wore,
281and locked within his heart a hero's pain. Now round the welcome trophies of his chase they gather for a feast. Some flay the ribs and bare the flesh below; some slice with knives, and on keen prongs the quivering strips impale,
286place cauldrons on the shore, and fan the fires. Then, stretched at ease on couch of simple green, they rally their lost powers, and feast them well on seasoned wine and succulent haunch of game. But hunger banished and the banquet done,
291in long discourse of their lost mates they tell, 'twixt hopes and fears divided; for who knows whether the lost ones live, or strive with death, or heed no more whatever voice may call? Chiefly Aeneas now bewails his friends,
296Orontes brave and fallen Amycus, or mourns with grief untold the untimely doom of bold young Gyas and Cloanthus bold. After these things were past, exalted Jove, from his ethereal sky surveying clear
301the seas all winged with sails, lands widely spread, and nations populous from shore to shore, paused on the peak of heaven, and fixed his gaze on Libya. But while he anxious mused, near him, her radiant eyes all dim with tears,
306nor smiling any more, Venus approached, and thus complained: “O thou who dost control things human and divine by changeless laws, enthroned in awful thunder! What huge wrong could my Aeneas and his Trojans few
311achieve against thy power? For they have borne unnumbered deaths, and, failing Italy, the gates of all the world against them close. Hast thou not given us thy covenant that hence the Romans when the rolling years
316have come full cycle, shall arise to power from Troy's regenerate seed, and rule supreme the unresisted lords of land and sea? O Sire, what swerves thy will? How oft have I in Troy's most lamentable wreck and woe
321consoled my heart with this, and balanced oft our destined good against our destined ill! But the same stormful fortune still pursues my band of heroes on their perilous way. When shall these labors cease, O glorious King?
326Antenor, though th' Achaeans pressed him sore, found his way forth, and entered unassailed Illyria's haven, and the guarded land of the Liburni. Straight up stream he sailed where like a swollen sea Timavus pours
331a nine-fold flood from roaring mountain gorge, and whelms with voiceful wave the fields below. He built Patavium there, and fixed abodes for Troy's far-exiled sons; he gave a name to a new land and race; the Trojan arms
336were hung on temple walls; and, to this day, lying in perfect peace, the hero sleeps. But we of thine own seed, to whom thou dost a station in the arch of heaven assign, behold our navy vilely wrecked, because
341a single god is angry; we endure this treachery and violence, whereby wide seas divide us from th' Hesperian shore. Is this what piety receives? Or thus doth Heaven's decree restore our fallen thrones?”
346Smiling reply, the Sire of gods and men, with such a look as clears the skies of storm chastely his daughter kissed, and thus spake on: “Let Cytherea cast her fears away! Irrevocably blest the fortunes be
351of thee and thine. Nor shalt thou fail to see that City, and the proud predestined wall encompassing Lavinium. Thyself shall starward to the heights of heaven bear Aeneas the great-hearted. Nothing swerves
356my will once uttered. Since such carking cares consume thee, I this hour speak freely forth, and leaf by leaf the book of fate unfold. Thy son in Italy shall wage vast war and, quell its nations wild; his city-wall
361and sacred laws shall be a mighty bond about his gathered people. Summers three shall Latium call him king; and three times pass the winter o'er Rutulia's vanquished hills. His heir, Ascanius, now Iulus called
366(Ilus it was while Ilium's kingdom stood), full thirty months shall reign, then move the throne from the Lavinian citadel, and build for Alba Longa its well-bastioned wall. Here three full centuries shall Hector's race
371have kingly power; till a priestess queen, by Mars conceiving, her twin offspring bear; then Romulus, wolf-nursed and proudly clad in tawny wolf-skin mantle, shall receive the sceptre of his race. He shall uprear
376and on his Romans his own name bestow. To these I give no bounded times or power, but empire without end. Yea, even my Queen, Juno, who now chastiseth land and sea with her dread frown, will find a wiser way,
381and at my sovereign side protect and bless the Romans, masters of the whole round world, who, clad in peaceful toga, judge mankind. Such my decree! In lapse of seasons due, the heirs of Ilium's kings shall bind in chains
386Mycenae's glory and Achilles' towers, and over prostrate Argos sit supreme. Of Trojan stock illustriously sprung, lo, Caesar comes! whose power the ocean bounds, whose fame, the skies. He shall receive the name
391Iulus nobly bore, great Julius, he. Him to the skies, in Orient trophies dress, thou shalt with smiles receive; and he, like us, shall hear at his own shrines the suppliant vow. Then will the world grow mild; the battle-sound
396will be forgot; for olden Honor then, with spotless Vesta, and the brothers twain, Remus and Romulus, at strife no more, will publish sacred laws. The dreadful gates whence issueth war, shall with close-jointed steel
401be barred impregnably; and prisoned there the heaven-offending Fury, throned on swords, and fettered by a hundred brazen chains, shall belch vain curses from his lips of gore.” These words he gave, and summoned Maia's son,
406the herald Mercury, who earthward flying, should bid the Tyrian realms and new-built towers welcome the Trojan waifs; lest Dido, blind to Fate's decree, should thrust them from the land. He takes his flight, with rhythmic stroke of wing,
411across th' abyss of air, and soon draws near unto the Libyan mainland. He fulfils his heavenly task; the Punic hearts of stone grow soft beneath the effluence divine; and, most of all, the Queen, with heart at ease
416awaits benignantly her guests from Troy. But good Aeneas, pondering all night long his many cares, when first the cheerful dawn upon him broke, resolved to take survey of this strange country whither wind and wave
421had driven him,—for desert land it seemed,— to learn what tribes of man or beast possess a place so wild, and careful tidings bring back to his friends. His fleet of ships the while, where dense, dark groves o'er-arch a hollowed crag,
426he left encircled in far-branching shade. Then with no followers save his trusty friend Achates, he went forth upon his way, two broad-tipped javelins poising in his hand. Deep to the midmost wood he went, and there
431his Mother in his path uprose; she seemed in garb and countenance a maid, and bore, like Spartan maids, a weapon; in such guise Harpalyce the Thracian urges on her panting coursers and in wild career
436outstrips impetuous Hebrus as it flows. Over her lovely shoulders was a bow, slender and light, as fits a huntress fair; her golden tresses without wimple moved in every wind, and girded in a knot
441her undulant vesture bared her marble knees. She hailed them thus: “Ho, sirs, I pray you tell if haply ye have noted, as ye came, one of my sisters in this wood astray? She bore a quiver, and a lynx's hide
446her spotted mantle was; perchance she roused some foaming boar, and chased with loud halloo.” So Venus spoke, and Venus' son replied: “No voice or vision of thy sister fair has crossed my path, thou maid without a name!
451Thy beauty seems not of terrestrial mould, nor is thy music mortal! Tell me, goddess, art thou bright Phoebus' sister? Or some nymph, the daughter of a god? Whate'er thou art, thy favor we implore, and potent aid
456in our vast toil. Instruct us of what skies, or what world's end, our storm-swept lives have found! Strange are these lands and people where we rove, compelled by wind and wave. Lo, this right hand shall many a victim on thine altar slay!”
461Then Venus: “Nay, I boast not to receive honors divine. We Tyrian virgins oft bear bow and quiver, and our ankles white lace up in purple buskin. Yonder lies the Punic power, where Tyrian masters hold
466Agenor's town; but on its borders dwell the Libyans, by battles unsubdued. Upon the throne is Dido, exiled there from Tyre, to flee th' unnatural enmity of her own brother. 'T was an ancient wrong;
471too Iong the dark and tangled tale would be; I trace the larger outline of her story: Sichreus was her spouse, whose acres broad no Tyrian lord could match, and he was-blessed by his ill-fated lady's fondest love,
476whose father gave him her first virgin bloom in youthful marriage. But the kingly power among the Tyrians to her brother came, Pygmalion, none deeper dyed in crime in all that land. Betwixt these twain there rose
481a deadly hatred,—and the impious wretch, blinded by greed, and reckless utterly of his fond sister's joy, did murder foul upon defenceless and unarmed Sichaeus, and at the very altar hewed him down.
486Long did he hide the deed, and guilefully deceived with false hopes, and empty words, her grief and stricken love. But as she slept, her husband's tombless ghost before her came, with face all wondrous pale, and he laid bare
491his heart with dagger pierced, disclosing so the blood-stained altar and the infamy that darkened now their house. His counsel was to fly, self-banished, from her ruined land, and for her journey's aid, he whispered where
496his buried treasure lay, a weight unknown of silver and of gold. Thus onward urged, Dido, assembling her few trusted friends, prepared her flight. There rallied to her cause all who did hate and scorn the tyrant king,
501or feared his cruelty. They seized his ships, which haply rode at anchor in the bay, and loaded them with gold; the hoarded wealth of vile and covetous Pygmalion they took to sea. A woman wrought this deed.
506Then came they to these lands where now thine eyes behold yon walls and yonder citadel of newly rising Carthage. For a price they measured round so much of Afric soil as one bull's hide encircles, and the spot
511received its name, the Byrsa. But, I pray, what men are ye? from what far land arrived, and whither going?” When she questioned thus, her son, with sighs that rose from his heart's depths, this answer gave:
516“Divine one, if I tell my woes and burdens all, and thou could'st pause to heed the tale, first would the vesper star th' Olympian portals close, and bid the day in slumber lie. Of ancient Troy are we—
521if aught of Troy thou knowest! As we roved from sea to sea, the hazard of the storm cast us up hither on this Libyan coast. I am Aeneas, faithful evermore to Heaven's command; and in my ships I bear
526my gods ancestral, which I snatched away from peril of the foe. My fame is known above the stars. I travel on in quest of Italy, my true home-land, and I from Jove himself may trace my birth divine.
531With twice ten ships upon the Phryglan main I launched away. My mother from the skies gave guidance, and I wrought what Fate ordained. Yet now scarce seven shattered ships survive the shock of wind and wave; and I myself
536friendless, bereft, am wandering up and down this Libyan wilderness! Behold me here, from Europe and from Asia exiled still!” But Venus could not let him longer plain, and stopped his grief midway:
541“Whoe'er thou art, I deem that not unblest of heavenly powers, with vital breath still thine, thou comest hither unto our Tyrian town. Go steadfast on, and to the royal threshold make thy way!
546I bring thee tidings that thy comrades all are safe at land; and all thy ships, conveyed by favoring breezes, safe at anchor lie; or else in vain my parents gave me skill to read the skies. Look up at yonder swans!
551A flock of twelve, whose gayly fluttering file, erst scattered by Jove's eagle swooping down from his ethereal haunt, now form anew their long-drawn line, and make a landing-place, or, hovering over, scan some chosen ground,
556or soaring high, with whir of happy wings, re-circle heaven in triumphant song: likewise, I tell thee, thy Iost mariners are landed, or fly landward at full sail. Up, then! let yon plain path thy guidance be,”
561She ceased and turned away. A roseate beam from her bright shoulder glowed; th' ambrosial hair breathed more than mortal sweetness, while her robes fell rippling to her feet. Each step revealed the veritable goddess. Now he knew
566that vision was his mother, and his words pursued the fading phantom as it fled: “Why is thy son deluded o'er and o'er with mocking dreams,—another cruel god? Hast thou no hand-clasp true, nor interchange
571of words unfeigned betwixt this heart and thine?” Such word of blame he spoke, and took his way toward the city's rampart. Venus then o'erveiled them as they moved in darkened air,— a liquid mantle of thick cloud divine,—
576that viewless they might pass, nor would any obstruct, delay, or question why they came. To Paphos then she soared, her Ioved abode, where stands her temple, at whose hundred shrines garlands of myrtle and fresh roses breathe,
581and clouds of orient sweetness waft away. Meanwhile the wanderers swiftly journey on along the clear-marked road, and soon they climb the brow of a high hill, which close in view o'er-towers the city's crown. The vast exploit,
586where lately rose but Afric cabins rude, Aeneas wondered at: the smooth, wide ways; the bastioned gates; the uproar of the throng. The Tyrians toil unwearied; some up-raise a wall or citadel, from far below
591lifting the ponderous stone; or with due care choose where to build, and close the space around with sacred furrow; in their gathering-place the people for just governors, just laws, and for their reverend senate shout acclaim.
596Some clear the harbor mouth; some deeply lay the base of a great theatre, and carve out proud columns from the mountain, to adorn their rising stage with lofty ornament. so busy bees above a field of flowers
601in early summer amid sunbeams toil, leading abroad their nation's youthful brood; or with the flowing honey storing close the pliant cells, until they quite run o'er with nectared sweet; while from the entering swarm
606they take their little loads; or lined for war, rout the dull drones, and chase them from the hive; brisk is the task, and all the honeyed air breathes odors of wild thyme. “How blest of Heaven. These men that see their promised ramparts rise!”
611Aeneas sighed; and swift his glances moved from tower to tower; then on his way he fared, veiled in the wonder-cloud, whence all unseen of human eyes,—O strange the tale and true!— he threaded the thronged streets, unmarked, unknown.
616Deep in the city's heart there was a grove of beauteous shade, where once the Tyrians, cast here by stormful waves, delved out of earth that portent which Queen Juno bade them find,— the head of a proud horse,—that ages long
621their boast might be wealth, luxury and war. Upon this spot Sidonian Dido raised a spacious fane to Juno, which became splendid with gifts, and hallowed far and wide for potency divine. Its beams were bronze,
626and on loud hinges swung the brazen doors. A rare, new sight this sacred grove did show, which calmed Aeneas' fears, and made him bold to hope for safety, and with lifted heart from his low-fallen fortunes re-aspire.
631For while he waits the advent of the Queen, he scans the mighty temple, and admires the city's opulent pride, and all the skill its rival craftsmen in their work approve. Behold! he sees old Ilium's well-fought fields
636in sequent picture, and those famous wars now told upon men's lips the whole world round. There Atreus' sons, there kingly Priam moved, and fierce Pelides pitiless to both. Aeneas paused, and, weeping, thus began:
641“Alas, Achates, what far region now, what land in all the world knows not our pain? See, it is Priam! Virtue's wage is given— O even here! Here also there be tears for what men bear, and mortal creatures feel
646each other's sorrow. Therefore, have no fear! This story of our loss forbodes us well.” So saying, he received into his heart that visionary scene, profoundly sighed, and let his plenteous tears unheeded flow.
651There he beheld the citadel of Troy girt with embattled foes; here, Greeks in flight some Trojan onset 'scaped; there, Phrygian bands before tall-plumed Achilles' chariot sped. The snowy tents of Rhesus spread hard by
656(he sees them through his tears), where Diomed in night's first watch burst o'er them unawares with bloody havoc and a host of deaths; then drove his fiery coursers o'er the plain before their thirst or hunger could be stayed
661on Trojan corn or Xanthus' cooling stream. Here too was princely Troilus, despoiled, routed and weaponless, O wretched boy! Ill-matched against Achilles! His wild steeds bear him along, as from his chariot's rear
666he falls far back, but clutches still the rein; his hair and shoulders on the ground go trailing, and his down-pointing spear-head scrawls the dust. Elsewhere, to Pallas' ever-hostile shrine, daughters of Ilium, with unsnooded hair,
671and lifting all in vain her hallowed pall, walked suppliant and sad, beating their breasts, with outspread palms. But her unswerving eyes the goddess fixed on earth, and would not see. Achilles round the Trojan rampart thrice
676had dragged the fallen Hector, and for gold was making traffic of the lifeless clay. Aeneas groaned aloud, with bursting heart, to see the spoils, the car, the very corpse of his lost friend,—while Priam for the dead
681stretched forth in piteous prayer his helpless hands. There too his own presentment he could see surrounded by Greek kings; and there were shown hordes from the East, and black-browed Memnon's arms; her band of Amazons, with moon-shaped shields,
686Penthesilea led; her martial eye flamed on from troop to troop; a belt of gold beneath one bare, protruded breast she bound— a warrior-virgin braving mail-clad men. While on such spectacle Aeneas' eyes
691looked wondering, while mute and motionless he stood at gaze, Queen Dido to the shrine in lovely majesty drew near; a throng of youthful followers pressed round her way. So by the margin of Eurotas wide
696or o'er the Cynthian steep, Diana leads her bright processional; hither and yon are visionary legions numberless of Oreads; the regnant goddess bears a quiver on her shoulders, and is seen
701emerging tallest of her beauteous train; while joy unutterable thrills the breast of fond Latona: Dido not less fair amid her subjects passed, and not less bright her glow of gracious joy, while she approved
706her future kingdom's pomp and vast emprise. Then at the sacred portal and beneath the temple's vaulted dome she took her place, encompassed by armed men, and lifted high upon a throne; her statutes and decrees
711the people heard, and took what lot or toil her sentence, or impartial urn, assigned. But, lo! Aeneas sees among the throng Antheus, Sergestus, and Cloanthus bold, with other Teucrians, whom the black storm flung
716far o'er the deep and drove on alien shores. Struck dumb was he, and good Achates too, half gladness and half fear. Fain would they fly to friendship's fond embrace; but knowing not what might befall, their hearts felt doubt and care.
721Therefore they kept the secret, and remained forth-peering from the hollow veil of cloud, haply to learn what their friends' fate might be, or where the fleet was landed, or what aim had brought them hither; for a chosen few
726from every ship had come to sue for grace, and all the temple with their voices rang. The doors swung wide; and after access given and leave to speak, revered Ilioneus with soul serene these lowly words essayed:
731“O Queen, who hast authority of Jove to found this rising city, and subdue with righteous governance its people proud, we wretched Trojans, blown from sea to sea, beseech thy mercy; keep the curse of fire
736from our poor ships! We pray thee, do no wrong unto a guiltless race. But heed our plea! No Libyan hearth shall suffer by our sword, nor spoil and plunder to our ships be borne; such haughty violence fits not the souls
741of vanquished men. We journey to a land named, in Greek syllables, Hesperia: a storied realm, made mighty by great wars and wealth of fruitful land; in former days Oenotrians had it, and their sons, 't is said,
746have called it Italy, a chieftain's name to a whole region given. Thitherward our ships did fare; but with swift-rising flood the stormful season of Orion's star drove us on viewless shoals; and angry gales
751dispersed us, smitten by the tumbling surge, among innavigable rocks. Behold, we few swam hither, waifs upon your shore! What race of mortals this? What barbarous land, that with inhospitable laws ye thrust
756a stranger from your coasts, and fly to arms, nor grant mere foothold on your kingdom's bound? If man thou scornest and all mortal power, forget not that the gods watch good and ill! A king we had; Aeneas,—never man
761in all the world more loyal, just and true, nor mightier in arms! If Heaven decree his present safety, if he now do breathe the air of earth and is not buried low among the dreadful shades, then fear not thou!
766For thou wilt never rue that thou wert prompt to do us the first kindness. O'er the sea in the Sicilian land, are cities proud, with martial power, and great Acestes there is of our Trojan kin. So grant us here
771to beach our shattered ships along thy shore, and from thy forest bring us beam and spar to mend our broken oars. Then, if perchance we find once more our comrades and our king, and forth to Italy once more set sail,
776to Italy, our Latin hearth and home, we will rejoicing go. But if our weal is clean gone by, and thee, blest chief and sire, these Libyan waters keep, and if no more Iulus bids us hope,—then, at the least,
781to yon Sicilian seas, to friendly lands whence hither drifting with the winds we came, let us retrace the journey and rejoin good King Acestes.” So Ilioneus ended his pleading; the Dardanidae
786murmured assent. Then Dido, briefly and with downcast eyes, her answer made: “O Teucrians, have no fear! Bid care begone! It was necessity, and my young kingdom's weakness, which compelled
791the policy of force, and made me keep such vigilant sentry my wide co'ast along. Aeneas and his people, that fair town of Troy—who knows them not? The whole world knows those valorous chiefs and huge, far-flaming wars.
796Our Punic hearts are not of substance all insensible and dull: the god of day drives not his fire-breathing steeds so far from this our Tyrian town. If ye would go to great Hesperia, where Saturn reigned,
801or if voluptuous Eryx and the throne of good Acestes be your journey's end, I send you safe; I speed you on your way. But if in these my realms ye will abide, associates of my power, behold, I build
806this city for your own! Choose haven here for your good ships. Beneath my royal sway Trojan and Tyrian equal grace will find. But O, that this same storm had brought your King. Aeneas, hither! I will bid explore
811our Libya's utmost bound, where haply he in wilderness or hamlet wanders lost.” By these fair words to joy profoundly stirred, Father Aeneas and Achates brave to cast aside the cloud that wrapped them round
816yearned greatly; and Achates to his King spoke thus: “O goddess-born, in thy wise heart what purpose rises now? Lo! All is well! Thy fleet and followers are safe at land. One only comes not, who before our eyes
821sank in the soundless sea. All else fulfils thy mother's prophecy.” Scarce had he spoke when suddenly that overmantling cloud was cloven, and dissolved in lucent air; forth stood Aeneas. A clear sunbeam smote
826his god-like head and shoulders. Venus' son of his own heavenly mother now received youth's glowing rose, an eye of joyful fire, and tresses clustering fair. 'T is even so the cunning craftsman unto ivory gives
831new beauty, or with circlet of bright gold encloses silver or the Parian stone. Thus of the Queen he sued, while wonderment fell on all hearts. “Behold the man ye seek, for I am here! Aeneas, Trojan-born,
836brought safely hither from yon Libyan seas! O thou who first hast looked with pitying eye on Troy's unutterable grief, who even to us (escaped our Grecian victor, and outworn by all the perils land and ocean know),
841to us, bereft and ruined, dost extend such welcome to thy kingdom and thy home! I have no power, Dido, to give thanks to match thine ample grace; nor is there power in any remnant of our Dardan blood,
846now fled in exile o'er the whole wide world. May gods on high (if influence divine bless faithful lives, or recompense be found in justice and thy self-approving mind) give thee thy due reward. What age was blest
851by such a birth as thine? What parents proud such offspring bore? O, while the rivers run to mingle with the sea, while shadows pass along yon rounded hills from vale to vale, and while from heaven's unextinguished fire
856the stars be fed—so Iong thy glorious name, thy place illustrious and thy virtue's praise, abide undimmed.—Yet I myself must go to lands I know not where.” After this word his right hand clasped his Ioved Ilioneus,
861his left Serestus; then the comrades all, brave Gyas, brave Cloanthus, and their peers. Sidonian Dido felt her heart stand still when first she looked on him; and thrilled again to hear what vast adventure had befallen
866so great a hero. Thus she welcomed him: “What chance, O goddess-born, o'er danger's path impels? What power to this wild coast has borne? Art thou Aeneas, great Anchises' son, whom lovely Venus by the Phrygian stream
871of Simois brought forth unto the day? Now I bethink me of when Teucer came to Sidon, exiled, and of Belus' power desired a second throne. For Belus then, our worshipped sire, despoiled the teeming land
876of Cyprus, as its conqueror and king. And since that hour I oft have heard the tale of fallen Troy, of thine own noble name, and of Achaean kings. Teucer was wont, although their foe, to praise the Teucrian race,
881and boasted him of that proud lineage sprung. Therefore, behold, our portals are swung wide for all your company. I also bore hard fate like thine. I too was driven of storms and after long toil was allowed at last
886to call this land my home. O, I am wise in sorrow, and I help all suffering souls!” So saying, she bade Aeneas welcome take beneath her royal roof, and to the gods made sacrifice in temples, while she sent
891unto the thankful Trojans on the shore a score of bulls, and of huge, bristling swine, a herd of a whole hundred, and a flock of goodly lambs, a hundred, who ran close beside the mother-ewes: and all were given
896in joyful feast to please the Heavenly Powers. Her palace showed a monarch's fair array all glittering and proud, and feasts were spread within the ample court. Rich broideries hung deep incarnadined with Tyrian skill;
901the board had massy silver, gold-embossed, where gleamed the mighty deeds of all her sires, a graven chronicle of peace and war prolonged, since first her ancient line began, from royal sire to son.
906Aeneas now (for love in his paternal heart spoke loud and gave no rest) bade swift Achates run to tell Ascanius all, and from the ship to guide him upward to the town,—for now
911the father's whole heart for Ascanius yearned. And gifts he bade them bring, which had been saved in Ilium's fall: a richly broidered cloak heavy with golden emblems; and a veil by leaves of saffron lilies bordered round,
916which Argive Helen o'er her beauty threw, her mother Leda's gift most wonderful, and which to Troy she bore, when flying far in lawless wedlock from Mycenae's towers; a sceptre, too, once fair Ilione's,
921eldest of Priam's daughters; and round pearls strung in a necklace, and a double crown of jewels set in gold. These gifts to find, Achates to the tall ships sped away. But Cytherea in her heart revolved
926new wiles, new schemes: how Cupid should transform his countenance, and, coming in the guise of sweet Ascanius, still more inflame the amorous Queen with gifts, and deeply fuse through all her yielding frame his fatal fire.
931Sooth, Venus feared the many-languaged guile which Tyrians use; fierce Juno's hate she feared, and falling night renewed her sleepless care. Therefore to Love, the light-winged god, she said: “Sweet son, of whom my sovereignty and power
936alone are given! O son, whose smile may scorn the shafts of Jove whereby the Titans fell, to thee I fly, and humbly here implore thy help divine. Behold, from land to land Aeneas, thine own brother, voyages on
941storm-driven, by Juno's causeless enmity. Thou knowest it well, and oft hast sighed to see my sighs and tears. Dido the Tyrian now detains him with soft speeches; and I fear such courtesy from Juno means us ill;
946she is not one who, when the hour is ripe, bids action pause. I therefore now intend the Tyrian Queen to snare, and siege her breast with our invading fire, before some god shall change her mood. But let her bosom burn
951with love of my Aeneas not less than mine. This thou canst bring to pass. I pray thee hear the plan I counsel. At his father's call Ascanius, heir of kings, makes haste to climb to yon Sidonian citadel; my grace
956protects him, and he bears gifts which were saved from hazard of the sea and burning Troy. Him lapped in slumber on Cythera's hill, or in Idalia's deep and hallowing shade, myself will hide, lest haply he should learn
961our stratagem, and burst in, foiling all. Wear thou his shape for one brief night thyself, and let thy boyhood feign another boy's familiar countenance; when Dido there, beside the royal feast and flowing wine,
966all smiles and joy, shall clasp thee to her breast while she caresses thee, and her sweet lips touch close with thine, then let thy secret fire breathe o'er her heart, to poison and betray.” The love-god to his mother's dear behest
971gave prompt assent. He put his pinions by and tripped it like Iulus, light of heart. But Venus o'er Ascanius' body poured a perfect sleep, and, to her heavenly breast enfolding him, far, far away upbore
976to fair Idalia's grove, where fragrant buds of softly-petalled marjoram embower in pleasurable shade. Cupid straightway obeyed his mother's word and bore the gifts,
981each worthy of a king, as offerings to greet the Tyrian throne; and as he went he clasped Achates' friendly hand, and smiled. Father Aeneas now, and all his band of Trojan chivalry, at social feast,
986on lofty purple-pillowed couches lie; deft slaves fresh water on their fingers pour, and from reed-woven basketry renew the plenteous bread, or bring smooth napery of softest weave; fifty handmaidens serve,
991whose task it is to range in order fair the varied banquet, or at altars bright throw balm and incense on the sacred fires. A hundred more serve with an equal band of beauteous pages, whose obedient skill
996piles high the generous board and fills the bowl. The Tyrians also to the festal hall come thronging, and receive their honor due, each on his painted couch; with wondering eyes Aeneas' gifts they view, and wondering more,
1001mark young Iulus' radiant brows divine, his guileful words, the golden pall he bears, and broidered veil with saffron lilies bound. The Tyrian Queen ill-starred, already doomed to her approaching woe, scanned ardently,
1006with kindling cheek and never-sated eyes, the precious gifts and wonder-gifted boy. He round Aeneas' neck his arms entwined, fed the deep yearning of his seeming sire, then sought the Queen's embrace; her eyes, her soul
1011clave to him as she strained him to her breast. For Dido knew not in that fateful hour how great a god betrayed her. He began, remembering his mother (she who bore the lovely Acidalian Graces three),
1016to make the dear name of Sichaeus fade, and with new life, new love, to re-possess her Iong-since slumbering bosom's Iost desire. When the main feast is over, they replace the banquet with huge bowls, and crown the wine
1021with ivy-leaf and rose. Loud rings the roof with echoing voices; from the gilded vault far-blazing cressets swing, or torches bright drive the dark night away. The Queen herself called for her golden chalice studded round
1026with jewels, and o'er-brimming it with wine as Belus and his proud successors use, commanded silence, and this utterance made: “Great Jove, of whom are hospitable laws for stranger-guest, may this auspicious day
1031bless both our Tyrians and the wanderers from Trojan shore. May our posterity keep this remembrance! Let kind Juno smile, and Bacchus, Iord of mirth, attend us here! And, O ye Tyrians, come one and all,
1036and with well-omened words our welcome share!” So saying, she outpoured the sacred drop due to the gods, and lightly from the rim sipped the first taste, then unto Bitias gave with urgent cheer; he seized it, nothing loth,
1041quaffed deep and long the foaming, golden bowl, then passed to others. On a gilded Iyre the flowing-haired Iopas woke a song taught him by famous Atlas: of the moon he sang, the wanderer, and what the sun's
1046vast labors be; then would his music tell whence man and beast were born, and whence were bred clouds, lightnings, and Arcturus' stormful sign, the Hyades, rain-stars, and nigh the Pole the great and lesser Wain; for well he knew
1051why colder suns make haste to quench their orb in ocean-stream, and wintry nights be slow. Loudly the Tyrians their minstrel praised, and Troy gave prompt applause. Dido the while with varying talk prolonged the fateful night,
1056and drank both long and deep of love and wine. Now many a tale of Priam would she crave, of Hector many; or what radiant arms Aurora's son did wear; what were those steeds of Diomed, or what the stature seemed
1061of great Achilles. “Come, illustrious guest, begin the tale,” she said, “begin and tell the perfidy of Greece, thy people's fall, and all thy wanderings. For now,—Ah, me! Seven times the summer's burning stars have seen
1066thee wandering far o'er alien lands and seas.”
Book 2
1A general silence fell; and all gave ear, while, from his lofty station at the feast, Father Aeneas with these words began :— A grief unspeakable thy gracious word, o sovereign lady, bids my heart live o'er:
6how Asia's glory and afflicted throne the Greek flung down; which woeful scene I saw, and bore great part in each event I tell. But O! in telling, what Dolopian churl, or Myrmidon, or gory follower
11of grim Ulysses could the tears restrain? 'T is evening; lo! the dews of night begin to fall from heaven, and yonder sinking stars invite to slumber. But if thy heart yearn to hear in brief of all our evil days
16and Troy's last throes, although the memory makes my soul shudder and recoil in pain, I will essay it. Wearied of the war, and by ill-fortune crushed, year after year, the kings of Greece, by Pallas' skill divine,
21build a huge horse, a thing of mountain size, with timbered ribs of fir. They falsely say it has been vowed to Heaven for safe return, and spread this lie abroad. Then they conceal choice bands of warriors in the deep, dark side,
26and fill the caverns of that monstrous womb with arms and soldiery. In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an island widely famed and opulent, ere Priam's kingdom fell, but a poor haven now, with anchorage
31not half secure; 't was thitherward they sailed, and lurked unseen by that abandoned shore. We deemed them launched away and sailing far, bound homeward for Mycenae. Teucria then threw off her grief inveterate; all her gates
36swung wide; exultant went we forth, and saw the Dorian camp untenanted, the siege abandoned, and the shore without a keel. “Here!” cried we, “the Dolopian pitched; the host of fierce Achilles here; here lay the fleet;
41and here the battling lines to conflict ran.” Others, all wonder, scan the gift of doom by virgin Pallas given, and view with awe that horse which loomed so large. Thymoetes then bade lead it through the gates, and set on high
46within our citadel,—or traitor he, or tool of fate in Troy's predestined fall. But Capys, as did all of wiser heart, bade hurl into the sea the false Greek gift, or underneath it thrust a kindling flame
51or pierce the hollow ambush of its womb with probing spear. Yet did the multitude veer round from voice to voice and doubt of all. Then from the citadel, conspicuous, Laocoon, with all his following choir,
56hurried indignant down; and from afar thus hailed the people: “O unhappy men! What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled? Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile? Have ye not known Ulysses? The Achaean
61hides, caged in yonder beams; or this is reared for engin'ry on our proud battlements, to spy upon our roof-tops, or descend in ruin on the city. 'T is a snare. Trust not this horse, O Troy, whate'er it bode!
66I fear the Greeks, though gift on gift they bear.” So saying, he whirled with ponderous javelin a sturdy stroke straight at the rounded side of the great, jointed beast. A tremor struck its towering form, and through the cavernous womb
71rolled loud, reverberate rumbling, deep and long. If heaven's decree, if our own wills, that hour, had not been fixed on woe, his spear had brought a bloody slaughter on our ambushed foe, and Troy were standing on the earth this day!
76O Priam's towers, ye were unfallen still! But, lo! with hands fast bound behind, a youth by clamorous Dardan shepherds haled along, was brought before our king,—to this sole end a self-surrendered captive, that he might,
81although a nameless stranger, cunningly deliver to the Greek the gates of Troy. His firm-set mind flinched not from either goal,— success in crime, or on swift death to fall. The thronging Trojan youth made haste his way
86from every side, all eager to see close their captive's face, and clout with emulous scorn. Hear now what Greek deception is, and learn from one dark wickedness the whole. For he, a mark for every eye, defenceless, dazed,
91stood staring at our Phrygian hosts, and cried: “Woe worth the day! What ocean or what shore will have me now? What desperate path remains for miserable me? Now have I lost all foothold with the Greeks, and o'er my head
96Troy's furious sons call bloody vengeance down.” Such groans and anguish turned all rage away and stayed our lifted hands. We bade him tell his birth, his errand, and from whence might be such hope of mercy for a foe in chains.
101Then fearing us no more, this speech he dared: “O King! I will confess, whate'er befall, the whole unvarnished truth. I will not hide my Grecian birth. Yea, thus will I begin. For Fortune has brought wretched Sinon low;
106but never shall her cruelty impair his honor and his truth. Perchance the name of Palamedes, Belus' glorious son, has come by rumor to your listening ears; whom by false witness and conspiracy,
111because his counsel was not for this war, the Greeks condemned, though guiltless, to his death, and now make much lament for him they slew. I, his companion, of his kith and kin, sent hither by my humble sire's command,
116followed his arms and fortunes from my youth. Long as his throne endured, and while he throve in conclave with his kingly peers, we twain some name and lustre bore; but afterward, because that cheat Ulysses envied him
121(Ye know the deed), he from this world withdrew, and I in gloom and tribulation sore lived miserably on, lamenting loud my lost friend's blameless fall. A fool was I that kept not these lips closed; but I had vowed
126that if a conqueror home to Greece I came, I would avenge. Such words moved wrath, and were the first shock of my ruin; from that hour, Ulysses whispered slander and alarm; breathed doubt and malice into all men's ears,
131and darkly plotted how to strike his blow. Nor rest had he, till Calchas, as his tool,- but why unfold this useless, cruel story? Why make delay? Ye count all sons of Greece arrayed as one; and to have heard thus far
136suffices you. Take now your ripe revenge! Ulysses smiles and Atreus' royal sons with liberal price your deed of blood repay.” We ply him then with passionate appeal and question all his cause: of guilt so dire
141or such Greek guile we harbored not the thought. So on he prates, with well-feigned grief and fear, and from his Iying heart thus told his tale: “Full oft the Greeks had fain achieved their flight, and raised the Trojan siege, and sailed away
146war-wearied quite. O, would it had been so! Full oft the wintry tumult of the seas did wall them round, and many a swollen storm their embarcation stayed. But chiefly when, all fitly built of beams of maple fair,
151this horse stood forth,— what thunders filled the skies! With anxious fears we sent Eurypylus to ask Apollo's word; and from the shrine he brings the sorrowful commandment home: ‘By flowing blood and by a virgin slain
156the wild winds were appeased, when first ye came, ye sons of Greece, to Ilium's distant shore. Through blood ye must return. Let some Greek life your expiation be.’ The popular ear the saying caught, all spirits were dimmed o'er;
161cold doubt and horror through each bosom ran, asking what fate would do, and on what wretch Apollo's choice would fall. Ulysses, then, amid the people's tumult and acclaim, thrust Calchas forth, some prophecy to tell
166to all the throng: he asked him o'er and o'er what Heaven desired. Already not a few foretold the murderous plot, and silently watched the dark doom upon my life impend. Twice five long days the seer his lips did seal,
171and hid himself, refusing to bring forth His word of guile, and name what wretch should die. At last, reluctant, and all loudly urged By false Ulysses, he fulfils their plot, and, lifting up his voice oracular,
176points out myself the victim to be slain. Nor did one voice oppose. The mortal stroke horribly hanging o'er each coward head was changed to one man's ruin, and their hearts endured it well. Soon rose th' accursed morn;
181the bloody ritual was ready; salt was sprinkled on the sacred loaf; my brows were bound with fillets for the offering. But I escaped that death—yes! I deny not! I cast my fetters off, and darkling lay
186concealed all night in lake-side sedge and mire, awaiting their departure, if perchance they should in truth set sail. But nevermore shall my dear, native country greet these eyes. No more my father or my tender babes
191shall I behold. Nay, haply their own lives are forfeit, when my foemen take revenge for my escape, and slay those helpless ones, in expiation of my guilty deed. O, by yon powers in heaven which witness truth,
196by aught in this dark world remaining now of spotless human faith and innocence, I do implore thee look with pitying eye on these long sufferings my heart hath borne. O, pity! I deserve not what I bear.”
201Pity and pardon to his tears we gave, and spared his life. King Priam bade unbind the fettered hands and loose those heavy chains that pressed him sore; then with benignant mien addressed him thus: “ Whate'er thy place or name,
206forget the people thou hast Iost, and be henceforth our countryman. But tell me true! What means the monstrous fabric of this horse? Who made it? Why? What offering to Heaven, or engin'ry of conquest may it be?”
211He spake; and in reply, with skilful guile, Greek that he was! the other lifted up his hands, now freed and chainless, to the skies: “O ever-burning and inviolate fires, witness my word! O altars and sharp steel,
216whose curse I fled, O fillets of the gods, which bound a victim's helpless forehead, hear! 'T is lawful now to break the oath that gave my troth to Greece. To execrate her kings is now my solemn duty. Their whole plot
221I publish to the world. No fatherland and no allegiance binds me any more. O Troy, whom I have saved, I bid thee keep the pledge of safety by good Priam given, for my true tale shall my rich ransom be.
226The Greeks' one hope, since first they opened war, was Pallas, grace and power. But from the day when Diomed, bold scorner of the gods, and false Ulysses, author of all guile, rose up and violently bore away
231Palladium, her holy shrine, hewed down the sentinels of her acropolis, and with polluted, gory hands dared touch the goddess, virgin fillets, white and pure,— thenceforth, I say, the courage of the Greeks
236ebbed utterly away; their strength was Iost, and favoring Pallas all her grace withdrew. No dubious sign she gave. Scarce had they set her statue in our camp, when glittering flame flashed from the staring eyes; from all its limbs
241salt sweat ran forth; three times (O wondrous tale!) it gave a sudden skyward leap, and made prodigious trembling of her lance and shield. The prophet Calchas bade us straightway take swift flight across the sea; for fate had willed
246the Trojan citadel should never fall by Grecian arm, till once more they obtain new oracles at Argos, and restore that god the round ships hurried o'er the sea. Now in Mycenae, whither they are fled,
251new help of heaven they find, and forge anew the means of war. Back hither o'er the waves they suddenly will come. So Calchas gave the meaning of the god. Warned thus, they reared in place of Pallas, desecrated shrine
256yon image of the horse, to expiate the woeful sacrilege. Calchas ordained that they should build a thing of monstrous size of jointed beams, and rear it heavenward, so might it never pass your gates, nor come
261inside your walls, nor anywise restore unto the Trojans their lost help divine. For had your hands Minerva's gift profaned, a ruin horrible—O, may the gods bring it on Calchas rather!—would have come
266on Priam's throne and all the Phrygian power. But if your hands should lift the holy thing to your own citadel, then Asia's host would hurl aggression upon Pelops' land, and all that curse on our own nation fall.”
271Thus Sinon's guile and practiced perjury our doubt dispelled. His stratagems and tears wrought victory where neither Tydeus' son, nor mountain-bred Achilles could prevail, nor ten years' war, nor fleets a thousand strong.
276But now a vaster spectacle of fear burst over us, to vex our startled souls. Laocoon, that day by cast of lot priest unto Neptune, was in act to slay a huge bull at the god's appointed fane.
281Lo! o'er the tranquil deep from Tenedos appeared a pair (I shudder as I tell) of vastly coiling serpents, side by side, stretching along the waves, and to the shore taking swift course; their necks were lifted high,
286their gory dragon-crests o'ertopped the waves; all else, half seen, trailed low along the sea; while with loud cleavage of the foaming brine their monstrous backs wound forward fold on fold. Soon they made land; the furious bright eyes
291glowed with ensanguined fire; their quivering tongues lapped hungrily the hissing, gruesome jaws. All terror-pale we fled. Unswerving then the monsters to Laocoon made way. First round the tender limbs of his two sons
296each dragon coiled, and on the shrinking flesh fixed fast and fed. Then seized they on the sire, who flew to aid, a javelin in his hand, embracing close in bondage serpentine twice round the waist; and twice in scaly grasp
301around his neck, and o'er him grimly peered with lifted head and crest; he, all the while, his holy fillet fouled with venomous blood, tore at his fetters with a desperate hand, and lifted up such agonizing voice,
306as when a bull, death-wounded, seeks to flee the sacrificial altar, and thrusts back from his doomed head the ill-aimed, glancing blade. then swiftly writhed the dragon-pair away unto the templed height, and in the shrine
311of cruel Pallas sure asylum found beneath the goddess' feet and orbed shield. Such trembling horror as we ne'er had known seized now on every heart. “ Of his vast guilt Laocoon,” they say, “receives reward;
316for he with most abominable spear did strike and violate that blessed wood. Yon statue to the temple! Ask the grace of glorious Pallas!” So the people cried in general acclaim.Ourselves did make
321a breach within our walls and opened wide the ramparts of our city. One and all were girded for the task. Smooth-gliding wheels were 'neath its feet; great ropes stretched round its neck, till o'er our walls the fatal engine climbed,
326pregnant with men-at-arms. On every side fair youths and maidens made a festal song, and hauled the ropes with merry heart and gay. So on and up it rolled, a tower of doom, and in proud menace through our Forum moved.
331O Ilium, my country, where abode the gods of all my sires! O glorious walls of Dardan's sons! before your gates it passed, four times it stopped and dreadful clash of arms four times from its vast concave loudly rang.
336Yet frantic pressed we on, our hearts all blind, and in the consecrated citadel set up the hateful thing. Cassandra then from heaven-instructed heart our doom foretold; but doomed to unbelief were Ilium's sons.
341Our hapless nation on its dying day flung free o'er streets and shrines the votive flowers. The skies rolled on; and o'er the ocean fell the veil of night, till utmost earth and heaven and all their Myrmidonian stratagems
346were mantled darkly o'er. In silent sleep the Trojan city lay; dull slumber chained its weary life. But now the Greek array of ordered ships moved on from Tenedos, their only light the silent, favoring moon,
351on to the well-known strand. The King displayed torch from his own ship, and Sinon then, whom wrathful Heaven defended in that hour, let the imprisoned band of Greeks go free from that huge womb of wood; the open horse
356restored them to the light; and joyfully emerging from the darkness, one by one, princely Thessander, Sthenelus, and dire Ulysses glided down the swinging cord. Closely upon them Neoptolemus,
361the son of Peleus, came, and Acamas, King Menelaus, Thoas and Machaon, and last, Epeus, who the fabric wrought. Upon the town they fell, for deep in sleep and drowsed with wine it lay; the sentinels
366they slaughtered, and through gates now opened wide let in their fellows, and arrayed for war th' auxiliar legions of the dark design. That hour it was when heaven's first gift of sleep on weary hearts of men most sweetly steals.
371O, then my slumbering senses seemed to see Hector, with woeful face and streaming eyes; I seemed to see him from the chariot trailing, foul with dark dust and gore, his swollen feet pierced with a cruel thong. Ah me! what change
376from glorious Hector when he homeward bore the spoils of fierce Achilles; or hurled far that shower of torches on the ships of Greece! Unkempt his beard, his tresses thick with blood, and all those wounds in sight which he did take
381defending Troy. Then, weeping as I spoke, I seemed on that heroic shape to call with mournful utterance: “O star of Troy! O surest hope and stay of all her sons! Why tarriest thou so Iong? What region sends
386the long-expected Hector home once more? These weary eyes that look on thee have seen hosts of thy kindred die, and fateful change upon thy people and thy city fall. O, say what dire occasion has defiled
391thy tranquil brows? What mean those bleeding wounds?” Silent he stood, nor anywise would stay my vain lament; but groaned, and answered thus: “Haste, goddess-born, and out of yonder flames achieve thy flight. Our foes have scaled the wall;
396exalted Troy is falling. Fatherland and Priam ask no more. If human arm could profit Troy, my own had kept her free. Her Lares and her people to thy hands Troy here commends. Companions let them be
401of all thy fortunes. Let them share thy quest of that wide realm, which, after wandering far, thou shalt achieve, at last, beyond the sea.” He spoke: and from our holy hearth brought forth the solemn fillet, the ancestral shrines,
406and Vesta's ever-bright, inviolate fire. Now shrieks and loud confusion swept the town; and though my father's dwelling stood apart embowered deep in trees, th' increasing din drew nearer, and the battle-thunder swelled.
411I woke on sudden, and up-starting scaled the roof, the tower, then stood with listening ear: 't was like an harvest burning, when wild winds uprouse the flames; 't was like a mountain stream that bursts in flood and ruinously whelms
416sweet fields and farms and all the ploughman's toil, whirling whole groves along; while dumb with fear, from some far cliff the shepherd hears the sound. Now their Greek plot was plain, the stratagem at last laid bare. Deiphobus' great house
421sank vanquished in the fire. Ucalegon's hard by was blazing, while the waters wide around Sigeum gave an answering glow. Shrill trumpets rang; Ioud shouting voices roared; wildly I armed me (when the battle calls,
426how dimly reason shines!); I burned to join the rally of my peers, and to the heights defensive gather. Frenzy and vast rage seized on my soul. I only sought what way with sword in hand some noble death to die.
431When Panthus met me, who had scarce escaped the Grecian spears,—Panthus of Othrys' line, Apollo's priest within our citadel; his holy emblems, his defeated gods, and his small grandson in his arms he bore,
436while toward the gates with wild, swift steps he flew. “How fares the kingdom, Panthus? What strong place is still our own?” But scarcely could I ask when thus, with many a groan, he made reply:— “Dardania's death and doom are come to-day,
441implacable. There is no Ilium now; our Trojan name is gone, the Teucrian throne Quite fallen. For the wrathful power of Jove has given to Argos all our boast and pride. The Greek is Iord of all yon blazing towers.
446yon horse uplifted on our city's heart disgorges men-at-arms. False Sinon now, with scorn exultant, heaps up flame on flame. Others throw wide the gates. The whole vast horde that out of proud Mycenae hither sailed
451is at us. With confronting spears they throng each narrow passage. Every steel-bright blade is flashing naked, making haste for blood. Our sentries helpless meet the invading shock and give back blind and unavailing war.”
456By Panthus' word and by some god impelled, I flew to battle, where the flames leaped high, where grim Bellona called, and all the air resounded high as heaven with shouts of war. Rhipeus and Epytus of doughty arm
461were at my side, Dymas and Hypanis, seen by a pale moon, join our little band; and young Coroebus, Mygdon's princely son, who was in Troy that hour because he loved Cassandra madly, and had made a league
466as Priam's kinsman with our Phrygian arms: ill-starred, to heed not what the virgin raved! When these I saw close-gathered for the fight, I thus addressed them: “Warriors, vainly brave, if ye indeed desire to follow one
471who dares the uttermost brave men may do, our evil plight ye see: the gods are fled from every altar and protecting fire, which were the kingdom's stay. Ye offer aid unto your country's ashes. Let us fight
476unto the death! To arms, my men, to arms! The single hope and stay of desperate men is their despair.” Thus did I rouse their souls. Then like the ravening wolves, some night of cloud, when cruel hunger in an empty maw
481drives them forth furious, and their whelps behind wait famine-throated; so through foemen's steel we flew to surest death, and kept our way straight through the midmost town . The wings of night brooded above us in vast vault of shade.
486But who the bloodshed of that night can tell? What tongue its deaths shall number, or what eyes find meed of tears to equal all its woe? The ancient City fell, whose throne had stood age after age. Along her streets were strewn
491the unresisting dead; at household shrines and by the temples of the gods they lay. Yet not alone was Teucrian blood required: oft out of vanquished hearts fresh valor flamed, and the Greek victor fell. Anguish and woe
496were everywhere; pale terrors ranged abroad, and multitudinous death met every eye. Androgeos, followed by a thronging band of Greeks, first met us on our desperate way; but heedless, and confounding friend with foe,
501thus, all unchallenged, hailed us as his own : “Haste, heroes! Are ye laggards at this hour? Others bear off the captives and the spoil of burning Troy. Just from the galleys ye?” He spoke; but straightway, when no safe reply
506returned, he knew himself entrapped, and fallen into a foeman's snare; struck dumb was he and stopped both word and motion; as one steps, when blindly treading a thick path of thorns, upon a snake, and sick with fear would flee
511that lifted wrath and swollen gorge of green: so trembling did Androgeos backward fall. At them we flew and closed them round with war; and since they could not know the ground, and fear had whelmed them quite, we swiftly laid them low.
516Thus Fortune on our first achievement smiled; and, flushed with victory, Cormbus cried: “Come, friends, and follow Fortune's finger, where she beckons us what path deliverance lies. Change we our shields, and these Greek emblems wear.
521'Twixt guile and valor who will nicely weigh When foes are met? These dead shall find us arms.” With this, he dons Androgeos' crested helm and beauteous, blazoned shield; and to his side girds on a Grecian blade. Young Rhipeus next,
526with Dymas and the other soldiery, repeat the deed, exulting, and array their valor in fresh trophies from the slain. Now intermingled with our foes we moved, and alien emblems wore; the long, black night
531brought many a grapple, and a host of Greeks down to the dark we hurled. Some fled away, seeking their safe ships and the friendly shore. Some cowards foul went clambering back again to that vast horse and hid them in its maw.
536But woe is me! If gods their help withhold, 't is impious to be brave. That very hour the fair Cassandra passed us, bound in chains, King Priam's virgin daughter, from the shrine and altars of Minerva; her loose hair
541had lost its fillet; her impassioned eyes were lifted in vain prayer,—her eyes alone! For chains of steel her frail, soft hands confined. Coroebus' eyes this horror not endured, and, sorrow-crazed, he plunged him headlong in
546the midmost fray, self-offered to be slain, while in close mass our troop behind him poured. But, at this point, the overwhelming spears of our own kinsmen rained resistless down from a high temple-tower; and carnage wild
551ensued, because of the Greek arms we bore and our false crests. The howling Grecian band, crazed by Cassandra's rescue, charged at us from every side; Ajax of savage soul, the sons of Atreus, and that whole wild horde
556Achilles from Dolopian deserts drew. 'T was like the bursting storm, when gales contend, west wind and South, and jocund wind of morn upon his orient steeds—while forests roar, and foam-flecked Nereus with fierce trident stirs
561the dark deep of the sea. All who did hide in shadows of the night, by our assault surprised, and driven in tumultuous flight, now start to view. Full well they now can see our shields and borrowed arms, and clearly note
566our speech of alien sound; their multitude o'erwhelms us utterly. Coroebus first at mailed Minerva's altar prostrate lay, pierced by Peneleus, blade; then Rhipeus fell; we deemed him of all Trojans the most just,
571most scrupulously righteous; but the gods gave judgment otherwise. There Dymas died, and Hypanis, by their compatriots slain; nor thee, O Panthus, in that mortal hour, could thy clean hands or Phoebus, priesthood save.
576O ashes of my country! funeral pyre of all my kin! bear witness that my breast shrank not from any sword the Grecian drew, and that my deeds the night my country died deserved a warrior's death, had Fate ordained.
581But soon our ranks were broken; at my side stayed Iphitus and Pelias; one with age was Iong since wearied, and the other bore the burden of Ulysses' crippling wound. Straightway the roar and tumult summoned us
586to Priam's palace,where a battle raged as if save this no conflict else were known, and all Troy's dying brave were mustered there. There we beheld the war-god unconfined; The Greek besiegers to the roof-tops fled;
591or, with shields tortoise-back, the gates assailed. Ladders were on the walls; and round by round, up the huge bulwark as they fight their way, the shielded left-hand thwarts the falling spears, the right to every vantage closely clings.
596The Trojans hurl whole towers and roof-tops down upon the mounting foe; for well they see that the last hour is come, and with what arms the dying must resist. Rich gilded beams, with many a beauteous blazon of old time,
601go crashing down. Men armed with naked swords defend the inner doors in close array. Thus were our hearts inflamed to stand and strike for the king's house, and to his body-guard bring succor, and renew their vanquished powers.
606A certain gate I knew, a secret way, which gave free passage between Priam's halls, and exit rearward; hither, in the days before our fall, the lone Andromache was wont with young Astyanax to pass
611in quest of Priam and her husband's kin. This way to climb the palace roof I flew, where, desperate, the Trojans with vain skill hurled forth repellent arms. A tower was there, reared skyward from the roof-top, giving view
616of Troy's wide walls and full reconnaissance of all Achaea's fleets and tented field; this, with strong steel, our gathered strength assailed, and as the loosened courses offered us great threatening fissures, we uprooted it
621from its aerial throne and thrust it down. It fell with instantaneous crash of thunder along the Danaan host in ruin wide. But fresh ranks soon arrive; thick showers of stone rain down, with every missile rage can find.
626Now at the threshold of the outer court Pyrrhus triumphant stood, with glittering arms and helm of burnished brass. He glittered like some swollen viper, fed on poison-leaves, whom chilling winter shelters underground,
631till, fresh and strong, he sheds his annual scales and, crawling forth rejuvenate, uncoils his slimy length; his lifted gorge insults the sunbeam with three-forked and quivering tongue. Huge Periphas was there; Automedon,
636who drove Achilles' steeds, and bore his arms. Then Scyros' island-warriors assault the palaces, and hurl reiterate fire at wall and tower. Pyrrhus led the van; seizing an axe he clove the ponderous doors
641and rent the hinges from their posts of bronze; he cut the beams, and through the solid mass burrowed his way, till like a window huge the breach yawned wide, and opened to his gaze a vista of long courts and corridors,
646the hearth and home of many an ancient king, and Priam's own; upon its sacred bourne the sentry, all in arms, kept watch and ward. Confusion, groans, and piteous turmoil were in that dwelling; women shrieked and wailed
651from many a dark retreat, and their loud cry rang to the golden stars. Through those vast halls the panic-stricken mothers wildly roved, and clung with frantic kisses and embrace unto the columns cold. Fierce as his sire,
656Pyrrhus moves on; nor bar nor sentinel may stop his way; down tumbles the great door beneath the battering beam, and with it fall hinges and framework violently torn. Force bursts all bars; th' assailing Greeks break in,
661do butchery, and with men-at-arms possess what place they will. Scarce with an equal rage a foaming river, when its dykes are down, o'erwhelms its mounded shores, and through the plain rolls mountain-high, while from the ravaged farms
666its fierce flood sweeps along both flock and fold. My own eyes looked on Neoptolemus frenzied with slaughter, and both Atreus' sons upon the threshold frowning; I beheld her hundred daughters with old Hecuba;
671and Priam, whose own bleeding wounds defiled the altars where himself had blessed the fires; there fifty nuptial beds gave promise proud of princely heirs; but all their brightness now, of broidered cunning and barbaric gold,
676lay strewn and trampled on. The Danaan foe stood victor, where the raging flame had failed. But would ye haply know what stroke of doom on Priam fell? Now when his anguish saw his kingdom lost and fallen, his abode
681shattered, and in his very hearth and home th' exulting foe, the aged King did bind his rusted armor to his trembling thews,— all vainly,— and a useless blade of steel he girded on; then charged, resolved to die
686encircled by the foe. Within his walls there stood, beneath the wide and open sky, a lofty altar; an old laurel-tree leaned o'er it, and enclasped in holy shade the statues of the tutelary powers.
691Here Hecuba and all the princesses took refuge vain within the place of prayer. Like panic-stricken doves in some dark storm, close-gathering they sate, and in despair embraced their graven gods. But when the Queen
696saw Priam with his youthful harness on, “What frenzy, O my wretched lord,” she cried, “Arrayed thee in such arms? O, whither now? Not such defences, nor such arm as thine, the time requires, though thy companion were
701our Hector's self. O, yield thee, I implore! This altar now shall save us one and all, or we must die together.” With these words she drew him to her side, and near the shrine made for her aged spouse a place to cling.
706But, lo! just 'scaped of Pyrrhus' murderous hand, Polites, one of Priam's sons, fled fast along the corridors, through thronging foes and a thick rain of spears. Wildly he gazed across the desolate halls, wounded to death.
711Fierce Pyrrhus followed after, pressing hard with mortal stroke, and now his hand and spear were close upon:— when the lost youth leaped forth into his father's sight, and prostrate there lay dying, while his life-blood ebbed away.
716Then Priam, though on all sides death was nigh, quit not the strife, nor from loud wrath refrained: “Thy crime and impious outrage, may the gods (if Heaven to mortals render debt and due) justly reward and worthy honors pay!
721My own son's murder thou hast made me see, blood and pollution impiously throwing upon a father's head. Not such was he, not such, Achilles, thy pretended sire, when Priam was his foe. With flush of shame
726he nobly listened to a suppliant's plea in honor made. He rendered to the tomb my Hector's body pale, and me did send back to my throne a king.” With this proud word the aged warrior hurled with nerveless arm
731his ineffectual spear, which hoarsely rang rebounding on the brazen shield, and hung piercing the midmost boss,- but all in vain. Then Pyrrhus: “Take these tidings, and convey message to my father, Peleus' son!
736tell him my naughty deeds! Be sure and say how Neoptolemus hath shamed his sires. Now die!” With this, he trailed before the shrines the trembling King, whose feet slipped in the stream of his son's blood. Then Pyrrhus' left hand clutched
741the tresses old and gray; a glittering sword his right hand lifted high, and buried it far as the hilt in that defenceless heart. So Priam's story ceased. Such final doom fell on him, while his dying eyes surveyed
746Troy burning, and her altars overthrown, though once of many an orient land and tribe the boasted lord. In huge dismemberment his severed trunk lies tombless on the shore, the head from shoulder torn, the corpse unknown.
751Then first wild horror on my spirit fell and dazed me utterly. A vision rose of my own cherished father, as I saw the King, his aged peer, sore wounded Iying in mortal agony; a vision too
756of lost Creusa at my ravaged hearth, and young Iulus' peril. Then my eyes looked round me seeking aid. But all were fled, war-wearied and undone; some earthward leaped from battlement or tower; some in despair
761yielded their suffering bodies to the flame. I stood there sole surviving; when, behold, to Vesta's altar clinging in dumb fear, hiding and crouching in the hallowed shade, Tyndarus' daughter!— 't was the burning town
766lighted full well my roving steps and eyes. In fear was she both of some Trojan's rage for Troy o'erthrown, and of some Greek revenge, or her wronged husband's Iong indignant ire. So hid she at that shrine her hateful brow,
771being of Greece and Troy, full well she knew, the common curse. Then in my bosom rose a blaze of wrath; methought I should avenge my dying country, and with horrid deed pay crime for crime. “Shall she return unscathed
776to Sparta, to Mycenae's golden pride, and have a royal triumph? Shall her eyes her sire and sons, her hearth and husband see, while Phrygian captives follow in her train? is Priam murdered? Have the flames swept o'er
781my native Troy? and cloth our Dardan strand sweat o'er and o'er with sanguinary dew? O, not thus unavenged! For though there be no glory if I smite a woman's crime, nor conqueror's fame for such a victory won,
786yet if I blot this monster out, and wring full punishment from guilt, the time to come will praise me, and sweet pleasure it will be to glut my soul with vengeance and appease the ashes of my kindred.”So I raved,
791and to such frenzied purpose gave my soul. Then with clear vision (never had I seen her presence so unclouded) I beheld, in golden beams that pierced the midnight gloom, my gracious mother, visibly divine,
796and with that mien of majesty she wears when seen in heaven; she stayed me with her hand, and from her lips of rose this counsel gave: “O son, what sorrow stirs thy boundless rage? what madness this? Or whither vanisheth
801thy love of me? Wilt thou not seek to know where bides Anchises, thy abandoned sire, now weak with age? or if Creusa lives and young Ascanius, who are ringed about with ranks of Grecian foes, and long ere this—
806save that my love can shield them and defend— had fallen on flame or fed some hungry sword? Not Helen's hated beauty works thee woe; nor Paris, oft-accused. The cruelty of gods, of gods unaided, overwhelms
811thy country's power, and from its Iofty height casts Ilium down. Behold, I take away the barrier-cloud that dims thy mortal eye, with murk and mist o'er-veiling. Fear not thou to heed thy mother's word, nor let thy heart
816refuse obedience to her counsel given. 'Mid yonder trembling ruins, where thou see'st stone torn from stone, with dust and smoke uprolling, 't is Neptune strikes the wall; his trident vast makes her foundation tremble, and unseats
821the city from her throne. Fierce Juno leads resistless onset at the Scaean gate, and summons from the ships the league of powers, wearing her wrathful sword. On yonder height behold Tritonia in the citadel
826clothed with the lightning and her Gorgon-shield! Unto the Greeks great Jove himself renews their courage and their power; 't is he thrusts on the gods themselves against the Trojan arms. Fly, O my son! The war's wild work give o'er!
831I will be always nigh and set thee safe upon thy father's threshold.” Having said, she fled upon the viewless night away. Then loomed o'er Troy the apparition vast of her dread foes divine; I seemed to see
836all Ilium sink in fire, and sacred Troy, of Neptune's building, utterly o'erthrown. So some huge ash-tree on the mountain's brow (when rival woodmen, heaving stroke on stroke of two-edged axes, haste to cast her down)
841sways ominously her trembling, leafy top, and drops her smitten head; till by her wounds vanquished at last, she makes her dying groan, and falls in loud wreck from the cliffs uptorn. I left the citadel; and, led by Heaven,
846threaded the maze of deadly foes and fires, through spears that glanced aside and flames that fell. Soon came I to my father's ancient seat, our home and heritage. But lo! my sire (whom first of all I sought, and first would bear
851to safe asylum in the distant hills) vowed he could never, after fallen Troy, live longer on, or bear an exile's woe. “O you,” he cried, “whose blood not yet betrays the cruel taint of time, whose powers be still
856unpropped and undecayed, go, take your flight. If heavenly wrath had willed my life to spare, this dwelling had been safe. It is too much that I have watched one wreck, and for too Iong outlived my vanquished country. Thus, O, thus!
861Compose these limbs for death, and say farewell. My own hand will procure it; or my foe will end me of mere pity, and for spoil will strip me bare. It is an easy loss to have no grave. For many a year gone by,
866accursed of Heaven, I tarry in this world a useless burden, since that fatal hour when Jove, of gods the Sire and men the King, his lightnings o'er me breathed and blasting fire.” Such fixed resolve he uttered o'er and o'er,
871and would not yield, though with my tears did join my spouse Creusa, fair Ascanius, and our whole house, imploring the gray sire not with himself to ruin all, nor add yet heavier burdens to our crushing doom.
876He still cried, “No!” and clung to where he sat and to the same dread purpose. I once more back to the fight would speed. For death alone I made my wretched prayer. What space was left for wisdom now? What chance or hope was given?
881“Didst thou, dear father, dream that I could fly sundered from thee? Did such an infamy fall from a father's lips? If Heaven's decree will of this mighty nation not let live a single soul, if thine own purpose be
886to cast thyself and thy posterity into thy country's grave, behold, the door is open to thy death! Lo, Pyrrhus comes red-handed from King Priam! He has slain a son before a father's eyes, and spilt
891a father's blood upon his own hearthstone. Was it for this, O heavenly mother mine, that thou hast brought me safe through sword and fire? that I might see these altars desecrate by their worst foes? that I might look upon
896my sire, my wife, and sweet Ascanius dead at my feet in one another's blood? To arms, my men, to arms! The hour of death now beckons to the vanquished. Let me go whither the Greeks are gathered; let me stand
901where oft revives the flagging stroke of war: Not all of us die unavenged this day!” I clasped my sword-belt round me once again, fitted my left arm to my shield, and turned to fly the house; but at the threshold clung
906Creusa to my knees, and lifted up Iulus to his father's arms. “If thou wouldst rush on death,” she cried, “O, suffer us to share thy perils with thee to the end. But if this day's work bid thee trust a sword,
911defend thy hearthstone first. Who else shall guard thy babe Iulus, or thy reverend sire? Or me, thy wife that was—what help have I?” So rang the roof-top with her piteous cries: but lo! a portent wonderful to see
916on sudden rose; for while his parents' grief held the boy close in arm and full in view, there seemed upon Iulus' head to glow a flickering peak of fire; the tongue of flame innocuous o'er his clustering tresses played,
921and hovered round his brows. We, horror-struck, grasped at his burning hair, and sprinkled him, to quench that holy and auspicious fire. then sire Anchises with exultant eyes looked heavenward, and lifted to the stars
926his voice and outstretched hands. “Almighty Jove, if aught of prayer may move thee, let thy grace now visit us! O, hear this holy vow! And if for service at thine altars done, we aught can claim, O Father, lend us aid,
931and ratify the omen thou hast given!” Scarce ceased his aged voice, when suddenly from leftward, with a deafening thunder-peal, cleaving the blackness of the vaulted sky, a meteor-star in trailing splendor ran,
936exceeding bright. We watched it glide sublime o'er tower and town, until its radiant beam in forest-mantled Ida died away; but left a furrow on its track in air, a glittering, Iong line, while far and wide
941the sulphurous fume and exhalation flowed. My father strove not now; but lifted him in prayer to all the gods, in holy awe of that auspicious star, and thus exclaimed: “Tarry no moment more! Behold, I come!
946Whithersoe'er ye lead, my steps obey. Gods of my fathers, O, preserve our name! Preserve my son, and his! This augury is yours; and Troy on your sole strength relies. I yield, dear son; I journey at thy side.”
951He spoke; and higher o'er the blazing walls leaped the loud fire, while ever nearer drew the rolling surges of tumultuous flame. “Haste, father, on these bending shoulders climb! This back is ready, and the burden light;
956one peril smites us both, whate'er befall; one rescue both shall find. Close at my side let young Iulus run, while, not too nigh, my wife Creusa heeds what way we go. Ye servants of our house, give ear, I pray,
961to my command. Outside the city's gates lies a low mound and long since ruined fane to Ceres vowed; a cypress, ancient shade o'erhangs it, which our fathers' pious care protected year by year; by various paths
966be that our meeting-place. But in thy hands bring, sire, our household gods, and sanctifies: for me to touch, who come this very hour from battle and the fresh blood of the slain, were but abomination, till what time
971in living waters I shall make me clean.” So saying, I bowed my neck and shoulders broad, o'erspread me with a lion's tawny skin, and lifted up my load. Close at my side little Iulus twined his hand in mine
976and followed, with unequal step, his sire. My wife at distance came. We hastened on, creeping through shadows; I, who once had viewed undaunted every instrument of war and all the gathered Greeks in grim array,
981now shook at every gust, and heard all sounds with fevered trepidation, fearing both for him I bore and him who clasped my hand. Now near the gates I drew, and deemed our flight safely at end, when suddenly I heard
986the sounding tread of many warriors that seemed hard-by, while through the murky night my father peered, and shouted, “O my son, away, away! for surely all our foes are here upon us, and my eyes behold
991the glance of glittering shields and flash of arms.” O, then some evil-working, nameless god clouded my senses quite: for while I sped along our pathless way, and left behind all paths and regions known—O wretched me!—
996Creusa on some dark disaster fell; she stopped, or wandered, or sank down undone,— I never knew what way,—and nevermore I looked on her alive. Yet knew I not my loss, nor backward turned a look or thought,
1001till by that hallowed hill to Ceres vowed we gathered all,— and she alone came not, while husband, friends, and son made search in vain. What god, what man, did not my grief accuse in frenzied word? In all the ruined land
1006what worse woe had I seen? Entrusting then my sire, my son, and all the Teucrian gods to the deep shadows of a slanting vale where my allies kept guard, I tried me back to that doomed town, re-girt in glittering arms.
1011Resolved was I all hazards to renew, all Troy to re-explore, and once again offer my life to perils without end. The walls and gloomy gates whence forth I came I first revisit, and retrace my way,
1016searching the night once more. On all sides round horror spread wide; the very silence breathed a terror on my soul. I hastened then back to my fallen home, if haply there her feet had strayed; but the invading Greeks
1021were its possessors, though the hungry fire was blown along the roof-tree, and the flames rolled raging upward on the fitful gale. To Priam's house I haste, and climb once more the citadel; in Juno's temple there,
1026the chosen guardians of her wasted halls, Phoenix and dread Ulysses watched the spoil. Here, snatched away from many a burning fane, Troy's treasures lay,—rich tables for the gods, thick bowls of messy gold, and vestures rare,
1031confusedly heaped up, while round the pile fair youths and trembling virgins stood forlorn. Yet oft my voice rang dauntless through the gloom, from street to street I cried with anguish vain; and on Creusa piteously calling,
1036woke the lamenting echoes o'er and o'er. While on this quest I roamed the city through, of reason reft there rose upon my sight— O shape of sorrow!— my Creusa's ghost, hers truly, though a loftier port it wore.
1041I quailed, my hair rose, and I gasped for fear; but thus she spoke, and soothed my grief away: “Why to these frenzied sorrows bend thy soul, O husband ever dear! The will of Heaven hath brought all this to pass. Fate doth not send
1046Creusa the long journeys thou shalt take, or hath th' Olympian King so given decree. Long is thy banishment; thy ship must plough the vast, far-spreading sea. Then shalt thou come unto Hesperia, whose fruitful plains
1051are watered by the Tiber, Lydian stream, of smooth, benignant Bow. Thou shalt obtain fair fortunes, and a throne and royal bride. For thy beloved Creusa weep no more! No Myrmidon's proud palace waits me now;
1056Dolopian shall not scorn, nor Argive dames command a slave of Dardan's royal stem and wife to Venus' son. On these loved shores the Mother of the Gods compels my stay. Farewell! farewell! O, cherish evermore
1061thy son and mine!” Her utterance scarce had ceased, when, as I strove through tears to make reply, she left me, and dissolved in empty air. Thrice would my frustrate arms her form enfold; thrice from the clasp of hand that vision fled,
1066like wafted winds and like a fleeting dream. The night had passed, and to my friends once more I made my way, much wondering to find a mighty multitude assembled there of friends new-come,—matrons and men-at-arms,
1071and youth for exile bound,— a doleful throng. From far and near they drew, their hearts prepared and their possessions gathered, to sail forth to lands unknown, wherever o'er the wave I bade them follow. Now above the crest
1076of loftiest Ida rose the morning-star, chief in the front of day. The Greeks held fast the captive gates of Troy. No help or hope was ours any more. Then, yielding all, and lifting once again my aged sire,
1081for refuge to the distant hills I fled.
Book 3
1When Asia's power and Priam's race and throne, though guiltless, were cast down by Heaven's decree, when Ilium proud had fallen, and Neptune's Troy in smouldering ash lay level with the ground, to wandering exile then and regions wild
6the gods by many an augury and sign compelled us forth. We fashioned us a fleet within Antander's haven, in the shade of Phrygian Ida's peak (though knowing not whither our fate would drive, or where afford
11a resting-place at last), and my small band of warriors I arrayed. As soon as smiled the light of summer's prime, my reverend sire Anchises bade us on the winds of Fate to spread all sail. Through tears I saw recede
16my native shore, the haven and the plains where once was Troy. An exile on the seas, with son and followers and household shrines, and Troy's great guardian-gods, I took my way. There is a far-off land where warriors breed,
21where Thracians till the boundless plains, and where the cruel-eyed Lycurgus once was king. Troy's old ally it was, its deities had brotherhood with ours before our fall. Thither I fared, and on its winding shores
26set my first walls, though partial Fate opposed our entrance there. In memory of my name I called its people the Aeneadae. Unto Dione's daughter, and all gods who blessed our young emprise, due gifts were paid;
31and unto the supreme celestial King I slew a fair white bull beside the sea. But haply near my place of sacrifice a mound was seen, and on the summit grew a copse of corner and a myrtle tree,
36with spear-like limbs outbranched on every side. This I approached, and tried to rend away from its deep roots that grove of gloomy green, and dress my altars in its leafy boughs. But, horrible to tell, a prodigy
41smote my astonished eyes: for the first tree, which from the earth with broken roots I drew, dripped black with bloody drops, and gave the ground dark stains of gore. Cold horror shook my frame, and every vein within me froze for fear.
46Once more I tried from yet another stock the pliant stem to tear, and to explore the mystery within,—but yet again the foul bark oozed with clots of blackest gore! From my deep-shaken soul I made a prayer
51to all the woodland nymphs and to divine Gradivus, patron of the Thracian plain, to bless this sight, to lift its curse away. But when at a third sheaf of myrtle spears I fell upon my knees, and tugged amain
56against the adverse ground (I dread to tell!), a moaning and a wail from that deep grave burst forth and murmured in my listening ear: “Why wound me, great Aeneas, in my woe? O, spare the dead, nor let thy holy hands
61do sacrilege and sin! I, Trojan-born, was kin of thine. This blood is not of trees. Haste from this murderous shore, this land of greed. O, I am Polydorus! Haste away! Here was I pierced; a crop of iron spears
66has grown up o'er my breast, and multiplied to all these deadly javelins, keen and strong.” Then stood I, burdened with dark doubt and fear I quailed, my hair rose and my utterance choked. For once this Polydorus, with much gold,
71ill-fated Priam sent by stealth away for nurture with the Thracian king, what time Dardania's war Iooked hopeless, and her towers were ringed about by unrelenting siege. That king, when Ilium's cause was ebbing low,
76and fortune frowned, gave o'er his plighted faith to Agamemnon's might and victory; he scorned all honor and did murder foul on Polydorus, seizing lawlessly on all the gold. O, whither at thy will,
81curst greed of gold, may mortal hearts be driven? Soon as my shuddering ceased, I told this tale of prodigies before the people's chiefs, who sat in conclave with my kingly sire, and bade them speak their reverend counsel forth.
86All found one voice; to leave that land of sin, where foul abomination had profaned a stranger's right; and once more to resign our fleet unto the tempest and the wave. But fit and solemn funeral rites were paid
91to Polydorus. A high mound we reared of heaped-up earth, and to his honored shade built a perpetual altar, sadly dressed in cypress dark and purple pall of woe. Our Ilian women wailed with loosened hair;
96new milk was sprinkled from a foaming cup, and from the shallow bowl fresh blood out-poured upon the sacred ground. So in its tomb we laid his ghost to rest, and loudly sang, with prayer for peace, the long, the last farewell.
101After these things, when first the friendly sea looked safe and fair, and o'er its tranquil plain light-whispering breezes bade us launch away, my men drew down our galleys to the brine, thronging the shore. Soon out of port we ran,
106and watched the hills and cities fading far. There is a sacred island in mid-seas, to fruitful Doris and to Neptune dear, which grateful Phoebus, wielder of the bow, the while it drifted loose from land to land,
111chained firmly where the crags of Gyaros and Myconos uptower, and bade it rest immovable, in scorn of wind and wave. Thither I sped; by this my weary ships found undisturbed retreat and haven fair.
116To land we came and saw with reverent eyes Apollo's citadel. King Anius, his people's king, and priest at Phoebus' fane, came forth to meet us, wearing on his brow the fillets and a holy laurel crown.
121Unto Anchises he gave greeting kind, claimed old acquaintance, grasped us by the hand, and bade us both his roof and welcome share. Then, kneeling at the shrine of time-worn stone: “Thou who at Thymbra on the Trojan shore
126hast often blessed my prayer, O, give to me a hearth and home, and to this war-worn band defensive towers and offspring multiplied in an abiding city; give to Troy a second citadel, that shall survive
131Achilles' wrath and all our Argive foe. Whom shall we follow? Whither lies our way? Where wilt thou grant us an abiding-place? Send forth, O King, thy voice oracular, and on our spirits move.” Scarce had I spoke
136when sudden trembling through the laurels ran and smote the holy portals; far and wide the mighty ridges of the mountain shook, and from the opening shrine the tripod moaned. Prostrate to earth we fall, as on our ears
141this utterance breaks: “O breed of iron men, ye sons of Dardanus! the self-same land where bloomed at first your far-descended stem shall to its bounteous bosom draw ye home. Seek out your ancient Mother! There at last
146Aeneas' race shall reign on every shore, and his sons' sons, and all their house to be.” So Phoebus spoke; and mighty joy uprose from all my thronging people, who would know where Phoebus' city lay, and whitherward
151the god ordained the wandering tribe's return. Then spake my father, pondering olden days and sacred memories of heroes gone: “Hear, chiefs and princes, what your hopes shall be! The Isle of Crete, abode of lofty Jove,
156rests in the middle sea. Thence Ida soars; there is the cradle of our race. It boasts a hundred cities, seats of fruitful power. Thence our chief sire, if duly I recall the olden tale, King Teucer sprung, who first
161touched on the Trojan shore, and chose his seat of kingly power. There was no Ilium then nor towered Pergama; in lowly vales their dwelling; hence the ancient worship given to the Protectress of Mount Cybele,
166mother of Gods, what time in Ida's grove the brazen Corybantic cymbals clang, or sacred silence guards her mystery, and lions yoked her royal chariot draw. Up, then, and follow the behests divine!
171Pour offering to the winds, and point your keels unto that realm of Minos. It is near. if Jove but bless, the third day's dawn should see our ships at Cretan land.” So, having said, he slew the victims for each altar's praise.
176A bull to Neptune, and a bull to thee, o beauteous Apollo! A black lamb unto the clouds and storms; but fleece of snow to the mild zephyrs was our offering. The tale was told us that Idomeneus,
181from his hereditary kindgom driven, had left his Crete abandoned, that no foe now harbored there, but all its dwellings lay untenanted of man. So forth we sailed out of the port of Delos, and sped far
186along the main. The maenad-haunted hills of Naxos came in view; the ridges green of fair Donysa, with Olearos, and Paros, gleaming white, and Cyclades scattered among the waves, as close we ran
191where thick-strewn islands vex the channelled seas with rival shout the sailors cheerly called: “On, comrades! On, to Crete and to our sires!” Freely behind us blew the friendly winds, and gave smooth passage to that fabled shore,
196the land of the Curetes, friends of Jove. There eagerly I labored at the walls of our long-prayed-for city; and its name was Pergamea; to my Trojan band, pleased with such name, I gave command to build
201altar and hearth, and raise the lofty tower. But scarce the ships were beached along the strand (While o'er the isle my busy mariners ploughed in new fields and took them wives once more, — I giving homes and laws) when suddenly
206a pestilence from some infectious sky seized on man's flesh, and horribly exhaled o'er trees and crops a fatal year of plague. Some breathed their last, while others weak and worn lived on; the dog-star parched the barren fields;
211grass withered, and the sickly, mouldering corn refused us life. My aged father then bade us re-cross the waves and re-implore Apollo's mercy at his island shrine; if haply of our weariness and woe
216he might vouchsafe the end, or bid us find help for our task, or guidance o'er the sea. 'T was night, and sleep possessed all breathing things; when, lo! the sacred effigies divine, the Phrygian gods which through the flames I bore
221from fallen Troy, seemed in a vision clear to stand before me where I slumbering lay, bathed in bright beams which from the moon at full streamed through the latticed wall: and thus they spoke to soothe my care away. “Apollo's word,
226which in far Delos the god meant for thee, is uttered here. Behold, he sends ourselves to this thy house, before thy prayer is made. We from Troy's ashes have companioned thee in every fight; and we the swollen seas,
231guided by thee, in thine own ships have crossed; our power divine shall set among the stars thy seed to be, and to thy city give dominion evermore. For mighty men go build its mighty walls! Seek not to shun
236the hard, long labors of an exile's way. Change this abode! Not thine this Cretan shore, nor here would Delian Phoebus have thee bide. There is a land the roving Greeks have named Hesperia. It is a storied realm
241made mighty by great wars and fruitful land. Oenotrians had it, and their sons, 't is said, have called it Italy, a chieftain's name to a whole region given. That land alone our true abode can be; for Dardanus
246was cradled there, and old Iasius, their blood the oldest of our ancient line. Arise! go forth and cheer thy father gray with the glad tidings! Bid him doubt no more! Ausonia seek and Corythus; for Jove
251denies this Cretan realm to thine and thee.” I marvelled at the heavenly presences so vocal and so bright, for 't was not sleep; but face to face I deemed I could discern each countenance august and holy brow,
256each mantled head; and from my body ran cold sweat of awe. From my low couch I sprang, lifting to heaven my suppliant hands and prayer, and o'er my hearth poured forth libations free. After th' auspicious offering, I told
261Anchises the whole tale in order due. He owned our stock two-branched, of our great sires the twofold line, and that his thought had strayed, in new confusion mingling ancient names; then spoke: “O son, in Ilium's doom severe
266afflicted ever! To my ears alone this dark vicissitude Cassandra sang. I mind me now that her wild tongue foretold such destiny. For oft she called aloud ‘Hesperia!’ oft ‘Italia's kingdom!’ called.
271But who had faith that Teucer's sons should come to far Hesperia? What mortal ear gave heed to sad Cassandra's voice divine? Now Phoebus speaks. Obedient let us be, and, warned by him, our happier Iot pursue!”
276He spoke: with heart of hope we all obeyed; again we changed abode; and, leaving there a feeble few, again with spreading sails we coursed in hollow ship the spacious sea. When from the deep the shores had faded far,
281and only sky and sea were round our way, full in the zenith hung a purple cloud, storm-laden, dark as night, and every wave grew black and angry, while perpetual gales came rolling o'er the main, and mountain-high
286the wreckful surges rose; our ships were hurled wide o'er the whirling waters; thunder-clouds and misty murk of night made end of all the light of heaven, save where the rifted storm flashed with the oft-reiterate shaft of Jove.
291Then went we drifting, beaten from our course, upon a trackless sea. Not even the eyes of Palinurus could tell night from noon or ken our way. Three days of blinding dark, three nights without a star, we roved the seas;
296The fourth, land seemed to rise. Far distant hills and rolling smoke we saw. Down came our sails, out flew the oars, and with prompt stroke the crews swept the dark waves and tossed the crested foam. From such sea-peril safe, I made the shores
301of Strophades,—a name the Grecians gave to islands in the broad Ionic main, — the Strophades, where dread Celaeno bides, with other Harpies, who had quit the halls of stricken Phineus, and for very fear
306fled from the routed feast; no prodigy more vile than these, nor plague more pitiless ere rose by wrath divine from Stygian wave; birds seem they, but with face like woman-kind; foul-flowing bellies, hands with crooked claws,
311and ghastly lips they have, with hunger pale. Scarce had we made the haven, when, behold! Fair herds of cattle roaming a wide plain, and horned goats, untended, feeding free in pastures green, surprised our happy eyes.
316with eager blades we ran to take and slay, asking of every god, and chicfly Jove, to share the welcome prize: we ranged a feast, with turf-built couches and a banquet-board along the curving strand. But in a trice,
321down from the high hills swooping horribly, the Harpies loudly shrieking, flapped their wings, snatched at our meats, and with infectious touch polluted all; infernal was their cry, the stench most vile. Once more in covert far
326beneath a caverned rock, and close concealed with trees and branching shade, we raised aloft our tables, altars, and rekindled fires. Once more from haunts unknown the clamorous flock from every quarter flew, and seized its prey
331with taloned feet and carrion lip most foul. I called my mates to arms and opened war on that accursed brood. My band obeyed; and, hiding in deep grass their swords and shields, in ambush lay. But presently the foe
336swept o'er the winding shore with loud alarm : then from a sentry-crag, Misenus blew a signal on his hollow horn. My men flew to the combat strange, and fain would wound with martial steel those foul birds of the sea;
341but on their sides no wounding blade could fall, nor any plume be marred. In swiftest flight to starry skies they soared, and left on earth their half-gnawed, stolen feast, and footprints foul. Celaeno only on a beetling crag
346took lofty perch, and, prophetess of ill, shrieked malediction from her vulture breast: “Because of slaughtered kine and ravished herd, sons of Laomedon, have ye made war? And will ye from their rightful kingdom drive
351the guiltless Harpies? Hear, O, hear my word (Long in your bosoms may it rankle sore!) which Jove omnipotent to Phoebus gave, Phoebus to me: a word of doom, which I, the Furies' elder sister, here unfold:
356‘To Italy ye fare. The willing winds your call have heard; and ye shall have your prayer in some Italian haven safely moored. But never shall ye rear the circling walls of your own city, till for this our blood
361by you unjustly spilt, your famished jaws bite at your tables, aye,—and half devour.’” She spoke: her pinions bore her to the grove, and she was seen no more. But all my band shuddered with shock of fear in each cold vein;
366their drooping spirits trusted swords no more, but turned to prayers and offerings, asking grace, scarce knowing if those creatures were divine, or but vast birds, ill-omened and unclean. Father Anchises to the gods in heaven
371uplifted suppliant hands, and on that shore due ritual made, crying aloud; “Ye gods avert this curse, this evil turn away! Smile, Heaven, upon your faithful votaries.” Then bade he launch away, the chain undo,
376set every cable free and spread all sail. O'er the white waves we flew, and took our way where'er the helmsman or the winds could guide. Now forest-clad Zacynthus met our gaze, engirdled by the waves; Dulichium,
381same, and Neritos, a rocky steep, uprose. We passed the cliffs of Ithaca that called Laertes king, and flung our curse on fierce Ulysses' hearth and native land. nigh hoar Leucate's clouded crest we drew,
386where Phoebus' temple, feared by mariners, loomed o'er us; thitherward we steered and reached the little port and town. Our weary fleet dropped anchor, and lay beached along the strand. So, safe at land, our hopeless peril past,
391we offered thanks to Jove, and kindled high his altars with our feast and sacrifice; then, gathering on Actium's holy shore, made fair solemnities of pomp and game. My youth, anointing their smooth, naked limbs,
396wrestled our wonted way. For glad were we, who past so many isles of Greece had sped and 'scaped our circling foes. Now had the sun rolled through the year's full circle, and the waves were rough with icy winter's northern gales.
401I hung for trophy on that temple door a swelling shield of brass (which once was worn by mighty Abas) graven with this line: SPOIL OF AENEAS FROM TRIUMPHANT FOES. Then from that haven I command them forth;
406my good crews take the thwarts, smiting the sea with rival strokes, and skim the level main. Soon sank Phaeacia's wind-swept citadels out of our view; we skirted the bold shores of proud Epirus, in Chaonian land,
411and made Buthrotum's port and towering town. Here wondrous tidings met us, that the son of Priam, Helenus, held kingly sway o'er many Argive cities, having wed the Queen of Pyrrhus, great Achilles' son,
416and gained his throne; and that Andromache once more was wife unto a kindred lord. Amazement held me; all my bosom burned to see the hero's face and hear this tale of strange vicissitude. So up I climbed,
421leaving the haven, fleet, and friendly shore. That self-same hour outside the city walls, within a grove where flowed the mimic stream of a new Simois, Andromache, with offerings to the dead, and gifts of woe,
426poured forth libation, and invoked the shade of Hector, at a tomb which her fond grief had consecrated to perpetual tears, though void; a mound of fair green turf it stood, and near it rose twin altars to his name.
431She saw me drawing near; our Trojan helms met her bewildered eyes, and, terror-struck at the portentous sight, she swooning fell and lay cold, rigid, lifeless, till at last, scarce finding voice, her lips addressed me thus :
436“Have I true vision? Bringest thou the word Of truth, O goddess-born? Art still in flesh? Or if sweet light be fled, my Hector, where?” With flood of tears she spoke, and all the grove reechoed to her cry. Scarce could I frame
441brief answer to her passion, but replied with broken voice and accents faltering: “I live, 't is true. I lengthen out my days through many a desperate strait. But O, believe that what thine eyes behold is vision true.
446Alas! what lot is thine, that wert unthroned from such a husband's side? What after-fate could give thee honor due? Andromache, once Hector's wife, is Pyrrhus still thy lord?” With drooping brows and lowly voice she cried :
451“O, happy only was that virgin blest, daughter of Priam, summoned forth to die in sight of Ilium, on a foeman's tomb! No casting of the lot her doom decreed, nor came she to her conqueror's couch a slave.
456Myself from burning Ilium carried far o'er seas and seas, endured the swollen pride of that young scion of Achilles' race, and bore him as his slave a son. When he sued for Hermione, of Leda's line,
461and nuptial-bond with Lacedaemon's Iords, I, the slave-wife, to Helenus was given, and slave was wed with slave. But afterward Orestes, crazed by loss of her he loved, and ever fury-driven from crime to crime,
466crept upon Pyrrhus in a careless hour and murdered him upon his own hearth-stone. Part of the realm of Neoptolemus fell thus to Helenus, who called his lands Chaonian, and in Trojan Chaon's name
471his kingdom is Chaonia. Yonder height is Pergamus, our Ilian citadel. What power divine did waft thee to our shore, not knowing whither? Tell me of the boy Ascanius! Still breathes he earthly air?
476In Troy she bore him—is he mourning still that mother ravished from his childhood's eyes? what ancient valor stirs the manly soul of thine own son, of Hector's sister's child?” Thus poured she forth full many a doleful word
481with unavailing tears. But as she ceased, out of the city gates appeared the son of Priam, Helenus, with princely train. He welcomed us as kin, and glad at heart gave guidance to his house, though oft his words
486fell faltering and few, with many a tear. Soon to a humbler Troy I lift my eyes, and of a mightier Pergamus discern the towering semblance; there a scanty stream runs on in Xanthus' name, and my glad arms
491the pillars of a Scaean gate embrace. My Teucrian mariners with welcome free enjoyed the friendly town; his ample halls our royal host threw wide; full wine-cups flowed within the palace; golden feast was spread,
496and many a goblet quaffed. Day followed day, while favoring breezes beckoned us to sea, and swelled the waiting canvas as they blew. Then to the prophet-priest I made this prayer: “Offspring of Troy, interpreter of Heaven!
501Who knowest Phoebus' power, and readest well the tripod, stars, and vocal laurel leaves to Phoebus dear, who know'st of every bird the ominous swift wing or boding song, o, speak! For all my course good omens showed,
506and every god admonished me to sail in quest of Italy's far-distant shores; but lone Celaeno, heralding strange woe, foretold prodigious horror, vengeance dark, and vile, unnatural hunger. How elude
511such perils? Or by what hard duty done may such huge host of evils vanquished be?” Then Helenus, with sacrifice of kine in order due, implored the grace of Heaven, unloosed the fillets from his sacred brow,
516and led me, Phoebus, to thy temple's door, awed by th' o'er-brooding godhead, whose true priest, with lips inspired, made this prophetic song: “O goddess-born, indubitably shines the blessing of great gods upon thy path
521across the sea; the heavenly King supreme thy destiny ordains; 't is he unfolds the grand vicissitude, which now pursues a course immutable. I will declare of thy large fate a certain bounded part;
526that fearless thou may'st view the friendly sea, and in Ausonia's haven at the last find thee a fixed abode. Than this no more the Sister Fates to Helenus unveil, and Juno, Saturn's daughter, grants no more.
531First, that Italia (which nigh at hand thou deemest, and wouldst fondly enter in by yonder neighboring bays) lies distant far o'er trackless course and long, with interval of far-extended lands. Thine oars must ply
536the waves of Sicily; thy fleet must cleave the large expanse of that Ausonian brine; the waters of Avernus thou shalt see, and that enchanted island where abides Aeaean Circe, ere on tranquil shore
541thou mayest plant thy nation. Lo! a sign I tell thee; hide this wonder in thy heart: Beside a certain stream's sequestered wave, thy troubled eyes, in shadowy flex grove that fringes on the river, shall descry
546a milk-white, monstrous sow, with teeming brood of thirty young, new littered, white like her, all clustering at her teats, as prone she lies. There is thy city's safe, predestined ground, and there thy labors' end. Vex not thy heart
551about those ‘tables bitten’, for kind fate thy path will show, and Phoebus bless thy prayer. But from these lands and yon Italian shore, where from this sea of ours the tide sweeps in, escape and flee, for all its cities hold
556pernicious Greeks, thy foes: the Locri there have builded walls; the wide Sallentine fields are filled with soldiers of Idomeneus; there Meliboean Philoctetes' town, petilia, towers above its little wall.
561Yea, even when thy fleet has crossed the main, and from new altars built along the shore thy vows to Heaven are paid, throw o'er thy head a purple mantle, veiling well thy brows, lest, while the sacrificial fire ascends
566in offering to the gods, thine eye behold some face of foe, and every omen fail. Let all thy people keep this custom due, and thou thyself be faithful; let thy seed forever thus th' immaculate rite maintain.
571After departing hence, thou shalt be blown toward Sicily, and strait Pelorus' bounds will open wide. Then take the leftward way: those leftward waters in long circuit sweep, far from that billowy coast, the opposing side.
576These regions, so they tell, in ages gone by huge and violent convulsion riven (Such mutability is wrought by time), sprang wide asunder; where the doubled strand sole and continuous lay, the sea's vast power
581burst in between, and bade its waves divide Hesperia's bosom from fair Sicily, while with a straitened firth it interflowed their fields and cities sundered shore from shore. The right side Scylla keeps; the left is given
586to pitiless Charybdis, who draws down to the wild whirling of her steep abyss the monster waves, and ever and anon flings them at heaven, to lash the tranquil stars. But Scylla, prisoned in her eyeless cave,
591thrusts forth her face, and pulls upon the rocks ship after ship; the parts that first be seen are human; a fair-breasted virgin she, down to the womb; but all that lurks below is a huge-membered fish, where strangely join
596the flukes of dolphins and the paunch of wolves. Better by far to round the distant goal of the Trinacrian headlands, veering wide from thy true course, than ever thou shouldst see that shapeless Scylla in her vaulted cave,
601where grim rocks echo her dark sea-dogs' roar. Yea, more, if aught of prescience be bestowed on Helenus, if trusted prophet he, and Phoebus to his heart true voice have given, o goddess-born, one counsel chief of all
606I tell thee oft, and urge it o'er and o'er. To Juno's godhead lift thy Ioudest prayer; to Juno chant a fervent votive song, and with obedient offering persuade that potent Queen. So shalt thou, triumphing,
611to Italy be sped, and leave behind Trinacria.When wafted to that shore, repair to Cumae's hill, and to the Lake Avernus with its whispering grove divine. There shalt thou see a frenzied prophetess,
616who from beneath the hollow scarped crag sings oracles, or characters on leaves mysterious names. Whate'er the virgin writes, on leaves inscribing the portentous song, she sets in order, and conceals them well
621in her deep cave, where they abide unchanged in due array. Yet not a care has she, if with some swinging hinge a breeze sweeps in, to catch them as they whirl: if open door disperse them flutterlig through the hollow rock,
626she will not link their shifted sense anew, nor re-invent her fragmentary song. Oft her unanswered votaries depart, scorning the Sibyl's shrine. But deem not thou thy tarrying too Iong, whate'er thy stay.
631Though thy companions chide, though winds of power invite thy ship to sea, and well would speed the swelling sail, yet to that Sibyl go. Pray that her own lips may sing forth for thee the oracles, uplifting her dread voice
636in willing prophecy. Her rede shall tell of Italy, its wars and tribes to be, and of what way each burden and each woe may be escaped, or borne. Her favoring aid will grant swift, happy voyages to thy prayer.
641Such counsels Heaven to my lips allows. arise, begone! and by thy glorious deeds set Troy among the stars! “ So spake the prophet with benignant voice. Then gifts he bade be brought of heavy gold
646and graven ivory, which to our ships he bade us bear; each bark was Ioaded full with messy silver and Dodona's pride of brazen cauldrons; a cuirass he gave of linked gold enwrought and triple chain;
651a noble helmet, too, with flaming crest and lofty cone, th' accoutrement erewhile of Neoptolemus. My father too had fit gifts from the King; whose bounty then gave steeds and riders; and new gear was sent
656to every sea-worn ship, while he supplied seafarers, kit to all my loyal crews. Anchises bade us speedily set sail, nor lose a wind so fair; and answering him, Apollo's priest made reverent adieu:
661“Anchises, honored by the love sublime of Venus, self and twice in safety borne from falling Troy, chief care of kindly Heaven, th' Ausonian shore is thine. Sail thitherward! For thou art pre-ordained to travel far
666o'er yonder seas; far in the distance lies that region of Ausonia, Phoebus' voice to thee made promise of. Onward, I say, o blest in the exceeding loyal love of thy dear son! Why keep thee longer now?
671Why should my words yon gathering winds detain?” Likewise Andromache in mournful guise took last farewell, bringing embroidered robes of golden woof; a princely Phrygian cloak she gave Ascanius, vying with the King
676in gifts of honor; and threw o'er the boy the labors of her loom, with words like these: “Accept these gifts, sweet youth, memorials of me and my poor handicraft, to prove th' undying friendship of Andromache,
681once Hector's wife. Take these last offerings of those who are thy kin—O thou that art of my Astyanax in all this world the only image! His thy lovely eyes! Thy hands, thy lips, are even what he bore,
686and like thy own his youthful bloom would be.” Thus I made answer, turning to depart with rising tears: “Live on, and be ye blessed, whose greatness is accomplished! As for me, from change to change Fate summons, and I go;
691but ye have won repose. No leagues of sea await your cleaving keel. Not yours the quest of fading Italy's delusive shore. Here a new Xanthus and a second Troy your labor fashioned and your eyes may see—
696more blest, I trust, less tempting to our foes! If e'er on Tiber and its bordering vales I safely enter, and these eyes behold our destined walls, then in fraternal bond let our two nations live, whose mutual boast
701is one Dardanian blood, one common story. Epirus with Hesperia shall be one Troy in heart and soul. But this remains for our sons' sons the happy task and care.” Forth o'er the seas we sped and kept our course
706nigh the Ceraunian headland, where begins the short sea-passage unto Italy. Soon sank the sun, while down the shadowed hills stole deeper gloom; then making shore, we flung our bodies on a dry, sea-bordering sand,
711couched on earth's welcome breast; the oars were ranged in order due; the tides of slumber dark o'erflowed our lives. But scarce the chariot of Night, on wings of swift, obedient Hours, had touched the middle sky, when wakeful sprang
716good Palinurus from his pillowed stone: with hand at ear he caught each airy gust and questioned of the winds; the gliding stars he called by name, as onward they advanced through the still heaven; Arcturus he beheld,
721the Hyades, rain-bringers, the twin Bears, and vast Orion girt in golden arms. He blew a trumpet from his ship; our camp stirred to the signal for embarking; soon we rode the seas once more with swelling sail.
726Scarce had Aurora's purple from the sky warned off the stars, when Iying very low along th' horizon, the dimmed hills we saw of Italy; Achates first gave cry “Italia!” with answering shouts of joy,
731my comrades' voices cried, “Italia, hail!” Anchises, then, wreathed a great bowl with flowers and filled with wine, invoking Heaven to bless, and thus he prayed from our ship's lofty stern: “O Iords of land and sea and every storm!
736Breathe favoring breezes for our onward way!” Fresh blew the prayed-for winds. A haven fair soon widened near us; and its heights were crowned by a Greek fane to Pallas. Yet my men furled sail and shoreward veered the pointing prow.
741the port receding from the orient wave is curved into a bow; on either side the jutting headlands toss the salt sea-foam and hide the bay itself. Like double wall the towered crags send down protecting arms,
746while distant from the shore the temple stands. Here on a green sward, the first omen given, I saw four horses grazing through the field, each white as snow. Father Anchises cried: “Is war thy gift, O new and alien land?
751Horses make war; of war these creatures bode. Yet oft before the chariot of peace their swift hoofs go, and on their necks they bear th' obedient yoke and rein. Therefore a hope of peace is also ours.” Then we implored
756Minerva's mercy, at her sacred shrine, the mail-clad goddess who gave welcome there; and at an altar, mantling well our brows the Phrygian way, as Helenus ordained, we paid the honors his chief counsel urged,
761with blameless rite, to Juno, Argive Queen. No tarrying now, but after sacrifice we twirled the sailyards and shook out all sail, leaving the cities of the sons of Greece and that distrusted land. Tarentum's bay
766soon smiled before us, town of Hercules, if fame be true; opposing it uptowers Lacinia's headland unto Juno dear, the heights of Caulon, and that sailors' bane, ship-shattering Scylaceum. Thence half seen,
771trinacrian Aetna cleaves th' horizon line; we hear from far the crash of shouting seas, where lifted billows leap the tide-swept sand. Father Anchises cried: “'T is none but she— Charybdis! Helenus this reef foretold,
776and rocks of dreadful name. O, fly, my men! Rise like one man with long, strong sweep of oars!” Not unobedient they! First Palinure veered to the leftward wave the willing keel, and sails and oars together leftward strove.
781We shot to skyward on the arching surge, then, as she sank, dropped deeper than the grave; thrice bellowed the vast cliffs from vaulted wall; thrice saw we spouted foam and showers of stars. After these things both wind and sun did fail;
786and weary, worn, not witting of our way, we drifted shoreward to the Cyclops' land. A spreading bay is there, impregnable to all invading storms; and Aetna's throat with roar of frightful ruin thunders nigh.
791Now to the realm of light it lifts a cloud of pitch-black, whirling smoke, and fiery dust, shooting out globes of flame, with monster tongues that lick the stars; now huge crags of itself, out of the bowels of the mountain torn,
796its maw disgorges, while the molten rock rolls screaming skyward; from the nether deep the fathomless abyss makes ebb and flow. Enceladus, his body lightning-scarred, lies prisoned under all, so runs the tale:
801o'er him gigantic Aetna breathes in fire from crack and seam; and if he haply turn to change his wearied side, Trinacria's isle trembles and moans, and thick fumes mantle heaven. That night in screen and covert of a grove
806we bore the dire convulsion, unaware whence the loud horror came. For not a star its lamp allowed, nor burned in upper sky the constellated fires, but all was gloom, and frowning night confined the moon in cloud.
811When from the eastern waves the light of morn began to peer, and from the upper sky Aurora flamed away the dark and dew, out of the forest sprang a startling shape of hunger-wasted misery; a man
816in wretched guise, who shoreward came with hands outstretched in supplication. We turned back and scanned him well. All grime and foulness he, with long and tangled beard, his savage garb fastened with thorns; but in all else he seemed
821a Greek, and in his country's league of arms sent to the seige of Troy. Then he beheld the Dardan habit, and our Trojan steel, he somewhat paused, as if in dread dismay such sight to see, and falteringly moved;
826but soon with headlong steps he sought the shore, ejaculating broken sobs and prayers: “By stars above! By gods on high! O, hear! By this bright heavenly air we mortals breathe, save me, sweet Trojans! Carry me away
831unto what land ye will! I ask no more. I came, I know it, in the ships of Greece; and I did war, 't is true, with Ilium's gods. O, if the crime deserve it, fling my corse on yonder waves, and in the boundless brine
836sink me forever! Give me in my death the comfort that by human hands I die.” He clasped our knees, and writhing on his own clung fast. We bid him tell his race and name, and by what fate pursued. Anchises gave
841his own right hand in swift and generous aid, and by prompt token cheered the exile's heart, who, banishing his fears, poured forth this tale :— “My home was Ithaca, and I partook the fortunes of Ulysses evil-starred.
846My name is Achemenides, my sire was Adamastus, and I sailed for Troy, being so poor,—O, that I ne'er had change the lot I bore! In yon vast Cyclops' cave my comrades, flying from its gruesome door,
851left me behind, forgotten. 'T is a house of gory feasts of flesh, 't is deep and dark, and vaulted high. He looms as high as heaven; I pray the blessed gods to rid the earth of the vile monster! None can look on him,
856none speak with him. He feeds on clotted gore of disembowelled men. These very eyes saw him seize two of our own company, and, as he lolled back in the cave, he clutched and dashed them on the stones, fouling the floor
861with torrent of their blood; myself I saw him crunch with his teeth the dripping, bloody limbs still hot and pulsing on his hungry jaw. But not without reward! For such a sight Ulysses would not brook, and Ithaca
866forgot not in such strait the name he bore. For soon as, gorged with feasting and o'ercome with drunken slumber, the foul giant lay sprawled through the cave, his head dropped helpless down, disgorging as he slept thick drool of gore
871and gobbets drenched with bloody wine; then we, calling on Heaven and taking place by lot, drew round him like one man, and with a beam sharpened at end bored out that monster eye, which, huge and sole, lay under the grim brow,
876round as an Argive shield or Phoebus' star. Thus took we joyful vengeance for the shades of our lost mates. But, O ill-fated men! Fly, I implore, and cut the cables free along the beach! For in the land abide,
881like Polyphemus, who in hollow cave kept fleecy sheep, and milked his fruitful ewes, a hundred other, huge as he, who rove wide o'er this winding shore and mountains fair: Cyclops accursed, bestial! Thrice the moon
886has filled her horns with light, while here I dwell in lonely woods and lairs of creatures wild; or from tall cliffs out-peering I discern the Cyclops, and shrink shuddering from the sound of their vast step and cry. My sorry fare
891is berries and hard corners dropped from trees, or herb-roots torn out from the niggard ground. Though watching the whole sea, only today Have I had sight of ships. To you I fled. Whate'er ye be, it was my only prayer
896to 'scape that monster brood. I ask no more. O, set me free by any death ye will!” He scarce had said, when moving o'er the crest of a high hill a giant shape we saw: that shepherd Polyphemus, with his flocks
901down-wending to the well-known water-side; huge, shapeless, horrible, with blinded eye, bearing a lopped pine for a staff, he made his footing sure, while the white, fleecy sheep, sole pleasure now, and solace of his woes,
906ran huddling at his side. Soon to the vast flood of the level brine he came, and washed the flowing gore away from that out-hollowed eye; he gnashed his teeth, groaning, and deep into the watery way
911stalked on, his tall bulk wet by scarce a wave. We fled in haste, though far, and with us bore the truthful suppliant; cut silently the anchor-ropes, and, bending to the oar, swept on with eager strokes clean out to sea.
916Aware he was, and toward our loud halloo whirled sudden round; but when no power had he to seize or harm, nor could his fierce pursuit o'ertake the Ionian surges as they rolled, he raised a cry incredible; the sea
921with all its billows trembled; the wide shore of Italy from glens and gorges moaned, and Aetna roared from every vaulted cave. Then rallied from the grove-clad, Iofty isle the Cyclops' clan, and lined the beach and bay.
926We saw each lonely eyeball glare in vain, as side by side those brothers Aetna-born stood towering high, a conclave dark and dire: as when, far up some mountain's famous crest, wind-fronting oaks or cone-clad cypresses
931have made assembling in the solemn hills, Jove's giant wood or Dian's sacred grove. We, terror-struck, would fly we knew not where, with loosened sheet and canvas swelling strong before a welcome wind; but Helenus
936bade us both Scylla and Charybdis fear, where 'twixt the twain death straitly hems the way; and so the counsel was to veer our bark the course it came. But lo! a northern gale burst o'er us from Pelorus' narrowed side,
941and on we rode far past Pantagia's bay of unhewn rock, and past the haven strong of Megara, and Thapsus Iying low. Such were the names retold, and such the shores shown us by Achemenides, whose fate
946made him familiar there, for he had sailed with evil-starred Ulysses o'er that sea. Off the Sicilian shore an island lies, wave-washed Plemmyrium, called in olden days Ortygia; here Alpheus, river-god,
951from Elis flowed by secret sluice, they say, beneath the sea, and mingles at thy mouth, fair Arethusa! with Sicilian waves. Our voices hailed the great gods of the land with reverent prayer; then skirted we the shore,
956where smooth Helorus floods the fruitful plain. Under Pachynus' beetling precipice we kept our course; then Camarina rose in distant view, firm-seated evermore by Fate's decree; and that far-spreading vale
961of Gela, with the name of power it takes from its wide river; and, uptowering far, the ramparts of proud Acragas appeared, where fiery steeds were bred in days of old. Borne by the winds, along thy coast I fled,
966Selinus, green with palm! and past the shore of Lilybaeum with its treacherous reef; till at the last the port of Drepanum received me to its melancholy strand. Here, woe is me I outworn by stormful seas,
971my sire, sole comfort of my grievous doom, Anchises ceased to be. O best of sires! Here didst thou leave me in the weary way; through all our perils—O the bitter loss! — borne safely, but in vain. King Helenus,
976whose prophet-tongue of dark events foretold, spoke not this woe; nor did Celeno's curse of this forebode. Such my last loss and pain; such, of my weary way, the destined goal. From thence departing, the divine behest
981impelled me to thy shores, O listening queen! Such was, while all gave ear, the tale sublime father Aeneas, none but he, set forth of wanderings and of dark decrees divine: silent at last, he ceased, and took repose.
Book 4
1Now felt the Queen the sharp, slow-gathering pangs of love; and out of every pulsing vein nourished the wound and fed its viewless fire. Her hero's virtues and his lordly line keep calling to her soul; his words, his glance,
6cling to her heart like lingering, barbed steel, and rest and peace from her vexed body fly. A new day's dawn with Phoebus' lamp divine lit up all lands, and from the vaulted heaven Aurora had dispelled the dark and dew;
11when thus unto the ever-answering heart of her dear sister spoke the stricken Queen: “Anna, my sister, what disturbing dreams perplex me and alarm? What guest is this new-welcomed to our house? How proud his mien!
16What dauntless courage and exploits of war! Sooth, I receive it for no idle tale that of the gods he sprang. 'T is cowardice betrays the base-born soul. Ah me! How fate has smitten him with storms! What dire extremes
21of war and horror in his tale he told! O, were it not immutably resolved in my fixed heart, that to no shape of man I would be wed again (since my first love left me by death abandoned and betrayed);
26loathed I not so the marriage torch and train, I could—who knows?—to this one weakness yield. Anna, I hide it not! But since the doom of my ill-starred Sichaeus, when our shrines were by a brother's murder dabbled o'er,
31this man alone has moved me; he alone has shaken my weak will. I seem to feel the motions of love's lost, familiar fire. But may the earth gape open where I tread, and may almighty Jove with thunder-scourge
36hurl me to Erebus' abysmal shade, to pallid ghosts and midnight fathomless, before, O Chastity! I shall offend thy holy power, or cast thy bonds away! He who first mingled his dear life with mine
41took with him all my heart. 'T is his alone — o, let it rest beside him in the grave!” She spoke: the bursting tears her breast o'erflowed. “O dearer to thy sister than her life,” Anna replied, “wouldst thou in sorrow's weed
46waste thy long youth alone, nor ever know sweet babes at thine own breast, nor gifts of love? Will dust and ashes, or a buried ghost reck what we do? 'T is true thy grieving heart was cold to earlier wooers, Libya's now,
51and long ago in Tyre. Iarbas knew thy scorn, and many a prince and captain bred in Afric's land of glory. Why resist a love that makes thee glad? Hast thou no care what alien lands are these where thou dost reign?
56Here are Gaetulia's cities and her tribes unconquered ever; on thy borders rove Numidia's uncurbed cavalry; here too lies Syrtis' cruel shore, and regions wide of thirsty desert, menaced everywhere
61by the wild hordes of Barca. Shall I tell of Tyre's hostilities, the threats and rage of our own brother? Friendly gods, I bow, wafted the Teucrian ships, with Juno's aid, to these our shores. O sister, what a throne,
66and what imperial city shall be thine, if thus espoused! With Trojan arms allied how far may not our Punic fame extend in deeds of power? Call therefore on the gods to favor thee; and, after omens fair,
71give queenly welcome, and contrive excuse to make him tarry, while yon wintry seas are loud beneath Orion's stormful star, and on his battered ships the season frowns.” So saying, she stirred a passion-burning breast
76to Iove more madly still; her words infused a doubting mind with hope, and bade the blush of shame begone. First to the shrines they went and sued for grace; performing sacrifice, choosing an offering of unblemished ewes,
81to law-bestowing Ceres, to the god of light, to sire Lyeus, Iord of wine; but chiefly unto Juno, patroness of nuptial vows. There Dido, beauteous Queen held forth in her right hand the sacred bowl
86and poured it full between the lifted horns of the white heifer; or on temple floors she strode among the richly laden shrines, the eyes of gods upon her, worshipping with many a votive gift; or, peering deep
91into the victims' cloven sides, she read the fate-revealing tokens trembling there. How blind the hearts of prophets be! Alas! Of what avail be temples and fond prayers to change a frenzied mind? Devouring ever,
96love's fire burns inward to her bones; she feels quick in her breast the viewless, voiceless wound. Ill-fated Dido ranges up and down the spaces of her city, desperate her life one flame—like arrow-stricken doe
101through Cretan forest rashly wandering, pierced by a far-off shepherd, who pursues with shafts, and leaves behind his light-winged steed, not knowing; while she scours the dark ravines of Dicte and its woodlands; at her heart
106the mortal barb irrevocably clings. around her city's battlements she guides aeneas, to make show of Sidon's gold, and what her realm can boast; full oft her voice essays to speak and frembling dies away:
111or, when the daylight fades, she spreads anew a royal banquet, and once more will plead mad that she is, to hear the Trojan sorrow; and with oblivious ravishment once more hangs on his lips who tells; or when her guests
116are scattered, and the wan moon's fading horn bedims its ray, while many a sinking star invites to slumber, there she weeps alone in the deserted hall, and casts her down on the cold couch he pressed. Her love from far
121beholds her vanished hero and receives his voice upon her ears; or to her breast, moved by a father's image in his child, she clasps Ascanius, seeking to deceive her unblest passion so. Her enterprise
126of tower and rampart stops: her martial host no Ionger she reviews, nor fashions now defensive haven and defiant wall; but idly all her half-built bastions frown, and enginery of sieges, high as heaven.
131But soon the chosen spouse of Jove perceived the Queen's infection; and because the voice of honor to such frenzy spoke not, she, daughter of Saturn, unto Venus turned and counselled thus: “How noble is the praise,
136how glorious the spoils of victory, for thee and for thy boy! Your names should be in lasting, vast renown—that by the snare of two great gods in league one woman fell! it 'scapes me not that my protected realms
141have ever been thy fear, and the proud halls of Carthage thy vexation and annoy. Why further go? Prithee, what useful end has our long war? Why not from this day forth perpetual peace and nuptial amity?
146Hast thou not worked thy will? Behold and see how Iove-sick Dido burns, and all her flesh 'The madness feels! So let our common grace smile on a mingled people! Let her serve a Phrygian husband, while thy hands receive
151her Tyrian subjects for the bridal dower!” In answer (reading the dissembler's mind which unto Libyan shores were fain to shift italia's future throne) thus Venus spoke: “'T were mad to spurn such favor, or by choice
156be numbered with thy foes. But can it be that fortune on thy noble counsel smiles? To me Fate shows but dimly whether Jove unto the Trojan wanderers ordains a common city with the sons of Tyre,
161with mingling blood and sworn, perpetual peace. His wife thou art; it is thy rightful due to plead to know his mind. Go, ask him, then! For humbly I obey!” With instant word Juno the Queen replied: “Leave that to me!
166But in what wise our urgent task and grave may soon be sped, I will in brief unfold to thine attending ear. A royal hunt in sylvan shades unhappy Dido gives for her Aeneas, when to-morrow's dawn
171uplifts its earliest ray and Titan's beam shall first unveil the world. But I will pour black storm-clouds with a burst of heavy hail along their way; and as the huntsmen speed to hem the wood with snares, I will arouse
176all heaven with thunder. The attending train shall scatter and be veiled in blinding dark, while Dido and her hero out of Troy to the same cavern fly. My auspices I will declare—if thou alike wilt bless;
181and yield her in true wedlock for his bride. Such shall their spousal be!” To Juno's will Cythera's Queen inclined assenting brow, and laughed such guile to see. Aurora rose, and left the ocean's rim. The city's gates
186pour forth to greet the morn a gallant train of huntsmen, bearing many a woven snare and steel-tipped javelin; while to and fro run the keen-scented dogs and Libyan squires. The Queen still keeps her chamber; at her doors
191the Punic lords await; her palfrey, brave in gold and purple housing, paws the ground and fiercely champs the foam-flecked bridle-rein. At last, with numerous escort, forth she shines: her Tyrian pall is bordered in bright hues,
196her quiver, gold; her tresses are confined only with gold; her robes of purple rare meet in a golden clasp. To greet her come the noble Phrygian guests; among them smiles the boy Iulus; and in fair array
201Aeneas, goodliest of all his train. In such a guise Apollo (when he leaves cold Lycian hills and Xanthus' frosty stream to visit Delos to Latona dear) ordains the song, while round his altars cry
206the choirs of many islands, with the pied, fantastic Agathyrsi; soon the god moves o'er the Cynthian steep; his flowing hair he binds with laurel garland and bright gold; upon his shining shoulder as he goes
211the arrows ring:—not less uplifted mien aeneas wore; from his illustrious brow such beauty shone. Soon to the mountains tall the cavalcade comes nigh, to pathless haunts of woodland creatures; the wild goats are seen,
216from pointed crag descending leap by leap down the steep ridges; in the vales below are routed deer, that scour the spreading plain, and mass their dust-blown squadrons in wild flight, far from the mountain's bound. Ascanius
221flushed with the sport, spurs on a mettled steed from vale to vale, and many a flying herd his chase outspeeds; but in his heart he prays among these tame things suddenly to see a tusky boar, or, leaping from the hills,
226a growling mountain-lion, golden-maned. Meanwhile low thunders in the distant sky mutter confusedly; soon bursts in full the storm-cloud and the hail. The Tyrian troop is scattered wide; the chivalry of Troy,
231with the young heir of Dardan's kingly line, of Venus sprung, seek shelter where they may, with sudden terror; down the deep ravines the swollen torrents roar. In that same hour Queen Dido and her hero out of Troy
236to the same cavern fly. Old Mother-Earth and wedlock-keeping Juno gave the sign; the flash of lightnings on the conscious air were torches to the bridal; from the hills the wailing wood-nymphs sobbed a wedding song.
241Such was that day of death, the source and spring of many a woe. For Dido took no heed of honor and good-name; nor did she mean her loves to hide; but called the lawlessness a marriage, and with phrases veiled her shame.
246Swift through the Libyan cities Rumor sped. Rumor! What evil can surpass her speed? In movement she grows mighty, and achieves strength and dominion as she swifter flies. small first, because afraid, she soon exalts
251her stature skyward, stalking through the lands and mantling in the clouds her baleful brow. The womb of Earth, in anger at high Heaven, bore her, they say, last of the Titan spawn, sister to Coeus and Enceladus.
256Feet swift to run and pinions like the wind the dreadful monster wears; her carcase huge is feathered, and at root of every plume a peering eye abides; and, strange to tell, an equal number of vociferous tongues,
261foul, whispering lips, and ears, that catch at all. At night she spreads midway 'twixt earth and heaven her pinions in the darkness, hissing loud, nor e'er to happy slumber gives her eyes: but with the morn she takes her watchful throne
266high on the housetops or on lofty towers, to terrify the nations. She can cling to vile invention and malignant wrong, or mingle with her word some tidings true. She now with changeful story filled men's ears,
271exultant, whether false or true she sung: how, Trojan-born Aeneas having come, Dido, the lovely widow, Iooked his way, deigning to wed; how all the winter long they passed in revel and voluptuous ease,
276to dalliance given o'er; naught heeding now of crown or kingdom—shameless! lust-enslaved! Such tidings broadcast on the lips of men the filthy goddess spread; and soon she hied to King Iarbas, where her hateful song
281to newly-swollen wrath his heart inflamed. Him the god Ammon got by forced embrace upon a Libyan nymph; his kingdoms wide possessed a hundred ample shrines to Jove, a hundred altars whence ascended ever
286the fires of sacrifice, perpetual seats for a great god's abode, where flowing blood enriched the ground, and on the portals hung garlands of every flower. The angered King, half-maddened by malignant Rumor's voice,
291unto his favored altars came, and there, surrounded by the effluence divine, upraised in prayer to Jove his suppliant hands. “Almighty Jupiter, to whom each day, at banquet on the painted couch reclined,
296Numidia pours libation! Do thine eyes behold us? Or when out of yonder heaven, o sire, thou launchest the swift thunderbolt, is it for naught we fear thee? Do the clouds shoot forth blind fire to terrify the soul
301with wild, unmeaning roar? O, Iook upon that woman, who was homeless in our realm, and bargained where to build her paltry town, receiving fertile coastland for her farms, by hospitable grant! She dares disdain
306our proffered nuptial vow. She has proclaimed Aeneas partner of her bed and throne. And now that Paris, with his eunuch crew, beneath his chin and fragrant, oozy hair ties the soft Lydian bonnet, boasting well
311his stolen prize. But we to all these fanes, though they be thine, a fruitless offering bring, and feed on empty tales our trust in thee.” As thus he prayed and to the altars clung, th' Omnipotent gave ear, and turned his gaze
316upon the royal dwelling, where for love the amorous pair forgot their place and name. Then thus to Mercury he gave command: “Haste thee, my son, upon the Zephyrs call, and take thy winged way! My mandate bear
321unto that prince of Troy who tarries now in Tyrian Carthage, heedless utterly of empire Heaven-bestowed. On winged winds hasten with my decrees. Not such the man his beauteous mother promised; not for this
326twice did she shield him from the Greeks in arms: but that he might rule Italy, a land pregnant with thrones and echoing with war; that he of Teucer's seed a race should sire, and bring beneath its law the whole wide world.
331If such a glory and event supreme enkindle not his bosom; if such task to his own honor speak not; can the sire begrudge Ascanius the heritage of the proud name of Rome? What plans he now?
336What mad hope bids him linger in the lap of enemies, considering no more the land Lavinian and Ausonia's sons. Let him to sea! Be this our final word: this message let our herald faithful bear.”
341He spoke. The god a prompt obedience gave to his great sire's command. He fastened first those sandals of bright gold, which carry him aloft o'er land or sea, with airy wings that race the fleeting wind; then lifted he
346his wand, wherewith he summons from the grave pale-featured ghosts, or, if he will, consigns to doleful Tartarus; or by its power gives slumber or dispels; or quite unseals the eyelids of the dead: on this relying,
351he routs the winds or cleaves th' obscurity of stormful clouds. Soon from his flight he spied the summit and the sides precipitous of stubborn Atlas, whose star-pointing peak props heaven; of Atlas, whose pine-wreathed brow
356is girdled evermore with misty gloom and lashed of wind and rain; a cloak of snow melts on his shoulder; from his aged chin drop rivers, and ensheathed in stiffening ice glitters his great grim beard. Here first was stayed
361the speed of Mercury's well-poising wing; here making pause, from hence he headlong flung his body to the sea; in motion like some sea-bird's, which along the levelled shore or round tall crags where rove the swarming fish,
366flies Iow along the waves: o'er-hovering so between the earth and skies, Cyllene's god flew downward from his mother's mountain-sire, parted the winds and skimmed the sandy merge of Libya. When first his winged feet
371came nigh the clay-built Punic huts, he saw Aeneas building at a citadel, and founding walls and towers; at his side was girt a blade with yellow jaspers starred, his mantle with the stain of Tyrian shell
376flowed purple from his shoulder, broidered fair by opulent Dido with fine threads of gold, her gift of love; straightway the god began: “Dost thou for lofty Carthage toil, to build foundations strong? Dost thou, a wife's weak thrall,
381build her proud city? Hast thou, shameful loss! Forgot thy kingdom and thy task sublime? From bright Olympus, I. He who commands all gods, and by his sovran deity moves earth and heaven—he it was who bade
386me bear on winged winds his high decree. What plan is thine? By what mad hope dost thou linger so Iong in lap of Libyan land? If the proud reward of thy destined way move not thy heart, if all the arduous toil
391to thine own honor speak not, Iook upon Iulus in his bloom, thy hope and heir Ascanius. It is his rightful due in Italy o'er Roman lands to reign.” After such word Cyllene's winged god
396vanished, and e'er his accents died away, dissolved in air before the mortal's eyes. Aeneas at the sight stood terror-dumb with choking voice and horror-rising hair. He fain would fly at once and get him gone
401from that voluptuous land, much wondering at Heaven's wrathful word. Alas! how stir? What cunning argument can plead his cause before th' infuriate Queen? How break such news? Flashing this way and that, his startled mind
406makes many a project and surveys them all. But, pondering well, his final counsel stopped at this resolve: he summoned to his side Mnestheus, Sergestus, and Serestus bold, and bade them fit the fleet, all silently
411gathering the sailors and collecting gear, but carefully dissembling what emprise such novel stir intends: himself the while (Since high-born Dido dreamed not love so fond could have an end) would seek an audience,
416at some indulgent time, and try what shift such matters may require. With joy they heard, and wrought, assiduous, at their prince's plan. But what can cheat true love? The Queen foreknew his stratagem, and all the coming change
421perceived ere it began. Her jealous fear counted no hour secure. That unclean tongue of Rumor told her fevered heart the fleet was fitting forth, and hastening to be gone. Distractedly she raved, and passion-tossed
426roamed through her city, like a Maenad roused by the wild rout of Bacchus, when are heard the third year's orgies, and the midnight scream to cold Cithaeron calls the frenzied crew. Finding Aeneas, thus her plaint she poured:
431“Didst hope to hide it, false one, that such crime was in thy heart,—to steal without farewell out of my kingdom? Did our mutual joy not move thee; nor thine own true promise given once on a time? Nor Dido, who will die
436a death of sorrow? Why compel thy ships to brave the winter stars? Why off to sea so fast through stormy skies? O, cruelty! If Troy still stood, and if thou wert not bound for alien shore unknown, wouldst steer for Troy
441through yonder waste of waves? Is it from me thou takest flight? O, by these flowing tears, by thine own plighted word (for nothing more my weakness left to miserable me), by our poor marriage of imperfect vow,
446if aught to me thou owest, if aught in me ever have pleased thee—O, be merciful to my low-fallen fortunes! I implore, if place be left for prayer, thy purpose change! Because of thee yon Libyan savages
451and nomad chiefs are grown implacable, and my own Tyrians hate me. Yes, for thee my chastity was slain and honor fair, by which alone to glory I aspired, in former days. To whom dost thou in death
456abandon me? my guest!—since but this name is left me of a husband! Shall I wait till fell Pygmalion, my brother, raze my city walls? Or the Gaetulian king, Iarbas, chain me captive to his car? .
461O, if, ere thou hadst fled, I might but bear some pledge of love to thee, and in these halls watch some sweet babe Aeneas at his play, whose face should be the memory of thine own — I were not so forsaken, Iost, undone!”
466She said. But he, obeying Jove's decree, gazed steadfastly away; and in his heart with strong repression crushed his cruel pain; then thus the silence broke: “O Queen, not one of my unnumbered debts so strongly urged
471would I gainsay. Elissa's memory will be my treasure Iong as memory holds, or breath of life is mine. Hear my brief plea! 'T was not my hope to hide this flight I take, as thou hast dreamed. Nay, I did never light
476a bridegroom's torch, nor gave I thee the vow of marriage. Had my destiny decreed, that I should shape life to my heart's desire, and at my own will put away the weight of foil and pain, my place would now be found
481in Troy, among the cherished sepulchres of my own kin, and Priam's mansion proud were standing still; or these my loyal hands had rebuilt Ilium for her vanquished sons. But now to Italy Apollo's power
486commands me forth; his Lycian oracles are loud for Italy. My heart is there, and there my fatherland. If now the towers of Carthage and thy Libyan colony delight thy Tyrian eyes; wilt thou refuse
491to Trojan exiles their Ausonian shore? I too by Fate was driven, not less than thou, to wander far a foreign throne to find. Oft when in dewy dark night hides the world, and flaming stars arise, Anchises' shade
496looks on me in my dreams with angered brow. I think of my Ascanius, and the wrong to that dear heart, from whom I steal away Hesperia, his destined home and throne. But now the winged messenger of Heaven,
501sent down by Jove (I swear by thee and me!), has brought on winged winds his sire's command. My own eyes with unclouded vision saw the god within these walls; I have received with my own ears his word. No more inflame
506with lamentation fond thy heart and mine. 'T is not my own free act seeks Italy.” She with averted eyes and glance that rolled speechless this way and that, had listened long to his reply, till thus her rage broke forth:
511“No goddess gave thee birth. No Dardanus begot thy sires. But on its breast of stone Caucasus bore thee, and the tigresses of fell Hyrcania to thy baby lip their udders gave. Why should I longer show
516a lying smile? What worse can I endure? Did my tears draw one sigh? Did he once drop his stony stare? or did he yield a tear to my lament, or pity this fond heart? Why set my wrongs in order? Juno, now,
521and Jove, the son of Saturn, heed no more where justice lies. No trusting heart is safe in all this world. That waif and castaway I found in beggary and gave him share— fool that I was!—in my own royal glory.
526His Iost fleet and his sorry crews I steered from death away. O, how my fevered soul unceasing raves! Forsooth Apollo speaks! His Lycian oracles! and sent by Jove the messenger of Heaven on fleeting air
531the ruthless bidding brings! Proud business for gods, I trow, that such a task disturbs their still abodes! I hold thee back no more, nor to thy cunning speeches give the lie. Begone! Sail on to Italy, thy throne,
536through wind and wave! I pray that, if there be any just gods of power, thou mayest drink down death on the mid-sea rocks, and often call with dying gasps on Dido's name—while I pursue with vengeful fire. When cold death rends
541the body from the breath, my ghost shall sit forever in thy path. Full penalties thy stubborn heart shall pay. They'll bring me never in yon deep gulf of death of all thy woe.” Abrupt her utterance ceased; and sick at heart
546she fled the light of day, as if to shrink from human eyes, and left Aeneas there irresolute with horror, while his soul framed many a vain reply. Her swooning shape her maidens to a marble chamber bore
551and on her couch the helpless limbs reposed. Aeneas, faithful to a task divine, though yearning sore to remedy and soothe such misery, and with the timely word her grief assuage, and though his burdened heart
556was weak because of love, while many a groan rose from his bosom, yet no whit did fail to do the will of Heaven, but of his fleet resumed command. The Trojans on the shore ply well their task and push into the sea
561the lofty ships. Now floats the shining keel, and oars they bring all leafy from the grove, with oak half-hewn, so hurried was the flight. Behold them how they haste—from every gate forth-streaming!—just as when a heap of corn
566is thronged with ants, who, knowing winter nigh, refill their granaries; the long black line runs o'er the levels, and conveys the spoil in narrow pathway through the grass; a part with straining and assiduous shoulder push
571the kernels huge; a part array the file, and whip the laggards on; their busy track swarms quick and eager with unceasing toil. O Dido, how thy suffering heart was wrung, that spectacle to see! What sore lament
576was thine, when from the towering citadel the whole shore seemed alive, the sea itself in turmoil with loud cries! Relentless Love, to what mad courses may not mortal hearts by thee be driven? Again her sorrow flies
581to doleful plaint and supplication vain; again her pride to tyrant Love bows down lest, though resolved to die, she fail to prove each hope of living: “O Anna, dost thou see yon busy shore? From every side they come.
586their canvas wooes the winds, and o'er each prow the merry seamen hang their votive flowers. Dear sister, since I did forebode this grief, I shall be strong to bear it. One sole boon my sorrow asks thee, Anna! Since of thee,
591thee only, did that traitor make a friend, and trusted thee with what he hid so deep — the feelings of his heart; since thou alone hast known what way, what hour the man would yield to soft persuasion—therefore, sister, haste,
596and humbly thus implore our haughty foe: ‘I was not with the Greeks what time they swore at Aulis to cut off the seed of Troy; I sent no ships to Ilium. Pray, have I profaned Anchises' tomb, or vexed his shade?’
601Why should his ear be deaf and obdurate to all I say? What haste? May he not make one last poor offering to her whose love is only pain? O, bid him but delay till flight be easy and the winds blow fair.
606I plead no more that bygone marriage-vow by him forsworn, nor ask that he should lose his beauteous Latium and his realm to be. Nothing but time I crave! to give repose and more room to this fever, till my fate
611teach a crushed heart to sorrow. I implore this last grace. (To thy sister's grief be kind!) I will requite with increase, till I die.” Such plaints, such prayers, again and yet again, betwixt the twain the sorrowing sister bore.
616But no words move, no lamentations bring persuasion to his soul; decrees of Fate oppose, and some wise god obstructs the way that finds the hero's ear. Oft-times around the aged strength of some stupendous oak
621the rival blasts of wintry Alpine winds smite with alternate wrath: Ioud is the roar, and from its rocking top the broken boughs are strewn along the ground; but to the crag steadfast it ever clings; far as toward heaven
626its giant crest uprears, so deep below its roots reach down to Tartarus:—not less the hero by unceasing wail and cry is smitten sore, and in his mighty heart has many a pang, while his serene intent
631abides unmoved, and tears gush forth in vain. Then wretched Dido, by her doom appalled, asks only death. It wearies her to see the sun in heaven. Yet that she might hold fast her dread resolve to quit the light of day,
636behold, when on an incense-breathing shrine her offering was laid—O fearful tale!— the pure libation blackened, and the wine flowed like polluting gore. She told the sight to none, not even to her sister's ear.
641A second sign was given: for in her house a marble altar to her husband's shade, with garlands bright and snowy fleeces dressed, had fervent worship; here strange cries were heard as if her dead spouse called while midnight reigned,
646and round her towers its inhuman song the lone owl sang, complaining o'er and o'er with lamentation and long shriek of woe. Forgotten oracles by wizards told whisper old omens dire. In dreams she feels
651cruel Aeneas goad her madness on, and ever seems she, friendless and alone, some lengthening path to travel, or to seek her Tyrians through wide wastes of barren lands. Thus frantic Pentheus flees the stern array
656of the Eumenides, and thinks to see two noonday lights blaze oer his doubled Thebes; or murdered Agamemnon's haunted son, Orestes, flees his mother's phantom scourge of flames and serpents foul, while at his door
661avenging horrors wait. Now sorrow-crazed and by her grief undone, resolved on death, the manner and the time her secret soul prepares, and, speaking to her sister sad, she masks in cheerful calm her fatal will:
666“I know a way—O, wish thy sister joy!— to bring him back to Iove, or set me free. On Ocean's bound and next the setting sun lies the last Aethiop land, where Atlas tall lifts on his shoulder the wide wheel of heaven,
671studded with burning stars. From thence is come a witch, a priestess, a Numidian crone, who guards the shrine of the Hesperides and feeds the dragon; she protects the fruit of that enchanting tree, and scatters there
676her slumb'rous poppies mixed with honey-dew. Her spells and magic promise to set free what hearts she will, or visit cruel woes on men afar. She stops the downward flow of rivers, and turns back the rolling stars;
681on midnight ghosts she calls: her vot'ries hear earth bellowing loud below, while from the hills the ash-trees travel down. But, sister mine, thou knowest, and the gods their witness give, how little mind have I to don the garb
686of sorcery. Depart in secret, thou, and bid them build a lofty funeral pyre inside our palalce-wall, and heap thereon the hero's arms, which that blasphemer hung within my chamber; every relic bring,
691and chiefly that ill-omened nuptial bed, my death and ruin! For I must blot out all sight and token of this husband vile. 'T is what the witch commands.” She spoke no more, and pallid was her brow. Yet Anna's mind
696knew not what web of death her sister wove by these strange rites, nor what such frenzy dares; nor feared she worse than when Sichaeus died, but tried her forth the errand to fulfil. Soon as the funeral pyre was builded high
701in a sequestered garden, Iooming huge with boughs of pine and faggots of cleft oak, the queen herself enwreathed it with sad flowers and boughs of mournful shade; and crowning all she laid on nuptial bed the robes and sword
706by him abandoned; and stretched out thereon a mock Aeneas;—but her doom she knew. Altars were there; and with loose locks unbound the priestess with a voice of thunder called three hundred gods, Hell, Chaos, the three shapes
711of triple Hecate, the faces three of virgin Dian. She aspersed a stream from dark Avernus drawn, she said; soft herbs were cut by moonlight with a blade of bronze, oozing black poison-sap; and she had plucked
716that philter from the forehead of new foal before its dam devours. Dido herself, sprinkling the salt meal, at the altar stands; one foot unsandalled, and with cincture free, on all the gods and fate-instructed stars,
721foreseeing death, she calls. But if there be some just and not oblivious power on high, who heeds when lovers plight unequal vow, to that god first her supplications rise. Soon fell the night, and peaceful slumbers breathed
726on all earth's weary creatures; the loud seas and babbling forests entered on repose; now midway in their heavenly course the stars wheeled silent on; the outspread lands below lay voiceless; all the birds of tinted wing,
731and flocks that haunt the merge of waters wide or keep the thorny wold, oblivious lay beneath the night so still; the stings of care ceased troubling, and no heart its burden knew. Not so the Tyrian Queen's deep-grieving soul!
736To sleep she could not yield; her eyes and heart refused the gift of night; her suffering redoubled, and in full returning tide her love rebelled, while on wild waves of rage she drifted to and fro. So, ceasing not
741from sorrow, thus she brooded on her wrongs: “What refuge now? Shall I invite the scorn of my rejected wooers, or entreat of some disdainful, nomad blackamoor to take me to his bed—though many a time
746such husbands I made mock of? Shall I sail on Ilian ships away, and sink to be the Trojans' humble thrall? Do they rejoice that once I gave them bread? Lives gratitude in hearts like theirs for bygone kindnesses?
751O, who, if so I stooped, would deign to bear on yon proud ships the scorned and fallen Queen? Lost creature! Woe betide thee! Knowest thou not the perjured children of Laomedon? What way is left? Should I take flight alone
756and join the revelling sailors? Or depart with Tyrians, the whole attending train of my own people? Hard the task to force their hearts from Sidon's towers; how once more compel to sea, and bid them spread the sail?
761Nay, perish! Thou hast earned it. Let the sword from sorrow save thee! Sister of my blood— who else but thee,—my own tears borne down, didst heap disaster on my frantic soul, and fling me to this foe? Why could I not
766pass wedlock by, and live a blameless life as wild things do, nor taste of passion's pain? But I broke faith! I cast the vows away made at Sichaeus' grave.” Such loud lament burst from her breaking heart with doleful sound.
771Meanwhile Aeneas on his lofty ship, having made ready all, and fixed his mind to launch away upon brief slumher fell. But the god came; and in the self-same guise once more in monitory vision spoke,
776all guised as Mercury,—his voice, his hue, his golden locks, and young limbs strong and fair. “Hail, goddess-born! Wouldst linger on in sleep at such an hour? Nor seest thou the snares that hem thee round? Nor hearest thou the voice
781of friendly zephyrs calling? Senseless man! That woman's breast contrives some treachery and horrid stroke; for, resolute to die, she drifts on swollen floods of wrath and scorn. Wilt thou not fly before the hastening hour
786of flight is gone? To-morrow thou wilt see yon waters thronged with ships, the cruel glare of fire-brands, and yonder shore all flame, if but the light of morn again surprise thee loitering in this land. Away! Away!
791Stay not! A mutable and shifting thing is woman ever.” Such command he spoke, then melted in the midnight dark away. Aeneas, by that fleeting vision struck with an exceeding awe, straightway leaped forth
796from slumber's power, and to his followers cried : “Awake, my men! Away! Each to his place upon the thwarts! Unfurl at once the sails! A god from heaven a second time sent down urges our instant flight and bids us cut
801the twisted cords. Whatever be thy name, behold, we come, O venerated Power! Again with joy we follow! Let thy grace assist us as we go! And may thy power bring none but stars benign across our sky.”
806So saying, from its scabbard forth he flashed the lightning of his sword, with naked blade striking the hawsers free. Like ardor seized on all his willing men, who raced and ran; and, while their galleys shadowed all the sea,
811clean from the shore they scudded, with strong strokes sweeping the purple waves and crested foam. Aurora's first young beams to earth were pouring as from Tithonus' saffron bed she sprang; while from her battlements the wakeful Queen
816watched the sky brighten, saw the mated sails push forth to sea, till all her port and strand held not an oar or keel. Thrice and four times she smote her lovely breast with wrathful hand, and tore her golden hair. “Great Jove,” she cries,
821“Shall that departing fugitive make mock of me, a queen? Will not my men-at-arms draw sword, give chase, from all my city thronging? Down from the docks, my ships! Out, out! Begone! Take fire and sword! Bend to your oars, ye slaves!
826What have I said? Where am I? What mad thoughts delude this ruined mind? Woe unto thee, thou wretched Dido, now thy impious deeds strike back upon thee. Wherefore struck they not, as was most fit, when thou didst fling away
831thy sceptre from thy hand? O Iying oaths! O faith forsworn! of him who brings, they boast, his father's gods along, and bowed his back to lift an age-worn sire! Why dared I not seize on him, rend his body limb from limb,
836and hurl him piecemeal on the rolling sea? Or put his troop of followers to the sword, ascanius too, and set his flesh before that father for a feast? Such fearful war had been of doubtful issue. Be it so!
841What fears a woman dying? Would I had attacked their camp with torches, kindled flame from ship to ship, until that son and sire, with that whole tribe, were unto ashes burned in one huge holocaust—myself its crown!
846Great orb of light whose holy beam surveys all earthly deeds! Great Juno, patroness of conjugal distress, who knowest all! Pale Hecate, whose name the witches cry at midnight crossways! O avenging furies!
851O gods that guard Queen Dido's dying breath! Give ear, and to my guiltless misery extend your power. Hear me what I pray! If it be fated that yon creature curst drift to the shore and happy haven find,
856if Father Iove's irrevocable word such goal decree—there may he be assailed by peoples fierce and bold. A banished man, from his Iulus' kisses sundered far, may his own eyes see miserably slain
861his kin and kind, and sue for alien arms. nor when he basely bows him to receive terms of unequal peace, shall he be blest with sceptre or with life; but perish there before his time, and lie without a grave
866upon the barren sand. For this I pray. This dying word is flowing from my heart with my spilt blood. And—O ye Tyrians! I sting with your hatred all his seed and tribe forevermore. This is the offering
871my ashes ask. Betwixt our nations twain, No Iove! No truce or amity! Arise, Out of my dust, unknown Avenger, rise! To harry and lay waste with sword and flame those Dardan settlers, and to vex them sore,
876to-day, to-morrow, and as long as power is thine to use! My dying curse arrays shore against shore and the opposing seas in shock of arms with arms. May living foes pass down from sire to son insatiate war!”
881She said. From point to point her purpose flew, seeking without delay to quench the flame of her loathed life. Brief bidding she addressed to Barce then, Sichaeus' nurse (her own lay dust and ashes in a lonely grave
886beside the Tyrian shore), “Go, nurse, and call my sister Anna! Bid her quickly bathe her limbs in living water, and procure due victims for our expiating fires. bid her make haste. Go, bind on thy own brow
891the sacred fillet. For to Stygian Jove it is my purpose now to consummate the sacrifice ordained, ending my woe, and touch with flame the Trojan's funeral pyre.” The aged crone to do her bidding ran
896with trembling zeal. But Dido (horror-struck at her own dread design, unstrung with fear, her bloodshot eyes wide-rolling, and her cheek twitching and fever-spotted, her cold brow blanched with approaching death)—sped past the doors
901into the palace garden; there she leaped, a frenzied creature, on the lofty pyre and drew the Trojan's sword; a gift not asked for use like this! When now she saw the garb of Ilian fashion, and the nuptial couch
906she knew too well, she lingered yet awhile for memory and tears, and, falling prone on that cold bed, outpoured a last farewell: “Sweet relics! Ever dear when Fate and Heaven upon me smiled, receive my parting breath,
911and from my woe set free! My life is done. I have accomplished what my lot allowed; and now my spirit to the world of death in royal honor goes. The founder I of yonder noble city, I have seen
916walls at my bidding rise. I was avenged for my slain husband: I chastised the crimes of our injurious brother. Woe is me! Blest had I been, beyond deserving blest, if but the Trojan galleys ne'er had moored
921upon my kingdom's bound!”So saying, she pressed one last kiss on the couch. “Though for my death no vengeance fall, O, give me death!” she cried. “O thus! O thus! it is my will to take the journey to the dark. From yonder sea
926may his cold Trojan eyes discern the flames that make me ashes! Be this cruel death his omen as he sails!” She spoke no more. But almost ere she ceased, her maidens all thronged to obey her cry, and found their Queen
931prone fallen on the sword, the reeking steel still in her bloody hands. Shrill clamor flew along the lofty halls; wild rumor spread through the whole smitten city: Ioud lament, groans and the wail of women echoed on
936from roof to roof, and to the dome of air the noise of mourning rose. Such were the cry if a besieging host should break the walls of Carthage or old Tyre, and wrathful flames o'er towers of kings and worshipped altars roll.
941Her sister heard. Half in a swoon, she ran with trembling steps, where thickest was the throng, beating her breast, while with a desperate hand she tore at her own face, and called aloud upon the dying Queen. “Was it for this
946my own true sister used me with such guile? O, was this horrid deed the dire intent of altars, Iofty couch, and funeral fires? What shall I tell for chiefest of my woes? Lost that I am! Why, though in death, cast off
951thy sister from thy heart? Why not invite one mortal stroke for both, a single sword, one agony together? But these hands built up thy pyre; and my voice implored the blessing of our gods, who granted me
956that thou shouldst perish thus—and I not know! In thy self-slaughter, sister, thou hast slain myself, thy people, the grave counsellors of Sidon, and yon city thou didst build to be thy throne!—Go, fetch me water, there!
961That I may bathe those gashes! If there be one hovering breath that stays, let my fond lips discover and receive!” So saying, she sprang up from stair to stair, and, clasping to her breast her sister's dying form, moaned grievously,
966and staunched the dark blood with her garment's fold. Vainly would Dido lift her sinking eyes, but backward fell, while at her heart the wound opened afresh; three times with straining arm she rose; three times dropped helpless, her dimmed eyes
971turned skyward, seeking the sweet light of day, — which when she saw, she groaned. Great Juno then looked down in mercy on that lingering pain and labor to depart: from realms divine she sent the goddess of the rainbow wing,
976Iris, to set the struggling spirit free and loose its fleshly coil. For since the end came not by destiny, nor was the doom of guilty deed, but of a hapless wight to sudden madness stung, ere ripe to die,
981therefore the Queen of Hades had not shorn the fair tress from her forehead, nor assigned that soul to Stygian dark. So Iris came on dewy, saffron pinions down from heaven, a thousand colors on her radiant way,
986from the opposing sun. She stayed her flight above that pallid brow: “I come with power to make this gift to Death. I set thee free from thy frail body's bound.” With her right hand she cut the tress: then through its every limb
991the sinking form grew cold; the vital breath fled forth, departing on the viewless air.
Book 5
1Meanwhile Aeneas, now well launched away, steered forth with all the fleet to open sea, on his unswerving course, and ploughed the waves, sped by a driving gale; but when his eyes looked back on Carthage, they beheld the glare
6of hapless Dido's fire. Not yet was known what kindled the wild flames; but that the pang of outraged love is cruel, and what the heart of desperate woman dares, they knew too well, and sad foreboding shook each Trojan soul.
11Soon in mid-sea, beyond all chart of shore, when only seas and skies were round their way, full in the zenith loomed a purple cloud, storm-laden, dark as night, and every wave grew black and angry; from his Iofty seat
16the helmsman Palinurus cried, “Alas! What means this host of storms encircling heaven? What, Neptune, wilt thou now?” He, having said, bade reef and tighten, bend to stronger stroke, and slant sail to the wind; then spake again:
21“High-souled Aeneas, not if Jove the King gave happy omen, would I have good hope of making Italy through yonder sky. Athwart our course from clouded evening-star rebellious winds run shifting, and the air
26into a cloud-wrack rolls. Against such foes too weak our strife and strain! Since now the hand of Fortune triumphs, let us where she calls obedient go. For near us, I believe, lies Eryx' faithful and fraternal shore:
31here are Sicilian havens, if my mind of yon familiar stars have knowledge true.” then good Aeneas: “For a friendly wind long have I sued, and watched thee vainly strive. Shift sail! What happier land for me and mine,
36or for our storm-beat ships what safer shore, than where Dardanian Acestes reigns; the land whose faithful bosom cherishes Anchises' ashes?” Heedful of his word, they landward steer, while favoring zephyrs fill
41the spreading sail. On currents swift and strong the fleet is wafted, and with thankful soul they moor on Sicily's familiar strand. From a far hill-top having seen with joy the entering ships, and knowing them for friends,
46good King Acestes ran to bid them hail. Garbed in rough pelt of Libyan bear was he, and javelins he bore, in sylvan guise: for him the river-god Crimisus sired of Trojan wife. Remembering in his heart
51his ancient blood, he greeted with glad words the wanderers returned; bade welcome to his rude abundance, and with friendly gifts their weariness consoled. The morrow morn, soon as the new beams of a golden day
56had banished every star, Aeneas called a council of his followers on the shore, and from a fair green hillock gave this word: “Proud sons of Dardanus, whose lofty line none but the gods began! This day fulfils
61the annual cycle of revolving time, since the dear relics of my god-like sire to earth we gave, and with dark offerings due built altars sorrowful. If now I err not, this is my day—ye gods have willed it so! —
66for mourning and for praise. Should it befall me exiled in Gaetulia's wilderness, or sailing some Greek sea, or at the walls of dire Mycenae, still would I renew unfailing vows, and make solemnity
71with thankful rites, and worshipful array, at altars rich with gifts. But, lo, we come, beyond all hope, where lie the very bones of my great sire. Nor did it come to pass without divine intent and heavenly power,
76that on these hospitable shores we stand. Up, then! For we will make a festal day, imploring lucky winds! O, may his spirit grant me to build my city, where his shrines forever shall receive perpetual vows
81made in his name! This prince of Trojan line, Acestes, upon every ship bestows a pair of oxen. To our offerings call the powers that bless the altars and the fires of our ancestral hearth; and join with these
86the gods of good Acestes. Presently, when the ninth dawn shall bring its beam benign to mortal men, and show the radiant world, or all my Teucrian people I ordain a holiday of games; the flying ships
91shall first contend; then swiftest runners try a foot-race; after that the champions bold who step forth for a cast of javelins, or boast the soaring arrow; or fear not the boxing-bout, with gauntlet of thick thongs.
96This summons is for all; let all have hope to earn some noble palm! And from this hour speak but well-boding words, and bind your brows with garlands green.” So saying, he twined a wreath of his own mother's myrtle-tree, to shade
101his sacred brow; the hero Helymus, and King Acestes for his tresses gray, like coronals took on; Ascanius and all the warrior youth like emblems wore. Then in th' attendant throng conspicuous,
106with thousands at his side, the hero moved from place of council to his father's tomb. There on the ground he poured libation due, two beakers of good wine, of sweet milk two, two of the victim's blood—and scattered flowers
111of saddest purple stain, while thus he prayed: “Hail, hallowed sire! And hail, ye ashes dear of him I vainly saved! O soul and shade of my blest father! Heaven to us denied to find together that predestined land
116of Italy, or our Ausonian stream of Tiber—ah! but where?” He scarce had said, when from the central shrine a gliding snake, coiled seven-fold in seven spirals wide, twined round the tomb and trailed innocuous o'er
121the very altars; his smooth back was flecked with green and azure, and his changeful scales gleamed golden, as the cloud-born rainbow flings its thousand colors from th' opposing sun. Aeneas breathless watched the serpent wind
126among the bowls and cups of polished rim, tasting the sacred feast; where, having fed, back to the tomb all harmless it withdrew. Then with new zeal his sacrifice he brings in honor of his sire; for he must deem
131that serpent the kind genius of the place, or of his very father's present shade some creature ministrant. Two lambs he slew, the wonted way, two swine, and, sable-hued, the yoke of bulls; from shallow bowl he poured
136libation of the grape, and called aloud on great Anchises' spirit, and his shade, from Acheron set free. Then all the throng, each from his separate store, heap up the shrines with victims slain; some range in order fair
141the brazen cauldrons; or along the grass, scattered at ease, hold o'er the embers bright the spitted flesh and roast it in the flames. Arrived the wished-for day; through cloudless sky the coursers of the Sun's bright-beaming car
146bore upward the ninth morn. The neighboring folk thronged eager to the shore; some hoped to see Aeneas and his warriors, others fain would their own prowess prove in bout and game. Conspicuous lie the rewards, ranged in sight
151in the mid-circus; wreaths of laurel green, the honored tripod, coronals of palm for conquerors' brows, accoutrements of war, rare robes of purple stain, and generous weight of silver and of gold. The trumpet's call
156proclaimed from lofty mound the opening games. First, side by side, with sturdy, rival oars, four noble galleys, pride of all the fleet, come forward to contend. The straining crew of Mnestheus bring his speedy Pristis on, —
161Mnestheus in Italy erelong the sire of Memmius' noble line. Brave Gyas guides his vast Chimaera, a colossal craft, a floating city, by a triple row of Dardan sailors manned, whose banks of oars
166in triple order rise. Sergestus, he of whom the Sergian house shall after spring, rides in his mighty Centaur. Next in line, on sky-blue Scylla proud Cloanthus rides — whence thy great stem, Cluentius of Rome!
171Fronting the surf-beat shore, far out at sea rises a rock, which under swollen waves lies buffeted unseen, when wintry storms mantle the stars; but when the deep is calm, lifts silently above the sleeping wave
176its level field,—a place where haunt and play flocks of the sea-birds, Iovers of the sun. Here was the goal; and here Aeneas set a green-leaved flex-tree, to be a mark for every captain's eye, from whence to veer
181the courses of their ships in sweeping curves and speed them home. Now places in the line are given by lot. Upon the lofty sterns the captains ride, in beautiful array of Tyriao purple and far-flaming gold;
186the crews are poplar-crowned, the shoulders bare rubbed well with glittering oil; their straining arms make long reach to the oar, as on the thwarts they sit attentive, listening for the call of the loud trumpet; while with pride and fear
191their hot hearts throb, impassioned for renown. Soon pealed the signal clear; from all the line instant the galleys bounded, and the air rang to the rowers, shouting, while their arms pulled every inch and flung the waves in foam;
196deep cut the rival strokes; the surface fair yawned wide beneath their blades and cleaving keels. Not swifter scour the chariots o'er the plain, sped headlong from the line behind their teams of mated coursers, while each driver shakes
201loose, rippling reins above his plunging pairs, and o'er the lash leans far. With loud applause vociferous and many an urgent cheer the woodlands rang, and all the concave shores back from the mountains took the Trojan cry
206in answering song. Forth-flying from his peers, while all the crowd acclaims, sped Gyas' keel along the outmost wave. Cloanthus next pushed hard upon, with stronger stroke of oars but heavier ship. At equal pace behind
211the Pristis and the Centaur fiercely strive for the third place. Now Pristis seems to lead, now mightier Centaur past her flies, then both ride on together, prow with prow, and cleave long lines of foaming furrow with swift keels.
216Soon near the rock they drew, and either ship was making goal,—when Gyas, in the lead, and winner of the half-course, Ioudly hailed menoetes, the ship's pilot: “Why so far to starboard, we? Keep her head round this way!
221Hug shore! Let every oar-blade almost graze that reef to larboard! Let the others take the deep-sea course outside!” But while he spoke, Menoetes, dreading unknown rocks below, veered off to open sea. “Why steer so wide?
226Round to the rock, Menoetes!” Gyas roared, — again in vain, for looking back he saw cloanthus hard astern, and ever nearer, who, in a trice, betwixt the booming reef and Gyas' galley, lightly forward thrust
231the beak of Scylla to the inside course, and, quickly taking lead, flew past the goal to the smooth seas beyond. Then wrathful grief flamed in the warrior's heart, nor was his cheek unwet with tears; and, reckless utterly
236of his own honor and his comrades, lives, he hurled poor, slack Menoetes from the poop headlong upon the waters, while himself, pilot and master both, the helm assuming, urged on his crew, and landward took his way.
241But now, with heavy limbs that hardly won his rescue from the deep, engulfing wave, up the rude rock graybeard Menoetes climbed with garment dripping wet, and there dropped down upon the cliff's dry top. With laughter loud
246the Trojan crews had watched him plunging, swimming, and now to see his drink of bitter brine spewed on the ground, the sailors laughed again. But Mnestheus and Sergestus, coming last, have joyful hope enkindled in each heart
251to pass the laggard Gyas. In the lead Sergestus' ship shoots forth; and to the rock runs boldly nigh; but not his whole long keel may pass his rival; the projecting beak is followed fast by Pristis' emulous prow.
256Then, striding straight amidships through his crew, thus Mnestheus urged them on: “O Hector's friends! Whom in the dying hours of Troy I chose for followers! Now stand ye to your best! Put forth the thews of valor that ye showed
261in the Gaetulian Syrtes, or that sea Ionian, or where the waves race by the Malean promontory! Mnestheus now hopes not to be the first, nor do I strive for victory. O Father Neptune, give
266that garland where thou wilt! But O, the shame if we are last! Endure it not, my men! The infamy refuse!” So, bending low, they enter the home-stretch. Beneath their stroke the brass-decked galley throbs, and under her
271the sea-floor drops away. On, on they fly! Parched are the panting lips, and sweat in streams pours down their giant sides; but lucky chance brought the proud heroes what their honor craved. For while Sergestus furiously drove
276his ship's beak toward the rock, and kept inside the scanty passage, by his evil star he grounded on the jutting reef; the cliffs rang with the blow, and his entangled oars grated along the jagged granite, while
281the prow hung wrecked and helpless. With loud cry upsprang the sailors, while the ship stood still, and pushed off with long poles and pointed iron, or snatched the smashed oars from the whirling tide. Mnestheus exults; and, roused to keener strife
286by happy fortune, with a quicker stroke of each bright rank of oars, and with the breeze his prayer implored, skims o'er the obedient wave and sweeps the level main. Not otherwise a startled dove, emerging o'er the fields
291from secret cavern in the crannied hill where her safe house and pretty nestlings lie, soars from her nest, with whirring wings—but soon through the still sky she takes her path of air on pinions motionless. So Pristis sped
296with Mnestheus, cleaving her last stretch of sea, by her own impulse wafted. She outstripped Sergestus first; for he upon the reef fought with the breakers, desperately shouting for help, for help in vain, with broken oars
301contriving to move on. Then Mnestheus ran past Gyas, in Chimaera's ponderous hulk, of pilot now bereft; at last remains Cloanthus his sole peer, whom he pursues with a supreme endeavor. From the shore
306burst echoing cheers that spur him to the chase, and wild applause makes all the welkin ring. The leaders now with eager souls would scorn to Iose their glory, and faint-hearted fail to grasp a prize half-won, but fain would buy
311honor with life itself; the followers too are flushed with proud success, and feel them strong because their strength is proven. Both ships now with indistinguishable prows had sped to share one prize,—but with uplifted hands
316spread o'er the sea, Cloanthus, suppliant, called on the gods to bless his votive prayer: “Ye gods who rule the waves, whose waters be my pathway now; for you on yonder strand a white bull at the altar shall be slain
321in grateful tribute for a granted vow; and o'er the salt waves I will scatter far the entrails, and outpour the flowing wine.” He spoke; and from the caverns under sea Phorcus and virgin Panopea heard,
326and all the sea-nymphs' choir; while with strong hand the kindly God of Havens rose and thrust the gliding ship along, that swifter flew than south wind, or an arrow from the string, and soon made land in haven safe and sure.
331Aeneas then, assembling all to hear, by a far-sounding herald's voice proclaimed Cloanthus victor, and arrayed his brows with the green laurel-garland; to the crews three bulls, at choice, were given, and plenteous wine
336and talent-weight of silver; to the chiefs illustrious gifts beside; the victor had a gold-embroidered mantle with wide band of undulant Meliboean purple rare, where, pictured in the woof, young Ganymede
341through Ida's forest chased the light-foot deer with javelin; all flushed and panting he. But lo! Jove's thunder-bearing eagle fell, and his strong talons snatched from Ida far the royal boy, whose aged servitors
346reached helpless hands to heaven; his faithful hound bayed fiercely at the air. To him whose worth the second place had won, Aeneas gave a smooth-linked golden corselet, triple-chained, of which his own victorious hand despoiled
351Demoleos, by the swift, embattled stream of Simois, under Troy,—and bade it be a glory and defence on valor's field; scarce might the straining shoulders of two slaves, Phegeus and Sagaris, the load endure,
356yet oft Demoleos in this armor dressed charged down full speed on routed hosts of Troy. The third gift was two cauldrons of wrought brass, and bowls of beaten silver, cunningly embossed with sculpture fair. Bearing such gifts,
361th' exultant victors onward moved, each brow bound with a purple fillet. But behold! Sergestus, from the grim rock just dragged off by cunning toil, one halting rank of oars left of his many lost, comes crawling in
366with vanquished ship, a mockery to all. As when a serpent, on the highway caught, some brazen wheel has crushed, or traveller with heavy-smiting blow left half alive and mangled by a stone; in vain he moves
371in writhing flight; a part is lifted high with hissing throat and angry, glittering eyes; but by the wounded part a captive still he knots him fold on fold: with such a track the maimed ship labored slow; but by her sails
376she still made way, and with full canvas on arrived at land. Aeneas then bestowed a boon upon Sergestus, as was meet for reward of the ship in safety brought with all its men; a fair slave was the prize,
381the Cretan Pholoe, well taught to weave, and twin boy-babes upon her breast she bore. Then good Aeneas, the ship-contest o'er, turned to a wide green valley, circled round with clasp of wood-clad hills, wherein was made
386an amphitheatre; entering with a throng of followers, the hero took his seat in mid-arena on a lofty mound. For the fleet foot-race, now, his summons flies, — he offers gifts, and shows the rewards due.
391The mingling youth of Troy and Sicily hastened from far. Among the foremost came the comrades Nisus and Euryalus, Euryalus for beauty's bloom renowned, Nisus for loyal love; close-following these
396Diores strode, a prince of Priam's line; then Salius and Patron, who were bred in Acarnania and Arcady; then two Sicilian warriors, Helymus and Panopes, both sylvan bred and born,
401comrades of King Acestes; after these the multitude whom Fame forgets to tell. Aeneas, so surrounded, thus spake forth: “Hear what I purpose, and with joy receive! of all your company, not one departs
406with empty hand. The Cretan javelins bright-tipped with burnished steel, and battle-axe adorned with graven silver, these shall be the meed of all. The three first at the goal shall bind their foreheads with fair olive green,
411and win the rewards due. The first shall lead, victorious, yon rich-bridled steed away; this Amazonian quiver, the next prize, well-stocked with Thracian arrows; round it goes a baldrick broad and golden,—in its clasp
416a lustrous gem. The third man goes away taking this helmet from the Argive spoil.” They heard, and took their places. The loud horn gave signal, and impetuous from the line, swift as a bursting storm they sped away,
421eyes fixed upon the goal. Far in advance Nisus shot forward, swifter than the winds or winged thunderbolt; the next in course, next, but out-rivalled far, was Salius, and after him a space, Euryalus
426came third; him Helymus was hard upon; and, look! Diores follows, heel on heel, close at his shoulder—if the race be long he sure must win, or claim a doubtful prize. Now at the last stretch, spent and panting, all
431pressed to the goal, when in a slime of blood Nisus, hard fate! slipped down, where late the death of victims slain had drenched the turf below. Here the young victor, with his triumph flushed, lost foothold on the yielding ground, and plunged
436face forward in the pool of filth and gore; but not of dear Euryalus was he forgetful then, nor heedless of his friend; but rising from the mire he hurled himself in Salius' way; so he in equal plight
441rolled in the filthy slough. Euryalus leaped forth, the winner of the race by gift of his true friend, and flying to the goal stood first, by many a favoring shout acclaimed. Next Helymus ran in; and, for the third, last prize,
446Diores. But the multitude now heard the hollowed hill-side ringing with wild wrath from Salius, clamoring where the chieftains sate for restitution of his stolen prize, lost by a cheat. But general favor smiles
451upon Euryalus, whose beauteous tears commend him much, and nobler seems the worth of valor clothed in youthful shape so fair. Diores, too, assists the victor's claim, with loud appeal—he too has won a prize,
456and vainly holds his last place, if the first to Salius fall. Aeneas then replied: “Your gifts, my gallant youths, remain secure. None can re-judge the prize. But to console the misadventure of a blameless friend,
461is in my power.” Therewith to Salius an Afric lion's monstrous pelt he gave, with ponderous mane, the claws o'erlaid with gold. But Nisus cried: “If such a gift be found for less than victory, and men who fall
466are worthy so much sorrow, pray, what prize shall Nisus have? For surely I had won the proudest of the garlands, if one stroke of inauspicious fortune had not fallen on Salius and me.” So saying, he showed
471his smeared face and his sorry limbs befouled with mire and slime. Then laughed the gracious sire, and bade a shield be brought, the cunning work of Didymaon, which the Greeks tore down from Neptune's temple; with this noble gift
476he sent the high-born youth upon his way. The foot-race over and the gifts disbursed, “Come forth!” he cries, “if any in his heart have strength and valor, let him now pull on the gauntlets and uplift his thong-bound arms
481in challenge.” For the reward of this fight a two-fold gift he showed: the victor's meed, a bullock decked and gilded; but a sword and glittering helmet to console the fallen. Straightway, in all his pride of giant strength,
486Dares Ioomed up, and wondering murmurs ran along the gazing crowd; for he alone was wont to match with Paris, he it was met Butes, the huge-bodied champion boasting the name and race of Amycus,
491Bythinian-born; him felled he at a blow, and stretched him dying on the tawny sand. Such Dares was, who now held high his head, fierce for the fray, bared both his shoulders broad, lunged out with left and right, and beat the air.
496Who shall his rival be? Of all the throng not one puts on the gauntlets, or would face the hero's challenge. Therefore, striding forth, believing none now dare but yield the palm, he stood before Aeneas, and straightway
501seized with his left hand the bull's golden horn, and cried, “O goddess-born, if no man dares to risk him in this fight, how Iong delay? how Iong beseems it I should stand and wait? Bid me bear off my prize.” The Trojans all
506murmured assent, and bade the due award of promised gift. But with a brow severe Acestes to Entellus at his side addressed upbraiding words, where they reclined on grassy bank and couch of pleasant green:
511“O my Entellus, in the olden days bravest among the mighty, but in vain! Endurest thou to see yon reward won without a blow? Where, prithee, is that god who taught thee? Are thy tales of Eryx vain?
516Does all Sicilia praise thee? Is thy roof with trophies hung?” The other in reply: “My jealous honor and good name yield not to fear. But age, so cold and slow to move, makes my blood laggard, and my ebbing powers
521in all my body are but slack and chill. O, if I had what yonder ruffian boasts— my own proud youth once more! I would not ask the fair bull for a prize, nor to the lists in search of gifts come forth.” So saying, he threw
526into the mid-arena a vast pair of ponderous gauntlets, which in former days fierce Eryx for his fights was wont to bind on hand and arm, with the stiff raw-hide thong. All marvelled; for a weight of seven bulls' hides
531was pieced with lead and iron. Dares stared astonished, and step after step recoiled; high-souled Anchises' son, this way and that, turned o'er the enormous coil of knots and thongs; then with a deep-drawn breath the veteran spoke:
536“O, that thy wondering eyes had seen the arms of Hercules, and what his gauntlets were! Would thou hadst seen the conflict terrible upon this self-same shore! These arms were borne by Eryx. Look; thy brother's!—spattered yet
541with blood, with dashed-out brains! In these he stood when he matched Hercules. I wore them oft when in my pride and prime, ere envious age shed frost upon my brows. But if these arms be of our Trojan Dares disapproved,
546if good Aeneas rules it so, and King Acestes wills it, let us offer fight on even terms. Let Eryx' bull's-hide go. Tremble no more! But strip those gauntlets off — fetched here from Troy.” So saying, he dropped down
551the double-folded mantle from his shoulders, stripped bare the huge joints, the huge arms and thews, and towered gigantic in the midmost ring. Anchises' son then gave two equal pairs of gauntlets, and accoutred with like arms
556both champions. Each lifted him full height on tiptoe; each with mien unterrified held both fists high in air, and drew his head far back from blows assailing. Then they joined in struggle hand to hand, and made the fray
561each moment fiercer. One was light of foot and on his youth relied; the other strong in bulk of every limb, but tottering on sluggish knees, while all his body shook with labor of his breath. Without avail
566they rained their blows, and on each hollow side, each sounding chest, the swift, reverberate strokes fell without pause; around their ears and brows came blow on blow, and with relentless shocks the smitten jaws cracked loud. Entellus stands
571unshaken, and, the self-same posture keeping, only by body-movement or quick eye parries attack. Dares (like one in siege against a mountain-citadel, who now will drive with ram and engine at the craggy wall,
576now wait in full-armed watch beneath its towers) tries manifold approach, most craftily invests each point of vantage, and renews his unsuccessful, ever various war. Then, rising to the stroke, Entellus poised
581aloft his ponderous right; but, quick of eye, the other the descending wrath foresaw and nimbly slipped away; Entellus so wasted his stroke on air, and, self-o'erthrown, dropped prone to earth his monstrous length along,
586as when on Erymanth or Ida falls a hollowed pine from giant roots uptorn. Alike the Teucrian and Trinacrian throng shout wildly; while Acestes, pitying, hastes to lift his gray companion. But, unchecked,
591undaunted by his fall, the champion brave rushed fiercer to the fight, his strength now roused by rage, while shame and courage confident kindle his soul; impetuous he drives Dares full speed all round the ring, with blows
596redoubled right and left. No stop or stay gives he, but like a storm of rattling hail upon a house-top, so from each huge hand the champion's strokes on dizzy Dares fall. Then Sire Aeneas willed to make a stay
601to so much rage, nor let Entellus' soul flame beyond bound, but bade the battle pause, and, rescuing weary Dares, thus he spoke in soothing words: “Ill-starred! What mad attempt is in thy mind? Will not thy heart confess
606thy strength surpassed, and auspices averse? Submit, for Heaven decrees!” With such wise words he sundered the fell strife. But trusty friends bore Dares off: his spent limbs helpless trailed, his head he could not lift, and from his lips
611came blood and broken teeth. So to the ship they bore him, taking, at Aeneas' word, the helmet and the sword—but left behind Entellus' prize of victory, the bull. He, then, elate and glorying, spoke forth:
616“See, goddess-born, and all ye Teucrians, see, what strength was mine in youth, and from what death ye have clelivered Dares.” Saying so, he turned him full front to the bull, who stood for reward of the fight, and, drawing back
621his right hand, poising the dread gauntlet high, swung sheer between the horns and crushed the skull; a trembling, lifeless creature, to the ground the bull dropped forward dead. Above the fallen Entellus cried aloud, “This victim due
626I give thee, Eryx, more acceptable than Dares' death to thy benignant shade. For this last victory and joyful day, my gauntlets and my art I leave with thee.” Forthwith Aeneas summons all who will
631to contest of swift arrows, and displays reward and prize. With mighty hand he rears a mast within th' arena, from the ship of good Sergestus taken; and thereto a fluttering dove by winding cord is bound
636for target of their shafts. Soon to the match the rival bowmen came and cast the lots into a brazen helmet. First came forth Hippocoon's number, son of Hyrtacus, by cheers applauded; Mnestheus was the next,
641late victor in the ship-race, Mnestheus crowned with olive-garland; next Eurytion, brother of thee, O bowman most renowned, Pandarus, breaker of the truce, who hurled his shaft upon the Achaeans, at the word
646the goddess gave. Acestes' Iot and name came from the helmet last, whose royal hand the deeds of youth dared even yet to try. Each then with strong arm bends his pliant bow, each from the quiver plucks a chosen shaft.
651First, with loud arrow whizzing from the string, the young Hippocoon with skyward aim cuts through the yielding air; and lo! his barb pierces the very wood, and makes the mast tremble; while with a fluttering, frighted wing
656the bird tugs hard,—and plaudits fill the sky. Boldly rose Mnestheus, and with bow full-drawn aimed both his eye and shaft aloft; but he failing, unhappy man, to bring his barb up to the dove herself, just cut the cord
661and broke the hempen bond, whereby her feet were captive to the tree: she, taking flight, clove through the shadowing clouds her path of air. But swiftly—for upon his waiting bow he held a shaft in rest—Eurytion
666invoked his brother's shade, and, marking well the dove, whose happy pinions fluttered free in vacant sky, pierced her, hard by a cloud; lifeless she fell, and left in light of heaven her spark of life, as, floating down, she bore
671the arrow back to earth. Acestes now remained, last rival, though the victor's palm to him was Iost; yet did the aged sire, to show his prowess and resounding bow, hurl forth one shaft in air; then suddenly
676all eyes beheld such wonder as portends events to be (but when fulfilment came, too late the fearful seers its warning sung): for, soaring through the stream of cloud, his shaft took fire, tracing its bright path in flame,
681then vanished on the wind,—as oft a star will fall unfastened from the firmament, while far behind its blazing tresses flow. Awe-struck both Trojan and Trinacrian stood, calling upon the gods. Nor came the sign
686in vain to great Aeneas. But his arms folded the blest Acestes to his heart, and, Ioading him with noble gifts, he cried: “Receive them, sire! The great Olympian King some peerless honor to thy name decrees
691by such an omen given. I offer thee this bowl with figures graven, which my sire, good gray Anchises, for proud gift received of Thracian Cisseus, for their friendship's pledge and memory evermore.” Thereon he crowned
696his brows with garland of the laurel green, and named Acestes victor over all. Nor could Eurytion, noble youth, think ill of honor which his own surpassed, though he, he only, pierced the bird in upper air.
701Next gift was his whose arrow cut the cord; last, his whose light shaft clove the lofty pine. Father Aeneas now, not making end of game and contest, summoned to his side Epytides, the mentor and true friend
706of young Iulus, and this bidding gave to his obedient ear: “Arise and go where my Ascanius has lined his troop of youthful cavalry, and trained the steeds to tread in ranks of war. Bid him lead forth
711the squadron in our sire Anchises' name, and wear a hero's arms!” So saying, he bade the course be cleared, and from the whole wide field th' insurging, curious multitude withdrew. In rode the boys, to meet their parents' eyes,
716in even lines, a glittering cavalry; while all Trinacria and the host from Troy made loud applause. On each bright brow a well-trimmed wreath the flowing tresses bound; two javelins of corner tipped with steel
721each bore for arms; some from the shoulder slung a polished quiver; to each bosom fell a pliant necklace of fine, twisted gold. Three bands of horsemen ride, three captains proud prance here and there, assiduous in command,
726each of his twelve, who shine in parted lines which lesser captains lead. One cohort proud follows a little Priam's royal name — one day, Polites, thy illustrious race through him prolonged, shall greater glory bring
731to Italy. A dappled Thracian steed with snow-white spots and fore-feet white as snow bears him along, its white face lifted high. Next Atys rode, young Atys, sire to be of th' Atian house in Rome, a boy most dear
736unto the boy Iulus; last in line, and fairest of the throng, Iulus came, astride a steed from Sidon, the fond gift of beauteous Dido and her pledge of love. Close followed him the youthful chivalry
741of King Acestes on Trinacrian steeds. The Trojans, with exultant, Ioud acclaim, receive the shy-faced boys, and joyfully trace in the features of the sons their sires. After, with smiling eyes, the horsemen proud
746have greeted each his kin in all the throng, Epytides th' appointed signal calls, and cracks his lash; in even lines they move, then, Ioosely sundering in triple band, wheel at a word and thrust their lances forth
751in hostile ranks; or on the ample field retreat or charge, in figure intricate of circling troop with troop, and swift parade of simulated war; now from the field they flee with backs defenceless to the foe;
756then rally, lance in rest—or, mingling all, make common front, one legion strong and fair. As once in Crete, the lofty mountain-isle, that-fabled labyrinthine gallery wound on through lightless walls, with thousand paths
761which baffled every clue, and led astray in unreturning mazes dark and blind: so did the sons of Troy their courses weave in mimic flights and battles fought for play, like dolphins tumbling in the liquid waves,
766along the Afric or Carpathian seas. This game and mode of march Ascanius, when Alba Longa's bastions proudly rose, taught to the Latin people of the prime; and as the princely Trojan and his train
771were wont to do, so Alba to her sons the custom gave; so glorious Rome at last the heritage accepted and revered; and still we know them for the “Trojan Band,” and call the lads a “Troy.” Such was the end
776of game and contest at Anchises' grave. Then fortune veered and different aspect wore. For 'ere the sacred funeral games are done, Saturnian Juno from high heaven sent down the light-winged Iris to the ships of Troy,
781giving her flight good wind—still full of schemes and hungering to avenge her ancient wrong. Unseen of mortal eye, the virgin took her pathway on the thousand-colored bow, and o'er its gliding passage earthward flew.
786She scanned the vast assemblage; then her gaze turned shoreward, where along the idle bay the Trojan galleys quite unpeopled rode. But far removed, upon a lonely shore, a throng of Trojan dames bewailed aloud
791their lost Anchises, and with tears surveyed the mighty deep. “O weary waste of seas! What vast, untravelled floods beyond us roll!” So cried they with one voice, and prayed the gods for an abiding city; every heart
796loathed utterly the long, laborious sea. Then in their midst alighted, not unskilled in working woe, the goddess; though she wore nor garb nor form divine, but made herself one Beroe, Doryclus' aged wife,
801who in her happier days had lineage fair and sons of noble name; in such disguise she called the Trojan dames:“O ye ill-starred, that were not seized and slain by Grecian foes under your native walls! O tribe accursed,
806what death is Fate preparing? Since Troy fell the seventh summer flies, while still we rove o'er cruel rocks and seas, from star to star, from alien land to land, as evermore we chase, storm-tossed, that fleeting Italy
811across the waters wide. Behold this land of Eryx, of Acestes, friend and kin; what hinders them to raise a rampart here and build a town? O city of our sires! O venerated gods from haughty foes
816rescued in vain! Will nevermore a wall rise in the name of Troy? Shall I not see a Xanthus or a Simois, the streams to Hector dear? Come now! I lead the way. Let us go touch their baneful ships with fire!
821I saw Cassandra in a dream. Her shade, prophetic ever, gave me firebrands, and cried, ‘Find Ilium so! The home for thee is where thou art.’ Behold, the hour is ripe for our great act! No longer now delay
826to heed the heavenly omen. Yonder stand four altars unto Neptune. 'T is the god, the god himself, gives courage for the deed, and swift-enkindling fire.” So having said, she seized a dreadful brand; then, lifting high,
831waved it all flaming, and with furious arm hurled it from far. The Ilian matrons gazed, bewildered and appalled. But one, of all the eldest, Pyrgo, venerated nurse of Priam's numerous sons, exclaimed, “Nay, nay!
836This is no Beroe, my noble dames. Doryclus knew her not. Behold and see her heavenly beauty and her radiant eyes! What voice of music and majestic mien, what movement like a god! Myself am come
841from Beroe sick, and left her grieving sore that she, she only, had no gift to bring of mournful honor to Anchises' shade.” She spoke. The women with ill-boding eyes looked on the ships. Their doubting hearts were torn
846'twixt tearful passion for the beauteous isle their feet then trod, and that prophetic call of Fate to lands unknown. Then on wide wings soared Iris into heaven, and through the clouds clove a vast arch of light. With wonder dazed,
851the women in a shrieking frenzy rose, took embers from the hearth-stones, stole the fires upon the altars—faggots, branches, brands — and rained them on the ships. The god of fire, through thwarts and oars and bows of painted fir,
856ran in unbridled flame. Swift to the tomb of Sire Anchises, to the circus-seats, the messenger Eumelus flew, to bring news of the ships on fire; soon every eye the clouds of smoke and hovering flame could see.
861Ascanius, who had led with smiling brow his troops of horse, accoutred as he was, rode hot-haste to the turmoil of the camp, nor could his guards restrain . “What madness now? What is it ye would do?” he cried. “Alas!
866Ill-fated women! Not our enemies, nor the dread bulwarks of the Greek ye burn, but all ye have to hope for. Look at me, your own Ascanius!” His helmet then into their midst he flung, which he had worn
871for pageantry of war. Aeneas, too, with Trojan bands sped thither. But far off, the women, panic-scattered on the shore, fled many ways, and deep in caverned crags or shadowed forests hid them, for they Ioathed
876their deed and life itself; their thoughts were changed; they knew their kin and husbands, and their hearts from Juno were set free. But none the less the burning and indomitable flames raged without stay; beneath the ships' smeared sides
881the hempen fuel puffed a lingering smoke, as, through the whole bulk creeping, the slow fire devoured its way; and little it availed that strong men fought the fire with stream on stream. Then good Aeneas from his shoulder rent
886his garment, and with lifted hands implored the help of Heaven. “O Jove omnipotent! If thou not yet thy wrath implacable on every Trojan pourest, if thou still hast pity, as of old, for what men bear,
891O, grant my fleet deliverance from this flame! From uttermost destruction, Father, save our desperate Trojan cause! Or even now — last cruelty! thy fatal thunders throw. If this be my just meed, let thy dread arm
896confound us all.” But scarce the prayer is said, when with a bursting deluge a dark storm falls, marvellous to see; while hills and plains with thunder shake, and to each rim of heaven spreads swollen cloud-rack, black with copious rain
901and multitudinous gales. The full flood pours on every ship, and all the smouldering beams are drenched, until the smoke and flames expire and (though four ships be lost) the burning fleet rides rescued from its doom. But smitten sore
906by this mischance, Aeneas doubtfully weighs in his heart its mighty load of cares, and ponders if indeed he may abide in Sicily, not heeding prophet-songs, or seek Italian shores. Thereon uprose
911Nautes, an aged sire, to whom alone Tritonian Pallas of her wisdom gave and made his skill renowned; he had the power to show celestial anger's warning signs, or tell Fate's fixed decree. The gifted man
916thus to Aeneas comfortably spoke: “O goddess-born, we follow here or there, as Fate compels or stays. But come what may, he triumphs over Fortune, who can bear whate'er she brings. Behold, Acestes draws
921from Dardanus his origin divine! Make him thy willing friend, to share with thee thy purpose and thy counsel. Leave with him the crews of the lost ships, and all whose hearts repine at thy high task and great emprise:
926the spent old men, the women ocean-weary, whate'er is feeble found, or faint of heart in danger's hour,—set that apart, and give such weary ones within this friendly isle a city called Acesta,—if he will.”
931Much moved Aeneas was by this wise word of his gray friend, though still his anxious soul was vexed by doubt and care. But when dark night had brought her chariot to the middle sky, the sacred shade of Sire Anchises seemed,
936from heaven descending, thus to speak aloud: “My son, than life more dear, when life was mine! O son, upon whose heart the Trojan doom has weighed so Iong! Beside thy couch I stand, at pleasure of great Jove, whose hand dispelled
941the mad fire from thy ships; and now he looks from heaven with pitying brow. I bid thee heed the noble counsels aged Nautes gave. Only with warriors of dauntless breast to Italy repair; of hardy breed,
946of wild, rough life, thy Latin foes will be. But first the shores of Pluto and the Shades thy feet must tread, and through the deep abyss of dark Avernus come to me, thy sire: for I inhabit not the guilty gloom
951of Tartarus, but bright Elysian day, where all the just their sweet assemblies hold. Hither the virgin Sibyl, if thou give full offerings of the blood of sable kine, shall lead thee down; and visions I will show
956of cities proud and nations sprung from thee. Farewell, for dewy Night has wheeled her way far past her middle course; the panting steeds of orient Morn breathe pitiless upon me.” He spoke, and passed, like fleeting clouds of smoke,
961to empty air. “O, whither haste away?” Aeneas cried. “Whom dost thou fly? What god from my fond yearning and embrace removes?” Then on the altar of the gods of Troy he woke the smouldering embers, at the shrine
966of venerable Vesta, worshipping with hallowed bread and incense burning free. Straightway he calls assembly of his friends, — Acestes first in honor,—and makes known Jove's will, the counsel of his cherished sire,
971and his own fresh resolve. With prompt assent they hear his word, nor does Acestes fail the task to share. They people the new town with women; and leave every wight behind who wills it—souls not thirsting for high praise.
976Themselves re-bench their ships, rebuild, and fit with rope and oar the flame-swept galleys all; a band not large, but warriors bold and true. Aeneas, guiding with his hand a plough, marks out the city's ground, gives separate lands
981by lot, and bids within this space appear a second Troy. Trojan Acestes takes the kingly power, and with benignant joy appoints a forum, and decrees just laws before a gathered senate. Then they raise
986on that star-circled Erycinian hill, the temple to Idalian Venus dear; and at Anchises' sepulchre ordain a priesthood and wide groves of hallowed shade. Now the nine days of funeral pomp are done,
991and every altar has had honors due from all the folk. Now tranquil-breathing winds have levelled the great deep, while brisk and free, a favoring Auster bids them launch away. But sound of many a wailing voice is heard
996along the winding shore; for ere they go, in fond embraces for a night and day they linger still. The women—aye, and men! — who hated yesterday the ocean's face and loathed its name, now clamor to set sail
1001and bear all want and woe to exiles known. But good Aeneas with benignant words their sorrow soothes, and, not without a tear, consigns them to Acestes' kindred care. Then bids he sacrifice to Eryx' shade
1006three bulls, and to the wind-gods and the storm a lamb, then loose the ships in order due. He, with a garland of shorn olive, stood holding aloft the sacrificial bowl from his own vessel's prow, and scattered far
1011the sacred entrails o'er the bitter wave, with gift of flowing wine. Swift at the stern a fair wind rose and thrust them; while the crews with rival strokes swept o'er the spreading sea. Venus, the while, disturbed with grief and care,
1016to Neptune thus her sorrowing heart outpoured: “Stern Juno's wrath and breast implacable compel me, Neptune, to abase my pride in lowly supplication. Lapse of days, nor prayers, nor virtues her hard heart subdue,
1021nor Jove's command; nor will she rest or yield at Fate's decree. Her execrable grudge is still unfed, although she did consume the Trojan city, Phrygia's midmost throne, and though she has accomplished stroke on stroke
1026of retribution. But she now pursues the remnant—aye! the ashes and bare bones of perished Ilium; though the cause and spring of wrath so great none but herself can tell. Wert thou not witness on the Libyan wave
1031what storm she stirred, immingling sea and sky, and with Aeolian whirlwinds made her war, — in vain and insolent invasion, sire, of thine own realm and power? Behold, but now, goading to evil deeds the Trojan dames,
1036she basely burned his ships; he in strange lands must leave the crews of his Iost fleet behind. O, I entreat thee, let the remnant sail in safety o'er thy sea, and end their way in Tiber's holy stream;—if this my prayer
1041be lawful, and that city's rampart proud be still what Fate intends.”Then Saturn's son, the ruler of the seas profound, replied: “Queen of Cythera, it is meet for thee to trust my waves from which thyself art sprung.
1046Have I not proved a friend, and oft restrained the anger and wild wrath of seas and skies? On land, let Simois and Xanthus tell if I have loved Aeneas! On that day Achilles drove the shuddering hosts of Troy
1051in panic to the walls, and hurled to death innumerable foes, until the streams were choked with dead, and Xanthus scarce could find his wonted path to sea; that self-same day, aeneas, spent, and with no help of Heaven,
1056met Peleus' dreadful son:—who else but I in cloudy mantle bore him safe afar? Though 't was my will to cast down utterly the walls of perjured Troy, which my own hands had built beside the sea. And even to-day
1061my favor changes not. Dispel thy fear! Safe, even as thou prayest, he shall ride to Cumae's haven, where Avernus lies. One only sinks beneath th' engulfing seas, — one life in lieu of many.” Having soothed
1066and cheered her heart divine, the worshipped sire flung o'er his mated steeds a yoke of gold, bridled the wild, white mouths, and with strong hand shook out long, Ioosened reins. His azure car skimmed light and free along the crested waves;
1071before his path the rolling billows all were calm and still, and each o'er-swollen flood sank 'neath his sounding wheel; while from the skies the storm-clouds fled away. Behind him trailed a various company; vast bulk of whales,
1076the hoary band of Glaucus, Ino's son, Palaemon and the nimble Tritons all, the troop of Phorcus; and to leftward ranged Thalia, Thetis, and fair Alelite, with virgin Panopea, and the nymphs
1081Nesaea, Spio and Cymodoce. Now in Aeneas' ever-burdened breast the voice of hope revived. He bade make haste to raise the masts, spread canvas on the spars; all hands hauled at the sheets, and left or right
1086shook out the loosened sails, or twirled in place the horn-tipped yards. Before a favoring wind the fleet sped on. The line in close array was led by Palinurus, in whose course all ships were bid to follow. Soon the car
1091of dewy Night drew near the turning-point of her celestial round. The oarsmen all yielded their limbs to rest, and prone had fallen on the hard thwarts, in deep, unpillowed slumber. Then from the high stars on light-moving wings,
1096the God of Sleep found passage through the dark and clove the gloom,—to bring upon thy head, O Palinurus, an ill-boding sleep, though blameless thou. Upon thy ship the god in guise of Phorbas stood, thus whispering:
1101“Look, Palinurus, how the flowing tides lift on thy fleet unsteered, and changeless winds behind thee breathe! 'T is now a happy hour take thy rest. Lay down the weary head. Steal tired eyes from toiling. I will do
1106thine office for thee, just a little space.” But Palinurus, lifting scarce his eyes, thus answered him: “Have I not known the face of yonder placid seas and tranquil waves? Put faith in such a monster? Could I trust —
1111I, oft by ocean's treacherous calm betrayed — my lord Aeneas to false winds and skies?” So saying, he grasped his rudder tight, and clung more firmly, fixing on the stars his eyes. Then waved the god above his brows a branch
1116wet with the dews of Lethe and imbued with power of Stygian dark, until his eyes wavered and slowly sank. The slumberous snare had scarce unbound his limbs, when, leaning o'er, the god upon the waters flung him forth,
1121hands clutching still the helm and ship-rail torn, and calling on his comrades, but in vain. Then soared th' immortal into viewless air; and in swift course across the level sea the fleet sped safe, protected from all fear
1126by Neptune's vow. Yet were they drawing nigh the sirens' island-steep, where oft are seen white, bleaching bones, and to the distant ear the rocks roar harshly in perpetual foam. Then of his drifting fleet and pilot gone
1131Aeneas was aware, and, taking helm, steered through the midnight waves, with many a sigh; and, by his comrade's pitiable death sore-smitten, cried, “O, thou didst trust too far fair skies and seas, and liest without a grave,
1136my Palinurus, in a land unknown!”
Book 6
1After such words and tears, he flung free rein To the swift fleet, which sped along the wave To old Euboean Cumae's sacred shore. They veer all prows to sea; the anchor fluke Makes each ship sure, and shading the long strand
6The rounded sterns jut o'er. Impetuously The eager warriors leap forth to land Upon Hesperian soil. One strikes the flint To find the seed-spark hidden in its veins; One breaks the thick-branched trees, and steals away
11The shelter where the woodland creatures bide; One leads his mates where living waters flow. Aeneas, servant of the gods, ascends The templed hill where lofty Phoebus reigns, And that far-off, inviolable shrine
16Of dread Sibylla, in stupendous cave, O'er whose deep soul the god of Delos breathes Prophetic gifts, unfolding things to come. Here are pale Trivia's golden house and grove. Here Daedalus, the ancient story tells,
21Escaping Minos' power, and having made Hazard of heaven on far-mounting wings, Floated to northward, a cold, trackless way, And lightly poised, at last, o'er Cumae's towers. Here first to earth come down, he gave to thee
26His gear of wings, Apollo! and ordained Vast temples to thy name and altars fair. On huge bronze doors Androgeos' death was done; And Cecrops' children paid their debt of woe, Where, seven and seven,—0 pitiable sight!—
31The youths and maidens wait the annual doom, Drawn out by lot from yonder marble urn. Beyond, above a sea, lay carven Crete:— The bull was there; the passion, the strange guile; And Queen Pasiphae's brute-human son,
36The Minotaur—of monstrous loves the sign. Here was the toilsome, labyrinthine maze, Where, pitying love-lorn Ariadne's tears, The crafty Daedalus himself betrayed The secret of his work; and gave the clue
41To guide the path of Theseus through the gloom. 0 Icarus, in such well-graven scene How proud thy place should be! but grief forbade: Twice in pure gold a father's fingers strove To shape thy fall, and twice they strove in vain.
46Aeneas long the various work would scan; But now Achates comes, and by his side Deiphobe, the Sibyl, Glaucus' child. Thus to the prince she spoke : “Is this thine hour
51To stand and wonder? Rather go obtain From young unbroken herd the bullocks seven, And seven yearling ewes, our wonted way.” Thus to Aeneas; his attendants haste To work her will; the priestess, calling loud,
56Gathers the Trojans to her mountain-shrine. Deep in the face of that Euboean crag A cavern vast is hollowed out amain, With hundred openings, a hundred mouths, Whence voices flow, the Sibyl's answering songs.
61While at the door they paused, the virgin cried : “Ask now thy doom!—the god! the god is nigh!” So saying, from her face its color flew, Her twisted locks flowed free, the heaving breast Swelled with her heart's wild blood; her stature seemed
66Vaster, her accent more than mortal man, As all th' oncoming god around her breathed : “On with thy vows and prayers, 0 Trojan, on! For only unto prayer this haunted cave May its vast lips unclose.” She spake no more.
71An icy shudder through the marrow ran Of the bold Trojans; while their sacred King Poured from his inmost soul this plaint and prayer : “Phoebus, who ever for the woes of Troy Hadst pitying eyes! who gavest deadly aim
76To Paris when his Dardan shaft he hurled On great Achilles! Thou hast guided me Through many an unknown water, where the seas Break upon kingdoms vast, and to the tribes Of the remote Massyli, whose wild land
81To Syrtes spreads. But now; because at last I touch Hesperia's ever-fleeting bound, May Troy's ill fate forsake me from this day! 0 gods and goddesses, beneath whose wrath Dardania's glory and great Ilium stood,
86Spare, for ye may, the remnant of my race! And thou, most holy prophetess, whose soul Foreknows events to come, grant to my prayer (Which asks no kingdom save what Fate decrees) That I may stablish in the Latin land
91My Trojans, my far-wandering household-gods, And storm-tossed deities of fallen Troy. Then unto Phoebus and his sister pale A temple all of marble shall be given, And festal days to Phoebus evermore.
96Thee also in my realms a spacious shrine Shall honor; thy dark books and holy songs I there will keep, to be my people's law; And thee, benignant Sibyl for all time A company of chosen priests shall serve.
101O, not on leaves, light leaves, inscribe thy songs! Lest, playthings of each breeze, they fly afar In swift confusion! Sing thyself, I pray.” So ceased his voice;the virgin through the cave, Scarce bridled yet by Phoebus' hand divine,
106Ecstatic swept along, and vainly stove To fing its potent master from her breast; But he more strongly plied his rein and curb Upon her frenzied lips, and soon subdued Her spirit fierce, and swayed her at his will.
111Free and self-moved the cavern's hundred adoors Swung open wide, and uttered to the air The oracles the virgin-priestess sung : “Thy long sea-perils thou hast safely passed; But heavier woes await thee on the land.
116Truly thy Trojans to Lavinian shore Shall come—vex not thyself thereon—but, oh! Shall rue their coming thither! war, red war! And Tiber stained with bloody foam I see. Simois, Xanthus, and the Dorian horde
121Thou shalt behold; a new Achilles now In Latium breathes,—he, too, of goddess born; And Juno, burden of the sons of Troy, Will vex them ever; while thyself shalt sue In dire distress to many a town and tribe
126Through Italy; the cause of so much ill Again shall be a hostess-queen, again A marriage-chamber for an alien bride. Oh! yield not to thy woe, but front it ever, And follow boldly whither Fortune calls.
131Thy way of safety, as thou least couldst dream, Lies through a city of the Greeks, thy foes.” Thus from her shrine Cumaea's prophetess Chanted the dark decrees; the dreadful sound Reverberated through the bellowing cave,
136Commingling truth with ecstasies obscure. Apollo, as she raged, flung loosened rein, And thrust beneath her heart a quickening spur. When first her madness ceased, and her wild lips Were still at last, the hero thus began :
141“No tribulations new, 0 Sibyl blest, Can now confront me; every future pain I have foretasted; my prophetic soul Endured each stroke of fate before it fell. One boon I ask. If of th' infernal King
146This be the portal where the murky wave Of swollen Acheron o'erflows its bound, Here let me enter and behold the face Of my loved sire. Thy hand may point the way; Thy word will open wide yon holy doors.
151My father through the flames and falling spears, Straight through the centre of our foes, I bore Upon these shoulders. My long flight he shared From sea to sea, and suffered at my side The anger of rude waters and dark skies,—
156Though weak—0 task too great for old and gray! Thus as a suppliant at thy door to stand, Was his behest and prayer. On son and sire, 0 gracious one, have pity,—for thy rule Is over all; no vain authority
161Hadst thou from Trivia o'er th' Avernian groves. If Orpheus could call back his loved one's shade, Emboldened by the lyre's melodious string : If Pollux by the interchange of death Redeemed his twin, and oft repassed the way :
166If Theseus—but why name him? why recall Alcides' task? I, too, am sprung from Jove.” Thus, to the altar clinging, did he pray : The Sibyl thus replied : “Offspring of Heaven, Anchises' son, the downward path to death
171Is easy; all the livelong night and day Dark Pluto's door stands open for a guest. But 0! remounting to the world of light, This is a task indeed, a strife supreme. Few, very few, whom righteous Jove did bless,
176Or quenchless virtue carried to the stars, Children of gods, have such a victory won. Grim forests stop the way, and, gliding slow, Cocytus circles through the sightless gloom. But if it be thy dream and fond desire
181Twice o'er the Stygian gulf to travel, twice On glooms of Tartarus to set thine eyes, If such mad quest be now thy pleasure—hear What must be first fulfilled . A certain tree Hides in obscurest shade a golden bough,
186Of pliant stems and many a leaf of gold, Sacred to Proserpine, infernal Queen. Far in the grove it hides; in sunless vale Deep shadows keep it in captivity. No pilgrim to that underworld can pass
191But he who plucks this burgeoned, leafy gold; For this hath beauteous Proserpine ordained Her chosen gift to be. Whene'er it is culled, A branch out-leafing in like golden gleam, A second wonder-stem, fails not to spring.
196Therefore go seek it with uplifted eyes! And when by will of Heaven thou findest it, Reach forth and pluck; for at a touch it yields, A free and willing gift, if Fate ordain; But otherwise no mortal strength avails,
201Nor strong, sharp steel, to rend it from the tree. Another task awaits; thy friend's cold clay Lies unentombed. Alas! thou art not ware (While in my house thou lingerest, seeking light) That all thy ships are by his death defiled.
206Unto his resting-place and sepulchre, Go, carry him! And sable victims bring, In expiation, to his mournful shade. So at the last on yonder Stygian groves, And realms to things that breathe impassable,
211Thine eye shall gaze.” So closed her lips inspired. Aeneas then drew forth, with downcast eyes, From that dark cavern, pondering in his heart The riddle of his fate. His faithful friend Achates at his side, with paces slow,
216Companioned all his care, while their sad souls Made mutual and oft-renewed surmise What comrade dead, what cold and tombless clay, The Sibyl's word would show. But as they mused,
221Behold Misenus on the dry sea-sands, By hasty hand of death struck guiltless down! A son of Aeolus, none better knew To waken heroes by the clarion's call, With war-enkindling sound. Great Hector's friend
226In happier days, he oft at Hector's side Strode to the fight with glittering lance and horn. But when Achilles stripped his fallen foe, This dauntless hero to Aeneas gave Allegiance true, in not less noble cause.
231But, on a day, he chanced beside the sea To blow his shell-shaped horn, and wildly dared Challenge the gods themselves to rival song; Till jealous Triton, if the tale be true, Grasped the rash mortal, and out-flung him far
236'mid surf-beat rocks and waves of whirling foam. Now from all sides, with tumult and loud cry, The Trojans came,—Aeneas leading all In faithful grief; they hasten to fulfil The Sibyl's mandate, and with many a tear
241Build, altar-wise, a pyre, of tree on tree Heaped high as heaven : then they penetrate The tall, old forest, where wild creatures bide, And fell pitch-pines, or with resounding blows Of axe and wedge, cleave oak and ash-tree through,
246Or logs of rowan down the mountains roll. Aeneas oversees and shares the toil, Cheers on his mates, and swings a woodman's steel. But, sad at heart with many a doubt and care, O'erlooks the forest wide; then prays aloud :
251“0, that the Golden Bough from this vast grove Might o'er me shine! For, 0 Aeolides, The oracle foretold thy fate, too well!” Scarce had he spoken, when a pair of doves Before his very eyes flew down from heaven
256To the green turf below; the prince of Troy Knew them his mother's birds, and joyful cried, “0, guide me on, whatever path there be! In airy travel through the woodland fly, To where yon rare branch shades the blessed ground.
261Fail thou not me, in this my doubtful hour, 0 heavenly mother!” So saying, his steps lie stayed, Close watching whither they should signal give; The lightly-feeding doves flit on and on, Ever in easy ken of following eyes,
266Till over foul Avernus' sulphurous throat Swiftly they lift them through the liquid air, In silent flight, and find a wished-for rest On a twy-natured tree, where through green boughs Flames forth the glowing gold's contrasted hue.
271As in the wintry woodland bare and chill, Fresh-budded shines the clinging mistletoe, Whose seed is never from the parent tree O'er whose round limbs its tawny tendrils twine,— So shone th' out-leafing gold within the shade
276Of dark holm-oak, and so its tinsel-bract Rustled in each light breeze. Aeneas grasped The lingering bough, broke it in eager haste, And bore it straightway to the Sibyl's shrine. Meanwhile the Trojans on the doleful shore
281Bewailed Misenus, and brought tribute there Of grief's last gift to his unheeding clay. First, of the full-sapped pine and well-hewn oak A lofty pyre they build; then sombre boughs Around it wreathe, and in fair order range
286Funereal cypress; glittering arms are piled High over all; on blazing coals they lift Cauldrons of brass brimmed o'er with waters pure; And that cold, lifeless clay lave and anoint With many a moan and cry; on their last couch
291The poor, dead limbs they lay, and mantle o'er With purple vesture and familiar pall. Then in sad ministry the chosen few, With eyes averted, as our sires did use, Hold the enkindling torch beneath the pyre :
296They gather up and burn the gifts of myrrh, The sacred bread and bowls of flowing oil; And when in flame the dying embers fall, On thirsty ash they pour the streams of wine. Good Corynaeus, in an urn of brass
301The gathered relics hides; and three times round, With blessed olive branch and sprinkling dew, Purges the people with ablution cold, In lustral rite; oft chanting, “Hail! Farewell!” Faithful Aeneas for his comrade built
306A mighty tomb, and dedicated there Trophy of arms, with trumpet and with oar, Beneath a windy hill, which now is called “Misenus,”—for all time the name to bear. After these toils, they hasten to fulfil
311What else the Sibyl said. Straightway they find A cave profound, of entrance gaping wide, O'erhung with rock, in gloom of sheltering grove, Near the dark waters of a lake, whereby No bird might ever pass with scathless wing,
316So dire an exhalation is breathed out From that dark deep of death to upper air :— Hence, in the Grecian tongue, Aornos called. Here first four youthful bulls of swarthy hide Were led for sacrifice; on each broad brow
321The priestess sprinkled wine; 'twixt the two horns Outplucked the lifted hair, and cast it forth Upon the holy flames, beginning so Her offerings; then loudly sued the power of Hecate, a Queen in heaven and hell.
326Some struck with knives, and caught in shallow bowls The smoking blood. Aeneas' lifted hand Smote with a sword a sable-fleeced ewe To Night, the mother of th' Eumenides, And Earth, her sister dread; next unto thee,
331O Proserpine, a curst and barren cow; Then unto Pluto, Stygian King, he built An altar dark, and piled upon the flames The ponderous entrails of the bulls, and poured Free o'er the burning flesh the goodly oil.
336Then lo! at dawn's dim, earliest beam began Beneath their feet a groaning of the ground : The wooded hill-tops shook, and, as it seemed, She-hounds of hell howled viewless through the shade , To hail their Queen. “Away, 0 souls profane!
341Stand far away!” the priestess shrieked, “nor dare Unto this grove come near! Aeneas, on! Begin thy journey! Draw thy sheathed blade! Now, all thy courage! now, th' unshaken soul!” She spoke, and burst into the yawning cave
346With frenzied step; he follows where she leads, And strides with feet unfaltering at her side. Ye gods! who rule the spirits of the dead! Ye voiceless shades and silent lands of night! 0 Phlegethon! 0 Chaos! let my song,
351If it be lawful, in fit words declare What I have heard; and by your help divine Unfold what hidden things enshrouded lie In that dark underworld of sightless gloom. They walked exploring the unpeopled night,
356Through Pluto's vacuous realms, and regions void, As when one's path in dreary woodlands winds Beneath a misty moon's deceiving ray, When Jove has mantled all his heaven in shade, And night seals up the beauty of the world.
361In the first courts and entrances of Hell Sorrows and vengeful Cares on couches lie : There sad Old Age abides, Diseases pale, And Fear, and Hunger, temptress to all crime; Want, base and vile, and, two dread shapes to see,
366Bondage and Death : then Sleep, Death's next of kin; And dreams of guilty joy. Death-dealing War Is ever at the doors, and hard thereby The Furies' beds of steel, where wild-eyed Strife Her snaky hair with blood-stained fillet binds.
371There in the middle court a shadowy elm Its ancient branches spreads, and in its leaves Deluding visions ever haunt and cling. Then come strange prodigies of bestial kind : Centaurs are stabled there, and double shapes
376Like Scylla, or the dragon Lerna bred, With hideous scream; Briareus clutching far His hundred hands, Chimaera girt with flame, A crowd of Gorgons, Harpies of foul wing, And giant Geryon's triple-monstered shade.
381Aeneas, shuddering with sudden fear, Drew sword and fronted them with naked steel; And, save his sage conductress bade him know These were but shapes and shadows sweeping by, His stroke had cloven in vain the vacant air.
386Hence the way leads to that Tartarean stream Of Acheron, whose torrent fierce and foul Disgorges in Cocytus all its sands. A ferryman of gruesome guise keeps ward Upon these waters,—Charon, foully garbed,
391With unkempt, thick gray beard upon his chin, And staring eyes of flame; a mantle coarse, All stained and knotted, from his shoulder falls, As with a pole he guides his craft, tends sail, And in the black boat ferries o'er his dead;—
396Old, but a god's old age looks fresh and strong. To those dim shores the multitude streams on— Husbands and wives, and pale, unbreathing forms Of high-souled heroes, boys and virgins fair, And strong youth at whose graves fond parents mourned.
401As numberless the throng as leaves that fall When autumn's early frost is on the grove; Or like vast flocks of birds by winter's chill Sent flying o'er wide seas to lands of flowers. All stood beseeching to begin their voyage
406Across that river, and reached out pale hands, In passionate yearning for its distant shore. But the grim boatman takes now these, now those, Or thrusts unpitying from the stream away. Aeneas, moved to wonder and deep awe,
411Beheld the tumult; “Virgin seer!” he cried, . “Why move the thronging ghosts toward yonder stream? What seek they there? Or what election holds That these unwilling linger, while their peers Sweep forward yonder o'er the leaden waves?”
416To him, in few, the aged Sibyl spoke : “Son of Anchises, offspring of the gods, Yon are Cocytus and the Stygian stream, By whose dread power the gods themselves do fear To take an oath in vain. Here far and wide
421Thou seest the hapless throng that hath no grave. That boatman Charon bears across the deep Such as be sepulchred with holy care. But over that loud flood and dreadful shore No trav'ler may be borne, until in peace
426His gathered ashes rest. A hundred years Round this dark borderland some haunt and roam, Then win late passage o'er the longed-for wave.” Aeneas lingered for a little space, Revolving in his soul with pitying prayer
431Fate's partial way. But presently he sees Leucaspis and the Lycian navy's lord, Orontes; both of melancholy brow, Both hapless and unhonored after death, Whom, while from Troy they crossed the wind-swept seas,
436A whirling tempest wrecked with ship and crew. There, too, the helmsman Palinurus strayed : Who, as he whilom watched the Libyan stars, Had fallen, plunging from his lofty seat Into the billowy deep. Aeneas now
441Discerned his sad face through the blinding gloom, And hailed him thus : “0 Palinurus, tell What god was he who ravished thee away From me and mine, beneath the o'crwhelming wave? Speak on! for he who ne'er had spoke untrue,
446Apollo's self, did mock my listening mind, And chanted me a faithful oracle That thou shouldst ride the seas unharmed, and touch Ausonian shores. Is this the pledge divine?” Then he, “0 chieftain of Anchises' race,
451Apollo's tripod told thee not untrue. No god did thrust me down beneath the wave, For that strong rudder unto which I clung, My charge and duty, and my ship's sole guide, Wrenched from its place, dropped with me as I fell.
456Not for myself—by the rude seas I swear— Did I have terror, but lest thy good ship, Stripped of her gear, and her poor pilot lost, Should fail and founder in that rising flood. Three wintry nights across the boundless main
461The south wind buffeted and bore me on; At the fourth daybreak, lifted from the surge, I looked at last on Italy, and swam With weary stroke on stroke unto the land. Safe was I then. Alas! but as I climbed
466With garments wet and heavy, my clenched hand Grasping the steep rock, came a cruel horde Upon me with drawn blades, accounting me— So blind they were!—a wrecker's prize and spoil. Now are the waves my tomb; and wandering winds
471Toss me along the coast. 0, I implore, By heaven's sweet light, by yonder upper air, By thy lost father, by Iulus dear, Thy rising hope and joy, that from these woes, Unconquered chieftain, thou wilt set me free!
476Give me a grave where Velia's haven lies, For thou hast power! Or if some path there be, If thy celestial mother guide thee here (For not, I ween, without the grace of gods Wilt cross yon rivers vast, you Stygian pool)
481Reach me a hand! and bear with thee along! Until (least gift!) death bring me peace and calm.” Such words he spoke: the priestess thus replied: “Why, Palinurus, these unblest desires? Wouldst thou, unsepulchred, behold the wave
486Of Styx, stern river of th' Eumenides? Wouldst thou, unbidden, tread its fearful strand? Hope not by prayer to change the laws of Heaven! But heed my words, and in thy memory Cherish and keep, to cheer this evil time.
491Lo, far and wide, led on by signs from Heaven, Thy countrymen from many a templed town Shall consecrate thy dust, and build thy tomb, A tomb with annual feasts and votive flowers, To Palinurus a perpetual fame!”
496Thus was his anguish stayed, from his sad heart Grief ebbed awhile, and even to this day, Our land is glad such noble name to wear. The twain continue now their destined way Unto the river's edge. The Ferryman,
501Who watched them through still groves approach his shore, Hailed them, at distance, from the Stygian wave, And with reproachful summons thus began: “Whoe'er thou art that in this warrior guise Unto my river comest,—quickly tell
506Thine errand! Stay thee where thou standest now! This is ghosts' land, for sleep and slumbrous dark. That flesh and blood my Stygian ship should bear Were lawless wrong. Unwillingly I took Alcides, Theseus, and Pirithous,
511Though sons of gods, too mighty to be quelled. One bound in chains yon warder of Hell's door, And dragged him trembling from our monarch's throne: The others, impious, would steal away Out of her bride-bed Pluto's ravished Queen.”
516Briefly th' Amphrysian priestess made reply: “Not ours, such guile: Fear not! This warrior's arms Are innocent. Let Cerberus from his cave Bay ceaselessly, the bloodless shades to scare; Let Proserpine immaculately keep
521The house and honor of her kinsman King. Trojan Aeneas, famed for faithful prayer And victory in arms, descends to seek His father in this gloomy deep of death. If loyal goodness move not such as thee,
526This branch at least” (she drew it from her breast) “Thou knowest well.” Then cooled his wrathful heart; With silent lips he looked and wondering eyes Upon that fateful, venerable wand,
531Seen only once an age. Shoreward he turned, And pushed their way his boat of leaden hue. The rows of crouching ghosts along the thwarts He scattered, cleared a passage, and gave room To great Aeneas. The light shallop groaned
536Beneath his weight, and, straining at each seam, Took in the foul flood with unstinted flow. At last the hero and his priestess-guide Came safe across the river, and were moored 'mid sea-green sedges in the formless mire.
541Here Cerberus, with triple-throated roar, Made all the region ring, as there he lay At vast length in his cave. The Sibyl then, Seeing the serpents writhe around his neck, Threw down a loaf with honeyed herbs imbued
546And drowsy essences: he, ravenous, Gaped wide his three fierce mouths and snatched the bait, Crouched with his large backs loose upon the ground, And filled his cavern floor from end to end. Aeneas through hell's portal moved, while sleep
551Its warder buried; then he fled that shore Of Stygian stream, whence travellers ne'er return. Now hears he sobs, and piteous, lisping cries Of souls of babes upon the threshold plaining; Whom, ere they took their portion of sweet life,
556Dark Fate from nursing bosoms tore, and plunged In bitterness of death. Nor far from these, The throng of dead by unjust judgment slain. Not without judge or law these realms abide: Wise Minos there the urn of justice moves,
561And holds assembly of the silent shades, Hearing the stories of their lives and deeds. Close on this place those doleful ghosts abide, Who, not for crime, but loathing life and light With their own hands took death, and cast away
566The vital essence. Willingly, alas! They now would suffer need, or burdens bear, If only life were given! But Fate forbids. Around them winds the sad, unlovely wave Of Styx: nine times it coils and interflows.
571Not far from hence, on every side outspread, The Fields of Sorrow lie,—such name they bear; Here all whom ruthless love did waste away Wander in paths unseen, or in the gloom Of dark myrtle grove: not even in death
576Have they forgot their griefs of long ago. Here impious Phaedra and poor Procris bide; Lorn Eriphyle bares the vengeful wounds Her own son's dagger made; Evadne here, And foul Pasiphae Pasiphaë are seen; hard by,
581Laodamia, nobly fond and fair; And Caeneus, not a boy, but maiden now, By Fate remoulded to her native seeming. Here Tyrian Dido, too, her wound unhealed, Roamed through a mighty wood. The Trojan's eyes
586Beheld her near him through the murky gloom, As when, in her young month and crescent pale, One sees th' o'er-clouded moon, or thinks he sees. Down dropped his tears, and thus he fondly spoke: “0 suffering Dido! Were those tidings true
591That thou didst fling thee on the fatal steel? Thy death, ah me! I dealt it. But I swear By stars above us, by the powers in Heaven, Or whatsoever oath ye dead believe, That not by choice I fled thy shores, 0 Queen!
596Divine decrees compelled me, even as now Among these ghosts I pass, and thread my way Along this gulf of night and loathsome land. How could I deem my cruel taking leave Would bring thee at the last to all this woe?
6010, stay! Why shun me? Wherefore haste away? Our last farewell! Our doom! I speak it now!” Thus, though she glared with fierce, relentless gaze, Aaeneas, with fond words and tearful plea, Would soothe her angry soul. But on the ground
606She fixed averted eyes. For all he spoke Moved her no more than if her frowning brow Were changeless flint or carved in Parian stone. Then, after pause, away in wrath she fled, And refuge took within the cool, dark grove,
611Where her first spouse, Sichaeus, with her tears Mingled his own in mutual love and true. Aeneas, none the less, her guiltless woe With anguish knew, watched with dimmed eyes her way, And pitied from afar the fallen Queen.
616But now his destined way he must be gone; Now the last regions round the travellers lie, Where famous warriors in the darkness dwell: Here Tydeus comes in view, with far-renowned Parthenopaeus and Adrastus pale;
621Here mourned in upper air with many a moan, In battle fallen, the Dardanidae, Whose long defile Aeneas groans to see: Glaucus and Medon and Thersilochus, Antenor's children three, and Ceres' priest,
626That Polypoetes, and Idaeus still. Keeping the kingly chariot and spear. Around him left and right the crowding shades Not only once would see, but clutch and cling Obstructive, asking on what quest he goes.
631Soon as the princes of Argolic blood, With line on line of Agamemnon's men, Beheld the hero and his glittering arms Flash through the dark, they trembled with amaze, Or turned in flight, as if once more they fled
636To shelter of the ships; some raised aloft A feeble shout, or vainly opened wide Their gaping lips in mockery of sound. Here Priam's son, with body rent and torn, Deiphobus Deïphobus is seen,—his mangled face,
641His face and bloody hands, his wounded head Of ears and nostrils infamously shorn. Scarce could Aeneas know the shuddering shade That strove to hide its face and shameful scar; But, speaking first, he said, in their own tongue:
646“Deiphobus, strong warrior, nobly born Of Teucer's royal stem, what ruthless foe Could wish to wreak on thee this dire revenge? Who ventured, unopposed, so vast a wrong? The rumor reached me how, that deadly night,
651Wearied with slaying Greeks, thyself didst fall Prone on a mingled heap of friends and foes. Then my own hands did for thy honor build An empty tomb upon the Trojan shore, And thrice with echoing voice I called thy shade.
656Thy name and arms are there. But, 0 my friend, Thee could I nowhere find, but launched away, Nor o'er thy bones their native earth could fling.” To him the son of Priam thus replied: “Nay, friend, no hallowed rite was left undone,
661But every debt to death and pity due The shades of thy Deiphobus received. My fate it was, and Helen's murderous wrong, Wrought me this woe; of her these tokens tell. For how that last night in false hope we passed,
666Thou knowest,—ah, too well we both recall! When up the steep of Troy the fateful horse Came climbing, pregnant with fierce men-at-arms, 't was she, accurst, who led the Phrygian dames In choric dance and false bacchantic song,
671And, waving from the midst a lofty brand, Signalled the Greeks from Ilium's central tower In that same hour on my sad couch I lay, Exhausted by long care and sunk in sleep, That sweet, deep sleep, so close to tranquil death.
676But my illustrious bride from all the house Had stolen all arms; from 'neath my pillowed head She stealthily bore off my trusty sword; Then loud on Menelaus did she call, And with her own false hand unbarred the door;
681Such gift to her fond lord she fain would send To blot the memory of his ancient wrong! Why tell the tale, how on my couch they broke, While their accomplice, vile Aeolides, Counselled to many a crime. 0 heavenly Powers!
686Reward these Greeks their deeds of wickedness, If with clean lips upon your wrath I call! But, friend, what fortunes have thy life befallen? Tell point by point. Did waves of wandering seas Drive thee this way, or some divine command?
691What chastisement of fortune thrusts thee on Toward this forlorn abode of night and cloud?” While thus they talked, the crimsoned car of Morn Had wheeled beyond the midmost point of heaven, On her ethereal road. The princely pair
696Had wasted thus the whole brief gift of hours; But Sibyl spoke the warning: “Night speeds by, And we, Aeneas, lose it in lamenting. Here comes the place where cleaves our way in twain. Thy road, the right, toward Pluto's dwelling goes,
701And leads us to Elysium. But the left Speeds sinful souls to doom, and is their path To Tartarus th' accurst.” Deiphobus Deïphobus Cried out: “0 priestess, be not wroth with us! Back to the ranks with yonder ghosts I go.
7060 glory of my race, pass on! Thy lot Be happier than mine!” He spoke, and fled. Aeneas straightway by the leftward cliff Beheld a spreading rampart, high begirt With triple wall, and circling round it ran
711A raging river of swift floods of flame, Infernal Phlegethon, which whirls along Loud-thundering rocks. A mighty gate is there Columned in adamant; no human power, Nor even the gods, against this gate prevail.
716Tall tower of steel it has; and seated there Tisiphone, in blood-flecked pall arrayed, Sleepless forever, guards the entering way. Hence groans are heard, fierce cracks of lash and scourge, Loud-clanking iron links and trailing chains.
721Aeneas motionless with horror stood o'erwhelmed at such uproar. “0 virgin, say What shapes of guilt are these? What penal woe Harries them thus? What wailing smites the air?” To whom the Sibyl, “Far-famed prince of Troy,
726The feet of innocence may never pass Into this house of sin. But Hecate, When o'er th' Avernian groves she gave me power, Taught me what penalties the gods decree, And showed me all. There Cretan Rhadamanth
731His kingdom keeps, and from unpitying throne Chastises and lays bare the secret sins Of mortals who, exulting in vain guile, Elude till death, their expiation due. There, armed forever with her vengeful scourge,
736Tisiphone, with menace and affront, The guilty swarm pursues; in her left hand She lifts her angered serpents, while she calls A troop of sister-furies fierce as she. Then, grating loud on hinge of sickening sound,
741Hell's portals open wide. 0, dost thou see What sentinel upon that threshold sits, What shapes of fear keep guard upon that gloom? Far, far within the dragon Hydra broods With half a hundred mouths, gaping and black;
746And Tartarus slopes downward to the dark Twice the whole space that in the realms of light Th' Olympian heaven above our earth aspires. — Here Earth's first offspring, the Titanic brood, Roll lightning-blasted in the gulf profound;
751The twin Aloidae Aloïdae , colossal shades, Came on my view; their hands made stroke at Heaven And strove to thrust Jove from his seat on high. I saw Salmoneus his dread stripes endure, Who dared to counterfeit Olympian thunder
756And Jove's own fire. In chariot of four steeds, Brandishing torches, he triumphant rode Through throngs of Greeks, o'er Elis' sacred way, Demanding worship as a god. 0 fool! To mock the storm's inimitable flash—
761With crash of hoofs and roll of brazen wheel! But mightiest Jove from rampart of thick cloud Hurled his own shaft, no flickering, mortal flame, And in vast whirl of tempest laid him low. Next unto these, on Tityos I looked,
766Child of old Earth, whose womb all creatures bears: Stretched o'er nine roods he lies; a vulture huge Tears with hooked beak at his immortal side, Or deep in entrails ever rife with pain Gropes for a feast, making his haunt and home
771In the great Titan bosom; nor will give To ever new-born flesh surcease of woe. Why name Ixion and Pirithous, The Lapithae, above whose impious brows A crag of flint hangs quaking to its fall,
776As if just toppling down, while couches proud, Propped upon golden pillars, bid them feast In royal glory: but beside them lies The eldest of the Furies, whose dread hands Thrust from the feast away, and wave aloft
781A flashing firebrand, with shrieks of woe. Here in a prison-house awaiting doom Are men who hated, long as life endured, Their brothers, or maltreated their gray sires, Or tricked a humble friend; the men who grasped
786At hoarded riches, with their kith and kin Not sharing ever—an unnumbered throng; Here slain adulterers be; and men who dared To fight in unjust cause, and break all faith With their own lawful lords. Seek not to know
791What forms of woe they feel, what fateful shape Of retribution hath o'erwhelmed them there. Some roll huge boulders up; some hang on wheels, Lashed to the whirling spokes; in his sad seat Theseus is sitting, nevermore to rise;
796Unhappy Phlegyas uplifts his voice In warning through the darkness, calling loud, ‘0, ere too late, learn justice and fear God!’ Yon traitor sold his country, and for gold Enchained her to a tyrant, trafficking
801In laws, for bribes enacted or made void; Another did incestuously take His daughter for a wife in lawless bonds. All ventured some unclean, prodigious crime; And what they dared, achieved. I could not tell,
806Not with a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, Or iron voice, their divers shapes of sin, Nor call by name the myriad pangs they bear.” So spake Apollo's aged prophetess. “Now up and on!” she cried. “Thy task fulfil!
811We must make speed. Behold yon arching doors Yon walls in furnace of the Cyclops forged! 'T is there we are commanded to lay down Th' appointed offering.” So, side by side, Swift through the intervening dark they strode,
816And, drawing near the portal-arch, made pause. Aeneas, taking station at the door, Pure, lustral waters o'er his body threw, And hung for garland there the Golden Bough. Now, every rite fulfilled, and tribute due
821Paid to the sovereign power of Proserpine, At last within a land delectable Their journey lay, through pleasurable bowers Of groves where all is joy,—a blest abode! An ampler sky its roseate light bestows
826On that bright land, which sees the cloudless beam Of suns and planets to our earth unknown. On smooth green lawns, contending limb with limb, Immortal athletes play, and wrestle long 'gainst mate or rival on the tawny sand;
831With sounding footsteps and ecstatic song, Some thread the dance divine: among them moves The bard of Thrace, in flowing vesture clad, Discoursing seven-noted melody, Who sweeps the numbered strings with changeful hand,
836Or smites with ivory point his golden lyre. Here Trojans be of eldest, noblest race, Great-hearted heroes, born in happier times, Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus, Illustrious builders of the Trojan town.
841Their arms and shadowy chariots he views, And lances fixed in earth, while through the fields Their steeds without a bridle graze at will. For if in life their darling passion ran To chariots, arms, or glossy-coated steeds,
846The self-same joy, though in their graves, they feel. Lo! on the left and right at feast reclined Are other blessed souls, whose chorus sings Victorious paeans on the fragrant air Of laurel groves; and hence to earth outpours
851Eridanus, through forests rolling free. Here dwell the brave who for their native land Fell wounded on the field; here holy priests Who kept them undefiled their mortal day; And poets, of whom the true-inspired song
856Deserved Apollo's name; and all who found New arts, to make man's life more blest or fair; Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath Deserved and grateful memory to their kind. And each bright brow a snow-white fillet wears.
861Unto this host the Sibyl turned, and hailed Musaeus, midmost of a numerous throng, Who towered o'er his peers a shoulder higher: “0 spirits blest! 0 venerable bard! Declare what dwelling or what region holds
866Anchises, for whose sake we twain essayed Yon passage over the wide streams of hell.” And briefly thus the hero made reply: “No fixed abode is ours. In shadowy groves We make our home, or meadows fresh and fair,
871With streams whose flowery banks our couches be. But you, if thitherward your wishes turn, Climb yonder hill, where I your path may show.” So saying, he strode forth and led them on, Till from that vantage they had prospect fair
876Of a wide, shining land; thence wending down, They left the height they trod;for far below Father Anchises in a pleasant vale Stood pondering, while his eyes and thought surveyed A host of prisoned spirits, who there abode
881Awaiting entrance to terrestrial air. And musing he reviewed the legions bright Of his own progeny and offspring proud— Their fates and fortunes, virtues and great deeds. Soon he discerned Aeneas drawing nigh
886o'er the green slope, and, lifting both his hands In eager welcome, spread them swiftly forth. Tears from his eyelids rained, and thus he spoke: “Art here at last? Hath thy well-proven love Of me thy sire achieved yon arduous way?
891Will Heaven, beloved son, once more allow That eye to eye we look? and shall I hear Thy kindred accent mingling with my own? I cherished long this hope. My prophet-soul Numbered the lapse of days, nor did my thought
896Deceive. 0, o'er what lands and seas wast driven To this embrace! What perils manifold Assailed thee, 0 my son, on every side! How long I trembled, lest that Libyan throne Should work thee woe!”
901Aeneas thus replied: “Thine image, sire, thy melancholy shade, Came oft upon my vision, and impelled My journey hitherward. Our fleet of ships Lies safe at anchor in the Tuscan seas.
906Come, clasp my hand! Come, father, I implore, And heart to heart this fond embrace receive!” So speaking, all his eyes suffused with tears; Thrice would his arms in vain that shape enfold. Thrice from the touch of hand the vision fled,
911Like wafted winds or likest hovering dreams. After these things Aeneas was aware Of solemn groves in one deep, distant vale, Where trees were whispering, and forever flowed The river Lethe, through its land of calm.
916Nations unnumbered roved and haunted there: As when, upon a windless summer morn, The bees afield among the rainbow flowers Alight and sip, or round the lilies pure Pour forth in busy swarm, while far diffused
921Their murmured songs from all the meadows rise. Aeneas in amaze the wonder views, And fearfully inquires of whence and why; What yonder rivers be; what people press, Line after line, on those dim shores along.
926Said Sire Anchises: “Yonder thronging souls To reincarnate shape predestined move. Here, at the river Lethe's wave, they quaff Care-quelling floods, and long oblivion. Of these I shall discourse, and to thy soul
931Make visible the number and array Of my posterity; so shall thy heart In Italy, thy new-found home, rejoice.” “0 father,” said Aeneas, “must I deem That from this region souls exalted rise
936To upper air, and shall once more return To cumbering flesh? 0, wherefore do they feel, Unhappy ones, such fatal lust to live?” “I speak, my son, nor make thee longer doubt,” Anchises said, and thus the truth set forth,
941In ordered words from point to point unfolding: “Know first that heaven and earth and ocean's plain, The moon's bright orb, and stars of Titan birth Are nourished by one Life; one primal Mind, Immingled with the vast and general frame,
946Fills every part and stirs the mighty whole. Thence man and beast, thence creatures of the air, And all the swarming monsters that be found Beneath the level of the marbled sea; A fiery virtue, a celestial power,
951Their native seeds retain; but bodies vile, With limbs of clay and members born to die, Encumber and o'ercloud; whence also spring Terrors and passions, suffering and joy; For from deep darkness and captivity
956All gaze but blindly on the radiant world. Nor when to life's last beam they bid farewell May sufferers cease from pain, nor quite be freed From all their fleshly plagues; but by fixed law, The strange, inveterate taint works deeply in.
961For this, the chastisement of evils past Is suffered here, and full requital paid. Some hang on high, outstretched to viewless winds; For some their sin's contagion must be purged In vast ablution of deep-rolling seas,
966Or burned away in fire. Each man receives His ghostly portion in the world of dark; But thence to realms Elysian we go free, Where for a few these seats of bliss abide, Till time's long lapse a perfect orb fulfils,
971And takes all taint away, restoring so The pure, ethereal soul's first virgin fire. At last, when the millennial aeon strikes, God calls them forth to yon Lethaean stream, In numerous host, that thence, oblivious all,
976They may behold once more the vaulted sky, And willingly to shapes of flesh return.” So spoke Anchises; then led forth his son, The Sibyl with him, to the assembled shades (A voiceful throng), and on a lofty mound
981His station took, whence plainly could be seen The long procession, and each face descried. “Hark now! for of the glories I will tell That wait our Dardan blood; of our sons' sons Begot upon the old Italian breed,
986Who shall be mighty spirits, and prolong Our names, their heritage. I will unfold The story, and reveal the destined years. Yon princeling, thou beholdest leaning there Upon a royal lance, shall next emerge
991Into the realms of day. He is the first Of half-Italian strain, the last-born heir To thine old age by fair Lavinia given, Called Silvius, a royal Alban name (Of sylvan birth and sylvan nurture he),
996A king himself and sire of kings to come, By whom our race in Alba Longa reign. Next Procas stands, our Trojan people's boast; Capys and Numitor, and, named like thee, Aeneas Sylvius, like thee renowned
1001For faithful honor and for deeds of war, When he ascends at last his Alban throne. Behold what warrior youth they be! How strong Their goodly limbs! Above their shaded brows The civic oak they wear! For thee they build
1006Nomentum, and the walls of Gabii, Fidena too, and on the mountains pile Collatia's citadels, Pometii, Bola and Cora, Castrum-Inui— Such be the names the nameless lands shall bear.
1011See, in that line of sires the son of Mars, Great Romulus, of Ilian mother born, From far-descended line of Trojan kings! See from his helm the double crest uprear, While his celestial father in his mien
1016Shows forth his birth divine! Of him, my son, Great Rome shall rise, and, favored of his star, Have power world-wide, and men of godlike mind. She clasps her seven hills in single wall, Proud mother of the brave! So Cybele,
1021The Berecynthian goddess, castle-crowned, On through the Phrygian kingdoms speeds her car, Exulting in her hundred sons divine, All numbered with the gods, all throned on high. “Let now thy visionary glance look long
1026On this thy race, these Romans that be thine. Here Caesar, of Iulus' glorious seed, Behold ascending to the world of light! Behold, at last, that man, for this is he, So oft unto thy listening ears foretold,
1031Augustus Caesar, kindred unto Jove. He brings a golden age; he shall restore Old Saturn's sceptre to our Latin land, And o'er remotest Garamant and Ind His sway extend; the fair dominion
1036outruns th' horizon planets, yea, beyond The sun's bright path, where Atlas' shoulder bears Yon dome of heaven set thick with burning stars. Against his coming the far Caspian shores Break forth in oracles; the Maeotian land
1041Trembles, and all the seven-fold mouths of Nile. Not o'er domain so wide Alcides passed, Although the brazen-footed doe he slew And stilled the groves of Erymanth, and bade The beast of Lerna at his arrows quail.
1046Nor half so far triumphant Baechus drove, With vine-entwisted reins, his frolic team Of tigers from the tall-topped Indian hill. “Still do we doubt if heroes' deeds can fill A realm so wide? Shall craven fear constrain
1051Thee or thy people from Ausonia's shore? Look, who is he I may discern from far By olive-branch and holy emblems known? His flowing locks and hoary beard, behold! Fit for a Roman king! By hallowed laws
1056He shall found Rome anew—from mean estate In lowly Cures led to mightier sway. But after him arises one whose reign Shall wake the land from slumber: Tullus then Shall stir slack chiefs to battle, rallying
1061His hosts which had forgot what triumphs be. Him boastful Ancus follows hard upon, o'erflushed with his light people's windy praise. Wilt thou see Tarquins now? And haughty hand Of vengeful Brutus seize the signs of power?
1066He first the consul's name shall take; he first Th' inexorable fasces sternly bear. When his own sons in rash rebellion join, The father and the judge shall sentence give In beauteous freedom's cause—unhappy he!
1071Howe'er the age to come the story tell, 't will bless such love of honor and of Rome. See Decius, sire and son, the Drusi, see! Behold Torquatus with his axe! Look where Camillus brings the Gallic standards home!
1076“But who are these in glorious armor clad And equal power? In this dark world of cloud Their souls in concord move;—but woe is me! What duel 'twixt them breaks, when by and by The light of life is theirs, and forth they call
1081Their long-embattled lines to carnage dire! Allied by nuptial truce, the sire descends From Alpine rampart and that castled cliff, Monoecus by the sea; the son arrays His hostile legions in the lands of morn.
1086Forbear, my children! School not your great souls In such vast wars, nor turn your giant strength Against the bowels of your native land! But be thou first, 0 first in mercy! thou Who art of birth Olympian! Fling away
1091Thy glorious sword, mine offspring and mine heir! “Yonder is one whose chariot shall ascend The laurelled Capitolian steep; he rides In glory o'er Achaea's hosts laid low, And Corinth overthrown. There, too, is he
1096Who shall uproot proud Argos and the towers Of Agamemnon; vanquishing the heir Even of Aeacus, the warrior seed Of Peleus' son; such vengeance shall be wrought For Troy's slain sires, and violated shrines!
1101“Or who could fail great Cato's name to tell? Or, Cossus, thine? or in oblivion leave The sons of Gracchus? or the Scipios, Twin thunderbolts of war, and Libya's bane? Or, more than kingly in his mean abode,
1106Fabricius? or Serranus at the plough? Ye Fabii, how far would ye prolong My weary praise? But see! 'T is Maximus, Who by wise waiting saves his native land. “Let others melt and mould the breathing bronze
1111To forms more fair,—aye! out of marble bring Features that live; let them plead causes well; Or trace with pointed wand the cycled heaven, And hail the constellations as they rise; But thou, 0 Roman, learn with sovereign sway
1116To rule the nations. Thy great art shall be To keep the world in lasting peace, to spare humbled foe, and crush to earth the proud.” So did Anchises speak, then, after pause, Thus to their wondering ears his word prolonged:
1121“Behold Marcellus, bright with glorious spoil, In lifted triumph through his warriors move! The Roman power in tumultuous days He shall establish; he rides forth to quell Afric and rebel Gaul; and to the shrine
1126Of Romulus the third-won trophy brings.” Then spoke Aeneas, for he now could see A beauteous youth in glittering dress of war, Though of sad forehead and down-dropping eyes: “Say, father, who attends the prince? a son?
1131Or of his greatness some remoter heir? How his friends praise him, and how matchless he! But mournful night Tests darkly o'er his brow.” With brimming eyes Anchises answer gave: “Ask not, 0 son, what heavy weight of woe
1136Thy race shall bear, when fate shall just reveal This vision to the world, then yield no more. 0 gods above, too glorious did ye deem The seed of Rome, had this one gift been sure? The lamentation of a multitude
1141Arises from the field of Mars, and strikes The city's heart. 0 Father Tiber, see What pomp of sorrow near the new-made tomb Beside thy fleeting stream! What Ilian youth Shall e'er his Latin kindred so advance
1146In hope of glory? When shall the proud land Of Romulus of such a nursling boast? Ah, woe' is me! 0 loyal heart and true! 0 brave, right arm invincible! What foe Had 'scaped his onset in the shock of arms,
1151Whether on foot he strode, or if he spurred The hot flanks of his war-horse flecked with foam? 0 lost, lamented child! If thou evade Thy evil star, Marcellus thou shalt be. 0 bring me lilies! Bring with liberal hand!
1156Sad purple blossoms let me throw—the shade Of my own kin to honor, heaping high My gifts upon his grave! So let me pay An unavailing vow!” Then, far and wide
1161Through spacious fields of air, they wander free, Witnessing all; Anchises guides his son From point to point, and quickens in his mind Hunger for future fame. Of wars he tells Soon imminent; of fair Laurentum's tribes;
1166Of King Latinus' town; and shows what way Each task and hardship to prevent, or bear. Now Sleep has portals twain, whereof the one Is horn, they say, and easy exit gives To visions true; the other, gleaming white
1171With polished ivory, the.dead employ To people night with unsubstantial dreams. Here now Anchises bids his son farewell; And with Sibylla, his companion sage, Up through that ivory portal lets him rise.
1176Back to his fleet and his dear comrades all Aeneas hastes.Then hold they their straight course Into Caieta's bay. An anchor holds Each lofty prow; the sterns stand firm on shore.
Book 7
1One more immortal name thy death bequeathed, Nurse of Aeneas, to Italian shores, Caieta; there thy honor hath a home; Thy bones a name: and on Hesperia's breast Their proper glory.When Aeneas now
6The tribute of sepulchral vows had paid Beside the funeral mound, and o'er the seas Stillness had fallen, he flung forth his sails, And leaving port pursued his destined way. Freshly the night-winds breathe; the cloudless moon
11Outpours upon his path unstinted beam, And with far-trembling glory smites the sea. Close to the lands of Circe soon they fare, Where the Sun's golden daughter in far groves Sounds forth her ceaseless song; her lofty hall
16Is fragrant every night with flaring brands Of cedar, giving light the while she weaves With shrill-voiced shuttle at her linens fine. From hence are heard the loud lament and wrath Of lions, rebels to their linked chains
21And roaring all night long; great bristly boars And herded bears, in pinfold closely kept, Rage horribly, and monster-wolves make moan; Whom the dread goddess with foul juices strong From forms of men drove forth, and bade to wear
26the mouths and maws of beasts in Circe's thrall. But lest the sacred Trojans should endure such prodigy of doom, or anchor there on that destroying shore, kind Neptune filled their sails with winds of power, and sped them on
31in safety past the perils of that sea. Now morning flushed the wave, and saffron-garbed Aurora from her rose-red chariot beamed in highest heaven; the sea-winds ceased to stir; a sudden calm possessed the air, and tides
36of marble smoothness met the laboring oar. Then, gazing from the deep, Aeneas saw a stretch of groves, whence Tiber's smiling stream, its tumbling current rich with yellow sands, burst seaward forth: around it and above
41shore-haunting birds of varied voice and plume flattered the sky with song, and, circling far o'er river-bed and grove, took joyful wing. Thither to landward now his ships he steered, and sailed, high-hearted, up the shadowy stream.
46Hail, Erato! while olden kings and thrones and all their sequent story I unfold! How Latium's honor stood, when alien ships brought war to Italy, and from what cause the primal conflict sprang, O goddess, breathe
51upon thy bard in song. Dread wars I tell, array of battle, and high-hearted kings thrust forth to perish, when Etruria's host and all Hesperia gathered to the fray. Events of grander march impel my song,
56and loftier task I try. Latinus, then an aged king, held long-accepted sway o'er tranquil vales and towns. He was the son of Faunus, so the legend tells, who wed the nymph Marica of Laurentian stem.
61Picus was Faunus' father, whence the line to Saturn's Ioins ascends. O heavenly sire, from thee the stem began! But Fate had given to King Latinus' body no heirs male: for taken in the dawning of his day
66his only son had been; and now his home and spacious palace one sole daughter kept, who was grown ripe to wed and of full age to take a husband. Many suitors tried from all Ausonia and Latium's bounds;
71but comeliest in all their princely throng came Turnus, of a line of mighty sires. Him the queen mother chiefly loved, and yearned to call him soon her son. But omens dire and menaces from Heaven withstood her will.
76A laurel-tree grew in the royal close, of sacred leaf and venerated age, which, when he builded there his wall and tower, Father Latinus found, and hallowed it to Phoebus' grace and power, wherefrom the name
81Laurentian, which his realm and people bear. Unto this tree-top, wonderful to tell, came hosts of bees, with audible acclaim voyaging the stream of air, and seized a place on the proud, pointing crest, where the swift swarm,
86with interlacement of close-clinging feet, swung from the leafy bough. “Behold, there comes,” the prophet cried, “a husband from afar! To the same region by the self-same path behold an arm'd host taking lordly sway
91upon our city's crown!” Soon after this, when, coming to the shrine with torches pure, Lavinia kindled at her father's side the sacrifice, swift seemed the flame to burn along her flowing hair—O sight of woe!
96Over her broidered snood it sparkling flew, lighting her queenly tresses and her crown of jewels rare: then, wrapt in flaming cloud, from hall to hall the fire-god's gift she flung. This omen dread and wonder terrible
101was rumored far: for prophet-voices told bright honors on the virgin's head to fall by Fate's decree, but on her people, war. The King, sore troubled by these portents, sought oracular wisdom of his sacred sire,
106Faunus, the fate-revealer, where the groves stretch under high Albunea, and her stream roars from its haunted well, exhaling through vast, gloomful woods its pestilential air. Here all Oenotria's tribes ask oracles
111in dark and doubtful days: here, when the priest has brought his gifts, and in the night so still, couched on spread fleeces of the offered flock, awaiting slumber lies, then wondrously a host of flitting shapes he sees, and hears
116voices that come and go: with gods he holds high converse, or in deep Avernian gloom parleys with Acheron. Thither drew near Father Latinus, seeking truth divine. Obedient to the olden rite, he slew
121a hundred fleecy sheep, and pillowed lay upon their outstretched skins. Straightway a voice out of the lofty forest met his prayer. “Seek not in wedlock with a Latin lord to join thy daughter, O my son and seed!
126Beware this purposed marriage! There shall come sons from afar, whose blood shall bear our name starward; the children of their mighty loins, as far as eve and morn enfold the seas, shall see a subject world beneath their feet
131submissive lie.” This admonition given Latinus hid not. But on restless wing rumor had spread it, when the men of Troy along the river-bank of mounded green their fleet made fast.Aeneas and his chiefs,
136with fair Iulus, under spreading boughs of one great tree made resting-place, and set the banquet on. Thin loaves of altar-bread along the sward to bear their meats were laid (such was the will of Jove), and wilding fruits
141rose heaping high, with Ceres' gift below. Soon, all things else devoured, their hunger turned to taste the scanty bread, which they attacked with tooth and nail audacious, and consumed both round and square of that predestined leaven.
146“Look, how we eat our tables even!” cried Iulus, in a jest. Such was the word which bade their burdens fall. From his boy's lip the father caught this utterance of Fate, silent with wonder at the ways of Heaven;
151then swift he spoke: “Hail! O my destined shore, protecting deities of Ilium, hail! Here is our home, our country here! This day I publish the mysterious prophecy by Sire Anchises given: ‘My son,’ said he,
156‘When hunger in strange lands shall bid devour the tables of thy banquet gone, then hope for home, though weary, and take thought to build a dwelling and a battlement.’ Behold! This was our fated hunger! This last proof
161will end our evil days. Up, then! For now by morning's joyful beam we will explore what men, what cities, in this region be, and, leaving ship, our several errands ply. Your gift to Jove outpour! Make thankful prayer
166unto Anchises' shade! To this our feast bring back the flowing wine!” Thereat he bound his forehead with green garland, calling loud upon the Genius of that place, and Earth, eldest of names divine; the Nymphs he called,
171and river-gods unknown; his voice invoked the night, the omen-stars through night that roll. Jove, Ida's child, and Phrygia's fertile Queen: he called his mother from Olympian skies, and sire from Erebus. Lo, o'er his head
176three times unclouded Jove omnipotent in thunder spoke, and, with effulgent ray from his ethereal tract outreaching far, shook visibly the golden-gleaming air. Swift, through the concourse of the Trojans, spread
181news of the day at hand when they should build their destined walls. So, with rejoicing heart at such vast omen, they set forth a feast with zealous emulation, ranging well the wine-cups fair with many a garland crowned.
186Soon as the morrow with the lamp of dawn looked o'er the world, they took their separate ways, exploring shore and towns; here spread the pools and fountain of Numicius; here they see the river Tiber, where bold Latins dwell.
191Anchises' son chose out from his brave band a hundred envoys, bidding them depart to the King's sacred city, each enwreathed with Pallas' silver leaf; and gifts they bear to plead for peace and friendship at his throne.
196While on this errand their swift steps are sped, Aeneas, by a shallow moat and small, his future city shows, breaks ground, and girds with mound and breastwork like a camp of war the Trojans' first abode. Soon, making way
201to where the Latin citadel uprose, the envoys scanned the battlements, and paused beneath its wall. Outside the city gates fair youths and striplings in life's early bloom course with swift steeds, or steer through dusty cloud
206the whirling chariot, or stretch stout bows, or hurl the seasoned javelin, or strive in boxing-bout and foot-race: one of these made haste on horseback to the aged King, with tidings of a stranger company
211in foreign garb approaching. The good King bade call them to his house, and took his seat in mid-court on his high, ancestral throne. Large and majestical the castle rose: a hundred columns lifted it in air
216upon the city's crown—the royal keep of Picus of Laurentum; round it lay deep, gloomy woods by olden worship blest. Here kings took sceptre and the fasces proud with omens fair; the selfsame sacred place
221was senate-house and temple; here was found a hall for hallowed feasting, where a ram was offered up, and at long banquet-boards the nation's fathers sat in due array. Here ranged ancestral statues roughly hewn
226of ancient cedar-wood: King Italus; Father Sabinus, planter of the vine, a curving sickle in his sculptured hand; gray-bearded Saturn; and the double brow of Janus' head; and other sires and kings
231were wardens of the door, with many a chief wounded in battle for his native land. Trophies of arms in goodly order hung along the columns: chariots of war from foeman taken, axes of round blade,
236plumed helmets, bolts and barriers of steel from city-gates, shields, spears, and beaks of bronze from captured galleys by the conqueror torn. Here, wielding his Quirinal augur-staff, girt in scant shift, and bearing on his left
241the sacred oval shield, appeared enthroned Picus, breaker of horses, whom his bride, enamoured Circe, smote with golden wand, and, raining o'er him potent poison-dew, changed to a bird of pied and dappled wings.
246In such a temple of his gods did Sire Latinus, on hereditary throne, welcome the Trojans to his halls, and thus with brow serene gave greeting as they came: “O sons of Dardanus, think not unknown
251your lineage and city! Rumored far your venturous voyage has been. What seek ye here? What cause, what quest, has brought your barks and you o'er the blue waters to Ausonia's hills? What way uncharted, or wild stress of storm,
256or what that sailors suffer in mid-sea, unto this river bank and haven bore? Doubt not our welcome! We of Latin land are Saturn's sons, whose equitable minds, not chained by statute or compulsion, keep
261in freedom what the god's good custom gave. Now I bethink me our Ausonian seers have dark, dim lore that 't was this land gave birth to Dardanus, who after took his way through Phrygian Ida's towns and Samothrace.
266Once out of Tuscan Corythus he fared; but now in golden house among the stars he has a throne, and by his altars blest adds to the number of the gods we praise.” He spoke; Ilioneus this answer made:
271“O King, great heir of Faunus! No dark storm impelled us o'er the flood thy realm to find. Nor star deceived, nor strange, bewildering shore threw out of our true course; but we are come by our free choice and with deliberate aim
276to this thy town, though exiled forth of realms once mightiest of all the sun-god sees when moving from his utmost eastern bound. From Jove our line began; the sons of Troy boast Jove to be their sire, and our true King
281is of Olympian seed. To thine abode Trojan Aeneas sent us. How there burst o'er Ida's vales from dread Mycenae's kings a tempest vast, and by what stroke of doom all Asia's world with Europe clashed in war,
286that lone wight hears whom earth's remotest isle has banished to the Ocean's rim, or he whose dwelling is the ample zone that burns betwixt the changeful sun-god's milder realms, far severed from the world. We are the men
291from war's destroying deluge safely borne over the waters wide. We only ask some low-roofed dwelling for our fathers' gods, some friendly shore, and, what to all is free, water and air. We bring no evil name
296upon thy people; thy renown will be but wider spread; nor of a deed so fair can grateful memory die. Ye ne'er will rue that to Ausonia's breast ye gathered Troy. I swear thee by the favored destinies
301of great Aeneas, by his strength of arm in friendship or in war, that many a tribe (O, scorn us not, that, bearing olive green, with suppliant words we come), that many a throne has sued us to be friends. But Fate's decree
306to this thy realm did guide. Here Dardanus was born; and with reiterate command this way Apollo pointed to the stream of Tiber and Numicius' haunted spring. Lo, these poor tributes from his greatness gone
311Aeneas sends, these relics snatched away from Ilium burning: with this golden bowl Anchises poured libation when he prayed; and these were Priam's splendor, when he gave laws to his gathered states; this sceptre his,
316this diadem revered, and beauteous pall, handwork of Asia's queens.” So ceased to speak Ilioneus. But King Latinus gazed unanswering on the ground, all motionless save for his musing eyes. The broidered pall
321of purple, and the sceptre Priam bore, moved little on his kingly heart, which now pondered of giving to the bridal bed his daughter dear. He argues in his mind the oracle of Faunus:—might this be
326that destined bridegroom from an alien land, to share his throne, to get a progeny of glorious valor, which by mighty deeds should win the world for kingdom? So at last with joyful brow he spoke: “Now let the gods
331our purpose and their own fair promise bless! Thou hast, O Trojan, thy desire. Thy gifts I have not scorned; nor while Latinus reigns shall ye lack riches in my plenteous land, not less than Trojan store. But where is he,
336Aeneas' self? If he our royal love so much desire, and have such urgent mind to be our guest and friend, let him draw near, nor turn him from well-wishing looks away! My offering and pledge of peace shall be
341to clasp your monarch's hand. Bear back, I pray, this answer to your King: my dwelling holds a daughter, whom with husband of her blood great signs in heaven and from my father's tomb forbid to wed. A son from alien shores
346they prophesy for Latium's heir, whose seed shall lift our glory to the stars divine. I am persuaded this is none but he, that man of destiny; and if my heart be no false prophet, I desire it so.”
351Thus having said, the sire took chosen steeds from his full herd, whereof, well-groomed and fair, three hundred stood within his ample pale. Of these to every Teucrian guest he gave a courser swift and strong, in purple clad
356and broidered housings gay; on every breast hung chains of gold; in golden robes arrayed, they champed the red gold curb their teeth between. For offering to Aeneas, he bade send a chariot, with chargers twain of seed
361ethereal, their nostrils breathing fire: the famous kind which guileful Circe bred, cheating her sire, and mixed the sun-god's team with brood-mares earthly born. The sons of Troy, such gifts and greetings from Latinus bearing,
366rode back in pomp his words of peace to bring. But lo! from Argos on her voyage of air rides the dread spouse of Jove. She, sky-enthroned above the far Sicilian promontory, pachynus, sees Dardania's rescued fleet,
371and all Aeneas' joy. The prospect shows houses a-building, lands of safe abode, and the abandoned ships. With bitter grief she stands at gaze: then with storm-shaken brows, thus from her heart lets loose the wrathful word:
376“O hated race! O Phrygian destinies — to mine forevermore (unhappy me!) a scandal and offense! Did no one die on Troy's embattled plain? Could captured slaves not be enslaved again? Was Ilium's flame
381no warrior's funeral pyre? Did they walk safe through serried swords and congregated fires? At last, methought, my godhead might repose, and my full-fed revenge in slumber lie. But nay! Though flung forth from their native land,
386I o'er the waves, with enmity unstayed, dared give them chase, and on that exiled few hurled the whole sea. I smote the sons of Troy with ocean's power and heaven's. But what availed Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis' waves?
391The Trojans are in Tiber; and abide within their prayed-for land delectable, safe from the seas and me! Mars once had power the monstrous Lapithae to slay; and Jove to Dian's honor and revenge gave o'er
396the land of Calydon. What crime so foul was wrought by Lapithae or Calydon? But I, Jove's wife and Queen, who in my woes have ventured each bold stroke my power could find, and every shift essayed,—behold me now
401outdone by this Aeneas! If so weak my own prerogative of godhead be, let me seek strength in war, come whence it will! If Heaven I may not move, on Hell I call. To bar him from his Latin throne exceeds
406my fated power. So be it! Fate has given Lavinia for his bride. But long delays I still can plot, and to the high event deferment and obstruction. I can smite the subjects of both kings. Let sire and son
411buy with their people's blood this marriage-bond! Let Teucrian and Rutulian slaughter be thy virgin dower, and Bellona's blaze light thee the bridal bed! Not only teemed the womb of Hecuba with burning brand,
416and brought forth nuptial fires; but Venus, too, such offspring bore, a second Paris, who to their new Troy shall fatal wedlock bring.” So saying, with aspect terrible she sped earthward her way; and called from gloom of hell
421Alecto, woeful power, from cloudy throne among the Furies, where her heart is fed with horrid wars, wrath, vengeance, treason foul, and fatal feuds. Her father Pluto loathes the creature he engendered, and with hate
426her hell-born sister-fiends the monster view. A host of shapes she wears, and many a front of frowning black brows viper-garlanded. Juno to her this goading speech addressed: “O daughter of dark Night, arouse for me
431thy wonted powers and our task begin! Lest now my glory fail, my royal name be vanquished, while Aeneas and his crew cheat with a wedlock bond the Latin King and seize Italia's fields. Thou canst thrust on
436two Ioving brothers to draw sword and slay, and ruin homes with hatred, calling in the scourge of Furies and avenging fires. A thousand names thou bearest, and thy ways of ruin multiply a thousand-fold.
441Arouse thy fertile breast! Go, rend in twain this plighted peace! Breed calumnies and sow causes of battle, till yon warrior hosts cry out for swords and leap to gird them on.” Straightway Alecto, through whose body flows
446the Gorgon poison, took her viewless way to Latium and the lofty walls and towers of the Laurentian King. Crouching she sate in silence on the threshold of the bower where Queen Amata in her fevered soul
451pondered, with all a woman's wrath and fear, upon the Trojans and the marriage-suit of Turnus. From her Stygian hair the fiend a single serpent flung, which stole its way to the Queen's very heart, that, frenzy-driven,
456she might on her whole house confusion pour. Betwixt her smooth breast and her robe it wound unfelt, unseen, and in her wrathful mind instilled its viper soul. Like golden chain around her neck it twined, or stretched along
461the fillets on her brow, or with her hair enwrithing coiled; then on from limb to limb slipped tortuous. Yet though the venom strong thrilled with its first infection every vein, and touched her bones with fire, she knew it not,
466nor yielded all her soul, but made her plea in gentle accents such as mothers use; and many a tear she shed, about her child, her darling, destined for a Phrygian's bride: “O father! can we give Lavinia's hand
471to Trojan fugitives? why wilt thou show no mercy on thy daughter, nor thyself; nor unto me, whom at the first fair wind that wretch will leave deserted, bearing far upon his pirate ship my stolen child?
476Was it not thus that Phrygian shepherd came to Lacedaemon, ravishing away Helen, the child of Leda, whom he bore to those false Trojan lands? Hast thou forgot thy plighted word? Where now thy boasted love
481of kith and kin, and many a troth-plight given unto our kinsman Turnus? If we need an alien son, and Father Faunus' words irrevocably o'er thy spirit brood, I tell thee every land not linked with ours
486under one sceptre, but distinct and free, is alien; and 't is thus the gods intend. Indeed, if Turnus' ancient race be told, it sprang of Inachus, Acrisius, and out of mid-Mycenae.” But she sees
491her lord Latinus resolute, her words an effort vain; and through her body spreads the Fury's deeply venomed viper-sting. Then, woe-begone, by dark dreams goaded on, she wanders aimless, fevered and unstrung
496along the public ways; as oft one sees beneath the twisted whips a leaping top sped in long spirals through a palace-close by lads at play: obedient to the thong, it weaves wide circles in the gaping view
501of its small masters, who admiring see the whirling boxwood made a living thing under their lash. So fast and far she roved from town to town among the clansmen wild. Then to the wood she ran, feigning to feel
506the madness Bacchus loves; for she essays a fiercer crime, by fiercer frenzy moved. Now in the leafy dark of mountain vales she hides her daughter, ravished thus away from Trojan bridegroom and the wedding-feast.
511“Hail, Bacchus! Thou alone,” she shrieked and raved, “art worthy such a maid. For thee she bears the thyrsus with soft ivy-clusters crowned, and trips ecstatic in thy beauteous choir. For thee alone my daughter shall unbind
516the glory of her virgin hair.” Swift runs the rumor of her deed; and, frenzy-driven, the wives of Latium to the forests fly, enkindled with one rage. They leave behind their desolated hearths, and let rude winds
521o'er neck and tresses blow; their voices fill the welkin with convulsive shriek and wail; and, with fresh fawn-skins on their bodies bound, they brandish vine-clad spears. The Queen herself lifts high a blazing pine tree, while she sings
526a wedding-song for Turnus and her child. With bloodshot glance and anger wild, she cries: “Ho! all ye Latin wives, if e'er ye knew kindness for poor Amata, if ye care for a wronged mother's woes, O, follow me!
531Cast off the matron fillet from your brows, and revel to our mad, voluptuous song.” Thus, through the woodland haunt of creatures wild, Alecto urges on the raging Queen with Bacchus' cruel goad. But when she deemed
536the edge of wrath well whetted, and the house of wise Latinus of all reason reft, then soared the black-winged goddess to the walls of the bold Rutule, to the city built (So runs the tale) by beauteous Danae
541and her Acrisian people, shipwrecked there by south wind strong. Its name was Ardea in language of our sires, and that proud name of Ardea still it wears, though proud no more. Here Turnus in the gloom of midnight lay
546half-sleeping in his regal hall. For him Alecto her grim fury-guise put by, and wore an old crone's face, her baleful brow delved deep with wrinkled age, her hoary hair in sacred fillet bound, and garlanded
551with leaf of olive: Calybe she seemed, an aged servitress ot Juno's shrine, and in this seeming thus the prince addressed:— “O Turnus, wilt thou tamely see thy toil lavished in vain? and thy true throne consigned
556to Trojan wanderers? The King repels thy noble wooing and thy war-won dower. He summons him a son of alien stem to take his kingdom. Rouse thee now, and front, scorned and without reward, these perilous days.
561Tread down that Tuscan host! Protect the peace of Latium from its foe! Such is the word which, while in night and slumber thou wert laid, Saturnia's godhead, visibly revealed, bade me declare. Up, therefore, and array
566thy warriors in arms! Swift sallying forth from thy strong city-gates, on to the fray exultant go! Assail the Phrygian chiefs who tent them by thy beauteous river's marge, and burn their painted galleys! 't is the will
571of gods above that speaks. Yea, even the King Latinus, if he will not heed thy plea, or hear thy wooing, shall be taught too late what Turnus is in panoply of war.” In mocking answer to the prophetess
576the warrior thus replied: “That stranger fleet in Tiber moored, not, as thy folly prates, of me unnoted lies. Vex me no more with thy fantastic terror. Juno's power is watchful of my cause. 'T is mere old age,
581gone to decay and dotage, fills thy breast with vain foreboding, and, while kings contend, scares and deceives thy visionary eye. Guard thou in yonder temple's holy shade the images divine! Of peace and war
586let men and warriors the burden bear!” So kindled he Alecto's wrath to flame; and even as he spoke a shudder thrilled the warrior's body, and his eyeballs stood stonily staring at the hydra hair
591which hissed and writhed above the grisly head of the large-looming fiend. With eyes of fire horribly rolling, she repelled him far, while he but faltered speechless. She upraised two coiling snakes out of her tresses, cracked
596the lashes of her scourge, and wrathfully, with raving lips replied: “Look well on me, gone to decay and dotage of old age! And mocked with foolish fear while kings contend! Wilt hearken now! Behold me, hither flown
601from where my sister-furies dwell! My hands bring bloody death and war.” She spoke, and hurled her firebrand at the hero, thrusting deep beneath his heart her darkly smouldering flame. Then horror broke his sleep, and fearful sweat
606dripped from his every limb. He shrieked aloud for arms; and seized the ready arms that lay around his couch and hall. Then o'er his soul the lust of battle and wild curse of war broke forth in angry power, as when the flames
611of faggots round the bubbling cauldron sing, and up the waters leap; the close-kept flood brims over, streaming, foaming, breaking bound, and flings thick clouds in air. He, summoning his chieftains, bade them on Latinus move,
616break peace, take arms, and, over Italy their shields extending, to thrust forth her foe: himself for Teucrian with Latin joined was more than match. He called upon the gods in witness of his vows: while, nothing loth,
621Rutulia's warriors rushed into array; some by his youth and noble beauty moved, some by his kingly sires and fame in arms. While Turnus stirred Rutulia's valiant souls, Alecto on her Stygian pinions sped
626to where the Teucrians lay. She scanned the ground with eager guile, where by the river's marge fair-browed Iulus with his nets and snares rode fiercely to the chase. Then o'er his hounds that hell-born virgin breathed a sudden rage,
631and filled each cunning nostril with the scent of stags, till forth in wild pursuit they flew. Here all the woe began, and here awoke in rustic souls the swift-enkindling war. For a fair stag, tall-antlered, stolen away
636even from its mother's milk, had long been kept by Tyrrhus and his sons—the shepherd he of all the royal flocks, and forester of a wide region round. With fondest care their sister Silvia entwined its horns
641with soft, fresh garlands, tamed it to run close, and combed the creature, or would bring to bathe at a clear, crystal spring. It knew the hands of all its gentle masters, and would feed from their own dish; or wandering through the wood,
646come back unguided to their friendly door, though deep the evening shade. Iulus' dogs now roused this wanderer in their ravening chase, as, drifted down-stream far from home it lay, on a green bank a-cooling. From bent bow
651Ascanius, eager for a hunter's praise, let go his shaft; nor did Alecto fail his aim to guide: but, whistling through the air, the light-winged reed pierced deep in flank and side. Swift to its cover fled the wounded thing,
656and crept loud-moaning to its wonted stall, where, like a blood-stained suppliant, it seemed to fill that shepherd's house with plaintive prayer. Then Silvia the sister, smiting oft on breast and arm, made cry for help, and called
661the sturdy rustics forth in gathering throng. These now (for in the silent forest couched the cruel Fury) swift to battle flew. One brandished a charred stake, another swung a knotted cudgel, as rude anger shapes
666its weapon of whate'er the searching eye first haps to fall on. Tyrrhus roused his clans, just when by chance he split with blows of wedge an oak in four; and, panting giant breath, shouldered his woodman's axe. Alecto then,
671prompt to the stroke of mischief, soared aloft from where she spying sate, to the steep roof of a tall byre, and from its peak of straw blew a wild signal on a shepherd's horn, outflinging her infernal note so far
676that all the forest shuddered, and the grove throbbed to its deepest glen. Cold Trivia's lake from end to end gave ear, and every wave of the white stream of Nar, the lonely pools of still Velinus heard: while at the sound
681pale mothers to their breasts their children drew. Swift to the signal of the dreadful horn, snatching their weapons rude, the freeborn swains assembled for the fray; the Trojan bands poured from their bivouac with instant aid
686for young Ascanius. In array of war both stand confronting. Not mere rustic brawl with charred oak-staff and cudgel is the fight, but with the two-edged steel; the naked swords wave like dark-bladed harvest-field, while far
691the brazen arms flash in the smiting sun, and skyward fling their beam: so some wide sea, at first but whitened in the rising wind, swells its slow-rolling mass and ever higher its billows rears, until the utmost deep
696lifts in one surge to heaven. The first to fall was Almo, eldest-born of Tyrrhus' sons, whom, striding in the van, a loud-winged shaft laid low in death; deep in his throat it clung, and silenced with his blood the dying cry
701of his frail life. Around him fell the forms of many a brave and strong; among them died gray-haired Galaesus pleading for a truce: righteous he was, and of Ausonian fields a prosperous master; five full flocks had he
706of bleating sheep, and from his pastures came five herds of cattle home; his busy churls turned with a hundred ploughs his fruitful glebe. While o'er the battle-field thus doubtful swung the scales of war, the Fury (to her task
711now equal proven) having dyed the day a deep-ensanguined hue, and opened fight with death and slaughter, made no tarrying within Hesperia, but skyward soared, and, Ioud in triumph, insolently thus
716to Juno called: “See, at thy will, their strife full-blown to war and woe! Could even thyself command them now to truce and amity? But I, that with Ausonia's blood befoul their Trojan hands, yet more can do, if thou
721shift not thy purpose. For with dire alarms I will awake the bordering states to war enkindling in their souls the frenzied lust the war-god breathes; till from th' horizon round the reinforcement pours—I scattering seeds
726of carnage through the land.” In answer spoke juno: “Enough of artifice and fear! Thy provocation works. Now have they joined in close and deadly combat, and warm blood those sudden-leaping swords incarnadines,
731which chance put in their hands. Such nuptial joys, such feast of wedlock, let the famous son of Venus with the King Latinus share! But yon Olympian Sire and King no more permits thee freely in our skies to roam.
736Go, quit the field! Myself will take control of hazards and of labors yet to be.” Thus Saturn's daughter spoke. Alecto then, unfolding far her hissing, viperous wings, turned toward her Stygian home, and took farewell
741of upper air. Deep in Italia lies a region mountain-girded, widely famed, and known in olden songs from land to land: the valley of Amsanctus; deep, dark shades enclose it between forest-walls, whereby
746through thunderous stony channel serpentines a roaring fall. Here in a monstrous cave are breathing-holes of hell, a vast abyss where Acheron opes wide its noisome jaws: in this Alecto plunged, concealing so
751her execrable godhead, while the air of earth and heaven felt the curse removed. Forthwith the sovereign hands of Juno haste to consummate the war. The shepherds bear back from the field of battle to the town
756the bodies of the slain: young Almo's corse and gray Galaesus' bleeding head. They call just gods in heaven to Iook upon their wrong, and bid Latinus see it. Turnus comes, and, while the angry mob surveys the slain,
761adds fury to the hour. “Shall the land have Trojan lords? Shall Phrygian marriages debase our ancient, royal blood—and I be spurned upon the threshold?” Then drew near the men whose frenzied women-folk had held
766bacchantic orgies in the pathless grove, awed by Amata's name: these, gathering, sued loud for war. Yea, all defied the signs and venerable omens; all withstood divine decrees, and clamored for revenge,
771prompted by evil powers. They besieged the house of King Latinus, shouting-loud with emulous rage. But like a sea-girt rock unmoved he stood; like sea-girt rock when surge of waters o'er it sweeps, or howling waves
776surround; it keeps a ponderous front of power, though foaming cliffs around it vainly roar; from its firm base the broken sea-weeds fall. But when authority no whit could change their counsels blind, and each event fulfilled
781dread Juno's will, then with complaining prayer the aged sire cried loud upon his gods and on th' unheeding air: “Alas,” said he, “My doom is shipwreck, and the tempest bears my bark away! O wretches, your own blood
786shall pay the forfeit for your impious crime. O Turnus! O abominable deed! Avenging woes pursue thee; to deaf gods thy late and unavailing prayer shall rise. Now was my time to rest. But as I come
791close to my journey's end, thou spoilest me of comfort in my death.” With this the King fled to his house and ceased his realm to guide. A sacred custom the Hesperian land of Latium knew, by all the Alban hills
796honored unbroken, which wide-ruling Rome keeps to this day, when to new stroke she stirs the might of Mars; if on the Danube's wave resolved to fling the mournful doom of war, or on the Caspian folk or Arabs wild;
801or chase the morning far as India's verge, ind from the Parthian despot wrest away our banners Iost. Twin Gates of War there be, of fearful name, to Mars' fierce godhead vowed: a hundred brass bars shut them, and the strength
806of uncorrupting steel; in sleepless watch Janus the threshold keeps. 'T is here, what time the senate's voice is war, the consul grave in Gabine cincture and Quirinal shift himself the griding hinges backward moves,
811and bids the Romans arm; obedient then the legionary host makes Ioud acclaim, and hoarse consent the brazen trumpets blow. Thus King Latinus on the sons of Troy was urged to open war, and backward roll
816those gates of sorrow: but the aged king recoiled, refused the loathsome task, and fled to solitary shades. Then from the skies the Queen of gods stooped down, and her sole hand the lingering portal moved; Saturnia
821swung on their hinges the barred gates of war. ausonia from its old tranquillity bursts forth in flame. Foot-soldiers through the field run to and fro; and mounted on tall steeds the cavaliers in clouds of dust whirl by.
826All arm in haste. Some oil the glittering shield or javelin bright, or on the whetstone wear good axes to an edge, while joyful bands uplift the standards or the trumpets blow. Five mighty cities to their anvils bring
831new-tempered arms: Atina—martial name — proud Tibur, Ardea, Crustumium, and river-walled Antemnae, crowned with towers strong hollow helmets on their brows they draw and weave them willow-shields; or melt and mould
836corselets of brass or shining silver greaves; none now for pruning-hook or sacred plough have love or care: but old, ancestral swords for hardier tempering to the smith they bring. Now peals the clarion; through the legions pass
841the watchwords: the impatient yeoman takes his helmet from the idle roof-tree hung; while to his chariot the master yokes the mettled war-horse, dons a shining shield and golden mail, and buckles his good sword.
846Virgins of Helicon, renew my song! Instruct me what proud kings to battle flown with following legions throng the serried plain. Tell me what heroes and illustrious arms Italia's bosom in her dawning day
851benignant bore: for your celestial minds, have memory of the past, but faint and low steals glory's whisper on a mortal ear. Foremost in fight, from shores Etrurian came Mezentius, scornful rebel against Heaven,
856his people all in arms; and at his side Lausus his heir (no fairer youth than he, save Turnus of Laurentum), Lausus, skilled o break proud horses and wild beasts to quell; who from Agylla's citadel in vain
861led forth his thousand warriors: worthy he to serve a nobler sire, and happier far he had ne'er been born Mezentius' son. Next after these, conspicuous o'er the plain, with palm-crowned chariot and victorious steeds,
866rode forth well-moulded Aventinus, sprung from shapely Hercules; upon the shield his blazon was a hundred snakes, and showed his father's hydra-cincture serpentine; him deep in Aventine's most secret grove
871the priestess Rhea bore—a mortal maid clasped in a god's embrace the wondrous day when, flushed with conquest of huge Geryon, the lord of Tiryns to Laurentum drove, and washed in Tiber's wave th' Iberian kine.
876His followers brandished pointed pikes and staves, or smooth Sabellian bodkin tipped with steel; but he, afoot, swung round him as he strode a monstrous lion-skin, its bristling mane and white teeth crowning his ferocious brow:
881for garbed as Hercules he sought his King. Then came twin brethren, leaving Tibur's keep (named from Tiburtus, brother of them twain) Catillus and impetuous Coras, youth of Argive seed, who foremost in the van
886pressed ever where the foemen densest throng: as when two centaurs, children of the cloud, from mountain-tops descend in swift career, the snows of Homole and Othrys leaving, while crashing thickets in their pathway fall.
891Nor was Praeneste's founder absent there, by Vulcan sired, among the herds and hinds, and on a hearth-stone found (so runs the tale each pious age repeats) King Caeculus with rustic legions gathered from afar:
896from steep Praeneste and the Gabian vale to Juno dear, from Anio's cold stream, from upland Hernic rocks and foaming rills, from rich Anagnia's pastures, and the plain whence Amasenus pours his worshipped wave.
901Not all of armor boast, and seldom sound the chariot and shield; but out of slings they hurl blue balls of lead, or in one hand a brace of javelins bear; pulled o'er their brows are hoods of tawny wolf-skin; as they march
906the left foot leaves a barefoot track behind, a rawhide sandal on the right they wear. Messapus came, steed-tamer, Neptune's son, by sword and fire invincible: this day, though mild his people and unschooled in war,
911he calls them to embattled lines, and draws no lingering sword. Fescennia musters there, Aequi Falisci, and what clans possess Soracte's heights, Flavinia's fruitful farms, Ciminian lake and mountain, and the groves
916about Capena. Rank on rank they move, loud singing of their chieftain's praise: as when a flock of snowy swans through clouded air return from feeding, and make tuneful cry from their long throats, while Asia's rivers hear,
921and lone Cayster's startled moorland rings: for hardly could the listening ear discern the war-cry of a mail-clad host; the sound was like shrill-calling birds, when home from sea their soaring flock moves shoreward like a cloud.
926Then, one of far-descended Sabine name, Clausus advanced, the captain of a host, and in himself an equal host he seemed; from his proud loins the high-born Claudian stem through Latium multiplies, since Roman power
931with Sabine first was wed. A cohort came from Amiternum and the olden wall of Cures, called Quirites even then; Eretum answered and Mutusca's hill with olives clad, Velinus' flowery field,
936nomentum's fortress, the grim precipice of Tetrica, Severus' upland fair, Casperia, Foruli, Himella's waves, Tiber and Fabaris, and wintry streams of Nursia; to the same proud muster sped
941Tuscan with Latin tribes, and loyal towns beside whose walls ill-omened Allia flows. As numerous they moved as rolling waves that stir smooth Libyan seas, when in cold floods sinks grim Orion's star; or like the throng
946of clustering wheat-tops in the summer sun, near Hermus or on Lycia's yellowing plain: shields clashed; their strong tramp smote the trembling ground. Now Agamemnon's kinsman, cruel foe to the mere name of Troy, Halaesus, yokes
951the horses of his car and summons forth a thousand savage clans at Turnus' call : rude men whose mattocks to the Massic hills bring Bacchus' bounty, or by graybeard sires sent from Auruncan upland and the mead
956of Sidicinum; out of Cales came its simple folk; and dwellers by the stream of many-shoaled Volturnus, close-allied with bold Saticulan or Oscan swains. Their arms are tapered javelins, which they wear
961bound by a coiling thong; a shield conceals the left side, and they fight with crooked swords. Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart unsung, whom minstrels say the nymph Sebethis bore to Telon, who in Capri was a king
966when old and gray; but that disdaining son quitted so small a seat, and conquering sway among Sarrastian folk and those wide plains watered by Sarnus' wave, became a king over Celenna, Rufrae, Batulum,
971and where among her apple-orchards rise Abella's walls. All these, as Teutons use, hurl a light javelin; for helm they wear stripped cork-tree bark; the crescent of their shields is gleaming bronze, and gleaming bronze the sword.
976Next Ufens, mountain-bred, from Nersae came to join the war; of goodly fame was he for prosperous arms: his Aequian people show no gentle mien, but scour the woods for prey, or, ever-armed, across the stubborn glebe
981compel the plough; though their chief pride and joy are rapine, violence, and plundered store. Next after these, his brows and helmet bound with noble olive, from Marruvium came a priest, brave Umbro, ordered to the field
986by King Archippus: o'er the viper's brood, and venomed river-serpents he had power to scatter slumber with wide-waving hands and wizard-songs. His potent arts could soothe their coiling rage and heal the mortal sting:
991but 'gainst a Trojan sword no drug had he, nor could his drowsy spells his flesh repair, nor gathered simples from the Marsic hills. Thee soon in wailing woods Anguitia mourned, thee, Fucinus, the lake of crystal wave,
996thee, many a mountain-tarn! Next, Virbius in martial beauty rode, son of Hippolytus, whose mother, proud Aricia, sent him in his flower of fame out of Egeria's hills and cloudy groves
1001where lies Diana's gracious, gifted fane. For legend whispers that Hippolytus, by step-dame's plot undone, his life-blood gave to sate his vengeful father, and was rent in sunder by wild horses; but the grave
1006to air of heaven and prospect of the stars restored him;—for Diana's love and care poured out upon him Paeon's healing balm. But Jove, almighty Sire, brooked not to see a mortal out of death and dark reclimb
1011to light of life, and with a thunderbolt hurled to the Stygian river Phoebus' son, who dared such good elixir to compound. But pitying Trivia hid Hippolytus in her most secret cave, and gave in ward
1016to the wise nymph Egeria in her grove; where he lived on inglorious and alone, ranging the woods of Italy, and bore the name of Virbius. 'T is for this cause the hallowed woods to Trivia's temple vowed
1021forbid loud-footed horses, such as spilled stripling and chariot on the fatal shore, scared by the monsters peering from the sea. Yet did the son o'er that tumultuous plain his battle-chariot guide and plunging team.
1026Lo, Turnus strides conspicuous in the van, full armed, of mighty frame, his lordly head high o'er his peers emerging! His tall helm with flowing triple crest for ensign bears Chimaera, whose terrific lips outpour
1031volcanic fires; where'er the menace moves of her infernal flames and wrathful frown, there wildest flows the purple flood of war. On his smooth shield deep graven in the gold is horned Io—wondrous the device!—
1036a shaggy heifer-shape the maiden shows; Argus is watching her, while Inachus pours forth his river from the pictured urn. A storm of tramping troops, to Turnus sworn, throngs all the widespread plain with serried shields:
1041warriors of Argos, and Auruncan bands, Sicani, Rutuli, Sacranian hosts, Labicum's painted shields; all who till thy woodland vales, O Tiber! or the shore Numicius hallows; all whose ploughs upturn
1046Rutulia's hills, or that Circaean range where Jove of Anxur guards, and forests green make fair Feronia glad; where lie the fens of Satura, and Ufens' icy wave through lowland valleys seeks his seaward way.
1051Last came Camilla, of the Volscians bred, leading her mail-clad, radiant chivalry; a warrior-virgin, of Minerva's craft of web and distaff, fit for woman's toil, no follower she; but bared her virgin breast
1056to meet the brunt of battle, and her speed left even the winds behind; for she would skim an untouched harvest ere the sickle fell, nor graze the quivering wheat-tops as she ran; or o'er the mid-sea billows' swollen surge
1061so swiftly race, she wet not in the wave her flying feet. For sight of her the youth from field and fortress sped, and matrons grave stood wondering as she passed, well-pleased to see her royal scarf in many a purple fold
1066float off her shining shoulder, her dark hair in golden clasp caught fast, and how she bore for arms a quiver of the Lycian mode, and shepherd's shaft of myrtle tipped with steel.
Book 8
1When Turnus from Laurentum's bastion proud published the war, and roused the dreadful note of the harsh trumpet's song; when on swift steeds the lash he laid and clashed his sounding arms; then woke each warrior soul; all Latium stirred
6with tumult and alarm; and martial rage enkindled youth's hot blood. The chieftains proud, Messapus, Ufens, and that foe of Heaven, Mezentius, compel from far and wide their loyal hosts, and strip the field and farm
11of husbandmen. To seek auxiliar arms they send to glorious Diomed's domain the herald Venulus, and bid him cry: “Troy is to Latium come; Aeneas' fleet has come to land. He brings his vanquished gods,
16and gives himself to be our destined King. Cities not few accept him, and his name through Latium waxes large. But what the foe by such attempt intends, what victory is his presumptuous hope, if Fortune smile,
21Aetolia's lord will not less wisely fear than royal Turnus or our Latin King.” Thus Latium's cause moved on. Meanwhile the heir of great Laomedon, who knew full well the whole wide land astir, was vexed and tossed
26in troubled seas of care. This way and that his swift thoughts flew, and scanned with like dismay each partial peril or the general storm. Thus the vexed waters at a fountain's brim, smitten by sunshine or the silver sphere
31of a reflected moon, send forth a beam of flickering light that leaps from wall to wall, or, skyward lifted in ethereal flight, glances along some rich-wrought, vaulted dome. Now night had fallen, and all weary things,
36all shapes of beast or bird, the wide world o'er, lay deep in slumber. So beneath the arch of a cold sky Aeneas laid him down upon the river-bank, his heart sore tried by so much war and sorrow, and gave o'er
41his body to its Iong-delayed repose. There, 'twixt the poplars by the gentle stream, the River-Father, genius of that place, old Tiberinus visibly uprose; a cloak of gray-green lawn he wore, his hair
46o'erhung with wreath of reeds. In soothing words thus, to console Aeneas' cares, he spoke: “Seed of the gods! who bringest to my shore thy Trojan city wrested from her foe, a stronghold everlasting, Latium's plain
51and fair Laurentum long have looked for thee. Here truly is thy home. Turn not away. Here the true guardians of thy hearth shall be. Fear not the gathering war. The wrath of Heaven has stilled its swollen wave. A sign I tell:
56Lest thou shouldst deem this message of thy sleep a vain, deluding dream, thou soon shalt find in the oak-copses on my margent green, a huge sow, with her newly-littered brood of thirty young; along the ground she lies,
61snow-white, and round her udders her white young. There shall thy city stand, and there thy toil shall find untroubled rest. After the lapse of thrice ten rolling years, Ascanius shall found a city there of noble name,
66White-City, Alba; 't is no dream I sing! But I instruct thee now by what wise way th' impending wars may bring thee victory: receive the counsel, though the words be few: within this land are men of Arcady,
71of Pallas' line, who, following in the train of King Evander and his men-at-arms, built them a city in the hills, and chose (honoring Pallas, their Pelasgian sire), the name of Pallanteum. They make war
76incessant with the Latins. Therefore call this people to thy side and bind them close in federated power. My channel fair and shaded shore shall guide thee where they dwell, and thy strong oarsmen on my waters borne
81shall mount my falling stream. Rise, goddess-born, and ere the starlight fade give honor due to Juno, and with supplicating vow avert her wrath and frown. But unto me make offering in thy victorious hour,
86in time to come. I am the copious flood which thou beholdest chafing at yon shores and parting fruitful fields: cerulean stream of Tiber, favored greatly of high Heaven. here shall arise my house magnificent,
91a city of all cities chief and crown.” So spake the river-god, and sank from view down to his deepest cave; then night and sleep together from Aeneas fled away. He rose, and to the orient beams of morn
96his forehead gave; in both his hollowed palms he held the sacred waters of the stream, and called aloud: “O ye Laurentian nymphs, whence flowing rills be born, and chiefly thou, O Father Tiber, worshipped stream divine,
101accept Aeneas, and from peril save! If in some hallowed lake or haunted spring thy power, pitying my woes, abides, or wheresoe'er the blessed place be found whence first thy beauty flows, there evermore
106my hands shall bring thee gift and sacrifice. O chief and sovereign of Hesperian streams, O river-god that hold'st the plenteous horn, protect us, and confirm thy words divine!” He spoke; then chose twin biremes from the fleet,
111gave them good gear and armed their loyal crews. But, lo! a sudden wonder met his eyes: white gleaming through the grove, with all her brood white like herself, on the green bank the Sow stretched prone. The good Aeneas slew her there,
116Great Juno, for a sacrifice to thee, himself the priest, and with the sucklings all beside shine altar stood. So that whole night the god of Tiber calmed his swollen wave, ebbing or lingering in silent flow,
121till like some gentle lake or sleeping pool his even waters lay, and strove no more against the oarsmen's toil. Upon their way they speed with joyful sound; the well-oiled wood slips through the watery floor; the wondering waves,
126and all the virgin forests wondering, behold the warriors in far-shining arms their painted galleys up the current drive. O'er the long reaches of the winding flood their sturdy oars outweary the slow course
131of night and day. Fair groves of changeful green arch o'er their passage, and they seem to cleave green forests in the tranquil wave below. Now had the flaming sun attained his way to the mid-sphere of heaven, when they discerned
136walls and a citadel in distant view, with houses few and far between; 't was there, where sovran Rome to-day has rivalled Heaven, Evander's realm its slender strength displayed: swiftly they turned their prows and neared the town.
141It chanced th' Arcadian King had come that day to honor Hercules, Amphitryon's son, and to the powers divine pay worship due in groves outside the wall. Beside him stood Pallas his son, his noblest men-at-arms,
146and frugal senators, who at the shrines burnt incense, while warm blood of victims flowed. But when they saw the tall ships in the shade of that dark forest plying noiseless oars, the sudden sight alarmed, and all the throng
151sprang to its feet and left the feast divine. But dauntless Pallas bade them give not o'er the sacred festival, and spear in hand flew forward to a bit of rising ground, and cried from far: “Hail, warriors! what cause
156drives you to lands unknown, and whither bound? Your kin, your country? Bring ye peace or war?” Father Aeneas then held forth a bough of peaceful olive from the lofty ship, thus answering : “Men Trojan-born are we,
161foes of the Latins, who have driven us forth with insolent assault. We fain would see Evander. Pray, deliver this, and say that chosen princes of Dardania sue for his help in arms.” So wonder fell
166on Pallas, awestruck at such mighty name. O, come, whoe'er thou art,” he said, “and speak in presence of my father. Enter here, guest of our hearth and altar.” He put forth his right hand in true welcome, and they stood
171with lingering clasp; then hand in hand advanced up the steep woodland, leaving Tiber's wave. Aeneas to Evander speaking fair, these words essayed: “O best of Grecian-born! whom Fortune's power now bids me seek and sue,
176lifting this olive-branch with fillets bound, I have not feared thee, though I know thou art a Greek, and an Arcadian king, allied to the two sons of Atreus. For behold, my conscious worth, great oracles from Heaven,
181the kinship of our sires, thy own renown spread through the world—all knit my cause with thine, all make me glad my fates have so decreed. The sire and builder of the Trojan town was Dardanus; but he, Electra's child,
186came over sea to Teucria; the sire of fair Electra was great Atlas, he whose shoulder carries the vast orb of heaven. But thy progenitor was Mercury, and him conceiving, Maia, that white maid,
191on hoar Cyllene's frosty summit bore. But Maia's sire, if aught of truth be told, was Atlas also, Atlas who sustains the weight of starry skies. Thus both our tribes are one divided stem. Secure in this,
196no envoys have I sent, nor tried thy mind with artful first approaches, but myself, risking my person and my life, have come a suppliant here. For both on me and thee the house of Daunus hurls insulting war.
201If us they quell, they doubt not to obtain lordship of all Hesperia, and subdue alike the northern and the southern sea. Accept good faith, and give! Behold, our hearts quail not in battle; souls of fire are we,
206and warriors proved in many an action brave.” Aeneas ceased. The other long had scanned the hero's face, his eyes, and wondering viewed his form and mien divine; in answer now he briefly spoke: “With hospitable heart,
211O bravest warrior of all Trojan-born, I know and welcome thee. I well recall thy sire Anchises, how he looked and spake. For I remember Priam, when he came to greet his sister, Queen Hesione,
216in Salamis, and thence pursued his way to our cool uplands of Arcadia. The bloom of tender boyhood then was mine, and with a wide-eyed wonder I did view those Teucrian lords, Laomedon's great heir,
221and, towering highest in their goodly throng, Anchises, whom my warm young heart desired to speak with and to clasp his hand in mine. So I approached, and joyful led him home to Pheneus' olden wall. He gave me gifts
226the day he bade adieu; a quiver rare filled with good Lycian arrows, a rich cloak inwove with thread of gold, and bridle reins all golden, now to youthful Pallas given. Therefore thy plea is granted, and my hand
231here clasps in loyal amity with thine. To-morrow at the sunrise thou shalt have my tribute for the war, and go thy way my glad ally. But now this festival, whose solemn rite 't were impious to delay,
236I pray thee celebrate, and bring with thee well-omened looks and words. Allies we are! Use this our sacred feast as if your own.” So saying, he bade his followers renew th' abandoned feast and wine; and placed each guest
241on turf-built couch of green, most honoring Aeneas by a throne of maple fair decked with a lion's pelt and flowing mane. Then high-born pages, with the altar's priest, bring on the roasted beeves and load the board
246with baskets of fine bread; and wine they bring — of Ceres and of Bacchus gift and toil. While good Aeneas and his Trojans share the long whole ox and meats of sacrifice. When hunger and its eager edge were gone,
251Evander spoke: “This votive holiday, yon tables spread and altar so divine, are not some superstition dark and vain, that knows not the old gods, O Trojan King! But as men saved from danger and great fear
256this thankful sacrifice we pay. Behold, yon huge rock, beetling from the mountain wall, hung from the cliff above. How lone and bare the hollowed mountain looks! How crag on crag tumbled and tossed in huge confusion lie!
261A cavern once it was, which ran deep down into the darkness. There th' half-human shape of Cacus made its hideous den, concealed from sunlight and the day. The ground was wet at all times with fresh gore; the portal grim
266was hung about with heads of slaughtered men, bloody and pale—a fearsome sight to see. Vulcan begat this monster, which spewed forth dark-fuming flames from his infernal throat, and vast his stature seemed. But time and tide
271brought to our prayers the advent of a god to help us at our need. For Hercules, divine avenger, came from laying low three-bodied Geryon, whose spoils he wore exultant, and with hands victorious drove
276the herd of monster bulls, which pastured free along our river-valley. Cacus gazed in a brute frenzy, and left not untried aught of bold crime or stratagem, but stole four fine bulls as they fed, and heifers four,
281all matchless; but, lest hoof-tracks point his way, he dragged them cave-wards by the tails, confusing the natural trail, and hid the stolen herd in his dark den; and not a mark or sign could guide the herdsmen to that cavern-door.
286But after, when Amphitryon's famous son, preparing to depart, would from the meads goad forth the full-fed herd, his lingering bulls roared loud, and by their lamentable cry filled grove and hills with clamor of farewell:
291one heifer from the mountain-cave lowed back in answer, so from her close-guarded stall foiling the monster's will. Then hadst thou seen the wrath of Hercules in frenzy blaze from his exasperate heart. His arms he seized,
296his club of knotted oak, and climbed full-speed the wind-swept hill. Now first our people saw Cacus in fear, with panic in his eyes. Swift to the black cave like a gale he flew, his feet by terror winged. Scarce had he passed
301the cavern door, and broken the big chains, and dropped the huge rock which was pendent there by Vulcan's well-wrought steel; scarce blocked and barred the guarded gate: when there Tirynthius stood, with heart aflame, surveying each approach,
306rolling this way and that his wrathful eyes, gnashing his teeth. Three times his ire surveyed the slope of Aventine; three times he stormed the rock-built gate in vain; and thrice withdrew to rest him in the vale. But high above
311a pointed peak arose, sheer face of rock on every side, which towered into view from the long ridge above the vaulted cave, fit haunt for birds of evil-boding wing. This peak, which leftward toward the river leaned,
316he smote upon its right—his utmost blow — breaking its bases Ioose; then suddenly thrust at it: as he thrust, the thunder-sound filled all the arching sky, the river's banks asunder leaped, and Tiber in alarm
321reversed his flowing wave. So Cacus' lair lay shelterless, and naked to the day the gloomy caverns of his vast abode stood open, deeply yawning, just as if the riven earth should crack, and open wide
326th' infernal world and fearful kingdoms pale, which gods abhor; and to the realms on high the measureless abyss should be laid bare, and pale ghosts shrink before the entering sun. Now upon Cacus, startled by the glare,
331caged in the rocks and howling horribly, Alcides hurled his weapons, raining down all sorts of deadly missiles—trunks of trees, and monstrous boulders from the mountain torn. But when the giant from his mortal strait
336no refuge knew, he blew from his foul jaws a storm of smoke—incredible to tell — and with thick darkness blinding every eye, concealed his cave, uprolling from below one pitch-black night of mingled gloom and fire.
341This would Alcides not endure, but leaped headlong across the flames, where densest hung the rolling smoke, and through the cavern surged a drifting and impenetrable cloud. With Cacus, who breathed unavailing flame,
346he grappled in the dark, locked limb with limb, and strangled him, till o'er the bloodless throat the starting eyeballs stared.Then Hercules burst wide the doorway of the sooty den, and unto Heaven and all the people showed
351the stolen cattle and the robber's crimes, and dragged forth by the feet the shapeless corpse of the foul monster slain. The people gazed insatiate on the grewsome eyes, the breast of bristling shag, the face both beast and man,
356and that fire-blasted throat whence breathed no more the extinguished flame. 'T is since that famous day we celebrate this feast, and glad of heart each generation keeps the holy time. Potitius began the worship due,
361and our Pinarian house is vowed to guard the rites of Hercules. An altar fair within this wood they raised; 't is called ‘the Great,’ and Ara Maxima its name shall be. Come now, my warriors, and bind your brows
366with garlands worthy of the gift of Heaven. Lift high the cup in every thankful hand, and praise our people's god with plenteous wine.” He spoke; and of the poplar's changeful sheen, sacred to Hercules, wove him a wreath
371to shade his silvered brow. The sacred cup he raised in his right hand, while all the rest called on the gods and pure libation poured. Soon from the travelling heavens the western star glowed nearer, and Potitius led forth
376the priest-procession, girt in ancient guise with skins of beasts and carrying burning brands. new feasts are spread, and altars heaped anew with gifts and laden chargers. Then with song the Salian choir surrounds the blazing shrine,
381their foreheads wreathed with poplar. Here the youth, the elders yonder, in proud anthem sing the glory and the deeds of Hercules: how first he strangled with strong infant hand two serpents, Juno's plague; what cities proud,
386Troy and Oechalia, his famous war in pieces broke; what labors numberless as King Eurystheus' bondman he endured, by cruel Juno's will. “Thou, unsubdued, didst strike the twy-formed, cloud-bred centaurs down,
391Pholus and tall Hylaeus. Thou hast slain the Cretan horror, and the lion huge beneath the Nemean crag. At sight of thee the Stygian region quailed, and Cerberus, crouching o'er half-picked bones in gory cave.
396Nothing could bid thee fear. Typhoeus towered in his colossal Titan-panoply o'er thee in vain; nor did thy cunning fail when Lema's wonder-serpent round thee drew its multudinous head. Hail, Jove's true son!
401New glory to the gods above, come down, and these thine altars and thy people bless!” Such hymns they chanted, telling oft the tale of Cacus' cave and blasting breath of fire: while hills and sacred grove the note prolong.
406Such worship o'er, all take the homeward way back to the town. The hospitable King, though bowed with weight of years, kept at his side Aeneas and his son, and as they fared, with various discourse beguiled the way.
411Aeneas scanned with quick-admiring eyes the region wide, and lingered with delight now here, now there, inquiring eagerly of each proud monument of heroes gone. Then King Evander, he who builded first
416On Palatine, spoke thus: “These groves erewhile their native nymphs and fauns enjoyed, with men from trees engendered and stout heart of oak. Nor laws nor arts they knew; nor how to tame burls to the yoke, nor fill great barns with store
421and hoard the gathered grain; but rudely fared on wild fruits and such food as hunters find. Then Saturn from Olympian realms came down, in flight from Jove's dread arms, his sceptre lost, and he an exiled King. That savage race
426he gathered from the mountain slopes; and gave wise laws and statutes; so that latent land was Latium, ‘hid land’, where he hid so long. The golden centuries by legends told were under that good King, whose equal sway
431untroubled peace to all his peoples gave. But after slow decline arrived an age degenerate and of a darker hue, prone to insensate war and greed of gain. Then came Sicanian and Ausonian tribes,
436and oft the land of Saturn lost its name. New chieftains rose, and Thybris, giant King and violent, from whom th' Italians named the flooding Tiber, which was called no more the Albula, its true and ancient style.
441Myself, in exile from my fatherland sailing uncharted seas, was guided here by all-disposing Chance and iron laws of Destiny. With prophecy severe Carmentis, my nymph-mother, thrust me on,
446warned by Apollo's word.” He scarce had said, when near their path he showed an altar fair and the Carmental gate, where Romans see memorial of Carmentis, nymph divine, the prophetess of fate, who first foretold
451what honors on Aeneas' sons should fall and lordly Pallanteum, where they dwell. Next the vast grove was seen, where Romulus ordained inviolable sanctuary; then the Lupercal under its cold crag,
456Wolf-hill, where old Arcadians revered their wolf-god, the Lycaean Pan. Here too the grove of Argiletum, sacred name, where good Evander told the crime and death of Argus, his false guest. From this they climbed
461the steep Tarpeian hill, the Capitol, all gold to-day, but then a tangled wild of thorny woodland. Even then the place woke in the rustics a religious awe, and bade them fear and tremble at the view
466of that dread rock and grove. “This leafy wood, which crowns the hill-top, is the favored seat of some great god,” said he, “but of his name we know not surely. The Arcadians say jove's dread right hand here visibly appears
471to shake his aegis in the darkening storm, the clouds compelling. Yonder rise in view two strongholds with dismantled walls, which now are but a memory of great heroes gone: one father Janus built, and Saturn one;
476their names, Saturnia and Janiculum.” 'Mid such good parley to the house they came of King Evander, unadorned and plain, whence herds of browsing cattle could be seen ranging the Forum, and loud-bellowing
481in proud Carinae. As they entered there, “Behold,” said he, “the threshold that received Alcides in his triumph! This abode he made his own. Dare, O illustrious guest, to scorn the pomp of power. Shape thy soul
486to be a god's fit follower. Enter here, and free from pride our frugal welcome share.” So saying, 'neath his roof-tree scant and low he led the great Aeneas, offering him a couch of leaves with Libyan bear-skin spread.
491Now night drew near, enfolding the wide world in shadowy wings. But Venus, sore disturbed, vexed not unwisely her maternal breast, fearing Laurentum's menace and wild stir of obstinate revolt, and made her plea
496to Vulcan in their nuptial bower of gold, outbreathing in the music of her words celestial love: “When warring Argive kings brought ruin on Troy's sacred citadel and ramparts soon to sink in hostile flames,
501I asked not thee to help that hopeless woe, nor craved thy craft and power. For, dearest lord, I would not tax in vain shine arduous toil, though much to Priam's children I was bound, and oft to see Aeneas burdened sore
506I could but weep. But now by will of Jove he has found foothold in Rutulian lands. Therefore I come at last with lowly suit before a godhead I adore, and pray for gift of arms,—a mother for her son.
511Thou wert not unrelenting to the tears of Nereus' daughter or Tithonus' bride. Behold what tribes conspire, what cities strong behind barred gates now make the falchion keen to ruin and blot out both me and mine!”
516So spake the goddess, as her arms of snow around her hesitating spouse she threw in tender, close embrace. He suddenly knew the familiar fire, and o'er his frame its wonted ardor unresisted ran,
521swift as the glittering shaft of thunder cleaves the darkened air and on from cloud to cloud the rift of lightning runs. She, joyful wife; felt what her beauty and her guile could do; as, thralled by love unquenchable, her spouse
526thus answered fair: “Why wilt thou labor so with far-fetched pleas? my goddess, hast thou lost thy faith in me? Had such a prayer been shine, I could have armed the Teucrians. Neither Jove nor Destiny had grudged ten added years
531of life to Troy and Priam. If to-day thou hast a war in hand, and if thy heart determine so, I willingly engage to lend thee all my cunning; whatsoever molten alloy or welded iron can,
536whate'er my roaring forge and flames achieve, I offer thee. No more in anxious prayer distrust thy beauty's power.” So saying, he gave embrace of mutual desire, and found deep, peaceful sleep, on her fond heart reclined.
541Night's course half run, soon as the first repose had banished sleep,—what time some careful wife whose distaff and Minerva's humble toil must earn her bread, rekindling her warm hearth, adds a night-burden to her laboring day,
546and by the torch-light cheers her maidens on to their long tasks; that so her husband's bed she may in honor keep, and train to power her dear men-children—at such prime of morn, with not less eager mind the Lord of Fire
551fled his soft couch and to his forges tried. An island near Aeolian Lipara not far from a Sicilian headland lies, where smoking rocks precipitously tower above a vast vault, which the Cyclops' skill
556outhollowed large as Aetna's thunderous caves. There ring the smitten anvils, and the roof re-echoes, roaring loud. Chalybian ores hiss in the gloom, and from the furnace mouths puff the hot-panting fires. 'T is Vulcan's seat,
561and all that island is Vulcania. Thither descended now the god of fire from height of heaven. At their task were found the Cyclops in vast cavern forging steel, naked Pyracmon and gigantic-limbed
566Brontes and Steropes; beneath their blows a lightning-shaft, half-shaped, half-burnished lay, such as the Thunderer is wont to fling in numbers from the sky, but formless still. Three strands of whirling storm they wove with three
571of bursting cloud, and three did interfuse of ruddy-gleaming fires and winged winds; then fearful lightnings on the skilful forge they welded with loud horror, and with flames that bear swift wrath from Jove. Elsewhere a crew
576toiled at the chariot and winged wheel wherewith the war-god wakens from repose heroes and peopled cities. Others wrought the awful Aegis, herald of dismay, by angry Pallas worn; they burnished bright
581the golden serpent-scales and wreathing snakes, till from the corselet of the goddess glared the Gorgon's severed head and rolling eyes. “Cyclops of Aetna,” Vulcan cried, “have done! Leave ev'ry task unfinished, and receive
586my new command! Good armor must be forged for warrior brave. For this I need to use your utmost sinew and your swiftest hand, with all your master skill. No lingering now!” Swift the command, and swiftly they divide
591to each his portion, and united urge the common task. Forth fow the molten streams of brass and gold, and, melted in fierce fiame, the deeply-wounding steel like liquid flows. A mighty shield took shape, its single orb
596sufficient to withstand the gathered shock of all the Latin arms; for seven times they welded ring with ring. Some deftly ply the windy bellows, which receive and give the roaring blasts; some plunge in cooling pond
601the hissing metal, while the smithy floor groans with the anvil's weight, as side by side they lift their giant arms in numbered blows and roll with gripe of tongs the ponderous bars. While thus the Lemnian god his labor sped
606in far Aeolian isle, the cheerful morn with voice of swallows round his lowly eaves summoned Evander. From his couch arose the royal sire, and o'er his aged frame a tunic threw, tying beneath his feet
611the Tuscan sandals: an Arcadian sword, girt at his left, was over one shoulder slung, his cloak of panther trailing from behind. A pair of watch-dogs from the lofty door ran close, their lord attending, as he sought
616his guest Aeneas; for his princely soul remembered faithfully his former word, and promised gift. Aeneas with like mind was stirring early. King Evander's son Pallas was at his side; Achates too
621accompanied his friend. All these conjoin in hand-clasp and good-morrow, taking seats in midcourt of the house, and give the hour to converse unrestrained. First spoke the King: “Great leader of the Teucrians, while thy life
626in safety stands, I call not Trojan power vanquished or fallen. But to help thy war my small means match not thy redoubled name. Yon Tuscan river is my bound. That way Rutulia thrusts us hard and chafes our wall
631with loud, besieging arms. But I propose to league with thee a numerous array of kings and mighty tribes, which fortune strange now brings to thy defence. Thou comest here because the Fates intend. Not far from ours
636a city on an ancient rock is seen, Agylla, which a warlike Lydian clan built on the Tuscan hills. It prospered well for many a year, then under the proud yoke of King Mezentius it came and bore
641his cruel sway. Why tell the loathsome deeds and crimes unspeakable the despot wrought? May Heaven requite them on his impious head and on his children! For he used to chain dead men to living, hand on hand was laid
646and face on face,—torment incredible! Till, locked in blood-stained, horrible embrace, a lingering death they found. But at the last his people rose in furious despair, and while he blasphemously raged, assailed
651his life and throne, cut down his guards and fired his regal dwellings; he, the while, escaped immediate death and fied away to the Rutulian land, to find defence in Turnus hospitality. To-day
656Etruria, to righteous anger stirred, demands with urgent arms her guilty King. To their large host, Aeneas, I will give an added strength, thyself. For yonder shores re-echo with the tumult and the cry
661of ships in close array; their eager lords are clamoring for battle. But the song of the gray omen-giver thus declares their destiny: ‘O goodly princes born of old Maeonian lineage! Ye that are
666the bloom and glory of an ancient race, whom just occasions now and noble rage enflame against Mezentius your foe, it is decreed that yonder nation proud shall never submit to chiefs Italian-born.
671Seek ye a king from far!’ So in the field inert and fearful lies Etruria's force, disarmed by oracles. Their Tarchon sent envoys who bore a sceptre and a crown even to me, and prayed I should assume
676the sacred emblems of Etruria's king, and lead their host to war. But unto me cold, sluggish age, now barren and outworn, denies new kingdoms, and my slow-paced powers run to brave deeds no more. Nor could I urge
681my son, who by his Sabine mother's line is half Italian-born. Thyself art he, whose birth illustrious and manly prime fate favors and celestial powers approve. Therefore go forth, O bravest chief and King
686of Troy and Italy! To thee I give the hope and consolation of our throne, pallas, my son, and bid him find in thee a master and example, while he learns the soldier's arduous toil. With thy brave deeds
691let him familiar grow, and reverence thee with youthful love and honor. In his train two hundred horsemen of Arcadia, our choicest men-at-arms, shall ride; and he in his own name an equal band shall bring
696to follow only thee.” Such the discourse. With meditative brows and downcast eyes Aeneas and Achates, sad at heart, mused on unnumbered perils yet to come. But out of cloudless sky Cythera's Queen
701gave sudden signal: from th' ethereal dome a thunder-peal and flash of quivering fire tumultuous broke, as if the world would fall, and bellowing Tuscan trumpets shook the air. All eyes look up. Again and yet again
706crashed the terrible din, and where the sky looked clearest hung a visionary cloud, whence through the brightness blazed resounding arms. All hearts stood still. But Troy's heroic son knew that his mother in the skies redeemed
711her pledge in sound of thunder: so he cried, “Seek not, my friend, seek not thyself to read the meaning of the omen. 'T is to me Olympus calls. My goddess-mother gave long since her promise of a heavenly sign
716if war should burst; and that her power would bring a panoply from Vulcan through the air, to help us at our need. Alas, what deaths over Laurentum's ill-starred host impend! O Turnus, what a reckoning thou shalt pay
721to me in arms! O Tiber, in thy wave what helms and shields and mighty soldiers slain shall in confusion roll! Yea, let them lead their lines to battle, and our league abjure!” He said: and from the lofty throne uprose.
726Straightway he roused anew the slumbering fire sacred to Hercules, and glad at heart adored, as yesterday, the household gods revered by good Evander, at whose side the Trojan company made sacrifice
731of chosen lambs, with fitting rites and true. Then to his ships he tried him, and rejoined his trusty followers, of whom he took the best for valor known, to lend him aid in deeds of war. Others he bade return
736down stream in easy course, and tidings bear to young Ascanius of the new event, and of his father. Horses then were brought for all the Teucrians to Etruria bound; and for Aeneas one of rarest breed,
741o'er whom a tawny robe descended low, of lion-skin, with claws of gleaming gold. Noised swiftly through the little town it flies that to the precinct of the Tuscan King armed horsemen speed. Pale mothers in great fear
746unceasing pray; for panic closely runs in danger's steps; the war-god drawing nigh looms larger; and good sire Evander now clings to the hand of his departing son and, weeping without stay, makes sad farewell:
751“O, that great Jove would give me once again my vanished years! O, if such man I were, as when beneath Praeneste's wall I slew the front ranks of her sons, and burned for spoil their gathered shields on my triumph day;
756or when this right hand hurled king Erulus to shades below, though—terrible to tell — Feronia bore him with three lives, that thrice he might arise from deadly strife o'erthrown, and thrice be slain—yet all these lives took I,
761and of his arms despoiled him o'er and o'er: not now, sweet son (if such lost might were mine), should I from thy beloved embrace be torn; nor could Mezentius with insulting sword do murder in my sight and make my land
766depopulate and forlorn. O gods in Heaven, and chiefly thou whom all the gods obey, have pity, Jove, upon Arcadia's King, and hear a father's prayer: if your intent be for my Pallas a defence secure,
771if it be writ that long as I shall live, my eyes may see him, and my arms enfold, I pray for life, and all its ills I bear. But if some curse, too dark to tell, impend from thee, O Fortune blind! I pray thee break
776my thread of miserable life to-day; to-day, while fear still doubts and hope still smiles on the unknown to-morrow, as I hold thee to my bosom, dearest child, who art my last and only joy; to-day, before
781th' intolerable tidings smite my ears.” Such grief the royal father's heart outpoured at this last parting; the strong arms of slaves lifted him, fallen in swoon, and bore him home. Now forth beneath the wide-swung city-gates
786the mounted squadron poured; Aeneas rode, companioned of Achates, in the van; then other lords of Troy. There Pallas shone conspicuous in the midmost line, with cloak and blazoned arms, as when the Morning-star
791(To Venus dearest of all orbs that burn), out of his lucent bath in ocean wave lifts to the skies his countenance divine, and melts the shadows of the night away. Upon the ramparts trembling matrons stand
796and follow with dimmed eyes the dusty cloud whence gleam the brazen arms. The warriors ride straight on through brake and fell, the nearest way; loud ring the war-cries, and in martial line the pounding hoof-beats shake the crumbling ground.
801By Caere's cold flood lies an ample grove revered from age to age. The hollowing hills enclasp it in wide circles of dark fir, and the Pelasgians, so the legends tell, primaeval settlers of the Latin plains,
806called it the haunt of Silvan, kindly god of flocks and fields, and honoring the grove gave it a festal day. Hard by this spot had Tarchon with the Tuscans fortified his bivouac, and from the heights afar
811his legions could be seen in wide array outstretching through the plain. To meet them there Aeneas and his veteran chivalry made sure advance, and found repose at eve for warrior travel-worn and fainting steed.
816But now athwart the darkening air of heaven came Venus gleaming bright, to bring her son the gifts divine. In deep, sequestered vale she found him by a cooling rill retired, and hailed him thus: “Behold the promised gift,
821by craft and power of my Olympian spouse made perfect, that my son need never fear Laurentum's haughty host, nor to provoke fierce Turnus to the fray.” Cythera's Queen so saying, embraced her son, and hung the arms,
826all glittering, on an oak that stood thereby. The hero, with exultant heart and proud, gazing unwearied at his mother's gift, surveys them close, and poises in his hands the helmet's dreadful crest and glancing flame,
831the sword death-dealing, and the corselet strong, impenetrable brass, blood-red and large, like some dark-lowering, purple cloud that gleams beneath the smiting sun and flashes far its answering ray; and burnished greaves were there,
836fine gold and amber; then the spear and shield — the shield—of which the blazonry divine exceeds all power to tell. Thereon were seen Italia's story and triumphant Rome, wrought by the Lord of Fire, who was not blind
841to lore inspired and prophesying song, fore-reading things to come. He pictured there Iulus' destined line of glorious sons marshalled for many a war. In cavern green, haunt of the war-god, lay the mother-wolf;
846the twin boy-sucklings at her udders played, nor feared such nurse; with long neck backward thrown she fondled each, and shaped with busy tongue their bodies fair. Near these were pictured well the walls of Rome and ravished Sabine wives
851in the thronged theatre violently seized, when the great games were done; then, sudden war of Romulus against the Cures grim and hoary Tatius; next, the end of strife between the rival kings, who stood in arms
856before Jove's sacred altar, cup in hand, and swore a compact o'er the slaughtered swine. Hard by, behold, the whirling chariots tore Mettus asunder (would thou hadst been true, false Alban, to thy vow!); and Tullus trailed
861the traitor's mangled corse along the hills, the wild thorn dripping gore. Porsenna, next, sent to revolted Rome his proud command to take her Tarquin back, and with strong siege assailed the city's wall; while unsubdued
866Aeneas' sons took arms in freedom's name. there too the semblance of the frustrate King, a semblance of his wrath and menace vain, when Cocles broke the bridge, and Cloelia burst her captive bonds and swam the Tiber's wave.
871Lo, on the steep Tarpeian citadel stood Manlius at the sacred doors of Jove, holding the capitol, whereon was seen the fresh-thatched house of Romulus the King. There, too, all silver, through arcade of gold
876fluttered the goose, whose monitory call revealed the foeman at the gate: outside besieging Gauls the thorny pathway climbed, ambushed in shadow and the friendly dark of night without a star; their flowing hair
881was golden, and their every vesture gold; their cloaks were glittering plaid; each milk-white neck bore circlet of bright gold; in each man's hand two Alpine javelins gleamed, and for defence long shields the wild northern warriors bore.
886There, graven cunningly, the Salian choir went leaping, and in Lupercalian feast the naked striplings ran; while others, crowned with peaked cap, bore shields that fell from heaven; and, bearing into Rome their emblems old,
891chaste priestesses on soft-strewn litters passed. But far from these th' artificer divine had wrought a Tartarus, the dreadful doors of Pluto, and the chastisements of sin; swung o'er a threatening precipice, was seen
896thy trembling form, O Catiline, in fear of fury-faces nigh: and distant far th' assemblies of the righteous, in whose midst was Cato, giving judgment and decree. Encircled by these pictures ran the waves
901of vast, unrestful seas in flowing gold, where seemed along the azure crests to fly the hoary foam, and in a silver ring the tails of swift, emerging dolphins lashed the waters bright, and clove the tumbling brine.
906For the shield's central glory could be seen great fleets of brazen galleys, and the fight at Actium; where, ablaze with war's array, Leucate's peak glowed o'er the golden tide. Caesar Augustus led Italia's sons
911to battle: at his side concordant moved Senate and Roman People, with their gods of hearth and home, and all Olympian Powers. Uplifted on his ship he stands; his brows beneath a double glory smile, and bright
916over his forehead beams the Julian star. in neighboring region great Agrippa leads, by favor of fair winds and friendly Heaven, his squadron forth: upon his brows he wears the peerless emblem of his rostral crown.
921Opposing, in barbaric splendor shine the arms of Antony: in victor's garb from nations in the land of morn he rides, and from the Red Sea, bringing in his train Egypt and Syria, utmost Bactria's horde,
926and last—O shameless!—his Egyptian spouse. All to the fight make haste; the slanted oars and triple beaks of brass uptear the waves to angry foam, as to the deep they speed like hills on hill-tops hurled, or Cyclades
931drifting and clashing in the sea: so vast that shock of castled ships and mighty men! Swift, arrowy steel and balls of blazing tow rain o'er the waters, till the sea-god's world flows red with slaughter. In the midst, the Queen,
936sounding her native timbrel, wildly calls her minions to the fight, nor yet can see two fatal asps behind. Her monster-gods, barking Anubis, and his mongrel crew, on Neptune, Venus, and Minerva fling
941their impious arms; the face of angry Mars, carved out of iron, in the centre frowns, grim Furies fill the air; Discordia strides in rent robe, mad with joy; and at her side, bellona waves her sanguinary scourge.
946There Actian Apollo watched the war, and o'er it stretched his bow; which when they knew, Egyptian, Arab, and swart Indian slave, and all the sons of Saba fled away in terror of his arm. The vanquished Queen
951made prayer to all the winds, and more and more flung out the swelling sail: on wind-swept wave she fled through dead and dying; her white brow the Lord of Fire had cunningly portrayed blanched with approaching doom. Beyond her lay
956the large-limbed picture of the mournful Nile, who from his bosom spread his garments wide, and offered refuge in his sheltering streams and broad, blue breast, to all her fallen power. But Caesar in his triple triumph passed
961the gates of Rome, and gave Italia's gods, for grateful offering and immortal praise, three hundred temples; all the city streets with game and revel and applauding song rang loud; in all the temples altars burned
966and Roman matrons prayed; the slaughtered herds strewed well the sacred ground. The hero, throned at snow-white marble threshold of the fane to radiant Phoebus, views the gift and spoil the nations bring, and on the portals proud
971hangs a perpetual garland: in long file the vanquished peoples pass, of alien tongues, of arms and vesture strange. Here Vulcan showed ungirdled Afric chiefs and Nomads bold, Gelonian bowmen, men of Caria,
976and Leleges. Euphrates seemed to flow with humbler wave; the world's remotest men, Morini came, with double-horned Rhine, and Dahae, little wont to bend the knee, and swift Araxes, for a bridge too proud.
981Such was the blazoned shield his mother gave from Vulcan's forge; which with astonished eyes Aeneas viewed, and scanned with joyful mind such shadows of an unknown age to be; then on his shoulder for a burden bore
986the destined mighty deeds of all his sons.
Book 9
1While thus in distant region moves the war, down to bold Turnus Saturn's daughter sends celestial Iris. In a sacred vale, the seat of worship at his grandsire's tomb, Pilumnus, Faunus' son, the hero mused.
6And thus the wonder-child of Thaumas called with lips of rose: “O Turnus, what no god dared give for reward of thy fondest vow, has come unbidden on its destined day. Behold, Aeneas, who has left behind
11the city with his fleet and followers, is gone to kingly Palatine, the home of good Evander. Yea, his march invades the far Etrurian towns, where now he arms the Lydian rustics. Wilt thou longer muse?
16Call for thy chariot and steeds! Away! Take yonder tents by terror and surprise!” She spoke; and heavenward on poising wings soared, cleaving as she fled from cloud to cloud a vast, resplendent bow. The warrior saw,
21and, lifting both his hands, pursued with prayer the fading glory: “Beauteous Iris, hail! Proud ornament of heaven! who sent thee here across yon cloud to earth, and unto me? Whence may this sudden brightness fall? I see
26the middle welkin lift, and many a star, far-wandering in the sky. Such solemn sign I shall obey, and thee, O god unknown!” So saying, he turned him to a sacred stream, took water from its brim, and offered Heaven
31much prayer, with many an importuning vow. Soon o'er the spreading fields in proud array the gathered legions poured; no lack was there of steeds all fire, and broidered pomp and gold. Messapus led the van; in rearguard rode
36the sons of Tyrrheus; kingly Turnus towered from the mid-column eminent: the host moved as great Ganges lifting silently his seven peaceful streams, or when the flood of fructifying Nile from many a field
41back to his channel flows. A swift-blown cloud of black, uprolling dust the Teucrians see o'ershadowing the plain; Calcus calls from lofty outpost: “O my countrymen, I see a huge, black ball of rolling smoke.
46Your swords and lances! Man the walls! To arms! The foe is here! What ho!” With clamors loud the Teucrians through the city-gates retire, and muster on the walls. For, wise in war, Aeneas, ere he went, had left command
51they should not range in battle-line, nor dare, whate'er might hap, to risk in open plain the bold sortie, but keep them safe entrenched in mounded walls. So now, though rage and shame prick to a close fight, they defensive bar
56each portal strong, and, patient of control, from hollow towers expect th' encircling foe. Turnus, at full speed, had outridden far his laggard host, and, leading in his train a score of chosen knights, dashed into view
61hard by the walls. A barb of Thracian breed dappled with white he rode; a crimson plume flamed over his golden helmet. “Who,” he cries, “Is foremost at the foe? Who follows me? Behold!” And, with the word, he hurled in air
66a javelin, provoking instant war: and, towering from his horse, charged o'er the field. With answering shout his men-at-arms pursue, and war-cries terrible. They laugh to scorn “the craven hearts of Troy, that cannot give
71fair, equal vantage, matching man to man, but cuddle into camp.” This way and that Turnus careers, and stormily surveys the frowning rampart, and where way is none some entering breach would find: so prowls a wolf
76nigh the full sheepfold, and through wind and rain stands howling at the postern all night long; beneath the ewes their bleating lambs lie safe; but he, with undesisting fury, more rages from far, made frantic for his prey
81by hunger of long hours, his foaming jaws athirst for blood: not less the envy burned of the Rutulian, as he scanned in vain the stronghold of his foe. Indignant scorn thrilled all his iron frame. But how contrive
86to storm the fortress or by force expel the Trojans from the rampart, and disperse along the plain? Straightway he spied the ships, in hiding near the camp, defended well by mounded river-bank and fleeting wave.
91On these he fell; while his exultant crew brought firebrands, and he with heart aflame grasped with a vengeful hand the blazing pine. To the wild work his followers sped; for who could prove him craven under Turnus' eye?
96The whole troop for the weapon of their rage seized smoking coals, of many a hearth the spoil; red glare of fuming torches burned abroad, and Vulcan starward flung a sparkling cloud. What god, O Muses, saved the Trojans then
101from wrathful flame? Who shielded then the fleet, I pray you tell, from bursting storm of fire? From hoary eld the tale, but its renown sings on forever. When Aeneas first on Phrygian Ida hewed the sacred wood
106for rib and spar, and soon would put to sea, that mighty mother of the gods, they say, the Berecynthian goddess, thus to Jove addressed her plea: “Grant, O my son, a boon, which thy dear mother asks, who aided thee
111to quell Olympian war. A grove I have of sacred pine, long-loved from year to year. On lofty hill it grew, and thither came my worshippers with gifts, in secret gloom of pine-trees dark and shadowing maple-boughs.;
116these on the Dardan warrior at his need I, not unwilling, for his fleet bestowed. But I have fears. O, Iet a parent's prayer in this prevail, and bid my care begone! Let not rude voyages nor the shock of storm
121my ships subdue, but let their sacred birth on my charmed hills their strength and safety be!” Then spake her son, who guides the wheeling spheres: “Wouldst thou, my mother, strive to oversway the course of Fate? What means this prayer of thine?
126Can it be granted ships of mortal mould to wear immortal being? Wouldst thou see Aeneas pass undoubting and secure through doubtful strait and peril? On what god was e'er such power bestowed? Yet will I grant
131a different boon. Whatever ships shall find a safe Ausonian haven, and convey safe through the seas to yon Laurentian plain the Dardan King, from such I will remove their perishable shapes, and bid them be
136sea-nymphs divine, like Nereus' daughters fair, Doto and Galatea, whose white breasts divide the foaming wave.” He said, and swore by his Tartarean brother's mournful stream, the pitch-black floods and dark engulfing shore
141of Styx; then great Jove bowed his head, and all Olympus quaked at his consenting brow. Now was the promised day at hand (for Fate had woven the web so far) when Turnus' rage stirred the divine progenitress to save
146her sacred ships from fire. Then sudden shone a strange effulgence in the eastern air; and in a storm-cloud wafted o'er the sky were Corybantic choirs, whose dreadful song smote both on Teucrian and Rutulian ear:
151“O Teucrians, fear not for the sure defence of all the ships, nor arm your mortal hands. Yon impious Turnus shall burn up the seas before my pine-trees blest. Arise! Be free, ye goddesses of ocean, and obey
156your mother's mighty word.” Then instant broke the hawsers of the sterns; the beaked prows went plunging like great dolphins from the shore down to the deeps, and, wonderful to tell, the forms of virgin goddesses uprose,
161one for each ship, and seaward sped away. The hearts of the Rutulian host stood still in panic, and Messapus terrified his trembling horses reined; the sacred stream of Father Tiber, harshly murmuring,
166held back his flood and checked his seaward way. But Turnus' courage failed not; he alone his followers roused, and with reproachful words alone spoke forth: “These signs and prodigies threaten the Trojan only. Jove himself
171has stripped them of their wonted strength: no more can they abide our deadly sword and fire. The Trojan path to sea is shut. What hope of flight is left them now? The half their cause is fallen. The possession of this land
176is ours already; thousands of sharp swords Italia's nations bring. Small fear have I of Phrygia's boasted omens. What to me their oracles from heaven? The will of Fate and Venus have achieved their uttermost
181in casting on Ausonia's fruitful shore yon sons of Troy. I too have destinies: and mine, good match for theirs, with this true blade will spill the blood of all the baneful brood, in vengeance for my stolen wife. Such wrongs
186move not on Atreus' sons alone, nor rouse only Mycenae to a righteous war. Say you, ‘Troy falls but once?’ One crime, say I, should have contented them; and now their souls should little less than loathe all womankind.
191These are the sort of soldiers that be brave behind entrenchment, where the moated walls may stem the foe and make a little room betwixt themselves and death. Did they not see how Troy's vast bulwark built by Neptune's hand
196crumbled in flame? Forward, my chosen brave! Who follows me to cleave his deadly way through yonder battlement, and leap like storm upon its craven guard? I have no need of arms from Vulcan's smithy; nor of ships
201a thousand strong against our Teucrian foes, though all Etruria's league enlarge their power. Let them not fear dark nights, nor coward theft of Pallas' shrine, nor murdered sentinels on their acropolis. We shall not hide
206in blinding belly of a horse. But I in public eye and open day intend to compass their weak wall with siege and fire. I'll prove them we be no Pelasgic band, no Danaan warriors, such as Hector's arm
211ten years withstood. But look! this day hath spent its better part. In what remains, rejoice in noble deeds well done; let weary flesh have rest and food. My warriors, husband well your strength against to-morrow's hopeful war.”
216Meanwhile to block their gates with wakeful guard is made Messapus' work, and to gird round their camp with watchfires. Then a chosen band, twice seven Rutulian chieftains, man the walls with soldiery; each leads a hundred men
221crested with crimson, armed with glittering gold. Some post to separate sentries, and prepare alternate vigil; others, couched on grass, laugh round the wine and lift the brazen bowls. The camp-fires cheerly burn; the jovial guard
226spend the long, sleepless night in sport and game. The Trojans peering from the lofty walls survey the foe, and arm for sure defence of every point exposed. They prove the gates with fearful care, bind bridge with tower, and bring
231good store of javelins. Serestus bold and Mnestheus to their labors promptly fly, whom Sire Aeneas bade in time of stress to have authority and free command over his warriars. Along the walls
236the legions, by the cast of lots, divide the pain and peril, giving each his due of alternating vigil and repose. Nisus kept sentry at the gate: a youth of eager heart for noble deeds, the son
241of Hyrtacus, whom in Aeneas' train Ida the huntress sent; swift could he speed the spear or light-winged arrow to its aim. Beside him was Euryalus, his friend: of all th' Aeneadae no youth more fair
246wore Trojan arms; upon his cheek unshorn the tender bloom of boyhood lingered still. Their loving hearts were one, and oft in war they battled side by side, as in that hour a common sentry at the gate they shared.
251Said Nisus: “Is it gods above that breathe this fever in my soul, Euryalus? or is the tyrant passion of each breast the god it serves? Me now my urgent mind to battles or some mighty deed impels,
256and will not give me rest. Look yonder, where the Rutuli in dull security the siege maintain. Yet are their lights but few. They are asleep or drunk, and in their line is many a silent space. O, hear my thought,
261and what my heart is pondering. To recall Aeneas is the dearest wish to-night of all, both high and low. They need true men to find him and bring tidings. If our chiefs but grant me leave to do the thing I ask
266(Claiming no reward save what honor gives), methinks I could search out by yonder hill a path to Pallanteum.” The amazed Euryalus, flushed warm with eager love for deeds of glory, instantly replied
271to his high-hearted friend: “Dost thou refuse, my Nisus, to go with me hand in hand when mighty deeds are done? Could I behold thee venturing alone on danger? Nay! Not thus my sire Opheltes, schooled in war,
276taught me his true child, 'mid the woes of Troy and Argive terrors reared; not thus with thee have I proved craven, since we twain were leal to great Aeneas, sharing all his doom. In this breast also is a heart which knows
281contempt of life, and deems such deeds, such praise, well worth a glorious death.” Nisus to him: “I have not doubted thee, nor e'er could have one thought disloyal. May almighty Jove, or whatsoe'er good power my purpose sees,
286bring me triumphant to thy arms once more! But if, as oft in doubtful deeds befalls, some stroke of chance, or will divine, should turn to adverse, 't is my fondest prayer that thou shouldst live the longer of us twain. Thy years
291suit better with more life. Oh! let there be one mourner true to carry to its grave my corpse, recaptured in the desperate fray, or ransomed for a price. Or if this boon should be—'t is Fortune's common way—refused,
296then pay the debt of grief and loyal woe unto my far-off dust, and garlands leave upon an empty tomb. No grief I give to any sorrowing mother; one alone, of many Trojan mothers, had the heart
301to follow thee, her child, and would not stay in great Acestes' land.” His friend replied: “Thou weavest but a web of empty words and reasons vain, nor dost thou shake at all my heart's resolve. Come, let us haste away!”
306He answered so, and summoned to the gate a neighboring watch, who, bringing prompt relief, the sentry-station took; then quitted he his post assigned; at Nisus' side he strode, and both impatient sped them to the King.
311Now in all lands all creatures that have breath lulled care in slumber, and each heart forgot its load of toil and pain. But they who led the Teucrian cause, with all their chosen brave, took counsel in the kingdom's hour of need
316what action to command or whom dispatch with tidings to Aeneas. In mid-camp on long spears leaning and with ready shield to leftward slung, th' assembled warriors stood. Thither in haste arrived the noble pair,
321brave Nisus with Euryalus his friend, and craved a hearing, for their suit, they said, was urgent and well-worth a patient ear. Iulus to the anxious striplings gave a friendly welcome, bidding Nisus speak.
326The son of Hyrtacus obeyed: “O, hear, Princes of Teucria, with impartial mind, nor judge by our unseasoned youth the worth of what we bring. Yon Rutule watch is now in drunken sleep, and all is silent there.
331With our own eyes we picked out a good place to steal a march, that cross-road by the gate close-fronting on the bridge. Their lines of fire are broken, and a murky, rolling smoke fills all the region. If ye grant us leave
336by this good luck to profit, we will find Aeneas and the walls of Palatine, and after mighty slaughter and huge spoil ye soon shall see us back. Nor need ye fear we wander from the way. Oft have we seen
341that city's crest loom o'er the shadowy vales, where we have hunted all day long and know each winding of yon river.” Then uprose aged Aletes, crowned with wisdom's years: “Gods of our fathers, who forevermore
346watch over Troy, ye surely had no mind to blot out Teucria's name, when ye bestowed such courage on young hearts, and bade them be so steadfast and so leal.” Joyful he clasped their hands in his, and on their shoulders leaned,
351his aged cheek and visage wet with tears. “What reward worthy of such actions fair, dear heroes, could be given? Your brightest prize will come from Heaven and your own hearts. The rest Aeneas will right soon bestow; nor will
356Ascanius, now in youth's unblemished prime, ever forget your praise.” Forthwith replied Aeneas' son, “By all our household gods, by great Assaracus, and every shrine of venerable Vesta, I confide
361my hopes, my fortunes, and all future weal to your heroic hearts. O, bring me back my father! Set him in these eyes once more! That day will tears be dry; and I will give two silver wine-cups graven and o'erlaid
366with clear-cut figures, which my father chose out of despoiled Arisbe; also two full talents of pure gold, and tripods twain, and ancient wine-bowl, Tyrian Dido's token. But if indeed our destiny shall be
371to vanquish Italy in prosperous war, to seize the sceptre and divide the spoil, — saw you that steed of Turnus and the arms in which he rode, all golden? That same steed, that glittering shield and haughty crimson crest
376I will reserve thee, e'er the lots are cast, and, Nisus, they are thine. Hereto my sire will add twelve captive maids of beauty rare, and slaves in armor; last, thou hast the fields which now Latinus holds. But as for thee,
381to whom my youth but binds me closer still, thee, kingly boy, my whole heart makes my own, and through all changeful fortune we shall be inseparable peers: nor will I seek renown and glory, or in peace or war,
386forgetting thee: but trust thee from this day in deed and word.” To him in answer spoke euryalus, “O, may no future show this heart unworthy thy heroic call! And may our fortune ever prosperous prove,
391not adverse. But I now implore of thee a single boon worth all beside. I have a mother, from the venerated line of Priam sprung, whom not the Trojan shore nor King Acestes' city could detain,
396alas! from following me. I leave her now without farewell; nor is her love aware of my supposed peril. For I swear by darkness of this night and thy right hand, that all my courage fails me if I see
401a mother's tears. O, therefore, I implore, be thou her sorrow's comfort and sustain her solitary day. Such grace from thee equip me for my war, and I shall face with braver heart whatever fortune brings.”
406With sudden sorrow thrilled, the veteran lords of Teucria showed their tears. But most of all such likeness of his own heart's filial love on fair Iulus moved, and thus he spoke: “Promise thyself what fits thy generous deeds.
411Thy mother shall be mine, Creusa's name alone not hers; nor is the womb unblest that bore a child like thee. Whate'er success may follow, I make oath immutable by my own head, on which my father swore,
416that all I promise thee of gift or praise if home thou comest triumphing, shall be the glory of thy mother and thy kin.” Weeping he spoke, and from his shoulder drew the golden sword, well-wrought and wonderful,
421which once in Crete Lycaon's cunning made and sheathed in ivory. On Nisus then Mnestheus bestowed a shaggy mantle torn from a slain lion; good Aletes gave exchange of crested helms. In such array
426they hastened forth; and all the princely throng, young men and old, ran with them to the gates, praying all gods to bless. Iulus then, a fair youth, but of grave, heroic soul beyond his years, gave them in solemn charge
431full many a message for his sire, but these the hazard of wild winds soon scattered far, and flung them fruitless on the darkening storm. Forth through the moat they climb, and steal away through midnight shades, to where their foemen lie
436encamped in arms; of whom, before these fall, a host shall die. Along the turf were seen, laid low in heavy slumber and much wine, a prostrate troop; the horseless chariots stood tilted on the shore, 'twixt rein and wheel
441the drivers dozed, wine-cups and idle swords strewn round them without heed. The first to speak was Nisus. “Look, Euryalus,” he cried, “Now boldly strike. The hour to do the deed is here, the path this way. Keep wide-eyed watch
446that no man smite behind us. I myself will mow the mighty fieid, and lead thee on in a wide swath of slaughter.” With this word he shut his lips; and hurled him with his sword on haughty Rhamnes, who lay propped at ease
451on pillows huge, and from his heaving breast poured slumber loud: of royal stem was he and honored of King Turnus for his skill in augury; yet could no augur's charm that bloody stroke forefend. And Nisus slew
456three slaves near by, that lay in reckless sleep upon their spears; then him that bore the shield of Remus, then the driver of his car close to the horses caught; his sword cut through their prostrate necks; then their great master's head
461he lifted high, and left decapitate the huge corpse spilling forth its crimson gore o'er couch and ground. Like stroke on Lamus fell and Lamyrus, with young Serranus, who had gamed the midnight through and sleeping lay,
466his fair young body to the wine-god given; but happier now had that long-revelling night been merry till the dawn! Thus round full folds of sheep a famished lion fiercely prowls; mad hunger moves him; he devours and rends
471with bloody, roaring mouth, the feeble flock that trembles and is dumb. Nor was the sword of fair Euryalus less fatal found; but fiercely raging on his path of death, he pressed on through a base and nameless throng,
476Rhoetus, Herbesus, Fadus, Abaris; surprising all save Rhoetus, who awake saw every stroke, and crouched in craven fear behind a mighty wine-bowl; but not less clean through his bare breast as he started forth
481the youth thrust home his sword, then drew it back death-dripping, while the bursting purple stream of life outflowed, with mingling blood and wine. Then, flushed with stealthy slaughter, he crept near the followers of Messapus, where he saw
486their camp-fire dying down, and tethered steeds upon the meadow feeding. Nisus then knew the hot lust of slaughter had swept on too far, and cried, “Hold off! For, lo, the monitory dawn is nigh. Revenge
491has fed us to the full. We have achieved clean passage through the foe.” Full many a prize was left untaken: princely suits of mail enwrought with silver pure, huge drinking-bowls, and broideries fair. Yet grasped Euryalus
496the blazonry at Rhamnes' corselet hung, and belt adorned with gold: which were a gift to Remulus of Tibur from the store of opulent Caedicus, who sued from far to be a friend; and these in death he gave
501to his son's son, who slain in battle fell, and proud Rutulians seized them with the spoil. Euryalus about his shoulder strong this booty slung—unprofitable gain! — and fitted on a gorgeous, crested helm
506which once Messapus wore. So from the camp, escaping danger, the two champions ran. But horsemen from the Latin city sent to join the serried legions of the plain had come at Turnus' call, three hundred strong
511all bearing shields, and under the command of Volscens. Nigh the camp and walls they drew; and soon they spied upon the leftward path th' heroic pair, where in dim shades of night the helmet of Euryalus betrayed
516the heedless boy, and with a glancing beam flashed on the foe. Nor was it seen in vain. Loud from the line the voice of Volscens called: “Stand, gentlemen! What business brings you here? Whose your allegiance? Whither speed so fast?”
521No answer gave they save to fly in haste to cover of the forest and deep gloom of the defensive night. The horsemen then blocked every crossway known, and, scattering wide, kept sentry at the entrance. The great wood
526was all of tangled brush and blinding shade of flex-boughs. Impenetrable thorns had thickly overgrown, and seldom showed a pathway through the maze. Euryalus, by the black branches and his ponderous spoil
531impeded, groped along in fearful doubt, deceived and quite astray. Nisus his friend had quit him, and incautiously had forced a sally through the close-encircling foe, into that region which should after bear
536the name of Alba—a rude shelter then for King Latinus' herds. He stayed him there and looked, but vainly, for the comrade gone. “Euryalus, ill-fated boy!” he cried, “Where have I lost thee in the pathless wild?
541How find thee? How retrace the blinding maze of yonder treacherous wood?” Yet ere he said, on his own path he turns him back, and scans his own light footprints through the tangled thorn, so dark and still. But suddenly he hears
546the tread of horses, with confusing din and tumult of pursuit. Nor was it long he tarried ere upon his anguished ear smote a great cry: and, lo! Euryalus, trapped by the dark night, the deceptive ground,
551faced the whole onset, and fell back o'erwhelmed by a loud mob of foes, while his sole sword tried many a thrust in vain. O, what defence may Nisus bring? With what audacious arms his chosen comrade save? Shall he make bare
556his dying breast to all their swords, and run to honorable death that bloody way? he swung his spear with lifted arm, then looked to the still moon, in heaven, and thus implored: “O goddess, aid me in my evil case.
561O glory of the stars, Latona's child! O guardian of groves, if in my name my father Hyrtacus made offerings on burning altars, if my own right hand, successful in the chase, ere hung its gift
566beneath thy dome or on thy sacred wall, grant me yon troop to scatter. Guide my spear along its path in air.” He spoke, and hurled with all his gathered strength the shaft of steel. the swift spear clove the shades of night, and struck
571full in the back of Sulmo, where it split, but tore through to his very heart. The breast poured forth life's glowing stream, and he, o'erthrown lay cold in death, while his huge, heaving sides gave lingering throes. The men about him stared
576this way and that. But Nisus, fiercer still, poised level with his ear a second shaft, and, while the foeman paused, the whizzing spear straight through the brows of Tagus drove, and clung deep in the cloven brain. In frenzy rose
581Volscens, but nowhere could espy what hand the shaft had hurled, nor whither his wild rage could make reply. “But thou,” he cried, “shalt feed with thy hot blood my honor and revenge for both the slain.” Then with a sword unsheathed
586upon Euryalus he fell. Loud shrieked Nisus, of reason reft, who could not bear such horror, nor in sheltering gloom of night longer abide: “'T is I, 't is I!” he said. look on the man who slew them! Draw on me
591your swords, Rutulians! The whole stratagem was mine, mine only, and the lad ye slay dared not, and could not. O, by Heaven above and by the all-beholding stars I swear, he did but love his hapless friend too well.”
596But while he spoke, the furious-thrusting sword had pierced the tender body, and run through the bosom white as snow. Euryalus sank prone in death; upon his goodly limbs the life-blood ran unstopped, and low inclined
601the drooping head; as when some purpled flower, cut by the ploughshare, dies, or poppies proud with stem forlorn their ruined beauty bow before the pelting storm. Then Nisus flew straight at his foes; but in their throng would find
606Volscens alone, for none but Volscens stayed: they gathered thickly round and grappled him in shock of steel with steel. But on he plunged, swinging in ceaseless circles round his head his lightning-sword, and thrust it through the face
611of shrieking Volscens, with his own last breath striking his foeman down; then cast himself upon his fallen comrade's breast; and there, stabbed through, found tranquil death and sure repose. Heroic pair and blest! If aught I sing
616have lasting music, no remotest age shall blot your names from honor's storied scroll: not while the altars of Aeneas' line shall crown the Capitol's unshaken hill, nor while the Roman Father's hand sustains
621its empire o'er the world. The Rutules seized the spoils of victory, and slowly to their camp, with wail and cry, bore Volscens' corse; and in the eamp they made like wailing over Rhamnes lifeless found,
626o'er Numa and Serranus, and a throng of princes dead. The gazing people pressed around the slain, the dying, where the earth ran red with slaughter and full many a stream of trickling gore; nor did they fail to know
631Messapus' glittering helm, his baldric fair, recaptured now with lavish sweat and pain. Now, from Tithonus' saffron couch set free, Aurora over many a land outpoured the rising morn; the sun's advancing beam
636unveiled the world; and Turnus to his host gave signal to stand forth, while he arrayed himself in glorious arms. Then every chief awoke his mail-clad company, and stirred their slumbering wrath with tidings from the foe.
641Tumultuously shouting, they impaled on lifted spears—O pitiable sight! — the heads of Nisus and Euryalus. Th' undaunted Trojans stood in battle-line along the wall to leftward (for the right
646the river-front defended) keeping guard on the broad moat; upon the ramparts high sad-eyed they stood, and shuddered as they saw the hero-faces thrust aloft; too well their loyal grief the blood-stained features knew.
651On restless pinions to the trembling town had voiceful Rumor hied, and to the ears of that lone mother of Euryalus relentless flown. Through all her feeble frame the chilling sorrow sped. From both her hands
656dropped web and shuttle; she flew shrieking forth, ill-fated mother! and with tresses torn, to the wide ramparts and the battle-line ran frantic, heeding naught of men-at-arms, nor peril nor the rain of falling spears;
661and thus with loud and lamentable cry filled all the air: “Is it in yonder guise, Euryalus, thou comest? Art thou he, last comfort of my life? O cruel one! Couldst thou desert me? When they thrust thee forth
666to death and danger, did they dare refuse a wretched mother's last embrace? But now — O woe is me!—upon this alien shore thou liest for a feast to Latin dogs and carrion birds. Nor did thy mother lead
671the mourners to thy grave, nor shut those eyes, nor wash the dreadful wounds, nor cover thee with the fair shroud, which many a night and day I swiftly wove, and at my web and loom forgot my years and sorrows. Whither now
676to seek and follow thee? What spot of earth holds the torn body and the mangled limbs? Is all the gift thou bringest home, dear child, this? O, was this the prize for which I came o'er land and sea? O, stab me very deep,
681if ye have any pity; hurl on me your every spear, Rutulians; make of me your swords' first work. Or, Father of the gods! Show mercy, thou! and with thy lightning touch this head accurst, and let it fall by thee
686down to the dark. For else what power is mine my tortured life to end?” Her agony smote on their listening souls; a wail of woe along the concourse ran. Stern men-at-arms felt valor for a moment sleep, and all
691their rage of battle fail. But while she stirred the passion of her grief, Ilioneus and young Iulus, weeping filial tears, bade Actor and Idaeus, lifting her in both their reverent arms, to bear her home.
696But now the brazen trumpet's fearsome song blares loud, and startled shouts of soldiery spread through the roaring sky. The Volscian band press to the siege, and, locking shield with shield, fill the great trenches, tear the palisades,
701or seek approach by ladders up the walls, where'er the line of the defenders thins, and light through their black circle shines. The Trojans pour promiscuous missiles down, and push out hard with heavy poles—so well have they been schooled
706to fight against long sieges. They fling down a crushing weight of rocks, in hope to break th' assailing line, where roofed in serried shields the foe each charge repels. But not for long the siegers stand; along their dense array
711the crafty Teucrians down the rampart roll a boulder like a hill-top, laying low the Rutule troop and crashing through their shields. Nor may the bold Rutulian longer hope to keep in cover, but essays to storm
716only with far-flung shafts the bastion strong. Here grim Mezentius, terrible to see, waved an Etrurian pine, and made his war with smoking firebrands; there, in equal rage, Messapus, the steed-tamer, Neptune's son,
721ripped down the palisade, and at the breach strung a steep path of ladders up the wall. Aid, O Calliope, the martial song! Tell me what carnage and how many deaths the sword of Turnus wrought: what peer in arms
726each hero to the world of ghosts sent down. Unroll the war's great book before these eyes. A tower was there, well-placed and looming large, with many a lofty bridge, which desperately th' Italians strove to storm, and strangely plied
731besieging enginery to cast it down: the Trojans hurled back stones, or, standing close, flung through the loopholes a swift shower of spears. But Turnus launched a firebrand, and pierced the wooden wall with flame, which in the wind
736leaped larger, and devoured from floor to floor, burning each beam away. The trembling guards sought flight in vain; and while they crowded close into the side unkindled yet, the tower bowed its whole weight and fell, with sudden crash
741that thundered through the sky. Along the ground half dead the warriors fell (the crushing mass piled over them) by their own pointed spears pierced to the heart, or wounded mortally by cruel splinters of the wreck. Two men,
746Helenor one, and Lyeus at his side, alone get free. Helenor of the twain was a mere youth; the slave Lycymnia bore him in secret to the Lydian King, and, arming him by stealth, had sent away
751to serve the Trojan cause. One naked sword for arms had he, and on his virgin shield no blazon of renown; but when he saw the hosts of Turnus front him, and the lines this way and that of Latins closing round, —
756as a fierce, forest-creature, brought to bay in circling pack of huntsmen, shows its teeth against the naked spears, and scorning death leaps upward on the javelins,—even so, not loth to die, the youthful soldier flew
761straight at the centre of his foes, and where the shining swords looked thickest, there he sprung. But Lyeus, swifter-footed, forced his way past the opposing spears and made escape far as the ciity-wall, where he would fain
766clutch at the coping and climb up to clasp some friend above: but Turnus, spear in hand, had hotly followed, and exulting loud thus taunted him, “Hadst thou the hope, rash fool, beyond this grasp to fly?” So, as he clung,
771he tore him down; and with him broke and fell a huge piece of the wall: not otherwise a frail hare, or a swan of snow-white wing, is clutched in eagle-talons, when the bird of Jove soars skyward with his prey; or tender lamb
776from bleating mother and the broken fold is stolen by the wolf of Mars. Wild shouts on every side resound. In closer siege the foe press on, and heap the trenches full, or hurl hot-flaming torches at the towers.
781Ilioneus with mountain-mass of stone struck down Lucetius, as he crept with fire too near the city-gate. Emathion fell by Liger's hand, and Corynteus' death Asilas dealt: one threw the javelin well;
786th' insidious arrow was Asilas' skill. Ortygius was slain by Caeneus, then victorious Geneus fell by Turnus' ire. Then smote he Dioxippus, and laid low Itys and Promolus and Sagaris
791and Clonius, and from the lofty tower shot Idas down. The shaft of Capys pierced Privernus, whom Themilla's javelin but now had lightly grazed, and he, too bold, casting his shield far from him, had outspread
796his left hand on the wound: then sudden flew the feathered arrow, and the hand lay pinned against his left side, while the fatal barb was buried in his breathing life. The son of Arcens now stood forth in glittering arms.
801His broidered cloak was red Iberian stain, and beautiful was he. Arcens his sire had sent him to the war; but he was bred in a Sicilian forest by a stream to his nymph-mother dear, where rose the shrine
806of merciful Palicus, blest and fair. But, lo! Mezentius his spear laid by, and whirled three times about his head the thong of his loud sling: the leaden bullet clove the youth's mid-forehead, and his towering form
811fell prostrate its full length along the ground. 'T was then Ascanius first shot forth in war the arrow swift from which all creatures wild were wont to fly in fear: and he struck down with artful aim Numanus, sturdy foe,
816called Remulus, who lately was espoused to Turnus' younger sister. He had stalked before the van, and made vociferous noise of truths and falsehoods foul and base, his heart puffed up with new-found greatness. Up and down
821he strode, and swelled his folly with loud words: “No shame have ye this second time to stay cooped close within a rampart's craven siege, O Phrygians twice-vanquished? Is a wall your sole defence from death? Are such the men
826who ask our maids in marriage? Say what god, what doting madness, rather, drove ye here to Italy? This way ye will not find the sons of Atreus nor the trickster tongue of voluble Ulysses. Sturdy stock
831are we; our softest new-born babes we dip in chilling rivers, till they bear right well the current's bitter cold. Our slender lads hunt night and day and rove the woods at large, or for their merriment break stubborn steeds,
836or bend the horn-tipped bow. Our manly prime in willing labor lives, and is inured to poverty and scantness; we subdue our lands with rake and mattock, or in war bid strong-walled cities tremble. Our whole life
841is spent in use of iron; and we goad the flanks of bullocks with a javelin's end. Nor doth old age, arriving late, impair our brawny vigor, nor corrupt the soul to frail decay. But over silvered brows
846we bind the helmet. Our unfailing joy is rapine, and to pile the plunder high. But ye! your gowns-are saffron needlework or Tyrian purple; ye love shameful ease, or dancing revelry. Your tunics fiow
851long-sleeved, and ye have soft caps ribbon-bound. Aye, Phrygian girls are ye, not Phrygian men! Hence to your hill of Dindymus! Go hear the twy-mouthed piping ye have loved so long. The timbrel, hark! the Berecynthian flute
856calls you away, and Ida's goddess calls. Leave arms to men, true men! and quit the sword!” Of such loud insolence and words of shame Ascanius brooked no more, but laid a shaft athwart his bowstring, and with arms stretched wide
861took aim, first offering suppliant vow to Jove: “Almighty Jupiter, thy favor show to my bold deed! So to thy shrine I bear gifts year by year, and to thine altars lead a bull with gilded brows, snow-white, and tall
866as his own dam, what time his youth begins to lower his horns and fling the sand in air.” The Father heard, and from a cloudless sky thundered to leftward, while the deadly bow resounded and the arrow's fearful song
871hissed from the string; it struck unswervingly the head of Remulus and clove its way deep in the hollows of his brow. “Begone! Proud mocker at the brave! Lo, this reply twice-vanquished Phrygians to Rutulia send.”
876Ascanius said no more. The Teucrians with deep-voiced shout of joy applaud, and lift their exultation starward. Then from heaven the flowing-haired Apollo bent his gaze upon Ausonia's host, and cloud-enthroned
881looked downward o'er the city, speaking thus to fair Iulus in his victory: “Hail to thy maiden prowess, boy! This way the starward path to dwelling-place divine. O sired of gods and sire of gods to come,
886all future storms of war by Fate ordained shall into peace and lawful calm subside beneath the offspring of Assaracus. No Trojan destinies thy glory bound.” So saying, from his far, ethereal seat
891he hied him down, and, cleaving the quick winds drew near Ascanius. He wore the guise of aged Butes, who erewhile had borne Anchises, armor and kept trusty guard before his threshold, but attended now
896Ascanius, by commandment of his sire. Clad in this graybeard's every aspect, moved apollo forth,—his very voice and hue, his hoary locks and grimly sounding shield, — and to the flushed Iulus spoke this word:
901“Child of Aeneas, be content that now Numanus unavenged thine arrows feels. Such dawn of glory great Apollo's will concedes, nor envies thee the fatal shaft so like his own. But, tender youth, refrain
906hereafter from this war!” So said divine Apollo, who, while yet he spoke, put by his mortal aspect, and before their eyes melted to viewless air. The Teucrians knew the vocal god with armament divine
911of arrows; for his rattling quiver smote their senses as he fled. Obedient to Phoebus' voice they held back from the fray Iulus' fury, and their eager souls faced the fresh fight and danger's darkest frown.
916From tower to tower along the bastioned wall their war-cry flew: they bend with busy hand the cruel bow, or swing the whirling thong of javelins. The earth on every side is strewn with spent shafts, the reverberant shield
921and hollow helmet ring with blows; the fight more fiercely swells; not less the bursting storm from watery Kid-stars in the western sky lashes the plain, or multitudinous hail beats upon shallow seas, when angry Jove
926flings forth tempestuous and-boundless rain, and splits the bellied clouds in darkened air. The brothers Pandarus and Bitias, of whom Alcanor was the famous sire, on Ida born, and whom Iaera bred
931in sacred wood of Jove, an oread she, twin warriors, like their native hills and trees of stature proud, now burst those portals wide to them in ward consigned, and sword in hand challenge the foe to enter. Side by side,
936steel-clad, their tall heads in bright crested helms, to left and right, like towers, the champions stand as when to skyward, by the gliding waves of gentle Athesis or Padus wide, a pair of oaks uprise, and lift in air
941their shaggy brows and nodding crests sublime. In burst the Rutules where the onward way seemed open wide; Quercens no tarrying knows, nor proud Aquiculus in well-wrought arms; Tmarus sweeps on impetuous, and the host
946of Haemon, child of Mars. Some routed fly; some lay their lives-down at the gate. Wild rage o'erflows each martial breast, and gathered fast the Trojans rally to one point, and dare close conflict, or long sallies o'er the plain.
951To Turnus, who upon a distant field was storming with huge havoc, came the news that now his foe, before a gate thrown wide, was red with slaughter. His own fight he stays, and speeds him, by enormous rage thrust on,
956to those proud brethren at the Dardan wall. There first Antiphates, who made his war far in the van (a Theban captive's child to great Sarpedon out of wedlock born), he felled to earth with whirling javelin:
961th' Italic shaft of cornel lightly flew along the yielding air, and through his throat pierced deep into the breast; a gaping wound gushed blood; the hot shaft to his bosom clung. Then Erymas and Merops his strong hand
966laid low: Aphidnus next, then came the turn of Bitias, fiery-hearted, furious-eyed: but not by javelin,—such cannot fall by flying javelin,—the ponderous beam of a phalaric spear, with mighty roar,
971like thunderbolt upon him fell; such shock neither the bull's-hides of his double shield nor twofold corselet's golden scales could stay but all his towering frame in ruin fell. Earth groaned, and o'er him rang his ample shield.
976so crashes down from Baiae's storied shore a rock-built mole, whose mighty masonry, piled up with care, men cast into the sea; it trails its wreckage far, and fathoms down lies broken in the shallows, while the waves
981whirl every way, and showers of black sand are scattered on the air: with thunder-sound steep Prochyta is shaken, and that bed of cruel stone, Inarime, which lies heaped o'er Typhoeus by revenge of Jove.
986Now to the Latins Mars, the lord of war, gave might and valor, and to their wild hearts his spur applied, but on the Teucrians breathed dark fear and flight. From every quarter came auxiliar hosts, where'er the conflict called,
991and in each bosom pulsed the god of war. When Pandarus now saw his brother's corse low Iying, and which way the chance and tide of battle ran, he violently moved the swinging hinges of the gate, and strained
996with both his shoulders broad. He shut outside not few of his own people, left exposed in fiercest fight but others with himself he barred inside and saved them as they fled; nor noted, madman, how the Rutule King
1001had burst in midmost of the line, and now stood prisoned in their wall, as if he were some monstrous tiger among helpless kine. His eyeballs strangely glared; his armor rang terrific, his tall crest shook o'er his brows
1006blood-red, and lightnings glittered from his shield familiar loomed that countenance abhorred and frame gigantic on the shrinking eyes of the Aeneadae. Then Pandarus sprang towering forth, all fever to revenge
1011his brother's slaughter. “Not this way,” he cried “Amata's marriage-gift! No Ardea here mews Turnus in his fathers' halls. Behold thy foeman's castle! Thou art not allowed to take thy leave.” But Turnus looked his way,
1016and smiled with heart unmoved. “Begin! if thou hast manhood in thee, and meet steel with steel! Go tell dead Priam thou discoverest here Achilles!” For reply, the champion tall hurled with his might and main along the air
1021his spear of knotted wood and bark untrimmed. But all it wounded was the passing wind, for Saturn's daughter turned its course awry, and deep in the great gate the spear-point drove. “Now from the stroke this right arm means for thee
1026thou shalt not fly. Not such the sender of this weapon and this wound.” He said, and towered aloft to his full height; the lifted sword clove temples, brows, and beardless cheeks clean through with loudly ringing blow; the ground beneath
1031shook with the giant's ponderous fall, and, lo, with nerveless limbs, and brains spilt o'er his shield, dead on the earth he lay! in equal halves the sundered head from either shoulder swung. In horror and amaze the Trojans all
1036dispersed and fled; had but the conqueror thought to break the barriers of the gates and call his followers through, that fatal day had seen an ending of the Teucrians and their war. But frenzied joy of slaughter urged him on,
1041infuriate, to smite the scattering foe. First Phaleris he caught; then cut the knees of Gyges; both their spears he snatched away and hurled them at the rout; 't was Juno roused his utmost might of rage. Now Halys fell,
1046and Phegeus, whom he pierced right through the shield: next, at the walls and urging reckless war, Alcander, Halius, and Noemon gave their lives, and Prytanis went down. In vain Lynceus made stand and called his comrades brave:
1051for Turnus from the right with waving sword caught at him and lopped off with one swift blow the head, which with its helmet rolled away. Next Amycus, destroyer of wild beasts, who knew full well to smear a crafty barb
1056with venomed oil; young Clytius he slew, son of the wind-god; then on Cretheus fell, a follower of the muses and their friend: Cretheus, whose every joy it was to sing, and fit his numbers to the chorded Iyre;
1061steeds, wars, armed men were his perpetual song. At last the Teucrian chiefs had heard the tale of so much slaughter; and in council met are Mnestheus and Serestus bold, who see their comrades routed and the conquering foe
1066within the gates. Cries Mnestheus, “Whither fly? What open way is yonder or what wall? Beyond these ramparts lost what stronger lie? Shall one lone man here in your walls confined, make havoc unavenged and feed the grave
1071with your best warriors? 0 cowards vile! For your sad country and her ancient gods and for renowned Aeneas, can ye feel no pity and no shame?” Enflamed to fight by words like these, they close the line, and stand
1076in strong array. So Turnus for a space out of the battle step by step withdrew to make the river-bank his rearguard strong; whereat the Teucrians, shouting loud, swept on the fiercer, and in solid mass pressed round.
1081as when a troop of hunters with keen spears encircle a wild lion, who in fear, but glaring grim and furious, backward falls, valor and rage constrain him ne'er to cease fronting the foe; yet not for all his ire
1086can he against such serried steel make way: so Turnus backward with a lingering step unwilling drew, and wrath his heart oterflowed. for twice already had he cloven a path into the foe's mid-press, and twice had driven
1091their flying lines in panic through the town. But now the whole throng from the camp he sees massed to the onset. Nor will Juno now dare give him vigor to withstand, for Jove had sent aerial Iris out of heaven
1096with stern commandment to his sister-queen that Turnus from the Teucrian walls retire. Therefore the warrior's shield avails no more, nor his strong arm; but he is overthrown by general assault. Around his brows
1101his smitten helmet rings; the ponderous mail cracks under falling stones; the haughty plumes are scattered from his head, nor can the boss of his stout shield endure; the Trojans hurl redoubled rain of spears; and with them speeds
1106Mnestheus like thunderbolt. The hero's flesh dissolves in sweat; no room to breathe has he; his limbs are spent and weary; his whole frame shakes with his gasping breath: then bounding fort with all his harness on, headlong he plunged
1111into the flowing stream; its yellow tide embraced him as he fell, and gentle waves restored him smiling to his friends in arms, with all the gore and carnage washed away.
Book 10
1Meanwhile Olympus, seat of sovereign sway, threw wide its portals, and in conclave fair the Sire of gods and King of all mankind summoned th' immortals to his starry court, whence, high-enthroned, the spreading earth he views—
6and Teucria's camp and Latium's fierce array. Beneath the double-gated dome the gods were sitting; Jove himself the silence broke: “O people of Olympus, wherefore change your purpose and decree, with partial minds
11in mighty strife contending? I refused such clash of war 'twixt Italy and Troy. Whence this forbidden feud? What fears seduced to battles and injurious arms either this folk or that? Th' appointed hour
16for war shall be hereafter—speed it not!— When cruel Carthage to the towers of Rome shall bring vast ruin, streaming fiercely down the opened Alp. Then hate with hate shall vie, and havoc have no bound. Till then, give o'er,
21and smile upon the concord I decree!” Thus briefly, Jove. But golden Venus made less brief reply. “O Father, who dost hold o'er Man and all things an immortal sway! Of what high throne may gods the aid implore
26save thine? Behold of yonder Rutuli th' insulting scorn! Among them Turnus moves in chariot proud, and boasts triumphant war in mighty words. Nor do their walls defend my Teucrians now. But in their very gates,
31and on their mounded ramparts, in close fight they breast their foes and fill the moats with blood. Aeneas knows not, and is far away. Will ne'er the siege have done? A second time above Troy's rising walls the foe impends;
36another host is gathered, and once more from his Aetolian Arpi wrathful speeds a Diomed. I doubt not that for me wounds are preparing. Yea, thy daughter dear awaits a mortal sword! If by thy will
41unblest and unapproved the Trojans came to Italy, for such rebellious crime give them their due, nor lend them succor, thou, with thy strong hand! But if they have obeyed unnumbered oracles from gods above
46and sacred shades below, who now has power to thwart thy bidding, or to weave anew the web of Fate? Why speak of ships consumed along my hallowed Erycinian shore? Or of the Lord of Storms, whose furious blasts
51were summoned from Aeolia? Why tell of Iris sped from heaven? Now she moves the region of the shades (one kingdom yet from her attempt secure) and thence lets loose Alecto on the world above, who strides
56in frenzied wrath along th' Italian hills. No more my heart now cherishes its hope of domination, though in happier days such was thy promise. Let the victory fall to victors of thy choice! If nowhere lies
61the land thy cruel Queen would deign accord unto the Teucrian people,—O my sire, I pray thee by yon smouldering wreck of Troy to let Ascanius from the clash of arms escape unscathed. Let my own offspring live!
66Yea, let Aeneas, tossed on seas unknown, find some chance way; let my right hand avail to shelter him and from this fatal war in safety bring. For Amathus is mine, mine are Cythera and the Paphian hills
71and temples in Idalium. Let him drop the sword, and there live out inglorious days. By thy decree let Carthage overwhelm Ausonia's power; nor let defence be found to stay the Tyrian arms! What profits it
76that he escaped the wasting plague of war and fled Argolic fires? or that he knew so many perils of wide wilderness and waters rude? The Teucrians seek in vain new-born Troy in Latium. Better far
81crouched on their country's ashes to abide, and keep that spot of earth where once was Troy! Give back, O Father, I implore thee, give Xanthus and Simois back! Let Teucer's sons unfold once more the tale of Ilium's woe!”
86Then sovereign Juno, flushed with solemn scorn, made answer. “Dost thou bid me here profane the silence of my heart, and gossip forth of secret griefs? What will of god or man impelled Aeneas on his path of war,
91or made him foeman of the Latin King? Fate brought him to Italia? Be it so! Cassandra's frenzy he obeyed. What voice — say, was it mine?—urged him to quit his camp, risk life in storms, or trust his war, his walls,
96to a boy-captain, or stir up to strife Etruria's faithful, unoffending sons? What god, what pitiless behest of mine, impelled him to such harm? Who traces here the hand of Juno, or of Iris sped
101from heaven? Is it an ignoble stroke that Italy around the new-born Troy makes circling fire, and Turnus plants his heel on his hereditary earth, the son of old Pilumnus and the nymph divine,
106Venilia? For what offence would Troy bring sword and fire on Latium, or enslave lands of an alien name, and bear away plunder and spoil? Why seek they marriages, and snatch from arms of love the plighted maids?
111An olive-branch is in their hands; their ships make menace of grim steel. Thy power one day ravished Aeneas from his Argive foes, and gave them shape of cloud and fleeting air to strike at for a man. Thou hast transformed
116his ships to daughters of the sea. What wrong if I, not less, have lent the Rutuli something of strength in war? Aeneas, then, is far away and knows not! Far away let him remain, not knowing! If thou sway'st
121Cythera, Paphos, and Idalium, why rouse a city pregnant with loud wars, and fiery hearts provoke? That fading power of Phrygia, do I, forsooth, essay to ruin utterly? O, was it I
126exposed ill-fated Troy to Argive foe? For what offence in vast array of arms did Europe rise and Asia, for a rape their peace dissolving? Was it at my word th' adulterous Dardan shepherd came to storm
131the Spartan city? Did my hand supply his armament, or instigate a war for Cupid's sake? Then was thy decent hour to tremble for thy children; now too late the folly of thy long lament to Heaven,
136and objurgation vain.” Such Juno's plea; the throng of gods with voices loud or low gave various reply: as gathering winds sing through the tree-tops in dark syllables, and fling faint murmur on the far-off sea,
141to tell some pilot of to-morrow's storm. Then Jupiter omnipotent, whose hands have governance supreme, began reply; deep silence at his word Olympus knew, Earth's utmost cavern shook; the realms of light
146were silent; the mild zephyrs breathed no more, and perfect calm o'erspread the levelled sea. “Give ear, ye gods, and in your hearts record my mandate and decree. Fate yet allows no peace 'twixt Troy and Italy, nor bids
151your quarrel end. Therefore, what Chance this day to either foe shall bring, whatever hope either may cherish,—the Rutulian cause and Trojan have like favor in my eyes. The destinies of Italy constrain
156the siege; which for the fault of Troy fulfills an oracle of woe. Yon Rutule host I scatter not. But of his own attempt let each the triumph and the burden bear; for Jove is over all an equal King.
161The Fates will find the way.” The god confirmed his sentence by his Stygian brother's wave, the shadowy flood and black, abysmal shore. He nodded; at the bending of his brow Olympus shook. It is the council's end.
166Now from the golden throne uprises Jove; the train of gods attend him to the doors. Meanwhile at every gate the Rutule foe urges the slaughter on, and closes round the battlements with ring of flame. The host
171of Trojans, prisoned in the palisades, lies in strict siege and has no hope to fly. In wretched plight they man the turrets tall, to no avail, and with scant garrison the ramparts crown. In foremost line of guard
176are Asius Imbrasides, the twin Assaraci, and Hicetaon's son Thymoetes, and with Castor at his side the veteran Thymbris; then the brothers both of slain Sarpedon, and from Lycian steep
181Clarus and Themon. With full-straining thews lifting a rock, which was of some huge hill no fragment small, Lyrnesian Acmon stood; nor less than Clytius his sire he seemed, nor Mnestheus his great brother. Some defend
186the wall with javelins; some hurl down stones or firebrands, or to the sounding string fit arrows keen. But lo! amid the throng, well worth to Venus her protecting care, the Dardan boy, whose princely head shone forth
191without a helm, like radiant jewel set in burnished gold for necklace or for crown; or like immaculate ivory inclosed in boxwood or Orician terebinth; his tresses o'er his white neck rippled down,
196confined in circlet of soft twisted gold. Thee, too, the warrior nations gaze upon, high-nurtured Ismarus, inflicting wounds with shafts of venomed reed: Maeonia's vale thy cradle was, where o'er the fruitful fields
201well-tilled and rich, Pactolus pours his gold. Mnestheus was there, who, for his late repulse of Turnus from the rampart, towered forth in glory eminent; there Capys stood, whose name the Capuan citadel shall bear.
206While these in many a shock of grievous war hotly contend, Aeneas cleaves his way at midnight through the waters. He had fared from old Evander to th' Etruscan folk, addressed their King, and to him told the tale
211of his own race and name, his suit, his powers; of what allies Mezentius had embraced, and Turnus' lawless rage. He bids him know how mutable is man, and warning gives, with supplication joined. Without delay
216Tarchon made amity and sacred league, uniting with his cause. The Lydian tribe, now destined from its tyrant to be free, embarked, obedient to the gods, and gave allegiance to the foreign King. The ship
221Aeneas rode moved foremost in the line: its beak a pair of Phrygian lions bore; above them Ida rose, an emblem dear to exiled Trojans. On his Iofty seat was great Aeneas, pondering the events
226of changeful war; and clinging to his side the youthful Pallas fain would learn the lore of stars, the highway of dark night, and asks the story of his toils on land and sea. Now open Helicon and move my song,
231ye goddesses, to tell what host in arms followed Aeneas from the Tuscan shore, and manned his ships and traveiled o'er the sea! First Massicus his brazen Tigress rode, cleaving the brine; a thousand warriors
236were with him out of Clusium's walls, or from the citadel of Coste, who for arms had arrows, quivers from the shoulder slung, and deadly bows. Grim Abas near him sailed; his whole band wore well-blazoned mail; his ship
241displayed the form of Phoebus, all of gold: to him had Populonia consigned (His mother-city, she) six hundred youth well-proven in war; three hundred Elba gave, an island rich in unexhausted ores
246of iron, like the Chalybes. Next came Asilas, who betwixt the gods and men interprets messages and reads clear signs in victims' entrails, or the stars of heaven, or bird-talk, or the monitory flames
251of lightning: he commands a thousand men close lined, with bristling spears, of Pisa all, that Tuscan city of Alpheus sprung. Then Astur followed, a bold horseman he, Astur in gorgeous arms, himself most fair:
256three hundred are his men, one martial mind uniting all: in Caere they were bred and Minio's plain, and by the ancient towers of Pyrgo or Gravisca's storm-swept hill. Nor thy renown may I forget, brave chief
261of the Ligurians, Cinyrus; nor thine, Cupavo, with few followers, thy crest the tall swan-wings, of love unblest the sign and of a father fair: for legends tell that Cycnus, for his Phaethon so dear
266lamenting loud beneath the poplar shade of the changed sisters, made a mournful song to soothe his grief and passion: but erewhile, in his old age, there clothed him as he sang soft snow-white plumes, and spurning earth he soared
271on high, and sped in music through the stars. His son with bands of youthful peers urged on a galley with a Centaur for its prow, which loomed high o'er the waves, and seemed to hurl a huge stone at the water, as the keel
276ploughed through the deep. Next Ocnus summoned forth a war-host from his native shores, the son of Tiber, Tuscan river, and the nymph Manto, a prophetess: he gave good walls, O Mantua, and his mother's name, to thee,—
281to Mantua so rich in noble sires, but of a blood diverse, a triple breed, four stems in each; and over all enthroned she rules her tribes: her strength is Tuscan born. Hate of Mezentius armed against his name
286five hundred men: upon their hostile prow was Mincius in a cloak of silvery sedge,— Lake Benacus the river's source and sire. Last good Aulestes smites the depths below, with forest of a hundred oars: the flood
291like flowing marble foams; his Triton prow threatens the blue waves with a trumpet-shell; far as the hairy flanks its form is man, but ends in fish below—the parting waves beneath the half-brute bosom break in foam.
296Such chosen chiefs in thirty galleys ploughed the salt-wave, bringing help to Trojan arms. Day now had left the sky. The moon benign had driven her night-wandering chariot to the mid-arch of heaven. Aeneas sate,
301for thought and care allowed him no repose, holding the helm and tending his own sails. but, as he sped, behold, the beauteous train, lately his own, of nymphs, anon transformed by kind Cybebe to sea-ruling powers.
306In even ranks they swam the cloven wave,— nymphs now, but once as brazen galleys moored along the sandy shore. With joy they knew their King from far, and with attending train around him drew. Cymodocea then,
311best skilled in mortal speech, sped close behind, with her right hand upon the stern, uprose breast-high, and with her left hand deeply plied the silent stream, as to the wondering King she called: “So late on watch, O son of Heaven,
316Aeneas? Slack thy sail, but still watch on! We were the pine-trees on the holy top of Ida's mountain. Sea-nymphs now are we, and thine own fleet. When, as we fled, the flames rained o'er us from the false Rutulian's hand
321't was all unwillingly we cast away thy serviceable chains: and now once more we follow thee across the sea. These forms our pitying mother bade us take, with power to haunt immortally the moving sea.
326Lo, thy Ascanius lies close besieged in moated walls, assailed by threatening arms and Latium's front of war. Arcadia, her horsemen with the bold Etruscan joined, stands at the place appointed. Turnus means,
331with troop opposing, their advance to bar and hold them from the camp. Arouse thee, then, and with the rising beams of dawn call forth thy captains and their followers. Take that shield victorious, which for thee the Lord of Fire
336forged for a gift and rimmed about with gold. To-morrow's light—deem not my words be vain!— shall shine on huge heaps of Rutulia's dead.” So saying, she pushed with her right hand the stern with skilful thrust, and vanished. The ship sped
341swift as a spear, or as an arrow flies no whit behind the wind: and all the fleet quickened its course. Anchises' princely son, dumb and bewildered stood, but took good heart at such an omen fair. Then in few words
346with eyes upturned to heaven he made his prayer: “Mother of gods, O Ida's Queen benign, who Iovest Dindymus and towns with towers, and lion-yokes obedient to thy rein, be thou my guide in battle, and fulfil
351thine augury divine. In Phrygia's cause be present evermore with favoring power!” He spoke no more. For now the wheels of day had sped full circle into perfect light, the dark expelling. Then, for his first care,
356he bade his captains heed the signal given, equip their souls for war, and wait in arms the coming fray. Now holds he full in view his Trojans and their fortress, as he stands upon his towering ship. With his left hand
361he lifts his radiant shield; then from the wall the Dardan warriors send a battle-cry that echoes to the stars, as kindling hope their rage renews. A flight of spears they hurl: 't was like the cranes of Strymon, through dark clouds
366each other calling, when they cleave the skies vociferous, outwinging as they fly the swift south winds—Ioud music them pursues. Amazement on Ausonia's captains fell and Turnus, as they gazed. But soon they saw
371ships pointing shoreward and the watery plain all stirring with a fleet. Aeneas' helm uplifted its bright peak,—like streaming flame the crimson crest; his shield of orbed gold poured forth prodigious fire: it seemed as when
376in cloudless night a comet's blood-red beam makes mournful splendor, or the Dog-star glows, which rises to bring drought and pestilence to hapless men, and with ill-omened ray saddens the sky. But Turnus, undismayed,
381trusted not less to hurl th' invaders back and hold the shore against them. “Look!” he cried, your prayer is come to pass,—that sword in hand ye now may shatter them. The might of Mars is in a true man's blow. Remember well
386each man his home and wife! Now call to mind the glory and great deeds of all your sires! Charge to yon river-bank, while yet they take with weak and fearful steps their shoreward way! Fortune will help the brave.” With words like these,
391he chose, well-weighing, who should lead the charge, who at the leaguered walls the fight sustain. Aeneas straightway from his lofty ships lets down his troop by bridges. Some await the ebbing of slack seas, and boldly leap
396into the shallows; others ply the oar. Tarchon a beach discovers, where the sands sing not, nor waves with broken murmur fall, but full and silent swells the gentle sea. Steering in haste that way, he called his crews:
401“Now bend to your stout oars, my chosen brave. Lift each ship forward, till her beak shall cleave yon hostile shore; and let her keel's full weight the furrow drive. I care not if we break our ship's side in so sure an anchorage,
406if once we land.” While Tarchon urged them thus, the crews bent all together to their blades and sped their foaming barks to Latium's plain, till each beak gripped the sand and every keel lay on dry land unscathed:—all save thine own,
411O Tarchon! dashed upon a sand-bar, she! Long poised upon the cruel ridge she hung, tilted this way or that and beat the waves, then split, and emptied forth upon the tide her warriors; and now the drifting wreck
416of shattered oars and thwarts entangles them, or ebb of swirling waters sucks them down. Turnus no lingering knows, but fiercely hurls his whole line on the Teucrians, and makes stand along the shore. Now peals the trumpet's call.
421Aeneas in the van led on his troop against the rustic foe, bright augury for opening war, and laid the Latins low, slaughtering Theron, a huge chief who dared offer Aeneas battle; through the scales
426of brazen mail and corselet stiff with gold the sword drove deep, and gored the gaping side. Then smote he Lichas, from his mother's womb ripped in her dying hour, and unto thee, O Phoebus, vowed, because his infant days
431escaped the fatal steel. Hard by him fell stout Cisseus and gigantic Gyas; these to death were hurled, while with their knotted clubs they slew opposing hosts; but naught availed Herculean weapons, nor their mighty hands,
436or that Melampus was their sire, a peer of Hercules, what time in heavy toils through earth he roved. See next how Pharon boasts! But while he vainly raves, the whirling spear smites full on his loud mouth. And also thou,
441Cydon, wast by the Trojan stroke o'erthrown, while following in ill-omened haste the steps of Clytius, thy last joy, whose round cheek wore its youthful golden down: soon hadst thou lain in death, unheeding of thy fancies fond
446which ever turned to youth;—but now arose the troop of all thy brothers, Phorcus' sons, a close array of seven, and seven spears they hurled: some from Aeneas' helm or shield glanced off in vain; some Venus' kindly power,
451just as they touched his body, turned away. Aeneas then to true Achates cried: “Bring on my spears: not one shall fruitless fly against yon Rutules, even as they pierced the breasts of Greeks upon the Ilian plain.”
456Then one great shaft he seized and threw; it sped straight into Maeon's brazen shield, and clove his mail-clad heart. Impetuous to his aid brother Alcanor came, and lifted up with strong right hand his brother as he fell:
461but through his arm a second skilful shaft made bloody way, and by the sinews held the lifeless right hand from the shoulder swung. Then from his brother's body Numitor the weapon plucked and hurled it, furious,
466upon Aeneas; but it could not strike the hero's self, and grazed along the thigh of great Achates. Next into the fight Clausus of Cures came, in youthful bloom exulting, and with far-thrown javelin
471struck Dryops at the chin, and took away from the gashed, shrieking throat both life and voice; the warrior's fallen forehead smote the dust; his lips poured forth thick blood. There also fell three Thracians, odspring of the lordly stem
476of Boreas, and three of Idas' sons from Ismara, by various doom struck down. Halaesus here his wild Auruncans brings; and flying to the fight comes Neptune's son, Messapus, famous horseman. On both sides
481each charges on the foe. Ausonia's strand is one wide strife. As when o'er leagues of air the envious winds give battle to their peers, well-matched in rage and power; and neither they nor clouds above, nor plunging seas below
486will end the doubtful war, but each withstands the onset of the whole—in such wild way the line of Trojans on the Latian line hurls itself, limb on limb and man on man. But at a distance where the river's flood
491had scattered rolling boulders and torn trees uprooted from the shore, young Pallas spied th' Arcadian band, unused to fight on foot, in full retreat, the Latins following close— who also for the roughness of the ground
496were all unmounted: he (the last resource of men in straits) to wild entreaty turned and taunts, enkindling their faint hearts anew: “Whither, my men! O, by your own brave deeds, O, by our lord Evander's happy wars,
501the proud hopes I had to make my name a rival glory,—think not ye can fly! Your swords alone can carve ye the safe way straight through your foes. Where yonder warrior-throng is fiercest, thickest, there and only there
506your Country's honor calls for men like you, and for your captain Pallas. Nay, no gods against us fight; we are but mortal men pressed by a mortal foe. Not more than ours the number of their lives or swords. Behold,
511the barrier of yonder spreading sea emprisons us, and for a craven flight yon lands are all too small. Ha! Shall we steer across the sea to Troy?” He said, and sprang full in the centre of his gathered foes.
516First in his path was Lagus, thither led by evil stars; whom, as he tried to lift a heavy stone, the shaft of Pallas pierced where ribs and spine divide: backward he drew the clinging spear; But Hisbo from above
521surprised him not, though meaning it; for while (In anger blind for friend unpitying slain) at Pallas' face he flew:—he, standing firm, plunged deep into that swelling breast the sword. Then Sthenius he slew; and next Anchemolus
526of Rhoetus' ancient line, who dared defile his step-dame's bridal bed. And also ye, fair Thymber and Larides, Daucus' twins, fell on that Rutule field; so like were ye, your own kin scarce discerned, and parents proud
531smiled at the dear deceit; but now in death cruel unlikeness Pallas wrought; thy head fell, hapless Thymber, by Evander's sword; and thy right hand, Larides, shorn away, seemed feeling for its Iord; the fingers cold
536clutched, trembling, at the sword. Now all the troop of Arcady, their chief's great action seen, and by his warning roused, made at their foes, spurred on by grief and shame. Next Pallas pierced the flying Rhoetus in his car; this gained
541for Ilus respite and delay, for him the stout spear aimed at; but its flight was stopped by Rhoetus, as in swift retreat he rode, by the two high-born brothers close pursued, Teuthras and Tyres: from his car he rolled,
546making deep furrows with his lifeless heels along the Rutule plain. Oft when the winds of summer, long awaited, rise and blow, a shepherd fires the forest, and the blaze devours the dense grove, while o'er the fields,
551in that one moment, swift and sudden spread grim Vulcan's serried flames; from some high seat on distant hill, the shepherd peering down sees, glad at heart, his own victorious fires: so now fierce valor spreads, uniting all
556in one confederate rage, 'neath Pallas' eyes. But the fierce warrior Halaesus next led on the charge, behind his skilful shield close-crouching. Ladon and Demodocus and Pheres he struck down; his glittering blade
561cut Strymon's hand, which to his neck was raised, sheer off; with one great stone he crushed the brows of Thoas, scattering wide the broken skull, bones, brains, and gore. Halaesus' prophet-sire, foreseeing doom, had hid him in dark groves;
566but when the old man's fading eyes declined in death, the hand of Fate reached forth and doomed the young life to Evander's sword; him now Pallas assailed, first offering this prayer: “O Father Tiber, give my poising shaft
571through stout Halaesus' heart its lucky way! The spoil and trophy of the hero slain on thine own oak shall hang.” The god received the vow, and while Halaesus held his shield over Imaon, his ill-fated breast
576lay naked to th' Arcadian's hungry spear. But Lausus, seeing such a hero slain, bade his troop have no fear, for he himself was no small strength in war; and first he slew Abas, who fought hard, and had ever seemed
581himself the sticking-point and tug of war. Down went Arcadia's warriors, and slain etruscans fell, with many a Trojan brave the Greek had spared. Troop charges upon troop well-matched in might, with chiefs of like renown;
586the last rank crowds the first;—so fierce the press scarce hand or sword can stir. Here Pallas stands, and pushes back the foe; before him looms Lausus, his youthful peer, conspicuous both in beauty; but no star will them restore
591to home and native land. Yet would the King of high Olympus suffer not the pair to close in battle, but each hero found a later doom at hands of mightier foes. Now Turnus' goddess-sister bids him haste
596to Lausus' help. So he, in wheeling car, cut through the lines; and when his friends he saw, “Let the fight stop! “ he cried, “for none but I may strike at Pallas; unto me alone the prize of Pallas falls. I would his sire
601stood by to see.” He spake: his troop withdrew a fitting space. But as they made him room, the young prince, wondering at the scornful words, looked upon Turnus, glancing up and down that giant frame, and with fierce-frowning brows
606scanned him from far, hurling defiant words in answer to the King's. “My honor now shall have the royal trophy of this war, or glorious death. For either fortune fair my sire is ready. Threaten me no more!”
611So saying, to the midmost space he strode, and in Arcadian hearts the blood stood still. Swift from his chariot Turnus leaped, and ran to closer fight. As when some lion sees from his far mountain-lair a raging bull
616that sniffs the battle from the grassy field, and down the steep he flies—such picture showed grim Turnus as he came. But when he seemed within a spear's cast, Pallas opened fight, expecting Fortune's favor to the brave
621in such unequal match; and thus he prayed: “O, by my hospitable father's roof, where thou didst enter as a stranger-guest, hear me, Alcides, and give aid divine to this great deed. Let Turnus see these hands
626strip from his half-dead breast the bloody spoil! and let his eyes in death endure to see his conqueror!” Alcides heard the youth: but prisoned in his heart a deep-drawn sigh, and shed vain tears; for Jove, the King and Sire, .
631spoke with benignant accents to his son: “To each his day is given. Beyond recall man's little time runs by: but to prolong life's glory by great deeds is virtue's power. Beneath the lofty walls of fallen Troy
636fell many a son of Heaven. Yea, there was slain Sarpedon, my own offspring. Turnus too is summoned to his doom, and nears the bounds of his appointed span.” So speaking, Jove turned from Rutulia's war his eyes away.
641But Pallas hurled his lance with might and main, and from its hollow scabbard flashed his sword. The flying shaft touched where the plated steel over the shoulders rose, and worked its way through the shield's rim—then falling, glanced aside
646from Turnus' giant body. Turnus then poised, without haste, his iron-pointed spear, and, launching it on Pallas, cried, “Look now will not this shaft a good bit deeper drive?” He said: and through the mid-boss of the shield,
651steel scales and brass with bull's-hide folded round, the quivering spear-point crashed resistlessly, and through the corselet's broken barrier pierced Pallas' heart. The youth plucked out in vain the hot shaft from the wound; his life and blood
656together ebbed away, as sinking prone on his rent side he fell; above him rang his armor; and from lips with blood defiled he breathed his last upon his foeman's ground. Over him Turnus stood: “Arcadians all,”
661He cried, “take tidings of this feat of arms to King Evander. With a warrior's wage his Pallas I restore, and freely grant what glory in a hero's tomb may lie, or comfort in a grave. They dearly pay
666who bid Aeneas welcome at their board.” So saying, with his left foot he held down the lifeless form, and raised the heavy weight of graven belt, which pictured forth that crime of youthful company by treason slain,
671all on their wedding night, in bridal bowers to horrid murder given,—which Clonus, son of Eurytus, had wrought in lavish gold; this Turnus in his triumph bore away, exulting in the spoil. O heart of man,
676not knowing doom, nor of events to be! Nor, being lifted up, to keep thy bounds in prosperous days! To Turnus comes the hour when he would fain a prince's ransom give had Pallas passed unscathed, and will bewail
681cuch spoil of victory. With weeping now and lamentations Ioud his comrades lay young Pallas on his shield, and thronging close carry him homeward with a mournful song: alas! the sorrow and the glorious gain
686thy sire shall have in thee. For one brief day bore thee to battle and now bears away; yet leavest thou full tale of foemen slain. No doubtful rumor to Aeneas breaks the direful news, but a sure messenger
691tells him his followers' peril, and implores prompt help for routed Troy. His ready sword reaped down the nearest foes, and through their line clove furious path and broad; the valiant blade through oft-repeated bloodshed groped its way,
696proud Turnus, unto thee! His heart beholds Pallas and Sire Evander, their kind board in welcome spread, their friendly league of peace proffered and sealed with him, the stranger-guest. So Sulmo's sons, four warriors, and four
701of Ufens sprung, he took alive—to slay as victims to the shades, and pour a stream of captives' blood upon a flaming pyre. Next from afar his hostile shaft he threw at Mago, who with wary motion bowed
706beneath the quivering weapon, as it sped clean over him; then at Aeneas' knees he crouched and clung with supplicating cry: “O, by thy father's spirit, by thy hope in young Iulus, I implore thee, spare
711for son and father's sake this life of mine. A lofty house have I, where safely hid are stores of graven silver and good weight of wrought and unwrought gold. The fate of war hangs not on me; nor can one little life
716thy victory decide.” In answer spoke Aeneas: “Hoard the silver and the gold for thy own sons. Such bartering in war finished with Turnus, when fair Pallas fell. Thus bids Anchises' shade, Iulus—thus!”
721He spoke: and, grasping with his mighty left the helmet of the vainly suppliant foe, bent back the throat and drove hilt-deep his sword. A little space removed, Haemonides, priest of Phoebus and pale Trivia, stood,
726whose ribboned brows a sacred fillet bound: in shining vesture he, and glittering arms. Him too the Trojan met, repelled, and towered above the fallen form, o'ermantling it in mortal shade; Serestus bore away
731those famous arms a trophy vowed to thee, Gradivus, Iord of war! Soon to fresh fight came Caeculus, a child of Vulcan's line, and Umbro on the Marsic mountains bred: these met the Trojan's wrath. His sword shore off
736Anxur's left hand, and the whole orbed shield dropped earthward at the stroke: though Anxur's tongue had boasted mighty things, as if great words would make him strong, and lifting his proud heart as high as heaven, had hoped perchance to see
741gray hairs and length of days. Then Tarquitus strode forth, exulting in his burnished arms (Him Dryope, the nymph, to Faunus bore), and dared oppose Aeneas' rage. But he drew back his lance and, charging, crushed at once
746corselet and ponderous shield; then off he struck the supplicating head, which seemed in vain preparing speech; while o'er the reeking corpse the victor stood, and thrusting it away spoke thus with wrathful soul: “Now lie thou there,
751thou fearsome sight! No noble mother's hand shall hide thee in the ground, or give those limbs to their ancestral tomb. Thou shalt be left to birds of ravin; or go drifting far along yon river to engulfing seas,
756where starving fishes on those wounds shall feed.” Antceus next and Lucas he pursues, though all in Turnus' van; and Numa bold and Camers tawny-tressed, the son and heir of Volscens the stout-hearted, whose domain
761surpassed the richest of Ausonia's lords, when over hushed Amyclae he was king. Like old Aegaeon of the hundred arms, the hundred-handed, from whose mouths and breasts blazed fifty fiery blasts, as he made war
766with fifty sounding shields and fifty swords against Jove's thunder;—so Aeneas raged victorious o'er the field, when once his steel warmed to its work. But lo, he turns him now where come Niphaeus' bold-advancing wheels
771and coursers four, who, when at furious speed they faced his giant stride and dreadful cry, upreared in panic, and reversing spilled their captain to the ground, and bore away the chariot to the river's distant shore.
776Meanwhile, with two white coursers to their car, the brothers Lucagus and Liger drove into the heart of battle: Liger kept with skilful hand the manage of the steeds; bold Lucagus swung wide his naked sword.
781Aeneas, by their wrathful brows defied, brooked not the sight, but to the onset flew, huge-looming, with adverse and threatening spear. Cried Liger, “Not Achilles' chariot, ours! Nor team of Diomed on Phrygia's plain!
786The last of life and strife shall be thy meed upon this very ground.” Such raving word flowed loud from Liger's lip: not with a word the Trojan hero answered him, but flung his whirling spear; and even as Lucagus
791leaned o'er the horses, goading them with steel, and, left foot forward, gathered all his strength to strike—the spear crashed through the under rim of his resplendent shield and entered deep in the left groin; then from the chariot fallen,
796the youth rolled dying on the field, while thus pious Aeneas paid him taunting words: “O Lucagus, thy chariot did not yield because of horses slow to fly, or scared by shadows of a foe. It was thyself
801leaped o'er the wheel and fled.” So saying, he grasped the horses by the rein. The brother then, spilled also from the car, reached wildly forth his helpless hands: “O, by thy sacred head, and by the parents who such greatness gave,
806good Trojan, let me live! Some pity show to prostrate me!” But ere he longer sued, Aeneas cried, “Not so thy language ran a moment gone! Die thou! Nor let this day brother from brother part!” Then where the life
811hides in the bosom, he thrust deep his sword. Thus o'er the field of war the Dardan King moved on, death-dealing: like a breaking flood or cloudy whirlwind seemed his wrath. Straightway the boy Ascanius from the ramparts came,
816his warriors with him; for the siege had failed. Now Jupiter to Juno thus began: “O ever-cherished spouse and sister dear, surely 't is Venus—as thy mind misgave— whose favor props—O, what discernment thine!
821Yon Trojan power; not swift heroic hands, or souls of fury facing perilous war!” Juno made meek reply: “O noblest spouse! Why vex one sick at heart, who humbly fears thy stern command? If I could claim to-day
826what once I had, my proper right and due, love's induence, I should not plead in vain to thee, omnipotent, to give me power to lead off Turnus from the fight unscathed, and save him at his father Daunus' prayer.
831Aye, let him die! And with his loyal blood the Teucrians' vengeance feed! Yet he derives from our Saturnian stem, by fourth remove sprung from Pilumnus. Oft his liberal hands have heaped unstinted offering at thy shrine.”
836Thus in few words th' Olympian King replied: “If for the fated youth thy prayer implores delay and respite of impending doom, if but so far thou bidst me interpose,— go—favor Turnus' flight, and keep him safe
841in this imperilled hour; I may concede such boon. But if thy pleading words intend some larger grace, and fain would touch or change the issue of the war, then art thou fed on expectation vain.” With weeping eyes
846Juno made answer: “Can it be thy mind gives what thy words refuse, and Turnus' life, if rescued, may endure? Yet afterward some cruel close his guiltless day shall see— or far from truth I stray! O, that I were
851the dupe of empty fears! and O, that thou wouldst but refashion to some happier end the things by thee begun—for thou hast power!” She ceased; and swiftly from the peak of heaven moved earthward, trailing cloud-wrack through the air,
856and girdled with the storm. She took her way to where Troy's warriors faced Laurentum's line. There of a hollow cloud the goddess framed a shape of airy, unsubstantial shade, Aeneas' image, wonderful to see,
861and decked it with a Dardan lance and shield, a crested helmet on the godlike head; and windy words she gave of soulless sound, and motion like a stride—such shapes, they say, the hovering phantoms of the dead put on,
866or empty dreams which cheat our slumbering eyes. Forth to the front of battle this vain shade stalked insolent, and with its voice and spear challenged the warrior. At it Turnus flew, and hurled a hissing spear with distant aim;
871the thing wheeled round and fled. The foe forthwith, thinking Aeneas vanquished, with blind scorn flattered his own false hope: “Where wilt thou fly, Aeneas? Wilt thou break a bridegroom's word? This sword will give thee title to some land
876thou hast sailed far to find!” So clamoring loud he followed, flashing far his naked sword; nor saw the light winds waft his dream away. By chance in covert of a lofty crag a ship stood fastened and at rest; her sides
881showed ready bridge and stairway; she had brought Osinius, king of Clusium. Thither came Aeneas' counterfeit of flight and fear, and dropped to darkness. Turnus, nothing loth, gave close chase, overleaping every bar,
886and scaling the high bridge; but scarce he reached the vessel's prow, when Juno cut her loose, the cables breaking, and along swift waves pushed her to sea. Yet in that very hour Aeneas to the battle vainly called
891the vanished foe, and round his hard-fought path stretched many a hero dead. No longer now the mocking shadow sought to hide, but soared visibly upward and was Iost in cloud, while Turnus drifted o'er the waters wide
896before the wind. Bewildered and amazed he looked around him; little joy had he in his own safety, but upraised his hands in prayer to Heaven: “O Sire omnipotent! Didst thou condemn me to a shame like this?
901Such retribution dire? Whither now? Whence came I here? What panic wafts away this Turnus—if 't is he? Shall I behold Laurentum's towers once more? But what of those my heroes yonder, who took oath to me,
906and whom—O sin and shame!—I have betrayed to horrible destruction? Even now I see them routed, and my ears receive their dying groans. What is this thing I do? Where will the yawning earth crack wide enough
911beneath my feet? Ye tempests, pity me! On rocks and reef—'t is Turnus' faithful prayer, let this bark founder; fling it on the shoals of wreckful isles, where no Rutulian eye can follow me, or Rumor tell my shame.”
916With such wild words his soul tossed to and fro, not knowing if to hide his infamy with his own sword and madly drive its blade home to his heart, or cast him in the sea, and, swimming to the rounded shore, renew
921his battle with the Trojan foe. Three times each fatal course he tried; but Juno's power three times restrained, and with a pitying hand the warrior's purpose barred. So on he sped o'er yielding waters and propitious tides,
926far as his father Daunus' ancient town. At Jove's command Mezentius, breathing rage, now takes the field and leads a strong assault against victorious Troy. The Tuscan ranks meet round him, and press hard on him alone,
931on him alone with vengeance multiplied their host of swords they draw. As some tall cliff, projecting to the sea, receives the rage of winds and waters, and untrembling bears vast, frowning enmity of seas and skies,—
936so he. First Dolichaon's son he slew, Hebrus; then Latagus and Palmus, though they fled amain; he smote with mighty stone torn from the mountain, full upon the face of Latagus; and Palmus he let lie
941hamstrung and rolling helpless; he bestowed the arms on his son Lausus for a prize, another proud crest in his helm to wear; he laid the Phrygian Euanthus Iow; and Mimas, Paris' comrade, just his age,—
946born of Theano's womb to Amycus his sire, that night when royal Hecuba, teeming with firebrand, gave Paris birth: one in the city of his fathers sleeps; and one, inglorious, on Laurentian strand.
951As when a wild boar, harried from the hills by teeth of dogs (one who for many a year was safe in pine-clad Vesulus, or roamed the meres of Tiber, feeding in the reeds) falls in the toils at last, and stands at bay,
956raging and bristling, and no hunter dares defy him or come near, but darts are hurled from far away, with cries unperilous: not otherwise, though righteous is their wrath against Mezentius, not a man so bold
961as face him with drawn sword, but at long range they throw their shafts and with loud cries assail; he, all unterrified, makes frequent stand, gnashing his teeth, and shaking off their spears. From ancient Corythus had Acron come,
966a Greek, who left half-sung his wedding-song, and was an exile; him Mezentius saw among long lines of foes, with flaunting plumes and purple garments from his plighted spouse. Then as a starving lion when he prowls
971about high pasture-lands, urged on his way by maddening hunger (if perchance he see a flying she-goat or tall-antlered stag) lifts up his shaggy mane, and gaping wide his monstrous jaws, springs at the creature's side,
976feeding foul-lipped, insatiable of gore: so through his gathered foes Mezentius flew at his prey. He stretched along the ground ill-fated Acron, who breathed life away, beating the dark dust with his heels, and bathed
981his broken weapons in his blood. Nor deigned Mezentius to strike Orodes down as he took flight, nor deal a wound unseen with far-thrown spear; but ran before his face, fronting him man to man, nor would he win
986by sleight or trick, but by a mightier sword. Soon on the fallen foe he set his heel, and, pushing hard, with heel and spear, cried out: “Look ye, my men, where huge Orodes lies, himself a dangerous portion of this war!”
991With loyal, Ioud acclaim his peers reply; but thus the dying hero: “Victor mine, whoe'er thou art, I fall not unavenged! Thou shalt but triumph for a fleeting hour. Like doom for thee is written. Speedily
996thou shalt this dust inhabit, even as I!” Mezentius answered him with wrathful smile: “Now die! What comes on me concerns alone the Sire of gods and Sovereign of mankind.” So saying, from the wounded breast he plucked
1001his javelin: and on those eyes there fell inexorable rest and iron slumber, and in unending night their vision closed. Then Caedicus cut down Alcathous, Sacrator slew Hydaspes, Rapo smote
1006Parthenius and Orses stout and strong; Messapus, good blade cut down Clonius and Ericetes, fierce Lycaon's child; the one from an unbridled war-horse thrown, the other slain dismounted. Then rode forth
1011Agis the Lycian, but bold Valerus, true to his valiant breeding, hurled him down; having slain Thronius, Salius was slain by skilled Nealces, of illustrious name for spear well cast and far-surprising bow.
1016Thus Mars relentless holds in equal scale slaughters reciprocal and mutual woe; the victors and the vanquished kill or fall in equal measure; neither knows the way to yield or fly. Th' Olympians Iook down
1021out of Jove's house, and pity as they see the unavailing wrath of either foe, and burdens measureless on mortals laid. Lo! Venus here, Saturnian Juno yon, in anxious watch; while pale Tisiphone
1026moves on infuriate through the battling lines. On strode Mezentius o'er the gory plain, and swollen with rage waved wide-his awful spear. Like tall Orion when on foot he goes trough the deep sea and lifts his shoulders high
1031above the waves; or when he takes his path along the mountain-tops, and has for staff an aged ash-tree, as he fixes firm his feet in earth and hides his brows in cloud;— so Ioomed Mezentius with his ponderous arms.
1036To match him now, Aeneas, Iooking down the long array of war, came forth in arms to challenge and defy. But quailing not, a mass immovable, the other stood waiting his noble foe, and with a glance
1041measured to cast his spear the space between. “May this right hand“, he said, “and this swift spear which here I poise, be favoring gods for me! The spoils from yonder robber's carcase stripped I vow to hang on thee, my Lausus, thou
1046shalt stand for trophy of Aeneas slain.” He said, and hurled from far the roaring spear, which from the shield glanced off, and speeding still smote famed Antores 'twixt the loin and side— antores, friend of Hercules, who came
1051from Argos, and had joined Evander's cause, abiding in Italia. Lo, a wound meant for another pierced him, and he lay, ill-fated! Iooking upward to the light, and dreaming of dear Argos as he died.
1056Then good Aeneas hurled his spear; it passed through hollow orb of triple bronze, and through layers of flax and triple-twisted hides; then in the lower groin it lodged, but left its work undone. Aeneas, not ill-pleased
1061to see the Tuscan wounded, swiftly drew the falchion from his thigh, and hotly pressed his startled foe. But Lausus at the sight groaned loud, so much he loved his father dear, and tears his cheek bedewed. O storied youth!
1066If olden worth may win believing ear, let not my song now fail of thee to sing, thy noble deeds, thy doom of death and pain! Mezentius, now encumbered and undone, fell backward, trailing from the broken shield
1071his foeman's spear. His son leaped wildly forth to join the fray; and where Aeneas' hand lifted to strike, he faced the thrusting sword and gave the hero pause. His comrades raised applauding cries, as shielded by his son
1076the father made retreat; their darts they hurl, and vex with flying spears the distant foe: Aeneas, wrathful, stands beneath his shield. As when the storm-clouds break in pelting hail, the swains and ploughmen from the furrows fly,
1081and every traveller cowers in sure defence of river-bank or lofty shelving crag, while far and wide it pours; and by and by, each, when the sun returns, his task pursues: so great Aeneas, by assault o'erwhelmed,
1086endured the cloud of battle, till its rage thundered no more; then with a warning word to Lausus with upbraiding voice he called: “Why, O death-doomed, rush on to deeds too high for strength like thine. Thou art betrayed, rash boy,
1091by thine own loyal heart!” But none the less the youth made mad defence; while fiercer burned the Trojan's anger; and of Lausus' days the loom of Fate spun forth the last thin thread; for now Aeneas thrust his potent blade
1096deep through the stripling's breast and out of sight; through the light shield it passed—a frail defence to threaten with!—and through the tunic fine his mother's hand had wrought with softest gold: blood filled his bosom, and on path of air
1101down to the shades the mournful soul withdrew, its body quitting. As Anchises' son beheld the agonizing lips and brow so wondrous white in death, he groaned aloud in pity, and reached o'er him his right hand,
1106touched to the heart such likeness to behold of his own filial love. “Unhappy boy! What reward worthy of heroic deeds can I award thee now? Wear still those arms so proudly worn! And I will send thee home
1111(Perhaps thou carest!) to the kindred shades and ashes of thy sires. But let it be some solace in thy pitiable doom that none but great Aeneas wrought thy fall.” Then to the stripling's tardy followers
1116he sternly called, and lifted from the earth with his own hand the fallen foe: dark blood defiled those princely tresses braided fair. Meanwhile Mezentius by the Tiber's wave with water staunched his wound, and propped his weight
1121against a tree; upon its limbs above his brazen helmet hung, and on the sward his ponderous arms lay resting. Round him watched his chosen braves. He, gasping and in pain, clutched at his neck and let his flowing beard
1126loose on his bosom fall; he questions oft of Lausus, and sends many a messenger to bid him back, and bear him the command of his sore-grieving sire. But lo! his peers bore the dead Lausus back upon his shield,
1131and wept to see so strong a hero quelled by stroke so strong. From long way off the sire, with soul prophetic of its woe, perceived what meant their wail and cry. On his gray hairs the dust he flung, and, stretching both his hands
1136to heaven, he cast himself the corpse along. “O son,” he cried, “was life to me so sweet, that I to save myself surrendered o'er my own begotten to a foeman's steel? Saved by these gashes shall thy father be,
1141and living by thy death? O wretched me, how foul an end have I! Now is my wound deep! deep! 't was I, dear son, have stained thy name with infamy—to exile driven from sceptre and hereditary throne
1146by general curse. Would that myself had borne my country's vengeance and my nation's hate! Would my own guilty life my debt had paid— yea, by a thousand deaths! But, see, I live! Not yet from human kind and light of day
1151have I departed. But depart I will.” So saying, he raised him on his crippled thigh, and though by reason of the grievous wound his forces ebbed, yet with unshaken mien he bade them lead his war-horse forth, his pride,
1156his solace, which from every war victorious bore him home. The master then to the brave beast, which seemed to know his pain, spoke thus: “My Rhoebus, we have passed our days long time together, if long time there be
1161for mortal creatures. Either on this day thou shalt his bloody spoils in triumph bear and that Aeneas' head,—and so shalt be avenger of my Lausus' woe; or else, if I be vanquished, thou shalt sink and fall
1166beside me. For, my bravest, thou wouldst spurn a stranger's will, and Teucrian lords to bear.” He spoke and, mounting to his back, disposed his limbs the wonted way and filled both hands with pointed javelins; a helm of brass
1171with shaggy horse-hair crest gleamed o'er his brow. Swift to the front he rode: a mingled flood surged in his heart of sorrow, wrath, and shame; and thrice with loud voice on his foe he called. Aeneas heard and made exulting vow:
1176“Now may the Father of the gods on high, and great Apollo hear! Begin the fray!” He said, and moved forth with a threatening spear. The other cried: “Hast robbed me of my son, and now, implacable, wouldst fright me more?
1181That way, that only, was it in thy power to cast me down. No fear of death I feel. Nor from thy gods themselves would I refrain. Give o'er! For fated and resolved to die I come thy way: but; bring thee as I pass
1186these offerings.” With this he whirled a spear against his foe, and after it drove deep another and another, riding swift in wide gyration round him. But the shield, the golden boss, broke not. Three times he rode
1191in leftward circles, hurling spear on spear against th' unmoved Aeneas: and three times the Trojan hero in his brazen shield the sheaf of spears upbore. But such slow fight, such plucking of spent shafts from out his shield,
1196the Trojan liked not, vexed and sorely tried in duel so ill-matched. With wrathful soul at length he strode forth, and between the brows of the wild war-horse planted his Iong spear. Up reared the creature, beating at the air
1201with quivering feet, then o'er his fallen lord entangling dropped, and prone above him lay, pinning with ponderous shoulder to the ground. The Trojans and the Latins rouse the skies with clamor Ioud. Aeneas hastening forth
1206unsheathes his sword, and looming o'er him cries: “Where now is fierce Mezentius, and his soul's wild pulse of rage?” The Tuscan in reply with eyes uprolled, and gasping as he gave long looks at heaven, recalled his fading mind:
1211“Why frown at me and fume, O bitterest foe? Why threaten death? To slay me is no sin. Not to take quarter came I to this war, not truce with thee did my lost Lausus crave, yet this one boon I pray,—if mercy be
1216for fallen foes: O, suffer me when dead in covering earth to hide! Full well I know what curses of my people ring me round. Defend me from that rage! I pray to be my son's companion in our common tomb.”
1221He spoke: then offered with unshrinking eye his veined throat to the sword. O'er the bright mail his vital breath gushed forth in streaming gore.
Book 11
1Up from the sea now soared the dawning day: Aeneas, though his sorrow bids him haste to burial of the slain, and his sad soul is clouded with the sight of death, fulfils, for reward to his gods, a conqueror's vow,
6at morning's earliest beam. A mighty oak shorn of its limbs he sets upon a hill and clothes it o'er with glittering arms, the spoil of King Mezentius, and a trophy proud to thee, great lord of war. The hero's plumes
11bedewed with blood are there, and splintered spears; there hangs the corselet, by the thrusting steel twelve times gored through; upon the left he binds the brazen shield, and from the neck suspends the ivory-hilted sword. Aeneas thus,
16as crowding close his train of captains throng, addressed his followers: “Ye warriors mine, our largest work is done. Bid fear begone of what is left to do. Behold the spoils! Yon haughty King was firstfruits of our war.
21See this Mezentius my hands have made! Now to the Latin town and King we go. Arm you in soul! With heart of perfect hope prepare the war! So when the gods give sign to open battle and lead forth our brave
26out of this stronghold, no bewilderment, nor tarrying, nor fearful, faltering mind shall slack our march. Meanwhile in earth we lay our comrades fallen; for no honor else in Acheron have they. Go forth,” said he,
31“bring gifts of honor and of last farewell to those high hearts by shedding of whose blood our country lives. To sad Evander's town bear Pallas first; who, though he did not fail of virtue's crown, was seized by doom unblest,
36and to the bitterness of death consigned.” Weeping he spoke, and slowly backward drew to the tent-door, where by the breathless clay of Pallas stood Acoetes, aged man, once bearer of Evander's arms, but now
41under less happy omens set to guard his darling child. Around him is a throng of slaves, with all the Trojan multitude, and Ilian women, who the wonted way let sorrow's tresses loosely flow. When now
46Aeneas to the lofty doors drew near, all these from smitten bosoms raised to heaven a mighty moaning, till the King's abode was loud with anguish. There Aeneas viewed the pillowed head of Pallas cold and pale,
51the smooth young breast that bore the gaping wound of that Ausonian spear, and weeping said: “Did Fortune's envy, smiling though she came, refuse me, hapless boy, that thou shouldst see my throne established, and victorious ride
56beside me to thy father's house? Not this my parting promise to thy King and sire, Evander, when with friendly, fond embrace to win imperial power he bade me go; yet warned me anxiously I must resist
61bold warriors and a stubborn breed of foes. And haply even now he cheats his heart with expectation vain, and offers vows, heaping with gifts the altars of his gods. But we with unavailing honors bring
66this lifeless youth, who owes the gods of heaven no more of gift and vow. O ill-starred King! Soon shalt thou see thy son's unpitying doom! What a home-coming! This is glory's day so Iong awaited; this the solemn pledge
71I proudly gave. But fond Evander's eyes will find no shameful wounding on the slain, nor for a son in coward safety kept wilt thou, the sire, crave death. But woe is me! How strong a bulwark in Ausonia falls!
76What loss is thine, Iulus!” Thus lamenting, he bids them lift the body to the bier, and sends a thousand heroes from his host to render the last tributes, and to share father's tears:—poor solace and too small
81for grief so great, but due that mournful sire. Some busy them to build of osiers fine the simple litter, twining sapling oaks with evergreen, till o'er death's Iofty bed the branching shade extends. Upon it lay,
86as if on shepherd's couch, the youthful dead, like fairest flower by virgin fingers culled, frail violet or hyacinth forlorn, of color still undimmed and leaf unmarred; but from the breast of mother-earth no more
91its life doth feed. Then good Aeneas brought two broidered robes of scarlet and fine gold, which with the gladsome labor of her hands Sidonian Dido wrought him long ago, the thin-spun gold inweaving. One of these
96the sad prince o'er the youthful body threw for parting gift; and with the other veiled those tresses from the fire; he heaped on high Laurentum's spoils of war, and bade to bring much tribute forth: horses and arms he gave,
101seized from the fallen enemy; with hands fettered behind them filed a captive train doomed to appease the shades, and with the flames to mix their flowing blood. He bade his chiefs set up the trunks of trees and clothe them well
106with captured arms, inscribing on each one some foeman's name. Then came Acoetes forth, a wretched, worn old man, who beat his breast with tight-clenched hands, and tore his wrinkled face with ruthless fingers; oft he cast him down
111full length along the ground. Then lead they forth the blood-stained Rutule chariots of war; Aethon, the war-horse, of his harness bare, walks mournful by; big teardrops wet his cheek. Some bear the lance and helm; for all the rest
116victorious Turnus seized. Then filed along a mournful Teucrian cohort; next the host Etrurian and the men of Arcady with trailing arms reversed. Aeneas now, when the long company had passed him by,
121spoke thus and groaned aloud: “Ourselves from hence are summoned by the same dread doom of war to other tears. Farewell forevermore! Heroic Pallas! be forever blest! I bid thee hail, farewell!” In silence then
126back to the stronghold's Iofty walls he moved. Now envoys from the Latin citadel came olive-crowned, to plead for clemency: would he not yield those bodies of the dead sword-scattered o'er the plain, and let them lie
131beneath an earth-built tomb? Who wages war upon the vanquished, the unbreathing slain? To people once his hosts and kindred called, would he not mercy show? To such a prayer, deemed not unworthy, good Aeneas gave
136the boon, and this benignant answer made: “Ye Latins, what misfortune undeserved has snared you in so vast a war, that now you shun our friendship? Have you here implored peace for your dead, by chance of battle fallen?
141Pain would I grant it for the living too. I sailed not hither save by Heaven's decree, which called me to this land. I wage no war with you, the people; 't was your King refused our proffered bond of peace, and gave his cause
146to Turnus' arms. More meet and just it were had Turnus met this death that makes you mourn. If he would end our quarrel sword in hand, thrusting us Teucrians forth, 't was honor's way to cross his blade with mine; that man to whom
151the gods, or his own valor, had decreed the longer life, had lived. But now depart! Beneath your lost friends light the funeral fires!” So spoke Aeneas; and with wonder mute all stood at gaze, each turning to behold
156his neighbor's face. Then Drances, full of years, and ever armed with spite and slanderous word against young Turnus, made this answering plea: “O prince of mighty name, whose feats of arms are even mightier! Trojan hero, how
161shall my poor praise exalt thee to the skies? Is it thy rectitude or strenuous war most bids me wonder? We will bear thy word right gladly to the city of our sires; and there, if Fortune favor it, contrive
166a compact with the Latin King. Henceforth let Turnus find his own allies! Ourselves will much rejoice to see thy destined walls, and our own shoulders will be proud to bear the stone for building Troy.” Such speech he made,
171and all the common voice consented loud. So twelve days' truce they swore, and safe from harm Latins and Teucrians unmolested roved together o'er the wooded hills. Now rang loud steel on ash-tree bole; enormous pines,
176once thrusting starward, to the earth they threw; and with industrious wedge asunder clove stout oak and odorous cedar, piling high harvest of ash-trees on the creaking wain. Now Rumor, herald of prodigious woe,
181to King Evander hied, Evander's house and city filling, where, but late, her word had told in Latium Pallas' victory. th' Arcadians thronging to the city-gates bear funeral torches, the accustomed way;
186in lines of flame the long street flashes far, lighting the fields beyond. To meet them moves a Phrygian company, to join with theirs its lamentation loud. The Latin wives, soon as they saw them entering, aroused
191the whole sad city with shrill songs of woe. No hand could stay Evander. Forth he flew into the midmost tumult, and fell prone on his dead Pallas, on the resting bier; he clung to the pale corse with tears, with groans,
196till anguish for a space his lips unsealed: “Not this thy promise, Pallas, to thy sire, to walk not rashly in the war-god's way. I knew too well how honor's morning-star, and sweet, foretasted glory tempt and woo
201in a first battle. O first-fruit forlorn of youth so fair! O prelude pitiless of war approaching! O my vows and prayers, which not one god would hear! My blessed wife, how happy was the death that spared thee not
206to taste this bitterness! But I, the while, by living longer lived to meet my doom,— a father sole-surviving. Would I myself had perished by the Rutule's cruel spear, the Trojan's cause espousing! This breath of life
211how gladly had I given! And O, that now yon black solemnity were bearing home myself, not Pallas, dead! Yet blame I not, O Teucrians, the hallowed pact we made, nor hospitable bond and clasp of hands.
216This doom ye bring me was writ long ago, for my old age. And though my child is fallen untimely, I take comfort that he fell where thousands of the Volscians slaughtered lie, and into Latium led the Teucrian arms.
221What brighter glory could I crave in death for thee, my Pallas, than Aeneas brings, and Phrygian princes, and Etrurian lords with all Etruria's legions? Lo, they bear yon glittering spoils of victims of thy sword!
226Thou, Turnus, too, wert now an effigy in giant armor clad, if but his years and strength full ripe had been fair match for thine! But now my woes detain the Trojan host from battle. I beseech ye haste away,
231and bear this faithful message to your King: since I but linger out a life I loathe, without my Pallas, nothing but thy sword can bid me live. Then let thy sword repay its debt to sire and son by Turnus slain!
236Such deed alone may with thy honor fit, and happier fortunes. But my life to me has no joy left to pray for, save to bring my son that solace in the shadowy land.” Meanwhile o'er sorrowing mortals the bright morn
241had lifted her mild beam, renewing so the burden of man's toil. Aeneas now built funeral pyres along the winding shore, King Tarchon at his side. Each thither brought the bodies of his kin, observing well
246all ancient ritual. The fuming fires burned from beneath, till highest heaven was hid in blackest, overmantling cloud. Three times the warriors, sheathed in proud, resplendent steel, paced round the kindling pyres; and three times
251fair companies of horsemen circled slow, with loud lamenting, round the doleful flame. The wail of warriors and the trumpets' blare the very welkin rend. Cast on the flames are spoils of slaughtered Latins,—helms and blades,
256bridles and chariot-wheels. Yet others bring gifts to the dead familiar, their own shields and unavailing spears. Around them slain great herds of kine give tribute unto death: swine, bristly-backed, from many a field are borne,
261and slaughtered sheep bleed o'er the sacred fire. So on the shore the wailing multitude behold their comrades burning, and keep guard o'er the consuming pyres, nor turn away till cooling night re-shifts the globe of heaven,
266thick-strewn with numberless far-flaming stars. Likewise the mournful Latins far away have built their myriad pyres. Yet of the slain not few in graves are laid, and borne with tears to neighboring country-side or native town;
271the rest—promiscuous mass of dead unknown— to nameless and unhonored ashes burn; with multitude of fires the far-spread fields blaze forth unweariedly. But when from heaven the third morn had dispelled the dark and cold,
276the mournful bands raked forth the mingled bones and plenteous ashes from the smouldering pyres, then heaped with earth the one sepulchral mound. Now from the hearth-stones of the opulent town of old Latinus a vast wail burst forth,
281for there was found the chief and bitterest share of all the woe. For mothers in their tears, lone brides, and stricken souls of sisters fond, and boys left fatherless, fling curses Ioud on Turnus' troth-plight and the direful war:
286“Let him, let Turnus, with his single sword decide the strife,”—they cry,—“and who shall claim Lordship of Italy and power supreme.” Fierce Drances whets their fury, urging all that Turnus singly must the challenge hear,
291and singly wage the war; but others plead in Turnus' favor; the Queen's noble name protects him, and his high renown in arms defends his cause with well-won trophies fair. Amid these tumults of the wrathful throng,
296lo, the ambassadors to Diomed arrive with cloudy forehead from their quest in his illustrious town; for naught availed their toilsome errand, nor the gifts and gold, nor strong entreaty. Other help in war
301the Latins now must find, or humbly sue peace from the Trojan. At such tidings dire even Latinus trembles: Heaven's decrees and influence of gods too visible sustain Aeneas; so the wrath divine
306and new-filled sepulchres conspicuous give warning clear. Therefore the King convenes a general council of his captains brave beneath the royal towers. They, gathering, throng the approaches thither, where their Iord,
311gray-haired Latinus, takes the central throne, wearing authority with mournful brow. He bids the envoys from Aetolia's King sent back, to speak and tell the royal words in order due. Forthwith on every tongue
316fell silence, while the princely Venulus, heeding his Iord's behest, began the parle: “My countrymen,” he said, “our eyes have seen strongholds of Greeks and Diomed the King. We braved all perils to our journey's end
321and clasped that hand whereof the dreadful stroke wrought Ilium's fall. The hero built a town, Argyripa, hereditary name, near mount Garganus in Apulian land: passing that city's portal and the King's,
326we found free audience, held forth thy gifts, and told our names and fatherland. We showed what condict was enkindled, and what cause brought us to Arpi's King. He, hearing all, with brow benign made answer to our plea:
331‘O happy tribes in Saturn's kingdom born, Ausonia's ancient stem! What fortune blind tempts ye from peace away, and now ensnares in wars unknown? Look how we men that dared lay Ilium waste (I speak not of what woes
336in battling neath her lofty walls we bore, nor of dead warriors sunk in Simois' wave) have paid the penalty in many a land with chastisement accurst and changeful woe, till Priam's self might pity. Let the star
341of Pallas tell its tale of fatal storm, off grim Caphereus and Eubcea's crags. Driven asunder from one field of war, Atrides unto farthest Egypt strayed, and wise Ulysses saw from Aetna's caves
346the Cyclops gathering. Why name the throne of Pyrrhus, or the violated hearth whence fled Idomeneus? Or Locri cast on Libya's distant shore? For even he, Lord of Mycenae by the Greeks obeyed,
351fell murdered on his threshold by the hand of that polluted wife, whose paramour trapped Asia's conqueror. The envious gods withheld me also from returning home to see once more the hearth-stone of my sires,
356the wife I yearn for, and my Calydon, the beauteous land. For wonders horrible pursue me still. My vanished followers through upper air take wing, or haunt and rove in forms of birds the island waters o'er:
361ah me, what misery my people feel! The tall rocks ring with their lament and cry. Naught else had I to hope for from that day when my infatuate sword on gods I drew, and outraged with abominable wound
366the hand of Venus. Urge me not, I pray, to conflicts in this wise. No more for me of war with Trojans after Ilium's fall! I take no joy in evils past, nor wish such memory to renew. Go, lay these gifts,
371brought to my honor from your ancient land, at great Aeneas' feet. We twain have stood confronting close with swords implacable in mortal fray. Believe me, I have known the stature of him when he lifts his shield,
376and swings the whirlwind of his spear. If Troy two more such sons had bred, the Dardan horde had stormed at Argos' gates, and Greece to-day were for her fallen fortunes grieving sore. Our lingering at Ilium's stubborn wall,
381our sluggard conquest halting ten years Iong, was his and Hector's work. Heroic pair! Each one for valor notable, and each famous in enterprise of arms,—but he was first in piety. Enclasp with his
386your hands in plighted peace as best ye may: but shock of steel on steel ye well may shun.’ now hast thou heard, good King, a king's reply, and how his wisdom sits in this vast war.” Soon as the envoys ceased, an answering sound
391of troubled voices through the council flowed of various note, as when its rocky bed impedes an arrowy stream, and murmurs break from the strait-channelled flood; the fringing shores repeat the tumult of the clamorous wave.
396But when their hearts and troublous tongues were still, the King, invoking first the gods in heaven, thus from a Iofty throne his sentence gave: “Less evil were our case, if long ago ye had provided for your country's weal,
401O Latins, as I urged. It is no time to hold dispute, while, compassing our walls, the foeman waits. Ill-omened war is ours against a race of gods, my countrymen, invincible, unwearied in the fray,
406and who, though lost and fallen, clutch the sword. If hope ye cherished of Aetolia's power, dismiss it! For what hope ye have is found in your own bosoms only. But ye know how slight it is and small. What ruin wide
411has fallen, is now palpable and clear. No blame I cast. What valor's uttermost may do was done; our kingdom in this war strained its last thews. Now therefore I will tell such project as my doubtful mind may frame,
416and briefly, if ye give good heed, unfold: an ancient tract have I, close-bordering the river Tiber; it runs westward far beyond Sicania's bound, and filth it bears to Rutule and Auruncan husbandmen,
421who furrow its hard hills or feed their flocks along the stonier slopes. Let this demesne, together with its pine-clad mountain tall, be given the Teucrian for our pledge of peace, confirmed by free and equitable league,
426and full alliance with our kingly power. Let them abide there, if it please them so, and build their city's wall. But if their hearts for other land or people yearn, and fate permits them hence to go, then let us build
431twice ten good galleys of Italian oak, or more, if they can man them. All the wood lies yonder on the shore. Let them but say how numerous and large the ships they crave, and we will give the brass, the artisans,
436and ship-supplies. Let us for envoys choose a hundred of the Latins noblest born to tell our message and arrange the peace, bearing mild olive-boughs and weighty gifts of ivory and gold, with chair of state
441and purple robe, our emblems as a king. But freely let this council speak; give aid to our exhausted cause.” Then Drances rose, that foe inveterate, whom Turnus' fame to stinging hate and envy double-tongued
446ever pricked on. Of liberal wealth was he and flowing speech, but slack of hand in war at council board accounted no weak voice, in quarrels stronger still; of lofty birth in the maternal line, but by his sire's
451uncertain and obscure. He, claiming place, thus multiplies with words the people's ire: “A course most clear, nor needing voice of mine, thy council is, good King; for all men see the way of public weal, but smother close
456the telling of it. Turnus must concede freedom to speak, and his own arrogance diminish! Under his ill-boding star and fatal conduct—yea, I speak it plain, though with his naked steel my death he swear—
461yon host of princes fell, and we behold the whole land bowed with grief; while he assails the Trojan camp (beating such bold retreats!) and troubles Heaven with war. One gift the more, among the many to the Trojans given,
466one chiefly, best of kings, thy choice should be. Let not wild violence thy will restrain from granting, sire, thy virgin daughter's hand to son-in-law illustrious, in a match worthy of both,—and thus the lasting bond
471of peace establish. But if verily our hearts and souls be weak with craven fear, let us on Turnus call, and grace implore even of him. Let him no more oppose; but to his country and his King concede
476their natural right. Why wilt thou o'er and o'er fling thy poor countrymen in danger's way, O chief and fountain of all Latium's pain? War will not save us. Not a voice but sues for peace, O Turnus! and, not less than peace,
481its one inviolable pledge. Behold, I lead in this petition! even I whom thou dost feign thy foe—(I waste no words denying)—look! I supplicate of thee, take pity on thy kindred; drop thy pride,
486and get thee home defeated. We have seen slaughter enough, enough of funeral flames, and many a wide field waste and desolate. If glory move thee, if thy martial breast so swell with strength, and if a royal dower
491be thy dear dream, go, pluck thy courage up, and front thy own brave bosom to the foe. for, lo, that Turnus on his wedding day may win a princess, our cheap, common lives— we the mere mob, unwept, unsepulchred—
496must be spilled forth in battle! Thou, I say, if there be mettle in thee and some drops of thy undaunted sires, Iook yonder where the Trojan chieftain waits thee in the field.” By such discourse he stirred the burning blood
501of Turnus, who groaned loud and from his heart this utterance hurled: “O Drances, thou art rich in large words, when the day of battle calls for actions. If our senators convene thou comest early. But the council hall
506is not for swollen talk, such as thy tongue in safety tosses forth; so long as walls hold back thy foes, and ere the trenches flow with blood of brave men slain. O, rattle on in fluent thunder—thy habitual style!
511Brand me a coward, Drances, when thy sword has heaped up Trojan slain, and on the field thy shining trophies rise. Now may we twain our martial prowess prove. Our foe, forsooth, is not so far to seek; around yon wall
516he lies in siege: to front him let us fly! Why art thou tarrying? Wilt thou linger here, a soldier only in thy windy tongue, and thy swift, coward heels? Defeated, I? Foul wretch, what tongue that honors truth can tell
521of my defeat, while Tiber overflows with Trojan blood? while King Evander's house in ruin dies, and his Arcadians lie stripped naked on the field? O, not like thee did Bitias or the giant Pandarus
526misprize my honor; nor those men of Troy whom this good sword to death and dark sent down, a thousand in a day,—though I was penned a prisoner in the ramparts of my foe. War will not save us? Fling that prophecy
531on the doomed Dardan's head, or on thy own, thou madman! Aye, with thy vile, craven soul disturb the general cause. Extol the power of a twice-vanquished people, and decry Latinus' rival arms. From this time forth
536let all the Myrmidonian princes cower before the might of Troy; let Diomed and let Achilles tremble; let the stream of Aufidus in panic backward flow from Hadria's wave. But hear me when I say
541that though his guilt and cunning feign to feel fear of my vengeance, much embittering so his taunts and insult—such a life as his my sword disdains. O Drances, be at ease! In thy vile bosom let thy breath abide!
546But now of thy grave counsel and thy cause, O royal sire, I speak. If from this hour thou castest hope of armed success away, if we be so unfriended that one rout o'erwhelms us utterly, if Fortune's feet
551never turn backward, let us, then, for peace offer petition, lifting to the foe our feeble, suppliant hands. Yet would I pray some spark of manhood such as once we knew were ours once more! I count him fortunate,
556and of illustrious soul beyond us all, who, rather than behold such things, has fallen face forward, dead, his teeth upon the dust. But if we still have power, and men-at-arms unwasted and unscathed, if there survive
561Italian tribes and towns for help in war, aye! if the Trojans have but won success at bloody cost,—for they dig graves, I ween, storm-smitten not less than we,—O, wherefore now stand faint and shameful on the battle's edge?
566Why quake our knees before the trumpet call? Time and the toil of shifting, changeful days restore lost causes; ebbing tides of chance deceive us oft, which after at their flood do lift us safe to shore. If aid come not
571from Diomed in Arpi, our allies shall be Mezentius and Tolumnius, auspicious name, and many a chieftain sent from many a tribe; not all inglorious are Latium's warriors from Laurentian land!
576Hither the noble Volscian stem sends down Camilla with her beauteous cavalry in glittering brass arrayed. But if, forsooth, the Trojans call me singly to the fight, if this be what ye will, and I so much
581the public weal impair—when from this sword has victory seemed to fly away in scorn? I should not hopeless tread in honor's way whate'er the venture. Dauntless will I go though equal match for great Achilles, he,
586and though he clothe him in celestial arms in Vulcan's smithy wrought. I, Turnus, now, not less than equal with great warriors gone, vow to Latinus, father of my bride, and to ye all, each drop of blood I owe.
591Me singly doth Aeneas call? I crave that challenge. Drances is not called to pay the debt of death, if wrath from Heaven impend; nor his a brave man's name and fame to share.” Thus in their doubtful cause the chieftains strove.
596Meanwhile Aeneas his assaulting line moved forward. The ill tidings wildly sped from royal hall to hall, and filled the town with rumors dark: for now the Trojan host o'er the wide plains from Tiber's wave was spread
601in close array of war. The people's soul was vexed and shaken, and its martial rage rose to the stern compulsion. Now for arms their terror calls; the youthful soldiery clamor for arms; the sires of riper days
606weep or repress their tears. On every side loud shouts and cries of dissonant acclaim trouble the air, as when in lofty grove legions of birds alight, or by the flood of Padus' fishy stream the shrieking swans
611far o'er the vocal marish fling their song. Then, seizing the swift moment, Turnus cried: “Once more, my countrymen,—ye sit in parle, lazily praising peace, while yonder foe speeds forth in arms our kingdom to obtain.”
616He spoke no more, but hied him in hot haste, and from the housetop called, “Volusus, go! Equip the Volscian companies! Lead forth my Rutules also! O'er the spreading plain, ye brothers Coras and Messapus range
621our host of cavalry! Let others guard the city's gates and hold the walls and towers: I and my followers elsewhere oppose the shock of arms.” Now to and fro they run to man the walls. Father Latinus quits—
626the place of council and his large design, vexed and bewildered by the hour's distress. He blames his own heart that he did not ask Trojan Aeneas for his daughter's Iord, and gain him for his kingdom's lasting friend.
631They dig them trenches at the gates, or lift burden of stakes and stones. The horn's harsh note sounds forth its murderous signal for the war; striplings and women, in a motley ring, defend the ramparts; the decisive hour
636lays tasks on all. Upon the citadel a train of matrons, with the doleful Queen, toward Pallas' temple moves, and in their hand are gifts and offerings. See, at their side the maid Lavinia, cause of all these tears,
641drops down her lovely eyes! The incense rolls in clouds above the altar; at the doors with wailing voice the women make this prayer: “Tritonian virgin, arbitress of war! Break of thyself yon Phrygian robber's spear!
646Hurl him down dying in the dust! Spill forth his evil blood beneath our lofty towers!” Fierce Turnus girds him, emulous to slay: a crimson coat of mail he wears, with scales of burnished bronze; beneath his knees are bound
651the golden greaves; upon his naked brow no helm he wears; but to his thigh is bound a glittering sword. Down from the citadel runs he, a golden glory, in his heart boldly exulting, while impatient hope
656fore-counts his fallen foes. He seemed as when, from pinfold bursting, breaking his strong chain, th' untrammelled stallion ranges the wide field, or tries him to a herd of feeding mares, or to some cooling river-bank he knows,
661most fierce and mettlesome; the streaming mane o'er neck and shoulder flies. Across his path Camilla with her Volscian escort came, and at the city-gate the royal maid down from her charger leaped; while all her band
666at her example glided to the ground, their horses leaving. Thus the virgin spoke: “Turnus, if confidence beseem the brave, I have no fear; but of myself do vow to meet yon squadrons of Aeneadae
671alone, and front me to the gathered charge of Tuscan cavalry. Let me alone the war's first venture-prove. Take station, thou, here at the walls, this rampart to defend.” With fixed eyes on the terror-striking maid,
676Turnus replied, “O boast of Italy, O virgin bold! What praise, what gratitude can words or deeds repay? But since thy soul so large of stature shows, I bid thee share my burden and my war. Our spies bring news
681that now Aeneas with pernicious mind sends light-armed horse before him, to alarm the plains below, while through the wilderness he climbs the steep hills, and approaches so our leaguered town. But I in sheltered grove
686a stratagem prepare, and bid my men in ambush at a mountain cross-road lie. Meet thou the charge of Tuscan cavalry with all thy banners. For auxiliar strength take bold Messapus with his Latin troop
691and King Tiburtus' men: but the command shall be thy task and care.” He spoke, and urged with like instruction for the coming fray Messapus and his captains; then advanced to meet the foe. There is a winding vale
696for armed deception and insidious war well fashioned, and by interlacing leaves screened darkly in; a small path thither leads, through strait defile-a passage boding ill. Above it, on a mountain's lofty brow,
701are points of outlook, level spaces fair, and many a safe, invisible retreat from whence on either hand to challenge war, or, standing on the ridges, to roll down huge mountain boulders. Thither Turnus fared,
706and, ranging the familiar tract, chose out his cunning ambush in the dangerous grove. But now in dwellings of the gods on high, Diana to fleet-footed Opis called, a virgin from her consecrated train,
711and thus in sorrow spoke: “O maiden mine! Camilla now to cruel conflict flies; with weapons like my own she girds her side, in vain, though dearest of all nymphs to me. Nor is it some new Iove that stirs to-day
716with sudden sweetness in Diana's breast: for long ago, when from his kingdom driven, for insolent and envied power, her sire King Metabus, from old Privernum's wall was taking flight amidst opposing foes,
721he bore a little daughter in his arms to share his exile; and he called the child (Changing Casmilla, her queen-mother's name) Camilla. Bearing on his breast the babe, he fled to solitary upland groves.
726But hovering round him with keen lances, pressed the Volscian soldiery. Across his path, lo, Amasenus with full-foaming wave o'erflowed its banks—so huge a rain had burst but lately from the clouds. There would he fain
731swim over, but the love of that sweet babe restrained him, trembling for his burden dear. In his perplexed heart suddenly arose firm resolve. It chanced the warrior bore huge spear in his brawny hand, strong shaft
736of knotted, seasoned oak; to this he lashed his little daughter with a withe of bark pulled from a cork-tree, and with skilful bonds fast bound her to the spear; then, poising it high in his right hand, thus he called on Heaven:
741‘Latona's daughter, whose benignant grace protects this grove, behold, her father now gives thee this babe for handmaid! Lo, thy spear her infant fingers hold, as from her foes she flies a suppliant to thee! Receive,
746O goddess, I implore, what now I cast upon the perilous air.’—He spoke, and hurled with lifted arm the whirling shaft. The waves roared loud, as on the whistling javelin hapless Camilla crossed th' impetuous flood.
751But Metabus, his foes in hot pursuit, dared plunge him in mid-stream, and, triumphing, soon plucked from grass-grown river-bank the spear, the child upon it,—now to Trivia vowed, a virgin offering. Him nevermore
756could cities hold, nor would his wild heart yield its sylvan freedom, but his days were passed with shepherds on the solitary hills. His daughter too in tangled woods he bred: a brood-mare from the milk of her fierce breast
761suckled the child, and to its tender lips .Her udders moved; and when the infant feet their first firm steps had taken, the small palms were armed with a keen javelin; her sire a bow and quiver from her shoulder slung.
766Instead of golden combs and flowing pall, she wore, from her girl-forehead backward thrown, the whole skin of a tigress; with soft hands she made her plaything of a whirling spear, or, swinging round her head the polished thong
771of her good sling, she fetched from distant sky Strymonian cranes or swans of spotless wing. From Tuscan towns proud matrons oft in vain sought her in marriage for their sons; but she to Dian only turned her stainless heart,
776her virgin freedom and her huntress' arms with faithful passion serving. Would that now this Iove of war had ne'er seduced her mind the Teucrians to provoke! So might she be one of our wood-nymphs still. But haste, I pray,
781for bitter is her now impending doom. Descend, dear nymph, from heaven, and explore the country of the Latins, where the fight with unpropitious omens now begins. These weapons take, and from this quiver draw
786a vengeful arrow, wherewith he who dares to wound her sacred body, though he be a Trojan or Italian, shall receive bloody and swift reward at my command. Then, in a cloud concealed, I will consign
791her corpse, ill-fated but inviolate unto the sepulchre, restoring so the virgin to her native land.” Thus spake the goddess; but her handmaid, gliding down, took her loud pathway on the moving winds,
796and mantled in dark storm her shape divine. Meanwhile the Teucrian legions to the wall draw near, with Tuscan lords and cavalry in numbered troops arrayed. Loud-footed steeds prance o'er the field, to manage of the rein
801rebellious, but turned deftly here or there. The iron harvest of keen spears spreads far, and all the plain burns bright with lifted steel. Messapus and swift Latin cavalry, Coras his brother, and th' attending train
806of the fair maid Camilla, form their lines in the opposing field. Their poised right hands point the long lances forward, and light shafts are brandished in the air; the warrior hosts on steeds of fire come kindling as they ride.
811One instant, at a spear-throw's space, each line its motion stays; then with one sudden cry they rush forth, spurring on each frenzied steed. From-every side the multitudinous spears pour down like snowflakes, mantling heaven in shade.
816Now with contending spears and straining thews, Tyrrhenus, and Aconteus, champion bold, ride forward; with the onset terrible loudly their armor rings; their chargers twain crash breast to breast, and like a thunderbolt
821Aconteus drops, or like a ponderous stone hurled from a catapult; full length he falls, surrend'ring to the winds his fleeting soul. Now all is panic: holding their light shields behind their backs, the Latin horse wheel round,
826retreating to the wall, the Trojan foe in close pursuit. Asilas, chieftain proud, led on th' assault. Hard by the city gates the Latins wheeled once more and pressed the rein strong on the yielding neck; the charging foe
831took flight and hurried far with loose-flung rein. 'T was like the shock and onset of the sea that landward hurls the alternating flood and hides high cliffs in foam,—the tawny sands upflinging as it rolls; then, suddenly
836whirled backward on the reingulfing waves, it quits the ledges, and with ebbing flow far from the shore retires. The Tuscans twice drive back the flying Rutules to the town; and twice repulsed, with shields to rearward thrown,
841glare back at the pursuer; but conjoined in the third battle-charge, both armies merge confusedly together in grim fight of man to man; then follow dying groans, armor blood-bathed and corpses, and strong steeds
846inextricably with their masters slain, so fierce the fray. Orsilochus—afraid to front the warrior's arms—launched forth a spear at Remulus' horse, and left the fatal steel clinging below its ear; the charger plunged
851madly, and tossed its trembling hoofs in air, sustaining not the wound; the rider fell, flung headlong to the ground. Catillus slew Iollas; and then struck Herminius down, great-bodied and great-hearted, who could wield
856a monster weapon, and whose yellow hair from naked head to naked shoulder flowed. By wounds unterrified he dared oppose his huge bulk to the foe: the quivering spear pierced to his broad back, and with throes of pain
861bowed the man double and clean clove him through. Wide o'er the field th' ensanguined horror flowed, where fatal swords were crossed and cut their way through many a wound to famous death and fair. Swift through the midmost slaughter proudly strides
866the quiver-girt Camilla, with one breast thrust naked to the fight, like Amazon. Oft from her hand her pliant shafts she rains, or whirls with indefatigable arm a doughty battle-axe; her shoulder bears
871Diana's sounding arms and golden bow. Sometimes retreating and to flight compelled, the maiden with a rearward-pointing bow shoots arrows as she flies. Around her move her chosen peers, Larina, virgin brave,
876Tarpeia, brandishing an axe of bronze, and Tulla, virgins out of Italy whom the divine Camilla chose to be her glory, each a faithful servitress in days of peace or war. The maids of Thrace
881ride thus along Thermodon's frozen flood, and fight with blazoned Amazonian arms around Hippolyta; or when returns Penthesilea in triumphal car 'mid acclamations shrill, and all her host
886of women clash in air the moon-shaped shield. What warrior first, whom last, did thy strong spear, fierce virgin, earthward fling? Or what thy tale of prostrate foes laid gasping on the ground? Eunaeus first, the child of Clytius' Ioins,
891whose bared breast, as he faced his foe, she pierced with fir-tree javelin; from his lips outpoured the blood-stream as he fell; and as he bit the gory dust, he clutched his mortal wound. Then Liris, and upon him Pagasus
896she slew: the one clung closer to the reins of his stabbed horse, and rolled off on the ground; the other, flying to his fallen friend, reached out a helpless hand; so both of these fell on swift death together. Next in line
901she smote Amastrus, son of Hippotas; then, swift-pursuing, pierced with far-flung spear Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoon, and Chromis; every shaft the virgin threw laid low its Phrygian warrior. From afar
906rode Ornytus on his Apulian steed, bearing a hunter's uncouth arms; for cloak he wore upon his shoulders broad a hide from some wild bull stripped off; his helmet was a wolf's great, gaping mouth, with either jaw
911full of white teeth; the weapon in his hand, a farmer's pole. He strode into the throng, head taller than them all. But him she seized and clove him through (his panic-stricken troop gave her advantage), and with wrathful heart
916she taunted thus the fallen: “Didst thou deem this was a merry hunting in the wood in chase of game? Behold, thy fatal day befalls thee at a woman's hand, and thus thy boasting answers. No small glory thou
921unto the ghosts of thy dead sires wilt tell, that 't was Camilla's javelin struck thee down.” The turn of Butes and Orsilochus came next, who were the Trojans, hugest twain: yet Butes with her javelin-point she clove
926from rearward, 'twixt the hauberk and the helm, just where the horseman's neck showed white, and where from shoulder leftward slung the light-weight shield. From swift Orsilochus she feigned to fly, through a wide circle sweeping, craftily
931taking the inside track, pursuing so her own pursuer; then she raised herself to her full height, and through the warrior's helm drove to his very skull with doubling blows of her strong battle-axe,—while he implored
936her mercy with loud prayers: his cloven brain spilt o'er his face. Next in her pathway came— but shrank in startled fear—the warrior son of Aunus, haunter of the Apennine, not least of the Ligurians ere his doom
941cut short a life of lies. He, knowing well no flight could save him from the shock of arms nor turn the royal maid's attack, began with words of cunning and insidious guile: “What glory is it if a girl be bold,
946on sturdy steed depending? Fly me not! But, venturing with me on this equal ground, gird thee to fight on foot. Soon shalt thou see which one of us by windy boast achieves a false renown.” He spoke; but she, to pangs
951of keenest fury stung, gave o'er her steed in charge of a companion, and opposed her foe at equal vantage, falchion drawn, on foot, and, though her shield no blazon bore, of fear incapable. But the warrior fled,
956thinking his trick victorious, and rode off full speed, with reins reversed,—his iron heel goading his charger's flight. Camilla cried: “Ligurian cheat! In vain thy boastful heart puffs thee so large; in vain thou hast essayed
961thy father's slippery ways; nor shall thy trick bring thee to guileful Aunus safely home.” Herewith on winged feet that virgin bold flew past the war-horse, seized the streaming rein, and, fronting him, took vengeance on her foe
966in bloody strokes: with not less ease a hawk, dark bird of omen, from his mountain crag pursues on pinions strong a soaring dove to distant cloud, and, clutching with hooked claws, holds tight and rips,—while through celestial air
971the torn, ensanguined plumage floats along. But now not blindly from Olympian throne the Sire of gods and men observant saw how sped the day. Then to the conflict dire the god thrust Tarchon forth, the Tyrrhene King,
976goading the warrior's rage. So Tarchon rode through slaughter wide and legions in retreat, and roused the ranks with many a wrathful cry: he called each man by name, and toward the foe drove back the routed lines. “What terrors now,
981Tuscan cowards, dead to noble rage, have seized ye? or what laggard sloth and vile unmans your hearts, that now a woman's arm pursues ye and this scattered host confounds? Why dressed in steel, or to what purpose wear
986your futile swords? Not slackly do ye join the ranks of Venus in a midnight war; or when fantastic pipes of Bacchus call your dancing feet, right venturesome ye fly to banquets and the flowing wine—what zeal,
991what ardor then! Or if your flattering priest begins the revel, and to Iofty groves fat flesh of victims bids ye haste away!” So saying, his steed he spurred, and scorning death dashed into the mid-fray, where, frenzy-driven,
996he sought out Venulus, and, grappling him with one hand, from the saddle snatched his foe, and, clasping strongly to his giant breast, exultant bore away. The shouting rose to heaven, and all the Latins gazed his way,
1001as o'er the plain the fiery Tarchon flew bearing the full-armed man; then, breaking off the point of his own spear, he pried a way through the seam'd armor for the mortal wound; the other, struggling, thrust back from his throat
1006the griping hand, full force to force opposing. As when a golden eagle high in air knits to a victim—snake his clinging feet and deeply-thrusting claws; but, coiling back, the wounded serpent roughens his stiff scales
1011and stretches high his hissing head; whereat the eagle with hooked beak the more doth rend her writhing foe, and with swift stroke of wing lashes the air: so Tarchon, from the ranks of Tibur's sons, triumphant snatched his prey.
1016The Tuscans rallied now, well pleased to view their king's example and successful war. Then Arruns, marked for doom, made circling line around Camilla's path, his crafty spear seeking its lucky chance. Where'er the maid
1021sped furious to the battle, Arruns there in silence dogged her footsteps and pursued; or where triumphant from her fallen foes she backward drew, the warrior stealthily turned his swift reins that way: from every side
1026he circled her, and scanned his vantage here or vantage there, his skilful javelin stubbornly shaking. But it soon befell that Chloreus, once a priest of Cybele, shone forth in far-resplendent Phrygian arms,
1031and urged a foaming steed, which wore a robe o'erwrought with feathery scales of bronze and gold; while he, in purples of fine foreign stain, bore light Gortynian shafts and Lycian bow; his bow was gold; a golden casque he wore
1036upon his priestly brow; the saffron cloak, all folds of rustling cambric, was enclasped in glittering gold; his skirts and tunics gay were broidered, and the oriental garb swathed his whole leg. Him when the maiden spied,
1041(Perchance she fain on temple walls would hang the Trojan prize, or in such captured gold her own fair shape array), she gave mad chase, and reckless through the ranks her prey pursued, desiring, woman-like, the splendid spoil.
1046Then from his ambush Arruns seized at last the fatal moment and let speed his shaft, thus uttering his vow to heavenly powers: “Chief of the gods, Apollo, who dost guard Soracte's hallowed steep, whom we revere
1051first of thy worshippers, for thee is fed the heap of burning pine; for thee we pass through the mid-blaze in sacred zeal secure, and deep in glowing embers plant our feet. O Sire Omnipotent, may this my spear
1056our foul disgrace put by. I do not ask for plunder, spoils, or trophies in my name, when yonder virgin falls; let honor's crown be mine for other deeds. But if my stroke that curse and plague destroy, may I unpraised
1061safe to the cities of my sires return.” Apollo heard and granted half the prayer, but half upon the passing breeze he threw: granting his votary he should confound Camilla by swift death; but 't was denied
1066the mountain-fatherland once more to see, or safe return,—that prayer th' impetuous winds swept stormfully away. Soon as the spear whizzed from his hand, straight-speeding on the air, the Volscians all turned eager thought and eyes
1071toward their Queen. She only did not heed that windy roar, nor weapon dropped from heaven, till in her bare, protruded breast the spear drank, deeply driven, of her virgin blood. Her terror-struck companians swiftly throng
1076around her, and uplift their sinking Queen. But Arruns, panic-stricken more than all, makes off, half terror and half joy, nor dares hazard his lance again, nor dares oppose a virgin's arms. As creeps back to the hills
1081in pathless covert ere his foes pursue, from shepherd slain or mighty bull laid low, some wolf, who, now of his bold trespass ware, curls close against his paunch a quivering tail and to the forest tries: so Arruns speeds
1086from sight of men in terror, glad to fly, and hides him in the crowd. But his keen spear dying Camilla from her bosom drew, though the fixed barb of deeply-wounding steel clung to the rib. She sank to earth undone,
1091her cold eyes closed in death, and from her cheeks the roses fled. With failing breath she called on Acca—who of all her maiden peers was chiefly dear and shared her heart's whole pain— and thus she spoke: “O Acca, sister mine,
1096I have been strong till now. The cruel wound consumes me, and my world is growing dark. Haste thee to Turnus! Tell my dying words! 'T is he must bear the battle and hold back the Trojan from our city wall. Farewell!”
1101So saying, her fingers from the bridle-rein unclasped, and helpless to the earth she fell; then, colder grown, she loosed her more and more out of the body's coil; she gave to death her neck, her drooping head, and ceased to heed
1106her war-array. So fled her spirit forth with wrath and moaning to the world below. Then clamor infinite uprose and smote the golden stars, as round Camilla slain the battle newly raged. To swifter charge
1111the gathered Trojans ran, with Tuscan lords and King Evander's troops of Arcady. Fair Opis, keeping guard for Trivia in patient sentry on a lofty hill, beheld unterrified the conflict's rage. Yet when,
1116amid the frenzied shouts of soldiery, she saw from far Camilla pay the doom of piteous death, with deep-drawn voice of sight she thus complained: “O virgin, woe is me! Too much, too much, this agony of thine,
1121to expiate that thou didst lift thy spear for wounding Troy. It was no shield in war, nor any vantage to have kept thy vow to chaste Diana in the thorny wild. Our maiden arrows at thy shoulder slung
1126availed thee not! Yet will our Queen divine not leave unhonored this thy dying day, nor shall thy people let thy death remain a thing forgot, nor thy bright name appear a glory unavenged. Whoe'er he be
1131that marred thy body with the mortal wound shall die as he deserves.” Beneath that hill an earth-built mound uprose, the tomb of King Dercennus, a Laurentine old, by sombre ilex shaded: thither hied
1136the fair nymph at full speed, and from the mound looked round for Arruns. When his shape she saw in glittering armor vainly insolent, “Whither so fast?” she cried. “This way, thy path! This fatal way approach, and here receive
1141thy reward for Camilla! Thou shalt fall, vile though thou art, by Dian's shaft divine.” She said; and one swift-coursing arrow took from golden quiver, like a maid of Thrace, and stretched it on her bow with hostile aim,
1146withdrawing far, till both the tips of horn together bent, and, both hands poising well, the left outreached to touch the barb of steel, the right to her soft breast the bowstring drew: the hissing of the shaft, the sounding air,
1151Arruns one moment heard, as to his flesh the iron point clung fast. But his last groan his comrades heeded not, and let him lie, scorned and forgotten, on the dusty field, while Opis soared to bright Olympian air.
1156Camilla's light-armed troop, its virgin chief now fallen, were the first to fly; in flight the panic-stricken Rutule host is seen and Acer bold; his captains in dismay with shattered legions from the peril fly,
1161and goad their horses to the city wall. Not one sustains the Trojan charge, or stands in arms against the swift approach of death. Their bows unstrung from drooping shoulder fall, and clatter of hoof-beats shakes the crumbling ground.
1166On to the city in a blinding cloud the dust uprolls. From watch-towers Iooking forth, the women smite their breasts and raise to heaven shrill shouts of fear. Those fliers who first passed the open gates were followed by the foe,
1171routed and overwhelmed. They could not fly a miserable death, but were struck down in their own ancient city, or expired before the peaceful shrines of hearth and home. Then some one barred the gates. They dared not now
1176give their own people entrance, and were deaf to all entreaty. Woeful deaths ensued, both of the armed defenders of the gate, and of the foe in arms. The desperate band, barred from the city in the face and eyes
1181of their own weeping parents, either dropped with headlong and inevitable plunge into the moat below; or, frantic, blind, battered with beams against the stubborn door and columns strong. Above in conflict wild
1186even the women (who for faithful love of home and country schooled them to be brave Camilla's way) rained weapons from the walls, and used oak-staves and truncheons shaped in flame, as if, well-armed in steel, each bosom bold
1191would fain in such defence be first to die. Meanwhile th' unpitying messenger had flown to Turnus in the wood; the warrior heard from Acca of the wide confusion spread, the Volscian troop destroyed, Camilla slain,
1196the furious foe increasing, and, with Mars to help him, grasping all, till in that hour far as the city-gates the panic reigned. Then he in desperate rage (Jove's cruel power decreed it) from the ambushed hills withdrew
1201and pathless wild. He scarce had passed beyond to the bare plain, when forth Aeneas marched along the wide ravine, climbed up the ridge, and from the dark, deceiving grove stood clear. Then swiftly each with following ranks of war
1206moved to the city-wall, nor wide the space that measured 'twixt the twain. Aeneas saw the plain with dust o'erclouded, and the lines of the Laurentian host extending far; Turnus, as clearly, saw the war array
1211of dread Aeneas, and his ear perceived loud tramp of mail-clad men and snorting steeds. Soon had they sped to dreadful shock of arms, hazard of war to try; but Phoebus now, glowing rose-red, had dipped his wearied wheel
1216deep in Iberian seas, and brought back night above the fading day. So near the town both pitch their camps and make their ramparts strong.
Book 12
1When Turnus marks how much the Latins quail in adverse war, how on himself they call to keep his pledge, and with indignant eyes gaze all his way, fierce rage implacable swells his high heart. As when on Libyan plain
6a lion, gashed along his tawny breast by the huntsman's grievous thrust, awakens him unto his last grim fight, and gloriously shaking the great thews of his maned neck, shrinks not, but crushes the despoiler's spear
11with blood-sprent, roaring mouth,—not less than so burns the wild soul of Turnus and his ire. Thus to the King he spoke with stormful brow: “The war lags not for Turnus' sake. No cause constrains the Teucrian cowards and their King
16to eat their words and what they pledged refuse. On his own terms I come. Bring forward, sire, the sacrifice, and seal the pact I swear: either to deepest hell this hand shall fling yon Trojan runaway—the Latins all
21may sit at ease and see!—and my sole sword efface the general shame; or let him claim the conquest, and Lavinia be his bride.” To him Latinus with unruffled mind thus made reply: “O youth surpassing brave!
26The more thy sanguinary valor burns beyond its wont, the more with toilsome care I ponder with just fear what chance may fall, weighing it well. Thy father Daunus' throne, and many a city by thy sword subdued,
31are still thy own. Latinus also boasts much golden treasure and a liberal hand. Other unwedded maids of noble stem in Latium and Laurentine land are found. Permit me, then, to tell thee without guile
36things hard to utter; let them deeply fill thy listening soul. My sacred duty 'twas to plight my daughter's hand to nonesoe'er of all her earlier wooers—so declared the gods and oracles; but overcome
41by love of thee, by thy dear, kindred blood, and by the sad eyes of my mournful Queen, I shattered every bond; I snatched away the plighted maiden from her destined lord, and took up impious arms. What evil case
46upon that deed ensued, what hapless wars, thou knowest, since thyself dost chiefly bear the cruel burden. In wide-ranging fight twice-conquered, our own city scarce upholds the hope of Italy. Yon Tiber's wave
51still runs warm with my people's blood; the plains far round us glisten with their bleaching bones. Why tell it o'er and o'er? What maddening dream perverts my mind? If after Turnus slain I must for friendship of the Trojan sue,
56were it not better to suspend the fray while Turnus lives? For what will be the word of thy Rutulian kindred—yea, of all Italia, if to death I give thee o'er— (Which Heaven avert!) because thou fain wouldst win
61my daughter and be sworn my friend and son? Bethink thee what a dubious work is war; have pity on thy father's reverend years, who even now thy absence daily mourns in Ardea, his native land and thine.”
66But to this pleading Turnus' frenzied soul yields not at all, but rather blazes forth more wildly, and his fever fiercer burns beneath the healer's hand. In answer he, soon as his passion gathered voice, began:
71“This keen solicitude for love of me, I pray, good sire, for love of me put by! And let me traffic in the just exchange of death for glory. This right hand, O King, can scatter shafts not few, nor do I wield
76untempered steel. Whene'er I make a wound blood follows. For my foeman when we meet will find no goddess-mother near, with hand to hide him in her woman's skirt of cloud, herself in dim, deluding shade concealed.”
81But now the Queen, whose whole heart shrank in fear from these new terms of duel, wept aloud, and like one dying clasped her fiery son: “O Turnus, by these tears-if in thy heart thou honorest Amata still—O thou
86who art of our distressful, dark old age the only hope and peace, the kingly name and glory of Latinus rests in thee; thou art the mighty prop whereon is stayed our falling house. One favor I implore:
91give o'er this fight with Trojans. In such strife thy destined doom is destined to be mine by the same fatal stroke. For in that hour this hated life shall cease, nor will I look with slave's eyes on Aeneas as my son.”
96Lavinia heard her mother's voice, and tears o'erflowed her scarlet cheek, where blushes spread like flame along her warm, young face and brow: as when the Indian ivory must wear ensanguined crimson stain, or lilies pale
101mingled with roses seem to blush, such hues her virgin features bore; and love's desire disturbed his breast, as, gazing on the maid, his martial passion fiercer flamed; whereon in brief speech he addressed the Queen: “No tears!
106No evil omen, mother, I implore! Make me no sad farewells, as I depart to the grim war-god's game! Can Turnus' hand delay death's necessary coming? Go, Idmon, my herald, to the Phrygian King,
111and tell him this—a word not framed to please: soon as Aurora from her crimson car flushes to-morrow's sky, let him no more against the Rutule lead the Teucrian line; let Teucrian swords and Rutule take repose,
116while with our own spilt blood we twain will make an end of war; on yonder mortal field let each man woo Lavinia for his bride.” So saying, he hied him to his lordly halls, summoned his steeds, and with pleased eye surveyed
121their action proud: them Orithyia, bride of Boreas, to Sire Pilumnus gave, which in their whiteness did surpass the snow in speed the wind. The nimble charioteers stood by and smote with hollowed hand and palm
126the sounding chests, or combed the necks and manes. But he upon his kingly shoulders clasped his corselet, thick o'erlaid with blazoned gold and silvery orichalch; he fitted him with falchion, shield, and helm of purple plume,
131that falchion which the Lord of Fire had made for Daunus, tempering in the Stygian wave when white it glowed; next grasped he the good spear which leaned its weight against a column tall in the mid-court, Auruncan Actor's spoil,
136and waved it wide in air with mighty cry: “O spear, that ne'er did fail me when I called, the hour is come! Once mighty Actor's hand, but now the hand of Turnus is thy lord. Grant me to strike that carcase to the ground,
141and with strong hand the corselet rip and rend from off that Phrygian eunuch: let the dust befoul those tresses, tricked to curl so fine with singeing steel and sleeked with odorous oil.” Such frenzy goads him: his impassioned brow
146is all on flame, the wild eyes flash with fire. Thus, bellowing loud before the fearful fray, some huge bull proves the fury of his horns, pushing against a tree-trunk; his swift thrusts would tear the winds in pieces; while his hoofs
151toss up the turf and sand, rehearsing war. That self-same day with aspect terrible Aeneas girt him in the wondrous arms his mother gave; made sharp his martial steel, and roused his heart to ire; though glad was he
156to seal such truce and end the general war. Then he spoke comfort to his friends; and soothed Iulus' fear, unfolding Heaven's intent; but on Latinus bade his heralds lay unyielding terms and laws of peace impose.
161Soon as the breaking dawn its glory threw along the hills, and from the sea's profound leaped forth the horses of the sun-god's car, from lifted nostrils breathing light and fire, then Teucrian and Rutulian measured out
166a place for duel, underneath the walls of the proud city. In the midst were set altars of turf and hearth-stones burning bright in honor of their common gods. Some brought pure waters and the hallowed flame, their thighs
171in priestly skirt arrayed, and reverend brows with vervain bound. Th' Ausonians, spear in hand, out from the city's crowded portals moved in ordered column: next the Trojans all, with Tuscan host in various martial guise,
176equipped with arms of steel, as if they heard stern summons to the fight. Their captains, too, emerging from the multitude, in pride of gold and purple, hurried to and fro: Mnestheus of royal stem, Asilas brave;
181and Neptune's offspring, tamer of the steed, Messapus. Either host, at signal given, to its own ground retiring, fixed in earth the long shafts of the spears and stacked the shields. Then eagerly to tower and rampart fly
186the women, the infirm old men, the throng of the unarmed, and sit them there at gaze, or on the columned gates expectant stand. But Juno, peering from that summit proud which is to-day the Alban (though that time
191nor name nor fame the hallowed mountain knew), surveyed the plain below and fair array of Trojan and Laurentine, by the walls of King Latinus. Whereupon straightway with Turnus' sister she began converse,
196goddess with goddess; for that nymph divine o'er Alba's calm lakes and loud rivers reigns; Jove, the high monarch of th' ethereal sky, gave her such glory when he stole away her virgin zone. “O nymph“, she said, “who art
201the pride of flowing streams, and much beloved of our own heart! thou knowest thou alone hast been my favorite of those Latin maids that to proud Jove's unthankful bed have climbed; and willingly I found thee place and share
206in our Olympian realm. So blame not me, but hear, Juturna, what sore grief is thine: while chance and destiny conceded aught of strength to Latium's cause, I shielded well both Turnus and thy city's wall; but now
211I see our youthful champion make his war with fates adverse. The Parcae's day of doom implacably impends. My eyes refuse to Iook upon such fight, such fatal league. If for thy brother's life thou couldst be bold
216to venture some swift blow, go, strike it now! 'T is fit and fair! Some issue fortunate may tread on sorrow's heel.” She scarce had said, when rained the quick tears from Juturna's eyes. Three times and yet again her desperate hand
221smote on her comely breast. But Juno cried, “No tears to-day! But haste thee, haste and find what way, if way there be, from clutch of death to tear thy brother free; arouse the war; their plighted peace destroy. I grant thee leave
226such boldness to essay.” With this command she left the nymph dismayed and grieving sore. Meanwhile the kings ride forth: Latinus first, looming tall-statured from his four-horse car; twelve rays of gold encircle his bright brow,
231sign of the sun-god, his progenitor; next Turnus, driving snow-white steeds, is seen,— two bread-tipped javelins in his hand he bears; Aeneas, of Rome's blood the source and sire, with star-bright shield and panoply divine,
236far-shining comes; Ascanius by his side— of Roman greatness the next hope is he. To camp they rode, where, garbed in blameless white, with youngling swine and two-year sheep unshorn, the priest before the flaming altars drove
241his flock and offering: to the rising sun all eyes are lifted, as with careful hand the salted meal is scattered, while with knives they mark each victim's brow, outpouring wine from shallow bowls, the sacrifice to bless.
246Then good Aeneas, his sword drawn, put forth this votive prayer: “O Sun in heaven; and thou, Italia, for whom such toils I bear, be witness of my orison. On thee, Father omnipotent, I call; on thee,
251his Queen Saturnia,—now may she be more gracious to my prayer! O glorious Mars, beneath whose godhead and paternity all wars begin and end, on thee I call; hail, all ye river-gods and haunted springs;
256hail, whatsoever gods have seat of awe in yonder distant sky, and ye whose power is in the keeping of the deep, blue sea: if victory to Ausonian Turnus fall, then let my vanquished people take its way
261unto Evander's city! From these plains Iulus shall retire—so stands the bond; nor shall the Trojans with rebellious sword bring after-trouble on this land and King. But if on arms of ours success shall shine,
266as I doubt not it shall (may gods on high their will confirm!), I purpose not to chain Italian captive unto Teucrian lord, nor seek I kingly power. Let equal laws unite in federation without end
271the two unconquered nations; both shall share my worshipped gods. Latinus, as my sire, shall keep his sword, and as my sire receive inviolable power. The Teucrians shall build my stronghold, but our citadel
276shall bear forevermore Lavinia's name.” Aeneas thus: then with uplifted eyes Latinus swore, his right hand raised to heaven: “I too, Aeneas, take the sacred vow. By earth and sea and stars in heaven I swear,
281by fair Latona's radiant children twain, and two-browed Janus; by the shadowy powers of Hades and th' inexorable shrines of the Infernal King; and may Jove hear, who by his lightnings hallows what is sworn!
286I touch these altars, and my lips invoke the sacred altar-fires that 'twixt us burn: we men of Italy will make this peace inviolate, and its bond forever keep, let come what will; there is no power can change
291my purpose, not if ocean's waves o'erwhelm the world in billowy deluge and obscure the bounds of heaven and hell. We shall remain immutable as my smooth sceptre is“ (By chance a sceptre in his hand he bore),
296“which wears no more light leaf or branching shade; for long since in the grove 't was plucked away from parent stem, and yielded to sharp steel its leaves and limbs; erewhile 't was but a tree, till the wise craftsman with fair sheath of bronze
301encircled it and laid it in the hands of Latium's royal sires.” With words like these they swore the bond, in the beholding eyes of gathered princes. Then they slit the throats of hallowed victims o'er the altar's blaze,
306drew forth the quivering vitals, and with flesh on loaded chargers heaped the sacrifice. But to Rutulian eyes th' approaching joust seemed all ill-matched; and shifting hopes and fears disturbed their hearts the closer they surveyed
311th' unequal risks: still worse it was to see how Turnus, silent and with downcast eyes, dejectedly drew near the place of prayer, worn, pale, and wasted in his youthful bloom. The nymph Juturna, with a sister's fear,
316noted the growing murmur, and perceived how all the people's will did shift and change; she went from rank to rank, feigning the shape of Camers, scion of illustrious line, with heritage of valor, and himself
321dauntless in war; unceasingly she ran from rank to rank, spreading with skilful tongue opinions manifold, and thus she spoke: “Will ye not blush, Rutulians, so to stake one life for many heroes? Are we not
326their match in might and numbers? O, behold those Trojan sons of Heaven making league with exiled Arcady; see Tuscan hordes storming at Turnus. Yet we scarce could find one foe apiece, forsooth, if we should dare
331fight them with half our warriors. Of a truth your champion brave shall to those gods ascend before whose altars his great heart he vows; and lips of men while yet on earth he stays will spread his glory far. Ourselves, instead,
336must crouch to haughty masters, and resign this fatherland upon whose fruitful fields we dwell at ease.” So speaking, she inflamed the warriors' minds, and through the legions ran increasing whisper; the Laurentine host
341and even Latium wavered. Those who late prayed but for rest and safety, clamored loud for arms, desired annulment of the league, and pitied Turnus' miserable doom. Whereon Juturna tried a mightier stroke,
346a sign from heaven, which more than all beside confused the Latins and deceived their hearts with prodigy. For through the flaming skies Jove's golden eagle swooped, and scattered far a clamorous tribe of river-haunting birds;
351then, swiftly to the waters falling, seized one noble swan, which with keen, curving claws he ruthless bore away: th' Italians all watched eagerly, while the loud-screaming flock wheeled upward (wondrous sight!), with host of wings
356shadowed the sky, and in a legion-cloud chased through the air the foe; till, overborne by heavier odds, the eagle from his claws flung back his victim to the waves, and fled to the dim, distant heaven. The Rutules then
361hailed the good omen with consenting cry, and grasped the sword and shield. Tolumnius the augur spake first: “Lo, the sign I sought with many a prayer! I welcome and obey the powers divine. Take me for captain, me!
366And draw your swords, ye wretches, whom th' assault of yonder foreign scoundrel puts in fear like feeble birds, and with his violence lays waste your shore. He too shall fly away, spreading his ships' wings on the distant seas.
371Close up your ranks—one soul in all our breasts! Defend in open war your stolen King.” So saying, he hurled upon th' opposing foe his javelin, running forward. The strong shaft of corner whistled shrill, and clove the air
376unerring. Instantly vast clamor rose, and all th' onlookers at the spectacle leaped up amazed, and every heart beat high. The spear sped flying to the foeman's line, where stood nine goodly brethren, pledges all
381of one true Tuscan mother to her lord, Gylippus of Arcadia; it struck full on one of these at his gold-belted waist, and where the clasp clung, pierced the rib clean through. And stretched the fair youth in his glittering arms
386full length and lifeless on the yellow sand. His brothers then, bold band to wrath aroused by sorrow, seize the sword or snatch the spear and blindly charge. Opposing them, the host Laurentine makes advance, and close-arrayed
391the Trojans like a torrent pour, enforced by Tuscans and the gay-accoutred clans of Arcady. One passion moved in all to try the judgment of the sword. They tore the altars down: a very storm of spears
396rose angrily to heaven, in iron rain down-pouring: while the priests bore far away the sacrificial bowls and sacred fires. Even Latinus fled; his stricken gods far from his violated oath he bore.
401Some leaped to horse or chariot and rode with naked swords in air. Messapus, wild to break the truce, assailed the Tuscan King, Aulestes, dressed in kingly blazon fair, with fearful shock of steeds; the Tuscan dropped
406helplessly backward, striking as he fell his head and shoulders on the altar-stone that lay behind him. But Messapus flew, infuriate, a javelin in his hand, and, towering o'er the suppliant, smote him strong
411with the great beam-like spear, and loudly cried: “Down with him! Ah! no common victim he to give the mighty gods!” Italia's men despoiled the dead man ere his limbs were cold. Then Corynaeus snatched a burning brand
416out of the altar, and as Ebysus came toward him for to strike, he hurled the flame full in his face: the big beard quickly blazed with smell of singeing; while the warrior bold strode over him, and seized with firm left hand
421his quailing foe's Iong hair; then with one knee he pushed and strained, compelled him to the `ground— and struck straight at his heart with naked steel. The shepherd Alsus in the foremost line came leaping through the spears; when o'er him towered
426huge Podalirius with a flashing sword in close pursuit; the mighty battle-axe clove him with swinging stroke from brow to chin, and spilt along his mail the streaming gore: so stern repose and iron slumber fell
431upon that shepherd's eyes, and sealed their gaze in endless night. But good Aeneas now stretched forth his unarmed hand, and all unhelmed thus Ioudly to his people called: “What means this frantic stir, this quarrel rashly bold?
436Recall your martial rage! The pledge is given and all its terms agreed. 'T is only I do lawful battle here. So let me forth, and tremble not. My own hand shall confirm the solemn treaty. For these rites consign
441Turnus to none but me.” Yet while he spoke, behold, a winged arrow, hissing loud, the hero pierced; but what bold hand impelled its whirling speed, none knew; nor if it were chance or some power divine that brought this fame
446upon Rutulia; for the glorious deed was covered o'er with silence: none would boast an arrow guilty of Aeneas' wound. When Turnus saw Aeneas from the line retreating, and the captains in dismay,
451with sudden hope he burned: he called for steeds, for arms, and, leaping to his chariot, rode insolently forth, the reins in hand. Many strong heroes he dispatched to die, as on he flew, and many stretched half-dead,
456or from his chariot striking, or from far raining his javelins on the recreant foe. As Mars, forth-speeding by the wintry stream of Hebrus, smites his sanguinary shield and whips the swift steeds to the front of war,
461who, flying past the winds of eve and morn, scour the wide champaign; the bounds of Thrace beneath their hoof-beats thunder; the dark shapes of Terror, Wrath, and Treachery move on in escort of the god: in such grim guise
466bold Turnus lashed into the fiercest fray his streaming steeds, that pitiful to see trod down the slaughtered foe; each flying hoof scattered a bloody dew; their path was laid in mingled blood and sand. To death he flung
471Pholus and Sthenelus and Thamyris: two smitten in close fight and one from far: also from far he smote with fatal spear Glaucus and Lades, the Imbrasidae, whom Imbrasus himself in Lycia bred,
476and honored them with arms of equal skill when grappling with a foe, or o'er the field speeding a war-horse faster than the wind. Elsewhere Eumedes through a throng of foes to battle rode, the high-born Dolon's child,
481famous in war, who bore his grandsire's name, but seemed in might and courage like his sire: that prince, who reconnoitring crept so near the Argive camp, he dared to claim for spoil the chariot of Achilles; but that day
486great Diomed for such audacious deed paid wages otherwise,—and he no more dreamed to possess the steeds of Peleus' son. When Turnus recognized in open field this warrior, though far, he aimed and flung
491his javelin through the spacious air; then stayed his coursers twain, and, leaping from his car, found the wretch helpless fallen; so planted he his foot upon his neck, and from his hand wrested the sword and thrust it glittering
496deep in the throat, thus taunting as he slew: “There's land for thee, thou Trojan! Measure there th' Hesperian provinces thy sword would find. Such reward will I give to all who dare draw steel on me; such cities they shall build.”
501To bear him company his spear laid low Asbutes, Sybaris, Thersilochus, Chloreus and Dares, and Thymoetes thrown sheer off the shoulders of his balking steed. As when from Thrace the north wind thunders down
506the vast Aegean, flinging the swift flood against the shore, and where his blasts assail the cloudy cohorts vanish out of heaven: so before Turnus, where his path he clove, the lines fell back, the wheeling legions fled.
511The warrior's own wild impulse swept him on, and every wind that o'er his chariot blew shook out his plume in air. But such advance so bold, so furious, Phegeus could not brook, but, fronting the swift chariot's path, he seized
516the foam-flecked bridles of its coursers wild, while from the yoke his body trailed and swung; the broad lance found his naked side, and tore his double corselet, pricking lightly through the outer flesh; but he with lifted shield
521still fought his foe and thrust with falchion bare; but the fierce pace of whirling wheel and pole flung him down prone, and stretched him on the plain. Then Turnus, aiming with relentless sword between the corselet's edge and helmet's rim
526struck off his whole head, leaving on the sands the mutilated corpse. While thus afield victorious Turnus dealt out death and doom, Mnestheus, Achates true, and by their side Ascanius, have carried to the camp
531Aeneas, gashed and bleeding, whose long lance sustained his limping step. With fruitless rage he struggled with the spear-head's splintered barb, and bade them help him by the swiftest way to carve the wound out with a sword, to rip
536the clinging weapon forth, and send him back to meet the battle. Quickly to his side came Iapyx, dear favorite and friend of Phoebus, upon whom the god bestowed his own wise craft and power, Iove-impelled.
541The gifts of augury were given, and song, with arrows of swift wing: he when his sire was carried forth to die, deferred the doom for many a day, by herbs of virtue known to leechcraft; and without reward or praise
546his silent art he plied. Aeneas stood, bitterly grieving, propped upon his spear; a throng of warriors were near him, and Iulus, sorrowing. The aged man gathered his garments up as leeches do,
551and with skilled hand and Phoebus' herbs of power bustled in vain; in vain his surgery pried at the shaft, and with a forceps strong seized on the buried barb. But Fortune gave no remedy, nor did Apollo aid
556his votary. So more and more grim fear stalks o'er the field of war, and nearer hies the fatal hour; the very heavens are dust; the horsemen charge, and in the midmost camp a rain of javelins pours. The dismal cry
561of men in fierce fight, and of men who fall beneath relentless Mars, rends all the air. Then Venus, by her offspring's guiltless woe sore moved, did cull from Cretan Ida's crest some dittany, with downy leaf and stem
566and flowers of purple bloom—a simple known to mountain goats, when to their haunches clings an arrow gone astray. This Venus brought, mantling her shape in cloud; and this she steeped in bowls of glass, infusing secretly
571ambrosia's healing essence and sweet drops of fragrant panacea. Such a balm aged Iapyx poured upon the wound, though unaware; and sudden from the flesh all pain departed and the blood was staunched,
576while from the gash the arrow uncompelled followed the hand and dropped: his wonted strength flowed freshly through the hero's frame. “Make haste! Bring forth his arms! Why tarry any more?” Iapyx shouted, being first to fire
581their courage 'gainst the foe. “This thing is done not of man's knowledge, nor by sovereign skill; nor has my hand, Aeneas, set thee free. Some mighty god thy vigor gives again for mighty deeds.” Aeneas now put on,
586all fever for the fight, his golden greaves, and, brooking not delay, waved wide his spear. Soon as the corselet and the shield were bound on back and side, he clasped Ascanius to his mailed breast, and through his helmet grim
591tenderly kissed his son. “My boy", he cried, “What valor is and patient, genuine toil learn thou of me; let others guide thy feet to prosperous fortune. Let this hand and sword defend thee through the war and lead thee on
596to high rewards. Thou also play the man! And when thy riper vigor soon shall bloom, forget not in thy heart to ponder well the story of our line. Heed honor's call, like Sire Aeneas and Hector thy close kin.”
601After such farewell word, he from the gates in mighty stature strode, and swung on high his giant spear. With him in serried line Antheus and Mnestheus moved, and all the host from the forsaken fortress poured. The plain
606was darkened with their dust; the startled earth shook where their footing fell. From distant hill Turnus beheld them coming, and the eyes of all Ausonia saw: a chill of fear shot through each soldier's marrow; in their van
611Juturna knew full well the dreadful sound, and fled before it, shuddering. But he hurried his murky cohorts o'er the plain. As when a tempest from the riven sky drives landward o'er mid-ocean, and from far
616the hearts of husbandmen, foreboding woe, quake ruefully,—for this will come and rend their trees asunder, kill the harvests all, and sow destruction broadcast; in its path fly roaring winds, swift heralds of the storm:
621such dire approach the Trojan chieftain showed before his gathered foes. In close array they wedge their ranks about him. With a sword Thymbraeus cuts huge-limbed Osiris down; Mnestheus, Arcetius; from Epulo
626Achates shears the head; from Ufens, Gyas; Tolumnius the augur falls, the same who flung the first spear to the foeman's line. Uprose to heaven the cries. In panic now the Rutules in retreating clouds of dust
631scattered across the plain. Aeneas scorned either the recreant or resisting foe to slaughter, or the men who shoot from far: for through the war-cloud he but seeks the arms of Turnus, and to single combat calls.
636The warrior-maid Juturna, seeing this, distraught with terror, strikes down from his place Metiscus, Turnus' charioteer, who dropped forward among the reins and off the pole. Him leaving on the field, her own hand grasped
641the loosely waving reins, while she took on Metiscus' shape, his voice, and blazoned arms. As when through some rich master's spacious halls speeds the black swallow on her lightsome wing, exploring the high roof, or harvesting
646some scanty morsel for her twittering brood, round empty corridors or garden-pools noisily flitting: so Juturna roams among the hostile ranks, and wings her way behind the swift steeds of the whirling car.
651At divers points she lets the people see her brother's glory, but not yet allows the final tug of war; her pathless flight keeps far away. Aeneas too must take a course circuitous, and follows close
656his foeman's track; Ioud o'er the scattered lines he shouts his challenge. But whene'er his eyes discern the foe, and fain he would confront the flying-footed steeds, Juturna veers the chariot round and flies. What can he do?
661Aeneas' wrath storms vainly to and fro, and wavering purposes his heart divide. Against him lightly leaped Messapus forth, bearing two pliant javelins tipped with steel; and, whirling one in air, he aimed it well,
666with stroke unfailing. Great Aeneas paused in cover of his shield and crouched low down upon his haunches. But the driven spear battered his helmet's peak and plucked away the margin of his plume. Then burst his rage:
671his cunning foes had forced him; so at last, while steeds and chariot in the distance fly, he plunged him in the fray, and called on Jove the altars of that broken oath to see. Now by the war-god's favor he began
676grim, never-pitying slaughter, and flung free the bridle of his rage. What voice divine such horror can make known? What song declare the bloodshed manifold, the princes slain,
681or flying o'er the field from Turnus' blade, or from the Trojan King? Did Jove ordain so vast a shock of arms should interpose 'twixt nations destined to perpetual bond? Aeneas met the Rutule Sucro—thus
686staying the Trojan charge—and with swift blow struck at him sidewise, where the way of death is quickest, cleaving ribs and rounded side with reeking sword. Turnus met Amycus, unhorsed him, though himself afoot, and slew
691Diores, his fair brother (one was pierced fronting the spear, the other felled to earth by strike of sword), and both their severed heads he hung all dripping to his chariot's rim. But Talon, Tanais, and Cethegus brave,
696three in one onset, unto death went down at great Aeneas' hand; and he dispatched ill-starred Onites of Echion's line, fair Peridia's child. Then Turnus slew two Lycian brothers unto Phoebus dear,
701and young Menoetes, an Arcadian, who hated war (though vainly) when he plied his native fisher-craft in Lerna's streams, where from his mean abode he ne'er went forth to wait at great men's doors, but with his sire
706reaped the scant harvest of a rented glebe. as from two sides two conflagrations sweep dry woodlands or full copse of crackling bay, or as, swift-leaping from the mountain-vales, two flooded, foaming rivers seaward roar,
711each on its path of death, not less uproused, speed Turnus and Aeneas o'er the field; now storms their martial rage; now fiercely swells either indomitable heart; and now each hero's full strength to the slaughter moves.
716Behold Murranus, boasting his high birth from far-descended sires of storied name, the line of Latium's kings! Aeneas now with mountain-boulder lays him low in dust, smitten with whirlwind of the monster stone;
721and o'er him fallen under yoke and rein roll his own chariot wheels, while with swift tread the mad hoofs of his horses stamp him down, not knowing him their lord. But Turnus found proud Hyllus fronting him with frantic rage,
726and at his golden helmet launched the shaft that pierced it; in his cloven brain it clung. Nor could thy sword, O Cretheus, save thee then from Turnus, though of bravest Greeks the peer; nor did Cupencus' gods their priest defend
731against Aeneas, but his breast he gave unto the hostile blade; his brazen shield delayed no whit his miserable doom. Thee also, Aeolus, Laurentum saw spread thy huge body dying on the ground;
736yea, dying, thou whom Greeks in serried arms subdued not, nor Achilles' hand that hurled the throne of Priam down: here didst thou touch thy goal of death; one stately house was thine on Ida's mountain, at Lyrnessus, one;
741Laurentum's hallowed earth was but thy grave. Now the whole host contends; all Latium meets all Ilium; Mnestheus and Serestus bold; Messapus, the steed-breaker, and high-soured Asilas; Tuscans in a phalanx proud;
746Arcadian riders of Evander's train: each warrior lifts him to his height supreme of might and skill; no sloth nor lingering now, but in one far-spread conflict all contend. His goddess-mother in Aeneas' mind
751now stirred the purpose to make sudden way against the city-wall, in swift advance of all his line, confounding Latium so with slaughter and surprise. His roving glance, seeking for Turnus through the scattered lines
756this way and that, beholds in distant view the city yet unscathed and calmly free from the wide-raging fight. Then on his soul rushed the swift vision of a mightier war. Mnestheus, Sergestus, and Serestus brave,
761his chosen chiefs, he summons to his side, and stands upon a hillock, whither throng the Teucrian legions, each man holding fast his shield and spear. He, towering high, thus from the rampart to his people calls:
766“Perform my bidding swiftly: Jove's own hand sustains our power. Be ye not slack, because the thing I do is sudden. For this day I will pluck out th' offending root of war,— yon city where Latinus reigns. Unless
771it bear our yoke and heed a conqueror's will, will lay low in dust its blazing towers. Must I wait Turnus' pleasure, till he deign to meet my stroke, and have a mind once more, though vanquished, to show fight? My countrymen,
776see yonder stronghold of their impious war! Bring flames; avenge the broken oath with fire!” Scarce had he said, when with consenting souls, they speed them to the walls in dense array, forming a wedge. Ladders now leap in air,
781and sudden-blazing fires. In various war some troops run charging at the city-gates, and slay the guards; some fling the whirling spear and darken heaven with arrows. In their van, his right hand lifted to the wails and towers,
786Aeneas, calling on the gods to hear, loudly upbraids Latinus that once more conflict is thrust upon him; that once more Italians are his foes and violate their second pledge of peace. So blazes forth
791dissension 'twixt the frighted citizens: some would give o'er the city and fling wide its portals to the Trojan, or drag forth the King himself to parley; others fly to arms, and at the rampart make a stand.
796'T is thus some shepherd from a caverned crag stirs up the nested bees with plenteous fume of bitter smoke; they, posting to and fro, fly desperate round the waxen citadel, and whet their buzzing fury; through their halls
801the stench and blackness rolls; within the caves noise and confusion ring; the fatal cloud pours forth incessant on the vacant air. But now a new adversity befell the weary Latins, which with common woe
806shook the whole city to its heart. The Queen, when at her hearth she saw the close assault of enemies, the walls beset, and fire spreading from roof to roof, but no defence from the Rutulian arms, nor front of war
811with Turnus leading,—she, poor soul, believed her youthful champion in the conflict slain; and, mad with sudden sorrow, shrieked aloud against herself, the guilty chief and cause of all this ill; and, babbling her wild woe
816in endless words, she rent her purple pall, and with her own hand from the rafter swung a noose for her foul death. The tidings dire among the moaning wives of Latium spread, and young Lavinia's frantic fingers tore
821her rose-red cheek and hyacinthine hair. Then all her company of women shrieked in anguish, and the wailing echoed far along the royal seat; from whence the tale of sorrow through the peopled city flew;
826hearts sank; Latinus rent his robes, appalled to see his consort's doom, his falling throne; and heaped foul dust upon his hoary hair. Meanwhile the warrior Turnus far afield pursued a scattered few; but less his speed,
831for less and less his worn steeds worked his will; and now wind-wafted to his straining ear a nameless horror came, a dull, wild roar, the city's tumult and distressful cry. “Alack,” he cried, “what stirs in yonder walls
836such anguish? Or why rings from side to side such wailing through the city?” Asking so, he tightened frantic grasp upon the rein. To him his sister, counterfeiting still the charioteer Metiscus, while she swayed
841rein, steeds, and chariot, this answer made: “Hither, my Turnus, let our arms pursue the sons of Troy. Here lies the nearest way to speedy triumph. There be other swords to keep yon city safe. Aeneas now
846storms against Italy in active war; we also on this Trojan host may hurl grim havoc. Nor shalt thou the strife give o'er in glory second, nor in tale of slain.” Turnus replied, “O sister, Iong ago
851I knew thee what thou wert, when guilefully thou didst confound their treaty, and enlist thy whole heart in this war. No Ionger now thy craft divine deceives me. But what god compelled thee, from Olympus fallen so far,
856to bear these cruel burdens? Wouldst thou see thy wretched brother slaughtered? For what else is in my power? What flattering hazard still holds forth deliverance? My own eyes have seen Murranus (more than any now on earth
861my chosen friend) who, calling on my name, died like a hero by a hero's sword. Ill-fated Ufens fell, enduring not to Iook upon my shame; the Teucrians divide his arms for spoil and keep his bones.
866Shall I stand tamely, till my hearth and home are levelled with the ground? For this would be the only blow not fallen. Shall my sword not give the lie to Drances' insolence? Shall I take flight and let my country see
871her Turnus renegade? Is death a thing so much to weep for? O propitious dead, O spirits of the dark, receive and bless me whom yon gods of light have cast away! Sacred and guiltless shall my soul descend
876to join your company; I have not been unworthy offspring of my kingly sires.” Scarce had he said, when through the foeman's line Saces dashed forth upon a foaming steed, his face gashed by an arrow. He cried loud
881on Turnus' name: “O Turnus, but in thee our last hope lies. Have pity on the woe of all thy friends and kin! Aeneas hurls his thunderbolt of war, and menaces to crush the strongholds of all Italy,
886and lay them low; already where we dwell his firebrands are raining. Unto thee the Latins Iook, and for thy valor call. The King sits dumb and helpless, even he, in doubt which son-in-law, which cause to choose.
891Yea, and the Queen, thy truest friend, is fallen by her own hand; gone mad with grief and fear, she fled the light of day. At yonder gates Messapus only and Atinas bear the brunt of battle; round us closely draw
896the serried ranks; their naked blades of steel are thick as ripening corn; wilt thou the while speed in thy chariot o'er this empty plain?” Dazed and bewildered by such host of ills, Turnus stood dumb; in his pent bosom stirred
901shame, frenzy, sorrow, a despairing love goaded to fury, and a warrior's pride of valor proven. But when first the light of reason to his blinded soul returned,
906he strained his flaming eyeballs to behold the distant wall, and from his chariot gazed in wonder at the lordly citadel. For, lo, a pointed peak of flame uprolled from tier to tier, and surging skyward seized
911a tower—the very tower his own proud hands had built of firm-set beams and wheeled in place, and slung its Iofty bridges high in air. “Fate is too strong, my sister! Seek no more to stay the stroke. But let me hence pursue
916that path where Heaven and cruel Fortune call. Aeneas I must meet; and I must bear the bitterness of death, whate'er it be. O sister, thou shalt look upon my shame no longer. But first grant a madman's will!”
921He spoke; and leaping from his chariot, sped through foes and foemen's spears, not seeing now his sister's sorrow, as in swift career he burst from line to line. Thus headlong falls a mountain-boulder by a whirlwind flung
926from lofty peak, or loosened by much rain, or by insidious lapse of seasons gone; the huge, resistless crag goes plunging down by leaps and bounds, o'erwhelming as it flies tall forests, Bocks and herds, and mortal men:
931so through the scattered legions Turnus ran straight to the city walls, where all the ground was drenched with blood, and every passing air shrieked with the noise of spears. His lifted hand made sign of silence as he loudly called:
936“Refrain, Rutulians! O ye Latins all, your spears withhold! The issue of the fray is all my own. I only can repair our broken truce by judgment of the sword.” Back fell the hostile lines, and cleared the field.
941But Sire Aeneas, hearing Turnus' name, down the steep rampart from the citadel unlingering tried, all lesser task laid by, with joy exultant and dread-thundering arms. Like Athos' crest he loomed, or soaring top
946of Eryx, when the nodding oaks resound, or sovereign Apennine that lifts in air his forehead of triumphant snow. All eyes of Troy, Rutulia, and Italy were fixed his way; and all who kept a guard
951on lofty rampart, or in siege below were battering the foundations, now laid by their implements and arms. Latinus too stood awestruck to behold such champions, born in lands far-sundered, met upon one field
956for one decisive stroke of sword with sword. Swift striding forth where spread the vacant plain, they hurled their spears from far; then in close fight the brazen shields rang. Beneath their tread Earth groaned aloud, as with redoubling blows
961their falchions fell; nor could a mortal eye 'twixt chance and courage the dread work divide. As o'er Taburnus' top, or spacious hills of Sila, in relentless shock of war, two bulls rush brow to brow, while terror-pale
966the herdsmen fly; the herd is hushed with fear; the heifers dumbly marvel which shall be true monarch of the grove, whom all the kine obedient follow; but the rival twain, commingling mightily wound after wound,
971thrust with opposing horns, and bathe their necks in streams of blood; the forest far and wide repeats their bellowing rage: not otherwise Trojan Aeneas and King Daunus' son clashed shield on shield, till all the vaulted sky
976felt the tremendous sound. The hand of Jove held scales in equipoise, and threw thereon th' unequal fortunes of the heroes twain: one to vast labors doomed and one to die. Soon Turnus, reckless of the risk, leaped forth,
981upreached his whole height to his lifted sword, and struck: the Trojans and the Latins pale cried mightily, and all eyes turned one way expectant. But the weak, perfidious sword broke off, and as the blow descended, failed
986its furious master, whose sole succor now was flight; and swifter than the wind he flew. But, lo! a hilt of form and fashion strange lay in his helpless hand. For in his haste, when to the battle-field his team he drove,
991his father's sword forgotten (such the tale), he snatched Metiscus' weapon. This endured to strike at Trojan backs, as he pursued, but when on Vulcan's armory divine its earthly metal smote, the brittle blade
996broke off like ice, and o'er the yellow sands in flashing fragments scattered. Turnus now takes mad flight o'er the distant plain, and winds in wavering gyration round and round; for Troy's close ring confines him, and one way
1001a wide swamp lies, one way a frowning wall. But lo! Aeneas—though the arrow's wound still slackens him and oft his knees refuse their wonted step—pursues infuriate his quailing foe, and dogs him stride for stride.
1006As when a stag-hound drives the baffled roe to torrent's edge (or where the flaunting snare of crimson feathers fearfully confines) and with incessant barking swift pursues; while through the snared copse or embankment high
1011the frightened creature by a thousand ways doubles and turns; but that keen Umbrian hound with wide jaws, undesisting, grasps his prey, or, thinking that he grasps it, snaps his teeth cracking together, and deludes his rage,
1016devouring empty air: then peal on peal the cry of hunters bursts; the lake and shore reecho, and confusion fills the sky:— such was the flight of Turnus, who reviled the Rutules as he fled, and loudly sued
1021of each by name to fetch his own lost sword. Aeneas vowed destruction and swift death to all who dared come near, and terrified their trembling souls with menace that his power would raze their city to the ground. Straightway,
1026though wounded, he gave chase, and five times round in circles ran; then winding left and right coursed the swift circles o'er. For, lo! the prize is no light laurel or a youthful game: for Turnus' doom and death their race is run.
1031But haply in that place a sacred tree, a bitter-leaved wild-olive, once had grown, to Faunus dear, and venerated oft by mariners safe-rescued from the waves, who nailed their gifts thereon, or hung in air
1036their votive garments to Laurentum's god. But, heeding not, the Teucrians had shorn the stem away, to clear the field for war. 'T was here Aeneas' lance stuck fast; its speed had driven it firmly inward, and it clave
1041to the hard, clinging root. Anchises' son bent o'er it, and would wrench his weapon free, and follow with a far-flung javelin the swift out-speeding foe. But Turnus then, bewildered and in terror, cried aloud:
1046“O Faunus, pity me and heed my prayer! Hold fast his weapon, O benignant Earth! If ere these hands have rendered offering due, where yon polluting Teucrians fight and slay.” He spoke; invoking succor of the god,
1051with no Iost prayer. For tugging valiantly and laboring long against the stubborn stem, Aeneas with his whole strength could but fail to Ioose the clasping tree. While fiercely thus he strove and strained, Juturna once again,
1056wearing the charioteer Metiscus' shape, ran to her brother's aid, restoring him his own true sword. But Venus, wroth to see what license to the dauntless nymph was given, herself came near, and plucked from that deep root
1061the javelin forth. So both with lofty mien strode forth new-armed, new-hearted: one made bold by his good sword, the other, spear in hand, uptowered in wrath, and with confronting brows they set them to the war-god's breathless game.
1066Meanwhile th' Olympian sovereign supreme to Juno speaks, as from an amber cloud the strife she views: “My Queen, what end shall be? What yet remains? Thou seest Aeneas' name numbered with tutelary gods of power;
1071and well thou know'st what station in the sky his starward destiny intends. What scheme vexes thy bosom still? What stubborn hope, fostered in cloud and cold? O, was it well to desecrate a god with mortal wound;
1076or well (what were a nymph unhelped by thee?) to give back Turnus his lost sword, and lend strength unavailing to the fallen brave? Give o'er, and to our supplication yield; let not such grief thy voiceless heart devour;
1081nor from thy sweet lips let thy mournful care so oft assail my mind. For now is come the last decisive day. Thy power availed to vex the Trojans upon land and sea, to wake abominable war, bring shame
1086upon a royal house, and mix the songs of marriage and the grave: but further act I thee refuse.” Such was the word of Jove. Thus Saturn's daughter answered, drooping low her brows divine: “Because, great Jove, I knew
1091thy pleasure, I from yonder earth retired and Turnus' cause, tho, with unwilling mind. Else shouldst thou not behold me at this hour Upon my solitary throne of air enduring fair and foul; I should be found
1096flame-girded on the battle's deadly verge, tempting the Teucrians to a hated war. Yea, 't was my motion thrust Juturna forth to help her hapless brother. I approved— to save his life—that she should be too bold;
1101but bade no whirl of spear nor bending bow: I swear it by th' inexorable fount whence flow the Stygian rivers, the sole seat where gods of light bow down in awful prayer. I yield me now; heart-sick I quit the war.
1106But ask one boon, which in the book of fate is not denied; for Latium's good I sue, and high prerogatives of men that be thy kith and kin: when happy wedlock vows (aye, be it so!) shall join them by strong laws
1111of chartered peace, let not the Latins Iose their ancient, native name. Bid them not pass for Trojans, nor be hailed as Teucer's sons; no alien speech, no alien garb impose. Let it be Latium ever; let the lords
1116of Alba unto distant ages reign; let the strong, master blood of Rome receive the manhood and the might of Italy. Troy perished: let its name and glory die!” The Author of mankind and all that is,
1121smiling benignant, answered thus her plea: “Jove's sister true, and Saturn's second child, what seas of anger vex thy heart divine! But come, relinquish thy rash, fruitless rage: I give thee this desire, and yield to thee
1126free submission. The Ausonian tribes shall keep the speech and customs of their sires; the name remains as now; the Teucrian race, abiding in the land, shall but infuse the mixture of its blood. I will bestow
1131a league of worship, and to Latins give one language only. From the mingled breed a people shall come forth whom thou shalt see surpass all mortal men and even outvie the faithfulness of gods; for none that live
1136shall render to thy name an equal praise.” So Juno bowed consent, and let her will be changed, as with much comfort in her breast she left Olympus and her haunt of cloud. After these things Jove gave his kingly mind
1141to further action, that he might forthwith cut off Juturna from her brother's cause. Two plagues there be, called Furies, which were spawned at one birth from the womb of wrathful Night with dread Megaera, phantom out of hell;
1146and of their mother's gift, each Fury wears grim-coiling serpents and tempestuous wings. These at Jove's throne attend, and watch the doors of that stern King—to whet the edge of fear for wretched mortals, when the King of gods
1151hurls pestilence and death, or terrifies offending nations with the scourge of war. 'T was one of these which Jove sent speeding down from his ethereal seat, and bade her cross the pathway of Juturna for a sign.
1156Her wings she spread, and earthward seemed to ride upon a whirling storm. As when some shaft, with Parthian poison tipped or Cretan gall, a barb of death, shoots cloudward from the bow, and hissing through the dark hastes forth unseen:
1161so earthward flew that daughter of the night. Soon as she spied the Teucrians in array and Turnus' lines, she shrivelled to the shape of that small bird which on lone tombs and towers sits perching through the midnight, and prolongs
1166in shadow and deep gloom her troubling cry. In such disguise the Fury, screaming shrill, flitted in Turnus' face, and with her wings smote on his hollow shield. A strange affright palsied his every limb; each several hair
1171lifted with horror, and his gasping voice died on his lips. But when Juturna knew from far the shrieking fiend's infernal wing, she loosed her tresses, and their beauty tore, to tell a sister's woe; with clenching hands
1176she marred her cheeks and beat her naked breast. “What remedy or help, my Turnus, now is in a sister's power? What way remains for stubborn me? Or with what further guile thy life prolong? What can my strength oppose
1181to this foul thing? I quit the strife at last. Withdraw thy terror from my fearful eyes, thou bird accurst! The tumult of thy wings I know full well, and thy death-boding call. The harsh decrees of that large-minded Jove
1186I plainly see. Is this the price he pays for my lost maidenhood? Why flatter me with immortality, and snatch away my property of death? What boon it were to end this grief this hour, and hie away
1191to be my brother's helpmeet in his grave! I, an immortal? O, what dear delight is mine, sweet brother, living without thee? O, where will earth yawn deep enough and wide to hide a goddess with the ghosts below?”
1196She spoke; and veiled in glistening mantle gray her mournful brow; then in her stream divine the nymph sank sighing to its utmost cave. Aeneas now is near; and waving wide a spear like some tall tree, he called aloud
1201with unrelenting heart: “What stays thee now? Or wherefore, Turnus, backward fly? Our work is not a foot-race, but the wrathful strife of man with man. Aye, hasten to put on tricks and disguises; gather all thou hast
1206of skill or courage; wish thou wert a bird to fly to starry heaven, or hide thy head safe in the hollow ground!” The other then shook his head, saying: “It is not thy words, not thy hot words, affright me, savage man!
1211Only the gods I fear, and hostile Jove.” Silent he stood, and glancing round him saw a huge rock Iying by, huge rock and old, a landmark justly sundering field from field, which scarce six strong men's shoulders might upraise,
1216such men as mother-Earth brings forth to-day: this grasped he with impetuous hand and hurled, stretched at full height and roused to all his speed, against his foe. Yet scarcely could he feel it was himself that ran, himself that moved
1221with lifted hand to fling the monster stone; for his knees trembled, and his languid blood ran shuddering cold; nor could the stone he threw, tumbling in empty air, attain its goal nor strike the destined blow. But as in dreams,
1226when helpless slumber binds the darkened eyes, we seem with fond desire to tread in vain along a lengthening road, yet faint and fall when straining to the utmost, and the tongue is palsied, and the body's wonted power
1231obeys not, and we have no speech or cry: so unto Turnus, whatsoever way his valiant spirit moved, the direful Fiend stopped in the act his will. Swift-changing thoughts rush o'er his soul; on the Rutulian host,
1236then at the town he glares, shrinks back in fear, and trembles at th' impending lance; nor sees what path to fly, what way confront the foe:— no chariot now, nor sister-charioteer! Above his faltering terror gleams in air
1241Aeneas' fatal spear; whose eye perceived the moment of success, and all whose strength struck forth: the vast and ponderous rock outflung from engines which make breach in sieged walls not louder roars nor breaks in thunder-sound
1246more terrible; like some black whirlwind flew the death-delivering spear, and, rending wide the corselet's edges and the heavy rim of the last circles of the seven-fold shield, pierced, hissing, through the thigh. Huge Turnus sinks
1251o'erwhelmed upon the ground with doubling knee. Up spring the Rutules, groaning; the whole hill roars answering round them, and from far and wide the lofty groves give back an echoing cry. Lowly, with suppliant eyes, and holding forth
1256his hand in prayer: “I have my meed,” he cried, “Nor ask for mercy. Use what Fate has given! But if a father's grief upon thy heart have power at all,—for Sire Anchises once to thee was dear,—I pray thee to show grace
1261to Daunus in his desolate old age; and me, or, if thou wilt, my lifeless clay, to him and his restore. For, lo, thou art my conqueror! Ausonia's eyes have seen me suppliant, me fallen. Thou hast made
1266Lavinia thy bride. Why further urge our enmity?”With swift and dreadful arms Aeneas o'er him stood, with rolling eyes, but his bare sword restraining; for such words moved on him more and more: when suddenly,
1271over the mighty shoulder slung, he saw that fatal baldric studded with bright gold which youthful Pallas wore, what time he fell vanquished by Turnus' stroke, whose shoulders now carried such trophy of a foeman slain.
1276Aeneas' eyes took sure and slow survey of spoils that were the proof and memory of cruel sorrow; then with kindling rage and terrifying look, he cried, “Wouldst thou, clad in a prize stripped off my chosen friend,
1281escape this hand? In this thy mortal wound 't is Pallas has a victim; Pallas takes the lawful forfeit of thy guilty blood!” He said, and buried deep his furious blade in the opposer's heart. The failing limbs
1286sank cold and helpless; and the vital breath with moan of wrath to darkness fled away.
Book 1
1Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram; multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,
6inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum, Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae. Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores
11impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni, Karthago, Italiam contra Tiberinaque longe ostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli; quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam
16posthabita coluisse Samo; hic illius arma, hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse, si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque. Progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;
21hinc populum late regem belloque superbum venturum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas. Id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli, prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis— necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores
26exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae, et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores. His accensa super, iactatos aequore toto Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,
31arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos errabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum. Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem! Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,
36cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore volnus, haec secum: Mene incepto desistere victam, nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem? Quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,
41unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei? Ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem, disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis, illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto.
46Ast ego, quae divom incedo regina, Iovisque et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos bella gero! Et quisquam numen Iunonis adoret praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem? Talia flammato secum dea corde volutans
51nimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus austris, Aeoliam venit. Hic vasto rex Aeolus antro luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras imperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat. Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis
56circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras. Ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundum quippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras. Sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris,
61hoc metuens, molemque et montis insuper altos imposuit, regemque dedit, qui foedere certo et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas. Ad quem tum Iuno supplex his vocibus usa est: Aeole, namque tibi divom pater atque hominum rex
66et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento, gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor, Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penates: incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppes, aut age diversos et disiice corpora ponto.
71Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore nymphae, quarum quae forma pulcherrima Deiopea, conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo, omnis ut tecum meritis pro talibus annos exigat, et pulchra faciat te prole parentem.
76Aeolus haec contra: Tuus, O regina, quid optes explorare labor; mihi iussa capessere fas est. Tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divom, nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.
81Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem impulit in latus: ac venti, velut agmine facto, qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant. Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis
86Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus. Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum. Eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque Teucrorum ex oculis; ponto nox incubat atra. Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether,
91praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem. Extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra: ingemit, et duplicis tendens ad sidera palmas talia voce refert: O terque quaterque beati, quis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis
96contigit oppetere! O Danaum fortissime gentis Tydide! Mene Iliacis occumbere campis non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra, saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector, ubi ingens Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis
101scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit? Talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella velum adversa ferit, fluctusque ad sidera tollit. Franguntur remi; tum prora avertit, et undis dat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.
106Hi summo in fluctu pendent; his unda dehiscens terram inter fluctus aperit; furit aestus harenis. Tris Notus abreptas in saxa latentia torquet— saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras— dorsum immane mari summo; tris Eurus ab alto
111in brevia et Syrtis urguet, miserabile visu, inliditque vadis atque aggere cingit harenae. Unam, quae Lycios fidumque vehebat Oronten, ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontus in puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magister
116volvitur in caput; ast illam ter fluctus ibidem torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex. Adparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto, arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas. Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati,
121et qua vectus Abas, et qua grandaevus Aletes, vicit hiems; laxis laterum compagibus omnes accipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt. Interea magno misceri murmure pontum, emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imis
126stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et alto prospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda. Disiectam Aeneae, toto videt aequore classem, fluctibus oppressos Troas caelique ruina, nec latuere doli fratrem Iunonis et irae.
131Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur: Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri? Iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti, miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles? Quos ego—sed motos praestat componere fluctus.
136Post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis. Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro: non illi imperium pelagi saevumque tridentem, sed mihi sorte datum. Tenet ille immania saxa, vestras, Eure, domos; illa se iactet in aula
141Aeolus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet. Sic ait, et dicto citius tumida aequora placat, collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit. Cymothoe simul et Triton adnixus acuto detrudunt navis scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;
146et vastas aperit syrtis, et temperat aequor, atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas. Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est seditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus, iamque faces et saxa volant—furor arma ministrat;
151tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant; ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet,— sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam prospiciens genitor caeloque invectus aperto
156flectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo. Defessi Aeneadae, quae proxima litora, cursu contendunt petere, et Libyae vertuntur ad oras. Est in secessu longo locus: insula portum efficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto
161frangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos. Hinc atque hinc vastae rupes geminique minantur in caelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice late aequora tuta silent; tum silvis scaena coruscis desuper horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra.
166Fronte sub adversa scopulis pendentibus antrum, intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo, nympharum domus: hic fessas non vincula navis ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu. Huc septem Aeneas collectis navibus omni
171ex numero subit; ac magno telluris amore egressi optata potiuntur Troes harena, et sale tabentis artus in litore ponunt. Ac primum silici scintillam excudit Achates, succepitque ignem foliis, atque arida circum
176nutrimenta dedit, rapuitque in fomite flammam. Tum Cererem corruptam undis Cerealiaque arma expediunt fessi rerum, frugesque receptas et torrere parant flammis et frangere saxo. Aeneas scopulum interea conscendit, et omnem
181prospectum late pelago petit, Anthea si quem iactatum vento videat Phrygiasque biremis, aut Capyn, aut celsis in puppibus arma Caici. Navem in conspectu nullam, tris litore cervos prospicit errantis; hos tota armenta sequuntur
186a tergo, et longum per vallis pascitur agmen. Constitit hic, arcumque manu celerisque sagittas corripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates; ductoresque ipsos primum, capita alta ferentis cornibus arboreis, sternit, tum volgus, et omnem
191miscet agens telis nemora inter frondea turbam; nec prius absistit, quam septem ingentia victor corpora fundat humi, et numerum cum navibus aequet. Hinc portum petit, et socios partitur in omnes. Vina bonus quae deinde cadis onerarat Acestes
196litore Trinacrio dederatque abeuntibus heros, dividit, et dictis maerentia pectora mulcet: O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum— O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem. Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantis
201accestis scopulos, vos et Cyclopea saxa experti: revocate animos, maestumque timorem mittite: forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas
206ostendunt; illic fas regna resurgere Troiae. Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis. Talia voce refert, curisque ingentibus aeger spem voltu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem. Illi se praedae accingunt, dapibusque futuris;
211tergora deripiunt costis et viscera nudant; pars in frusta secant veribusque trementia figunt; litore aena locant alii, flammasque ministrant. Tum victu revocant vires, fusique per herbam implentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae.
216Postquam exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae, amissos longo socios sermone requirunt, spemque metumque inter dubii, seu vivere credant, sive extrema pati nec iam exaudire vocatos. Praecipue pius Aeneas nunc acris Oronti,
221nunc Amyci casum gemit et crudelia secum fata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum. Et iam finis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summo despiciens mare velivolum terrasque iacentis litoraque et latos populos, sic vertice caeli
226constitit, et Libyae defixit lumina regnis. Atque illum talis iactantem pectore curas tristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentis adloquitur Venus: O qui res hominumque deumque aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres,
231quid meus Aeneas in te committere tantum, quid Troes potuere, quibus, tot funera passis, cunctus ob Italiam terrarum clauditur orbis? Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis, hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,
236qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent, pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit? Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens; nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos
241insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum? Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis, Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intima tutus regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi, unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis
246it mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti. Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit Teucrorum, et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit Troia; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit: nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem,
251navibus (infandum!) amissis, unius ob iram prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris. Hic pietatis honos? Sic nos in sceptra reponis? Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum, voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat,
256oscula libavit natae, dehinc talia fatur: Parce metu, Cytherea: manent immota tuorum fata tibi; cernes urbem et promissa Lavini moenia, sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli magnanimum Aenean; neque me sententia vertit.
261Hic tibi (fabor enim, quando haec te cura remordet, longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo) bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet, tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas,
266ternaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis. At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo additur,—Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,— triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini
271transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam. Hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos gente sub Hectorea, donec regina sacerdos, Marte gravis, geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem. Inde lupae fulvo nutricis tegmine laetus
276Romulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet. His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono; imperium sine fine dedi. Quin aspera Iuno, quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat,
281consilia in melius referet, mecumque fovebit Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam: sic placitum. Veniet lustris labentibus aetas, cum domus Assaraci Phthiam clarasque Mycenas servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis.
286Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar, imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris,— Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo. Hunc tu olim caelo, spoliis Orientis onustum, accipies secura; vocabitur hic quoque votis.
291Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis; cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus, iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus, saeva sedens super arma, et centum vinctus aenis
296post tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore cruento. Haec ait, et Maia genitum demittit ab alto, ut terrae, utque novae pateant Karthaginis arces hospitio Teucris, ne fati nescia Dido finibus arceret: volat ille per aera magnum
301remigio alarum, ac Libyae citus adstitit oris. Et iam iussa facit, ponuntque ferocia Poeni corda volente deo; in primis regina quietum accipit in Teucros animum mentemque benignam. At pius Aeneas, per noctem plurima volvens,
306ut primum lux alma data est, exire locosque explorare novos, quas vento accesserit oras, qui teneant, nam inculta videt, hominesne feraene, quaerere constituit, sociisque exacta referre Classem in convexo nemorum sub rupe cavata
311arboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbris occulit; ipse uno graditur comitatus Achate, bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro. Cui mater media sese tulit obvia silva, virginis os habitumque gerens, et virginis arma
316Spartanae, vel qualis equos Threissa fatigat Harpalyce, volucremque fuga praevertitur Hebrum. Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcum venatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis, nuda genu, nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.
321Ac prior, Heus inquit iuvenes, monstrate mearum vidistis si quam hic errantem forte sororum, succinctam pharetra et maculosae tegmine lyncis, aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem. Sic Venus; et Veneris contra sic filius orsus:
326Nulla tuarum audita mihi neque visa sororum— O quam te memorem, virgo? Namque haud tibi voltus mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat: O, dea certe— an Phoebi soror? an nympharum sanguinis una?— sis felix, nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem,
331et, quo sub caelo tandem, quibus orbis in oris iactemur, doceas. Ignari hominumque locorumque erramus, vento huc vastis et fluctibus acti: multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra. Tum Venus: Haud equidem tali me dignor honore;
336virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram, purpureoque alte suras vincire cothurno. Punica regna vides, Tyrios et Agenoris urbem; sed fines Libyci, genus intractabile bello. Imperium Dido Tyria regit urbe profecta,
341germanum fugiens. Longa est iniuria, longae ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum. Huic coniunx Sychaeus erat, ditissimus agri Phoenicum, et magno miserae dilectus amore, cui pater intactam dederat, primisque iugarat
346ominibus. Sed regna Tyri germanus habebat Pygmalion, scelere ante alios immanior omnes. Quos inter medius venit furor. Ille Sychaeum impius ante aras, atque auri caecus amore, clam ferro incautum superat, securus amorum
351germanae; factumque diu celavit, et aegram, multa malus simulans, vana spe lusit amantem. Ipsa sed in somnis inhumati venit imago coniugis, ora modis attollens pallida miris, crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro
356nudavit, caecumque domus scelus omne retexit. Tum celerare fugam patriaque excedere suadet, auxiliumque viae veteres tellure recludit thesauros, ignotum argenti pondus et auri. His commota fugam Dido sociosque parabat:
361conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae, corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari Pygmalionis opes pelago; dux femina facti. Devenere locos, ubi nunc ingentia cernis
366moenia surgentemque novae Karthaginis arcem, mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam, taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo. Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris, quove tenetis iter? Quaerenti talibus ille
371suspirans, imoque trahens a pectore vocem: O dea, si prima repetens ab origine pergam, et vacet annalis nostrorum audire laborum, ante diem clauso componat Vesper Olympo. Nos Troia antiqua, si vestras forte per auris
376Troiae nomen iit, diversa per aequora vectos forte sua Libycis tempestas adpulit oris. Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste Penates classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus. Italiam quaero patriam et genus ab Iove summo.
381Bis denis Phrygium conscendi navibus aequor, matre dea monstrante viam, data fata secutus; vix septem convolsae undis Euroque supersunt. Ipse ignotus, egens, Libyae deserta peragro, Europa atque Asia pulsus. Nec plura querentem
386passa Venus medio sic interfata dolore est: Quisquis es, haud, credo, invisus caelestibus auras vitalis carpis, Tyriam qui adveneris urbem. Perge modo, atque hinc te reginae ad limina perfer, Namque tibi reduces socios classemque relatam
391nuntio, et in tutum versis aquilonibus actam, ni frustra augurium vani docuere parentes. Aspice bis senos laetantis agmine cycnos, aetheria quos lapsa plaga Iovis ales aperto turbabat caelo; nunc terras ordine longo
396aut capere, aut captas iam despectare videntur: ut reduces illi ludunt stridentibus alis, et coetu cinxere polum, cantusque dedere, haud aliter puppesque tuae pubesque tuorum aut portum tenet aut pleno subit ostia velo.
401Perge modo, et, qua te ducit via, dirige gressum. Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit, ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem spiravere, pedes vestis defluxit ad imos, et vera incessu patuit dea. Ille ubi matrem
406adgnovit, tali fugientem est voce secutus: Quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis ludis imaginibus? Cur dextrae iungere dextram non datur, ac veras audire et reddere voces? Talibus incusat, gressumque ad moenia tendit:
411at Venus obscuro gradientes aere saepsit, et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu, cernere ne quis eos, neu quis contingere posset, molirive moram, aut veniendi poscere causas. Ipsa Paphum sublimis abit, sedesque revisit
416laeta suas, ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaeo ture calent arae, sertisque recentibus halant. Corripuere viam interea, qua semita monstrat. Iamque ascendebant collem, qui plurimus urbi imminet, adversasque adspectat desuper arces.
421Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam, miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum. Instant ardentes Tyrii pars ducere muros, molirique arcem et manibus subvolvere saxa, pars optare locum tecto et concludere sulco.
427hic portus alii effodiunt; hic alta theatris fundamenta locant alii, immanisque columnas rupibus excidunt, scaenis decora alta futuris. Qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos
432educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas, aut onera accipiunt venientum, aut agmine facto ignavom fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent: fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.
437O fortunati, quorum iam moenia surgunt! Aeneas ait, et fastigia suspicit urbis. Infert se saeptus nebula, mirabile dictu, per medios, miscetque viris, neque cernitur ulli. Lucus in urbe fuit media, laetissimus umbra,
442quo primum iactati undis et turbine Poeni effodere loco signum, quod regia Iuno monstrarat, caput acris equi; sic nam fore bello egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem. Hic templum Iunoni ingens Sidonia Dido
447condebat, donis opulentum et numine divae, aerea cui gradibus surgebant limina, nexaeque aere trabes, foribus cardo stridebat aenis. Hoc primum in luco nova res oblata timorem leniit, hic primum Aeneas sperare salutem
452ausus, et adflictis melius confidere rebus. Namque sub ingenti lustrat dum singula templo, reginam opperiens, dum, quae fortuna sit urbi, artificumque manus inter se operumque laborem miratur, videt Iliacas ex ordine pugnas,
457bellaque iam fama totum volgata per orbem, Atridas, Priamumque, et saevum ambobus Achillem. Constitit, et lacrimans, Quis iam locus inquit Achate, quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris? En Priamus! Sunt hic etiam sua praemia laudi;
462sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt. Solve metus; feret haec aliquam tibi fama salutem. Sic ait, atque animum pictura pascit inani, multa gemens, largoque umectat flumine voltum. Namque videbat, uti bellantes Pergama circum
467hac fugerent Graii, premeret Troiana iuventus, hac Phryges, instaret curru cristatus Achilles. Nec procul hinc Rhesi niveis tentoria velis adgnoscit lacrimans, primo quae prodita somno Tydides multa vastabat caede cruentus,
472ardentisque avertit equos in castra, prius quam pabula gustassent Troiae Xanthumque bibissent. Parte alia fugiens amissis Troilus armis, infelix puer atque impar congressus Achilli, fertur equis, curruque haeret resupinus inani,
477lora tenens tamen; huic cervixque comaeque trahuntur per terram, et versa pulvis inscribitur hasta. Interea ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant crinibus Iliades passis peplumque ferebant, suppliciter tristes et tunsae pectora palmis;
482diva solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat. Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectora muros, exanimumque auro corpus vendebat Achilles. Tum vero ingentem gemitum dat pectore ab imo, ut spolia, ut currus, utque ipsum corpus amici,
487tendentemque manus Priamum conspexit inermis. Se quoque principibus permixtum adgnovit Achivis, Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma. Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis Penthesilea furens, mediisque in milibus ardet,
492aurea subnectens exsertae cingula mammae, bellatrix, audetque viris concurrere virgo. Haec dum Dardanio Aeneae miranda videntur, dum stupet, obtutuque haeret defixus in uno, regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido,
497incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva. Qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae hinc atque hinc glomerantur oreades; illa pharetram fert umero, gradiensque deas supereminet omnis:
502Latonae tacitum pertemptant gaudia pectus: talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris. Tum foribus divae, media testudine templi, saepta armis, solioque alte subnixa resedit.
507Iura dabat legesque viris, operumque laborem partibus aequabat iustis, aut sorte trahebat: cum subito Aeneas concursu accedere magno Anthea Sergestumque videt fortemque Cloanthum, Teucrorumque alios, ater quos aequore turbo
512dispulerat penitusque alias avexerat oras. Obstipuit simul ipse simul perculsus Achates laetitiaque metuque; avidi coniungere dextras ardebant; sed res animos incognita turbat. Dissimulant, et nube cava speculantur amicti,
517quae fortuna viris, classem quo litore linquant, quid veniant; cunctis nam lecti navibus ibant, orantes veniam, et templum clamore petebant. Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi, maxumus Ilioneus placido sic pectore coepit:
522O Regina, novam cui condere Iuppiter urbem iustitiaque dedit gentis frenare superbas, Troes te miseri, ventis maria omnia vecti, oramus, prohibe infandos a navibus ignis, parce pio generi, et propius res aspice nostras.
527Non nos aut ferro Libycos populare Penatis venimus, aut raptas ad litora vertere praedas; non ea vis animo, nec tanta superbia victis. Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt, terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae;
532Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem. Hic cursus fuit: cum subito adsurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion in vada caeca tulit, penitusque procacibus austris
537perque undas, superante salo, perque invia saxa dispulit; huc pauci vestris adnavimus oris. Quod genus hoc hominum? Quaeve hunc tam barbara morem permittit patria? Hospitio prohibemur harenae; bella cient, primaque vetant consistere terra.
542Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma at sperate deos memores fandi atque nefandi. Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo iustior alter, nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis. Quem si fata virum servant, si vescitur aura
547aetheria, neque adhuc crudelibus occubat umbris, non metus; officio nec te certasse priorem paeniteat. Sunt et Siculis regionibus urbes arvaque, Troianoque a sanguine clarus Acestes. Quassatam ventis liceat subducere classem,
552et silvis aptare trabes et stringere remos: si datur Italiam, sociis et rege recepto, tendere, ut Italiam laeti Latiumque petamus; sin absumpta salus, et te, pater optume Teucrum, pontus habet Lybiae, nec spes iam restat Iuli,
557at freta Sicaniae saltem sedesque paratas, unde huc advecti, regemque petamus Acesten. Talibus Ilioneus; cuncti simul ore fremebant Dardanidae. Tum breviter Dido, voltum demissa, profatur:
562Solvite corde metum, Teucri, secludite curas. Res dura et regni novitas me talia cogunt moliri, et late finis custode tueri. Quis genus Aeneadum, quis Troiae nesciat urbem, virtutesque virosque, aut tanti incendia belli?
567Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Poeni, nec tam aversus equos Tyria Sol iungit ab urbe. Seu vos Hesperiam magnam Saturniaque arva, sive Erycis finis regemque optatis Acesten, auxilio tutos dimittam, opibusque iuvabo.
572Voltis et his mecum pariter considere regnis; urbem quam statuo vestra est, subducite navis; Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur. Atque utinam rex ipse Noto compulsus eodem adforet Aeneas! Equidem per litora certos
577dimittam et Libyae lustrare extrema iubebo, si quibus eiectus silvis aut urbibus errat. His animum arrecti dictis et fortis Achates et pater Aeneas iamdudum erumpere nubem ardebant. Prior Aenean compellat Achates:
582Nate dea, quae nunc animo sententia surgit? omnia tuta vides, classem sociosque receptos. Unus abest, medio in fluctu quem vidimus ipsi submersum; dictis respondent cetera matris. Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfusa repente
587scindit se nubes et in aethera purgat apertum. Restitit Aeneas claraque in luce refulsit, os umerosque deo similis; namque ipsa decoram caesariem nato genetrix lumenque iuventae purpureum et laetos oculis adflarat honores:
592quale manus addunt ebori decus, aut ubi flavo argentum Pariusve lapis circumdatur auro. Tum sic reginam adloquitur, cunctisque repente improvisus ait: Coram, quem quaeritis, adsum, Troius Aeneas, Lybicis ereptus ab undis.
597O sola infandos Troiae miserata labores, quae nos, reliquias Danaum, terraeque marisque omnibus exhaustos iam casibus, omnium egenos, urbe, domo, socias, grates persolvere dignas non opis est nostrae, Dido, nec quicquid ubique est
602gentis Dardaniae, magnum quae sparsa per orbem. Di tibi, si qua pios respectant numina, si quid usquam iustitia est et mens sibi conscia recti, praemia digna ferant. Quae te tam laeta tulerunt saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?
607In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet, semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt, quae me cumque vocant terrae. Sic fatus, amicum Ilionea petit dextra, laevaque Serestum,
612post alios, fortemque Gyan fortemque Cloanthum. Obstipuit primo aspectu Sidonia Dido, casu deinde viri tanto, et sic ore locuta est: Quis te, nate dea, per tanta pericula casus insequitur? Quae vis immanibus applicat oris?
617Tune ille Aeneas, quem Dardanio Anchisae alma Venus Phrygii genuit Simoentis ad undam? Atque equidem Teucrum memini Sidona venire finibus expulsum patriis, nova regna petentem auxilio Beli; genitor tum Belus opimam
622vastabat Cyprum, et victor dicione tenebat. Tempore iam ex illo casus mihi cognitus urbis Troianae nomenque tuum regesque Pelasgi. Ipse hostis Teucros insigni laude ferebat, seque ortum antiqua Teucrorum ab stirpe volebat.
627Quare agite, O tectis, iuvenes, succedite nostris. Me quoque per multos similis fortuna labores iactatam hac demum voluit consistere terra. Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco. Sic memorat; simul Aenean in regia ducit
632tecta, simul divom templis indicit honorem. Nec minus interea sociis ad litora mittit viginti tauros, magnorum horrentia centum terga suum, pinguis centum cum matribus agnos, munera laetitiamque dii.
637At domus interior regali splendida luxu instruitur, mediisque parant convivia tectis: arte laboratae vestes ostroque superbo, ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro fortia facta patrum, series longissima rerum
642per tot ducta viros antiqua ab origine gentis. Aeneas (neque enim patrius consistere mentem passus amor) rapidum ad navis praemittit Achaten, Ascanio ferat haec, ipsumque ad moenia ducat; omnis in Ascanio cari stat cura parentis.
647Munera praeterea, Iliacis erepta ruinis, ferre iubet, pallam signis auroque rigentem, et circumtextum croceo velamen acantho, ornatus Argivae Helenae, quos illa Mycenis, Pergama cum peteret inconcessosque hymenaeos,
652extulerat, matris Ledae mirabile donum: praeterea sceptrum, Ilione quod gesserat olim, maxima natarum Priami, colloque monile bacatum, et duplicem gemmis auroque coronam. Haec celerans ita ad naves tendebat Achates.
657At Cytherea novas artes, nova pectore versat Consilia, ut faciem mutatus et ora Cupido pro dulci Ascanio veniat, donisque furentem incendat reginam, atque ossibus implicet ignem; quippe domum timet ambiguam Tyriosque bilinguis;
662urit atrox Iuno, et sub noctem cura recursat. Ergo his aligerum dictis adfatur Amorem: Nate, meae vires, mea magna potentia solus, nate, patris summi qui tela Typhoia temnis, ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco.
667Frater ut Aeneas pelago tuus omnia circum litora iactetur odiis Iunonis iniquae, nota tibi, et nostro doluisti saepe dolore. Hunc Phoenissa tenet Dido blandisque moratur vocibus; et vereor, quo se Iunonia vertant
672hospitia; haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum. Quocirca capere ante dolis et cingere flamma reginam meditor, ne quo se numine mutet, sed magno Aeneae mecum teneatur amore. Qua facere id possis, nostram nunc accipe mentem.
677Regius accitu cari genitoris ad urbem Sidoniam puer ire parat, mea maxima cura, dona ferens, pelago et flammis restantia Troiae: hunc ego sopitum somno super alta Cythera aut super Idalium sacrata sede recondam,
682ne qua scire dolos mediusve occurrere possit. Tu faciem illius noctem non amplius unam falle dolo, et notos pueri puer indue voltus, ut, cum te gremio accipiet laetissima Dido regalis inter mensas laticemque Lyaeum,
687cum dabit amplexus atque oscula dulcia figet, occultum inspires ignem fallasque veneno. Paret Amor dictis carae genetricis, et alas exuit, et gressu gaudens incedit Iuli. At Venus Ascanio placidam per membra quietem
692inrigat, et fotum gremio dea tollit in altos Idaliae lucos, ubi mollis amaracus illum floribus et dulci adspirans complectitur umbra. Iamque ibat dicto parens et dona Cupido regia portabat Tyriis, duce laetus Achate.
697Cum venit, aulaeis iam se regina superbis aurea composuit sponda mediamque locavit. Iam pater Aeneas et iam Troiana iuventus conveniunt, stratoque super discumbitur ostro. Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
702expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis. Quinquaginta intus famulae, quibus ordine longam cura penum struere, et flammis adolere Penatis; centum aliae totidemque pares aetate ministri, qui dapibus mensas onerent et pocula ponant.
707Nec non et Tyrii per limina laeta frequentes convenere, toris iussi discumbere pictis. Mirantur dona Aeneae, mirantur Iulum flagrantisque dei voltus simulataque verba, Praecipue infelix, pesti devota futurae,
713expleri mentem nequit ardescitque tuendo Phoenissa, et pariter puero donisque movetur. Ille ubi complexu Aeneae colloque pependit et magnum falsi implevit genitoris amorem, reginam petit haec oculis, haec pectore toto
718haeret et interdum gremio fovet, inscia Dido, insidat quantus miserae deus; at memor ille matris Acidaliae paulatim abolere Sychaeum incipit, et vivo temptat praevertere amore iam pridem resides animos desuetaque corda.
723Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remotae, crateras magnos statuunt et vina coronant. Fit strepitus tectis, vocemque per ampla volutant atria; dependent lychni laquearibus aureis incensi, et noctem flammis funalia vincunt.
728Hic regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit implevitque mero pateram, quam Belus et omnes a Belo soliti; tum facta silentia tectis: Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur, hunc laetum Tyriisque diem Troiaque profectis
733esse velis, nostrosque huius meminisse minores. Adsit laetitiae Bacchus dator, et bona Iuno; et vos, O, coetum, Tyrii, celebrate faventes. Dixit, et in mensam laticum libavit honorem, primaque, libato, summo tenus attigit ore,
738tum Bitiae dedit increpitans; ille impiger hausit spumantem pateram, et pleno se proluit auro post alii proceres. Cithara crinitus Iopas personat aurata, docuit quem maximus Atlas. Hic canit errantem lunam solisque labores;
743unde hominum genus et pecudes; unde imber et ignes; Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones; quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet. Ingeminant plausu Tyrii, Troesque sequuntur.
748Nec non et vario noctem sermone trahebat infelix Dido, longumque bibebat amorem, multa super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore multa; nunc quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis, nunc quales Diomedis equi, nunc quantus Achilles.
753Immo age, et a prima dic, hospes, origine nobis insidias, inquit, Danaum, casusque tuorum, erroresque tuos; nam te iam septima portat omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus aestas.
Book 2
1Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant. Inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, Troianas ut opes et lamentabile regnum eruerint Danai; quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,
6et quorum pars magna fui. Quis talia fando Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulixi temperet a lacrimis? Et iam nox umida caelo praecipitat, suadentque cadentia sidera somnos. Sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros
11et breviter Troiae supremum audire laborem, quamquam animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit, incipiam.Fracti bello fatisque repulsi ductores Danaum, tot iam labentibus annis, instar montis equum divina Palladis arte
16aedificant, sectaque intexunt abiete costas: votum pro reditu simulant; ea fama vagatur. Huc delecta virum sortiti corpora furtim includunt caeco lateri, penitusque cavernas ingentis uterumque armato milite complent.
21Est in conspectu Tenedos, notissima fama insula, dives opum, Priami dum regna manebant, nunc tantum sinus et statio male fida carinis: huc se provecti deserto in litore condunt. Nos abiisse rati et vento petiisse Mycenas:
26ergo omnis longo solvit se Teucria luctu; panduntur portae; iuvat ire et Dorica castra desertosque videre locos litusque relictum. Hic Dolopum manus, hic saevus tendebat Achilles; classibus hic locus; hic acie certare solebant.
31Pars stupet innuptae donum exitiale Minervae, et molem mirantur equi; primusque Thymoetes duci intra muros hortatur et arce locari, sive dolo, seu iam Troiae sic fata ferebant. At Capys, et quorum melior sententia menti,
36aut pelago Danaum insidias suspectaque dona praecipitare iubent, subiectisque urere flammis, aut terebrare cavas uteri et temptare latebras. Scinditur incertum studia in contraria volgus. Primus ibi ante omnis, magna comitante caterva,
41Laocoön ardens summa decurrit ab arce, et procul: O miseri, quae tanta insania, cives? Creditis avectos hostis? Aut ulla putatis dona carere dolis Danaum? Sic notus Ulixes? aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi,
46aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi, aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri. Quicquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis. Sic fatus, validis ingentem viribus hastam
51in latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvum contorsit: stetit illa tremens, uteroque recusso insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae. Et, si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset, impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras,
56Troiaque, nunc stares, Priamique arx alta, maneres. Ecce, manus iuvenem interea post terga revinctum pastores magno ad regem clamore trahebant Dardanidae, qui se ignotum venientibus ultro, hoc ipsum ut strueret Troiamque aperiret Achivis,
61obtulerat, fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus, seu versare dolos, seu certae occumbere morti. Undique visendi studio Troiana iuventus circumfusa ruit, certantque inludere capto. Accipe nunc Danaum insidias, et crimine ab uno
66disce omnes. Namque ut conspectu in medio turbatus, inermis constitit atque oculis Phrygia agmina circumspexit: Heu, quae nunc tellus inquit quae me aequora possunt accipere? Aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat,
71cui neque apud Danaos usquam locus, et super ipsi Dardanidae infensi poenas cum sanguine poscunt? Quo gemitu conversi animi, compressus et omnis impetus. Hortamur fari; quo sanguine cretus, quidve ferat, memoret, quae sit fiducia capto.
77Cuncta equidem tibi, Rex, fuerit quodcumque, fatebor vera, inquit; neque me Argolica de gente negabo: hoc primum; nec, si miserum Fortuna Sinonem finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget. Fando aliquod si forte tuas pervenit ad auris
82Belidae nomen Palamedis et incluta fama gloria, quem falsa sub proditione Pelasgi insontem infando indicio, quia bella vetabat, demisere neci, nunc cassum lumine lugent. Illi me comitem et consanguinitate propinquum
87pauper in arma pater primis huc misit ab annis, dum stabat regno incolumis regumque vigebat consiliis, et nos aliquod nomenque decusque gessimus. Invidia postquam pellacis Ulixi— haud ignota loquor—superis concessit ab oris,
92adflictus vitam in tenebris luctuque trahebam, et casum insontis mecum indignabar amici. Nec tacui demens, et me, fors si qua tulisset, si patrios umquam remeassem victor ad Argos, promisi ultorem, et verbis odia aspera movi.
97Hinc mihi prima mali labes, hinc semper Ulixes criminibus terrere novis, hinc spargere voces in volgum ambiguas, et quaerere conscius arma. Nec requievit enim, donec, Calchante ministro— sed quid ego haec autem nequiquam ingrata revolvo?
102Quidve moror, si omnis uno ordine habetis Achivos, idque audire sat est? Iamdudum sumite poenas, hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atridae. Tum vero ardemus scitari et quaerere causas, ignari scelerum tantorum artisque Pelasgae.
107Prosequitur pavitans, et ficto pectore fatur: Saepe fugam Danai Troia cupiere relicta moliri, et longo fessi discedere bello; fecissentque utinam! Saepe illos aspera ponti interclusit hiemps, et terruit Auster euntis.
112Praecipue, cum iam hic trabibus contextus acernis staret equus, toto sonuerunt aethere nimbi. Suspensi Eurypylum scitantem oracula Phoebi mittimus, isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat: Sanguine placastis ventos et virgine caesa,
117cum primum Iliacas, Danai, venistis ad oras; sanguine quaerendi reditus, animaque litandum Argolica. Volgi quae vox ut venit ad auris, obstipuere animi, gelidusque per ima cucurrit ossa tremor, cui fata parent, quem poscat Apollo.
122Hic Ithacus vatem magno Calchanta tumultu protrahit in medios; quae sint ea numina divom, flagitat; et mihi iam multi crudele canebant artificis scelus, et taciti ventura videbant. Bis quinos silet ille dies, tectusque recusat
127prodere voce sua quemquam aut opponere morti. Vix tandem, magnis Ithaci clamoribus actus, composito rumpit vocem, et me destinat arae. Adsensere omnes, et, quae sibi quisque timebat, unius in miseri exitium conversa tulere.
132Iamque dies infanda aderat; mihi sacra parari, et salsae fruges, et circum tempora vittae: eripui, fateor, leto me, et vincula rupi, limosoque lacu per noctem obscurus in ulva delitui, dum vela darent, si forte dedissent.
137Nec mihi iam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi, nec dulcis natos exoptatumque parentem; quos illi fors et poenas ob nostra reposcent effugia, et culpam hanc miserorum morte piabunt. Quod te per superos et conscia numina veri,
142per si qua est quae restet adhuc mortalibus usquam intemerata fides, oro, miserere laborum tantorum, miserere animi non digna ferentis. His lacrimis vitam damus, et miserescimus ultro. Ipse viro primus manicas atque arta levari
147vincla iubet Priamus, dictisque ita fatur amicis: Quisquis es, amissos hinc iam obliviscere Graios; noster eris, mihique haec edissere vera roganti: Quo molem hanc immanis equi statuere? Quis auctor? Quidve petunt? Quae religio, aut quae machina belli?
152Dixerat. Ille, dolis instructus et arte Pelasga, sustulit exutas vinclis ad sidera palmas: Vos, aeterni ignes, et non violabile vestrum testor numen ait vos arae ensesque nefandi, quos fugi, vittaeque deum, quas hostia gessi:
157fas mihi Graiorum sacrata resolvere iura, fas odisse viros, atque omnia ferre sub auras, si qua tegunt; teneor patriae nec legibus ullis. Tu modo promissis maneas, servataque serves Troia fidem, si vera feram, si magna rependam.
162Omnis spes Danaum et coepti fiducia belli Palladis auxiliis semper stetit. Impius ex quo Tydides sed enim scelerumque inventor Ulixes, fatale adgressi sacrato avellere templo Palladium, caesis summae custodibus arcis,
167corripuere sacram effigiem, manibusque cruentis virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas; ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri spes Danaum, fractae vires, aversa deae mens. Nec dubiis ea signa dedit Tritonia monstris.
172Vix positum castris simulacrum, arsere coruscae luminibus flammae arrectis, salsusque per artus sudor iit, terque ipsa solo—mirabile dictu— emicuit, parmamque ferens hastamque trementem. Extemplo temptanda fuga canit aequora Calchas,
177nec posse Argolicis exscindi Pergama telis, omina ni repetant Argis, numenque reducant, quod pelago et curvis secum avexere carinis. Et nunc, quod patrias vento petiere Mycenas, arma deosque parant comites, pelagoque remenso
182improvisi aderunt: ita digerit omina Calchas. Hanc pro Palladio moniti, pro numine laeso effigiem statuere, nefas quae triste piaret. Hanc tamen immensam Calchas attollere molem roboribus textis caeloque educere iussit,
187ne recipi portis, aut duci in moenia possit, neu populum antiqua sub religione tueri. Nam si vestra manus violasset dona Minervae, tum magnum exitium (quod di prius omen in ipsum convertant!) Priami imperio Phrygibusque futurum;
192sin manibus vestris vestram ascendisset in urbem, ultro Asiam magno Pelopea ad moenia bello venturam, et nostros ea fata manere nepotes. Talibus insidiis periurique arte Sinonis credita res, captique dolis lacrimisque coactis,
197quos neque Tydides, nec Larisaeus Achilles, non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae. Hic aliud maius miseris multoque tremendum obicitur magis, atque improvida pectora turbat. Laocoön, ductus Neptuno sorte sacerdos,
202sollemnis taurum ingentem mactabat ad aras. Ecce autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta— horresco referens—immensis orbibus angues incumbunt pelago, pariterque ad litora tendunt; pectora quorum inter fluctus arrecta iubaeque
207sanguineae superant undas; pars cetera pontum pone legit, sinuatque immensa volumine terga. Fit sonitus spumante salo; iamque arva tenebant, ardentisque oculos suffecti sanguine et igni, sibila lambebant linguis vibrantibus ora.
212Diffugimus visu exsangues: illi agmine certo Laocoönta petunt; et primum parva duorum corpora natorum serpens amplexus uterque implicat, et miseros morsu depascitur artus; post ipsum auxilio subeuntem ac tela ferentem
217corripiunt, spirisque ligant ingentibus; et iam bis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circum terga dati, superant capite et cervicibus altis. Ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos, perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno,
222clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit: quales mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram taurus, et incertam excussit cervice securim. At gemini lapsu delubra ad summa dracones effugiunt saevaeque petunt Tritonidis arcem,
227sub pedibusque deae clipeique sub orbe teguntur. Tum vero tremefacta novus per pectora cunctis insinuat pavor, et scelus expendisse merentem Laocoönta ferunt, sacrum qui cuspide robur laeserit, et tergo sceleratam intorserit hastam.
232Ducendum ad sedes simulacrum orandaque divae numina conclamant. Dividimus muros et moenia pandimus urbis. Accingunt omnes operi, pedibusque rotarum subiciunt lapsus, et stuppea vincula collo
237intendunt: scandit fatalis machina muros, feta armis. Pueri circum innuptaeque puellae sacra canunt, funemque manu contingere gaudent. Illa subit, mediaeque minans inlabitur urbi. O patria, O divom domus Ilium, et incluta bello
242moenia Dardanidum, quater ipso in limine portae substitit, atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere: instamus tamen inmemores caecique furore, et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce. Tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futuris
247ora, dei iussu non umquam credita Teucris. Nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus esset ille dies, festa velamus fronde per urbem. Vertitur interea caelum et ruit oceano nox, involvens umbra magna terramque polumque
252Myrmidonumque dolos; fusi per moenia Teucri conticuere, sopor fessos complectitur artus: et iam Argiva phalanx instructis navibus ibat a Tenedo tacitae per amica silentia lunae litora nota petens, flammas cum regia puppis
257extulerat, fatisque deum defensus iniquis inclusos utero Danaos et pinea furtim laxat claustra Sinon. Illos patefactus ad auras reddit equus, laetique cavo se robore promunt Thessandrus Sthenelusque duces, et dirus Ulixes,
262demissum lapsi per funem, Acamasque, Thoasque, Pelidesque Neoptolemus, primusque Machaon, et Menelaus, et ipse doli fabricator Epeos. Invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam; caeduntur vigiles, portisque patentibus omnis
267accipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt. Tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegris incipit, et dono divom gratissima serpit. In somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector visus adesse mihi, largosque effundere fletus,
272raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruento pulvere, perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis. Ei mihi, qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore, qui redit exuvias indutus Achilli, vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis,
277squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crinis volneraque illa gerens, quae circum plurima muros accepit patrios. Ultro flens ipse videbar Compellare virum et maestas expromere voces: O lux Dardaniae, spes O fidissima Teucrum,
282quae tantae tenuere morae? Quibus Hector ab oris exspectate venis? Ut te post multa tuorum funera, post varios hominumque urbisque labores defessi aspicimus! Quae causa indigna serenos foedavit voltus? Aut cur haec volnera cerno?
287Ille nihil, nec me quaerentem vana moratur, sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens, Heu fuge, nate dea, teque his, ait, eripe flammis. Hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia. Sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra
292defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent. Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penatis: hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere magna, pererrato statues quae denique ponto. Sic ait, et manibus vittas Vestamque potentem
297aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem. Diverso interea miscentur moenia luctu, et magis atque magis, quamquam secreta parentis Anchisae domus arboribusque obtecta recessit, clarescunt sonitus, armorumque ingruit horror.
302Excutior somno, et summi fastigia tecti ascensu supero, atque arrectis auribus adsto: in segetem veluti cum flamma furentibus austris incidit, aut rapidus montano flumine torrens sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores,
307praecipitisque trahit silvas, stupet inscius alto accipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor. Tum vero manifesta fides, Danaumque patescunt insidiae. Iam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam Volcano superante domus; iam proxumus ardet
312Ucalegon; Sigea igni freta lata relucent. Exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum. Arma amens capio; nec sat rationis in armis, sed glomerare manum bello et concurrere in arcem cum sociis ardent animi; furor iraque mentem
317praecipitant, pulchrumque mori succurrit in armis. Ecce autem telis Panthus elapsus Achivom, Panthus Othryades, arcis Phoebique sacerdos, sacra manu victosque deos parvumque nepotem ipse trahit, cursuque amens ad limina tendit.
322Quo res summa, loco, Panthu? Quam prendimus arcem? Vix ea fatus eram, gemitu cum talia reddit: Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus Dardaniae: fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens gloria Teucrorum; ferus omnia Iuppiter Argos
327transtulit; incensa Danai dominantur in urbe. Arduus armatos mediis in moenibus adstans fundit equus, victorque Sinon incendia miscet insultans; portis alii bipatentibus adsunt, milia quot magnis umquam venere Mycenis;
332obsedere alii telis angusta viarum oppositi; stat ferri acies mucrone corusco stricta, parata neci; vix primi proelia temptant portarum vigiles, et caeco Marte resistunt. Talibus Othryadae dictis et numine divom
337in flammas et in arma feror, quo tristis Erinys, quo fremitus vocat et sublatus ad aethera clamor. Addunt se socios Rhipeus et maximus armis Epytus oblati per lunam Hypanisque Dymasque, et lateri adglomerant nostro, iuvenisque Coroebus,
342Mygdonides: illis ad Troiam forte diebus venerat, insano Cassandrae incensus amore, et gener auxilium Priamo Phrygibusque ferebat, infelix, qui non sponsae praecepta furentis audierit.
347Quos ubi confertos audere in proelia vidi, incipio super his: Iuvenes, fortissima frustra pectora, si vobis audentem extrema cupido certa sequi, quae sit rebus fortuna videtis: excessere omnes, adytis arisque relictis,
352di, quibus imperium hoc steterat; succurritis urbi incensae; moriamur et in media arma ruamus. Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem. Sic animis iuvenum furor additus: inde, lupi ceu raptores atra in nebula, quos improba ventris
357exegit caecos rabies, catulique relicti faucibus exspectant siccis, per tela, per hostis vadimus haud dubiam in mortem, mediaeque tenemus urbis iter; nox atra cava circumvolat umbra. Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando
362explicet, aut possit lacrimis aequare labores? Urbs antiqua ruit, multos dominata per annos; plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim corpora, perque domos et religiosa deorum limina. Nec soli poenas dant sanguine Teucri;
367quondam etiam victis redit in praecordia virtus victoresque cadunt Danai: crudelis ubique luctus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago. Primus se, Danaum magna comitante caterva, Androgeos offert nobis, socia agmina credens
372inscius, atque ultro verbis compellat amicis: Festinate, viri: nam quae tam sera moratur segnities? Alii rapiunt incensa feruntque Pergama; vos celsis nunc primum a navibus itis. Dixit, et extemplo, neque enim responsa dabantur
377fida satis, sensit medios delapsus in hostis. Obstipuit, retroque pedem cum voce repressit: inprovisum aspris veluti qui sentibus anguem pressit humi nitens, trepidusque repente refugit attollentem iras et caerula colla tumentem;
382haud secus Androgeos visu tremefactus abibat. Inruimus, densis et circumfundimur armis, ignarosque loci passim et formidine captos sternimus: adspirat primo fortuna labori. Atque hic successu exsultans animisque Coroebus,
387O socii, qua prima inquit fortuna salutis monstrat iter, quoque ostendit se dextra, sequamur mutemus clipeos, Danaumque insignia nobis aptemus: dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat? Arma dabunt ipsi. Sic fatus, deinde comantem
392Androgei galeam clipeique insigne decorum induitur, laterique Argivum accommodat ensem. Hoc Rhipeus, hoc ipse Dymas omnisque iuventus laeta facit; spoliis se quisque recentibus armat. Vadimus immixti Danais haud numine nostro,
397multaque per caecam congressi proelia noctem conserimus, multos Danaum demittimus Orco. Diffugiunt alii ad navis, et litora cursu fida petunt: pars ingentem formidine turpi scandunt rursus equum et nota conduntur in alvo.
402Heu nihil invitis fas quemquam fidere divis! Ecce trahebatur passis Priameïa virgo crinibus a templo Cassandra adytisque Minervae, ad caelum tendens ardentia lumina frustra,— lumina, nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas.
407Non tulit hanc speciem furiata mente Coroebus, et sese medium iniecit periturus in agmen. Consequimur cuncti et densis incurrimus armis. Hic primum ex alto delubri culmine telis nostrorum obruimur, oriturque miserrima caedes
412armorum facie et Graiarum errore iubarum. Tum Danai gemitu atque ereptae virginis ira undique collecti invadunt, acerrimus Aiax, et gemini Atridae, Dolopumque exercitus omnis; adversi rupto ceu quondam turbine venti
417confligunt, Zephyrusque Notusque et laetus Eois Eurus equis; stridunt silvae, saevitque tridenti spumeus atque imo Nereus ciet aequora fundo. Illi etiam, si quos obscura nocte per umbram fudimus insidiis totaque agitavimus urbe,
422apparent; primi clipeos mentitaque tela adgnoscunt, atque ora sono discordia signant. Ilicet obruimur numero; primusque Coroebus Penelei dextra divae armipotentis ad aram procumbit; cadit et Rhipeus, iustissimus unus
427qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus aequi: dis aliter visum; pereunt Hypanisque Dymasque confixi a sociis; nec te tua plurima, Panthu, labentem pietas nec Apollinis infula texit. Iliaci cineres et flamma extrema meorum,
432testor, in occasu vestro nec tela nec ullas vitavisse vices Danaum, et, si fata fuissent ut caderem, meruisse manu. Divellimur inde, Iphitus et Pelias mecum, quorum Iphitus aevo iam gravior, Pelias et volnere tardus Ulixi;
437protinus ad sedes Priami clamore vocati. Hic vero ingentem pugnam, ceu cetera nusquam bella forent, nulli tota morerentur in urbe. Sic Martem indomitum, Danaosque ad tecta ruentis cernimus, obsessumque acta testudine limen.
442Haerent parietibus scalae, postisque sub ipsos nituntur gradibus, clipeosque ad tela sinistris protecti obiciunt, prensant fastigia dextris. Dardanidae contra turris ac tota domorum culmina convellunt; his se, quando ultima cernunt,
447extrema iam in morte parant defendere telis; auratasque trabes, veterum decora alta parentum, devolvunt; alii strictis mucronibus imas obsedere fores; has servant agmine denso. Instaurati animi, regis succurrere tectis,
452auxilioque levare viros, vimque addere victis. Limen erat caecaeque fores et pervius usus tectorum inter se Priami, postesque relicti a tergo, infelix qua se, dum regna manebant, saepius Andromache ferre incomitata solebat
457ad soceros, et avo puerum Astyanacta trahebat. Evado ad summi fastigia culminis, unde tela manu miseri iactabant inrita Teucri. Turrim in praecipiti stantem summisque sub astra eductam tectis, unde omnis Troia videri
462et Danaum solitae naves et Achaia castra, adgressi ferro circum, qua summa labantis iuncturas tabulata dabant, convellimus altis sedibus, impulimusque; ea lapsa repente ruinam cum sonitu trahit et Danaum super agmina late
467incidit: ast alii subeunt, nec saxa, nec ullum telorum interea cessat genus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrhus exsultat, telis et luce coruscus aëna; qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus
472frigida sub terra tumidum quem bruma tegebat, nunc, positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa, lubrica convolvit sublato pectore terga arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ore trisulcis. Una ingens Periphas et equorum agitator Achillis,
477armiger Automedon, una omnis Scyria pubes succedunt tecto, et flammas ad culmina iactant. Ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni limina perrumpit, postisque a cardine vellit aeratos; iamque excisa trabe firma cavavit
482robora, et ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram. Adparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt; adparent Priami et veterum penetralia regum, armatosque vident stantis in limine primo. At domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu
487miscetur, penitusque cavae plangoribus aedes femineis ululant; ferit aurea sidera clamor. Tum pavidae tectis matres ingentibus errant; amplexaeque tenent postis atque oscula figunt. Instat vi patria Pyrrhus; nec claustra, neque ipsi
492custodes sufferre valent; labat ariete crebro ianua, et emoti procumbunt cardine postes. Fit via vi; rumpunt aditus, primosque trucidant immissi Danai, et late loca milite complent. Non sic, aggeribus ruptis cum spumeus amnis
497exiit, oppositasque evicit gurgite moles, fertur in arva furens cumulo, camposque per omnis cum stabulis armenta trahit. Vidi ipse furentem caede Neoptolemum geminosque in limine Atridas; vidi Hecubam centumque nurus, Priamumque per aras
502sanguine foedantem, quos ipse sacraverat, ignis. Quinquaginta illi thalami, spes tanta nepotum, barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi, procubuere; tenent Danai, qua deficit ignis. Forsitan et Priami fuerint quae fata requiras.
507Urbis uti captae casum convolsaque vidit limina tectorum et medium in penetralibus hostem, arma diu senior desueta trementibus aevo circumdat nequiquam umeris, et inutile ferrum cingitur, ac densos fertur moriturus in hostis.
512Aedibus in mediis nudoque sub aetheris axe ingens ara fuit iuxtaque veterrima laurus, incumbens arae atque umbra complexa Penatis. Hic Hecuba et natae nequiquam altaria circum, praecipites atra ceu tempestate columbae,
517condensae et divom amplexae simulacra sedebant. Ipsum autem sumptis Priamum iuvenalibus armis ut vidit, Quae mens tam dira, miserrime coniunx, impulit his cingi telis? Aut quo ruis? inquit; Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis
522tempus eget, non, si ipse meus nunc adforet Hector. Huc tandem concede; haec ara tuebitur omnis, aut moriere simul. Sic ore effata recepit ad sese et sacra longaevum in sede locavit. Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de caede Polites,
527unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostis porticibus longis fugit, et vacua atria lustrat saucius: illum ardens infesto volnere Pyrrhus insequitur, iam iamque manu tenet et premit hasta. Ut tandem ante oculos evasit et ora parentum,
532concidit, ac multo vitam cum sanguine fudit. Hic Priamus, quamquam in media iam morte tenetur, non tamen abstinuit, nec voci iraeque pepercit: At tibi pro scelere, exclamat, pro talibus ausis, di, si qua est caelo pietas, quae talia curet,
537persolvant grates dignas et praemia reddant debita, qui nati coram me cernere letum fecisti et patrios foedasti funere voltus. At non ille, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles talis in hoste fuit Priamo; sed iura fidemque
542supplicis erubuit, corpusque exsangue sepulchro reddidit Hectoreum, meque in mea regna remisit. Sic fatus senior, telumque imbelle sine ictu coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum e summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.
547Cui Pyrrhus: Referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis Pelidae genitori; illi mea tristia facta degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento. Nunc morere. Hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem traxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,
552implicuitque comam laeva, dextraque coruscum extulit, ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem. Haec finis Priami fatorum; hic exitus illum sorte tulit, Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
557regnatorem Asiae. Iacet ingens litore truncus, avolsumque umeris caput, et sine nomine corpus. At me tum primum saevus circumstetit horror Obstipui; subiit cari genitoris imago, ut regem aequaevum crudeli volnere vidi
562vitam exhalantem; subiit deserta Creüsa, et direpta domus, et parvi casus Iuli. Respicio, et quae sit me circum copia lustro. Deseruere omnes defessi, et corpora saltu ad terram misere aut ignibus aegra dedere.
589cum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, videndam obtulit et pura per noctem in luce refulsit alma parens, confessa deam, qualisque videri caelicolis et quanta solet, dextraque prehensum continuit, roseoque haec insuper addidit ore:
594Nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras? Quid furis, aut quonam nostri tibi cura recessit? Non prius aspicies, ubi fessum aetate parentem liqueris Anchisen; superet coniunxne Creüsa, Ascaniusque puer? Quos omnes undique Graiae
599circum errant acies, et, ni mea cura resistat, iam flammae tulerint inimicus et hauserit ensis. Non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacaenae culpatusve Paris: divom inclementia, divom, has evertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam.
604Aspice—namque omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti mortalis hebetat visus tibi et umida circum caligat, nubem eripiam; tu ne qua parentis iussa time, neu praeceptis parere recusa:— hic, ubi disiectas moles avolsaque saxis
609saxa vides mixtoque undantem pulvere fumum. Neptunus muros magnoque emota tridenti fundamenta quatit, totamque a sedibus urbem eruit; hic Iuno Scaeas saevissima portas prima tenet, sociumque furens a navibus agmen
614ferro accincta vocat. Iam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Pallas insedit, nimbo effulgens et Gorgone saeva. Ipse pater Danais animos viresque secundas sufficit, ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma.
619Eripe, nate, fugam, finemque impone labori. Nusquam abero, et tutum patrio te limine sistam. Dixerat, et spissis noctis se condidit umbris. Adparent dirae facies inimicaque Troiae numina magna deum.
624Tum vero omne mihi visum considere in ignis Ilium et ex imo verti Neptunia Troia; ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum cum ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant eruere agricolae certatim,—illa usque minatur
629et tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat, volneribus donec paulatim evicta, supremum congemuit, traxitque iugis avolsa ruinam. Descendo, ac ducente deo flammam inter et hostis expedior; dant tela locum, flammaeque recedunt.
634Atque ubi iam patriae perventum ad limina sedis antiquasque domos, genitor, quem tollere in altos optabam primum montis primumque petebam, abnegat excisa vitam producere Troia exsiliumque pati. Vos O, quibus integer aevi
639sanguis, ait solidaeque suo stant robore vires, vos agitate fugam: me si caelicolae voluissent ducere vitam, has mihi servassent sedes. Satis una superque vidimus exscidia et captae superavimus urbi.
644Sic O, sic positum adfati discedite corpus. Ipse manu mortem inveniam; miserebitur hostis exuviasque petet; facilis iactura sepulcri. Iam pridem invisus divis et inutilis annos demoror, ex quo me divom pater atque hominum rex
649fulminis adflavit ventis et contigit igni. Talia perstabat memorans, fixusque manebat. Nos contra effusi lacrimis, coniunxque Creüsa Ascaniusque omnisque domus, ne vertere secum cuncta pater fatoque urguenti incumbere vellet.
654Abnegat, inceptoque et sedibus haeret in isdem. Rursus in arma feror, mortemque miserrimus opto: nam quod consilium aut quae iam fortuna dabatur? Mene efferre pedem, genitor, te posse relicto sperasti, tantumque nefas patrio excidit ore?
659Si nihil ex tanta Superis placet urbe relinqui, et sedet hoc animo, perituraeque addere Troiae teque tuosque iuvat, patet isti ianua leto, iamque aderit multo Priami de sanguine Pyrrhus, natum ante ora patris, patrem qui obtruncat ad aras.
664Hoc erat, alma parens, quod me per tela, per ignis eripis, ut mediis hostem in penetralibus, utque Ascanium patremque meum iuxtaque Creüsam alterum in alterius mactatos sanguine cernam? Arma, viri, ferte arma; vocat lux ultima victos.
669Reddite me Danais; sinite instaurata revisam proelia: Numquam omnes hodie moriemur inulti. Hinc ferro accingor rursus clipeoque sinistram insertabam aptans, meque extra tecta ferebam. Ecce autem complexa pedes in limine coniunx
674haerebat, parvumque patri tendebat Iulum: Si periturus abis, et nos rape in omnia tecum; sin aliquam expertus sumptis spem ponis in armis, hanc primum tutare domum. Cui parvus Iulus, cui pater et coniunx quondam tua dicta relinquor?
679Talia vociferans gemitu tectum omne replebat, cum subitum dictuque oritur mirabile monstrum. Namque manus inter maestorumque ora parentum ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia mollis
684lambere flamma comas et circum tempora pasci. Nos pavidi trepidare metu, crinemque flagrantem excutere et sanctos restinguere fontibus ignis. At pater Anchises oculos ad sidera laetus extulit, et caelo palmas cum voce tetendit:
689Iuppiter omnipotens, precibus si flecteris ullis, aspice nos; hoc tantum, et, si pietate meremur, da deinde auxilium, pater, atque haec omina firma. Vix ea fatus erat senior, subitoque fragore intonuit laevum, et de caelo lapsa per umbras
694stella facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit. Illam, summa super labentem culmina tecti, cernimus Idaea claram se condere silva signantemque vias; tum longo limite sulcus dat lucem, et late circum loca sulphure fumant.
699Hic vero victus genitor se tollit ad auras, adfaturque deos et sanctum sidus adorat. Iam iam nulla mora est; sequor et qua ducitis adsum. Di patrii, servate domum, servate nepotem. Vestrum hoc augurium, vestroque in numine Troia est.
704Cedo equidem, nec, nate, tibi comes ire recuso. Dixerat ille; et iam per moenia clarior ignis auditur, propiusque aestus incendia volvunt. Ergo age, care pater, cervici imponere nostrae; ipse subibo umeris, nec me labor iste gravabit:
709quo res cumque cadent, unum et commune periclum, una salus ambobus erit. Mihi parvus Iulus sit comes, et longe servet vestigia coniunx: vos, famuli, quae dicam, animis advertite vestris. Est urbe egressis tumulus templumque vetustum
714desertae Cereris, iuxtaque antiqua cupressus religione patrum multos servata per annos. Hanc ex diverso sedem veniemus in unam. Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu patriosque Penatis; me, bello e tanto digressum et caede recenti,
719attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo abluero. Haec fatus, latos umeros subiectaque colla veste super fulvique insternor pelle leonis, succedoque oneri; dextrae se parvus Iulus
724implicuit sequiturque patrem non passibus aequis; pone subit coniunx: ferimur per opaca locorum; et me, quem dudum non ulla iniecta movebant tela neque adverso glomerati ex agmine Grai, nunc omnes terrent aurae, sonus excitat omnis
729suspensum et pariter comitique onerique timentem. Iamque propinquabam portis, omnemque videbar evasisse viam, subito cum creber ad auris visus adesse pedum sonitus, genitorque per umbram prospiciens; Nate exclamat, fuge nate, propinquant.
734Ardentis clipeos atque aera micantia cerno!— Hic mihi nescio quod trepido male numen amicum confusam eripuit mentem. Namque avia cursu dum sequor, et nota excedo regione viarum, heu, misero coniunx fatone erepta Creüsa
739substitit, erravitne via, seu lassa resedit, incertum; nec post oculis est reddita nostris. Nec prius amissam respexi animumque reflexi, quam tumulum antiquae Cereris sedemque sacratam venimus; hic demum collectis omnibus una
744defuit, et comites natumque virumque fefellit. Quem non incusavi amens hominumque deorumque, aut quid in eversa vidi crudelius urbe? Ascanium Anchisenque patrem Teucrosque Penatis commendo sociis et curva valle recondo;
749ipse urbem repeto et cingor fulgentibus armis. Stat casus renovare omnis, omnemque reverti per Troiam, et rursus caput obiectare periclis. Principio muros obscuraque limina portae, qua gressum extuleram, repeto, et vestigia retro
754observata sequor per noctem et lumine lustro. Horror ubique animo, simul ipsa silentia terrent. Inde domum, si forte pedem, si forte tulisset, me refero: inruerant Danai, et tectum omne tenebant. Ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia vento
759volvitur; exsuperant flammae, furit aestus ad auras. Procedo et Priami sedes arcemque reviso. Et iam porticibus vacuis Iunonis asylo custodes lecti Phoenix et dirus Ulixes praedam adservabant. Huc undique Troia gaza
764incensis erepta adytis, mensaeque deorum, crateresque auro solidi, captivaque vestis congeritur; pueri et pavidae longo ordine matres stant circum. Ausus quin etiam voces iactare per umbram
769implevi clamore vias, maestusque Creüsam nequiquam ingeminans iterumque iterumque vocavi. Quaerenti et tectis urbis sine fine furenti infelix simulacrum atque ipsius umbra Creüsae visa mihi ante oculos et nota maior imago.
774Obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit. Quid tantum insano iuvat indulgere dolori, O dulcis coniunx? Non haec sine numine divom eveniunt; nec te hinc comitem asportare Creüsam fas, aut ille sinit superi regnator Olympi.
780Longa tibi exsilia, et vastum maris aequor arandum, et terram Hesperiam venies, ubi Lydius arva inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Thybris: illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx parta tibi. Lacrimas dilectae pelle Creüsae.
785Non ego Myrmidonum sedes Dolopumve superbas aspiciam, aut Graiis servitum matribus ibo, Dardanis, et divae Veneris nurus. Sed me magna deum genetrix his detinet oris: iamque vale, et nati serva communis amorem.
790Haec ubi dicta dedit, lacrimantem et multa volentem dicere deseruit, tenuisque recessit in auras. Ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum: ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.
795Sic demum socios consumpta nocte reviso. Atque hic ingentem comitum adfluxisse novorum invenio admirans numerum, matresque virosque, collectam exsilio pubem, miserabile volgus. Undique convenere, animis opibusque parati,
800in quascumque velim pelago deducere terras. Iamque iugis summae surgebat Lucifer Idae ducebatque diem, Danaique obsessa tenebant limina portarum, nec spes opis ulla dabatur; cessi, et sublato montes genitore petivi.
Book 3
1Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem immeritam visum Superis, ceciditque superbum Ilium, et omnis humo fumat Neptunia Troia, diversa exsilia et desertas quaerere terras auguriis agimur divom, classemque sub ipsa
6Antandro et Phrygiae molimur montibus Idae, incerti, quo fata ferant, ubi sistere detur, contrahimusque viros. Vix prima inceperat aestas, et pater Anchises dare fatis vela iubebat; litora cum patriae lacrimans portusque relinquo
11et campos, ubi Troia fuit: feror exsul in altum cum sociis natoque Penatibus et magnis dis. Terra procul vastis colitur Mavortia campis, Thraces arant, acri quondam regnata Lycurgo, hospitium antiquum Troiae sociique Penates,
16dum Fortuna fuit. Feror huc, et litore curvo moenia prima loco, fatis ingressus iniquis, Aeneadasque meo nomen de nomine fingo. Sacra Dionaeae matri divisque ferebam auspicibus coeptorum operum, superoque nitentem
21caelicolum regi mactabam in litore taurum. Forte fuit iuxta tumulus, quo cornea summo virgulta et densis hastilibus horrida myrtus. Accessi, viridemque ab humo convellere silvam conatus, ramis tegerem ut frondentibus aras,
26horrendum et dictu video mirabile monstrum. Nam, quae prima solo ruptis radicibus arbos vellitur, huic atro liquuntur sanguine guttae, et terram tabo maculant. Mihi frigidus horror membra quatit, gelidusque coit formidine sanguis.
31Rursus et alterius lentum convellere vimen insequor, et causas penitus temptare latentis: ater et alterius sequitur de cortice sanguis. Multa movens animo nymphas venerabar agrestis Gradivumque patrem, Geticis qui praesidet arvis,
36rite secundarent visus omenque levarent. Tertia sed postquam maiore hastilia nisu adgredior, genibusque adversae obluctor harenae— eloquar, an sileam?—gemitus lacrimabilis imo auditur tumulo, et vox reddita fertur ad auris:
41Quid miserum, Aenea, laceras? Iam parce sepulto; parce pias scelerare manus. Non me tibi Troia externum tulit, aut cruor hic de stipite manat. Heu, fuge crudelis terras, fuge litus avarum: nam Polydorus ego; hic confixum ferrea texit
46telorum seges et iaculis increvit acutis. Tum vero ancipiti mentem formidine pressus obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit. Hunc Polydorum auri quondam cum pondere magno infelix Priamus furtim mandarat alendum
51Threicio regi, cum iam diffideret armis Dardaniae, cingique urbem obsidione videret. Ille, ut opes fractae Teucrum, et Fortuna recessit, res Agamemnonias victriciaque arma secutus, fas omne abrumpit; Polydorum obtruncat, et auro
56vi potitur. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames? Postquam pavor ossa reliquit, delectos populi ad proceres primumque parentem monstra deum refero, et quae sit sententia posco. Omnibus idem animus, scelerata excedere terra,
61linqui pollutum hospitium, et dare classibus austros. Ergo instauramus Polydoro funus, et ingens aggeritur tumulo tellus; stant Manibus arae, caeruleis maestae vittis atraque cupresso, et circum Iliades crinem de more solutae;
66inferimus tepido spumantia cymbia lacte sanguinis et sacri pateras, animamque sepulchro condimus, et magna supremum voce ciemus. Inde, ubi prima fides pelago, placataque venti dant maria et lenis crepitans vocat Auster in altum,
71deducunt socii navis et litora complent: provehimur portu, terraeque urbesque recedunt. Sacra mari colitur medio gratissima tellus Nereidum matri et Neptuno Aegaeo, quam pius arquitenens oras et litora circum
76errantem Mycono e celsa Gyaroque revinxit, immotamque coli dedit et contemnere ventos. Huc feror; haec fessos tuto placidissima portu accipit: egressi veneramur Apollinis urbem. Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos
81vittis et sacra redimitus tempora lauro, occurrit; veterem Anchisen adgnovit amicum. Iungimus hospitio dextras, et tecta subimus. Templa dei saxo venerabar structa vetusto: Da propriam, Thymbraee, domum; da moenia fessis
86et genus et mansuram urbem; serva altera Troiae Pergama, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli. Quem sequimur? Quove ire iubes? Ubi ponere sedes? Da, pater, augurium, atque animis inlabere nostris. Vix ea fatus eram: tremere omnia visa repente,
91liminaque laurusque dei, totusque moveri mons circum, et mugire adytis cortina reclusis. Submissi petimus terram, et vox fertur ad auris: Dardanidae duri, quae vos a stirpe parentum prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto
96accipiet reduces. Antiquam exquirite matrem: hic domus Aeneae cunctis dominabitur oris, et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis. Haec Phoebus; mixtoque ingens exorta tumultu laetitia, et cuncti quae sint ea moenia quaerunt,
101quo Phoebus vocet errantis iubeatque reverti? Tum genitor, veterum volvens monumenta virorum, Audite, O proceres ait et spes discite vestras: Creta Iovis magni medio iacet insula ponto; mons Idaeus ubi, et gentis cunabula nostrae.
106Centum urbes habitant magnas, uberrima regna; maximus unde pater, si rite audita recordor, Teucrus Rhoeteas primum est advectus in oras, optavitque locum regno. Nondum Ilium et arces Pergameae steterant; habitabant vallibus imis.
111hinc mater cultrix Cybeli Corybantiaque aera Idaeumque nemus; hinc fida silentia sacris, et iuncti currum dominae subiere leones. Ergo agite, et, divom ducunt qua iussa, sequamur; placemus ventos et Gnosia regna petamus.
116Nec longo distant cursu; modo Iuppiter adsit, tertia lux classem Cretaeis sistet in oris. Sic fatus, meritos aris mactavit honores, taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo nigram Hiemi pecudem, Zephyris felicibus albam.
121Fama volat pulsum regnis cessisse paternis Idomenea ducem, desertaque litora Cretae hoste vacare domos, sedesque adstare relictas. Linquimus Ortygiae portus, pelagoque volamus, bacchatamque iugis Naxon viridemque Donysam,
126Olearon, niveamque Paron, sparsasque per aequor Cycladas, et crebris legimus freta consita terris. Nauticus exoritur vario certamine clamor; hortantur socii: Cretam proavosque petamus! Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntis
131et tandem antiquis Curetum adlabimur oris. Ergo avidus muros optatae molior urbis, Pergameamque voco, et laetam cognomine gentem hortor amare focos arcemque attollere tectis. Iamque fere sicco subductae litore puppes;
136conubiis arvisque novis operata iuventus; iura domosque dabam: subito cum tabida membris, corrupto caeli tractu, miserandaque venit arboribusque satisque lues et letifer annus. Linquebant dulcis animas, aut aegra trahebant
141corpora; tum sterilis exurere Sirius agros; arebant herbae, et victum seges aegra negabat. Rursus ad oraclum Ortygiae Phoebumque remenso hortatur pater ire mari, veniamque precari: quam fessis finem rebus ferat; unde laborum
146temptare auxilium iubeat; quo vertere cursus. Nox erat, et terris animalia somnus habebat: effigies sacrae divom Phrygiique Penates, quos mecum a Troia mediisque ex ignibus urbis extuleram, visi ante oculos adstare iacentis
151in somnis, multo manifesti lumine, qua se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras; tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis: Quod tibi delato Ortygiam dicturus Apollo est, hic canit, et tua nos en ultro ad limina mittit.
156Nos te, Dardania incensa, tuaque arma secuti, nos tumidum sub te permensi classibus aequor, idem venturos tollemus in astra nepotes, imperiumque urbi dabimus: tu moenia magnis magna para, longumque fugae ne linque laborem.
161Mutandae sedes: non haec tibi litora suasit Delius, aut Cretae iussit considere Apollo. Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt, terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae; Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores
166Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem: hae nobis propriae sedes; hinc Dardanus ortus, Iasiusque pater, genus a quo principe nostrum. Surge age, et haec laetus longaevo dicta parenti haud dubitanda refer: Corythum terrasque requirat
171Ausonias; Dictaea negat tibi Iuppiter arva. Talibus attonitus visis et voce deorum— nec sopor illud erat, sed coram adgnoscere voltus velatasque comas praesentiaque ora videbar; tum gelidus toto manabat corpore sudor
176corripio e stratis corpus, tendoque supinas ad caelum cum voce manus, et munera libo intemerata focis. Perfecto laetus honore Anchisen facio certum, remque ordine pando. Adgnovit prolem ambiguam geminosque parentes,
181seque novo veterum deceptum errore locorum. Tum memorat: Nate, Iliacis exercite fatis, sola mihi talis casus Cassandra canebat. Nunc repeto haec generi portendere debita nostro, et saepe Hesperiam, saepe Itala regna vocare.
186Sed quis ad Hesperiae venturos litora Teucros crederet, aut quem tum vates Cassandra moveret? Cedamus Phoebo, et moniti meliora sequamur. Sic ait, et cuncti dicto paremus ovantes. Hanc quoque deserimus sedem, paucisque relictis
191vela damus, vastumque cava trabe currimus aequor. Postquam altum tenuere rates, nec iam amplius ullae adparent terrae, caelum undique et undique pontus, tum mihi caeruleus supra caput adstitit imber, noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris.
196Continuo venti volvunt mare, magnaque surgunt aequora; dispersi iactamur gurgite vasto; involvere diem nimbi, et nox umida caelum abstulit; ingeminant abruptis nubibus ignes. Excutimur cursu, et caecis erramus in undis.
201Ipse diem noctemque negat discernere caelo, nec meminisse viae media Palinurus in unda. Tris adeo incertos caeca caligine soles erramus pelago, totidem sine sidere noctes. Quarto terra die primum se attollere tandem
206visa, aperire procul montis, ac volvere fumum. Vela cadunt, remis insurgimus; haud mora nautae adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt. Servatum ex undis Strophadum me litora primum accipiunt; Strophades Graio stant nomine dictae,
211insulae Ionio in magno, quas dira Celaeno Harpyiaeque colunt aliae, Phineia postquam clausa domus, mensasque metu liquere priores. Tristius haud illis monstrum, nec saevior ulla pestis et ira deum Stygiis sese extulit undis.
216Virginei volucrum voltus, foedissima ventris proluvies, uncaeque manus, et pallida semper ora fame. Huc ubi delati portus intravimus, ecce laeta boum passim campis armenta videmus,
221caprigenumque pecus nullo custode per herbas. Inruimus ferro, et divos ipsumque vocamus in partem praedamque Iovem; tum litore curvo exstruimusque toros, dapibusque epulamur opimis. At subitae horrifico lapsu de montibus adsunt
226Harpyiae, et magnis quatiunt clangoribus alas, diripiuntque dapes, contactuque omnia foedant immundo; tum vox taetrum dira inter odorem. Rursum in secessu longo sub rupe cavata, arboribus clausi circum atque horrentibus umbris,
231instruimus mensas arisque reponimus ignem: rursum ex diverso caeli caecisque latebris turba sonans praedam pedibus circumvolat uncis, polluit ore dapes. Sociis tunc, arma capessant, edico, et dira bellum cum gente gerendum.
236Haud secus ac iussi faciunt, tectosque per herbam disponunt enses et scuta latentia condunt. Ergo ubi delapsae sonitum per curva dedere litora, dat signum specula Misenus ab alta aere cavo. Invadunt socii, et nova proelia temptant,
241obscenas pelagi ferro foedare volucres: sed neque vim plumis ullam nec volnera tergo accipiunt, celerique fuga sub sidera lapsae semesam praedam et vestigia foeda relinquunt. Una in praecelsa consedit rupe Celaeno,
246infelix vates, rumpitque hanc pectore vocem: Bellum etiam pro caede boum stratisque iuvencis, Laomedontiadae, bellumne inferre paratis, et patrio Harpyias insontis pellere regno? Accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta,
251quae Phoebo pater omnipotens, mihi Phoebus Apollo praedixit, vobis Furiarum ego maxuma pando. Italiam cursu petitis, ventisque vocatis ibitis Italiam, portusque intrare licebit; sed non ante datam cingetis moenibus urbem,
256quam vos dira fames nostraeque iniuria caedis ambesas subigat malis absumere mensas. Dixit, et in silvam pennis ablata refugit. At sociis subita gelidus formidine sanguis deriguit; cecidere animi, nec iam amplius armis,
261sed votis precibusque iubent exposcere pacem, sive deae, seu sint dirae obscenaeque volucres. Et pater Anchises passis de litore palmis numina magna vocat, meritosque indicit honores: Di, prohibete minas; di, talem avertite casum,
266et placidi servate pios! Tum litore funem deripere, excussosque iubet laxare rudentes. Tendunt vela Noti; fugimus spumantibus undis, qua cursum ventusque gubernatorque vocabat. Iam medio adparet fluctu nemorosa Zacynthos
271Dulichiumque Sameque et Neritos ardua saxis. Effugimus scopulos Ithacae, Laertia regna, et terram altricem saevi exsecramur Ulixi. Mox et Leucatae nimbosa cacumina montis et formidatus nautis aperitur Apollo.
276Hunc petimus fessi et parvae succedimus urbi; ancora de prora iacitur, stant litore puppes. Ergo insperata tandem tellure potiti, lustramurque Iovi votisque incendimus aras, Actiaque Iliacis celebramus litora ludis.
281Exercent patrias oleo labente palaestras nudati socii; iuvat evasisse tot urbes Argolicas, mediosque fugam tenuisse per hostis. Interea magnum sol circumvolvitur annum, et glacialis hiemps aquilonibus asperat undas.
286Aere cavo clipeum. magni gestamen Abantis, postibus adversis figo, et rem carmine signo: AENEAS HAEC DE DANAIS VICTORIBVS ARMA. Linquere tum portus iubeo et considere transtris: certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora verrunt.
291Protinus aërias Phaeacum abscondimus arces, litoraque Epiri legimus portuque subimus Chaonio, et celsam Buthroti accedimus urbem. Hic incredibilis rerum fama occupat auris, Priamiden Helenum Graias regnare per urbes,
296coniugio Aeacidae Pyrrhi sceptrisque potitum, et patrio Andromachen iterum cessisse marito. Obstipui, miroque incensum pectus amore, compellare virum et casus cognoscere tantos. Progredior portu, classis et litora linquens,
301sollemnis cum forte dapes et tristia dona ante urbem in luco falsi Simoentis ad undam libabat cineri Andromache, Manisque vocabat Hectoreum ad tumulum, viridi quem caespite inanem et geminas, causam lacrimis, sacraverat aras.
306Ut me conspexit venientem et Troïa circum arma amens vidit, magnis exterrita monstris deriguit visu in medio, calor ossa reliquit; labitur, et longo vix tandem tempore fatur: Verane te facies, verus mihi nuntius adfers,
311nate dea? Vivisne, aut, si lux alma recessit, Hector ubi est? Dixit, lacrimasque effudit et omnem implevit clamore locum. Vix pauca furenti subicio, et raris turbatus vocibus hisco: Vivo equidem, vitamque extrema per omnia duco;
316ne dubita, nam vera vides. Heu, quis te casus deiectam coniuge tanto excipit, aut quae digna satis fortuna revisit Hectoris Andromachen? Pyrrhin’ conubia servas? Deiecit vultum et demissa voce locuta est:
321O felix una ante alias Priameïa virgo, hostilem ad tumulum Troiae sub moenibus altis iussa mori, quae sortitus non pertulit ullos, nec victoris eri tetigit captiva cubile! nos, patria incensa, diversa per aequora vectae,
326stirpis Achilleae fastus iuvenemque superbum, servitio enixae, tulimus: qui deinde, secutus Ledaeam Hermionen Lacedaemoniosque hymenaeos, me famulo famulamque Heleno transmisit habendam. Ast illum, ereptae magno inflammatus amore
331coniugis et scelerum Furiis agitatus, Orestes excipit incautum patriasque obtruncat ad aras. Morte Neoptolemi regnorum reddita cessit pars Heleno, qui Chaonios cognomine campos Chaoniamque omnem Troiano a Chaone dixit,
336Pergamaque Iliacamque iugis hanc addidit arcem. Sed tibi qui cursum venti, quae fata dedere? Aut quisnam ignarum nostris deus adpulit oris? Quid puer Ascanius? superatne et vescitur aura, quem tibi iam Troia—
341Ecqua tamen puero est amissae cura parentis? Ecquid in antiquam virtutem animosque virilis et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitat Hector? Talia fundebat lacrimans longosque ciebat incassum fletus, cum sese a moenibus heros
346Priamides multis Helenus comitantibus adfert, adgnoscitque suos, laetusque ad limina ducit, et multum lacrimas verba inter singula fundit. Procedo, et parvam Troiam simulataque magnis Pergama, et arentem Xanthi cognomine rivum
351adgnosco, Scaeaeque amplector limina portae. Nec non et Teucri socia simul urbe fruuntur: illos porticibus rex accipiebat in amplis; aulaï medio libabant pocula Bacchi, impositis auro dapibus, paterasque tenebant.
356Iamque dies alterque dies processit, et aurae vela vocant tumidoque inflatur carbasus austro. His vatem adgredior dictis ac talia quaeso: Troiugena, interpres divom, qui numina Phoebi, qui tripodas, Clarii laurus, qui sidera sentis,
361et volucrum linguas et praepetis omina pennae, fare age—namque omnem cursum mihi prospera dixit religio, et cuncti suaserunt numine divi Italiam petere et terras temptare repostas: sola novum dictuque nefas Harpyia Celaeno
366prodigium canit, et tristis denuntiat iras, obscenamque famem—quae prima pericula vito? Quidve sequens tantos possim superare labores? Hic Helenus, caesis primum de more iuvencis, exorat pacem divom, vittasque resolvit
371sacrati capitis, meque ad tua limina, Phoebe, ipse manu multo suspensum numine ducit, atque haec deinde canit divino ex ore sacerdos: Nate dea,—nam te maioribus ire per altum auspiciis manifesta fides: sic fata deum rex
376sortitur, volvitque vices; is vertitur ordo— pauca tibi e multis, quo tutior hospita lustres aequora et Ausonio possis considere portu, expediam dictis; prohibent nam cetera Parcae scire Helenum farique vetat Saturnia Iuno.
381Principio Italiam, quam tu iam rere propinquam vicinosque, ignare, paras invadere portus, longa procul longis via dividit invia terris. Ante et Trinacria lentandus remus in unda, et salis Ausonii lustrandum navibus aequor,
386infernique lacus, Aeaeaeque insula Circae, quam tuta possis urbem componere terra: signa tibi dicam, tu condita mente teneto: cum tibi sollicito secreti ad fluminis undam litoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus
391triginta capitum fetus enixa iacebit. alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati, is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum. Nec tu mensarum morsus horresce futuros: fata viam invenient, aderitque vocatus Apollo.
396Has autem terras, Italique hanc litoris oram, proxuma quae nostri perfunditur aequoris aestu, effuge; cuncta malis habitantur moenia Grais. Hic et Narycii posuerunt moenia Locri, et Sallentinos obsedit milite campos
401Lyctius Idomeneus; hic illa ducis Meliboei parva Philoctetae subnixa Petelia muro. Quin, ubi transmissae steterint trans aequora classes, et positis aris iam vota in litore solves, purpureo velare comas adopertus amictu,
406ne qua inter sanctos ignis in honore deorum hostilis facies occurrat et omina turbet. Hunc socii morem sacrorum, hunc ipse teneto: hac casti maneant in religione nepotes. Ast ubi digressum Siculae te admoverit orae
411ventus, et angusti rarescent claustra Pelori, laeva tibi tellus et longo laeva petantur aequora circuitu: dextrum fuge litus et undas. Haec loca vi quondam et vasta convolsa ruina— tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas—
416dissiluisse ferunt, cum protinus utraque tellus una foret; venit medio vi pontus et undis Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit, arvaque et urbes litore diductas angusto interluit aestu. Dextrum Scylla latus, laevum implacata Charybdis
421obsidet, atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras erigit alternos et sidera verberat unda. At Scyllam caecis cohibet spelunca latebris, ora exsertantem et navis in saxa trahentem.
426Prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo pube tenus, postrema immani corpore pristis, delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. Praestat Trinacrii metas lustrare Pachyni cessantem, longos et circumflectere cursus,
431quam semel informem vasto vidisse sub antro Scyllam, et caeruleis canibus resonantia saxa. Praeterea, si qua est Heleno prudentia, vati si qua fides, animum si veris implet Apollo, unum illud tibi, nate dea, proque omnibus unum
436praedicam, et repetens iterumque iterumque monebo: Iunonis magnae primum prece numen adora; Iunoni cane vota libens, dominamque potentem supplicibus supera donis: sic denique victor Trinacria finis Italos mittere relicta.
441Huc ubi delatus Cumaeam accesseris urbem, divinosque lacus, et Averna sonantia silvis, insanam vatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima fata canit, foliisque notas et nomina mandat. Quaecumque in foliis descripsit carmina virgo,
446digerit in numerum, atque antro seclusa relinquit. Illa manent immota locis, neque ab ordine cedunt; verum eadem, verso tenuis cum cardine ventus impulit et teneras turbavit ianua frondes, numquam deinde cavo volitantia prendere saxo,
451nec revocare situs aut iungere carmina curat: inconsulti abeunt, sedemque odere Sibyllae. Hic tibi ne qua morae fuerint dispendia tanti,— quamvis increpitent socii, et vi cursus in altum vela vocet, possisque sinus implere secundos,—
456quin adeas vatem precibusque oracula poscas ipsa canat, vocemque volens atque ora resolvat. Illa tibi Italiae populos venturaque bella, et quo quemque modo fugiasque ferasque laborem expediet, cursusque dabit venerata secundos.
461Haec sunt, quae nostra liceat te voce moneri. Vade age, et ingentem factis fer ad aethera Troiam. Quae postquam vates sic ore effatus amico est, dona dehinc auro gravia sectoque elephanto imperat ad navis ferri, stipatque carinis
466ingens argentum, Dodonaeosque lebetas, loricam consertam hamis auroque trilicem, et conum insignis galeae cristasque comantis, arma Neoptolemi; sunt et sua dona parenti. Addit equos, additque duces;
471remigium supplet; socios simul instruit armis. Interea classem velis aptare iubebat Anchises, fieret vento mora ne qua ferenti. Quem Phoebi interpres multo compellat honore: Coniugio, Anchise, Veneris dignate superbo,
476cura deum, bis Pergameis erepte ruinis, ecce tibi Ausoniae tellus; hanc arripe velis. Et tamen hanc pelago praeterlabare necesse est; Ausoniae pars illa procul, quam pandit Apollo. Vade ait O felix nati pietate. Quid ultra
481provehor, et fando surgentis demoror austros? Nec minus Andromache digressu maesta supremo fert picturatas auri subtemine vestes et Phrygiam Ascanio chlamydem (nec cedit honore), textilibusque onerat donis, ac talia fatur:
486Accipe et haec, manuum tibi quae monumenta mearum sint, puer, et longum Andromachae testentur amorem, coniugis Hectoreae. Cape dona extrema tuorum, O mihi sola mei super Astyanactis imago: sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat;
491et nunc aequali tecum pubesceret aevo. Hos ego digrediens lacrimis adfabar obortis: Vivite felices, quibus est fortuna peracta iam sua; nos alia ex aliis in fata vocamur. Vobis parta quies; nullum maris aequor arandum,
496arva neque Ausoniae semper cedentia retro quaerenda. Effigiem Xanthi Troiamque videtis quam vestrae fecere manus, melioribus, opto, auspiciis, et quae fuerit minus obvia Graiis. Si quando Thybrim vicinaque Thybridis arva
501intraro, gentique meae data moenia cernam, cognatas urbes olim populosque propinquos, Epiro, Hesperia, quibus idem Dardanus auctor atque idem casus, unam faciemus utramque Troiam animis; maneat nostros ea cura nepotes.
506Provehimur pelago vicina Ceraunia iuxta, unde iter Italiam cursusque brevissimus undis. Sol ruit interea et montes umbrantur opaci; sternimur optatae gremio telluris ad undam, sortiti remos, passimque in litore sicco
511corpora curamus; fessos sopor inrigat artus. Necdum orbem medium Nox horis acta subibat: haud segnis strato surgit Palinurus et omnis explorat ventos, atque auribus aera captat; sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo,
516Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones, armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona. Postquam cuncta videt caelo constare sereno, dat clarum e puppi signum; nos castra movemus, temptamusque viam et velorum pandimus alas.
521Iamque rubescebat stellis Aurora fugatis, cum procul obscuros collis humilemque videmus Italiam. Italiam primus conclamat Achates, Italiam laeto socii clamore salutant. Tum pater Anchises magnum cratera corona
526induit, implevitque mero, divosque vocavit stans celsa in puppi: Di maris et terrae tempestatumque potentes, ferte viam vento facilem et spirate secundi. Crebrescunt optatae aurae portusque patescit
531iam propior, templumque adparet in arce Minervae. Vela legunt socii et proras ad litora torquent. Portus ab Euroo fluctu curvatus in arcum, obiectae salsa spumant aspargine cautes; ipse latet; gemino demittunt bracchia muro
536turriti scopuli, refugitque ab litore templum. Quattuor hic, primum omen, equos in gramine vidi tondentis campum late, candore nivali. Et pater Anchises: Bellum, O terra hospita, portas bello armantur equi, bellum haec armenta minantur.
541Sed tamen idem olim curru succedere sueti quadrupedes, et frena iugo concordia ferre; spes et pacis ait. Tum numina sancta precamur Palladis armisonae, quae prima accepit ovantis, et capita ante aras Phrygio velamur amictu;
546praeceptisque Heleni, dederat quae maxima, rite Iunoni Argivae iussos adolemus honores. Haud mora, continuo perfectis ordine votis, cornua velatarum obvertimus antemarum, Graiugenumque domos suspectaque linquimus arva.
551Hinc sinus Herculei (si vera est fama) Tarenti cernitur; attollit se diva Lacinia contra, Caulonisque arces et navifragum Scylaceum. Tum procul e fluctu Trinacria cernitur Aetna, et gemitum ingentem pelagi pulsataque saxa
556audimus longe fractasque ad litora voces, exsultantque vada, atque aestu miscentur harenae. Et pater Anchises: Nimirum haec illa Charybdis: hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat. Eripite, O socii, pariterque insurgite remis!
561Haud minus ac iussi faciunt, primusque rudentem contorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas. laevam cuncta cohors remis ventisque petivit. Tollimur in caelum curvato gurgite, et idem subducta ad Manis imos desedimus unda.
566Ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dedere: ter spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra. Interea fessos ventus cum sole reliquit, ignarique viae Cyclopum adlabimur oris. Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens
571ipse; sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis; interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem, turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla, attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit; interdum scopulos avolsaque viscera montis
576erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo. Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus urgueri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam impositam ruptis flammam exspirare caminis;
581et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnem murmure Trinacriam, et caelum subtexere fumo. Noctem illam tecti silvis immania monstra perferimus, nec quae sonitum det causa videmus. Nam neque erant astrorum ignes, nec lucidus aethra
586siderea polus, obscuro sed nubila caelo, et lunam in nimbo nox intempesta tenebat. Postera iamque dies primo surgebat Eoo, umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram: cum subito e silvis, macie confecta suprema,
591ignoti nova forma viri miserandaque cultu procedit, supplexque manus ad litora tendit. Respicimus: dira inluvies inmissaque barba, consertum tegumen spinis; at cetera Graius, Isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troia vidit
597arma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit, continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praeceps cum fletu precibusque tulit: Per sidera testor, per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen, tollite me, Teucri; quascumque abducite terras;
602hoc sat erit. Scio me Danais e classibus unum, et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse Penatis; pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri, spargite me in fluctus, vastoque inmergite ponto. Si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit.
607Dixerat, et genua amplexus genibusque volutans haerebat. Qui sit, fari, quo sanguine cretus, hortamur; quae deinde agitet fortuna, fateri. Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus, dat iuveni, atque animum praesenti pignore firmat.
612Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur: Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulixi, nomine Achaemenides, Troiam genitore Adamasto paupere—mansissetque utinam fortuna!—profectus. Hic me, dum trepidi crudelia limina linquunt,
617inmemores socii vasto Cyclopis in antro deseruere. Domus sanie dapibusque cruentis, intus opaca, ingens; ipse arduus, altaque pulsat sidera—Di, talem terris avertite pestem!— nec visu facilis nec dictu adfabilis ulli.
622Visceribus miserorum et sanguine vescitur atro. Vidi egomet, duo de numero cum corpora nostro prensa manu magna, medio resupinus in antro, frangeret ad saxum, sanieque aspersa natarent limina; vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo
627manderet, et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus. Haud impune quidem; nec talia passus Ulixes, oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto. Nam simul expletus dapibus vinoque sepultus cervicem inflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum
632immensus, saniem eructans et frusta cruento per somnum commixta mero, nos magna precati numina sortitique vices, una undique circum fundimur, et telo lumen terebramus acuto,— ingens, quod torva solum sub fronte latebat,
637Argolici clipei aut Phoebeae lampadis instar,— et tandem laeti sociorum ulciscimur umbras. Sed fugite, O miseri, fugite, atque ab litore funem rumpite. Nam qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro
642lanigeras claudit pecudes atque ubera pressat, centum alii curva haec habitant ad litora volgo infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant. Tertia iam lunae se cornua lumine complent, cum vitam in silvis inter deserta ferarum
647lustra domosque traho, vastosque ab rupe Cyclopas prospicio, sonitumque pedum vocemque tremesco. Victum infelicem, bacas lapidosaque corna, dant rami et volsis pascunt radicibus herbae. Omnia conlustrans, hanc primum ad litora classem
652conspexi venientem. Huic me, quaecumque fuisset, addixi: satis est gentem effugisse nefandam. Vos animam hanc potius quocumque absumite leto. Vix ea fatus erat, summo cum monte videmus ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem
657pastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem, monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum. Trunca manu pinus regit et vestigia firmat; lanigerae comitantur oves—ea sola voluptas solamenque mali.
662Postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora venit, luminis effossi fluidum lavit inde cruorem, dentibus infrendens gemitu, graditurque per aequor iam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit. Nos procul inde fugam trepidi celerare, recepto
667supplice sic merito, tacitique incidere funem; vertimus et proni certantibus aequora remis. Sensit, et ad sonitum vocis vestigia torsit; verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas, nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo,
672clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes contremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellus Italiae, curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis. At genus e silvis Cyclopum et montibus altis excitum ruit ad portus et litora complent.
677Cernimus adstantis nequiquam lumine torvo Aetnaeos fratres, caelo capita alta ferentis, concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celso aeriae quercus, aut coniferae cyparissi constiterunt, silva alta Iovis, lucusve Dianae.
682Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentis excutere, et ventis intendere vela secundis. Contra iussa monent Heleni Scyllam atque Charybdin inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo, ni teneant cursus; certum est dare lintea retro.
687Ecce autem Boreas angusta ab sede Pelori missus adest. Vivo praetervehor ostia saxo Pantagiae Megarosque sinus Thapsumque iacentem. Talia monstrabat relegens errata retrorsus litora Achaemenides; comes infelicis Ulixi.
692Sicanio praetenta sinu iacet insula contra Plemyrium undosum; nomen dixere priores Ortygiam. Alpheum fama est huc Elidis amnem occultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nunc ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.
697Iussi numina magna loci veneramur; et inde exsupero praepingue solum stagnantis Helori. Hinc altas cautes proiectaque saxa Pachyni radimus, et fatis numquam concessa moveri adparet Camerina procul campique Geloi,
702immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta. Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxuma longe moenia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum; teque datis linquo ventis, palmosa Selinus, et vada dura lego saxis Lilybeia caecis.
707Hinc Drepani me portus et inlaetabilis ora accipit. Hic, pelagi tot tempestatibus actis, heu genitorem, omnis curae casusque levamen, amitto Anchisen: hic me, pater optume, fessum deseris, heu, tantis nequiquam erepte periclis!
712Nec vates Helenus, cum multa horrenda moneret, hos mihi praedixit luctus, non dira Celaeno. Hic labor extremus, longarum haec meta viarum. Hinc me digressum vestris deus adpulit oris. Sic pater Aeneas intentis omnibus unus
717fata renarrabat divom, cursusque docebat. Conticuit tandem, factoque hic fine quievit.
Book 4
1At regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura volnus alit venis, et caeco carpitur igni. Multa viri virtus animo, multusque recursat gentis honos: haerent infixi pectore voltus verbaque, nec placidam membris dat cura quietem.
6Postera Phoebea lustrabat lampade terras, umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram, cum sic unanimam adloquitur male sana sororem: Anna soror, quae me suspensam insomnia terrent! Quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes,
11quem sese ore ferens, quam forti pectore et armis! Credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse deorum. Degeneres animos timor arguit: heu, quibus ille iactatus fatis! Quae bella exhausta canebat! Si mihi non animo fixum immotumque sederet,
16ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare iugali, postquam primus amor deceptam morte fefellit; si non pertaesum thalami taedaeque fuisset, huic uni forsan potui succumbere culpae. Anna, fatebor enim, miseri post fata Sychaei
21coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede Penatis, solus hic inflexit sensus, animumque labantem impulit: adgnosco veteris vestigia flammae. Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat, vel Pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,
26pallentis umbras Erebi noctemque profundam, ante, Pudor, quam te violo, aut tua iura resolvo. Ille meos, primus qui me sibi iunxit, amores abstulit; ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro. Sic effata sinum lacrimis implevit obortis.
31Anna refert: O luce magis dilecta sorori, solane perpetua maerens carpere iuventa, nec dulcis natos, Veneris nec praemia noris? Id cinerem aut Manis credis curare sepultos? Esto: aegram nulli quondam flexere mariti,
36non Libyae, non ante Tyro; despectus Iarbas ductoresque alii, quos Africa terra triumphis dives alit: placitone etiam pugnabis amori? Nec venit in mentem, quorum consederis arvis? Hinc Gaetulae urbes, genus insuperabile bello,
41et Numidae infreni cingunt et inhospita Syrtis; hinc deserta siti regio, lateque furentes Barcaei. Quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam, germanique minas? Dis equidem auspicibus reor et Iunone secunda
46hunc cursum Iliacas vento tenuisse carinas. Quam tu urbem, soror, hanc cernes, quae surgere regna coniugio tali! Teucrum comitantibus armis Punica se quantis attollet gloria rebus! Tu modo posce deos veniam, sacrisque litatis
51indulge hospitio, causasque innecte morandi, dum pelago desaevit hiemps et aquosus Orion, quassataeque rates, dum non tractabile caelum. His dictis incensum animum inflammavit amore, spemque dedit dubiae menti, solvitque pudorem.
56Principio delubra adeunt, pacemque per aras exquirunt; mactant lectas de more bidentis legiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo, Iunoni ante omnis, cui vincla iugalia curae. Ipsa, tenens dextra pateram, pulcherrima Dido
61candentis vaccae media inter cornua fundit, aut ante ora deum pinguis spatiatur ad aras, instauratque diem donis, pecudumque reclusis pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta. Heu vatum ignarae mentes! quid vota furentem,
66quid delubra iuvant? Est mollis flamma medullas interea, et tacitum vivit sub pectore volnus. Uritur infelix Dido, totaque vagatur urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerva sagitta, quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit
71pastor agens telis, liquitque volatile ferrum nescius; illa fuga silvas saltusque peragrat Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis arundo. Nunc media Aenean secum per moenia ducit, Sidoniasque ostentat opes urbemque paratam;
76incipit effari, mediaque in voce resistit; nunc eadem labente die convivia quaerit, Iliacosque iterum demens audire labores exposcit, pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore. Post, ubi digressi, lumenque obscura vicissim
81luna premit suadentque cadentia sidera somnos, sola domo maeret vacua, stratisque relictis incubat, illum absens absentem auditque videtque; aut gremio Ascanium, genitoris imagine capta, detinet, infandum si fallere possit amorem.
86Non coeptae adsurgunt turres, non arma iuventus exercet, portusve aut propugnacula bello tuta parant; pendent opera interrupta, minaeque murorum ingentes aequataque machina caelo. Quam simul ac tali persensit peste teneri
91cara Iovis coniunx, nec famam obstare furori, talibus adgreditur Venerem Saturnia dictis: Egregiam vero laudem et spolia ampla refertis tuque puerque tuus, magnum et memorabile numen, una dolo divom si femina victa duorum est!
96Nec me adeo fallit veritam te moenia nostra suspectas habuisse domos Karthaginis altae. Sed quis erit modus, aut quo nunc certamine tanto? Quin potius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos exercemus? Habes, tota quod mente petisti:
101ardet amans Dido, traxitque per ossa furorem. Communem hunc ergo populum paribusque regamus auspiciis; liceat Phrygio servire marito, dotalisque tuae Tyrios permittere dextrae. Olli—sensit enim simulata mente locutam,
106quo regnum Italiae Libycas averteret oras— sic contra est ingressa Venus: Quis talia demens abnuat, aut tecum malit contendere bello, si modo, quod memoras, factum fortuna sequatur. Sed fatis incerta feror, si Iuppiter unam
111esse velit Tyriis urbem Troiaque profectis, miscerive probet populos, aut foedera iungi. Tu coniunx tibi fas animum temptare precando. Perge; sequar. Tum sic excepit regia Iuno: Mecum erit iste labor: nunc qua ratione, quod instat
116confieri possit, paucis, adverte, docebo. Venatum Aeneas unaque miserrima Dido in nemus ire parant, ubi primos crastinus ortus extulerit Titan, radiisque retexerit orbem. His ego nigrantem commixta grandine nimbum,
121dum trepidant alae, saltusque indagine cingunt, desuper infundam, et tonitru caelum omne ciebo. Diffugient comites et nocte tegentur opaca: speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem devenient; adero, et, tua si mihi certa voluntas,
127hic hymenaeus erit.—Non adversata petenti adnuit, atque dolis risit Cytherea repertis. Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit. It portis iubare exorto delecta iuventus; retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro,
132Massylique ruunt equites et odora canum vis. Reginam thalamo cunctantem ad limina primi Poenorum exspectant, ostroque insignis et auro stat sonipes, ac frena ferox spumantia mandit. Tandem progreditur, magna stipante caterva,
137Sidoniam picto chlamydem circumdata limbo. Cui pharetra ex auro, crines nodantur in aurum, aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem. Nec non et Phrygii comites et laetus Iulus incedunt. Ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnis
142infert se socium Aeneas atque agmina iungit. Qualis ubi hibernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta deserit ac Delum maternam invisit Apollo, instauratque choros, mixtique altaria circum Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi;
147ipse iugis Cynthi graditur, mollique fluentem fronde premit crinem fingens atque implicat auro; tela sonant umeris: haud illo segnior ibat Aeneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore. Postquam altos ventum in montis atque invia lustra,
152ecce ferae, saxi deiectae vertice, caprae decurrere iugis; alia de parte patentis transmittunt cursu campos atque agmina cervi pulverulenta fuga glomerant montisque relinquunt. At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri
157gaudet equo, iamque hos cursu, iam praeterit illos, spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem. Interea magno misceri murmure caelum incipit; insequitur commixta grandine nimbus;
162et Tyrii comites passim et Troiana iuventus Dardaniusque nepos Veneris diversa per agros tecta metu petiere; ruunt de montibus amnes. Speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem deveniunt: prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno
167dant signum; fulsere ignes et conscius aether conubiis, summoque ulularunt vertice nymphae. Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum causa fuit; neque enim specie famave movetur, nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem:
172coniugium vocat; hoc praetexit nomine culpam. Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes— Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum; mobilitate viget, viresque adquirit eundo, parva metu primo, mox sese attollit in auras,
177ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit. Illam Terra parens, ira inritata deorum, extremam (ut perhibent) Coeo Enceladoque sororem progenuit, pedibus celerem et pernicibus alis, monstrum horrendum, ingens, cui, quot sunt corpore plumae
182tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu, tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures. Nocte volat caeli medio terraeque per umbram, stridens, nec dulci declinat lumina somno; luce sedet custos aut summi culmine tecti,
187turribus aut altis, et magnas territat urbes; tam ficti pravique tenax, quam nuntia veri. Haec tum multiplici populos sermone replebat gaudens, et pariter facta atque infecta canebat: venisse Aenean, Troiano sanguine cretum,
192cui se pulchra viro dignetur iungere Dido; nunc hiemem inter se luxu, quam longa, fovere regnorum immemores turpique cupidine captos. Haec passim dea foeda virum diffundit in ora. Protinus ad regem cursus detorquet Iarban,
197incenditque animum dictis atque aggerat iras. Hic Hammone satus, rapta Garamantide Nympha, templa Iovi centum latis immania regnis, centum aras posuit, vigilemque sacraverat ignem, excubias divom aeternas, pecudumque cruore
202pingue solum et variis florentia limina sertis. Isque amens animi et rumore accensus amaro dicitur ante aras media inter numina divom multa Iovem manibus supplex orasse supinis: Iuppiter omnipotens, cui nunc Maurusia pictis
207gens epulata toris Lenaeum libat honorem, aspicis haec, an te, genitor, cum fulmina torques, nequiquam horremus, caecique in nubibus ignes terrificant animos et inania murmura miscent? Femina, quae nostris errans in finibus urbem
212exiguam pretio posuit, cui litus arandum cuique loci leges dedimus, conubia nostra reppulit, ac dominum Aenean in regna recepit. Et nunc ille Paris cum semiviro comitatu, Maeonia mentum mitra crinemque madentem
217subnexus, rapto potitur: nos munera templis quippe tuis ferimus, famamque fovemus inanem. Talibus orantem dictis arasque tenentem audiit omnipotens, oculosque ad moenia torsit regia et oblitos famae melioris amantes.
222Tum sic Mercurium adloquitur ac talia mandat: Vade age, nate, voca Zephyros et labere pennis, Dardaniumque ducem, Tyria Karthagine qui nunc exspectat, fatisque datas non respicit urbes, adloquere, et celeris defer mea dicta per auras.
227Non illum nobis genetrix pulcherrima talem promisit, Graiumque ideo bis vindicat armis; sed fore, qui gravidam imperiis belloque frementem Italiam regeret, genus alto a sanguine Teucri proderet, ac totum sub leges mitteret orbem.
232Si nulla accendit tantarum gloria rerum, nec super ipse sua molitur laude laborem, Ascanione pater Romanas invidet arces? Quid struit, aut qua spe inimica in gente moratur, nec prolem Ausoniam et Lavinia respicit arva?
237Naviget: haec summa est; hic nostri nuntius esto. Dixerat. Ille patris magni parere parabat imperio; et primum pedibus talaria nectit aurea, quae sublimem alis sive aequora supra seu terram rapido pariter cum flamine portant;
242tum virgam capit: hac animas ille evocat Orco pallentis, alias sub Tartara tristia mittit, dat somnos adimitque, et lumina morte resignat. Illa fretus agit ventos, et turbida tranat nubila; iamque volans apicem et latera ardua cernit
247Atlantis duri, caelum qui vertice fulcit, Atlantis, cinctum adsidue cui nubibus atris piniferum caput et vento pulsatur et imbri; nix umeros infusa tegit; tum flumina mento praecipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida barba.
252Hic primum paribus nitens Cyllenius alis constitit; hinc toto praeceps se corpore ad undas misit, avi similis, quae circum litora, circum piscosos scopulos humilis volat aequora iuxta. Haud aliter terras inter caelumque volabat,
257litus harenosum Libyae ventosque secabat materno veniens ab avo Cyllenia proles. Ut primum alatis tetigit magalia plantis, Aenean fundantem arces ac tecta novantem conspicit; atque illi stellatus iaspide fulva
262ensis erat, Tyrioque ardebat murice laena demissa ex umeris, dives quae munera Dido fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro. Continuo invadit: Tu nunc Karthaginis altae fundamenta locas, pulchramque uxorius urbem
267exstruis, heu regni rerumque oblite tuarum? Ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo regnator, caelum ac terras qui numine torquet; ipse haec ferre iubet celeris mandata per auras: quid struis, aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris?
272Si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum, Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli respice, cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus debentur. Tali Cyllenius ore locutus mortalis visus medio sermone reliquit,
278et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. At vero Aeneas aspectu obmutuit amens, arrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit. Ardet abire fuga dulcisque relinquere terras, attonitus tanto monitu imperioque deorum.
283Heu quid agat? Quo nunc reginam ambire furentem audeat adfatu? Quae prima exordia sumat? Atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc, in partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat. Haec alternanti potior sententia visa est:
288Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum, classem aptent taciti sociosque ad litora cogant, arma parent, et quae rebus sit causa novandis dissimulent; sese interea, quando optuma Dido nesciat et tantos rumpi non speret amores,
293temptaturum aditus, et quae mollissima fandi tempora, quis rebus dexter modus. Ocius omnes imperio laeti parent ac iussa facessunt. At regina dolos—quis fallere possit amantem? praesensit, motusque excepit prima futuros,
298omnia tuta timens. Eadem impia Fama furenti detulit armari classem cursumque parari. Saevit inops animi, totamque incensa per urbem bacchatur, qualis commotis excita sacris Thyias, ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho
303orgia, nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithaeron. Tandem his Aenean compellat vocibus ultro: Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum posse nefas, tacitusque mea decedere terra? Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,
308nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido? Quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem, et mediis properas aquilonibus ire per altum, crudelis? Quid, si non arva aliena domosque ignotas peteres, sed Troia antiqua maneret,
313Troia per undosum peteretur classibus aequor Mene fugis? Per ego has lacrimas dextramque tuam te (quando aliud mihi iam miserae nihil ipsa reliqui) per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos, si bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quicquam
318dulce meum, miserere domus labentis, et istam— oro, si quis adhuc precibus locus—exue mentem. Te propter Libycae gentes Nomadumque tyranni odere, infensi Tyrii; te propter eundem exstinctus pudor, et, qua sola sidera adibam,
323fama prior. Cui me moribundam deseris, hospes? Hoc solum nomen quoniam de coniuge restat. Quid moror? An mea Pygmalion dum moenia frater destruat, aut captam ducat Gaetulus Iarbas? Saltem si qua mihi de te suscepta fuisset
328ante fugam suboles, si quis mihi parvulus aula luderet Aeneas, qui te tamen ore referret, non equidem omnino capta ac deserta viderer. Dixerat. Ille Iovis monitis immota tenebat lumina, et obnixus curam sub corde premebat.
333Tandem pauca refert: Ego te, quae plurima fando enumerare vales, numquam, regina, negabo promeritam; nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae, dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus. Pro re pauca loquar. Neque ego hanc abscondere furto
338speravi—ne finge—fugam, nec coniugis umquam praetendi taedas, aut haec in foedera veni. Me si fata meis paterentur ducere vitam auspiciis et sponte mea componere curas, urbem Troianam primum dulcisque meorum
343reliquias colerem, Priami tecta alta manerent, et recidiva manu posuissem Pergama victis. Sed nunc Italiam magnam Gryneus Apollo, Italiam Lyciae iussere capessere sortes: hic amor, haec patria est. Si te Karthaginis arces,
348Phoenissam, Libycaeque aspectus detinet urbis, quae tandem, Ausonia Teucros considere terra, invidia est? Et nos fas extera quaerere regna. Me patris Anchisae, quotiens umentibus umbris nox operit terras, quotiens astra ignea surgunt,
353admonet in somnis et turbida terret imago; me puer Ascanius capitisque iniuria cari, quem regno Hesperiae fraudo et fatalibus arvis. Nunc etiam interpres divom, Iove missus ab ipso— testor utrumque caput—celeris mandata per auras
358detulit; ipse deum manifesto in lumine vidi intrantem muros, vocemque his auribus hausi. Desine meque tuis incendere teque querelis: Italiam non sponte sequor. Talia dicentem iamdudum aversa tuetur,
363huc illuc volvens oculos, totumque pererrat luminibus tacitis, et sic accensa profatur: Nec tibi diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, perfide; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.
368Nam quid dissimulo, aut quae me ad maiora reservo? Num fletu ingemuit nostro? Num lumina flexit? Num lacrimas victus dedit, aut miseratus amantem est? Quae quibus anteferam? Iam iam nec maxuma Iuno, nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis.
373Nusquam tuta fides. Eiectum litore, egentem excepi, et regni demens in parte locavi; amissam classem, socios a morte reduxi. Heu furiis incensa feror! Nunc augur Apollo, nunc Lyciae sortes, nunc et Iove missus ab ipso
378interpres divom fert horrida iussa per auras. Scilicet is Superis labor est, ea cura quietos sollicitat. Neque te teneo, neque dicta refello. I, sequere Italiam ventis, pete regna per undas. Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt,
383supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido saepe vocaturum. Sequar atris ignibus absens, et, cum frigida mors anima seduxerit artus, omnibus umbra locis adero. Dabis, improbe, poenas. Audiam et haec Manis veniet mihi fama sub imos.
388His medium dictis sermonem abrumpit, et auras aegra fugit, seque ex oculis avertit et aufert, linquens multa metu cunctantem et multa parantem dicere. Suscipiunt famulae, conlapsaque membra marmoreo referunt thalamo stratisque reponunt.
393At pius Aeneas, quamquam lenire dolentem solando cupit et dictis avertere curas, multa gemens magnoque animum labefactus amore, iussa tamen divom exsequitur, classemque revisit. Tum vero Teucri incumbunt, et litore celsas
398deducunt toto naves: natat uncta carina; frondentisque ferunt remos et robora silvis infabricata, fugae studio. Migrantis cernas, totaque ex urbe ruentis. Ac velut ingentem formicae farris acervum
403cum populant, hiemis memores, tectoque reponunt; it nigrum campis agmen, praedamque per herbas convectant calle angusto; pars grandia trudunt obnixae frumenta umeris; pars agmina cogunt castigantque moras; opere omnis semita fervet.
408Quis tibi tum, Dido, cernenti talia sensus? quosve dabas gemitus, cum litora fervere late prospiceres arce ex summa, totumque videres misceri ante oculos tantis clamoribus aequor? Improbe Amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis?
413Ire iterum in lacrimas, iterum temptare precando cogitur, et supplex animos submittere amori, ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat. Anna, vides toto properari litore; circum undique convenere; vocat iam carbasus auras,
418puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas. Hunc ego si potui tantum sperare dolorem, et perferre, soror, potero. Miserae hoc tamen unum exsequere, Anna, mihi. Solam nam perfidus ille te colere, arcanos etiam tibi credere sensus;
423sola viri mollis aditus et tempora noras. I, soror, atque hostem supplex adfare superbum: non ego cum Danais Troianam exscindere gentem Aulide iuravi, classemve ad Pergama misi, nec patris Anchisae cineres Manisve revelli,
428cur mea dicta neget duras demittere in auris. Quo ruit? Extremum hoc miserae det munus amanti: exspectet facilemque fugam ventosque ferentis. Non iam coniugium antiquum, quod prodidit, oro, nec pulchro ut Latio careat regnumque relinquat:
433tempus inane peto, requiem spatiumque furori, dum mea me victam doceat fortuna dolere. Extremam hanc oro veniam—miserere sororis— quam mihi cum dederit, cumulatam morte remittam. Talibus orabat, talisque miserrima fletus
438fertque refertque soror: sed nullis ille movetur fletibus, aut voces ullas tractabilis audit; fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit auris. Ac, velut annoso validam cum robore quercum Alpini Boreae nunc hinc nunc flatibus illinc
443eruere inter se certant; it stridor, et altae consternunt terram concusso stipite frondes; ipsa haeret scopulis, et, quantum vertice ad auras aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit: haud secus adsiduis hinc atque hinc vocibus heros
448tunditur, et magno persentit pectore curas; mens immota manet; lacrimae volvuntur inanes. Tum vero infelix fatis exterrita Dido mortem orat; taedet caeli convexa tueri. Quo magis inceptum peragat lucemque relinquat,
453vidit, turicremis cum dona imponeret aris, horrendum dictu, latices nigrescere sacros, fusaque in obscenum se vertere vina cruorem. Hoc visum nulli, non ipsi effata sorori. Praeterea fuit in tectis de marmore templum
458coniugis antiqui, miro quod honore colebat, velleribus niveis et festa fronde revinctum: hinc exaudiri voces et verba vocantis visa viri, nox cum terras obscura teneret; solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo
463saepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces; multaque praeterea vatum praedicta priorum terribili monitu horrificant. Agit ipse furentem in somnis ferus Aeneas; semperque relinqui sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur
468ire viam, et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra. Eumenidum veluti demens videt agmina Pentheus, et solem geminum et duplicis se ostendere Thebas; aut Agamemnonius scaenis agitatus Orestes armatam facibus matrem et serpentibus atris
473cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limine Dirae. Ergo ubi concepit furias evicta dolore decrevitque mori, tempus secum ipsa modumque exigit, et, maestam dictis adgressa sororem, consilium voltu tegit, ac spem fronte serenat:
478Inveni, germana, viam—gratare sorori— quae mihi reddat eum, vel eo me solvat amantem. Oceani finem iuxta solemque cadentem ultimus Aethiopum locus est, ubi maxumus Atlas axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum:
483hinc mihi Massylae gentis monstrata sacerdos, Hesperidum templi custos, epulasque draconi quae dabat, et sacros servabat in arbore ramos, spargens umida mella soporiferumque papaver. Haec se carminibus promittit solvere mentes
488quas velit, ast aliis duras immittere curas, sistere aquam fluviis, et vertere sidera retro; nocturnosque movet Manis: mugire videbis sub pedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos. Testor, cara, deos et te, germana, tuumque
493dulce caput, magicas invitam accingier artes. Tu secreta pyram tecto interiore sub auras erige, et arma viri, thalamo quae fixa reliquit impius, exuviasque omnis, lectumque iugalem, quo perii, superimponas: abolere nefandi
498cuncta viri monumenta iuvat, monstratque sacerdos. Haec effata silet; pallor simul occupat ora. Non tamen Anna novis praetexere funera sacris germanam credit, nec tantos mente furores concipit, aut graviora timet, quam morte Sychaei:
503ergo iussa parat. At regina, pyra penetrali in sede sub auras erecta ingenti taedis atque ilice secta, intenditque locum sertis, et fronde coronat funerea; super exuvias ensemque relictum
508effigiemque toro locat, haud ignara futuri. Stant arae circum, et crines effusa sacerdos ter centum tonat ore deos, Erebumque Chaosque, tergeminamque Hecaten, tria virginis ora Dianae. Sparserat et latices simulatos fontis Averni,
513falcibus et messae ad lunam quaeruntur aënis pubentes herbae nigri cum lacte veneni; quaeritur et nascentis equi de fronte revolsus et matri praereptus amor. Ipsa mola manibusque piis altaria iuxta,
518unum exuta pedem vinclis, in veste recincta, testatur moritura deos et conscia fati sidera; tum, si quod non aequo foedere amantes curae numen habet iustumque memorque, precatur. Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem
523corpora per terras, silvaeque et saeva quierant aequora: cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu, cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes pictaeque volucres, quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti
528. At non infelix animi Phoenissa, nec umquam Solvitur in somnos, oculisve aut pectore noctem accipit: ingeminant curae, rursusque resurgens saevit amor, magnoque irarum fluctuat aestu.
533Sic adeo insistit, secumque ita corde volutat: En, quid ago? Rursusne procos inrisa priores experiar, Nomadumque petam conubia supplex, quos ego sim totiens iam dedignata maritos? Iliacas igitur classes atque ultima Teucrum
538iussa sequar? Quiane auxilio iuvat ante levatos, et bene apud memores veteris stat gratia facti? Quis me autem, fac velle, sinet, ratibusve superbis invisam accipiet? Nescis heu, perdita, necdum Laomedonteae sentis periuria gentis?
543Quid tum, sola fuga nautas comitabor ovantes, an Tyriis omnique manu stipata meorum inferar, et, quos Sidonia vix urbe revelli, rursus agam pelago, et ventis dare vela iubebo? Quin morere, ut merita es, ferroque averte dolorem.
548Tu lacrimis evicta meis, tu prima furentem his, germana, malis oneras atque obicis hosti. Non licuit thalami expertem sine crimine vitam degere, more ferae, tales nec tangere curas! Non servata fides cineri promissa Sychaeo!
553Tantos illa suo rumpebat pectore questus. Aeneas celsa in puppi, iam certus eundi, carpebat somnos, rebus iam rite paratis. Huic se forma dei voltu redeuntis eodem obtulit in somnis, rursusque ita visa monere est—
558omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventa: Nate dea, potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos, nec, quae te circum stent deinde pericula, cernis, demens, nec Zephyros audis spirare secundos?
563Illa dolos dirumque nefas in pectore versat, certa mori, varioque irarum fluctuat aestu. Non fugis hinc praeceps, dum praecipitare potestas? Iam mare turbari trabibus, saevasque videbis conlucere faces, iam fervere litora flammis,
568si te his attigerit terris Aurora morantem. Heia age, rumpe moras. Varium et mutabile semper femina. Sic fatus, nocti se immiscuit atrae. Tum vero Aeneas, subitis exterritus umbris, corripit e somno corpus, sociosque fatigat:
573Praecipites vigilate, viri, et considite transtris; solvite vela citi. Deus aethere missus ab alto festinare fugam tortosque incidere funes ecce iterum stimulat. Sequimur te, sancte deorum, quisquis es, imperioque iterum paremus ovantes.
578Adsis o placidusque iuves, et sidera caelo dextra feras. Dixit, vaginaque eripit ensem fulmineum, strictoque ferit retinacula ferro. Idem omnes simul ardor habet, rapiuntque ruuntque; litora deseruere; latet sub classibus aequor;
583adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt. Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile. Regina e speculis ut primum albescere lucem vidit, et aequatis classem procedere velis,
588litoraque et vacuos sensit sine remige portus, terque quaterque manu pectus percussa decorum, flaventesque abscissa comas, Pro Iuppiter, ibit hic ait et nostris inluserit advena regnis? Non arma expedient, totaque ex urbe sequentur,
593deripientque rates alii navalibus? Ite, ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos!— Quid loquor, aut ubi sum? Quae mentem insania mutat? Infelix Dido, nunc te facta impia tangunt. Tum decuit, cum sceptra dabas.—En dextra fidesque,
598quem secum patrios aiunt portare Penates, quem subiisse umeris confectum aetate parentem! Non potui abreptum divellere corpus, et undis spargere? Non socios, non ipsum absumere ferro Ascanium, patriisque epulandum ponere mensis?—
603Verum anceps pugnae fuerat fortuna:—fuisset. Quem metui moritura? Faces in castra tulissem, implessemque foros flammis, natumque patremque cum genere extinxem, memet super ipsa dedissem. Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras,
608tuque harum interpres curarum et conscia Iuno, nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes, et Dirae ultrices, et di morientis Elissae, accipite haec, meritumque malis advertite numen, et nostras audite preces. Si tangere portus
613infandum caput ac terris adnare necesse est, et sic fata Iovis poscunt, hic terminus haeret: at bello audacis populi vexatus et armis, finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Iuli, auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum
618funera; nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquae tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur, sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus harena. Haec precor, hanc vocem extremam cum sanguine fundo. Tum vos, o Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futurum
623exercete odiis, cinerique haec mittite nostro munera. Nullus amor populis, nec foedera sunto. Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor, qui face Dardanios ferroque sequare colonos, nunc, olim, quocumque dabunt se tempore vires.
628Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas imprecor, arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotesque. Haec ait, et partis animum versabat in omnis, invisam quaerens quam primum abrumpere lucem. Tum breviter Barcen nutricem adfata Sychaei;
633namque suam patria antiqua cinis ater habebat: Annam cara mihi nutrix huc siste sororem; dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lympha, et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat: sic veniat; tuque ipsa pia tege tempora vitta.
638Sacra Iovi Stygio, quae rite incepta paravi, perficere est animus, finemque imponere curis, Dardaniique rogum capitis permittere flammae. Sic ait: illa gradum studio celerabat anili. At trepida, et coeptis immanibus effera Dido,
643sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementis interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura, interiora domus inrumpit limina, et altos conscendit furibunda rogos, ensemque recludit Dardanium, non hos quaesitum munus in usus.
648Hic, postquam Iliacas vestes notumque cubile conspexit, paulum lacrimis et mente morata, incubuitque toro, dixitque novissima verba: Dulces exuviae, dum fata deusque sinebant, accipite hanc animam, meque his exsolvite curis.
653Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi, et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit imago. Urbem praeclaram statui; mea moenia vidi; ulta virum, poenas inimico a fratre recepi; felix, heu nimium felix, si litora tantum
658numquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae! Dixit, et, os impressa toro, Moriemur inultae, sed moriamur ait. Sic, sic iuvat ire sub umbras: Hauriat hunc oculis ignem crudelis ab alto Dardanus, et nostrae secum ferat omina mortis.
663Dixerat; atque illam media inter talia ferro conlapsam aspiciunt comites, ensemque cruore spumantem, sparsasque manus. It clamor ad alta atria; concussam bacchatur Fama per urbem. Lamentis gemituque et femineo ululatu
668tecta fremunt; resonat magnis plangoribus aether, non aliter, quam si immissis ruat hostibus omnis Karthago aut antiqua Tyros, flammaeque furentes culmina perque hominum volvantur perque deorum. Audiit exanimis, trepidoque exterrita cursu
673unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis per medios ruit, ac morientem nomine clamat: Hoc illud, germana, fuit? Me fraude petebas? Hoc rogus iste mihi, hoc ignes araeque parabant? Quid primum deserta querar? Comitemne sororem
678sprevisti moriens? Eadem me ad fata vocasses: idem ambas ferro dolor, atque eadem hora tulisset. His etiam struxi manibus, patriosque vocavi voce deos, sic te ut posita crudelis abessem? Exstinxti te meque, soror, populumque patresque
683Sidonios urbemque tuam. Date volnera lymphis abluam, et, extremus si quis super halitus errat, ore legam. Sic fata, gradus evaserat altos, semianimemque sinu germanam amplexa fovebat cum gemitu, atque atros siccabat veste cruores.
688Illa, graves oculos conata attollere, rursus deficit; infixum stridit sub pectore vulnus. Ter sese attollens cubitoque adnixa levavit; ter revoluta toro est, oculisque errantibus alto quaesivit caelo lucem, ingemuitque reperta.
693Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem difficilisque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo, quae luctantem animam nexosque resolveret artus. Nam quia nec fato, merita nec morte peribat, sed misera ante diem, subitoque accensa furore,
698nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco. Ergo Iris croceis per caelum roscida pennis, mille trahens varios adverso sole colores, devolat, et supra caput adstitit: Hunc ego Diti
703sacrum iussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo. Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat: omnis et una dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit.
Book 5
1Interea medium Aeneas iam classe tenebat certus iter, fluctusque atros Aquilone secabat, moenia respiciens, quae iam infelicis Elissae conlucent flammis. Quae tantum accenderit ignem, causa latet; duri magno sed amore dolores
6polluto, notumque, furens quid femina possit, triste per augurium Teucrorum pectora ducunt. Ut pelagus tenuere rates, nec iam amplius ulla occurrit tellus, maria undique et undique caelum, olli caeruleus supra caput adstitit imber,
11noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris. Ipse gubernator puppi Palinurus ab alta: Heu! quianam tanti cinxerunt aethera nimbi? Quidve, pater Neptune, paras? Sic deinde locutus colligere arma iubet validisque incumbere remis,
16obliquatque sinus in ventum, ac talia fatur: Magnanime Aenea, non, si mihi Iuppiter auctor spondeat, hoc sperem Italiam contingere caelo. Mutati transversa fremunt et vespere ab atro consurgunt venti, atque in nubem cogitur aër.
21Nec nos obniti contra, nec tendere tantum sufficimus. Superat quoniam Fortuna, sequamur, quoque vocat, vertamus iter. Nec litora longe fida reor fraterna Erycis portusque Sicanos, si modo rite memor servata remetior astra.
26Tum pius Aeneas: Equidem sic poscere ventos iamdudum et frustra cerno te tendere contra: Flecte viam velis. An sit mihi gratior ulla, quove magis fessas optem demittere naves, quam quae Dardanium tellus mihi servat Acesten,
31et patris Anchisae gremio complectitur ossa? Haec ubi dicta, petunt portus, et vela secundi intendunt Zephyri; fertur cita gurgite classis, et tandem laeti notae advertuntur harenae. At procul ex celso miratus vertice montis
36adventum sociasque rates occurrit Acestes, horridus in iaculis et pelle Libystidis ursae, Troïa Criniso conceptum flumine mater quem genuit: veterum non immemor ille parentum gratatur reduces, et gaza laetus agresti
41excipit, ac fessos opibus solatur amicis. Postera cum primo stellas Oriente fugarat clara dies, socios in coetum litore ab omni advocat Aeneas, tumulique ex aggere fatur: Dardanidae magni, genus alto a sanguine divom,
46annuus exactis completur mensibus orbis, ex quo reliquias divinique ossa parentis Condidimus terra maestasque sacravimus aras. Iamque dies, nisi fallor, adest, quem semper acerbum, semper honoratum—sic di voluistis—habebo.
51Hunc ego Gaetulis agerem si Syrtibus exsul, Argolicove mari deprensus et urbe Mycenae; annua vota tamen sollemnisque ordine pompas exsequerer, strueremque suis altaria donis. Nunc ultro ad cineres ipsius et ossa parentis,
56haud equidem sine mente, reor, sine numine divom, adsumus et portus delati intramus amicos. Ergo agite, et laetum cuncti celebremus honorem; poscamus ventos; atque haec me sacra quotannis urbe velit posita templis sibi ferre dicatis.
61Bina boum vobis Troia generatus Acestes dat numero capita in naves; adhibete Penates et patrios epulis et quos colit hospes Acestes. Praeterea, si nona diem mortalibus almum Aurora extulerit radiisque retexerit orbem,
66prima citae Teucris ponam certamina classis; quique pedum cursu valet, et qui viribus audax aut iaculo incedit melior levibusque sagittis, seu crudo fidit pugnam committere caestu, cuncti adsint, meritaeque exspectent praemia palmae.
71Ore favete omnes, et cingite tempora ramis. Sic fatus, velat materna tempora myrto; hoc Elymus facit, hoc aevi maturus Acestes, hoc puer Ascanius, sequitur quos cetera pubes. Ille e concilio multis cum milibus ibat
76ad tumulum, magna medius comitante caterva. Hic duo rite mero libans carchesia Baccho fundit humi, duo lacte novo, duo sanguine sacro, purpureosque iacit flores, ac talia fatur: Salve, sancte parens: iterum salvete, recepti
81nequiquam cineres, animaeque umbraeque paternae. Non licuit fines Italos fataliaque arva, nec tecum Ausonium (quicumque est) quaerere Thybrim. Dixerat haec, adytis cum lubricus anguis ab imis septem ingens gyros, septena volumina traxit,
86amplexus placide tumulum lapsusque per aras, caeruleae cui terga notae, maculosus et auro squamam incendebat fulgor, ceu nubibus arcus mille iacit varios adverso sole colores. Obstipuit visu Aeneas. Ille agmine longo
91tandem inter pateras et levia pocula serpens libavitque dapes, rursusque innoxius imo successit tumulo, et depasta altaria liquit. Hoc magis inceptos genitori instaurat honores, incertus, geniumne loci famulumne parentis
96esse putet: caedit binas de more bidentes, totque sues, totidem nigrantis terga iuvencos; vinaque fundebat pateris, animamque vocabat Anchisae magni Manisque Acheronte remissos. Nec non et socii, quae cuique est copia, laeti
101dona ferunt, onerant aras, mactantque iuvencos; ordine aena locant alii, fusique per herbam subiciunt veribus prunas et viscera torrent. Exspectata dies aderat, nonamque serena Auroram Phaethontis equi iam luce vehebant,
106famaque finitimos et clari nomen Acestae excierat; laeto complerant litora coetu, visuri Aeneadas, pars et certare parati. Munera principio ante oculos circoque locantur in medio, sacri tripodes viridesque coronae,
111et palmae pretium victoribus, armaque et ostro perfusae vestes, argenti aurique talenta; et tuba commissos medio canit aggere ludos. Prima pares ineunt gravibus certamina remis quattuor ex omni delectae classe carinae.
116Velocem Mnestheus agit acri remige Pristim, mox Italus Mnestheus, genus a quo nomine Memmi; ingentemque Gyas ingenti mole Chimaeram, urbis opus, triplici pubes quam Dardana versu impellunt, terno consurgunt ordine remi;
121Sergestusque, domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen, Centauro invehitur magna, Scyllaque Cloanthus caerulea, genus unde tibi, Romane Cluenti. Est procul in pelago saxum spumantia contra litora, quod tumidis submersum tunditur olim
126fluctibus, hiberni condunt ubi sidera cori; tranquillo silet, immotaque attollitur unda campus, et apricis statio gratissima mergis. Hic viridem Aeneas frondenti ex ilice metam constituit signum nautis pater, unde reverti
131scirent, et longos ubi circumflectere cursus. Tum loca sorte legunt, ipsique in puppibus auro ductores longe effulgent ostroque decori; cetera populea velatur fronde iuventus, nudatosque umeros oleo perfilsa nitescit.
136Considunt transtris, intentaque brachia remis; intenti exspectant signum, exsultantiaque haurit corda pavor pulsans, laudumque arrecta cupido. Inde, ubi clara dedit sonitum tuba, finibus omnes, haud mora, prosiluere suis; ferit aethera clamor
141nauticus, adductis spumant freta versa lacertis. Infindunt pariter sulcos, totumque dehiscit convulsum remis rostrisque tridentibus aequor. Non tam praecipites biiugo certamine campum corripuere, ruuntque effusi carcere currus,
146nec sic immissis aurigae undantia lora concussere iugis pronique in verbera pendent. Tum plausu fremituque virum studiisque faventum consonat omne nemus, vocemque inclusa volutant litora, pulsati colles clamore resultant.
151Effugit ante alios primisque elabitur undis turbam inter fremitumque Gyas; quem deinde Cloanthus consequitur, melior remis, sed pondere pinus tarda tenet. Post hos aequo discrimine Pristis Centaurusque locum tendunt superare priorem;
156et nunc Pristis habet, nunc victam praeterit ingens Centaurus, nunc una ambae iunctisque feruntur frontibus, et longa sulcant vada salsa carina. Iamque propinquabant scopulo metamque tenebant, cum princeps medioque Gyas in gurgite victor
161rectorem navis compellat voce Menoeten: Quo tantum mihi dexter abis? Huc dirige gressum; litus ama, et laevas stringat sine palmula cautes; altum alii teneant. Dixit; sed caeca Menoetes saxa timens proram pelagi detorquet ad undas.
166Quo diversus abis? iterum Pete saxa, Menoete! cum clamore Gyas revocabat; et ecce Cloanthum respicit instantem tergo, et propiora tenentem. Ille inter navemque Gyae scopulosque sonantes radit iter laevum interior, subitoque priorem
171praeterit, et metis tenet aequora tuta relictis. Tum vero exarsit iuveni dolor ossibus ingens, nec lacrimis caruere genae, segnemque Menoeten, oblitus decorisque sui sociumque salutis, in mare praecipitem puppi deturbat ab alta;
176ipse gubernaclo rector subit, ipse magister, hortaturque viros, clavumque ad litora torquet. At gravis, ut fundo vix tandem redditus imo est, iam senior madidaque fluens in veste Menoetes summa petit scopuli siccaque in rupe resedit.
181Ilium et labentem Teucri et risere natantem, et salsos rident revomentem pectore fluctus. Hic laeta extremis spes est accensa duobus, Sergesto Mnestheique, Gyan superare morantem. Sergestus capit ante locum scopuloque propinquat,
186nec tota tamen ille prior praeeunte carina; parte prior, partem rostro premit aemula Pristis. At media socios incedens nave per ipsos hortatur Mnestheus: Nunc, nunc insurgite remis, Hectorei socii, Troiae quos sorte suprema
191delegi comites; nunc illas promite vires, nunc animos, quibus in Gaetulis Syrtibus usi, Ionioque mari Maleaeque sequacibus undis. Non iam prima peto Mnestheus, neque vincere certo; quamquam O!—sed superent, quibus hoc, Neptune, dedisti;
196extremos pudeat rediisse; hoc vincite, cives, et prohibete nefas. Olli certamine summo procumbunt; vastis tremit ictibus aerea puppis, subtrahiturque solum; tum creber anhelitus artus aridaque ora quatit, sudor fluit undique rivis.
201Attulit ipse viris optatum casus honorem. Namque furens animi dum proram ad saxa suburguet interior, spatioque subit Sergestus iniquo, infelix saxis in procurrentibus haesit. Concussae cautes, et acuto in murice remi
206obnixi crepuere, inlisaque prora pependit. Consurgunt nautae et magno clamore morantur, ferratasque trudes et acuta cuspide contos expediunt, fractosque legunt in gurgite remos. At laetus Mnestheus successuque acrior ipso
211agmine remorum celeri ventisque vocatis prona petit maria et pelago decurrit aperto. Qualis spelunca subito commota columba, cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi, fertur in ana volans, plausumque exterrita pennis
216dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa quieto radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas: sic Mnestheus, sic ipsa fuga secat ultima Pristis aequora, sic illam fert impetus ipse volantem. Et primum in scopulo luctantem deserit alto
221Sergestum, brevibusque vadis frustraque vocantem auxilia, et fractis discentem currere remis Inde Gyan ipsamque ingenti mole Chimaeram consequitur; cedit, quoniam spoliata magistro est. Solus iamque ipso superest in fine Cloanthus:
226quem petit, et summis adnixus viribus urguet. Tum vero ingeminat clamor, cunctique sequentem instigant studiis, resonatque fragoribus aether. Hi proprium decus et partum indignantur honorem ni teneant, vitamque volunt pro laude pacisci;
231hos successus alit: possunt, quia posse videntur. Et fors aequatis cepissent praemia rostris, ni palmas ponto tendens utrasque Cloanthus fudissetque preces, divosque in vota vocasset: Di, quibus imperium est pelagi, quorum aequora curro,
236vobis laetus ego hoc candentem in litore taurum constituam ante aras, voti reus, extaque salsos porriciam in fluctus et vina liquentia fundam. Dixit, eumque imis sub fluctibus audiit omnis Nereidum Phorcique chorus Panopeaque virgo,
241et pater ipse manu magna Portunus euntem impulit; illa Noto citius volucrique sagitta ad terram fugit, et portu se condidit alto. Tum satus Anchisa, cunctis ex more vocatis, victorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum
246declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro, muneraque in naves ternos optare iuvencos, vinaque et argenti magnum dat ferre talentum. Ipsis praecipuos ductoribus addit honores: victori chlamydem auratam, quam plurima circum
251purpura maeandro duplici Meliboea cucurrit, intextusque puer frondosa regius Ida veloces iaculo cervos cursuque fatigat, acer, anhelanti similis, quem praepes ab Ida sublimem pedibus rapuit Iovis armiger uncis;
256longaevi palmas nequiquam ad sidera tendunt custodes, saevitque canum latratus in auras. At qui deinde locum tenuit virtute secundum, levibus huic hamis consertam auroque trilicem loricam, quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse
261victor apud rapidum Simoënta sub Ilio alto, donat habere viro, decus et tutamen in armis. Vix illam famuli Phegeus Sagarisque ferebant multiplicem, conixi umeris; indutus at olim Demoleos cursu palantes Troas agebat.
266Tertia dona facit geminos ex aere lebetas, cymbiaque argento perfecta atque aspera signis. Iamque adeo donati omnes opibusque superbi puniceis ibant evincti tempora taenis, cum saevo e scopulo multa vix arte revolsus,
271amissis remis atque ordine debilis uno, inrisam sine honore ratem Sergestus agebat. Qualis saepe viae deprensus in aggere serpens, aerea quem obliquum rota transiit, aut gravis ictu seminecem liquit saxo lacerumque viator;
276nequiquam longos fugiens dat corpore tortus, parte ferox, ardensque oculis, et sibila colla arduus attollens, pars volnere clauda retentat nexantem nodis seque in sua membra plicantem: tali remigio navis se tarda movebat;
281vela facit tamen, et velis subit ostia plenis. Sergestum Aeneas promisso munere donat, servatam ob navem laetus sociosque reductos. Olli serva datur, operum haud ignara Minervae, Cressa genus, Pholoë, geminique sub ubere nati.
286Hoc pius Aeneas misso certamine tendit gramineum in campum, quem collibus undique curvis cingebant silvae, mediaque in valle theatri circus erat; quo se multis cum milibus heros consessu medium tulit exstructoque resedit.
291Hic, qui forte velint rapido contendere cursu, invitat pretiis animos, et praemia ponit. Undique conveniunt Teucri mixtique Sicani, Nisus et Euryalus primi, Euryalus forma insignis viridique iuventa,
296Nisus amore pio pueri; quos deinde secutus regius egregia Priami de stirpe Diores; hunc Salius simul et Patron, quorum alter Acarnan, alter ab Arcadio Tegeaeae sanguine gentis; tum duo Trinacrii iuvenes, Helymus Panopesque,
301adsueti silvis, comites senioris Acestae; multi praeterea, quos fama obscura recondit. Aeneas quibus in mediis sic deinde locutus: Accipite haec animis, laetasque advertite mentes: nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit.
306Gnosia bina dabo levato lucida ferro spicula caelatamque argento ferre bipennem; omnibus hic erit unus honos. Tres praemia primi accipient flavaque caput nectentur oliva. Primus equum phaleris insignem victor habeto;
311alter Amazoniam pharetram plenamque sagittis Threïciis, lato quam circum amplectitur auro balteus et tereti subnectit fibula gemma; tertius Argolica hac galea contentus abito. Haec ubi dicta, locum capiunt, signoque repente
316corripiunt spatia audito, limenque relinquunt, effusi nimbo similes, simul ultima signant. Primus abit longeque ante omnia corpora Nisus emicat, et ventis et fulminis ocior alis; proximus huic, longo sed proxumus intervallo,
321insequitur Salius; spatio post deinde relicto tertius Euryalus: Euryalumque Helymus sequitur; quo deinde sub ipso ecce volat calcemque terit iam calce Diores, incumbens umero, spatia et si plura supersint,
326transeat elapsus prior, ambiguumque relinquat. Iamque fere spatio extremo fessique sub ipsam finem adventabant, levi cum sanguine Nisus labitur infelix, caesis ut forte iuvencis fusus humum viridisque super madefecerat herbas.
331Hic iuvenis iam victor ovans vestigia presso haud tenuit titubata solo, sed pronus in ipso concidit immundoque fimo sacroque cruore. Non tamen Euryali, non ille oblitus amorum; nam sese opposuit Salio per lubrica surgens;
336ille autem spissa iacuit revolutus harena. Emicat Euryalus, et munere victor amici prima tenet, plausuque volat fremituque secundo. Post Helymus subit, et nunc tertia palma Diores. Hic totum caveae consessum ingentis et ora
341prima patrum magnis Salius clamoribus implet, ereptumque dolo reddi sibi poscit honorem. Tutatur favor Euryalum, lacrimaeque decorae, gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore virtus. Adiuvat et magna proclamat voce Diores,
346qui subiit palmae, frustraque ad praemia venit ultima, si primi Salio reddentur honores. Tum pater Aeneas Vestra inquit munera vobis certa manent, pueri, et palmam movet ordine nemo; me liceat casus misereri insontis amici.
351Sic fatus, tergum Gaetuli immane leonis dat Salio, villis onerosum atque unguibus aureis. Hic Nisus, Si tanta inquit sunt praemia victis, et te lapsorum miseret, quae munera Niso digna dabis, primam merui qui laude coronam,
356ni me, quae Salium, fortuna inimica tulisset? Et simul his dictis faciem ostentabat et udo turpia membra fimo. Risit pater optimus olli et clipeum efferri iussit, Didymaonis artem, Neptuni sacro Danais de poste refixum.
361Hoc iuvenem egregium praestanti munere donat; Post, ubi confecti cursus, et dona peregit: Nunc, si cui virtus animusque in pectore praesens, adsit, et evinctis attollat brachia palmis. Sic ait, et geminum pugnae proponit honorem,
366victori velatum auro vittisque iuvencum, ensem atque insignem galeam solacia victo. Nec mora: continuo vastis cum viribus effert ora Dares, magnoque virum se murmure tollit; solus qui Paridem solitus contendere contra,
371idemque ad tumulum, quo maximus occubat Hector, victorem Buten immani corpore, qui se Bebrycia veniens Amyci de gente ferebat, perculit, et fulva moribundum extendit harena. Talis prima Dares caput altum in proelia tollit,
376ostenditque umeros latos, alternaque iactat brachia protendens, et verberat ictibus auras. Quaeritur huic alius; nec quisquam ex agmine tanto audet adire virum manibusque inducere caestus. Ergo alacris, cunctosque putans excedere palma,
381Aeneae stetit ante pedes, nec plura moratus tum laeva taurum cornu tenet, atque ita fatur: Nate dea, si nemo audet se credere pugnae, quae finis standi? Quo me decet usque teneri? Ducere dona iube. Cuncti simul ore fremebant
386Dardanidae, reddique viro promissa iubebant. Hic gravis Entellum dictis castigat Acestes, proximus ut viridante toro consederat herbae: Entelle, heroum quondam fortissime frustra, tantane tam patiens nullo certamine tolli
391dona sines? Ubi nunc nobis deus ille magister nequiquam memoratus Eryx? Ubi fama per omnem Trinacriam, et spolia illa tuis pendentia tectis? Ille sub haec: Non laudis amor, nec gloria cessit pulsa metu; sed enim gelidus tardante senecta
396sanguis hebet, frigentque effetae in corpore vires. Si mihi, quae quondam fuerat, quaque improbus iste exsultat fidens, si nunc foret illa iuventas, haud equidem pretio inductus pulchroque iuvenco venissem, nec dona moror. Sic deinde locutus
401in medium geminos immani pondere caestus proiecit, quibus acer Eryx in proelia suetus ferre manum, duroque intendere brachia tergo. Obstipuere animi: tantorum ingentia septem terga boum plumbo insuto ferroque rigebant.
406Ante omnes stupet ipse Dares, longeque recusat; magnanimusque Anchisiades et pondus et ipsa huc illuc vinclorum immensa volumina versat. Tum senior talis referebat pectore voces: Quid, si quis caestus ipsius et Herculis arma
411vidisset, tristemque hoc ipso in litore pugnam? Haec germanus Eryx quondam tuus arma gerebat;— sanguine cernis adhuc sparsoque infecta cerebro;— his magnum Alciden contra stetit; his ego suetus, dum melior vires sanguis dabat, aemula necdum
416temporibus geminis canebat sparsa senectus. Sed si nostra Dares haec Troius arma recusat, idque pio sedet Aeneae, probat auctor Acestes, aequemus pugnas. Erycis tibi terga remitto; solve metus; et tu Troianos exue caestus.
421Haec fatus, duplicem ex umeris reiecit amictum et magnos membrorum artus, magna ossa lacertosque exuit, atque ingens media consistit harena. Tum satus Anchisa caestus pater extulit aequos, et paribus palmas amborum innexuit armis.
426Constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque, brachiaque ad superas interritus extulit auras. Abduxere retro longe capita ardua ab ictu, immiscentque manus manibus, pugnamque lacessunt. Ille pedum melior motu, fretusque iuventa;
431hic membris et mole valens, sed tarda trementi genua labant, vastos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. Multa viri nequiquam inter se volnera iactant, multa cavo lateri ingeminant, et pectore vastos dant sonitus, erratque auris et tempora circum
436crebra manus, duro crepitant sub volnere malae. Stat gravis Entellus nisuque immotus eodem, corpore tela modo atque oculis vigilantibus exit. Ille, velut celsam oppugnat qui molibus urbem, aut montana sedet circum castella sub armis,
441nunc hos, nunc illos aditus, omnemque pererrat arte locum, et variis adsultibus inritus urguet. Ostendit dextram insurgens Entellus, et alte extulit: ille ictum venientem a vertice velox praevidit, celerique elapsus corpore cessit.
446Entellus vires in ventum effudit, et ultro ipse gravis graviterque ad terram pondere vasto concidit, ut quondam cava concidit aut Erymantho, aut Ida in magna, radicibus eruta pinus. Consurgunt studiis Teucri et Trinacria pubes;
451it clamor caelo, primusque accurrit Acestes, aequaevumque ab humo miserans attollit amicum. At non tardatus casu neque territus heros acrior ad pugnam redit ac vim suscitat ira. Tum pudor incendit vires et conscia virtus,
456praecipitemque Daren ardens agit aequore toto, nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra; nec mora, nec requies: quam multa grandine nimbi culminibus crepitant, sic densis ictibus heros creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta.
461Tum pater Aeneas procedere longius iras et saevire animis Entellum haud passus acerbis; sed finem imposuit pugnae, fessumque Dareta eripuit mulcens dictis, ac talia fatur: Infelix, quae tanta animum dementia cepit?
466Non vires alias conversaque numina sentis? Cede deo. Dixitque et proelia voce diremit. Ast illum fidi aequales, genua aegra trahentem, iactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem ore eiectantem mixtosque in sanguine dentes,
471ducunt ad naves; galeamque ensemque vocati accipiunt; palmam Entello taurumque relinquunt. Hic victor, superans animis tauroque superbus: Nate dea, vosque haec inquit cognoscite, Teucri, et mihi quae fuerint iuvenali in corpore vires,
476et qua servetis revocatum a morte Dareta. Dixit, et adversi contra stetit ora iuvenci, qui donum adstabat pugnae, durosque reducta libravit dextra media inter cornua caestus, arduus, effractoque inlisit in ossa cerebro.
481sternitur exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos. Ille super tales effundit pectore voces: Hanc tibi, Eryx, meliorem animam pro morte Daretis persolvo; hic victor caestus artemque repono. Protinus Aeneas celeri certare sagitta
486invitat qui forte velint, et praemia ponit, ingentique manu malum de nave Seresti erigit, et volucrem traiecto in fune columbam, quo tendant ferrum, malo suspendit ab alto. Convenere viri, deiectamque aerea sortem
491accepit galea; et primus clamore secundo Hyrtacidae ante omnes exit locus Hippocoöntis; quem modo navali Mnestheus certamine victor consequitur, viridi Mnestheus evinctus oliva. Tertius Eurytion, tuus, o clarissime, frater,
496Pandare, qui quondam, iussus confundere foedus, in medios telum torsisti primus Achivos. Extremus galeaque ima subsedit Acestes, ausus et ipse manu iuvenum temptare laborem. Tum validis flexos incurvant viribus arcus
501pro se quisque viri, et depromunt tela pharetris. Primaque per caelum, nervo stridente, sagitta Hyrtacidae iuvenis volucres diverberat auras; et venit, adversique infigitur arbore mali. Intremuit malus, timuitque exterrita pennis
506ales, et ingenti sonuerunt omnia plausu. Post acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu, alta petens, pariterque oculos telumque tetendit. Ast ipsam miserandus avem contingere ferro non valuit: nodos et vincula linea rupit,
511quis innexa pedem malo pendebat ab alto: illa notos atque alta volans in nubila fugit. Tum rapidus, iamdudum arcu contenta parato tela tenens, fratrem Eurytion in Pota vocavit, iam vacuo laetam caelo speculatus, et alis
516plaudentem nigra figit sub nube columbam. Decidit exanimis, vitamque reliquit in astris aetheriis, fixamque refert delapsa sagittam. Amissa solus palma superabat Acestes; qui tamen aerias telum contendit in auras,
521ostentans artemque pater arcumque sonantem. Hic oculis subito obicitur magnoque futurum augurio monstrum; docuit post exitus ingens, seraque terrifici cecinerunt omina vates. Namque volans liquidis in nubibus arsit harundo,
526signavitque viam flammis, tenuisque recessit consumpta in ventos, caelo ceu saepe refixa transcurrunt crinemque volantia sidera ducunt. Attonitis haesere animis, superosque precati Trinacrii Teucrique viri; nec maximus omen
531abnuit Aeneas; sed laetum amplexus Acesten muneribus cumulat magnis, ac talia fatur: Sume, pater; nam te voluit rex magnus Olympi talibus auspiciis exsortem ducere honores. Ipsius Anchisae longaevi hoc munus habebis,
536cratera impressum signis, quem Thracius olim Anchisae genitori in magno munere Cisseus ferre sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris. Sic fatus cingit viridanti tempora lauro, et primum ante omnes victorem appellat Acesten.
541Nec bonus Eurytion praelato invidit honori, quamvis solus avem caelo deiecit ab alto. Proximus ingreditur donis, qui vincula rupit; extremus, volucri qui fixit arundine malum. At pater Aeneas, nondum certamine misso,
546custodem ad sese comitemque impubis Iuli Epytiden vocat, et fidam sic fatur ad aurem: Vade age, et Ascanio, si iam puerile paratum agmen habet secum, cursusque instruxit equorum, ducat avo turmas, et sese ostendat in armis,
551dic ait. Ipse omnem longo decedere circo infusum populum, et campos iubet esse patentes. Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum frenatis lucent in equis, quos omnis euntes Trinacriae mirata fremit Troiaeque iuventus.
556omnibus in morem tonsa coma pressa corona; cornea bina ferunt praefixa hastilia ferro; pars levis umero pharetras; it pectore summo flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri. Tres equitum numero turmae, ternique vagantur
561ductores: pueri bis seni quemque secuti agmine partito fulgent paribusque magistris. Una acies iuvenum, ducit quam parvus ovantem nomen avi referens Priamus,—tua clara, Polite, progenies, auctura Italos,—quem Thracius albis
566portat equus bicolor maculis, vestigia primi alba pedis frontemque ostentans arduus albam. Alter Atys, genus unde Atii duxere Latini, parvus Atys, pueroque puer dilectus Iulo. Extremus, formaque ante omnis pulcher, Iulus
571Sidonio est invectus equo, quem candida Dido esse sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris. Cetera Trinacrii pubes senioris Acestae fertur equis. Excipiunt plausu pavidos, gaudentque tuentes
576Dardanidae, veterumque adgnoscunt ora parentum. Postquam omnem laeti consessum oculosque suorum lustravere in equis, signum clamore paratis Epytides longe dedit insonuitque flagello. Olli discurrere pares, atque agmina terni
581diductis solvere choris, rursusque vocati convertere vias infestaque tela tulere. Inde alios ineunt cursus aliosque recursus adversi spatiis, alternosque orbibus orbes impediunt, pugnaeque cient simulacra sub armis;
586et nunc terga fuga nudant, nunc spicula vertunt infensi, facta pariter nunc pace feruntur. Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta parietibus textum caecis iter, ancipitemque mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi
591falleret indeprensus et inremeabilis error; haud alio Teucrum nati vestigia cursu impediunt texuntque fugas et proelia ludo, delphinum similes, qui per maria umida nando Carpathium Libycumque secant,
596Hunc morem cursus atque haec certamina primus Ascanius, Longam muris cum cingeret Albam, rettulit, et priscos docuit celebrare Latinos, quo puer ipse modo, secum quo Troïa pubes; Albani docuere suos; hinc maxima porro
601accepit Roma, et patrium servavit honorem; Troiaque nunc pueri, Troianum dicitur agmen. Hac celebrata tenus sancto certamina patri. Hic primum fortuna fidem mutata novavit. Dum variis tumulo referunt sollemnia ludis,
606Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno Iliacam ad classem, ventosque adspirat eunti, multa movens, necdum antiquum saturata dolorem. Illa, viam celerans per mille coloribus arcum, nulli visa cito decurrit tramite virgo.
611Conspicit ingentem concursum, et litora lustrat, desertosque videt portus classemque relictam. At procul in sola secretae Troades acta amissum Anchisen flebant, cunctaeque profundum pontum adspectabant flentes. Heu tot vada fessis
616et tantum superesse maris! vox omnibus una. Urbem orant; taedet pelagi perferre laborem. Ergo inter medias sese haud ignara nocendi conicit, et faciemque deae vestemque reponit; fit Beroë, Tmarii coniunx longaeva Dorycli,
621cui genus et quondam nomen natique fuissent; ac sic Dardanidum mediam se matribus infert: O miserae, quas non manus inquit Achaïca bello traxerit ad letum patriae sub moenibus! O gens infelix, cui te exitio Fortuna reservat?
626Septuma post Troiae exscidium iam vertitur aestas, cum freta, cum terras omnes, tot inhospita saxa sideraque emensae ferimur, dum per mare magnum Italiam sequimur fugientem, et volvimur undis. Hic Erycis fines fraterni, atque hospes Acestes:
631quis prohibet muros iacere et dare civibus urbem? O patria et rapti nequiquam ex hoste Penates, nullane iam Troiae dicentur moenia? Nusquam Hectoreos amnes, Xanthum et Simoenta, videbo? Quin agite et mecum infaustas exurite puppes.
636Nam mihi Cassandrae per somnum vatis imago ardentes dare visa faces: Hic quaerite Troiam; hic domus est inquit vobis. Iam tempus agi res, nec tantis mora prodigiis. En quattuor arae Neptuno; deus ipse faces animumque ministrat.
641Haec memorans, prima infensum vi corripit ignem, sublataque procul dextra conixa coruscat, et iacit: arrectae mentes stupefactaque corda Iliadum. Hic una e multis, quae maxima natu, Pyrgo, tot Priami natorum regia nutrix:
646Non Beroë vobis, non haec Rhoeteïa, matres, est Dorycli coniunx; divini signa decoris ardentesque notate oculos; qui spiritus illi, qui voltus, vocisque sonus, vel gressus eunti. Ipsa egomet dudum Beroen digressa reliqui
651aegram, indignantem, tali quod sola careret munere, nec meritos Anchisae inferet honores. Haec effata. At matres primo ancipites oculisque malignis ambiguae spectare rates miserum inter amorem
656praesentis terrae fatisque vocantia regna, cum dea se paribus per caelum sustulit alis, ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum. Tum vero attonitae monstris actaeque furore conclamant, rapiuntque focis penetralibus ignem;
661pars spoliant aras, frondem ac virgulta facesque coniciunt. Furit immissis Volcanus habenis transtra per et remos et pictas abiete puppes. Nuntius Anchisae ad tumulum cuneosque theatri incensas perfert naves Eumelus, et ipsi
666respiciunt atram in nimbo volitare favillam. Primus et Ascanius, cursus ut laetus equestres ducebat, sic acer equo turbata petivit castra, nec exanimes possunt retinere magistri. Quis furor iste novus? Quo nunc, quo tenditis inquit,
671heu, miserae cives? Non hostem inimicaque castra Argivum, vestras spes uritis. En, ego vester Ascanius! Galeam ante pedes proiecit inanem, qua ludo indutus belli simulacra ciebat; accelerat simul Aeneas, simul agmina Teucrum.
676Ast illae diversa metu per litora passim diffugiunt, silvasque et sicubi concava furtim saxa petunt; piget incepti lucisque, suosque mutatae adgnoscunt, excussaque pectore Iuno est. Sed non idcirco flammae atque incendia vires
681indomitas posuere; udo sub robore vivit stuppa vomens tardum fumum, lentusque carinas est vapor, et toto descendit corpore pestis, nec vires heroum infusaque flumina prosunt. Tum pius Aeneas umeris abscindere vestem,
686auxilioque vocare deos, et tendere palmas: Iuppiter omnipotens, si nondum exosus ad unum Troianos, si quid pietas antiqua labores respicit humanos, da flammam evadere classi nunc, Pater, et tenues Teucrum res eripe leto.
691Vel tu, quod superest infesto fulmine morti, si mereor, demitte, tuaque hic obrue dextra. Vix haec ediderat, cum effusis imbribus atra tempestas sine more furit, tonitruque tremescunt ardua terrarum et campi; ruit aethere toto
696turbidus imber aqua densisque nigerrimus austris; implenturque super puppes; semiusta madescunt robora; restinctus donec vapor omnis, et omnes, quattuor amissis, servatae a peste carinae. At pater Aeneas, casu concussus acerbo,
701nunc huc ingentes, nunc illuc pectore curas mutabat versans, Siculisne resideret arvis, oblitus fatorum, Italasne capesseret oras. Tum senior Nautes, unum Tritonia Pallas quem docuit multaque insignem reddidit arte,
706haec responsa dabat, vel quae portenderet ira magna deum, vel quae fatorum posceret ordo; isque his Aenean solatus vocibus infit: Nate dea, quo fata trahunt retrahuntque, sequamur; quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.
711Est tibi Dardanius divinae stirpis Acestes: hunc cape consiliis socium et coniunge volentem; huic trade, amissis superant qui navibus, et quos pertaesum magni incepti rerumque tuarum est; longaevosque senes ac fessas aequore matres,
716et quidquid tecum invalidum metuensque pericli est, delige, et his habeant terris sine moenia fessi: urbem appellabunt permisso nomine Acestam. Talibus incensus dictis senioris amici, tum vero in curas animo diducitur omnes.
721Et nox atra polum bigis subvecta tenebat: visa dehinc caelo facies delapsa parentis Anchisae subito tales effundere voces: Nate, mihi vita quondam, dum vita manebat, care magis, nate, Iliacis exercite fatis,
726imperio Iovis huc venio, qui classibus ignem depulit, et caelo tandem miseratus ab alto est. Consiliis pare, quae nunc pulcherrima Nautes dat senior; lectos iuvenes, fortissima corda, defer in Italiam; gens dura atque aspera cultu
731debellanda tibi Latio est. Ditis tamen ante infernas accede domos, et Averna per alta congressus pete, nate, meos. Non me impia namque Tartara habent, tristes umbrae, sed amoena piorum concilia Elysiumque colo. Huc casta Sibylla
736nigrarum multo pecudum te sanguine ducet: tum genus omne tuum, et quae dentur moenia, disces. Iamque vale: torquet medios Nox humida cursus, et me saevus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis. Dixerat, et tenuis fugit, ceu fumus, in auras.
741Aeneas, Quo deinde ruis, quo proripis? inquit, Quem fugis, aut quis te nostris complexibus arcet? Haec memorans cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes, Pergameumque Larem et canae penetralia Vestae farre pio et plena supplex veneratur acerra.
746Extemplo socios primumque arcessit Acesten, et Iovis imperium et cari praecepta parentis edocet, et quae nunc animo sententia constet. Haud mora consiliis, nec iussa recusat Acestes. Transcribunt urbi matres, populumque volentem
751deponunt, animos nil magnae laudis egentes. Ipsi transtra novant, flammisque ambesa reponunt robora navigiis, aptant remosque rudentesque, exigui numero, sed bello vivida virtus. Interea Aeneas urbem designat aratro
756sortiturque domos; hoc Ilium et haec loca Troiam esse iubet. Gaudet regno Troianus Acestes, indicitque forum et patribus dat iura vocatis. Tum vicina astris, Erycino in vertice sedes fundatur Veneri Idaliae, tumuloque sacerdos
761ac lucus late sacer additur Anchiseo. Iamque dies epulata novem gens omnis, et aris factus honos: placidi straverunt aequora venti, creber et adspirans rursus vocat Auster in altum. Exoritur procurva ingens per litora fletus;
766complexi inter se noctemque diemque morantur. Ipsae iam matres, ipsi, quibus aspera quondam visa maris facies et non tolerabile nomen, ire volunt, omnemque fugae perferre laborem. Quos bonus Aeneas dictis solatur amicis,
771et consanguineo lacrimans commendat Acestae. Tris Eryci vitulos et Tempestatibus agnam caedere deinde iubet, solvique ex ordine funem. Ipse, caput tonsae foliis evinctus olivae, stans procul in prora pateram tenet, extaque salsos
776proiicit in fluctus ac vina liquentia fundit. Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntes. Certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora verrunt. At Venus interea Neptunum exercita curis adloquitur, talesque effundit pectore questus:
781Iunonis gravis ira nec exsaturabile pectus cogunt me, Neptune, preces descendere in omnes; quam nec longa dies, pietas nec mitigat ulla, nec Iovis imperio fatisque infracta quiescit. Non media de gente Phrygum exedisse nefandis
786urbem odiis satis est, nec poenam traxe per omnem: reliquias Troiae, cineres atque ossa peremptae insequitur: causas tanti sciat illa furoris. Ipse mihi nuper Libycis tu testis in undis quam molem subito excierit: maria omnia caelo
791miscuit, Aeoliis nequiquam freta procellis, in regnis hoc ausa tuis. Per scelus ecce etiam Troianis matribus actis exussit foede puppes, et classe subegit amissa socios ignotae linquere terrae.
796Quod superest, oro, liceat dare tuta per undas vela tibi, liceat Laurentem attingere Thybrim: si concessa peto, si dant ea moenia Parcae. Tum Saturnius haec domitor maris edidit alti: Fas omne est, Cytherea, meis te fidere regnis,
801unde genus ducis: merui quoque; saepe furores compressi, et rabiem tantam caelique marisque. Nec minor in terris, Xanthum Simoëntaque testor, Aeneae mihi cura tui. Cum Troia Achilles exanimata sequens impingeret agmina muris,
806milia multa daret leto, gemerentque repleti amnes, nec reperire viam atque evolvere posset in mare se Xanthus, Pelidae tunc ego forti congressum Aenean nec dis nec viribus aequis nube cava rapui, cuperem cum vertere ab imo
811structa meis manibus periurae moenia Troiae. Nunc quoque mens eadem perstat mihi: pelle timores. Tutus, quos optas, portus accedet Averni. Unus erit tantum, amissum quem gurgite quaeres; unum pro multis dabitur caput.
816His ubi laeta deae permulsit pectora dictis, iungit equos auro genitor, spumantiaque addit frena feris, manibusque omnes effundit habenas. Caeruleo per summa levis volat aequora curru; subsidunt undae, tumidumque sub axe tonanti
821sternitur aequor aquis; fugiunt vasto aethere nimbi. Tum variae comitum facies, immania cete, et senior Glauci chorus, Inousque Palaemon, Tritonesque citi, Phorcique exercitus omnis; laeva tenent Thetis, et Melite, Panopeaque virgo,
826Nisaee, Spioque, Thaliaque, Cymodoceque. Hic patris Aeneae suspensam blanda vicissim gaudia pertemptant mentem: iubet ocius omnes attolli malos, intendi brachia velis. Una omnes fecere pedem pariterque sinistros,
831nunc dextros solvere sinus; una ardua torquent cornua detorquentque; ferunt sua flamina classem. Princeps ante omnes densum Palinurus agebat agmen; ad hunc alii cursum contendere iussi. Iamque fere mediam caeli Nox humida metam
836contigerat; placida laxabant membra quiete sub remis fusi per dura sedilia nautae: cum levis aetheriis delapsus Somnus ab astris aëra dimovit tenebrosum et dispulit umbras, te, Palinure, petens, tibi somnia tristia portans
841insonti; puppique deus consedit in alta, Phorbanti similis, funditque has ore loquelas: Iaside Palinure, ferunt ipsa aequora classem; aequatae spirant aurae; datur hora quieti. Pone caput, fessosque oculos furare labori:
846ipse ego paulisper pro te tua munera inibo. Cui vix attollens Palinurus lumina fatur: Mene salis placidi voltum fluctusque quietos ignorare iubes? Mene huic confidere monstro? Aenean credam quid enim fallacibus auris
851et caelo, totiens deceptus fraude sereni? Talia dicta dabat, clavumque affixus et haerens nusquam amittebat, oculosque sub astra tenebat. Ecce deus ramum Lethaeo rore madentem, vique soporatum Stygia, super utraque quassat
856tempora, cunctantique natantia lumina solvit. Vix primos inopina quies laxaverat artus, et super incumbens cum puppis parte revolsa, cumque gubernaclo, liquidas proiecit in undas praecipitem ac socios nequiquam saepe vocantem;
861ipse volans tenues se sustulit ales ad auras. Currit iter tutum non secius aequore classis, promissisque patris Neptuni interrita fertur. Iamque adeo scopulos Sirenum advecta subibat, difficiles quondam multorumque ossibus albos,
866tum rauca adsiduo longe sale saxa sonabant: cum pater amisso fluitantem errare magistro sensit, et ipse ratem nocturnis rexit in undis, multa gemens, casuque animum concussus amici O nimium caelo et pelago confise sereno,
871nudus in ignota, Palinure, iacebis harena!
Book 6
1Sic fatur lacrimans, classique immittit habenas, et tandem Euboïcis Cumarum adlabitur oris. Obvertunt pelago proras; tum dente tenaci ancora fundabat naves, et litora curvae praetexunt puppes. Iuvenum manus emicat ardens
6litus in Hesperium; quaerit pars semina flammae abstrusa in venis silicis, pars densa ferarum tecta rapit silvas, inventaque flumina monstrat. At pius Aeneas arces, quibus altus Apollo praesidet, horrendaeque procul secreta Sibyllae
11antrum immane petit, magnum cui mentem animumque Delius inspirat vates, aperitque futura. Iam subeunt Triviae lucos atque aurea tecta. Daedalus, ut fama est, fugiens Minoïa regna, praepetibus pennis ausus se credere caelo,
16insuetum per iter gelidas enavit ad Arctos, Chalcidicaque levis tandem super adstitit arce. Redditus his primum terris, tibi, Phoebe, sacravit remigium alarum, posuitque immania templa. In foribus letum Androgeo: tum pendere poenas
21Cecropidae iussi—miserum!—septena quotannis corpora natorum; stat ductis sortibus urna. Contra elata mari respondet Gnosia tellus: hic crudelis amor tauri, suppostaque furto Pasiphaë, mixtumque genus prolesque biformis
26Minotaurus inest, Veneris monumenta nefandae; hic labor ille domus et inextricabilis error; magnum reginae sed enim miseratus amorem Daedalus ipse dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit, caeca regens filo vestigia. Tu quoque magnam
31partem opere in tanto, sineret dolor, Icare, haberes. Bis conatus erat casus effingere in auro; bis patriae cecidere manus. Quin protinus omnia perlegerent oculis, ni iam praemissus Achates adforet, atque una Phoebi Triviaeque sacerdos,
36Deiphobe Glauci, fatur quae talia regi: Non hoc ista sibi tempus spectacula poscit; nunc grege de intacto septem mactare iuvencos praestiterit, totidem lectas de more bidentes. Talibus adfata Aenean (nec sacra morantur
41iussa viri), Teucros vocat alta in templa sacerdos. Excisum Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum, quo lati ducunt aditus centum, ostia centum; unde ruunt totidem voces, responsa Sibyllae. Ventum erat ad limen, cum virgo. Poscere fata
46tempus ait; deus, ecce, deus! Cui talia fanti ante fores subito non voltus, non color unus, non comptae mansere comae; sed pectus anhelum, et rabie fera corda tument; maiorque videri, nec mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando
51iam propiore dei. Cessas in vota precesque, Tros ait Aenea? Cessas? Neque enim ante dehiscent attonitae magna ora domus. Et talia fata conticuit. Gelidus Teucris per dura cucurrit ossa tremor, funditque preces rex pectore ab imo:
56Phoebe, graves Troiae semper miserate labores, Dardana qui Paridis direxti tela manusque corpus in Aeacidae, magnas obeuntia terras tot maria intravi duce te, penitusque repostas Massylum gentes praetentaque Syrtibus arva,
61iam tandem Italiae fugientis prendimus oras; hac Troiana tenus fuerit Fortuna secuta. Vos quoque Pergameae iam fas est parcere genti, dique deaeque omnes quibus obstitit Ilium et ingens gloria Dardaniae. Tuque, O sanctissima vates,
66praescia venturi, da, non indebita posco regna meis fatis, Latio considere Teucros errantisque deos agitataque numina Troiae. Tum Phoebo et Triviae solido de marmore templum instituam, festosque dies de nomine Phoebi.
71Te quoque magna manent regnis penetralia nostris: hic ego namque tuas sortes arcanaque fata, dicta meae genti, ponam, lectosque sacrabo, alma, viros. Foliis tantum ne carmina manda, ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis;
76ipsa canas oro. Finem dedit ore loquendi. At, Phoebi nondum patiens, immanis in antro bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit excussisse deum; tanto magis ille fatigat os rabidum, fera corda domans, fingitque premendo.
81Ostia iamque domus patuere ingentia centum sponte sua, vatisque ferunt responsa per auras: O tandem magnis pelagi defuncte periclis! Sed terrae graviora manent. In regna Lavini Dardanidae venient; mitte hanc de pectore curam;
86sed non et venisse volent. Bella, horrida bella, et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno. Non Simois tibi, nec Xanthus, nec Dorica castra defuerint; alius Latio iam partus Achilles, natus et ipse dea; nec Teucris addita Iuno
91usquam aberit; cum tu supplex in rebus egenis quas gentes Italum aut quas non oraveris urbes! Causa mali tanti coniunx iterum hospita Teucris externique iterum thalami. Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito,
96qua tua te Fortuna sinet. Via prima salutis, quod minime reris, Graia pandetur ab urbe. Talibus ex adyto dictis Cumaea Sibylla horrendas canit ambages antroque remugit, obscuris vera involvens: ea frena furenti
101concutit, et stimulos sub pectore vertit Apollo. Ut primum cessit furor et rabida ora quierunt, incipit Aeneas heros: Non ulla laborum, O virgo, nova mi facies inopinave surgit; omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi.
106Unum oro: quando hic inferni ianua regis dicitur, et tenebrosa palus Acheronte refuso, ire ad conspectum cari genitoris et ora contingat; doceas iter et sacra ostia pandas. Illum ego per flammas et mille sequentia tela
111eripui his umeris, medioque ex hoste recepi; ille meum comitatus iter, maria omnia mecum atque omnes pelagique minas caelique ferebat, invalidus, vires ultra sortemque senectae. Quin, ut te supplex peterem et tua limina adirem,
116idem orans mandata dabat. Gnatique patrisque, alma, precor, miserere;—potes namque omnia, nec te nequiquam lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis;— si potuit Manes arcessere coniugis Orpheus, Threïcia fretus cithara fidibusque canoris,
121si fratrem Pollux alterna morte redemit, itque reditque viam totiens. Quid Thesea, magnum quid memorem Alciden? Et mi genus ab Iove summo. Talibus orabat dictis, arasque tenebat, cum sic orsa loqui vates: Sate sanguine divom,
126Tros Anchisiade, facilis descensus Averno; noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, hoc opus, hic labor est. Pauci, quos aequus amavit Iuppiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,
131dis geniti potuere. Tenent media omnia silvae, Cocytusque sinu labens circumvenit atro. Quod si tantus amor menti, si tanta cupido est, bis Stygios innare lacus, bis nigra videre Tartara, et insano iuvat indulgere labori,
136accipe, quae peragenda prius. Latet arbore opaca aureus et foliis et lento vimine ramus, Iunoni infernae dictus sacer; hunc tegit omnis lucus, et obscuris claudunt convallibus umbrae. Sed non ante datur telluris operta subire,
141auricomos quam quis decerpserit arbore fetus. Hoc sibi pulchra suum ferri Proserpina munus instituit. Primo avulso non deficit alter aureus, et simili frondescit virga metallo. Ergo alte vestiga oculis, et rite repertum
146carpe manu; namque ipse volens facilisque sequetur, si te fata vocant; aliter non viribus ullis vincere, nec duro poteris convellere ferro. Praeterea iacet exanimum tibi corpus amici— heu nescis—totamque incestat funere classem,
151dum consulta petis nostroque in limine pendes. Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulchro. Duc nigras pecudes; ea prima piacula sunto: sic demum lucos Stygis et regna invia vivis aspicies. Dixit, pressoque obmutuit ore.
156Aeneas maesto defixus lumina voltu ingreditur, linquens antrum, caecosque volutat eventus animo secum. Cui fidus Achates it comes, et paribus curis vestigia figit. Multa inter sese vario sermone serebant,
161quem socium exanimem vates, quod corpus humandum diceret. Atque illi Misenum in litore sicco, ut venere, vident indigna morte peremptum, Misenum Aeoliden, quo non praestantior alter aere ciere viros, Martemque accendere cantu.
166Hectoris hic magni fuerat comes, Hectora circum et lituo pugnas insignis obibat et hasta: postquam illum vita victor spoliavit Achilles, Dardanio Aeneae sese fortissimus heros addiderat socium, non inferiora secutus.
171Sed tum, forte cava dum personat aequora concha, demens, et cantu vocat in certamina divos, aemulus exceptum Triton, si credere dignum est, inter saxa virum spumosa inmerserat unda. Ergo omnes magno circum clamore fremebant,
176praecipue pius Aeneas. Tum iussa Sibyllae, haud mora, festinant flentes, aramque sepulchri congerere arboribus caeloque educere certant. Itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum; procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ilex,
181fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur scinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus ornos. Nec non Aeneas opera inter talia primus hortatur socios, paribusque accingitur armis. Atque haec ipse suo tristi cum corde volutat,
186aspectans silvam inmensam, et sic voce precatur: Si nunc se nobis ille aureus arbore ramus ostendat nemore in tanto, quando omnia vere heu nimium de te vates, Misene, locuta est. Vix ea fatus erat, geminae cum forte columbae
191ipsa sub ora viri caelo venere volantes, et viridi sedere solo. Tum maximus heros maternas agnoscit aves, laetusque precatur: Este duces, O, si qua via est, cursumque per auras dirigite in lucos, ubi pinguem dives opacat
196ramus humum. Tuque, O, dubiis ne defice rebus, diva parens. Sic effatus vestigia pressit, observans quae signa ferant, quo tendere pergant. Pascentes illae tantum prodire volando, quantum acie possent oculi servare sequentum.
201Inde ubi venere ad fauces grave olentis Averni, tollunt se celeres, liquidumque per aëra lapsae sedibus optatis geminae super arbore sidunt, discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit. Quale solet silvis brumali frigore viscum
206fronde virere nova, quod non sua seminat arbos, et croceo fetu teretis circumdare truncos, talis erat species auri frondentis opaca ilice, sic leni crepitabat brattea vento. Corripit Aeneas extemplo avidusque refringit
211cunctantem, et vatis portat sub tecta Sibyllae. Nec minus interea Misenum in litore Teucri flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant. Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto ingentem struxere pyram, cui frondibus atris
216intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis. Pars calidos latices et aëna undantia flammis expediunt, corpusque lavant frigentis et unguunt. Fit gemitus. Tum membra toro defleta reponunt,
221purpureasque super vestes, velamina nota, coniciunt. Pars ingenti subiere feretro, triste ministerium, et subiectam more parentum aversi tenuere facem. Congesta cremantur turea dona, dapes, fuso crateres olivo.
226Postquam conlapsi cineres et flamma quievit reliquias vino et bibulam lavere favillam, ossaque lecta cado texit Corynaeus aëno. Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda, spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae,
231lustravitque viros, dixitque novissima verba. At pius Aeneas ingenti mole sepulcrum imponit, suaque arma viro, remumque tubamque, monte sub aërio, qui nunc Misenus ab illo dicitur, aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen.
236His actis, propere exsequitur praecepta Sibyllae. Spelunca alta fuit vastoque immanis hiatu, scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris, quam super haud ullae poterant impune volantes tendere iter pennis—talis sese halitus atris
241faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat: quattuor hic primum nigrantis terga iuvencos constituit, frontique invergit vina sacerdos; et summas carpens media inter cornua saetas ignibus imponit sacris, libamina prima,
247voce vocans Hecaten, Caeloque Ereboque potentem. Supponunt alii cultros, tepidumque cruorem suscipiunt pateris. Ipse atri velleris agnam Aeneas matri Eumenidum magnaeque sorori ense ferit, sterilemque tibi. Proserpina, vaccam.
252Tum Stygio regi nocturnas inchoat aras, et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis, pingue superque oleum infundens ardentibus extis. Ecce autem, primi sub lumina solis et ortus, sub pedibus mugire solum, et iuga coepta moveri
257silvarum, visaeque canes ululare per umbram, adventante dea. Procul O procul este, profani, conclamat vates, totoque absistite luco; tuque invade viam, vaginaque eripe ferrum: nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.
262Tantum effata, furens antro se immisit aperto; ille ducem haud timidis vadentem passibus aequat. Di, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes, et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late, sit mihi fas audita loqui; sit numine vestro
267pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas! Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna: quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna est iter in silvis, ubi caelum condidit umbra
272Iuppiter, et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem. Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus, et Metus, et malesuada Fames, ac turpis Egestas,
277terribiles visu formae: Letumque, Labosque; tum consanguineus Leti Sopor, et mala mentis Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum, ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Discordia demens, vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis.
282In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia volgo vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent. Multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum: Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllaeque biformes,
287et centumgeminus Briareus, ac belua Lernae horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera, Gorgones Harpyiaeque et forma tricorporis umbrae. Corripit hic subita trepidus formidine ferrum Aeneas, strictamque aciem venientibus offert,
292et, ni docta comes tenues sine corpore vitas admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae, inruat, et frustra ferro diverberet umbras. Hinc via, Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas. Turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges
297aestuat, atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam. Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento canities inculta iacet; stant lumina flamma, sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.
302Ipse ratem conto subigit, velisque ministrat, et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba, iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus. Huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat, matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita
307magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae, impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum: quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto quam multae glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus
312trans pontum fugat, et terris immittit apricis. Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum, tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore. Navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos, ast alios longe submotos arcet harena.
317Aeneas, miratus enim motusque tumultu, Dic ait O virgo, quid volt concursus ad amnem? Quidve petunt animae, vel quo discrimine ripas hae linquunt, illae remis vada livida verrunt? Olli sic breviter fata est longaeva sacerdos:
322Anchisa generate, deum certissima proles, Cocyti stagna alta vides Stygiamque paludem, di cuius iurare timent et fallere numen. Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est; portitor ille Charon; hi, quos vehit unda, sepulti.
327Nec ripas datur horrendas et rauca fluenta transportare prius quam sedibus ossa quierunt. Centum errant annos volitantque haec litora circum; tum demum admissi stagna exoptata revisunt. Constitit Anchisa satus et vestigia pressit,
332multa putans, sortemque animo miseratus iniquam. Cernit ibi maestos et mortis honore carentes Leucaspim et Lyciae ductorem classis Oronten, quos, simul ab Troia ventosa per aequora vectos, obruit Auster, aqua involvens navemque virosque.
337Ecce gubernator sese Palinurus agebat, qui Libyco nuper cursu, dum sidera servat, exciderat puppi mediis effusus in undis. Hunc ubi vix multa maestum cognovit in umbra, sic prior adloquitur: Quis te, Palinure, deorum
342eripuit nobis, medioque sub aequore mersit? Dic age. Namque mihi, fallax haud ante repertus, hoc uno responso animum delusit Apollo, qui fore te ponto incolumem, finesque canebat venturum Ausonios. En haec promissa fides est?
347Ille autem: Neque te Phoebi cortina fefellit, dux Anchisiade, nec me deus aequore mersit. Namque gubernaclum multa vi forte revolsum, cui datus haerebam custos cursusque regebam, praecipitans traxi mecum. Maria aspera iuro
352non ullum pro me tantum cepisse timorem, quam tua ne, spoliata armis, excussa magistro, deficeret tantis navis surgentibus undis. Tris Notus hibernas immensa per aequora noctes vexit me violentus aqua; vix lumine quarto
357prospexi Italiam summa sublimis ab unda. Paulatim adnabam terrae; iam tuta tenebam, ni gens crudelis madida cum veste gravatum prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis ferro invasisset, praedamque ignara putasset.
362Nunc me fluctus habet, versantque in litore venti. Quod te per caeli iucundum lumen et auras, per genitorem oro, per spes surgentis Iuli, eripe me his, invicte, malis: aut tu mihi terram inice, namque potes, portusque require Velinos;
367aut tu, si qua via est, si quam tibi diva creatrix ostendit—neque enim, credo, sine numine divom flumina tanta paras Stygiamque innare paludem— da dextram misero, et tecum me tolle per undas, sedibus ut saltem placidis in morte quiescam.
372Talia fatus erat, coepit cum talia vates: Unde haec, o Palinure, tibi tam dira cupido? Tu Stygias inhumatus aquas amnemque severum Eumenidum aspicies, ripamve iniussus adibis? Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.
377Sed cape dicta memor, duri solatia casus. Nam tua finitimi, longe lateque per urbes prodigiis acti caelestibus, ossa piabunt, et statuent tumulum, et tumulo sollemnia mittent, aeternumque locus Palinuri nomen habebit.
382His dictis curae emotae, pulsusque parumper corde dolor tristi: gaudet cognomine terrae. Ergo iter inceptum peragunt fluvioque propinquant. Navita quos iam inde ut Stygia prospexit ab unda per tacitum nemus ire pedemque advertere ripae,
387sic prior adgreditur dictis, atque increpat ultro: Quisquis es, armatus qui nostra ad flumina tendis, fare age, quid venias, iam istinc, et comprime gressum. Umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae; corpora viva nefas Stygia vectare carina.
392Nec vero Alciden me sum laetatus euntem accepisse lacu, nec Thesea Pirithoumque, dis quamquam geniti atque invicti viribus essent. Tartareum ille manu custodem in vincla petivit, ipsius a solio regis, traxitque trementem;
397hi dominam Ditis thalamo deducere adorti. Quae contra breviter fata est Amphrysia vates: Nullae hic insidiae tales; absiste moveri; nec vim tela ferunt; licet ingens ianitor antro aeternum latrans exsanguis terreat umbras,
402casta licet patrui servet Proserpina limen. Troius Aeneas, pietate insignis et armis, ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad umbras. Si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago, at ramum hunc (aperit ramum, qui veste latebat)
407adgnoscas. Tumida ex ira tum corda residunt. Nec plura his. Ille admirans venerabile donum fatalis virgae, longo post tempore visum, caeruleam advertit puppim, ripaeque propinquat. Inde alias animas, quae per iuga longa sedebant,
412deturbat, laxatque foros; simul accipit alveo ingentem Aenean. Gemuit sub pondere cymba sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem. Tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumque informi limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.
417Cerberus haec ingens latratu regna trifauci personat, adverso recubans immanis in antro. Cui vates, horrere videns iam colla colubris, melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam obicit. Ille fame rabida tria guttura pandens
422corripit obiectam, atque immania terga resolvit fusus humi, totoque ingens extenditur antro. Occupat Aeneas aditum custode sepulto, evaditque celer ripam inremeabilis undae. Continuo auditae voces, vagitus et ingens,
427infantumque animae flentes in limine primo, quos dulcis vitae exsortes et ab ubere raptos abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo; hos iuxta falso damnati crimine mortis. Nec vero hae sine sorte datae, sine iudice, sedes:
432quaesitor Minos urnam movet; ille silentum conciliumque vocat vitasque et crimina discit. Proxuma deinde tenent maesti loca, qui sibi letum insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi proiecere animas. Quam vellent aethere in alto
437nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores! Fas obstat, tristisque palus inamabilis undae alligat, et noviens Styx interfusa coërcet. Nec procul hinc partem fusi monstrantur in omnem lugentes campi: sic illos nomine dicunt.
442Hic, quos durus amor crudeli tabe peredit, secreti celant calles et myrtea circum silva tegit; curae non ipsa in morte relinquunt. His Phaedram Procrimque locis, maestamque Eriphylen crudelis nati monstrantem volnera, cernit,
447Evadnenque et Pasiphaën; his Laodamia it comes, et iuvenis quondam, nunc femina, Caeneus, rursus et in veterem fato revoluta figuram. Inter quas Phoenissa recens a volnere Dido errabat silva in magna; quam Troius heros
452ut primum iuxta stetit adgnovitque per umbras obscuram, qualem primo qui surgere mense aut videt, aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam, demisit lacrimas, dulcique adfatus amore est: Infelix Dido, verus mihi nuntius ergo
457venerat exstinctam, ferroque extrema secutam? Funeris heu tibi causa fui? Per sidera iuro, per superos, et si qua fides tellure sub ima est, invitus, regina, tuo de litore cessi. Sed me iussa deum, quae nunc has ire per umbras,
462per loca senta situ cogunt noctemque profundam, imperiis egere suis; nec credere quivi hunc tantum tibi me discessu ferre dolorem. Siste gradum, teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro. Quem fugis? Extremum fato, quod te adloquor, hoc est.
467Talibus Aeneas ardentem et torva tuentem lenibat dictis animum, lacrimasque ciebat. Illa solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat, nec magis incepto voltum sermone movetur, quam si dura silex aut stet Marpesia cautes.
472tandem corripuit sese, atque inimica refugit in nemus umbriferum, coniunx ubi pristinus illi respondet curis aequatque Sychaeus amorem. Nec minus Aeneas, casu concussus iniquo, prosequitur lacrimis longe, et miseratur euntem.
477Inde datum molitur iter. Iamque arva tenebant ultima, quae bello clari secreta frequentant. Hic illi occurrit Tydeus, hic inclutus armis Parthenopaeus et Adrasti pallentis imago; hic multum fleti ad superos belloque caduci
482Dardanidae, quos ille omnes longo ordine cernens ingemuit, Glaucumque Medontaque Thersilochumque, tris Antenoridas, Cererique sacrum Polyphoeten, Idaeumque, etiam currus, etiam arma tenentem. circumstant animae dextra laevaque frequentes;
487nec vidisse semel satis est; iuvat usque morari, et conferre gradum, et veniendi discere causas. At Danaum proceres Agamemnoniaeque phalanges ut videre virum fulgentiaque arma per umbras, ingenti trepidare metu; pars vertere terga,
492ceu quondam petiere rates; pars tollere vocem exiguam, inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes. Atque hic Priamiden laniatum corpore toto Deiphobum videt et lacerum crudeliter ora, ora manusque ambas, populataque tempora raptis
497auribus, et truncas inhonesto volnere nares. Vix adeo adgnovit pavitantem et dira tegentem supplicia, et notis compellat vocibus ultro: Deiphobe armipotens, genus alto a sanguine Teucri quis tam crudeles optavit sumere poenas?
502Cui tantum de te licuit? Mihi fama suprema nocte tulit fessum vasta te caede Pelasgum procubuisse super confusae stragis acervum. Tunc egomet tumulum Rhoeteo litore inanem constitui, et magna Manes ter voce vocavi.
507Nomen et arma locum servant; te, amice, nequivi conspicere, et patria decedens ponere terra. Ad quae Priamides: Nihil O tibi amice relictum; omnia Deiphobo solvisti et funeris umbris. Sed me fata mea et scelus exitiale Lacaenae
512his mersere malis; illa haec monumenta reliquit. Namque ut supremam falsa inter gaudia noctem egerimus, nosti; et nimium meminisse necesse est. Cum fatalis equus saltu super ardua venit Pergama, et armatum peditem gravis attulit alvo,
517illa, chorum simulans, evantes orgia circum ducebat Phrygias; flammam media ipsa tenebat ingentem, et summa Danaos ex arce vocabat. Tum me, confectum curis somnoque gravatum, infelix habuit thalamus, pressitque iacentem
522dulcis et alta quies placidaeque simillima morti. Egregia interea coniunx arma omnia tectis amovet, et fidum capiti subduxerat ensem; intra tecta vocat Menelaum, et limina pandit, scilicet id magnum sperans fore munus amanti,
527et famam exstingui veterum sic posse malorum. Quid moror? Inrumpunt thalamo; comes additur una hortator scelerum Aeolides. Di, talia Grais instaurate, pio si poenas ore reposco! Sed te qui vivum casus, age, fare vicissim,
532attulerint. Pelagine venis erroribus actus, an monitu divom? An quae te Fortuna fatigat, ut tristes sine sole domos, loca turbida, adires? Hac vice sermonum roseïs Aurora quadrigis iam medium aetherio cursu traiecerat axem;
537et fors omne datum traherent per talia tempus; sed comes admonuit, breviterque adfata Sibylla est: Nox ruit, Aenea; nos flendo ducimus horas. Hic locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas: dextera quae Ditis magni sub moenia tendit,
542hac iter Elysium nobis; at laeva malorum exercet poenas, et ad impia Tartara mittit. Deiphobus contra: Ne saevi, magna sacerdos; discedam, explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris. I decus, i, nostrum; melioribus utere fatis!
547Tantum effatus, et in verbo vestigia torsit. Respicit Aeneas subito, et sub rupe sinistra moenia lata videt, triplici circumdata muro, quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis, Tartareus Phlegethon, torquetque sonantia saxa.
552Porta adversa ingens, solidoque adamante columnae, vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere bello caelicolae valeant; stat ferrea turris ad auras, Tisiphoneque sedens, palla succincta cruenta, vestibulum exsomnis servat noctesque diesque.
557Hinc exaudiri gemitus, et saeva sonare verbera; tum stridor ferri, tractaeque catenae. Constitit Aeneas, strepitumque exterritus hausit. Quae scelerum facies, O virgo, effare; quibusve urguentur poenis? Quis tantus plangor ad auras?
562Tum vates sic orsa loqui: Dux inclute Teucrum, nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere limen; sed me cum lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis, ipsa deum poenas docuit, perque omnia duxit. Gnosius haec Rhadamanthus habet, durissima regna,
567castigatque auditque dolos, subigitque fateri, quae quis apud superos, furto laetatus inani, distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem. Continuo sontes ultrix accincta flagello Tisiphone quatit insultans, torvosque sinistra
572intentans angues vocat agmina saeva sororum. Tum demum horrisono stridentes cardine sacrae panduntur portae. Cernis custodia qualis vestibulo sedeat, facies quae limina servet? Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra
577saevior intus habet sedem. Tum Tartarus ipse bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras, quantus ad aetherium caeli suspectus Olympum. Hic genus antiquum Terrae, Titania pubes, fulmine deiecti fundo volvuntur in imo.
582Hic et Aloidas geminos immania vidi corpora, qui manibus magnum rescindere caelum adgressi, superisque Iovem detrudere regnis. Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas, dum flammas Iovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi.
587Quattuor hic invectus equis et lampada quassans per Graium populos mediaeque per Elidis urbem ibat ovans, divomque sibi poscebat honorem,— demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen aere et cornipedum pulsu simularet equorum.
592At pater omnipotens densa inter nubila telum contorsit, non ille faces nec fumea taedis lumina, praecipitemque immani turbine adegit. Nec non et Tityon, Terrae omniparentis alumnum, cernere erat, per tota novem cui iugera corpus
597porrigitur, rostroque immanis voltur obunco immortale iecur tondens fecundaque poenis viscera, rimaturque epulis, habitatque sub alto pectore, nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis. quos super atra silex iam iam lapsura cadentique
603imminet adsimilis; lucent genialibus altis aurea fulcra toris, epulaeque ante ora paratae regifico luxu; Furiarum maxima iuxta accubat, et manibus prohibet contingere mensas, exsurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore.
608Hic, quibus invisi fratres, dum vita manebat, pulsatusve parens, et fraus innexa clienti, aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis, nec partem posuere suis (quae maxima turba est), quique ob adulterium caesi, quique arma secuti
613impia nec veriti dominorum fallere dextras, inclusi poenam exspectant. Ne quaere doceri quam poenam, aut quae forma viros fortunave mersit. Saxum ingens volvunt alii, radiisque rotarum districti pendent; sedet, aeternumque sedebit,
618infelix Theseus; Phlegyasque miserrimus omnis admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras: Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere divos. Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem imposuit; fixit leges pretio atque refixit;
623hic thalamum invasit natae vetitosque hymenaeos; ausi omnes immane nefas, ausoque potiti. Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas, omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.
628Haec ubi dicta dedit Phoebi longaeva sacerdos: Sed iam age, carpe viam et susceptum perfice munus; adceleremus ait; Cyclopum educta caminis moenia conspicio atque adverso fornice portas, haec ubi nos praecepta iubent deponere dona.
633Dixerat, et pariter, gressi per opaca viarum, corripiunt spatium medium, foribusque propinquant. Occupat Aeneas aditum, corpusque recenti spargit aqua, ramumque adverso in limine figit. His demum exactis, perfecto munere divae,
638devenere locos laetos et amoena virecta fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas. Largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt. Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris,
643contendunt ludo et fulva luctantur harena; pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt. Nec non Threïcius longa cum veste sacerdos obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum, iamque eadem digitis, iam pectine pulsat eburno.
648Hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles, magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis, Ilusque Assaracusque et Troiae Dardanus auctor. Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes. Stant terra defixae hastae, passimque soluti
653per campum pascuntur equi. Quae gratia currum armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentis pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Conspicit, ecce, alios dextra laevaque per herbam vescentis, laetumque choro paeana canentis
658inter odoratum lauri nemus, unde superne plurimus Eridani per silvam volvitur amnis. Hic manus ob patriam pugnando volnera passi, quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat, quique pii vates et Phoebo digna locuti,
663inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes, quique sui memores alios fecere merendo, omnibus his nivea cinguntur tempora vitta. Quos circumfusos sic est adfata Sybilla, Musaeum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turba
668hunc habet, atque umeris exstantem suspicit altis: Dicite, felices animae, tuque, optime vates, quae regio Anchisen, quis habet locus? Illius ergo venimus, et magnos Erebi transnavimus amnes. Atque huic responsum paucis ita reddidit heros:
673Nulli certa domus; lucis habitamus opacis, riparumque toros et prata recentia rivis incolimus. Sed vos, si fert ita corde voluntas, hoc superate iugum; et facili iam tramite sistam. Dixit, et ante tulit gressum, camposque nitentis
678desuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt. At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras lustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorum forte recensebat numerum carosque nepotes,
683fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque. Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina videt Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit, effusaeque genis lacrimae, et vox excidit ore: Venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti
688vicit iter durum pietas? Datur ora tueri, nate, tua, et notas audire et reddere voces? Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum, tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit. Quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum
693accipio! quantis iactatum, nate, periclis! Quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent! Ille autem: Tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago, saepius occurrens, haec limina tendere adegit: stant sale Tyrrheno classes. Da iungere dextram,
698da, genitor, teque amplexu ne subtrahe nostro. Sic memorans, largo fletu simul ora rigabat. Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum, ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, Interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta
704seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis, Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem. Hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant; ac—velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serena floribus insidunt variis, et candida circum
709lilia funduntur—strepit omnis murmure campus. Horrescit visu subito, causasque requirit inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro, quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas. Tum pater Anchises: Animae, quibus altera fato
714corpora debentur, Lethaei ad fluminis undam securos latices et longa oblivia potant. iampridem hanc prolem cupio enumerare meorum, quo magis Italia mecum laetere reperta. O pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est
720sublimis animas, iterumque ad tarda reverti corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido? Dicam equidem, nec te suspensum, nate, tenebo suscipit Anchises, atque ordine singula pandit. Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentis
725lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet. Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum, et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus.
730Igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant, terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra. Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque, neque auras dispiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco.
735Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit, non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris. Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum
740supplicia expendunt: aliae panduntur inanes suspensae ad ventos; aliis sub gurgite vasto infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni; quisque suos patimur Manes; exinde per amplum mittimur Elysium, et pauci laeta arva tenemus;
745donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe, concretam exemit labem, purumque relinquit aetherium sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem. Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno,
750scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant, rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti. Dixerat Anchises, natumque unaque Sibyllam conventus trahit in medios turbamque sonantem, et tumulum capit, unde omnes longo ordine possit
755adversos legere, et venientum discere vultus. Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes, inlustris animas nostrumque in nomen ituras, expediam dictis, et te tua fata docebo.
760Ille, vides, pura iuvenis qui nititur hasta, proxuma sorte tenet lucis loca, primus ad auras aetherias Italo commixtus sanguine surget, silvius, Albanum nomen, tua postuma proles, quem tibi longaevo serum Lavinia coniunx
765educet silvis regem regumque parentem, unde genus Longa nostrum dominabitur Alba. Proxumus ille Procas, Troianae gloria gentis, et Capys, et Numitor, et qui te nomine reddet Silvius Aeneas, pariter pietate vel armis
770egregius, si umquam regnandam acceperit Albam. Qui iuvenes! Quantas ostentant, aspice, vires, atque umbrata gerunt civili tempora quercu! Hi tibi Nomentum et Gabios urbemque Fidenam, hi Collatinas imponent montibus arces,
775Pometios Castrumque Inui Bolamque Coramque. Haec tum nomina erunt, nunc sunt sine nomine terrae. Quin et avo comitem sese Mavortius addet Romulus, Assaraci quem sanguinis Ilia mater educet. Viden, ut geminae stant vertice cristae,
780et pater ipse suo superum iam signat honore? En, huius, nate, auspiciis illa incluta Roma imperium terris, animos aequabit Olympo, septemque una sibi muro circumdabit arces, felix prole virum: qualis Berecyntia mater
785invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes, laeta deum partu, centum complexa nepotes, omnes caelicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes. Huc geminas nunc flecte acies, hanc aspice gentem Romanosque tuos. Hic Caesar et omnis Iuli
790progenies magnum caeli ventura sub axem. Hic vir, hic est, tibi quem promitti saepius audis, Augustus Caesar, Divi genus, aurea condet saecula qui rursus Latio regnata per arva Saturno quondam, super et Garamantas et Indos
795proferet imperium: iacet extra sidera tellus, extra anni solisque vias, ubi caelifer Atlas axem umero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum. Huius in adventum iam nunc et Caspia regna responsis horrent divom et Maeotia tellus,
800et septemgemini turbant trepida ostia Nili. Nec vero Alcides tantum telluris obivit, fixerit aeripedem cervam licet, aut Erymanthi pacarit nemora, et Lernam tremefecerit arcu; nec, qui pampineis victor iuga flectit habenis,
805Liber, agens celso Nysae de vertice tigres. Et dubitamus adhuc virtute extendere vires, aut metus Ausonia prohibet consistere terra? Quis procul ille autem ramis insignis olivae sacra ferens? Nosco crines incanaque menta
810regis Romani, primus qui legibus urbem fundabit, Curibus parvis et paupere terra missus in imperium magnum. Cui deinde subibit, otia qui rumpet patriae residesque movebit Tullus in arma viros et iam desueta triumphis
815agmina. Quem iuxta sequitur iactantior Ancus, nunc quoque iam nimium gaudens popularibus auris. Vis et Tarquinios reges, animamque superbam ultoris Bruti, fascesque videre receptos? Consulis imperium hic primus saevasque secures
820accipiet, natosque pater nova bella moventes ad poenam pulchra pro libertate vocabit. Infelix, utcumque ferent ea facta minores, vincet amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido. Quin Decios Drusosque procul saevumque securi
825aspice Torquatum et referentem signa Camillum. Illae autem, paribus quas fulgere cernis in armis, concordes animae nunc et dum nocte premuntur, heu quantum inter se bellum, si lumina vitae attigerint, quantas acies stragemque ciebunt!
830Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monoeci descendens, gener adversis instructus Eois. Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis adsuescite bella, neu patriae validas in viscera vertite vires; tuque prior, tu parce, genus qui ducis Olympo,
835proice tela manu, sanguis meus!— Ille triumphata Capitolia ad alta Corintho victor aget currum, caesis insignis Achivis. Eruet ille Argos Agamemnoniasque Mycenas, ipsumque Aeaciden, genus armipotentis Achilli,
840ultus avos Troiae, templa et temerata Minervae. Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat? Quis Gracchi genus, aut geminos, duo fulmina belli, Scipiadas, cladem Libyae, parvoque potentem Fabricium vel te sulco Serrane, serentem?
845quo fessum rapitis, Fabii? Tu Maxumus ille es, unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem. Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera, credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus, orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus
850describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent: tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento; hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem, parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos. Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit:
855Aspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis ingreditur, victorque viros supereminet omnes! Hic rem Romanam, magno turbante tumultu, sistet, eques sternet Poenos Gallumque rebellem, tertiaque arma patri suspendet capta Quirino.
860Atque hic Aeneas; una namque ire videbat egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis, sed frons laeta parum, et deiecto lumina voltu: Quis, pater, ille, virum qui sic comitatur euntem? Filius, anne aliquis magna de stirpe nepotum?
865Quis strepitus circa comitum! Quantum instar in ipso! Sed nox atra caput tristi circumvolat umbra. Tum pater Anchises, lacrimis ingressus obortis: O gnate, ingentem luctum ne quaere tuorum; ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra
870esse sinent. Nimium vobis Romana propago visa potens, Superi, propria haec si dona fuissent. Quantos ille virum magnam Mavortis ad urbem campus aget gemitus, vel quae, Tiberine, videbis funera, cum tumulum praeterlabere recentem!
875Nec puer Iliaca quisquam de gente Latinos in tantum spe tollet avos, nec Romula quondam ullo se tantum tellus iactabit alumno. Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello dextera! Non illi se quisquam impune tulisset
880obvius armato, seu cum pedes iret in hostem, seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos. Heu, miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, tu Marcellus eris. Manibus date lilia plenis, purpureos spargam flores, animamque nepotis
885his saltem adcumulem donis, et fungar inani munere—Sic tota passim regione vagantur aëris in campis latis, atque omnia lustrant. Quae postquam Anchises natum per singula duxit, incenditque animum famae venientis amore,
890exin bella viro memorat quae deinde gerenda, Laurentisque docet populos urbemque Latini, et quo quemque modo fugiatque feratque laborem. Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris;
895altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto, sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes. His ubi tum natum Anchises unaque Sibyllam prosequitur dictis, portaque emittit eburna, ille viam secat ad naves sociosque revisit:
900tum se ad Caietae recto fert litore portum.
Book 7
1Tu quoque litoribus nostris, Aeneia nutrix, aeternam moriens famam, Caieta, dedisti; et nunc servat honos sedem tuus ossaque nomen Hesperia in magna, siqua est ea gloria, signat. At pius exsequiis Aeneas rite solutis,
6aggere composito tumuli, postquam alta quierunt aequora, tendit iter velis portumque relinquit. Adspirant aurae in noctem nec candida cursus Luna negat, splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus. Proxima Circaeae raduntur litora terrae,
11dives inaccessos ubi Solis filia lucos adsiduo resonat cantu tectisque superbis urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum, arguto tenuis percurrens pectine telas. Hinc exaudiri gemitus iraeque leonum
16vincla recusantum et sera sub nocte rudentum, saetigerique sues atque in praesaepibus ursi saevire ac formae magnorum ululare luporum, quos hominum ex facie dea saeva potentibus herbis induerat Circe in voltus ac terga ferarum.
21Quae ne monstra pii paterentur talia Troes delati in portus neu litora dira subirent, Neptunus ventis implevit vela secundis atque fugam dedit et praeter vada fervida vexit. Iamque rubescebat radiis mare et aethere ab alto
26Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis: cum venti posuere omnisque repente resedit flatus et in lento luctantur marmore tonsae. Atque hic Aeneas ingentem ex aequore lucum prospicit. Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amoeno
31verticibus rapidis et multa flavus arena in mare prorumpit. Variae circumque supraque adsuetae ripis volucres et fluminis alveo aethera mulcebant cantu lucoque volabant. flectere iter sociis terraeque advertere proras
36imperat et laetus fluvio succedit opaco. Nunc age, qui reges, Erato, quae tempora rerum, quis Latio antiquo fuerit status, advena classem cum primum Ausoniis exercitus appulit oris, expediam et primae revocabo exordia pugnae.
41tu vatem, tu, diva, mone. Dicam horrida bella, dicam acies actosque animis in funera reges Tyrrhenamque manum totamque sub arma coactam Hesperiam. Maior rerum mihi nascitur ordo, maius opus moveo.Rex arva Latinus et urbes
46iam senior longa placidas in pace regebat. Hunc Fauno et nympha genitum Laurente Marica accipimus, Fauno Picus pater isque parentem te, Saturne, refert, tu sanguinis ultimus auctor. filius huic fato divom prolesque virilis
51nulla fuit primaque oriens erepta iuventa est. Sola domum et tantas servabat filia sedes, iam matura viro, iam plenis nubilis annis. Multi illam magno e Latio totaque petebant Ausonia. Petit ante alios pulcherrimus omnis
56Turnus, avis atavisque potens, quem regia coniunx adiungi generum miro properabat amore; sed variis portenta deum terroribus obstant. Laurus erat tecti medio in penetralibus altis, sacra comam multosque metu servata per annos,
61quam pater inventam, primas cum conderet arces, ipse ferebatur Phoebo sacrasse Latinus Laurentisque ab ea nomen posuisse colonis. Huius apes summum densae (mirabile dictu), stridore ingenti liquidum trans aethera vectae,
66obsedere apicem, ex pedibus per mutua nexis examen subitum ramo frondente pependit. Continuo vates: Externum cernimus, inquit, adventare virum et partis petere agmen easdem partibus ex isdem et summa dominarier arce.
71Praeterea, castis adolet dum altaria taedis et iuxta genitorem adstat Lavinia virgo, visa (nefas) longis comprendere crinibus ignem, regalisque accensa comas, accensa coronam insignem gemmis, tum fumida lumine fulvo
77involvi ac totis Volcanum spargere tectis. Id vero horrendum ac visu mirabile ferri: namque fore inlustrem fama fatisque canebant ipsam, sed populo magnum portendere bellum. At rex sollicitus monstris oracula Fauni,
82fatidici genitoris, adit lucosque sub alta consulit Albunea, nemorum quae maxima sacro fonte sonat saevamque exhalat opaca mephitim. Hinc Italae gentes omnisque Oenotria tellus in dubiis responsa petunt; huc dona sacerdos
87cum tulit et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti pellibus incubuit stratis somnosque petivit, multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris et varias audit voces fruiturque deorum conloquio atque imis Acheronta adfatur Avernis.
92Hic et tum pater ipse petens responsa Latinus centum lanigeras mactabat rite bidentis atque harum effultus tergo stratisque iacebat velleribus: subita ex alto vox reddita luco est: Ne pete conubiis natam sociare Latinis,
97O mea progenies, thalamis neu crede paratis: externi venient generi, qui sanguine nostrum nomen in astra ferant quorumque a stirpe nepotes omnia sub pedibus, qua Sol utrumque recurrens aspicit Oceanum, vertique regique videbunt.
102Haec responsa patris Fauni monitusque silenti nocte datos non ipse suo premit ore Latinus, sed circum late volitans iam Fama per urbes Ausonias tulerat, cum Laomedontia pubes gramineo ripae religavit ab aggere classem.
107Aeneas primique duces et pulcher Iulus corpora sub ramis deponunt arboris altae instituuntque dapes et adorea liba per herbam subiciunt epulis (sic Iuppiter ipse monebat) et Cereale solum pomis agrestibus augent.
112Consumptis hic forte aliis ut vertere morsus exiguam in Cererem penuria adegit edendi et violare manu malisque audacibus orbem fatalis crusti patulis nec parcere quadris: Heus ! etiam mensas consumimus, inquit Iulus,
117nec plura adludens. Ea vox audita laborum prima tulit finem, primamque loquentis ab ore eripuit pater ac stupefactus numine pressit. Continuo: Salve fatis mihi debita tellus vosque, ait, O fidi Troiae salvete penates:
122hic domus, haec patria est. Genitor mihi talia namque (nunc repeto) Anchises fatorum arcana reliquit: cum te, nate, fames ignota ad litora vectum accisis coget dapibus consumere mensas, tum sperare domos defessus ibique memento
127prima locare manu molirique aggere tecta. Haec erat illa fames; haec nos suprema manebat, exiliis positura modum. Quare agite et primo laeti cum lumine solis quae loca, quive habeant homines, ubi moenia gentis,
132vestigemus et a portu diversa petamus. Nunc pateras libate Iovi precibusque vocate Anchisen genitorem, et vina reponite mensis. Sic deinde effatus frondenti tempora ramo implicat et geniumque loci primamque deorum
137Tellurem nymphasque et adhuc ignota precatur flumina, tum Noctem Noctisque orientia signa Idaeumque Iovem Phrygiamque ex ordine matrem invocat et duplicis caeloque ereboque parentis. Hic pater omnipotens ter caelo clarus ab alto
142intonuit radiisque ardentem lucis et auro ipse manu quatiens ostendit ab aethere nubem. Diditur hic subito Troiana per agmina rumor advenisse diem, quo debita moenia condant. Certatim instaurant epulas atque omine magno
147crateras laeti statuunt et vina coronant. Postera cum prima lustrabat lampade terras orta dies, urbem et finis et litora gentis diversi explorant: haec fontis stagna Numici, hunc Thybrim fluvium, hic fortis habitare Latinos.
152Tum satus Anchisa delectos ordine ab omni centum oratores augusta ad moenia regis ire iubet, ramis velatos Palladis omnis, donaque ferre viro pacemque exposcere Teucris. Haud mora, festinant iussi rapidisque feruntur
157passibus. Ipse humili designat moenia fossa moliturque locum primasque in litore sedes castrorum in morem pinnis atque aggere cingit. Iamque iter emensi turris ac tecta Latinorum ardua cernebant iuvenes muroque subibant.
162Ante urbem pueri et primaevo flore iuventus exercentur equis domitantque in pulvere currus aut acris tendunt arcus aut lenta lacertis spicula contorquent cursuque ictuque lacessunt: cum praevectus equo longaevi regis ad auris
167nuntius ingentis ignota in veste reportat advenisse viros. Ille intra tecta vocari imperat et solio medius consedit avito. Tectum augustum ingens. centum sublime columnis, urbe fuit summa, Laurentis regia Pici,
172horrendum silvis et religione parentum. Hic sceptra accipere et primos attollere fasces regibus omen erat, hoc illis curia templum, hae sacris sedes epulis, hic ariete caeso perpetuis soliti patres considere mensis.
177Quin etiam veterum effigies ex ordine avorum antiqua e cedro, Italusque paterque Sabinus vitisator, curvam servans sub imagine falcem, Saturnusque senex Ianique bifrontis imago vestibulo astabant, aliique ab origine reges
182Martiaque ob patriam pugnando volnera passi. Multaque praeterea sacris in postibus arma, captivi pendent currus curvaeque secures et cristae capitum et portarum ingentia claustra spiculaque clipeique ereptaque rostra carinis.
187Ipse Quirinali lituo parvaque sedebat succinctus trabea laevaque ancile gerebat Picus, equum domitor; quem capta cupidine coniunx aurea percussum virga versumque venenis fecit avem Circe sparsitque coloribus alas.
192Tali intus templo divom patriaque Latinus sede sedens Teucros ad sese in tecta vocavit, atque haec ingressis placido prior edidit ore: Dicite, Dardanidae (neque enim nescimus et urbem et genus, auditique advertitis aequore cursum),
197quid petitis ? Quae causa rates aut cuius egentis litus ad Ausonium tot per vada caerula vexit? Sive errore viae seu tempestatibus acti, qualia multa mari nautae patiuntur in alto, fluminis intrastis ripas portuque sedetis,
202ne fugite hospitium neve ignorate Latinos Saturni gentem, haud vinclo nec legibus aequam, sponte sua veterisque dei se more tenentem. Atque equidem memini (fama est obscurior annis) Auruncos ita ferre senes, his ortus ut agris
207Dardanus Idaeas Phrygiae penetravit ad urbes Threiciamque Samum, quae nunc Samothracia fertur. Hinc illum, Corythi Tyrrhena ab sede profectum, aurea nunc solio stellantis regia caeli accipit et numerum divorum altaribus auget.
212Dixerat, et dicta Ilioneus sic voce secutus: Rex, genus egregium Fauni, nec fluctibus actos, atra subegit hiemps vestris succedere terris nec sidus regione viae litusve fefellit: consilio hanc omnes animisque volentibus urbem,
217adferimur, pulsi regnis, quae maxima quondam extremo veniens Sol aspiciebat Olympo. Ab Iove principium generis, Iove Dardana pubes gaudet avo, rex ipse Iovis de gente suprema, Troius Aeneas, tua nos ad limina misit.
222Quanta per Idaeos saevis effusa Mycenis tempestas ierit campos, quibus actus uterque Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrerit orbis, audiit et siquem tellus extrema refuso summovet oceano et siquem extenta plagarum
227quattuor in medio dirimit plaga solis iniqui. Diluvio ex illo tot vasta per aequora vecti dis sedem exiguam patriis litusque rogamus innocuum et cunctis undamque auramque patentem. Non erimus regno indecores, nec vestra feretur
232fama levis tantique abolescet gratia facti, nec Troiam Ausonios gremio excepisse pigebit. Fata per Aeneae iuro dextramque potentem sive fide seu quis bello est expertus et armis: multi nos populi, multae (ne temne, quod ultro
237praeferimus manibus vittas ac verba precantia) et petiere sibi et voluere adiungere gentes; sed nos fata deum vestras exquirere terras imperiis egere suis. Hinc Dardanus ortus; huc repetit iussisque ingentibus urguet Apollo
242Tyrrhenum ad Thybrim et fontis vada sacra Numici. Dat tibi praeterea fortunae parva prioris munera, reliquias Troia ex ardente receptas. Hoc pater Anchises auro libabat ad aras; hoc Priami gestamen erat, cum iura vocatis
247more daret populis, sceptrumque sacerque tiaras Iliadumque labor vestes. Talibus Ilionei dictis defixa Latinus obtutu tenet ora soloque immobilis haeret intentos volvens oculos. Nec purpura regem
252picta movet nec sceptra movent Priameia tantum, quantum in conubio natae thalamoque moratur, et veteris Fauni voluit sub pectore sortem, hunc illum fatis externa ab sede profectum portendi generum paribusque in regna vocari
257auspiciis, huic progeniem virtute futuram egregiam et totum quae viribus occupet orbem. tandem laetus ait: Di nostra incepta secundent auguriumque suum; dabitur, Troiane, quod optas, munera nec sperno. Non vobis rege Latino
262divitis uber agri Troiaeve opulentia deerit. Ipse modo Aeneas, nostri si tanta cupido est, si iungi hospitio properat sociusque vocari, adveniat voltus neve exhorrescat amicos: illi pacis erit dextram tetigisse tyranni.
267vos contra regi mea nunc mandata referte. Est mihi nata, viro gentis quam iungere nostrae non patrio ex adyto sortes, non plurima caelo monstra sinunt: generos externis adfore ab oris, hoc Latio restare canunt, qui sanguine nostrum
272nomen in astra ferant. Hunc illum poscere fata et reor et, siquid veri mens augurat, opto. haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni (stabant ter centum nitidi in praesaepibus altis): omnibus extemplo Teucris iubet ordine duci
277instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis; aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent, tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum; absenti Aeneae currum geminosque iugalis semine ab aetherio, spirantis naribus ignem,
282illorum de gente, patri quos daedala Circe supposita de matre nothos furata creavit. Talibus Aeneadae donis dictisque Latini sublimes in equis redeunt pacemque reportant. Ecce autem Inachiis sese referebat ab Argis
287saeva Iovis coniunx aurasque invecta tenebat, et laetum Aenean classemque ex aethere longe Dardaniam Siculo prospexit ab usque Pachyno. moliri iam tecta videt, iam fidere terrae, deseruisse rates: stetit acri fixa dolore.
292Tum quassans caput haec effundit pectore dicta: Heu stirpem invisam et fatis contraria nostris fata Phrygum ! Num Sigeis occumbere campis, num capti potuere capi, num incensa cremavit Troia viros ? Medias acies mediosque per ignis
297invenere viam. At, credo, mea numina tandem fessa iacent odiis aut exsaturata quievi. Quin etiam patria excussos infesta per undas ausa sequi et profugis toto me opponere ponto ! Absumptae in Teucros vires caelique marisque.
302Quid Syrtes aut Scylla mihi, quid vasta Charybdis profuit? Optato conduntur Thybridis alveo, securi pelagi atque mei. Mars perdere gentem immanem Lapithum valuit, concessit in iras ipse deum antiquam genitor Calydona Dianae,
307quod scelus aut Lapithis tantum aut Calydona merentem? Ast ego magna Iovis coniunx, nil linquere inausum quae potui infelix, quae memet in omnia verti, vincor ab Aenea. Quod si mea numina non sunt magna satis, dubitem haud equidem implorare quod usquam est:
312flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. Non dabitur regnis, esto, prohibere Latinis, atque immota manet fatis Lavinia coniunx: at trahere atque moras tantis licet addere rebus, at licet amborum populos exscindere regum.
317Hac gener atque socer coeant mercede suorum: sanguine Troiano et Rutulo dotabere, virgo, et Bellona manet te pronuba. Nec face tantum Cisseis praegnans ignis enixa iugalis quin idem Veneri partus suus et Paris alter
322funestaeque iterum recidiva in Pergama taedae. Haec ubi dicta dedit, terras Horrenda petivit: luctificam Allecto dirarum ab sede dearum infernisque ciet tenebris, cui tristia bella iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi.
327Odit et ipse pater Pluton, odere sorores Tartareae monstrum: tot sese vertit in ora, tam saevae facies, tot pullulat atra colubris. Quam Iuno his acuit verbis ac talia fatur: Hunc mihi da proprium, virgo sata Nocte, laborem,
332hanc operam, ne noster honos infractave cedat fama loco, neu conubiis ambire Latinum Aeneadae possint Italosve obsidere finis. Tu potes unanimos armare in proelia fratres atque odiis versare domos, tu verbera tectis
337funereasque inferre faces, tibi nomina mille, mille nocendi artes. Fecundum concute pectus, disice compositam pacem, sere crimina belli: arma velit poscatque simul rapiatque inventus. Exin Gorgoneis Allecto infecta venenis
342principio Latium et Laurentis tecta tyranni celsa petit tacitumque obsedit limen Amatae, quam super adventu Teucrum Turnique hymenaeis femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant. Huic dea caeruleis unum de crinibus anguem
347conicit inque sinum praecordia ad intuma subdit, quo furibunda domum monstro permisceat omnem. Ille inter vestes et levia pectora lapsus volvitur attactu nullo fallitque furentem, vipeream inspirans animam: fit tortile collo
352aurum ingens coluber, fit longae taenia vittae innectitque comas, et membris lubricus errat. Ac dum prima lues udo sublapsa veneno pertemptat sensus atque ossibus implicat ignem necdum animus toto percepit pectore flammam,
357mollius et solito matrum de more locuta est, multa super nata lacrimans Phrygiisque hymenaeis: Exsulibusne datur ducenda Lavinia Teucris, O genitor, nec te miseret gnataeque tuique ? Nec matris miseret, quam primo aquilone relinquet
362perfidus alta petens abducta virgine praedo? An non sic Phrygius penetrat Lacedaemona pastor Ledaeamque Helenam Troianas vexit ad urbes ? Quid tua sancta fides, quid cura antiqua tuorum et consanguineo totiens data dextera Turno?
367Si gener externa petitur de gente Latinis idque sedet Faunique premunt te iussa parentis, omnem equidem sceptris terram quae libera nostris dissidet, externam reor et sic dicere divos. Et Turno, si prima domus repetatur origo,
372Inachus Acrisiusque patres mediaeque Mycenae. His ubi nequiquam dictis experta Latinum contra stare videt penitusque in viscera lapsum serpentis furiale malum totamque pererrat, tum vero infelix, ingentibus excita monstris,
377immensam sine more furit lymphata per urbem. Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere turbo, quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum intenti ludo exercent; ille actus habena curvatis fertur spatiis; stupet inscia supra
382inpubesque manus, mirata volubile buxum; dant animos plagae: non cursu segnior illo per medias urbes agitur populosque feroces. Quin etiam in silvas, simulato numine Bacchi, maius adorta nefas maioremque orsa furorem
387evolat et natam frondosis montibus abdit, quo thalamum eripiat Teucris taedasque moretur, Euhoe Bacche, fremens, solum te virgine dignum vociferans, etenim mollis tibi sumere thyrsos, te lustrare choro, sacrum tibi pascere crinem.
392Fama volat, furiisque accensas pectore matres idem omnis simul ardor agit nova quaerere tecta: deseruere domos, ventis dant colla comasque, ast aliae tremulis ululatibus aethera complent, pampineasque gerunt incinctae pellibus hastas;
397ipsa inter medias flagrantem fervida pinum sustinet ac natae Turnique canit hymenaeos, sanguineam torquens aciem, torvumque repente clamat: Io matres, audite, ubi quaeque, Latinae: Siqua piis animis manet infelicis Amatae
402gratia, si iuris materni cura remordet, solvite crinalis vittas, capite orgia mecum. Talem inter silvas, inter deserta ferarum, reginam Allecto stimulis agit undique Bacchi. Postquam visa satis primos acuisse furores
407consiliumque omnemque domum vertisse Latini, protinus hinc fuscis tristis dea tollitur alis audacis Rutuli ad muros, quam dicitur urbem Acrisioneis Danae fundasse colonis, praecipiti delata noto. Locus Ardea quondam
412dictus avis, et nunc magnum manet Ardea nomen, sed fortuna fuit; tectis hic Turnus in altis iam mediam nigra carpebat nocte quietem. Allecto torvam faciem et furialia membra exuit, in vultus sese transformat anilis;
417et frontem obscenam rugis arat, induit albos cum vitta crinis, tum ramum innectit olivae; fit Calybe Iunonis anus templique sacerdos et iuveni ante oculos his se cum vocibus offert: Turne, tot incassum fusos patiere labores
422et tua Dardaniis transcribi sceptra colonis? Rex tibi coniugium et quaesitas sanguine dotes abnegat, externusque in regnum quaeritur heres. I nunc, ingratis offer te, inrise, periclis; Tyrrhenas, i, sterne acies; tege pace Latinos.
427Haec adeo tibi me, placida cum nocte iaceres, ipsa palam fari omnipotens Saturnia iussit. Quare age et armari pubem portisque moveri laetus in arma para, et Phrygios qui flumine pulchro consedere duces pictasque exure carinas.
432Caelestum vis magna iubet. Rex ipse Latinus, ni dare coniugium et dicto parere fatetur, sentiat et tandem Turnum experiatur in armis. Hic iuvenis vatem inridens sic orsa vicissim ore refert: Classis invectas Thybridis undam
437non, ut rere, meas effugit nuntius auris. Ne tantos mihi finge metus; nec regia Iuno inmemor est nostri. Sed te victa situ verique effeta senectus, o mater, curis nequiquam exercet et arma
442regum inter falsa vatem formidine ludit. Cura tibi divom effigies et templa tueri: bella viri pacemque gerent, quis bella gerenda. Talibus Allecto dictis exarsit in iras, at iuveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus,
447deriguere oculi: tot Erinys sibilat hydris tantaque se facies aperit; tum flammea torquens lumina cunctantem et quaerentem dicere plura reppulit et geminos erexit crinibus anguis verberaque insonuit rabidoque haec addidit ore:
452En ego victa situ, quam veri effeta senectus arma inter regum falsa formidine ludit. Respice ad haec: adsum dirarum ab sede sororum, bella manu letumque gero. Sic effata facem iuveni coniecit et atro
457lumine fumantis fixit sub pectore taedas. Olli somnum ingens rumpit pavor, ossaque et artus perfundit toto proruptus corpore sudor; arma amens fremit, arma toro tectisque requirit; saevit amor ferri et scelerata insania belli,
462ira super: magno veluti cum flamma sonore virgea suggeritur costis undantis aëni exsultantque aestu latices, furit intus aquaï fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis, nec iam se capit unda, volat vapor ater ad auras.
467Ergo iter ad regem polluta pace Latinum indicit primis iuvenum et iubet arma parari, tutari Italiam, detrudere finibus hostem: se satis ambobus Teucrisque venire Latinisque. Haec ubi dicta dedit divosque in vota vocavit,
472certatim sese Rutuli exhortantur in arma: hunc decus egregium formae movet atque iuventae, hunc atavi reges, hunc claris dextera factis. Dum Turnus Rutulos animis audacibus implet, Allecto in Teucros Stygiis se concitat alis,
477arte nova speculata locum, quo litore pulcher insidiis cursuque feras agitabat Iulus. Hic subitam canibus rabiem Cocytia virgo obicit et noto naris contingit odore, ut cervum ardentes agerent; quae prima laborum
482causa fuit belloque animos accendit agrestis. Cervus erat forma praestanti et cornibus ingens, Tyrrhidae pueri quem matris ab ubere raptum nutribant Tyrrhusque pater, cui regia parent armenta et late custodia credita campi.
487Adsuetum imperiis soror omni Silvia cura mollibus intexens ornabat cornua sertis pectebatque ferum puroque in fonte lavabat. Ille, manum patiens mensaeque adsuetus erili, errabat silvis rursusque ad limina nota
492ipse domum sera quamvis se nocte ferebat. Hunc procul errantem rabidae venantis Iuli commovere canes, fluvio cum forte secundo deflueret ripaque aestus viridante levaret. Ipse etiam, eximiae laudis succensus amore,
497Ascanius curvo direxit spicula cornu; nec dextrae erranti deus afuit, actaque multo perque uterum sonitu perque ilia venit harundo. Saucius at quadrupes nota intra tecta refugit successitque gemens stabulis questuque cruentus
502atque imploranti similis tectum omne replebat. Silvia prima soror, palmis percussa lacertos, auxilium vocat et duros conclamat agrestis. Olli, pestis enim tacitis latet aspera silvis, inprovisi adsunt, hic torre armatus obusto,
507stipitis hic gravidi nodis: quod cuique repertum rimanti, telum ira facit. Vocat agmina Tyrrhus, quadrifidam quercum cuneis ut forte coactis scindebat, rapta spirans immane securi. At saeva e speculis tempus dea nacta nocendi
512ardua tecta petit stabuli et de culmine summo pastorale canit signum cornuque recurvo Tartaream intendit vocem, qua protinus omne contremuit nemus et silvae insonuere profundae; audiit et Triviae longe lacus, audiit amnis
517sulfurea Nar albus aqua fontesque Velini, et trepidae matres pressere ad pectora natos. Tum vero ad vocem celeres, qua bucina signum dira dedit, raptis concurrunt undique telis indomiti agricolae; nec non et Troïa pubes
522Ascanio auxilium castris effundit apertis. Direxere acies. Non iam certamine agresti, stipitibus duris agitur sudibusve praeustis, sed ferro ancipiti decernunt atraque late horrescit strictis seges ensibus aeraque fulgent
527sole lacessita et lucem sub nubila iactant: fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere vento, paulatim sese tollit mare et altius undas erigit, inde imo consurgit ad aethera fundo. Hic iuvenis primam ante aciem stridente sagitta,
532natorum Tyrrhi fuerat qui maximus, Almo, sternitur; haesit enim sub gutture volnus et udae vocis iter tenuemque inclusit sanguine vitam. Corpora multa virum circa seniorque Galaesus, dum paci medium se offert, iustissimus unus
537qui fuit Ausoniisque olim ditissimus arvis: quinque greges illi balantum, quina redibant armenta, et terram centum vertebat aratris. Atque ea per campos aequo dum Marte geruntur, promissi dea facta potens, ubi sanguine bellum
542imbuit et primae commisit funera pugnae, deserit Hesperiam et caeli convexa per auras Iunonem victrix adfatur voce superba: En, perfecta tibi bello discordia tristi: dic in amicitiam coeant et foedera iungant.
547Quando quidem Ausonio respersi sanguine Teucros, hoc etiam his addam, tua si mihi certa voluntas: finitimas in bella feram rumoribus urbes accendamque animos insani Martis amore, undique ut auxilio veniunt; spargam arma per agros.
552Tum contra Iuno; Terrorum et fraudis abunde est; stant belli causae, pugnatur comminus armis, quae fors prima dedit sanguis novus imbuit arma. Talia coniugia et talis celebrent hymenaeos egregium Veneris genus et rex ipse Latinus.
557Te super aetherias errare licentius auras haud pater ille velit, summi regnator Olympi: cede locis; ego, siqua super fortuna laborum est, ipsa regam. Talis dederat Saturnia voces. Illa autem attollit stridentis anguibus alas
562Cocytique petit sedem, supera ardua linquens. Est locus Italiae medio sub montibus altis, nobilis et fama multis memoratus in oris, Amsancti valles: densis hunc frondibus atrum urguet utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus
567dat sonitum saxis et torto vertice torrens. Hic specus horrendum et saevi spiracula Ditis monstrantur, ruptoque ingens Acheronte vorago pestiferas aperit fauces, quis condita Erinys, invisum numen, terras caelumque levabat.
572Nec minus interea extremam Saturnia bello imponit regina manum. Ruit omnis in urbem pastorum ex acie numerus caesosque reportant Almonem puerum foedatique ora Galaesi implorantque deos obtestanturque Latinum.
577Turnus adest medioque in crimine caedis et igni terrorem ingeminat: Teucros in regna vocari, stirpem admisceri Phrygiam, se limine pelli. Tum quorum attonitae Baccho nemora avia matres insultant thiasis (neque enim leve nomen Amatae),
582undique collecti coeunt Martemque fatigant. Ilicet infandum cuncti contra omina bellum, contra fata deum perverso numine poscunt, certatim regis circumstant tecta Latini. Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistit,
587ut pelagi rupes magno veniente fragore, quae sese multis circum latrantibus undis mole tenet; scopuli nequiquam et spumea circum saxa fremunt laterique inlisa refunditur alga. Verum ubi nulla datur caecum exsuperare potestas
592consilium et saevae nutu Iunonis eunt res, multa deos aurasque pater testatus inanis: Frangimur heu fatis, inquit, ferimurque procella! Ipsi has sacrilego pendetis sanguine poenas, O miseri. Te, Turne, nefas, te triste manebit
597supplicium, votisque deos venerabere seris. Nam mihi parta quies, omnisque in limine portus; funere felici spolior. Nec plura locutus saepsit se tectis rerumque reliquit habenas. Mos erat Hesperio in Latio, quem protinus urbes
602Albanae coluere sacrum nunc maxima rerum Roma colit, cum prima movent in proelia Martem, sive Getis inferre manu lacrimabile bellum Hyrcanisve Arabisve parant seu tendere ad Indos Auroramque sequi Parthosque reposcere signa.
607Sunt geminae belli portae (sic nomine dicunt) religione sacrae et saevi formidine Martis; centum aerei claudunt vectes aeternaque ferri robora, nec custos absistit limine Ianus: has, ubi certa sedet patribus sententia pugnae,
612ipse Quirinali trabea cinctuque Gabino insignis reserat stridentia limina consul, ipse vocat pugnas; sequitur tum cetera pubes, aereaque adsensu conspirant cornua rauco. Hoc et tum Aeneadis indicere bella Latinus
617more iubebatur tristisque recludere portas. Abstinuit tactu pater aversusque refugit foeda ministeria et caecis se condidit umbris. Tum regina deum caelo delapsa morantis impulit ipsa manu portas, et cardine verso
622belli ferratos rumpit Saturnia postes. Ardet inexcita Ausonia atque immobilis ante; Pars pedes ire parat campis, pars arduus altis pulverulentus equis furit; omnes arma requirunt. Pars levis clipeos et spicula lucida tergent
627arvina pingui subiguntque in cote secures; signaque ferre iuvat sonitusque audire tubarum. Quinque adeo magnae positis incudibus urbes tela novant, Atina potens Tiburque superbum, Ardea Crustumerique et turrigerae Antemnae.
632Tegmina tuta cavant capitum flectuntque salignas umbonum cratis; alii thoracas aenos aut levis ocreas lento ducunt argento; vomeris huc et falcis honos, huc omnis aratri cessit amor; recoquunt patrios fornacibus enses.
637Classica iamque sonant; it bello tessera signum. Hic galeam tectis trepidus rapit, ille frementis ad iuga cogit equos clipeumque auroque trilicem loricam induitur fidoque accingitur ense. Pandite nunc Helicona, deae, cantusque movete,
642qui bello exciti reges, quae quemque secutae complerint campos acies, quibus Itala iam tum floruerit terra alma viris, quibus arserit armis. Et meministis enim, divae, et memorare potestis: ad nos vix tenuis famae perlabitur aura.
647Primus init bellum Tyrrhenis asper ab oris contemptor divom Mezentius agminaque armat. Filius huic iuxta Lausus, quo pulchrior alter non fuit excepto Laurentis corpore Turni, Lausus, equum domitor debellatorque ferarum,
652ducit Agyllina nequiquam ex urbe secutos mille viros, dignus, patriis qui laetior esset imperiis et cui pater haud Mezentius esset. Post hos insignem palma per gramina currum victoresque ostentat equos satus Hercule pulchro
657pulcher Aventinus, clipeoque insigne paternum centum angues cinctamque gerit serpentibus hydram; collis Aventini silva quem Rhea sacerdos furtivum partu sub luminis edidit oras, mixta deo mulier, postquam Laurentia victor
662Geryone extincto Tirynthius attigit arva Tyrrhenoque boves in flumine lavit Hiberas. Pila manu saevosque gerunt in bella dolones et tereti pugnant mucrone veruque Sabello. Ipse pedes, tegumen torquens immane leonis,
667terribili impexum saeta cum dentibus albis indutus capiti, sic regia tecta subibat, horridus, Herculeoque umeros innexus amictu. Tum gemini fratres Tiburtia moenia linquunt, fratris Tiburti dictam cognomine gentem,
672Catillusque acerque Coras, Argiva iuventus, et primam ante aciem densa inter tela feruntur: ceu duo nubigenae cum vertice montis ab alto descendunt centauri, Homolen Othrymque nivalem linquentes cursu rapido; dat euntibus ingens
677silva locum et magno cedunt virgulta fragore. Nec Praenestinae fundator defuit urbis, Volcano genitum pecora inter agrestia regem inventumque focis omnis quem credidit aetas Caeculus. Hunc late legio comitatur agrestis:
682quique altum Praeneste viri quique arva Gabinae Iunonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit, quos, Amasene pater. Non illis omnibus arma, nec clipei currusve sonant: pars maxima glandes
687liventis plumbi spargit, pars spicula gestat bina manu, fulvosque lupi de pelle galeros tegmen habent capiti, vestigia nuda sinistri instituere pedis, crudus tegit altera pero. At Messapus, equum domitor, Neptunia proles,
692quem neque fas igni cuiquam nec sternere ferro, iam pridem resides populos desuetaque bello agmina in arma vocat subito ferrumque retractat. Hi Fescenninas acies Aequosque Faliscos. Hi Soractis habent arces Flaviniaque arva
697et Cimini cum monte lacum lucosque Capenos. Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant, ceu quondam nivei liquida inter nubila cycni, cum sese e pastu referunt et longa canoros dant per colla modos, sonat amnis et Asia longe
702pulsa palus. Nec quisquam aeratas acies ex agmine tanto misceri putet, aeriam sed gurgite ab alto urgueri volucrum raucarum ad litora nubem. Ecce Sabinorum prisco de sanguine magnum
707agmen agens Clausus magnique ipse agminis instar, Claudia nunc a quo diffunditur et tribus et gens per Latium, postquam in partem data Roma Sabinis. Una ingens Amiterna cohors priscique Quirites, Ereti manus omnis oliviferaeque Mutuscae;
712qui Nomentum urbem, qui Rosea rura Velini, qui Tetricae horrentis rupes montemque Severum Casperiamque colunt Forulosque et flumen Himellae, qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt, quos frigida misit Nursia, et Hortinae classes populique Latini,
717quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen: quam multi Libyco volvuntur marmore fluctus saevus ubi Orion hibernis conditur undis; vel cum sole novo densae torrentur aristae aut Hermi campo aut Lyciae flaventibus arvis.
722Scuta sonant pulsuque pedum conterrita tellus. Hinc Agamemnonius, Troiani nominis hostis, curru iungit Halaesus equos Turnoque ferocis mille rapit populos, vertunt felicia Baccho Massica qui rastris et quos de collibus altis
727Aurunci misere patres, Sidicinaque iuxta aequora quique Cales linquunt, amnisque vadosi accola Volturni, pariterque Saticulus asper Oscorumque manus. Teretes sunt aclydes illis tela, sed haec lento mos est aptare flagello;
732laevas caetra tegit, falcati comminus enses. Nec tu carminibus nostris indictus abibis, Oebale, quem generasse Telon Sebethide nympha fertur, Teleboum Capreas cum regna teneret, iam senior; patriis sed non et filius arvis
737contentus late iam tum dicione premebat Sarrastis populos et quae rigat aequora Sarnus quique Rufras Batulumque tenent atque arva Celemnae et quos maliferae despectant moenia Abellae, Teutonico ritu soliti torquere cateias,
742tegmina quis capitum raptus de subere cortex, aerataeque micant peltae, micat aereus ensis. Et te montosae misere in proelia Nersae, Ufens, insignem fama et felicibus armis; horrida praecipue cui gens adsuetaque multo
747venatu nemorum, duris Aequicula glaebis. Armati terram exercent, semperque recentis convectare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto. Quin et Marruvia venit de gente sacerdos, fronde super galeam et felici comptus oliva.
752Archippi regis missu, fortissimus Umbro, vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat mulcebatque iras et morsus arte levabat. Sed non Dardaniae medicari cuspidis ictum
757evaluit, neque eum iuvere in volnera cantus somniferi et Marsis quaesitae montibus herbae. Te nemus Angitiae, vitrea te Fucinus unda, te liquidi flevere lacus. Ibat et Hippolyti proles pulcherrima bello,
762Virbius, insignem quem mater Aricia misit, eductum Egeriae lucis umentia circum litora, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Dianae. Namque ferunt fama Hippolytum, postquam arte novercae occiderit patriasque explerit sanguine poenas
767turbatis distractus equis, ad sidera rursus aetheria et superas caeli venisse sub auras, Paeoniis revocatum herbis et amore Dianae. Tum pater omnipotens, aliquem indignatus ab umbris mortalem infernis ad lumina surgere vitae,
772ipse repertorem medicinae talis et artis fulmine Phoebigenam Stygias detrusit ad undas. At Trivia Hippolytum secretis alma recondit sedibus et nymphae Egeriae nemorique relegat, solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevom
777exigeret versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset. Unde etiam templo Triviae lucisque sacratis cornipedes arcentur equi, quod litore currum et iuvenem monstris pavidi effudere marinis. Filius ardentis haud setius aequore campi
782exercebat equos curruque in bella ruebat. Ipse inter primos praestanti corpore Turnus vertitur arma tenens et toto vertice supra est. Cui triplici crinita iuba galea alta Chimaeram sustinet, Aetnaeos efflantem faucibus ignis:
787tam magis illa fremens et tristibus effera flammis, quam magis effuso crudescunt sanguine pugnae. At levem clipeum sublatis cornibus Io auro insignibat, iam saetis obsita, iam bos (argumentum ingens), et custos virginis Argus
792caelataque amnem fundens pater Inachus urna. Insequitur nimbus peditum clipeataque totis agmina densentur campis, Argivaque pubes Auruncaeque manus, Rutuli veteresque Sicani et Sacranae acies et picti scuta Labici;
797qui saltus, Tiberine, tuos sacrumque Numici litus arant Rutulosque exercent vomere colles Circaeumque iugum, quis Iuppiter Anxurus arvis praesidet et viridi gaudens Feronia luco; qua Saturae iacet atra palus gelidusque per imas
802quaerit iter vallis atque in mare conditur Ufens. Hos super advenit Volsca de gente Camilla agmen agens equitum et florentis aere catervas, bellatrix, non illa colo calathisve Minervae femineas adsueta manus, sed proelia virgo
807dura pati cursuque pedum praevertere ventos. Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret gramina nec teneras cursu laesisset aristas, vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti ferret iter celeris nec tingueret aequore plantas.
812Illam omnis tectis agrisque effusa iuventus turbaque miratur matrum et prospectat euntem, attonitis inhians animis, ut regius ostro velet honos levis umeros, ut fibula crinem auro internectat, Lyciam ut gerat ipsa pharetram
817et pastoralem praefixa cuspide myrtum.
Book 8
1Ut belli signum Laurenti Turnus ab arce extulit et rauco strepuerunt cornua cantu, utque acris concussit equos utque impulit arma, extemplo turbati animi, simul omne tumultu coniurat trepido Latium saevitque iuventus
6effera. Ductores primi Messapus et Ufens contemptorque deum Mezentius undique cogunt auxilia et latos vastant cultoribus agros. mittitur et magni Venulus Diomedis ad urbem, qui petat auxilium et Latio consistere Teucros,
11advectum Aenean classi victosque penatis inferre et fatis regem se dicere posci edoceat multasque viro se adiungere gentis Dardanio et late Latio increbrescere nomen. Quid struat his coeptis, quem, si Fortuna sequatur,
16eventum pugnae cupiat, manifestius ipsi quam Turno regi aut regi apparere Latino. Talia per Latium. Quae Laomedontius heros cuncta videns magno curarum fluctuat aestu, atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc.
21In partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat: sicut aquae tremulum labris ubi lumen aenis sole repercussum aut radiantis imagine lunae omnia pervolitat late loca iamque sub auras erigitur summique ferit lacuaria tecti.
26Nox erat, et terras animalia fessa per omnis alituum pecudumque genus sopor altus habebat: cum pater in ripa gelidique sub aetheris axe Aeneas, tristi turbatus pectora bello, procubuit seramque dedit per membra quietem.
31Huic deus ipse loci fluvio Tiberinus amoeno populeas inter senior se attollere frondes visus; eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu carbasus, et crinis umbrosa tegebat harundo, tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis:
36O sate gente deum, Troianam ex hostibus urbem qui revehis nobis aeternaque Pergama servas, exspectate solo Laurenti arvisque Latinis, hic tibi certa domus, certi, ne absiste, penates; neu belli terrere minis: tumor omnis et irae
41concessere deum. Nunc qua ratione quod instat expedias victor, paucis (adverte) docebo. Arcades his oris, genus a Pallante profectum, qui regem Euandrum comites, qui signa secuti,
53delegere locum et posuere in montibus urbem Pallantis proavi de nomine Pallanteum. Hi bellum adsidue ducunt cum gente Latina; hos castris adhibe socios et foedera iunge. Ipse ego te ripis et recto flumine ducam,
58adversum remis superes subvectus ut amnem. Surge age, nate dea, primisque cadentibus astris Iunoni fer rite preces iramque minasque supplicibus supera votis. Mihi victor honorem persolves. Ego sum pleno quem flumine cernis
63stringentem ripas et pinguia culta secantem, caeruleus Thybris, caelo gratissimus amnis. Hic mihi magna domus, celsis caput urbibus, exit. Dixit, deinde lacu fluvius se condidit alto, ima petens; nox Aenean somnusque reliquit.
68Surgit et aetherii spectans orientia solis lumina rite cavis undam de flumine palmis sustinet ac talis effundit ad aethera voces: Nymphae, Laurentes nymphae, genus amnibus unde est, tuque, o Thybri tuo genitor cum flumine sancto,
73accipite Aenean et tandem arcete periclis. Quo te cumque lacus miserantem incommoda nostra fonte tenet, quocumque solo pulcherrimus exis, semper honore meo, semper celebrabere donis corniger hesperidum fluvius regnator aquarum.
78Adsis o tantum et propius tua numina firmes. sic memorat geminasque legit de classe biremis remigioque aptat, socios simul instruit armis. Ecce autem subitum atque oculis mirabile monstrum; candida per silvam cum fetu concolor albo
83procubuit viridique in litore conspicitur sus. Quam pius Aeneas tibi enim, tibi, maxuma Iuno, mactat sacra ferens et cum grege sistit ad aram. Thybris ea fluvium, quam longa est, nocte tumentem leniit, et tacita refluens ita substitit unda,
88mitis ut in morem stagni placidaeque paludis sterneret aequor aquis, remo ut luctamen abesset. Ergo iter inceptum celerant rumore secundo; labitur uncta vadis abies; mirantur et undae, miratur nemus insuetum fulgentia longe
93scuta virum fluvio pictasque innare carinas. Olli remigio noctemque diemque fatigant et longos superant flexus variisque teguntur arboribus viridisque secant placido aequore silvas. Sol medium caeli conscenderat igneus orbem,
98cum muros arcemque procul ac rara domorum tecta vident, quae nunc Romana potentia caelo aequavit, tum res inopes Euandrus habebat: ocius advertunt proras urbique propinquant. Forte die sollemnem illo rex Arcas honorem
103Amphitryoniadae magno divisque ferebat ante urbem in luco. Pallas huic filius una, una omnes iuvenum primi pauperque senatus tura dabant, tepidusque cruor fumabat ad aras. Ut celsas videre rates atque inter opacum
108adlabi nemus et tacitis incumbere remis, terrentur visu subito cunctique relictis consurgunt mensis. Audax quos rumpere Pallas sacra vetat raptoque volat telo obvius ipse et procul e tumulo: Iuvenes, quae causa subegit
113ignotas temptare vias, quo tenditis? inquit. Qui genus? Unde domo? Pacemne huc fertis an arma? Tum pater Aeneas puppi sic fatur ab alta paciferaeque manu ramum praetendit olivae: Troiugenas ac tela vides inimica Latinis,
118quos illi bello profugos egere superbo. Euandrum petimus. Ferte haec et dicite lectos Dardaniae venisse duces socia arma rogantis. Obstipuit tanto percussus nomine Pallas: Egredere o quicumque es ait coramque parentem
123adloquere ac nostris succede penatibus hospes. excepitque manu dextramque amplexus inhaesit. Progressi subeunt luco fluviumque relinquunt. Tum regem Aeneas dictis adfatur amicis: Optume Graiugenum, cui me Fortuna precari
128et vitta comptos voluit praetendere ramos, non equidem extimui, Danaum quod ductor et Arcas quodque a stirpe fores geminis coniunctus Atridis; sed mea me virtus et sancta oracula divom cognatique patres, tua terris didita fama,
133coniunxere tibi et fatis egere volentem. Dardanus, Iliacae primus pater urbis et auctor, Electra, ut Grai perhibent, Atlantide cretus, advehitur Teucros; Electram maxumus Atlas edidit, aetherios umero qui sustinet orbes
138vobis Mercurius pater est, quem candida Maia Cyllenae gelido conceptum vertice fudit; at Maiam, auditis si quicquam credimus, Atlas, idem Atlas generat, caeli qui sidera tollit. Sic genus amborum scindit se sanguine ab uno.
143His fretus non legatos neque prima per artem temptamenta tui pepigi: me, me ipse meumque obieci caput et supplex ad limina veni. Gens eadem, quae te, crudeli Daunia bello insequitur; nos si pellant, nihil afore credunt,
148quin omnem Hesperiam penitus sua sub iuga mittant et mare quod supra teneant quodque adluit infra. Accipe daque fidem: sunt nobis fortia bello pectora, sunt animi et rebus spectata iuventus. Dixerat Aeneas. Ille os oculosque loquentis
153iamdudum et totum lustrabat lumine corpus. Tum sic pauca refert: Ut te, fortissime Teucrum, accipio agnoscoque libens! Ut verba parentis et vocem Anchisae magni voltumque recordor! Nam memini Hesionae visentem regna sororis
158Laomedontiaden Priamum, Salamina petentem, protinus Arcadiae gelidos invisere finis. Tum mihi prima genas vestibat flore iuventas, mirabarque duces Teucros, mirabar et ipsum Laomedontiaden, sed cunctis altior ibat
163Anchises: mihi mens iuvenali ardebat amore compellare virum et dextrae coniungere dextram. Accessi et cupidus Phenei sub moenia duxi. Ille mihi insignem pharetram Lyciasque sagittas discedens chlamydemque auro dedit intertextam
168frenaque bina meus quae nunc habet aurea Pallas. Ergo et quam petitis iuncta est mihi foedere dextra, et lux cum primum terris se crastina reddet, auxilio laetos dimittam opibusque iuvabo. Interea sacra haec, quando huc venistis amici,
173annua, quae differre nefas, celebrate faventes nobiscum et iam nunc sociorum adsuescite mensis. Haec ubi dicta, dapes iubet et sublata reponi pocula gramineoque viros locat ipse sedili praecipuumque toro et villosi pelle leonis
178accipit Aenean solioque invitat acerno. Tum lecti iuvenes certatim araeque sacerdos viscera tosta ferunt taurorum onerantque canistris dona laboratae Cereris Bacchumque ministrant. Vescitur Aeneas simul et Troiana iuventus
183perpetui tergo bovis et lustralibus extis. Postquam exempta fames et amor compressus edendi, rex Euandrus ait: Non haec sollemnia nobis, has ex more dapes, hanc tanti numinis aram vana superstitio veterumque ignara deorum
188inposuit: saevis, hospes Troiane, periclis servati facimus meritosque novamus honores. Iam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem, disiectae procul ut moles desertaque montis stat domus et scopuli ingentem traxere ruinam.
193Hic spelunca fuit, vasto summota recessu, semihominis Caci facies quam dira tenebat solis inaccessam radiis; semperque recenti caede tepebat humus, foribusque adfixa superbis ora virum tristi pendebant pallida tabo.
198Huic monstro Volcanus erat pater: illius atros ore vomens ignis magna se mole ferebat. Attulit et nobis aliquando optantibus aetas auxilium adventumque dei. Nam maximus ultor, tergemini nece Geryonae spoliisque superbus
203Alcides aderat taurosque hac victor agebat ingentis, vallemque boves amnemque tenebant. At furiis Caci mens effera, nequid inausum aut intractatum scelerisve dolive fuisset, quattuor a stabulis praestanti corpore tauros
208avertit, totidem forma superante iuvencas; atque hos, nequa forent pedibus vestigia rectis, cauda in speluncam tractos versisque viarum indiciis raptos saxo occultabat opaco: quaerenti nulla ad speluncam signa ferebant.
213Interea, cum iam stabulis saturata moveret Amphytrioniades armenta abitumque pararet, discessu mugire boves atque omne querelis impleri nemus et colles clamore relinqui. reddidit una boum vocem vastoque sub antro
218mugiit et Caci spem custodita fefellit. Hic vero Alcidae furiis exarserat atro felle dolor: rapit arma manu nodisque gravatum robur et aerii cursu petit ardua montis. Tum primum nostri Cacum videre timentem
223turbatumque oculis: fugit ilicet ocior Euro speluncamque petit, pedibus timor addidit alas. Ut sese inclusit ruptisque immane catenis deiecit saxum, ferro quod et arte paterna pendebat, fultosque emuniit obice postis,
228ecce furens animis aderat Tirynthius omnemque accessum lustrans huc ora ferebat et illuc, dentibus infrendens. Ter totum fervidus ira lustrat Aventini montem, ter saxea temptat limina nequiquam, ter fessus valle resedit.
233Stabat acuta silex, praecisis undique saxis speluncae dorso insurgens, altissima visu, dirarum nidis domus opportuna volucrum. Hanc, ut prona iugo laevum incumbebat in amnem, dexter in adversum nitens concussit et imis
238avolsam solvit radicibus; inde repente inpulit, inpulsu quo maximus intonat aether dissultant ripae refluitque exterritus amnis. At specus et Caci detecta apparuit ingens regia, et umbrosae penitus patuere cavernae:
243non secus ac siqua penitus vi terra dehiscens infernas reseret sedes et regna recludat pallida, dis invisa, superque immane barathrum cernatur, trepident inmisso lumine manes. Ergo insperata deprensum luce repente
248inclusumque cavo saxo atque insueta rudentem desuper Alcides telis premit omniaque arma advocat et ramis vastisque molaribus instat. Ille autem, neque enim fuga iam super ulla pericli, faucibus ingentem fumum (mirabile dictu)
253evomit involvitque domum caligine caeca, prospectum eripiens oculis, glomeratque sub antro fumiferam noctem commixtis igne tenebris. Non tulit Alcides animis seque ipse per ignem praecipiti iecit saltu, qua plurimus undam
258fumus agit nebulaque ingens specus aestuat atra. Hic Cacum in tenebris incendia vana vomentem corripit in nodum complexus et angit inhaerens elisos oculos et siccum sanguine guttur. Panditur extemplo foribus domus atra revolsis,
263abstractaeque boves abiurataeque rapinae caelo ostenduntur, pedibusque informe cadaver protrahitur. Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo terribilis oculos, voltum villosaque saetis pectora semiferi atque extinctos faucibus ignis.
268Ex illo celebratus honos, laetique minores servavere diem, primusque Potitius auctor et domus Herculei custos Pinaria sacri. Hanc aram luco statuit, quae maxuma semper dicetur nobis et erit quae maxuma semper.
273Quare agite, o iuvenes, tantarum in munere laudum cingite fronde comas et pocula porgite dextris communemque vocate deum et date vina volentes. Dixerat, Herculea bicolor cum populus umbra velavitque comas foliisque innexa pependit
278et sacer implevit dextram scyphus. Ocius omnes in mensam laeti libant divosque precantur. Devexo interea propior fit Vesper Olympo, iamque sacerdotes primusque Potitius ibant, pellibus in morem cincti, flammasque ferebant.
283Instaurant epulas et mensae grata secundae dona ferunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras. tum Salii ad cantus incensa altaria circum populeis adsunt evincti tempora ramis, hic iuvenum chorus, ille senum; qui carmine laudes
288Herculeas et facta ferunt: ut prima novercae monstra manu geminosque premens eliserit angues, ut bello egregias idem disiecerit urbes, Troiamque Oechaliamque, ut duros mille labores rege sub Eurystheo fatis Iunonis iniquae
293pertulerit. Tu nubigenas, invicte, bimembris Hylaeeumque Pholumque, manu, tu Cresia mactas prodigia et vastum Nemeae sub rupe leonem. Te Stygii tremuere lacus, te ianitor Orci ossa super recubans antro semesa cruento;
298nec te ullae facies, non terruit ipse Typhoeus, arduus arma tenens; non te rationis egentem Lernaeus turba capitum circumstetit anguis. Salve, vera Iovis proles, decus addite divis, et nos et tua dexter adi pede sacra secundo.
303Talia carminibus celebrant; super omnia Caci speluncam adiciunt spirantemque ignibus ipsum. Consonat omne nemus strepitu collesque resultant. Exim se cuncti divinis rebus ad urbem perfectis referunt. Ibat rex obsitus aevo
308et comitem Aenean iuxta natumque tenebat ingrediens varioque viam sermone levabat. miratur facilisque oculos fert omnia circum Aeneas capiturque locis et singula laetus exquiritque auditque virum monimenta priorum.
313Tum rex Euandrus, Romanae conditor arcis: Haec nemora indigenae fauni nymphaeque tenebant gensque virum truncis et duro robore nata, quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros aut componere opes norant aut parcere parto,
318sed rami atque asper victu venatus alebat. Primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo, arma Iovis fugiens et regnis exsul ademptis. Is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis composuit legesque dedit Latiumque vocari
323maluit, his quoniam latuisset tutis in oris. Aurea quae perhibent illo sub rege fuere saecula. Sic placida populos in pace regebat, deterior donec paulatim ac decolor aetas et belli rabies et amor successit habendi.
328Tum manus Ausonia et gentes venere Sicanae, saepius et nomen posuit Saturnia tellus; tum reges asperque immani corpore Thybris, a quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrim diximus, amisit verum vetus Albula nomen;
333me pulsum patria pelagique extrema sequentem Fortuna omnipotens et ineluctabile fatum his posuere locis matrisque egere tremenda Carmentis nymphae monita et deus auctor Apollo. Vix ea dicta: dehinc progressus monstrat et aram
338et Carmentalem Romani nomine portam quam memorant, nymphae priscum Carmentis honorem, vatis fatidicae, cecinit quae prima futuros Aeneadas magnos et nobile Pallanteum. Hinc lucum ingentem quem Romulus acer Asylum
343rettulit et gelida monstrat sub rupe Lupercal, Parrhasio dictum Panos de more Lycaei. Nec non et sacri monstrat nemus Argileti testaturque locum et letum docet hospitis Argi. Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia ducit,
348aurea nunc, olim silvestribus horrida dumis. Iam tum religio pavidos terrebat agrestis dira loci, iam tum silvam saxumque tremebant. Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem (quis deus incertum est) habitat deus: Arcades ipsum
353credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem aegida concuteret dextra nimbosque cieret. Haec duo praeterea disiectis oppida muris, reliquias veterumque vides monimenta virorum. Hanc Ianus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem:
358Ianiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen. Talibus inter se dictis ad tecta subibant pauperis Euandri passimque armenta videbant Romanoque foro et lautis mugire Carinis. Ut ventum ad sedes: Haec, inquit, limina victor
363Alcides subiit, haec illum regia cepit. Aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum finge deo rebusque veni non asper egenis. dixit et angusti subter fastigia tecti ingentem Aenean duxit stratisque locavit
368effultum foliis et pelle Libystidis ursae. Nox ruit et fuscis tellurem amplectitur alis. At Venus haud animo nequiquam exterrita mater Laurentumque minis et duro mota tumultu Volcanum adloquitur thalamoque haec coniugis aureo
373incipit et dictis divinum adspirat amorem: Dum bello Argolici vastabant Pergama reges debita casurasque inimicis ignibus arces, non ullum auxilium miseris, non arma rogavi artis opisque tuae nec te, carissime coniunx,
378incassumve tuos volui exercere labores, quamvis et Priami deberem plurima natis et durum Aeneae flevissem saepe laborem. Nunc Iovis imperiis Rutulorum constitit oris: ergo eadem supplex venio et sanctum mihi numen
383arma rogo genetrix nato. Te filia Nerei, te potuit lacrimis Tithonia flectere coniunx. Aspice qui coeant populi, quae moenia clausis ferrum acuant portis in me exscidiumque meorum. Dixerat et niveis hinc atque hinc diva lacertis
388cunctantem amplexu molli fovet. Ille repente accepit solitam flammam, notusque medullas intravit calor et labefacta per ossa cucurrit: non secus atque olim tonitru cum rupta corusco ignea rima micans percurrit lumine nimbos.
393Sensit laeta dolis et formae conscia coniunx. Tum pater aeterno fatur devinctus amore: Quid causas petis ex alto? Fiducia cessit quo tibi, diva, mei? Similis si cura fuisset, tum quoque fas nobis Teucros armare fuisset:
398nec pater omnipotens Troiam nec fata vetabant stare decemque alios Priamum superesse per annos. Et nunc, si bellare paras atque haec tibi mens est, quidquid in arte mea possum promittere curae, quod fieri ferro liquidove potest electro,
403quantum ignes animaeque valent, absiste precando viribus indubitare tuis. Ea verba locutus optatos dedit amplexus placidumque petivit coniugis infusus gremio per membra soporem. Inde ubi prima quies medio iam noctis abactae
408curriculo expulerat somnum, cum femina primum, cui tolerare colo vitam tenuique Minerva impositum, cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes, noctem addens operi, famulasque ad lumina longo exercet penso, castum ut servare cubile
413coniugis et possit parvos educere natos: haud secus Ignipotens nec tempore segnior illo mollibus e stratis opera ad fabrilia surgit. Insula Sicanium iuxta latus Aeoliamque erigitur Liparen, fumantibus ardua saxis,
418quam subter specus et Cyclopum exesa caminis antra Aetnaea tonant validique incudibus ictus auditi referunt gemitus striduntque cavernis stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat, Volcani domus et Volcania nomine tellus.
423Hoc tunc ignipotens caelo descendit ab alto. Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in antro, Brontesque Steropesque et nudus membra Pyragmon. His informatum manibus iam parte polita fulmen erat, toto genitor quae plurima caelo
428deicit in terras, pars inperfecta manebat. Tris imbris torti radios, tris nubis aquosae addiderant, rutili tris ignis et alitis austri: fulgores nunc horrificos sonitumque metumque miscebant operi flammisque sequacibus iras.
433Parte alia Marti currumque rotasque volucris instabant, quibus ille viros, quibus excitat urbes; aegidaque horriferam, turbatae Palladis arma, certatim squamis serpentum auroque polibant conexosque anguis ipsamque in pectore divae
438Gorgona, desecto vertentem lumina collo. Tollite cuncta, inquit, coeptosque auferte labores, Aetnaei Cyclopes, et huc advertite mentem: arma acri facienda viro. Nunc viribus usus, nunc manibus rapidis, omni nunc arte magistra.
443Praecipitate moras. Nec plura effatus; at illi ocius incubuere omnes pariterque laborem sortiti. Fluit aes rivis aurique metallum, volnificusque chalybs vasta fornace liquescit. Ingentum clipeum informant, unum omnia contra
448tela Latinorum, septenosque orbibus orbes impediunt. Alii ventosis follibus auras accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt aera lacu. Gemit impositis incudibus antrum. Illi inter sese multa vi bracchia tollunt
453in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe massam. Haec pater Aeoliis properat dum Lemnius oris, Euandrum ex humili tecto lux suscitat alma et matutini volucrum sub culmine cantus. Consurgit senior tunicaque inducitur artus
458et Tyrrhena pedum circumdat vincula plantis; tum lateri atque umeris Tegeaeum subligat ensem, demissa ab laeva pantherae terga retorquens. Nec non et gemini custodes limine ab alto praecedunt gressumque canes comitantur erilem.
463Hospitis Aeneae sedem et secreta petebat sermonum memor et promissi muneris heros. Nec minus Aeneas se matutinus agebat. Filius huic Pallas, illi comes ibat Achates. Congressi iungunt dextras mediisque residunt
468aedibus et licito tandem sermone fruuntur. Rex prior haec: Maxume Teucrorum ductor, quo sospite numquam res equidem Troiae victas aut regna fatebor, nobis ad belli auxilium pro nomine tanto
473exiguae vires: hinc Tusco claudimur amni, hinc Rutulus premit et murum circumsonat armis. Sed tibi ego ingentis populos opulentaque regnis iungere castra paro, quam fors inopina salutem ostentat: fatis huc te poscentibus adfers.
478Haud procul hinc saxo incolitur fundata vetusto urbis Agyllinae sedes, ubi Lydia quondam gens, bello praeclara, iugis insedit Etruscis. Hanc multos florentem annos rex deinde superbo imperio et saevis tenuit Mezentius armis.
483Quid memorem infandas caedes, quid facta tyranni effera? Di capiti ipsius generique reservent! Mortua quin etiam iungebat corpora vivis componens manibusque manus atque oribus ora, tormenti genus, et sanie taboque fluentis
488complexu in misero longa sic morte necabat. at fessi tandem cives infanda furentem armati circumsistunt ipsumque domumque, obtruncant socios, ignem ad fastigia iactant. Ille inter caedem Rutulorum elapsus in agros
493confugere et Turni defendier hospitis armis. Ergo omnis furiis surrexit Etruria iustis: regem ad supplicium praesenti Marte reposcunt. his ego te, Aenea, ductorem milibus addam. Toto namque fremunt condensae litore puppes
498Signaque ferre iubent; retinet longaevus haruspex fata canens, O Maeoniae delecta iuventus, flos veterum virtusque virum, quos iustus in hostem fert dolor et merita accendit Mezentius ira, nulli fas Italo tantam subiungere gentem:
503externos optate duces; tum Etrusca resedit hoc acies campo, monitis exterrita divom. Ipse oratores ad me regnique coronam cum sceptro misit mandatque insignia Tarchon, succedam castris Tyrrhenaque regna capessam.
508Sed mihi tarda gelu saeclisque effeta senectus invidet imperium seraeque ad fortia vires. natum exhortarer, ni mixtus matre Sabella hinc partem patriae traheret. Tu, cuius et annis et generi fatum indulgent, quem numina poscunt,
513ingredere, o Teucrum atque Italum fortissime ductor. hunc tibi praeterea, spes et solacia nostri, Pallanta adiungam; sub te tolerare magistro militiam et grave Martis opus, tua cernere facta adsuescat primis et te miretur ab annis.
518Arcadas huic equites bis centum, robora pubis lecta dabo totidemque suo tibi nomine Pallas. Vix ea fatus erat, defixique ora tenebant Aeneas Anchisiades et fidus Achates multaque dura suo tristi cum corde putabant,
523ni signum caelo Cytherea dedisset aperto. Namque inproviso vibratus ab aethere fulgor cum sonitu venit, et ruere omnia visa repente Tyrrhenusque tubae mugire per aethera clangor. Suspiciunt, iterum atque iterum fragor increpat ingens:
528arma inter nubem caeli regione serena per sudum rutilare vident et pulsa tonare. Obstipuere animis alii, sed Troius heros agnovit sonitum et divae promissa parentis. Tum memorat: Ne vero, hospes, ne quaere profecto,
533quem casum portenta ferant: ego poscor Olympo. Hoc signum cecinit missuram diva creatrix, si bellum ingrueret, Volcaniaque arma per auras laturam auxilio. Heu quantae miseris caedes Laurentibus instant;
538quas poenas mihi, Turne, dabis; quam multa sub undas scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volves, Thybri pater! Poscant acies et foedera rumpant. Haec ubi dicta dedit, solio se tollit ab alto et primum Herculeis sopitas ignibus aras
543excitat hesternumque larem parvosque penatis laetus adit: mactant lectas de more bidentis Euandrus pariter, pariter Troiana iuventus. Post hinc ad navis graditur sociosque revisit. Quorum de numero qui sese in bella sequantur
548praestantis virtute legit; pars cetera prona fertur aqua segnisque secundo defluit amni, nuntia ventura Ascanio rerumque patrisque. Dantur equi Teucris Tyrrhena petentibus arva; ducunt exsortem Aeneae, quem fulva leonis
553pellis obit totum, praefulgens unguibus aureis. Fama volat parvam subito volgata per urbem, ocius ire equites Tyrrheni ad litora regis. vota metu duplicant matres, propiusque periclo it timor, et maior Martis iam apparet imago.
558tum pater Evandrus dextram complexus euntis haeret inexpletus lacrimans, ac talia fatur: O mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos, (qualis eram, cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa stravi scutorumque incendi victor acervos
563et regem hac Erulum dextra sub Tartara misi, nascenti cui tris animas Feronia mater (horrendum dictu) dederat; terna arma movenda, ter Leto sternendus erat; cui tunc tamen omnis abstulit haec animas dextra et totidem exuit armis:
568non ego nunc dulci amplexu divellerer usquam, nate, tuo, neque finitimo Mezentius umquam huic capiti insultans tot ferro saeva dedisset funera, tam multis viduasset civibus urbem. At vos, o superi, et divom tu maxume rector
573Iuppiter, Arcadii, quaeso, miserescite regis et patrias audite preces. Si numina vestra incolumem Pallanta mihi, si fata reservant, si visurus eum vivo et venturus in unum: vitam oro, patior quemvis durare laborem.
578Sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris: nunc O nunc liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam, dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri, dum te, care puer, mea sera et sola voluptas, complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris
583volneret. Haec genitor digressu dicta supremo fundebat: famuli conlapsum in tecta ferebant. Iamque adeo exierat portis equitatus apertis, Aeneas inter primos et fidus Achates, inde alii Troiae proceres, ipse agmine Pallas
588in medio chlamyde et pictis conspectus in armis: qualis ubi Oceani perfusus Lucifer unda, quem Venus ante alios astrorum diligit ignis, extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrasque resolvit. Stant pavidae in muris matres oculisque sequuntur
593pulveream nubem et fulgentis aere catervas. Olli per dumos, qua proxuma meta viarum, armati tendunt; it clamor, et agmine facto quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum. Est ingens gelidum lucus prope Caeritis amnem,
598religione patrum late sacer; undique colles inclusere cavi et nigra nemus abiete cingunt. Silvano fama est veteres sacrasse Pelasgos, arvorum pecorisque deo, lucumque diemque, qui primi finis aliquando habuere Latinos:
603haud procul hinc Tarcho et Tyrrheni tuta tenebant castra locis, celsoque omnis de colle videri iam poterat legio et latis tendebat in arvis. Huc pater Aeneas et bello lecta iuventus succedunt fessique et equos et corpora curant.
608At Venus aetherios inter dea candida nimbos dona ferens aderat; natumque in valle reducta ut procul egelido secretum flumine vidit, talibus adfata est dictis seque obtulit ultro: En perfecta mei promissa coniugis arte
613munera, ne mox aut Laurentis, nate, superbos aut acrem dubites in proelia poscere Turnum. Dixit et amplexus nati Cytherea petivit, arma sub adversa posuit radiantia quercu. Ille, deae donis et tanto laetus honore,
618expleri nequit atque oculos per singula volvit miraturque interque manus et bracchia versat terribilem cristis galeam flammasque vomentem fatiferumque ensem, loricam ex aere rigentem sanguineam ingentem, qualis cum caerula nubes
623solis inardescit radiis longeque refulget; tum levis ocreas electro auroque recocto hastamque et clipei non enarrabile textum. Illic res Italas Romanorumque triumphos haud vatum ignarus venturique inscius aevi
628fecerat ignipotens, illic genus omne futurae stirpis ab Ascanio. pugnataque in ordine bella. Fecerat et viridi fetam Mavortis in antro procubuisse lupam, geminos huic ubera circum ludere pendentis pueros et lambere matrem
633impavidos, illam tereti cervice reflexa mulcere alternos et corpora fingere lingua. Nec procul hinc Romam et raptas sine more Sabinas consessu caveae magnis circensibus actis addiderat subitoque novum consurgere bellum
638Romulidis Tatioque seni Curibusque severis. Post idem inter se posito certamine reges armati Iovis ante aram paterasque tenentes stabant et caesa iungebant foedera porca. Haud procul inde citae Mettum in diversa quadrigae
643distulerant, at tu dictis, Albane, maneres, raptabatque viri mendacis viscera Tullus per silvam, et sparsi rorabant sanguine vepres. Nec non Tarquinium eiectum Porsenna iubebat accipere ingentique urbem obsidione premebat:
648Aeneadae in ferrum pro libertate ruebant. Illum indignanti similem similemque minanti aspiceres, pontem auderet quia vellere Cocles et fluvium vinclis innaret Cloelia ruptis. In summo custos Tarpeiae Manlius arcis
653stabat pro templo et Capitolia celsa tenebat, Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo. Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser porticibus Gallos in limine adesse canebat. Galli per dumos aderant arcemque tenebant,
658defensi tenebris et dono noctis opacae: aurea caesaries ollis atque aurea vestis, virgatis lucent sagulis, tum lactea colla auro innectuntur, duo quisque Alpina coruscant gaesa manu, scutis protecti corpora longis.
663Hic exsultantis Salios nudosque Lupercos lanigerosque apices et lapsa ancilia caelo extuderat, castae ducebant sacra per urbem pilentis matres in mollibus. Hinc procul addit Tartareas etiam sedes, alta ostia Ditis,
668et scelerum poenas et te, Catilina, minaci pendentem scopulo Furiarumque ora trementem, secretosque pios, his dantem iura Catonem. Haec inter tumidi late maris ibat imago aurea, sed fluctu spumabant caerula cano;
673et circum argento clari delphines in orbem aequora verrebant caudis aestumque secabant. In medio classis aeratas, Actia bella, cernere erat, totumque instructo Marte videres fervere Leucaten auroque effulgere fluctus.
678Hinc Augustus agens Italos in proelia Caesar cum patribus populoque, penatibus et magnis dis, stans celsa in puppi; geminas cui tempora flammas laeta vomunt patriumque aperitur vertice sidus. Parte alia ventis et dis Agrippa secundis
683arduus agmen agens; cui, belli insigne superbum, tempora navali fulgent rostrata corona. Hinc ope barbarica variisque Antonius armis, victor ab Aurorae populis et litore rubro, Aegyptum viresque Orientis et ultima secum
688Bactra vehit, sequiturque (nefas) Aegyptia coniunx. Una omnes ruere, ac totum spumare reductis convolsum remis rostrisque tridentibus aequor. alta petunt: pelago credas innare revolsas Cycladas aut montis concurrere montibus altos,
693tanta mole viri turritis puppibus instant. stuppea flamma manu telisque volatile ferrum spargitur, arva nova Neptunia caede rubescunt. Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina sistro necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit anguis.
698omnigenumque deum monstra et latrator Anubis contra Neptunum et Venerem contraque Minervam tela tenent. Saevit medio in certamine Mavors caelatus ferro tristesque ex aethere Dirae, et scissa gaudens vadit Discordia palla,
703quam cum sanguineo sequitur Bellona flagello. Actius haec cernens arcum tendebat Apollo desuper: omnis eo terrore Aegyptus et Indi, omnis Arabs, omnes vertebant terga Sabaei. Ipsa videbatur ventis regina vocatis
708vela dare et laxos iam iamque inmittere funis. Illam inter caedes pallentem morte futura fecerat Ignipotens undis et Iapyge ferri, contra autem magno maerentem corpore Nilum pandentemque sinus et tota veste vocantem
713caeruleum in gremium latebrosaque flumina victos. At Caesar, triplici invectus Romana triumpho moenia, dis Italis votum inmortale sacrabat, maxuma tercentum totam delubra per urbem. Laetitia ludisque viae plausuque fremebant;
718omnibus in templis matrum chorus, omnibus arae; ante aras terram caesi stravere iuvenci. Ipse, sedens niveo candentis limine Phoebi, dona recognoscit populorum aptatque superbis postibus; incedunt victae longo ordine gentes,
723quam variae linguis, habitu tam vestis et armis. Hic Nomadum genus et discinctos Mulciber Afros, hic Lelegas Carasque sagittiferosque Gelonos finxerat; Euphrates ibat iam mollior undis, extremique hominum Morini, Rhenusque bicornis,
728indomitique Dahae, et pontem indignatus Araxes. Talia per clipeum Volcani, dona parentis, miratur rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet, attollens umero famamque et fata nepotum.
Book 9
1Atque ea diversa penitus dum parte geruntur, Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno audacem ad Turnum. Luco tum forte parentis Pilumni Turnus sacrata valle sedebat. Ad quem sic roseo Thaumantias ore locuta est:
6Turne, quod optanti divom promittere nemo auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultro. Aeneas urbe et sociis et classe relicta sceptra Palatini sedemque petit Euandri. Nec satis: extremas Corythi penetravit ad urbes
11Lydorumque manum collectos armat agrestis. Quid dubitas? Nunc tempus equos, nunc poscere currus. Rumpe moras omnis et turbata arripe castra. Dixit et in caelum paribus se sustulit alis ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum.
16Adgnovit iuvenis duplicisque ad sidera palmas sustulit ac tali fugientem est voce secutus: Iri, decus caeli, quis te mihi nubibus actam detulit in terras? Unde haec tam clara repente tempestas? Medium video discedere caelum
21palantisque polo stellas. Sequor omina tanta, quisquis in arma vocas. Et sic effatus ad undam processit summoque hausit de gurgite lymphas, multa deos orans, oneravitque aethera votis. Iamque omnis campis exercitus ibat apertis,
26dives equum, dives pictaï vestis et auri; Messapus primas acies, postrema coercent Tyrrhidae iuvenes, medio dux agmine Turnus, Ceu septem surgens sedatis amnibus altus per tacitum Ganges aut pingui flumine Nilus
32cum refluit campis et iam se condidit alveo. Hic subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem prospiciunt Teucri ac tenebras insurgere campis. Primus ab adversa conclamat mole Caicus: Quis globus, o cives, caligine volvitur atra?
37Ferte citi ferrum, date tela, ascendite muros, hostis adest, heia! Ingenti clamore per omnis condunt se Teucri portas et moenia complent. Namque ita discedens praeceperat optumus armis Aeneas: siqua interea fortuna fuisset,
42neu struere auderent aciem neu credere campo; castra modo et tutos servarent aggere muros. Ergo etsi conferre manum pudor iraque monstrat, obiciunt portas tamen et praecepta facessunt armatique cavis expectant turribus hostem.
47Turnus ut ante volans tardum praecesserat agmen viginti lectis equitum comitatus, et urbi improvisus adest; maculis quem Thracius albis portat equus cristaque tegit galea aurea rubra. Ecquis erit, mecum, iuvenes, qui primus in hostem?
52En, ait et iaculum attorquens emittit in auras, principium pugnae, et campo sese arduus infert. Clamore excipiunt socii fremituque sequuntur horrisono: Teucrum mirantur inertia corda, non aequo dare se campo, non obvia ferre
57arma viros, sed castra fovere. Huc turbidus atque huc lustrat equo muros aditumque per avia quaerit. Ac veluti pleno lupus insidiatus ovili cum fremit ad caulas, ventos perpessus et imbris, nocte super media; tuti sub matribus agni
62balatum exercent, ille asper et improbus ira saevit in absentis, collecta fatigat edendi ex longo rabies et siccae sanguine fauces: haud aliter Rutulo muros et castra tuenti ignescunt irae, duris dolor ossibus ardet.
67Qua temptet ratione aditus et quae via clausos excutiat Teucros vallo atque effundat in aequum? Classem, quae lateri castrorum adiuncta latebat, aggeribus saeptam circum et fluvialibus undis, invadit sociosque incendia poscit ovantis
72atque manum pinu flagranti fervidus implet. Tum vero incumbunt, urget praesentia Turni, atque omnis facibus pubes accingitur atris. Diripuere focos; piceum fert fumida lumen taeda et commixtam Volcanus ad astra favillam.
77Quis deus, o musae, tam saeva incendia Teucris avertit? Tantos ratibus quis depulit ignes? Dicite. Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis. Tempore quo primum Phrygia formabat in Ida Aeneas classem et pelagi petere alta parabat,
82ipsa deum fertur genetrix Berecyntia magnum vocibus his adfata Iovem: Da, nate, petenti, quod tua cara parens domito te poscit Olympo. lucus in arce fuit summa, quo sacra ferebant, nigranti picea trabibusque obscurus acernis:
88has ego Dardanio iuveni, cum classis egeret, laeta dedi; nunc sollicitam timor anxius angit. Solve metus atque hoc precibus sine posse parentem: ne cursu quassatae ullo neu turbine venti vincantur, prosit nostris in montibus ortas.
93Filius huic contra, torquet qui sidera mundi: O genetrix, quo fata vocas, aut quid petis istis? Mortaline manu factae immortale carinae fas habeant certusque incerta pericula lustret Aeneas? Cui tanta deo permissa potestas?
98Immo ubi defunctae finem portusque tenebunt Ausonios olim, quaecumque evaserit undis Dardaniumque ducem Laurentia vexerit arva, mortalem eripiam formam magnique iubebo aequoris esse deas, qualis Nereia Doto
103et Galatea secant spumantem pectore pontum. Dixerat idque ratum Stygii per flumina fratris, per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum. Ergo aderat promissa dies et tempora Parcae
108debita complerant, cum Turni iniuria Matrem admonuit ratibus sacris depellere taedas. Hic primum nova lux oculis offulsit et ingens visus ab Aurora caelum transcurrere nimbus Idaeique chori; tum vox horrenda per auras
113excidit et Troum Rutulorumque agmina complet: Ne trepidate meas, Teucri, defendere navis neve armate manus: maria ante exurere Turno quam sacras dabitur pinus. Vos ite solutae, ite deae pelagi: genetrix iubet. Et sua quaeque
118continuo puppes abrumpunt vincula ripis delphinumque modo demersis aequora rostris ima petunt. Hinc virgineae (mirabile monstrum) quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae reddunt se totidem facies pontoque feruntur.
123Obstipuere animis Rutuli, conterritus ipse turbatis Messapus equis, cunctatur et amnis rauca sonans revocatque pedem Tiberinus ab alto. At non audaci Turno fiducia cessit; ultro animos tollit dictis atque increpat ultro:
128Troianos haec monstra petunt, his Iuppiter ipse auxilium solitum eripuit, non tela neque ignes exspectans Rutulos. Ergo maria invia Teucris nec spes ulla fugae: rerum pars altera adempta est. Terra autem in nostris manibus, tot milia gentes
133arma ferunt Italae. Nil me fatalia terrent, siqua Phryges prae se iactant, responsa deorum: sat fatis Venerique datum, tetigere quod arva fertilis Ausoniae Troes. Sunt et mea contra fata mihi, ferro sceleratam exscindere gentem,
138coniuge praerepta: nec solos tangit Atridas iste dolor solisque licet capere arma Mycenis. Sed periisse semel satis est: peccare fuisset ante satis penitus modo non genus omne perosos femineum. Quibus haec medii fiducia valli
143fossarumque morae, leti discrimina parva, dant animos. At non viderunt moenia Troiae Neptuni fabricata manu considere in ignis? Sed vos, o lecti, ferro qui scindere vallum apparat et mecum invadit trepidantia castra.
148Non armis mihi Volcani, non mille carinis est opus in Teucros; addant se protinus omnes Etrusci socios, tenebras et inertia furta Palladii caesis summae custodibus arcis ne timeant, nec equi caeca condemur in alvo:
153luce palam certum est igni circumdare muros. Haud sibi cum Danais rem faxo et pube Pelasga esse ferant, decumum quos distulit Hector in annum. Nunc adeo, melior quoniam pars acta diei, quod superest, laeti bene gestis corpora rebus
158procurate, viri, et pugnam sperate parari. Interea vigilum excubiis obsidere portas cura datur Messapo et moenia cingere flammis. Bis septem Rutuli, muros qui milite servent, delecti; ast illos centeni quemque sequuntur
163purpurei cristis iuvenes auroque corusci. Discurrunt variantque vices fusique per herbam indulgent vino et vertunt crateras aenos. Conlucent ignes, noctem custodia ducit insomnem ludo.
168Haec super e vallo prospectant Troes et armis alta tenent, nec non trepidi formidine portas explorant pontisque et propugnacula iungunt, tela gerunt. Instat Mnestheus acerque Serestus, quos pater Aeneas, siquando adversa vocarent,
173rectores iuvenum et rerum dedit esse magistros. Omnis per muros legio, sortita periclum, excubat exercetque vices, quod cuique tuendum est. Nisus erat portae custos, acerrimus armis, Hyrtacides, comitem Aeneae quem miserat Ida
178venatrix iaculo celerem levibusque sagittis; it iuxta comes Euryalus, quo pulchrior alter non fuit Aeneadum Troiana neque induit arma, ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa. His amor unus erat, pariterque in bella ruebant:
183tum quoque communi portam statione tenebant. Nisus ait: Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt, Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido? Aut pugnam aut aliquid iamdudum invadere magnum mens agitat mihi nec placida contenta quietest.
188Cernis, quae Rutulos habeat fiducia rerum. Lumina rara micant; somno vinoque soluti procubuere; silent late loca: percipe porro, quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat. Aenean acciri omnes, populusque patresque,
193exposcunt mittique viros, qui certa reportent. Si tibi quae posco promittunt (nam mihi facti fama sat est), tumulo videor reperire sub illo posse viam ad muros et moenia Pallantea. Obstipuit magno laudum percussus amore
198Euryalus; simul his ardentem adfatur amicum: Mene igitur socium summis adiungere rebus, Nise, fugis? Solum te in tanta pericula mittam? Non ita me genitor, bellis adsuetus Opheltes, Argolicum terrorem inter Troiaeque labores
203sublatum erudiit, nec tecum talia gessi, magnanimum Aenean et fata extrema secutus: est hic, est animus lucis contemptor et istum qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis, honorem. Nisus ad haec: Equidem de te nil tale verebar
208nec fas, non, ita me referat tibi magnus ovantem Iuppiter aut quicumque oculis haec aspicit aequis. Sed siquis, quae multa vides discrimine tali, siquis in adversum rapiat casusve deusve, te superesse velim; tua vita dignior aetas.
213Sit qui me raptum pugna pretiove redemptum mandet humo solita aut siqua id Fortuna vetabit, absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulchro. Neu matri miserae tanti sim causa doloris, quae te sola, puer, multis e matribus ausa
218persequitur magni nec moenia curat Acestae, Ille autem: Causas nequiquam nectis inanis, nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit: adceleremus, ait. Vigiles simul excitat, illi succedunt servantque vices: statione relicta
223ipse comes Niso graditur, regemque requirunt. Cetera per terras omnis animalia somno laxabant curas et corda oblita laborum: ductores Teucrum primi et delecta iuventus consilium summis regni de rebus habebant,
228quid facerent quisve Aeneae iam nuntius esset. Stant longis adnixi hastis, et scuta tenentes, castrorum et campi medio. Tum Nisus et una Euryalus confestim alacres admittier orant: rem magnam, pretiumque morae fore. Primus Iulus
233accepit trepidos ac Nisum dicere iussit. Tum sic Hyrtacides: Audite O mentibus aequis, Aeneadae, neve haec nostris spectentur ab annis, quae ferimus. Rutuli somno vinoque soluti conticuere; locum insidiis conspeximus ipsi,
238qui patet in bivio portae, quae proxuma ponto; interrupti ignes, aterque ad sidera fumus erigitur: si fortuna permittitis uti quaesitum Aenean et moenia Pallantea, mox hic cum spoliis ingenti caede peracta
243adfore cernetis. Nec nos via fallit euntis: vidimus obscuris primam sub vallibus urbem venatu adsiduo et totum cognovimus amnem. Hic annis gravis atque animi maturus Aletes: Di patrii, quorum semper sub numine Troia est,
248non tamen omnino Teucros delere paratis, cum talis animos iuvenum et tam certa tulistis pectora. Sic memorans umeros dextrasque tenebat amborum et voltum lacrimis atque ora rigabat. Quae vobis, quae digna, viri, pro laudibus istis
253praemia posse rear solvi? Pulcherrima primum di moresque dabunt vestri; tum cetera reddet actutum pius Aeneas atque integer aevi Ascanius, meriti tanti non immemor umquam. Immo ego vos, cui sola salus genitore reducto,
258excipit Ascanius, per magnos, Nise, penatis Assaracique larem et canae penetralia Vestae obtestor; quaecumque mihi fortuna fidesque est, in vestris pono gremiis: revocate parentem, reddite conspectum; nihil illo triste recepto.
263Bina dabo argento perfecta atque aspera signis pocula, devicta genitor quae cepit Arisba, et tripodas geminos, auri duo magna talenta, cratera antiquum, quem dat Sidonia Dido. Si vero capere Italiam sceptrisque potiri
268contigerit victori et praedae dicere sortem, vidisti quo Turnus equo, quibus ibat in armis aureus: ipsum illum, clipeum cristasque rubentis excipiam sorti, iam nunc tua praemia, Nise. Praeterea bis sex genitor lectissima matrum
273corpora captivosque dabit suaque omnibus arma, insuper his campi quod rex habet ipse Latinus. Te vero, mea quem spatiis propioribus aetas insequitur, venerande puer, iam pectore toto accipio et comitem casus complector in omnis.
278Nulla meis sine te quaeretur gloria rebus; seu pacem seu bella geram, tibi maxima rerum verborumque fides. Contra quem talia fatur Euryalus: Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis dissimilem arguerit; tantum, fortuna secunda
283aut adversa cadat. Sed te super omnia dona unum oro, genetrix Priami de gente vetusta est mihi, quam miseram tenuit non Ilia tellus mecum excedentem, non moenia regis Acestae. Hanc ego nunc ignaram huius quodcumque pericli est
288inque salutatam linquo: nox et tua testis dextera, quod nequeam lacrumas perferre parentis at tu, oro, solare inopem et succurre relictae. Hanc sine me spem ferre tui: audentior ibo in casus omnis. Percussa mente dedere
293Dardanidae lacrimas; ante omnis pulcher Iulus, atque animum patriae strinxit pietatis imago. Tum sic effatur: Sponde digna tuis ingentibus omnia coeptis. Namque erit ista mihi genetrix nomenque Creusae
298solum defuerit, nec partum gratia talem parva manet. Casus factum quicumque sequentur, per caput hoc iuro, per quod pater ante solebat: quae tibi polliceor reduci rebusque secundis, haec eadem matrique tuae generique manebunt.
303Sic ait inlacrimans; umero simul exuit ensem auratum, mira quem fecerat arte Lycaon Gnosius atque habilem vagina aptarat eburna. Dat Niso Mnestheus pellem horrentisque leonis exuvias; galeam fidus permutat Aletes.
308Protinus armati incedunt; quos omnis euntis primorum manus ad portas iuvenumque senumque prosequitur votis. Nec non et pulcher Iulus, ante annos animumque gerens curamque virilem, multa patri mandata dabat portanda: sed aurae
313omnia discerpunt et nubibus inrita donant. Egressi superant fossas noctisque per umbram castra inimica petunt, multis tamen ante futuri exitio. Passim somno vinoque per herbam corpora fusa vident, arrectos litore currus,
318inter lora rotasque viros, simul arma iacere, vina simul. Prior Hyrtacides sic ore locutus: Euryale, audendum dextra; nunc ipsa vocat res. Hac iter est. Tu, ne qua manus se attollere nobis a tergo possit, custodi et consule longe;
323haec ego vasta dabo et lato te limite ducam. Sic memorat vocemque premit; simul ense superbum Rhamnetem adgreditur, qui forte tapetibus altis exstructus toto proflabat pectore somnum. Rex idem et regi Turno gratissimus augur,
328sed non augurio potuit depellere pestem. Tris iuxta famulos temere inter tela iacentis armigerumque Remi premit aurigamque sub ipsis nanctus equis ferroque secat pendentia colla; tum caput ipsi aufert domino truncumque relinquit
333sanguine singultantem; atro tepefacta cruore terra torique madent. Nec non Lamyrumque Lamumque et iuvenem Serranum, illa qui plurima nocte luserat, insignis facie, multoque iacebat membra deo victus: felix, si protinus illum
338aequasset nocti ludum in lucemque tulisset. Impastus ceu plena leo per ovilia turbans (suadet enim vesana fames) manditque trahitque molle pecus mutumque metu, fremit ore cruento: nec minor Euryali caedes; incensus et ipse
343perfurit ac multam in medio sine nomine plebem, Fadumque Herbesumque subit Rhoetumque Abarimque, ignaros, Rhoetum vigilantem et cuncta videntem, sed magnum metuens se post cratera tegebat; pectore in adverso totum cui comminus ensem
348condidit adsurgenti et multa morte recepit. Purpuream vomit ille animam et cum sanguine mixta vina refert moriens; hic furto fervidus instat. Iamque ad Messapi socios tendebat; ibi ignem deficere extremum et religatos rite videbat
353carpere gramen equos: breviter cum talia Nisus. sensit enim nimia caede atque cupidine ferri: Absistamus, ait, nam lux inimica propinquat. Poenarum exhaustum satis est, via facta per hostis. Multa virum solido argento perfecta relinquunt
358armaque craterasque simul pulchrosque tapetas. Euryalus phaleras Rhamnetis et aurea bullis cingula, Tiburti Remulo ditissimus olim quae mittit dona hospitio cum iungeret absens Caedicus, ille suo moriens dat habere nepoti,
364haec rapit atque umeris nequiquam fortibus aptat. Tum galeam Messapi habilem cristisque decoram induit. Excedunt castris et tuta capessunt. Interea praemissi equites ex urbe Latina, cetera dum legio campis instructa moratur,
369ibant et Turno regi responsa ferebant, tercentum, scutati omnes, Volcente magistro. Iamque propinquabant castris murosque subibant, cum procul hos laevo flectentis limite cernunt et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra
374prodidit immemorem radiisque adversa refulsit. Haud temere est visum. Conclamat ab agmine Volcens State, viri. Quae causa viae? Quive estis in armis? Quove tenetis iter? Nihil illi tendere contra, sed celerare fugam in silvas et fidere nocti.
379Obiciunt equites sese ad divortia nota hinc atque hinc omnemque abitum custode coronant. Silva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes; rara per occultos lucebat semita calles.
384Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda impediunt fallitque timor regione viarum; Nisus abit, iamque imprudens evaserat hostis atque locos, qui post Albae de nomine dicti Albani, tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat,
389ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum. Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui? Quave sequar, rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens fallacis silvae? Simul et vestigia retro observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.
394Audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum. Nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu, oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.
399Quid faciat? Qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis eripere? An sese medios moriturus in enses inferat et pulchram properet per volnera mortem? Ocius adducto torquens hastile lacerto, suspiciens altam Lunam sic voce precatur:
404Tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori, astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos. Siqua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris dona tulit, siqua ipse meis venatibus auxi suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi:
409hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras. Dixerat, et toto conixus corpore ferrum conicit: hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique frangitur ac fisso transit praecordia ligno.
414Volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen frigidus et longis singultibus ilia pulsat. Diversi circumspiciunt. Hoc acrior idem ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure. Dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque
419stridens traiectoque haesit tepefacta cerebro. Saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam auctorem nec quo se ardens inmittere possit. Tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas persolves amborum, inquit; simul ense recluso
424ibat in Euryalum. Tum vero exterritus, amens conclamat Nisus, nec se celare tenebris amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem. Me me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum, O Rutuli, mea fraus omnis; nihil iste nec ausus
429nec potuit, caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor, tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum. Talia dicta dabat; sed viribus ensis adactus transabiit costas et candida pectora rumpit. Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus
434it cruor, inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit: purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro languescit moriens lassove papavera collo demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur. At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis
439Volcentem petit in solo Volcente moratur. Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc proturbant. Instat non setius ac rotat ensem fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.
444Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum confossus placidaque ibi demum morte quievit. Fortunati ambo! Siquid mea carmina possunt, nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo, dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
449accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit. Victores praeda Rutuli spoliisque potiti Volcentem exanimum flentes in castra ferebant. Nec minor in castris luctus Rhamnete reperto exsangui et primis una tot caede peremptis,
454Serranoque Numaque. Ingens concursus ad ipsa corpora seminecisque viros tepidaque recentem caede locum et plenos spumanti sanguine rivos. Agnoscunt spolia inter se galeamque nitentem Messapi et multo phaleras sudore receptas.
459Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile: iam sole infuso, iam rebus luce retectis Turnus in arma viros, armis circumdatus ipse, suscitat, aeratasque acies in proelia cogit
464quisque suas variisque acuunt rumoribus iras. Quin ipsa arrectis (visu miserabile) in hastis praefigunt capita et multo clamore sequuntur Euryali et Nisi. Aeneadae duri murorum in parte sinistra
469opposuere aciem, nam dextera cingitur amni, ingentisque tenent fossas et turribus altis stant maesti; simul ora virum praefixa movebant, nota nimis miseris atroque fluentia tabo. Interea pavidam volitans pennata per urbem
474nuntia Fama ruit matrisque adlabitur auris Euryali. At subitus miserae calor ossa reliquit, excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa. Evolat infelix et femineo ululatu, scissa comam, muros amens atque agmina cursu
479prima petit, non illa virum, non illa pericli telorumque memor; caelum dehinc questibus implet: Hunc ego te, Euryale, aspicio? Tune illa senectae sera meae requies, potuisti linquere solam, crudelis? Nec te, sub tanta pericula missum,
484adfari extremum miserae data copia matri? Heu, terra ignota canibus data praeda Latinis alitibusque iaces, nec te, tua funera mater produxi pressive oculos aut volnera lavi, veste tegens, tibi quam noctes festina diesque
489urgebam et tela curas solabar anilis. Quo sequar, aut quae nunc artus avolsaque membra et funus lacerum tellus habet? Hoc mihi de te, nate, refers? Hoc sum terraque marique secuta? Figite me, siqua est pietas, in me omnia tela
494conicite, o Rutuli, me primam absumite ferro: aut tu, magne pater divom, miserere tuoque invisum hoc detrude caput sub Tartara telo, quando aliter nequeo crudelem abrumpere vitam. Hoc fletu concussi animi, maestusque per omnis
499it gemitus: torpent infractae ad proelia vires. Illam incendentem luctus Idaeus et Actor Illionei monitu et multum lacrimantis Iuli corripiunt interque manus sub tecta reponunt. At tuba terribilem sonitum procul aere canoro
504increpuit; sequitur clamor caelumque remugit. Adcelerant acta pariter testudine Volsci et fossas implere parant ac vellere vallum. Quaerunt pars aditum et scalis ascendere muros, qua rara est acies interlucetque corona
509non tam spissa viris. Telorum effundere contra omne genus Teucri ac duris detrudere contis, adsueti longo muros defendere bello. Saxa quoque infesto volvebant pondere, siqua possent tectam aciem perrumpere: cum tamen omnis
514ferre iuvat subter densa testudine casus; nec iam sufficiunt. Nam qua globus imminet ingens, immanem Teucri molem volvuntque ruuntque, quae stravit Rutulos late armorumque resolvit tegmina. Nec curant caeco contendere Marte
519amplius audaces Rutuli, sed pellere vallo missilibus certant. Parte alia horrendus visu quassabat Etruscam pinum et fumiferos infert Mezentius ignis; at Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles,
524rescindit vallum et scalas in moenia poscit. Vos, o Calliope, precor, adspirate canenti, quas ibi tum ferro strages, quae funera Turnus ediderit, quem quisque virum demiserit Orco; et mecum ingentis oras evolvite belli,
530Turris erat vasto suspectu et pontibus altis, opportuna loco, summis quam viribus omnes expugnare Itali summaque evertere opum vi certabant, Troes contra defendere saxis perque cavas densi tela intorquere fenestras.
535Princeps ardentem coniecit lampada Turnus et flammam adfixit lateri, quae plurima vento corripuit tabulas et postibus haesit adesis. Turbati trepidare intus frustraque malorum velle fugam. Dum se glomerant retroque residunt
540in partem, quae peste caret, tum pondere turris procubuit subito et caelum tonat omne fragore. Semineces ad terram, immani mole secuta, confixique suis telis et pectora duro transfossi ligno veniunt. Vix unus Helenor
545et Lycus elapsi. Quorum primaevus Helenor, Maeonio regi quem serva Licymnia furtim sustulerat vetitisque ad Troiam miserat armis, ense levis nudo parmaque inglorius alba; isque ubi se Turni media inter milia vidit,
550hinc acies atque hinc acies adstare Latinas: ut fera, quae densa venantum saepta corona contra tela furit seseque haud nescia morti inicit et saltu supra venabula fertur, haud aliter iuvenis medios moriturus in hostis
555inruit et, qua tela videt densissima, tendit. At pedibus longe melior Lycus inter et hostis inter et arma fuga muros tenet altaque certat prendere tecta manu sociumque attingere dextras. Quem Turnus, pariter cursu teloque secutus,
560increpat his victor: Nostrasne evadere, demens, sperasti te posse manus? Simul adripit ipsum pendentem et magna muri cum parte revellit. Qualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpore cycnum sustulit alta petens pedibus Iovis armiger uncis
565quaesitum aut matri multis balatibus agnum Martius a stabulis rapuit lupus. Undique clamor tollitur: invadunt et fossas agere complent; ardentis taedas alii ad fastigia iactant. Ilioneus saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis
570Lucetium portae subeuntem ignisque ferentem, Emathiona Liger, Corynaeum sternit Asilas, hic iaculo bonus, hic longe fallente sagitta, Ortygium Caeneus, victorem Caenea Turnus, Turnus Ityn Cloniumque, Dioxippum Promolumque
575et Sagarim et summis stantem pro turribus Idan, Privernum Capys. Hunc primo levis hasta Themillae strinxerat: ille manum proiecto tegmine demens ad volnus tulit; ergo alis adlapsa sagitta et laevo infixa est lateri manus abditaque intus
580spiramenta animae letali volnere rupit. Stabat in egregiis Arcentis filius armis, pictus acu chlamydem et ferrugine clarus Hibera, insignis facie, genitor quem miserat Arcens, eductum Matris luco Symaethia circum
585flumina, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Palici: stridentem fundam positis Mezentius hastis ipse ter adducta circum caput egit habena et media adversi liquefacto tempora plumbo diffidit ac multa porrectum extendit harena.
590Tum primum bello celerem intendisse sagittam dicitur ante feras solitus terrere fugaces Ascanius fortemque manu fudisse Numanum, cui Remulo cognomen erat, Turnique minorem germanam nuper thalamo sociatus habebat.
595Is primam ante aciem digna atque indigna relatu vociferans tumidusque novo praecordia regno ibat et ingentem sese clamore ferebat: Non pudet obsidione iterum valloque teneri, bis capti Phryges, et morti praetendere muros?
600En qui nostra sibi bello conubia poscunt! Quis deus Italiam, quae vos dementia adegit Non hic Atridae nec fandi fictor Ulixes: durum a stirpe genus natos ad flumina primum deferimus saevoque gelu duramus et undis,
605venatu invigilant pueri silvasque fatigant, flectere ludus equos et spicula tendere cornu. At patiens operum parvoque adsueta iuventus aut rastris terram domat aut quatit oppida bello. Omne aevum ferro teritur, versaque iuvencum
610terga fatigamus hasta; nec tarda senectus debilitat vires animi mutatque vigorem: canitiem galea premimus, semperque recentis comportare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto. Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis,
615desidiae cordi, iuvat indulgere choreis, et tunicae manicas et habent redimicula mitrae. O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges, ite per alta Dindyma ubi adsuetis biforem dat tibia cantum! Tympana vos buxusque vocat Berecyntia Matris
620Idaeae sinite arma viris et cedite ferro. Talia iactantem dictis ac dira canentem non tulit Ascanius nervoque obversus equino contendit telum diversaque bracchia ducens constitit, ante Iovem supplex per vota precatus:
625Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis. Ipse tibi ad tua templa feram sollemnia dona et statuam ante aras aurata fronte iuvencum candentem pariterque caput cum matre ferentem, iam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat harenam.
630Audiit et caeli Genitor de parte serena intonuit laevum, sonat una fatifer arcus: effugit horrendum stridens adducta sagitta perque caput Remuli venit et cava tempora ferro traicit. I, verbis virtutem inlude superbis!
635His capti Phryges haec Rutulis responsa remittunt. Hoc tantum Ascanius. Teucri clamore sequuntur laetitiaque fremunt animosque ad sidera tollunt. Aetheria tum forte plaga crinitus Apollo desuper Ausonias acies urbemque videbat,
640nube sedens, atque his victorem adfatur Iulum: Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra, dis genite et geniture deos. Iure omnia bella gente sub Assaraci fato ventura resident, nec te Troia capit. Simul haec effatus ab alto
645aethere se misit, spirantis dimovet auras Ascaniumque petit. Forma tum vertitur oris antiquum in Buten; hic Dardanio Anchisae armiger ante fuit fidusque ad limina custos, tum comitem Ascanio pater addidit. Ibat Apollo
650omnia longaevo similis, vocemque coloremque et crinis albos et saeva sonoribus arma, atque his ardentem dictis adfatur Iulum: Sit satis, Aenide, telis impune Numanum oppetiisse tuis; primam hanc tibi magnus, Apollo
655concedit laudem et paribus non invidet armis: cetera parce, puer, bello. Sic orsus Apollo mortalis medio aspectus sermone reliquit et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. Agnovere deum proceres divinaque tela
660Dardanidae pharetramque fuga sensere sonantem. Ergo avidum pugnae dictis ac numine Phoebi Ascanium prohibent, ipsi in certamina rursus succedunt animasque in aperta pericula mittunt. It clamor totis per propugnacula muris,
665intendunt acris arcus amentaque torquent. Sternitur omne solum telis, tum scuta cavaeque dant sonitum flictu galeae, pugna aspera surgit: quantus ab occasu veniens pluvialibus Haedis verberat imber humum, quam multa grandine nimbi
670in vada praecipitant, cum Iuppiter horridus austris torquet aquosam hiemem et caelo cava nubila rumpit. Pandarus et Bitias, Idaeo Alcanore creti, quos Iovis eduxit luco silvestris Iaera abietibus iuvenes patriis et montibus aequos,
675portam, quae ducis imperio commissa, recludunt, freti animis, ultroque invitant moenibus hostem. Ipsi intus dextra ac laeva pro turribus adstant, armati ferro et cristis capita alta corusci: quales aëriae liquentia flumina circum,
680sive Padi ripis Athesim seu propter amoenum, consurgunt geminae quercus intonsaque caelo attollunt capita et sublimi vertice nutant. inrumpunt aditus Rutuli ut videre patentis continuo Quercens et pulcher Aquiculus armis
685et praeceps animi Tmarus et Mavortius Haemon agminibus totis: at versi terga dedere aut ipso portae posuere in limine vitam. Tum magis increscunt animis discordibus irae; et iam collecti Troes glomerantur eodem
690et conferre manum et procurrere longius audent. Ductori Turno diversa in parte furenti turbantique viros perfertur nuntius, hostem fervere caede nova et portas praebere patentis. Deserit inceptum atque immani concitus ira
695Dardaniam ruit ad portam fratresque superbos. Et primum Antiphaten, is enim se primus agebat, Thebana de matre nothum Sarpedonis alti, coniecto sternit iaculo; volat Itala cornus aëra per tenerum stomachoque infixa sub altum
700pectus abit: reddit specus atri volneris undam spumantem, et fixo ferrum in pulmone tepescit. Tum Meropem atque Erymanta manu, tum sternit Aphidnum, tum Bitian ardentem oculis animisque frementem non iaculo, neque enim iaculo vitam ille dedisset,
705sed magnum stridens contorta phalarica venit, fulminis acta modo, quam nec duo taurea terga nec duplici squama lorica fidelis et auro sustinuit: conlapsa ruunt immania membra. Dat tellus gemitum, et clipeum super intonat ingens.
710Talis in Euboico Baiarum litore quondam saxea pila cadit, magnis quam molibus ante constructam ponto iaciunt; sic illa ruinam prona trahit penitusque vadis inlisa recumbit: miscent se maria, et nigrae attolluntur harenae;
715tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit durumque cubile Inarime Iovis imperiis imposta Typhoeo. Hic Mars armipotens animum viresque Latinis addidit et stimulos acris sub pectore vertit immisitque Fugam Teucris atrumque Timorem.
720Undique conveniunt, quoniam data copia pugnae bellatorque animo deus incidit. Pandarus ut fuso germanum corpore cernit et quo sit fortuna loco, qui casus agat res, portam vi magna converso cardine torquet,
725obnixus latis umeris, multosque suorum moenibus exclusos duro in certamine linquit; ast alios secum includit recipitque ruentis, demens, qui Rutulum in medio non agmine regem viderit inrumpentem ultroque incluserit urbi,
730immanem veluti pecora inter inertia tigrim. Continuo nova lux oculis effulsit, et arma horrendum sonuere; tremunt in vertice cristae sanguineae, clipeoque micantia fulmina mittit: agnoscunt faciem invisam atque immania membra
735turbati subito Aeneadae. Tum Pandarus ingens emicat et mortis fraternae fervidus ira effatur: Non haec dotalis regia Amatae, nec muris cohibet patriis media Ardea Turnum. Castra inimica vides; nulla hinc exire potestas.
740Olli subridens sedato pectore Turnus: Incipe, siqua animo virtus, et consere dextram: hic etiam inventum Priamo narrabis Achillem. Dixerat. Ille rudem nodis et cortice crudo intorquet summis adnixus viribus hastam:
745excepere aurae volnus; Saturnia Iuno detorsit veniens, portaeque infigitur hasta. At non hoc telum, mea quod vi dextera versat, effugies; neque enim is teli nec volneris auctor. Sic ait et sublatum alte consurgit in ensem
750et mediam ferro gemina inter tempora frontem dividit inpubesque immani volnere malas. Fit sonus, ingenti concussa est pondere tellus: conlapsos artus atque arma cruenta cerebro sternit humi moriens, atque illi partibus aequis
755huc caput atque illuc umero ex utroque pependit. Diffugiunt versi trepida formidine Troes: et si continuo victorem ea cura subisset, rumpere claustra manu sociosque immittere portis, ultimus ille dies bello gentique fuisset;
760sed furor ardentem caedisque insana cupido egit in adversos. Principio Phalerim et succiso poplite Gygen excipit; hinc raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas in tergum, Iuno vires animumque ministrat;
765addit Halym comitem et confixa Phegea parma, ignaros deinde in muris Martemque cientis Alcandrumque Haliumque Noemonaque Prytanimque. Lyncea tendentem contra sociosque vocantem vibranti gladio conixus ab aggere dexter
770occupat; huic uno desectum comminus ictu cum galea longe iacuit caput. Inde ferarum vastatorem Amycum, quo non felicior alter ungere tela manu ferrumque armare veneno, et Clytium Aeoliden et amicum Crethea Musis,
775Crethea Musarum comitem, cui carmina semper et citharae cordi numerosque intendere nervis. Tandem ductores audita caede suorum conveniunt Teucri, Mnestheus acerque Serestus, palantisque vident socios hostemque receptum.
781Et Mnestheus: Quo deinde fugam, quo tenditis? inquit. Quos alios muros, quae iam ultra moenia habetis? Unus homo et vestris, o cives, undique saeptus aggeribus tantas strages inpune per urbem ediderit, iuvenum primos tot miserit Orco?
786Non infelicis patriae veterumque deorum et magni Aeneae, segnes, miseretque pudetque? Talibus accensi firmantur et agmine denso consistunt. Turnus paulatim excedere pugna et fluvium petere ac partem, quae cingitur unda;
791acrius hoc Teucri clamore incumbere magno et glomerare manum. Ceu saevum turba leonem cum telis premit infensis, at territus ille, asper, acerba tuens, retro redit, et neque terga ira dare aut virtus patitur, nec tendere contra
796ille quidem hoc cupiens potis est per tela virosque: haud aliter retro dubius vestigia Turnus improperata refert, et mens exaestuat ira. Quin etiam bis tum medios invaserat hostis, bis confusa fuga per muros agmina vertit;
801sed manus e castris propere coit omnis in unum, nec contra vires audet Saturnia Iuno sufficere, aëriam caelo nam Iuppiter Irim demisit germanae haud mollia iussa ferentem, ni Turnus cedat Teucrorum moenibus altis.
806Ergo nec clipeo iuvenis subsistere tantum nec dextra valet: iniectis sic undique telis obruitur. Strepit adsiduo cava tempora circum tinnitu galea, et saxis solida aera fatiscunt, discussaeque iubae capiti, nec sufficit umbo
811ictibus: ingeminant hastis et Troes et ipse fulmineus Mnestheus. Tum toto corpore sudor liquitur et piceum, nec respirare potestas, flumen agit; fessos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. Tum demum praeceps saltu sese omnibus armis
816in fluvium dedit: ille suo cum gurgite flavo accepit venientem ac mollibus extulit undis et laetum sociis abluta caede remisit.
Book 10
1Panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi, conciliumque vocat divom pater atque hominum rex sideream in sedem, terras unde arduus omnis castraque Dardanidum adspectat populosque Latinos. Considunt tectis bipatentibus, incipit ipse:
6Caelicolae magni, quianam sententia vobis versa retro tantumque animis certatis iniquis? Abnueram bello Italiam concurrere Teucris. Quae contra vetitum discordia? Quis metus aut hos aut hos arma sequi ferrumque lacessere suasit?
11Adveniet iustum pugnae, ne arcessite, tempus, cum fera Karthago Romanis arcibus olim exitium magnum atque Alpes immittet apertas: tum certare odiis, tum res rapuisse licebit. Nunc sinite et placitum laeti componite foedus.
16Iuppiter haec paucis; at non Venus aurea contra pauca refert: O pater, O hominum rerumque aeterna potestas! Namque aliud quid sit, quod iam implorare queamus? Cernis ut insultent Rutulli Turnusque
21secundo Marte ruat? Non clausa tegunt iam moenia Teucros: quin intra portas atque ipsis proelia miscent aggeribus moerorum et inundant sanguine fossas. Aeneas ignarus abest. Numquamne levari
26obsidione sines? Muris iterum imminet hostis nascentis Troiae atque iterum in Teucros Aetolis surgit ab Arpis Tydides. Equidem credo, mea volnera restant et tua progenies mortalia demoror arma.
31Si sine pace tua atque invito numine Troes Italiam petiere, luant peccata neque illos iuveris auxilio; sin tot responsa secuti, quae superi manesque dabant: cur nunc tua quisquam vertere iussa potest aut cur nova condere fata?
36Quid repetem exustas Erycino in litore classes, quid tempestatum regem ventosque furentis Aeolia excitos aut actam nubibus Irim? Nunc etiam manis, haec intemptata manebat sors rerum, movet et superis immissa repente
41Allecto, medias Italum bacchata per urbes. Nil super imperio moveor: speravimus ista, dum fortuna fuit; vincant quos vincere mavis. Si nulla est regio, Teucris quam det tua coniunx dura, per eversae, genitor, fumantia Troiae
46exscidia obtestor, liceat dimittere ab armis incolumem Ascanium, liceat superesse nepotem. Aeneas sane ignotis iactetur in undis et, quamcumque viam dederit Fortuna, sequatur: hunc tegere et dirae valeam subducere pugnae.
51Est Amathus, est celsa mihi Paphus atque Cythera Idaliaeque domus: positis inglorius armis exigat hic aevum. Magna dicione iubeto Karthago premat Ausoniam: nihil urbibus inde obstabit Tyriis. Quid pestem evadere belli
56iuvit et Argolicos medium fugisse per ignes totque maris vastaeque exhausta pericula terrae, dum Latium Teucri recidivaque Pergama quaerunt? Non satius cineres patriae insedisse supremos atque solum, quo Troia fuit? Xanthum et Simoenta
61redde, oro, miseris iterumque revolvere casus da, pater, Iliacos Teucris. Tum regia Iuno acta furore gravi: Quid me alta silentia cogis rumpere et obductum verbis volgare dolorem?
65Aenean hominum quisquam divomque subegit bella sequi aut hostem regi se inferre Latino? Italiam petiit fatis auctoribus, esto, Cassandrae inpulsus furiis: num linquere castra hortati sumus aut vitam committere ventis?
70Num puero summam belli, num credere muros Tyrrhenamque fidem, aut gentis agitare quietas? Quis deus in fraudem, quae dura potentia nostra egit? Ubi hic Iuno demissave nubibus Iris? Indignum est Italos Troiam circumdare flammis
75nascentem et patria Turnum consistere terra, cui Pilumnus avus, cui diva Venilia mater: quid face Troianos atra vim ferre Latinis, arva aliena iugo premere atque avertere praedas? Quid soceros legere et gremiis abducere pactas,
80pacem orare manu, praefigere puppibus arma? Tu potes Aenean manibus subducere Graium proque viro nebulam et ventos obtendere inanis, tu potes in totidem classem convertere nymphas: nos aliquid Rutulos contra iuvisse nefandum est?
85Aeneas ignarus abest: ignarus et absit. Est Paphus Idaliumque tibi, sunt alta Cythera: quid gravidam bellis urbem et corda aspera temptas? Nosne tibi fluxas Phrygiae res vertere fundo conamur, nos, an miseros qui Troas Achivis
90obiecit? Quae causa fuit, consurgere in arma Europamque Asiamque et foedera solvere furto? Me duce Dardanius Spartam expugnavit adulter, aut ego tela dedi fovive cupidine bella? Tum decuit metuisse tuis: nunc sera querelis
95haud iustis adsurgis et inrita iurgia iactas. Talibus orabat Iuno, cunctique fremebant caelicolae adsensu vario, ceu flamina prima cum deprensa fremunt silvis et caeca volutant murmura, venturos nautis prodentia ventos.
100Tum pater omnipotens, rerum cui prima potestas, infit; eo dicente deum domus alta silescit et tremefacta solo tellus, silet arduus aether, tum Zephyri posuere, premit placida aequora pontus: Accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta.
105Quandoquidem Ausonios coniungi foedere Teucris haud licitum, nec vestra capit discordia finem: quae cuique est fortuna hodie, quam quisque secat spem, Tros Rutulusne fuat nullo discrimine habebo. Seu fatis Italum castra obsidione tenentur
110sive errore malo Troiae monitisque sinistris. Nec Rutulos solvo: sua cuique exorsa laborem fortunamque ferent. Rex Iuppiter omnibus idem. Fata viam invenient. Stygii per flumina fratris, per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas
115adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum. Hic finis fandi. Solio tum Iuppiter aureo surgit, caelicolae medium quem ad limina ducunt. Interea Rutuli portis circum omnibus instant sternere caede viros et moenia cingere flammis.
120At legio Aeneadum vallis obsessa tenetur, nec spes ulla fugae. Miseri stant turribus altis nequiquam et rara muros cinxere corona Asius Imbrasides Hicetaoniusque Thymoetes Assaracique duo et senior cum Castore Thymbris,
125prima acies; hos germani Sarpedonis ambo et Clarus et Thaemon Lycia comitantur ab alta. Fert ingens toto conixus corpore saxum, haud partem exiguam montis, Lyrnesius Acmon, nec Clytio genitore minor nec fratre Menestheo.
130Hi iaculis, illi certant defendere saxis molirique ignem nervoque aptare sagittas. Ipse inter medios, Veneris iustissima cura, Dardanius caput ecce puer detectus honestum, qualis gemma micat, fulvum quae dividit aurum,
135aut collo decus aut capiti; vel quale per artem inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho lucet ebur; fusos cervix cui lactea crinis accipit et molli subnectens circulus auro. Te quoque magnanimae viderunt, Ismare, gentes
140volnera dirigere et calamos armare veneno, Maeonia generose domo, ubi pinguia culta exercentque viri Pactolusque inrigat auro. Adfuit et Mnestheus, quem pulsi pristina Turni aggere moerorum sublimem gloria tollit,
145et Capys: hinc nomen Campanae ducitur urbi. Illi inter sese duri certamina belli contulerant: media Aeneas freta nocte secabat. Namque ut ab Euandro castris ingressus Etruscis regem adit et regi memorat nomenque genusque,
150quidve petat quidve ipse ferat, Mezentius arma quae sibi conciliet, violentaque pectora Turni edocet, humanis quae sit fiducia rebus admonet immiscetque preces: haud fit mora, Tarchon iungit opes foedusque ferit; tum libera fati
155classem conscendit iussis gens Lydia divom, externo commissa duci. Aeneia puppis prima tenet, rostro Phrygios subiuncta leones, imminet Ida super, profugis gratissima Teucris. Hic magnus sedet Aeneas secumque volutat
160eventus belli varios, Pallasque sinistro adfixus lateri iam quaerit sidera, opacae noctis iter, iam quae passus terraque marique. Pandite nunc Helicona, deae, cantusque movete, quae manus interea Tuscis comitetur ab oris
165Aenean armetque rates pelagoque vehatur. Massicus aerata princeps secat aequora tigri: sub quo mille manus iuvenum, qui moenia Clusi quique urbem liquere Cosas, quis tela sagittae gorytique leves umeris et letifer arcus.
170Una torvus Abas: huic totum insignibus armis agmen et aurato fulgebat Apolline puppis. Sescentos illi dederat Populonia mater expertos belli iuvenes, ast Ilva trecentos insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis.
175Tertius ille hominum divomque interpres Asilas, cui pecudum fibrae, caeli cui sidera parent et linguae volucrum et praesagi fulminis ignes, mille rapit densos acie atque horrentibus hastis. Hos parere iubent Alpheae ab origine Pisae,
180urbs Etrusca solo. Sequitur pulcherrimus Astur, Astur equo fidens et versicoloribus armis. Tercentum adiciunt (mens omnibus una sequendi) qui Caerete domo, qui sunt Minionis in arvis, et Pyrgi veteres intempestaeque Graviscae.
185Non ego te, Ligurum ductor fortissime bello, transierim, Cinyre, et paucis comitate Cupavo, cuius olorinae surgunt de vertice pennae, crimen, Amor, vestrum formaeque insigne paternae. Namque ferunt luctu Cycnum Phaethontis amati,
190populeas inter frondes umbramque sororum dum canit et maestum Musa solatur amorem, canentem molli pluma duxisse senectam, linquentem terras et sidera voce sequentem. Filius, aequalis comitatus classe catervas,
195ingentem remis Centaurum promovet: ille instat aquae saxumque undis immane minatur arduus et longa sulcat maria alta carina. Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris, fatidicae Mantus et Tusci filius amnis,
200qui muros matrisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen, Mantua, dives avis; sed non genus omnibus unum: gens illi triplex, populi sub gente quaterni, ipsa caput populis, Tusco de sanguine vires. Hinc quoque quingentos in se Mezentius armat,
205quos patre Benaco velatus harundine glauca Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu. It gravis Aulestes centenaque arbore fluctum verberat adsurgens, spumant vada marmore verso. Hunc vehit immanis Triton et caerula concha
210exterrens freta, cui laterum tenus hispida nanti frons hominem praefert, in pristim desinit alvus: spumea semifero sub pectore murmurat unda. Tot lecti proceres ter denis navibus ibant subsidio Troiae et campos salis aera secabant.
215Iamque dies caelo concesserat almaque curru noctivago Phoebe medium pulsabat Olympum: Aeneas (neque enim membris dat cura quietem) ipse sedens clavumque regit velisque ministrat. Atque illi medio in spatio chorus ecce suarum
220occurrit comitum: nymphae, quas alma Cybebe numen habere maris nymphasque e navibus esse iusserat, innabant pariter fluctusque secabant, quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae. Agnoscunt longe regem lustrantque choreis,
225quarum quae fandi doctissima Cymodocea pone sequens dextra puppim tenet ipsaque dorso eminet ac laeva tacitis subremigat undis, tum sic ignarum adloquitur: Vigilasne, deum gens, Aenea? Vigila et velis immitte rudentis.
230Nos sumus, Idaeae sacro de vertice pinus, nunc pelagi nymphae, classis tua. Perfidus ut nos praecipitis ferro Rutulus flammaque premebat, rupimus invitae tua vincula teque per aequor quaerimus. Hanc Genetrix faciem miserata refecit
235et dedit esse deas aevumque agitare sub undis. At puer Ascanius muro fossisque tenetur tela inter media atque horrentis Marte Latinos. Iam loca iussa tenent forti permixtus Etrusco Arcas eques: medias illis opponere turmas,
240ne castris iungant, certast sententia Turno. Surge age et Aurora socios veniente vocari primus in arma iube et clipeum cape, quem dedit ipse invictum Ignipotens atque oras ambiit auro. Crastina lux, mea si non inrita dicta putaris,
245ingentis Rutulae spectabit caedis acervos. Dixerat, et dextra discedens impulit altam haud ignara modi puppim: fugit illa per undas ocior et iaculo et ventos aequante sagitta. Inde aliae celerant cursus. Stupet inscius ipse
250Tros Anchisiades; animos tamen omine tollit. Tum breviter super adspectans convexa precatur: Alma parens Idaea deum, cui Dindyma cordi turrigeraeque urbis biiugique ad frena leones, tu mihi nunc pugnae princeps, tu rite propinques
255augurium Phrygibusque adsis pede, diva, secundo. Tantum effatus. Et interea revoluta rubebat matura iam luce dies noctemque fugarat: principio sociis edicit, signa sequantur atque animos aptent armis pugnaeque parent se.
260Iamque in conspectu Teucros habet et sua castra, stans celsa in puppi; clipeum cum deinde sinistra extulit ardentem. Clamorem ad sidera tollunt Dardanidae e muris, spes addita suscitat iras, tela manu iaciunt: quales sub nubibus atris
265Strymoniae dant signa grues atque aethera tranant cum sonitu fugiuntque notos clamore secundo. At Rutulo regi ducibusque ea mira videri Ausoniis, donec versas ad litora puppes respiciunt totumque adlabi classibus aequor.
270Ardet apex capiti cristisque a vertice flamma funditur et vastos umbo vomit aureus ignes: non secus ac liquida siquando nocte cometae sanguinei lugubre rubent aut Sirius ardor, ille sitim morbosque ferens mortalibus aegris,
275nascitur et laevo contristat lumine caelum. Haud tamen audaci Turno fiducia cessit litora praecipere et venientis pellere terra. Quod votis optastis, adest, perfringere dextra; in manibus Mars ipse viris. Nunc coniugis esto
281quisque suae tectique memor, nunc magna referto facta, patrum laudes. Ultro occurramus ad undam, dum trepidi egressisque labant vestigia prima. Audentis Fortuna iuvat, haec ait et secum versat, quos ducere contra
286vel quibus obsessos possit concredere muros. Interea Aeneas socios de puppibus altis pontibus exponit. Multi servare recursus languentis pelagi et brevibus se credere saltu, per remos alii. Speculatus litora Tarchon,
291qua vada non sperat nec fracta remurmurat unda, sed mare inoffensum crescenti adlabitur aestu, advertit subito proram sociosque precatur: Nunc, o lecta manus, validis incumbite remis; tollite, ferte rates; inimicam findite rostris
296hanc terram, sulcumque sibi premat ipsa carina. Frangere nec tali puppim statione recuso arrepta tellure semel. Quae talia postquam effatus Tarchon, socii consurgere tonsis spumantisque rates arvis inferre Latinis,
301donec rostra tenent siccum et sedere carinae omnes innocuae, sed non puppis tua, Tarchon. Namque inflicta vadis dorso dum pendet iniquo, anceps sustentata diu fluctusque fatigat, solvitur atque viros mediis exponit in undis
306fragmina remorum quos et fluitantia transtra impediunt, retrahitque pedem simul unda relabens. Nec Turnum segnis retinet mora, sed rapit acer totam aciem in Teucros et contra in litore sistit. Signa canunt. Primus turmas invasit agrestis
311Aeneas, omen pugnae, stravitque Latinos occiso Therone, virum qui maximus ultro Aenean petit: huic gladio perque aerea suta, per tunicam squalentem auro latus haurit apertum. Inde Lichan ferit, exsectum iam matre perempta
316et tibi, Phoebe, sacrum: casus evadere ferri quo licuit parvo? Nec longe Cissea durum immanemque Gyan, sternentis agmina clava, deiecit Leto: nihil illos Herculis arma nec validae iuvere manus genitorque Melampus,
321Alcidae comes usque gravis dum terra labores praebuit. Ecce Pharo, voces dum iactat inertis, intorquens iaculum clamanti sistit in ore. Tu quoque, flaventem prima lanugine malas dum sequeris Clytium infelix, nova gaudia, Cydon,
326Dardania stratus dextra, securus amorum, qui iuvenum tibi semper erant, miserande iaceres, ni fratrum stipata cohors foret obvia, Phorci progenies, septem numero, septenaque tela coniciunt; partim galea clipeoque resultant
331inrita, deflexit partim stringentia corpus alma Venus. Fidum Aeneas adfatur Achaten: Suggere tela mihi: non ullum dextera frustra torserit in Rutulos, steterunt quae in corpore Graium Iliacis campis. Tum magnam corripit hastam
336et iacit: illa volans clipei transverberat aera Maeonis et thoraca simul cum pectore rumpit. Huic frater subit Alcanor fratremque ruentem sustentat dextra: traiecto missa lacerto protinus hasta fugit servatque cruenta tenorem,
341dexteraque ex umero nervis moribunda pependit. Tum Numitor iaculo fratris de corpore rapto Aenean petiit; sed non et figere contra est licitum, magnique femur perstrinxit Achatae. Hic Curibus fidens primaevo corpore Clausus
346advenit et rigida Dryopem ferit eminus hasta sub mentum graviter pressa pariterque loquentis vocem animamque rapit traiecto gutture; at ille fronte ferit terram et crassum vomit ore cruorem. Tres quoque Threicios Boreae de gente suprema
351et tris, quos Idas pater et patria Ismara mittit, per varios sternit casus. Accurrit Halaesus Auruncaeque manus, subit et Neptunia proles, insignis Messapus equis. Expellere tendunt nunc hi, nunc illi; certatur limine in ipso
356Ausoniae. Magno discordes aethere venti proelia ceu tollunt animis et viribus aequis; non ipsi inter se, non nubila, non mare cedit; anceps pugna diu, stant obnixa omnia contra: haud aliter Troianae acies aciesque Latinae
361concurrunt; haeret pede pes densusque viro vir. At parte ex alia, qua saxa rotantia late impulerat torrens arbustaque diruta ripis, Arcadas insuetos acies inferre pedestris ut vidit Pallas Latio dare terga sequaci
366(aspera quis natura loci dimittere quando suasit equos), unum quod rebus restat egenis, nunc prece, nunc dictis virtutem accendit amaris: Quo fugitis, socii? Per vos et fortia facta, per ducis Evandri nomen devictaque bella
371Opemque meam, patriae quae nunc subit aemula laudi, fidite ne pedibus. Ferro rumpenda per hostis est via. Qua globus ille virum densissimus urget, hac vos et Pallanta ducem patria alta reposcit. Numina nulla premunt, mortali urgemur ab hoste
376mortales, totidem nobis animaeque manusque. Ecce, maris magna claudit nos obice pontus, deest iam terra fugae: pelagus Troiamne petemus? Haec ait et medius densos prorumpit in hostis. Obvius huic primum, fatis adductus iniquis,
381fit Lagus. Hunc, magno vellit dum pondere saxum, intorto figit telo, discrimina costis per medium qua spina dabat, hastamque receptat ossibus haerentem. Quem non super occupat Hisbo, ille quidem hoc sperans: nam Pallas ante ruentem,
386dum furit, incautum crudeli morte sodalis excipit atque ensem tumido in pulmone recondit. Hinc Sthenium petit et Rhoeti de gente vetusta Anchemolum, thalamos ausum incestare novercae. Vos etiam, gemini, Rutulis cecidistis in agris,
391Daucia, Laride Thymberque, simillima proles, indiscreta suis gratusque parentibus error; at nunc dura dedit vobis discrimina Pallas: nam tibi, Thymbre, caput Evandrius abstulit ensis; te decisa suum, Laride, dextera quaerit
396semianimesque micant digiti ferrumque retractant. Arcadas accensos monitu et praeclara tuentis facta viri mixtus dolor et pudor armat in hostis. Tum Pallas biiugis fugientem Rhoetea praeter traicit. Hoc spatium tantumque morae fuit Ilo;
401Ilo namque procul validam direxerat hastam, quam medius Rhoeteus intercipit, optime Teuthra, te fugiens fratremque Tyren, curruque volutus caedit semianimis Rutulorum calcibus arva. Ac velut optato ventis aestate coortis
406dispersa immittit silvis incendia pastor, correptis subito mediis extenditur una horrida per latos acies Volcania campos; ille sedens victor flammas despectat ovantis: non aliter socium virtus coit omnis in unum
411teque iuvat, Palla. Sed bellis acer Halaesus tendit in adversos seque in sua conligit arma. Hic mactat Ladona Pheretaque Demodocumque, Strymonio dextram fulgenti deripit ense elatam in iugulum, saxo ferit ora Thoantis
416ossaque dispersit cerebro permixta cruento. Fata canens silvis genitor celarat Halaesum: ut senior leto canentia lumina solvit, iniecere manum Parcae telisque sacrarunt Evandri. Quem sic Pallas petit ante precatus:
421Da nunc, Thybri pater, ferro, quod missile libro, fortunam atque viam duri per pectus Halaesi. Haec arma exuviasque viri tua quercus habebit. Audiit illa deus: dum texit Imaona Halaesus, Arcadio infelix telo dat pectus inermum.
426At non caede viri tanta perterrita Lausus, pars ingens belli, sinit agmina: primus Abantem oppositum interimit, pugnae nodumque moramque. Sternitur Arcadiae proles, sternuntur Etrusci et vos, O Grais imperdita corpora, Teucri.
431Agmina concurrunt ducibusque et viribus aequis. Extremi addensent acies nec turba moveri tela manusque sinit. Hinc Pallas instat et urget, hinc contra Lausus, nec multum discrepat aetas: egregii forma, sed quis Fortuna negarat
436in patriam reditus. Ipsos concurrere passus haud tamen inter se magni regnator Olympi: mox illos sua fata manent maiore sub hoste. Interea soror alma monet succedere Lauso Turnum, qui volucri curru medium secat agmen.
441Ut vidit socios: Tempus desistere pugnae; solus ego in Pallanta feror, soli mihi Pallas debetur; cuperem ipse parens spectator adesset. Haec ait, et socii cesserunt aequore iusso. At Rutulum abscessu iuvenis tum iussa superba
446miratus stupet in Turno corpusque per ingens lumina volvit obitque truci procul omnia visu talibus et dictis it contra dicta tyranni: Aut spoliis ego iam raptis laudabor opimis aut leto insigni: sorti pater aequus utrique est.
451Tolle minas. Fatus medium procedit in aequor. Frigidus Arcadibus coit in praecordia sanguis. Desiluit Turnus biiugis, pedes apparat ire comminus; utque leo, specula cum vidit ab alta stare procul campis meditantem in proelia taurum,
456advolat: haud alia est Turni venientis imago. Hunc ubi contiguum missae fore credidit hastae, ire prior Pallas, siqua fors adiuvet ausum viribus imparibus, magnumque ita ad aethera fatur: Per patris hospitium et mensas, quas advena adisti,
461te precor, Alcide, coeptis ingentibus adsis. Cernat semineci sibi me rapere arma cruenta victoremque ferant morientia lumina Turni. Audiit Alcides iuvenem magnumque sub imo corde premit gemitum lacrimasque effundit inanis.
466Tum Genitor natum dictis adfatur amicis: Stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus omnibus est vitae: sed famam extendere factis, hoc virtutis opus. Troiae sub moenibus altis tot nati cecidere deum; quin occidit una
471Sarpedon, mea progenies. Etiam sua Turnum fata vocant, metasque dati pervenit ad aevi. Sic ait atque oculos Rutulorum reicit arvis. At Pallas magnis emittit viribus hastam vaginaque cava fulgentem deripit ensem.
476Illa volans umeri surgunt qua tegmina summa incidit atque viam clipei molita per oras tandem etiam magno strinxit de corpore Turni. Hic Turnus ferro praefixum robur acuto in Pallanta diu librans iacit atque ita fatur:
481Adspice, num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum. Dixerat; at clipeum, tot ferri terga, tot aeris, quem pellis totiens obeat circumdata tauri, vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu loricaeque moras et pectus perforat ingens.
486Ille rapit calidum frustra de volnere telum: una eademque via sanguis animusque sequuntur. Corruit in volnus, sonitum super arma dedere et terram hostilem moriens petit ore cruento. Quem Turnus super adsistens,
491Arcades, haec, inquit, memores mea dicta referte Euandro; qualem meruit, Pallanta remitto. Quisquis honos tumuli, quidquid solamen humandi est, largior. Haud illi stabunt Aeneia parvo hospitia. Et laevo pressit pede talia fatus
496exanimem, rapiens immania pondera baltei impressumque nefas, una sub nocte iugali caesa manus iuvenum foede thalamique cruenti, quae Clonus Eurytides multo caelaverat auro; quo nunc Turnus ovat spolio gaudetque potitus.
501Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis! Turno tempus erit, magno cum optaverit emptum intactum Pallanta et cum spolia ista diemque oderit. At socii multo gemitu lacrimisque
506impositum scuto referunt Pallanta frequentes. O dolor atque decus magnum rediture parenti haec te prima dies bello dedit, haec eadem aufert, cum tamen ingentis Rutulorum linquis acervos. Nec iam fama mali tanti, sed certior auctor
511advolat Aeneae, tenui discrimine leti esse suos, versis tempus succurrere Teucris. Proxima quaeque metit gladio latumque per agmen ardens limitem agit ferro, te, Turne, superbum caede nova quaerens. Pallas, Euander, in ipsis
516omnia sunt oculis, mensae, quas advena primas tunc adiit, dextraeque datae. Sulmone creatos quattuor hic iuvenes, totidem, quos educat Ufens, viventis rapit, inferias quos immolet umbris captivoque rogi perfundat sanguine flammas.
521Inde Mago procul infensam contenderat hastam. Ille astu subit ac tremibunda supervolat hasta, et genua amplectens effatur talia supplex: Per patrios manis et spes surgentis Iuli te precor, hanc animam serves natoque patrique.
526Est domus alta, iacent penitus defossa talenta caelati argenti, sunt auri pondera facti infectique mihi. Non hic victoria Teucrum vertitur aut anima una dabit discrimina tanta. Dixerat. Aeneas contra cui talia reddit:
531Argenti atque auri memoras quae multa talenta, natis parce tuis. Belli commercia Turnus sustulit ista prior iam tum Pallante perempto. Hoc patris Anchisae manes, hoc sentit Iulus. Sic fatus galeam laeva tenet atque reflexa
536cervice orantis capulo tenus applicat ensem. Nec procul Haemonides, Phoebi Triviaeque sacerdos, infula cui sacra redimibat tempora vitta, totus conlucens veste atque insignibus armis. Quem congressus agit campo lapsumque superstans
541immolat ingentique umbra tegit; arma Serestus lecta refert umeris, tibi, rex Gradive, tropaeum. Instaurant acies Volcani stirpe creatus Caeculus et veniens Marsorum montibus Umbro: Dardanides contra furit. Anxuris ense sinistram
546et totum clipei ferro deiecerat orbem; dixerat ille aliquid magnum vimque adfore verbo crediderat caeloque animum fortasse ferebat canitiemque sibi et longos promiserat annos: Tarquitus exultans contra fulgentibus armis,
551silvicolae Fauno Dryope quem nympha crearat, obvius ardenti sese obtulit. Ille reducta loricam clipeique ingens onus impedit hasta; tum caput orantis nequiquam et multa parantis dicere deturbat terrae truncumque tepentem
556provolvens super haec inimico pectore fatur: Istic nunc, metuende, iace. Non te optima mater condet humi patrioque onerabit membra sepulchro: alitibus linquere feris aut gurgite mersum unda feret piscesque impasti volnera lambent.
561Protinus Antaeum et Lucam, prima agmina Turni, persequitur fortemque Numam fulvumque Camertem, magnanimo Volcente satum, ditissimus agri qui fuit Ausonidum et tacitis regnavit Amyclis. Aegaeon qualis, centum cui bracchia dicunt
566centenasque manus, quinquaginta oribus ignem pectoribusque arsisse, Iovis cum fulmina contra tot paribus streperet clipeis, tot stringeret enses: sic toto Aeneas desaevit in aequore victor, ut semel intepuit mucro. Quin ecce Niphaei
571quadriiugis in equos adversaque pectora tendit. Atque illi longe gradientem et dira frementem ut videre, metu versi retroque ruentes effunduntque ducem rapiuntque ad litora currus. Interea biiugis infert se Lucagus albis
576in medios fraterque Liger; sed frater habenis flectit equos, strictum rotat acer Lucagus ensem. Haud tulit Aeneas tanto fervore furentis: inruit adversaque ingens apparuit hasta. Cui Liger:
581Non Diomedis equos nec currum cernis Achillis aut Phrygiae campos: nunc belli finis et aevi his dabitur terris. Vesano talia late dicta volant Ligeri. Sed non et Troïus heros dicta parat contra: iaculum nam torquet in hostem.
586Lucagus ut pronus pendens in verbera telo admonuit biiugos, proiecto dum pede laevo aptet se pugnae, subit oras hasta per imas fulgentis clipei, tum laevum perforat inguen: excussus curru moribundus volvitur arvis.
591Quem pius Aeneas dictis adfatur amaris: Lucage, nulla tuos currus fuga segnis equorum prodidit aut vanae vertere ex hostibus umbrae: ipse rotis saliens iuga deseris. Haec ita fatus arripuit biiugos; frater tendebat inertis
596infelix palmas, curru delapsus eodem: Per te, per qui te talem genuere parentes, vir Troiane, sine hanc animam et miserere precantis. Pluribus oranti Aeneas: Haud talia dudum dicta dabas. Morere et fratrem ne desere frater.
601Tum latebras animae pectus mucrone recludit. Talia per campos edebat funera ductor Dardanius, torrentis aquae vel turbinis atri more furens. Tandem erumpunt et castra relinquunt Ascanius puer et nequiquam obsessa iuventus.
606Iunonem interea compellat Iuppiter ultro: O germana mihi atque eadem gratissima coniunx, ut rebare, Venus, nec te sententia fallit, Troianas sustentat opes, non vivida bello dextra viris animusque ferox patiensque pericli.
611Cui Iuno summissa Quid, o pulcherrime coniunx, sollicitas aegram et tua tristia dicta timentem? Si mihi, quae quondam fuerat quamque esse decebat, vis in amore foret, non hoc mihi namque negares, omnipotens, quin et pugnae subducere Turnum
616et Dauno possem incolumem servare parenti. Nunc pereat Teucrisque pio det sanguine poenas. Ille tamen nostra deducit origine nomen Pilumnusque illi quartus pater et tua larga saepe manu multisque oneravit limina donis.
621Cui rex aetherii breviter sic fatur Olympi: Si mora praesentis leti tempusque caduco oratur iuveni meque hoc ita ponere sentis, tolle fuga Turnum atque instantibus eripe fatis hactenus indulsisse vacat. Sin altior istis
626sub precibus venia ulla latet totumque moveri mutarive putas bellum, spes pascis inanis. Et Iuno adlacrimans: Quid si, quae voce gravaris, mente dares atque haec Turno rata vita maneret? Nunc manet insontem gravis exitus, aut ego veri
631vana feror. Quod ut O potius formidine falsa ludar et in melius tua, qui potes, orsa reflectas! Haec ubi dicta dedit, caelo se protinus alto misit, agens hiemem nimbo succincta per auras, Iliacamque aciem et Laurentia castra petivit.
636Tum dea nube cava tenuem sine viribus umbram in faciem Aeneae, visu mirabile monstrum, Dardaniis ornat telis clipeumque iubasque divini adsimulat capitis, dat inania verba, dat sine mente sonum gressusque effingit euntis,
641morte obita qualis fama est volitare figuras aut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus. At primas laeta ante acies exsultat imago inritatque virum telis et voce lacessit. Instat cui Turnus stridentemque eminus hastam
646conicit: illa dato vertit vestigia tergo. Tum vero Aenean aversum ut cedere Turnus credidit atque animo spem turbidus hausit inanem, Quo fugis, Aenea? Thalamos ne desere pactos; hac dabitur dextra tellus quaesita per undas.
651Talia vociferans sequitur strictumque coruscat mucronem nec ferre videt sua gaudia ventos. Forte ratis celsi coniuncta crepidine saxi expositis stabat scalis et ponte parato, qua rex Clusinis advectus Osinius oris.
656Huc sese trepida Aeneae fugientis imago conicit in latebras; nec Turnus segnior instat exsuperatque moras et pontis transilit altos. Vix proram attigerat: rumpit Saturnia funem avolsamque rapit revoluta per aequora navem.
661Illum autem Aeneas absentem in praelia poscit; obvia multa virum demittit corpora morti: tum levis haud ultra latebras iam quaerit imago, sed sublime volans nubi se immiscuit atrae. Cum Turnum medio interea fert aequore turbo.
666Respicit ignarus rerum ingratusque salutis et duplicis cum voce manus ad sidera tendit: Omnipotens genitor, tanton me crimine dignum duxisti et talis voluisti expendere poenas? Quo feror? Unde abii? Quae me fuga quemve reducit?
671Laurentisne iterum muros aut castra videbo? Quid manus illa virum, qui me meaque arma secuti? Quosne (nefas) omnis infanda in morte reliqui et nunc palantis video gemitumque cadentum accipio! Quid ago? Aut quae iam satis ima dehiscat
676terra mihi? Vos O potius miserescite venti: in rupes, in saxa, volens vos Turnus adoro ferte ratem saevisque vadis immittite Syrtis, quo neque me Rutuli nec conscia fama sequatur. Haec memorans animo nunc huc, nunc fluctuat illuc,
681an sese mucrone ob tantum dedecus amens induat et crudum per costas exigat ensem, fluctibus an iaciat mediis et litora nando curva petat Teucrumque iterum se reddat in arma. Ter conatus utramque viam, ter maxima Iuno
686continuit iuvenemque animi miserata repressit. Labitur alta secans fluctuque aestuque secundo et patris antiquam Dauni defertur ad urbem. At Iovis interea monitis Mezentius ardens succedit pugnae Teucrosque invadit ovantis.
691Concurrunt Tyrrhenae acies atque omnibus uni, uni odiisque viro telisque frequentibus instant. Ille velut rupes, vastum quae prodit in aequor, obvia ventorum furiis expostaque ponto, vim cunctam atque minas perfert caelique marisque,
696ipsa immota manens, prolem Dolichaonis Hebrum sternit humi, cum quo Latagum Palmumque fugacem, sed Latagum saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis occupat os faciemque adversam, poplite Palmum succiso volvi segnem sinit, armaque Lauso
701donat habere umeris et vertice figere cristas. Nec non Euanthen Phrygium Paridisque Mimanta aequalem comitemque, una quem nocte Theano in lucem genitori Amyco dedit et face praegnans Cisseis regina Parin creat: urbe paterna
706occubat, ignarum Laurens habet ora Mimanta. Ac velut ille canum morsu de montibus altis actus aper, multos Vesulus quem pinifer annos defendit multosve palus Laurentia, silva pastus harundinea, postquam inter retia ventum est,
711substitit infremuitque ferox et inhorruit armos, nec cuiquam irasci propiusque accedere virtus, sed iaculis tutisque procul clamoribus instant; ille autem impavidus partis cunctatur in omnis, dentibus infrendens, et tergo decutit hastas.
714haud aliter, iustae quibus est Mezentius irae, non ulli est animus stricto concurrere ferro; missilibus longe et vasto clamore lacessunt: Venerat antiquis Corythi de finibus Acron, Graius homo, infectos linquens profugus hymenaeos.
721Hunc ubi miscentem longe media agmina vidit, purpureum pennis et pactae coniugis ostro: impastus stabula alta leo ceu saepe peragrans, suadet enim vesana fames, si forte fugacem conspexit capream aut surgentem in cornua cervum,
726gaudet, hians immane, comasque arrexit et haeret visceribus super accumbens, lavit inproba taeter ora cruor, sic ruit in densos alacer Mezentius hostis. Sternitur infelix Acron et calcibus atram
731tundit humum expirans infractaque tela cruentat. Atque idem fugientem haud est dignatus Oroden sternere nec iacta caecum dare cuspide volnus: obvius adversoque occurrit seque viro vir contulit, haud furto melior, sed fortibus armis.
736Tum super abiectum posito pede nixus et hasta: Pars belli haud temnenda, viri, iacet altus Orodes. Conclamant socii laetum paeana secuti. Ille autem exspirans: Non me, quicumque es, inulto, victor, nec longum laetabere: te quoque fata
741prospectant paria atque eadem mox arva tenebis. Ad quae subridens mixta Mezentius ira: Nunc morere. Ast de me divom pater atque hominum rex viderit. Hoc dicens eduxit corpore telum: olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget
746somnus, in aeternam clauduntur lumina noctem. Caedicus Alcathoum obtruncat, Sacrator Hydaspen Partheniumque Rapo et praedurum viribus Orsen, Messapus Croniumque Lycaoniumque Erichaeten, illum infrenis equi lapsu tellure iacentem,
751hunc peditem. Pedes et Lycius processerat Agis, quem tamen haud expers Valerus virtutis avitae deicit; at Thronium Salius Saliumque Nealces insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta. Iam gravis aequabat luctus et mutua Mavors
756funera: caedebant pariter pariterque ruebant victores victique, neque his fuga nota neque illis. Di Iovis in tectis iram miserantur inanem amborum et tantos mortalibus esse labores: hinc Venus, hinc contra spectat Saturnia Iuno,
761pallida Tisiphone media inter milia saevit. At vero ingentem quatiens Mezentius hastam turbidus ingreditur campo. Quam magnus Orion, cum pedes incedit medii per maxima Nerei stagna viam scindens, umero supereminet undas
766aut summis referens annosam montibus ornum ingrediturque solo et caput inter nubila condit: talis se vastis infert Mezentius armis. Huic contra Aeneas, speculatus in agmine longo, obvius ire parat. Manet imperterritus ille,
771hostem magnanimum opperiens, et mole sua stat; atque oculis spatium emensus, quantum satis hastae: Dextra mihi deus et telum, quod missile libro, nunc adsint! Voveo praedonis corpore raptis indutum spoliis ipsum te, Lause, tropaeum
776Aeneae. Dixit stridentemque eminus hastam iecit; at illa volans clipeo est excussa proculque egregium Antoren latus inter et ilia figit, Herculis Antoren comitem, qui missus ab Argis haeserat Euandro atque Itala consederat urbe.
781Sternitur infelix alieno volnere caelumque aspicit et dulcis moriens reminiscitur Argos tum pius Aeneas hastam iacit: illa per orbem aere cavum triplici, per linea terga tribusque transit intextum tauris opus imaque sedit
786inguine, sed viris haud pertulit. Ocius ensem Aeneas, viso Tyrrheni sanguine laetus, eripit a femine et trepidanti fervidus instat. Ingemuit cari graviter genitoris amore, ut vidit, Lausus, lacrimaeque per ora volutae.
791Hic mortis durae casum tuaque optima facta, siqua fidem tanto est operi latura vetustas, non equidem nec te, iuvenis memorande, silebo. Ille pedem referens et inutilis inque ligatus cedebat clipeoque inimicum hastile trahebat:
796prorupit iuvenis seseque immiscuit armis iamque adsurgentis dextra plagamque ferentis Aeneae subiit mucronem ipsumque morando sustinuit. Socii magno clamore sequuntur, dum genitor nati parma protectus abiret,
801telaque coniciunt proturbantque eminus hostem missilibus. Furit Aeneas tectusque tenet se. Ac velut effusa siquando grandine nimbi praecipitant, omnis campis diffugit arator omnis et agricola et tuta latet arce viator,
806aut amnis ripis aut alti fornice saxi, dum pluit in terris, ut possint sole reducto exercere diem: sic obrutus undique telis Aeneas nubem belli, dum detonet omnis, sustinet et Lausum increpitat Lausoque minatur:
811Quo moriture ruis maioraque viribus audes? Fallit te incautum pietas tua. Nec minus ille exsultat demens; saevae iamque altius irae Dardanio surgunt ductori, extremaque Lauso Parcae fila legunt: validum namque exigit ensem
816per medium Aeneas iuvenem totumque recondit. Transiit et parmam mucro, levia arma minacis, et tunicam, molli mater quam neverat auro, implevitque sinum sanguis; tum vita per auras concessit maesta ad manis corpusque reliquit.
821At vero ut voltum vidit morientis et ora, ora modis Anchisiades pallentia miris, ingemuit miserans graviter dextramque tetendit, et mentem patriae subiit pietatis imago. Quid tibi nunc, miserande puer, pro laudibus istis,
826quid pius Aeneas tanta dabit indole dignum? Arma, quibus laetatus, habe tua, teque parentum manibus et cineri, siqua est ea cura, remitto. Hoc tamen infelix miseram solabere mortem: Aeneae magni dextra cadis. Increpat ultro
831cunctantis socios et terra sublevat ipsum, sanguine turpantem comptos de more capillos. Interea genitor Tiberini ad fluminis undam volnera siccabat lymphis corpusque levabat arboris adclinis trunco. Procul aerea ramis
836dependet galea et prato gravia arma quiescunt. Stant lecti circum iuvenes: ipse aeger anhelans colla fovet, fusus propexam in pectore barbam; multa super Lauso rogitat multumque remittit qui revocent maestique ferant mandata parentis.
841At Lausum socii exanimem super arma ferebant flentes, ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum. Agnovit longe gemitum praesaga mali mens: canitiem multo deformat pulvere et ambas ad caelum tendit palmas et corpore inhaeret.
846Tantane me tenuit vivendi, nate, voluptas, ut pro me hostili paterer succedere dextrae, quem genui? Tuane haec genitor per volnera servor, morte tua vivens? Heu, nunc misero mihi demum exitium infelix, nunc alte volnus adactum!
851Idem ego, nate, tuum maculavi crimine nomen, pulsus ob invidiam solio sceptrisque paternis. Debueram patriae poenas odiisque meorum: omnis per mortis animam sontem ipse dedissem! Nunc vivo neque adhuc homines lucemque relinquo.
856Sed linquam. Simul hoc dicens attollit in aegrum se femur et, quamvis dolor alto volnere tardet, haud deiectus equum duci iubet. Hoc decus illi, hoc solamen erat; bellis hoc victor abibat omnibus. Adloquitur maerentem et talibus infit:
861Rhaebe, diu, res siqua diu mortalibus ulla est, viximus. Aut hodie victor spolia illa cruenti et caput Aeneae referes Lausique dolorum ultor eris mecum aut, aperit si nulla viam vis, occumbes pariter; neque enim, fortissime, credo,
866iussa aliena pati et dominos dignabere Teucros. Dixit et exceptus tergo consueta locavit membra manusque ambas iaculis oneravit acutis, aere caput fulgens cristaque hirsutus equina. Sic cursum in medios rapidus dedit: aestuat ingens
871uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu, Atque hic Aenean magna ter voce vocavit. Aeneas agnovit enim laetusque precatur: Sic pater ille deum faciat, sic altus Apollo, incipias conferre manum.
877Tantum effatus et infesta subit obvius hasta. Ille autem: Quid me erepto, saevissime, nato terres? Haec via sola fuit, qua perdere posses. Nec mortem horremus nec divom parcimus ulli. Desine: nam venio moriturus et haec tibi porto
882dona prius. Dixit telumque intorsit in hostem; inde aliud super atque aliud figitque volatque ingenti gyro, sed sustinet aureus umbo. Ter circum adstantem laevos equitavit in orbes tela manu iaciens, ter secum Troïus heros
887immanem aerato circumfert tegmine silvam. Inde ubi tot traxisse moras, tot spicula taedet vellere et urgetur pugna congressus iniqua, multa movens animo iam tandem erumpit et inter bellatoris equi cava tempora conicit hastam.
892Tollit se arrectum quadrupes et calcibus auras verberat effusumque equitem super ipse secutus implicat eiectoque incumbit cernuus armo. Clamore incendunt caelum Troesque Latinique. Advolat Aeneas vaginaque eripit ensem
897et super haec: Ubi nunc Mezentius acer et illa effera vis animi? Contra Tyrrhenus, ut auras suspiciens hausit caelum mentemque recepit: Hostis amare, quid increpitas mortemque minaris? Nullum in caede nefas, nec sic ad proelia veni,
902nec tecum meus haec pepigit mihi foedera Lausus. Unum hoc per siqua est victis venia hostibus oro: corpus humo patiare tegi. Scio acerba meorum circumstare odia: hunc, oro, defende furorem et me consortem nati concede sepulchro.
907Haec loquitur iuguloque haud inscius accipit ensem undantique animam diffundit in arva cruore.
Book 11
1Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit: Aeneas, quamquam et sociis dare tempus humandis praecipitant curae turbataque funere mens est, vota deum primo victor solvebat Eoo. Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
6constituit tumulo fulgentiaque induit arma, Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi, magne, tropaeum, bellipotens: aptat rorantis sanguine cristas telaque trunca viri et bis sex thoraca petitum perfossumque locis clipeumque ex aere sinistrae
11subligat atque ensem collo suspendit eburnum. Tum socios, namque omnis eum stipata tegebat turba ducum, sic incipiens hortatur ovantis: Maxima res effecta, viri; timor omnis abesto, quod superest: haec sunt spolia et de rege superbo
16primitiae, manibusque meis Mezentius hic est. Nunc iter ad regem nobis murosque Latinos. Arma parate animis et spe praesumite bellum, nequa mora ignaros, ubi primum vellere signa adnuerint superi pubemque educere castris,
21impediat segnisve metu sententia tardet. Interea socios inhumataque corpora terrae mandemus, qui solus honos Acheronte sub imo est. Ite, ait, egregias animas, quae sanguine nobis hanc patriam peperere suo, decorate supremis
26muneribus, maestamque Evandri primus ad urbem mittatur Pallas, quem non virtutis egentem abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo. Sic ait inlacrimans recipitque ad limina gressum, corpus ubi exanimi positum Pallantis Acoetes
31servabat senior, qui Parrhasio Evandro armiger ante fuit, sed non felicibus aeque tum comes auspiciis caro datus ibat alumno. Circum omnis famulumque manus Troianaque turba et maestum Iliades crinem de more solutae.
36Ut vero Aeneas foribus sese intulit altis, ingentem gemitum tunsis ad sidera tollunt pectoribus, maestoque immugit regia luctu. Ipse caput nivei fultum Pallantis et ora ut vidit levique patens in pectore vulnus
41cuspidis Ausoniae, lacrimis ita fatur obortis. Tene, inquit, miserande puer, cum laeta veniret, invidit Fortuna mihi, ne regna videres nostra neque ad sedes victor veherere paternas? Non haec Evandro de te promissa parenti
46discedens dederam, cum me complexus euntem mitteret in magnum imperium metuensque moneret acris esse viros, cum dura proelia gente. Et nunc ille quidem spe multum captus inani fors et vota facit cumulatque altaria donis:
51nos iuvenem exanimum et nil iam caelestibus ullis debentem vano maesti comitamur honore. Infelix, nati funus crudele videbis! Hi nostri reditus expectatique triumphi! Haec mea magna fides! At non, Evandre, pudendis
56vulneribus pulsum adspicies nec sospite dirum optabis nato funus pater. Ei mihi, quantum praesidium Ausonia et quantum tu perdis, Iule! Haec ubi deflevit, tolli miserabile corpus imperat et toto lectos ex agmine mittit
61mille viros, qui supremum comitentur honorem intersintque patris lacrimis, solacia luctus exigua ingentis, misero sed debita patri. Haud segnes alii crates et molle feretrum arbuteis texunt virgis et vimine querno
66exstructosque toros obtentu frondis inumbrant. Hic iuvenem agresti sublimem stramine ponunt, qualem virgineo demessum pollice florem seu mollis violae seu languentis hyacinthi, cui neque fulgor adhuc necdum sua forma recessit:
71non iam mater alit tellus viresque ministrat. Tum geminas vestes auroque ostroque rigentis extulit Aeneas, quas illi laeta laborum ipsa suis quondam manibus Sidonia Dido fecerat et tenui telas discreverat auro.
76Harum unam iuveni supremum maestus honorem induit arsurasque comas obnubit amictu, multaque praeterea Laurentis praemia pugnae aggerat et longo praedam iubet ordine duci. Addit equos et tela, quibus spoliaverat hostem.
81Vinxerat et post terga manus, quos mitteret umbris inferias, caeso sparsuros sanguine flammas, indutosque iubet truncos hostilibus armis ipsos ferre duces inimicaque nomina figi. Ducitur infelix aevo confectus Acoetes:
86pectora nunc foedans pugnis, nunc unguibus ora sternitur et toto proiectus corpore terrae.~.~. Ducunt et Rutulo perfusos sanguine currus. Post bellator equus positis insignibus Aethon it lacrimans guttisque umectat grandibus ora.
91Hastam alii galeamque ferunt, nam cetera Turnus victor habet. Tum maesta phalanx Teucrique sequuntur Tyrrhenique omnes et versis Arcades armis. Postquam omnis longe comitum praecesserat ordo, substitit Aeneas gemituque haec addidit alto:
96Nos alias hinc ad lacrimas eadem horrida belli fata vocant: salve aeternum mihi, maxime Palla, aeternumque vale. Nec plura effatus ad altos tendebat muros gressumque in castra ferebat. Iamque oratores aderant ex urbe Latina,
101velati ramis oleae veniamque rogantes: corpora, per campos ferro quae fusa iacebant, redderet ac tumulo sineret succedere terrae; nullum cum victis certamen et aethere cassis; parceret hospitibus quondam socerisque vocatis.
106Quos bonus Aeneas haud aspernanda precantis prosequitur venia et verbis haec insuper addit: Quaenam vos tanto fortuna indigna, Latini, implicuit bello, qui nos fugiatis amicos? Pacem me exanimis et Martis sorte peremptis
111oratis? Equidem et vivis concedere vellem. Nec veni, nisi fata locum sedemque dedissent, nec bellum cum gente gero: rex nostra reliquit hospitia et Turni potius se credidit armis. Aequius huic Turnum fuerat se opponere morti.
116Si bellum finire manu, si pellere Teucros apparat, his mecum decuit concurrere telis: vixet, cui vitam deus aut sua dextra dedisset. Nunc ite et miseris supponite civibus ignem. Dixerat Aeneas. Illi obstipuere silentes
121conversique oculos inter se atque ora tenebant. Tum senior semperque odiis et crimine Drances infensus iuveni Turno sic ore vicissim orsa refert: O fama ingens, ingentior armis vir Troiane, quibus caelo te laudibus aequem?
126Iustitiaene prius mirer belline laborum? Nos vero haec patriam grati referemus ad urbem et te, siqua viam dederit fortuna, Latino iungemus regi: quaerat sibi foedera Turnus. Quin et fatalis murorum attollere moles
131saxaque subvectare umeris Troiana iuvabit. Dixerat haec, unoque omnes eadem ore fremebant. Bis senos pepigere dies et pace sequestra per silvas Teucri mixtique inpune Latini erravere iugis. Ferro sonat alta bipenni
136fraxinus, evertunt actas ad sidera pinus, robora nec cuneis et olentem scindere cedrum nec plaustris cessant vectare gementibus ornos. Et iam Fama volans, tanti praenuntia luctus, Evandrum Evandrique domos et moenia replet,
141quae modo victorem Latio Pallanta ferebat. Arcades ad portas ruere et de more vetusto funereas rapuere faces; lucet via longo ordine flammarum et late discriminat agros. Contra turba Phrygum veniens plangentia iungit
146agmina. Quae postquam matres succedere tectis viderunt, maestam incendunt clamoribus urbem. At non Evandrum potis est vis ulla tenere, sed venit in medios. Feretro Pallanta reposto procubuit super atque haeret lacrimansque gemensque,
151et via vix tandem vocis laxata dolore est. Non haec, O Palla, dederas promissa parenti, cautius ut saevo velles te credere Marti; haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis et praedulce decus primo certamine posset.
156Primitiae iuvenis miserae bellique propinqui dura rudimenta et nulli exaudita deorum vota precesque meae! Tuque, O sanctissima coniunx, felix morte tua neque in hunc servata dolorem! Contra ego vivendo vici mea fata, superstes
161restarem ut genitor. Troum socia arma secutum obruerent Rutuli telis! Animam ipse dedissem atque haec pompa domum me, non Pallanta, referret, nec vos arguerim, Teucri, nec foedera nec quas iunximus hospitio dextras: sors ista senectae
166debita erat nostrae. Quod si immatura manebat mors natum, caesis Volscorum milibus ante ducentem in Latium Teucros cecidisse iuvabit. Quin ego non alio digner te funere, Palla, quam pius Aeneas
172Magna tropaea ferunt, quos dat tua dextera Leto: tu quoque nunc stares immanis truncus in armis, esset par aetas et idem si robur ab annis, Turne. Sed infelix Teucros quid demoror armis? Vadite et haec memores regi mandata referte:
177quod vitam moror invisam Pallante perempto, dextera causa tua est, Turnum natoque patrique quam debere vides. Meritis vacat hic tibi solus fortunaeque locus. Non vitae gaudia quaero, nec fas, sed nato Manis perferre sub imos.
182Aurora interea miseris mortalibus almam extulerat lucem, referens opera atque labores: iam pater Aeneas, iam curvo in litore Tarchon constituere pyras. Huc corpora quisque suorum more tulere patrum, subiectisque ignibus atris
187conditur in tenebras altum caligine caelum. Ter circum accensos cincti fulgentibus armis decurrere rogos, ter maestum funeris ignem lustravere in equis ululatusque ore dedere; spargitur et tellus lacrimis, sparguntur et arma:
192it caelo clamorque virum clangorque tubarum. Hic alii spolia occisis derepta Latinis coniciunt igni, galeas ensesque decoros frenaque ferventisque rotas; pars munera nota, ipsorum clipeos et non felicia tela.
197Multa boum circa mactantur corpora Morti, saetigerosque sues raptasque ex omnibus agris in flammam iugulant pecudes. Tum litore toto ardentis spectant socios semustaque servant busta neque avelli possunt, nox umida donec
202invertit caelum stellis ardentibus aptum. Nec minus et miseri diversa in parte Latini innumeras struxere pyras, et corpora partim multa virum terrae infodiunt avectaque partim finitimos tollunt in agros urbique remittunt,
207cetera confusaeque ingentem caedis acervum nec numero nec honore cremant: tunc undique vasti certatim crebris conlucent ignibus agri. Tertia lux gelidam caelo dimoverat umbram: maerentes altum cinerem et confusa ruebant
212ossa focis tepidoque onerabant aggere terrae. Iam vero in tectis, praedivitis urbe Latini, praecipuus fragor et longi pars maxima luctus. Hic matres miseraeque nurus, hic cara sororum pectora maerentum puerique parentibus orbi
217dirum exsecrantur bellum Turnique hymenaeos: ipsum armis ipsumque iubent decernere ferro, qui regnum Italiae et primos sibi poscat honores. ingravat haec saevus Drances solumque vocari testatur, solum posci in certamina Turnum.
222Multa simul contra variis sententia dictis pro Turno, et magnum reginae nomen obumbrat, multa virum meritis sustentat fama tropaeis. Hos inter motus, medio in flagrante tumultu, ecce super maesti magna Diomedis ab urbe
227legati responsa ferunt: nihil omnibus actum tantorum impensis operum, nil dona neque aurum nec magnas valuisse preces, alia arma Latinis quaerenda aut pacem Troiano ab rege petendum. Deficit ingenti luctu rex ipse Latinus.
232Fatalem Aenean manifesto numine ferri admonet ira deum tumulique ante ora recentes. Ergo concilium magnum primosque suorum imperio accitos alta intra limina cogit. olli convenere fluuntque ad regia plenis
237tecta viis. Sedet in mediis et maximus aevo et primus sceptris haud laeta fronte Latinus. Atque hic legatos Aetola ex urbe remissos, quae referant, fari iubet et responsa reposcit ordine cuncta suo. Tum facta silentia linguis,
242et Venulus dicto parens ita farier infit: Vidimus, o cives, Diomedem Argivaque castra atque iter emensi casus superavimus omnis contigimusque manum, qua concidit Ilia tellus. Ille urbem Argyripam patriae cognomine gentis
247victor Gargani condebat Iapygis agris. Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi, munera praeferimus, nomen patriamque docemus, qui bellum intulerint, quae causa attraxerit Arpos. Auditis ille haec placido sic reddidit ore:
252O fortunatae gentes, Saturnia regna, antiqui Ausonii, quae vos fortuna quietos sollicitat suadetque ignota lacessere bella? Quicumque Iliacos ferro violavimus agros, mitto ea, quae muris bellando exhausta sub altis,
257quos Simois premat ille viros, infanda per orbem supplicia et scelerum poenas expendimus omnes, vel Priamo miseranda manus: scit triste Minervae sidus et Euboicae cautes ultorque Caphareus. Militia ex illa diversum ad litus abacti
262Atrides Protei Menelaus adusque columnas exsulat, Aetnaeos vidit Cyclopas Ulixes. Regna Neoptolemi referam versosque penates Idomenei? Libycone habitantis litore Locros? Ipse Mycenaeus magnorum ductor Achivom
267coniugis infandae prima inter limina dextra oppetiit: devictam Asiam subsedit adulter. Invidisse deos, patriis ut redditus aris coniugium optatum et pulchram Calydona viderem? Nunc etiam horribili visu portenta sequuntur,
272et socii amissi petierunt aethera pennis fluminibusque vagantur aves, heu dira meorum supplicia, et scopulos lacrimosis vocibus implent. Haec adeo ex illo mihi iam speranda fuerunt tempore, cum ferro caelestia corpora demens
277adpetii et Veneris violavi volnere dextram. Ne vero, ne me ad talis impellite pugnas: nec mihi cum Teucris ullum post eruta bellum Pergama, nec veterum memini laetorve malorum. Munera, quae patriis ad me portatis ab oris,
282vertite ad Aenean. Stetimus tela aspera contra contulimusque manus: experto credite, quantus in clipeum adsurgat, quo turbine torqueat hastam. Si duo praeterea talis Idaea tulisset terra viros, ultro Inachias venisset ad urbes
287Dardanus, et versis lugeret Graecia fatis. Quidquid apud durae cessatum est moenia Troiae, Hectoris Aeneaeque manu victoria Graium haesit et in decimum vestigia rettulit annum. Ambo animis, ambo insignes praestantibus armis
292hic pietate prior. Coeant in foedera dextrae, qua datur; ast armis concurrant arma cavete. Et responsa simul quae sint, rex optime, regis audisti et quae sit magno sententia bello. Vix ea legati, variusque per ora cucurrit
297Ausonidum turbata fremor: ceu saxa morantur cum rapidos amnis, fit clauso gurgite murmur vicinaeque fremunt ripae crepitantibus undis. Ut primum placati animi et trepida ora quierunt, praefatus divos solio rex infit ab alto:
302Ante equidem summa de re statuisse, Latini, et vellem et fuerat melius, non tempore tali cogere concilium, cum muros adsidet hostis. Bellum importunum, cives, cum gente deorum invictisque viris gerimus, quos nulla fatigant
307proelia: nec victi possunt absistere ferro. Spem siquam adscitis Aetolum habuistis in armis, ponite. Spes sibi quisque, sed haec quam angusta videtis; cetera qua rerum iaceant perculsa ruina, ante oculos interque manus sunt omnia vestras.
312Nec quemquam incuso: potuit quae plurima virtus esse, fuit; toto certatum est corpore regni. Nunc adeo quae sit dubiae sententia menti expediam et paucis, animos adhibete, docebo. Est antiquus ager Tusco mihi proximus amni,
317longus in occasum, finis super usque Sicanos; Aurunci Rutulique serunt et vomere duros exercent colles atque horum asperrima pascunt. Haec omnis regio et celsi plaga pinea montis cedat amicitiae Teucrorum, et foederis aequas
322dicamus leges sociosque in regna vocemus. Considant, si tantus amor, et moenia condant. Sin alios finis aliamque capessere gentem est animus possuntque solo decedere nostro: bis denas Italo texamus robore navis
327seu pluris complere valent, iacet omnis ad undam materies, ipsi numerumque modumque carinis praecipiant, nos aera manus navalia demus. Praeterea qui dicta ferant et foedera firment centum oratores prima de gente Latinos
332ire placet pacisque manu praetendere ramos, munera portantis aurique eborisque talenta et sellam regni trabeamque insignia nostri. Consulite in medium et rebus succurrite fessis. Tum Drances idem infensus, quem gloria Turni
337obliqua invidia stimulisque agitabat amaris, largus opum et lingua melior, sed frigida bello dextera, consiliis habitus non futilis auctor, seditione potens (genus huic materna superbum nobilitas dabat, incertum de patre ferebat),
342surgit et his onerat dictis atque aggerat iras: Rem nulli obscuram nostrae nec vocis egentem consulis, O bone rex: cuncti se scire fatentur, quid fortuna ferat populi, sed dicere mussant. Det libertatem fandi flatusque remittat
347cuius ob auspicium infaustum moresque sinistros (dicam equidem, licet arma mihi mortemque minetur) lumina tot cecidisse ducum totamque videmus consedisse urbem luctu, dum Troia temptat castra fugae fidens et caelum territat armis.
352Unum etiam donis istis, quae plurima mitti Dardanidis dicique iubes, unum, optime regum, adicias nec te ullius violentia vincat, quin natam egregio genero dignisque hymenaeis des, pater, et pacem hanc aeterno foedere iungas.
357Quod si tantus habet mentes et pectora terror, ipsum obtestemur veniamque oremus ab ipso: cedat, ius proprium regi patriaeque remittat. Quid miseros totiens in aperta pericula cives proicis, O Latio caput horum et causa malorum?
362Nulla salus bello: pacem te poscimus omnes, Turne, simul pacis solum inviolabile pignus. Primus ego, invisum quem tu tibi fingis, et esse nil moror, en supplex venio. Miserere tuorum, pone animos et pulsus abi. Sat funera fusi
367vidimus ingentis et desolavimus agros. Aut si fama movet, si tantum pectore robur concipis et si adeo dotalis regia cordi est, aude atque adversum fidens fer pectus in hostem. Scilicet ut Turno contingat regia coniunx,
372nos animae viles, inhumata infletaque turba, sternamur campis. Etiam tu, siqua tibi vis, si patrii quid Martis habes, illum aspice contra, qui vocat. Talibus exarsit dictis violentia Turni;
377dat gemitum rumpitque has imo pectore voces Larga quidem, Drance, semper tibi copia fandi tum, cum bella manus poscunt, patribusque vocatis primus ades. Sed non replenda est curia verbis, quae tuto tibi magna volant, dum distinet hostem
382agger murorum nec inundant sanguine fossae. Proinde tona eloquio, solitum tibi, meque timoris argue tu, Drance, quando tot stragis acervos Teucrorum tua dextra dedit passimque tropaeis insignis agros. Possit quid vivida virtus,
387experiare licet; nec longe scilicet hostes quaerendi nobis: circumstant undique muros. Imus in adversos: quid cessas? An tibi Mavors ventosa in lingua pedibusque fugacibus istis semper erit?
392Pulsus ego? Aut quisquam merito, foedissime, pulsum arguet, Iliaco tumidum qui crescere Thybrim sanguine et Evandri totam cum stirpe videbit procubuisse domum atque exutos Arcadas armis? Haud ita me experti Bitias et Pandarus ingens
397et quos mille die victor sub Tartara misi, inclusus muris hostilique aggere saeptus. Nulla salus bello. Capiti cane talia, demens, Dardanio rebusque tuis. Proinde omnia magno ne cessa turbare metu atque extollere vires
402gentis bis victae, contra premere arma Latini. Nunc et Myrmidonum proceres Phrygia arma tremescunt, nunc et Tydides et Larissaeus Achilles, amnis et Hadriacas retro fugit Aufidus undas. Vel cum se pavidum contra mea iurgia fingit
407artificis scelus et formidine crimen acerbat. Numquam animam talem dextra hac, absiste moveri, amittes: habitet tecum et sit pectore in isto. Nunc ad te et tua magna, pater, consulta revertor. Si nullam nostris ultra spem ponis in armis,
412si tam deserti sumus et semel agmine verso funditus occidimus neque habet Fortuna regressum? oremus pacem et dextras tendamus inertis. Quamquam O, si solitae quicquam virtutis adesset! Ille mihi ante alios fortunatusque laborum
417egregiusque animi, qui, nequid tale videret, procubuit moriens et humum semel ore momordit. Sin et opes nobis et adhuc intacta iuventus auxilioque urbes Italae populique supersunt, sin et Troianis cum multo gloria venit
422sanguine, sunt illis sua funera parque per omnis tempestas: cur indecores in limine primo deficimus? Cur ante tubam tremor occupat artus? Multa dies variisque labor mutabilis aevi rettulit in melius, multos alterna revisens
427lusit et in solido rursus Fortuna locavit. Non erit auxilio nobis Aetolus et Arpi: at Messapus erit felixque Tolumnius et quos tot populi misere duces, nec parva sequetur gloria delectos Latio et Laurentibus agris.
432Est et Volscorum egregia de gente Camilla, agmen agens equitum et florentis aere catervas. Quod si me solum Teucri in certamina poscunt idque placet tantumque bonis communibus obsto, non adeo has exosa manus Victoria fugit,
437ut tanta quicquam pro spe temptare recusem. Ibo animis contra, vel magnum praestet Achillem factaque Vulcani manibus paria induat arma ille licet. Vobis animam hanc soceroque Latino Turnus ego, haud ulli veterum virtute secundus,
442devovi. Solum Aeneas vocat: et vocet oro, nec Drances potius, sive est haec ira deorum, morte luat, sive est virtus et gloria, tollat. Illi haec inter se dubiis de rebus agebant certantes; castra Aeneas aciemque movebat:
447nuntius ingenti per regia tecta tumultu ecce ruit magnisque urbem terroribus implet, instructos acie Tiberino a flumine Teucros Tyrrhenamque manum totis descendere campis. Extemplo turbati animi concussaque vulgi
452pectora et adrectae stimulis haud mollibus irae. Arma manu trepidi poscunt, fremit arma iuventus, flent maesti mussantque patres. Hic undique clamor dissensu vario magnus se tollit in auras haud secus atque alto in luco cum forte catervae
457consedere avium piscosove amne Padusae dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni. Immo, ait, O cives adrepto tempore, Turnus, cogite concilium et pacem laudate sedentes: illi armis in regna ruunt. Nec plura locutus
462corripuit sese et tectis citus extulit altis. Tu, Voluse, armari Volscorum edice maniplos, duc, ait, et Rutulos. Equitem Messapus in armis et cum fratre Coras latis diffundite campis. Pars aditus urbis firmet turrisque capessat,
467cetera, qua iusso, mecum manus inferat arma. Ilicet in muros tota discurritur urbe. Consilium ipse pater et magna incepta Latinus deserit ac tristi turbatus tempore differt multaque se incusat, qui non adceperit ultro
472Dardanium Aenean generumque adsciverit urbi. Praefodiunt alii portas aut saxa sudesque subvectant. Bello dat signum rauca cruentum bucina. Tum muros varia cinxere corona matronae puerique: vocat labor ultimus omnis.
477Nec non ad templum summasque ad Palladis arces subvehitur magna matrum regina caterva dona ferens, iuxtaque comes Lavinia virgo, causa mali tanti, oculos deiecta decoros. Succedunt matres et templum ture vaporant
482et maestas alto fundunt de limine voces: Armipotens, praeses belli, Tritonia virgo, frange manu telum Phrygii praedonis et ipsum pronum sterne solo portisque effunde sub altis. Cingitur ipse furens certatim in proelia Turnus.
487Iamque adeo rutilum thoraca indutus aenis horrebat squamis surasque incluserat auro, tempora nudus adhuc, laterique adcinxerat ensem fulgebatque alta decurrens aureus arce, exsultatque animis et spe iam praecipit hostem:
492qualis ubi abruptis fugit praesaepia vinclis tandem liber equus campoque potitus aperto aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum aut adsuetus aquae perfundi flumine noto emicat adrectisque fremit cervicibus alte
497luxurians, luduntque iubae per colla, per armos. Obvia cui Volscorum acie comitante Camilla occurrit portisque ab equo regina sub ipsis desiluit, quam tota cohors imitata relictis ad terram defluxit equis; tum talia fatur:
502Turne, sui merito siqua est fiducia forti, audeo et Aeneadum promitto occurrere turmae solaque Tyrrhenos equites ire obvia contra. Me sine prima manu temptare pericula belli tu pedes ad muros subsiste et moenia serva.
507Turnus ad haec, oculos horrenda in virgine fixus: O decus Italiae virgo, quas dicere grates quasve referre parem? Sed nunc, est omnia quando iste animus supra, mecum partire laborem. Aeneas, ut fama fidem missique reportant
512exploratores, equitum levia improbus arma praemisit, quaterent campos; ipse ardua montis per deserta iugo superans adventat ad urbem. Furta paro belli convexo in tramite silvae, ut bivias armato obsidam milite fauces.
517Tu Tyrrhenum equitem conlatis excipe signis; tecum acer Messapus erit turmaeque Latinae Tiburtique manus, ducis et tu concipe curam. Sic ait, et paribus Messapum in proelia dictis hortatur sociosque duces et pergit in hostem.
522Est curvo anfractu valles, adcommoda fraudi armorumque dolis, quam densis frondibus atrum urget utrimque latus, tenuis quo semita ducit angustaeque ferunt fauces aditusque maligni. Hanc super in speculis summoque in vertice montis
527planities ignota iacet tutique receptus, seu dextra laevaque velis occurrere pugnae, sive instare iugis et grandia volvere saxa. Huc iuvenis nota fertur regione viarum arripuitque locum et silvis insedit iniquis.
532Velocem interea superis in sedibus Opim, unam ex virginibus sociis sacraque caterva, compellabat et has tristis Latonia voces ore dabat: Graditur bellum ad crudele Camilla, O virgo, et nostris nequiquam cingitur armis,
537cara mihi ante alias. Neque enim novus iste Dianae venit amor subitaque animum dulcedine movit. Pulsus ob invidiam regno viresque superbas Priverno antiqua Metabus cum excederet urbe, infantem fugiens media inter proelia belli
542sustulit exsilio comitem matrisque vocavit nomine Casmillae mutata parte Camillam. Ipse sinu prae se portans iuga longa petebat solorum nemorum: tela undique saeva premebant et circumfuso volitabant milite Volsci.
547Ecce fugae medio summis Amasenus abundans spumabat ripis: tantus se nubibus imber ruperat. Ille, innare parans, infantis amore tardatur caroque oneri timet. Omnia secum versanti subito vix haec sententia sedit.
552Telum immane manu valida quod forte gerebat bellator, solidum nodis et robore cocto, huic natam, libro et silvestri subere clausam, implicat atque habilem mediae circumligat hastae; quam dextra ingenti librans ita ad aethera fatur:
557Alma, tibi hanc, nemorum cultrix, Latonia virgo, ipse pater famulam voveo; tua prima per auras tela tenens supplex hostem fugit. Accipe, testor, diva tuam, quae nunc dubiis committitur auris. Dixit et adducto contortum hastile lacerto
562immittit: sonuere undae, rapidum super amnem infelix fugit in iaculo stridente Camilla. At Metabus, magna propius iam urgente caterva, dat sese fluvio atque hastam cum virgine victor gramineo donum Triviae de caespite vellit.
567Non illum tectis ullae, non moenibus urbes accepere neque ipse manus feritate dedisset: pastorum et solis exegit montibus aevom. Hic natam in dumis interque horrentia lustra armentalis equae mammis et lacte ferino
572nutribat, teneris immulgens ubera labris. Utque pedum primis infans vestigia plantis institerat, iaculo palmas armavit acuto spiculaque ex umero parvae suspendit et arcum. Pro crinali auro, pro longae tegmine pallae
577tigridis exuviae per dorsum a vertice pendent. Tela manu iam tum tenera puerilia torsit et fundam tereti circum caput egit habena Strymoniamque gruem aut album deiecit olorem. Multae illam frustra Tyrrhena per oppida matres
582optavere nurum: sola contenta Diana aeternum telorum et virginitatis amorem intemerata colit. Vellem haud correpta fuisset militia tali, conata lacessere Teucros: cara mihi comitumque foret nunc una mearum.
587Verum age, quandoquidem fatis urgetur acerbis, abere, nympha, polo finisque invise Latinos, tristis ubi infausto committitur omine pugna. Haec cape et ultricem pharetra deprome sagittam: hac quicumque sacrum violarit volnere corpus,
592Tros Italusque, mihi pariter det sanguine poenas. Post ego nube cava miserandae corpus et arma inspoliata feram tumulo patriaeque reponam. Dixit; at illa levis caeli delapsa per auras insonuit, nigro circumdata turbine corpus.
597At manus interea muris Troiana propinquat Etruscique duces equitumque exercitus omnis, compositi numero in turmas. Fremit aequore toto insultans sonipes et pressis pugnat habenis huc conversus et huc; tum late ferreus hastis
602horret ager campique armis sublimibus ardent. Nec non Messapus contra celeresque Latini et cum fratre Coras et virginis ala Camillae adversi campo apparent hastasque reductis protendunt longe dextris et spicula vibrant,
607adventusque virum fremitusque ardescit equorum. Iamque intra iactum teli progressus uterque substiterat: subito erumpunt clamore furentisque exhortantur equos; fundunt simul undique tela crebra nivis ritu caelumque obtexitur umbra.
612Continuo adversis Tyrrhenus et acer Aconteus conixi incurrunt hastis primique ruina dant sonitum ingenti perfractaque quadrupedantum pectora pectoribus rumpunt: excussus Aconteus fulminis in morem aut tormento ponderis acti
617praecipitat longe et vitam dispergit in auras. Extemplo turbatae acies, versique Latini reiciunt parmas et equos ad moenia vertunt. Troes agunt, princeps turmas inducit Asilas. Iamque propinquabant portis, rursusque Latini
622clamorem tollunt et mollia colla reflectunt: hi fugiunt penitusque datis referuntur habenis. Qualis ubi alterno procurrens gurgite pontus nunc ruit ad terram scopulusque superiacit unda spumeus extremamque sinu perfundit arenam,
627nunc rapidus retro atque aestu revoluta resorbens saxa fugit litusque vado labente relinquit: bis Tusci Rutulos egere ad moenia versos, bis reiecti armis respectant terga tegentes. Tertia sed postquam congressi in proelia totas
632implicuere inter se acies legitque virum vir: tum vero et gemitus morientum et sanguine in alto armaque corporaque et permixti caede virorum semianimes volvuntur equi, pugna aspera surgit. Orsilochus Remuli, quando ipsum horrebat adire,
637hastam intorsit equo ferrumque sub aure reliquit. Quo sonipes ictu furit arduus altaque iactat vulneris impatiens arrecto pectore crura: volvitur ille excussus humi. Catillus Iollan ingentemque animis, ingentem corpore et armis
642deicit Herminium, nudo cui vertice fulva caesaries nudique umeri, nec vulnera terrent: tantus in arma patet. Latos huic hasta per armos acta tremit duplicatque virum transfixa dolore. Funditur ater ubique cruor; dant funera ferro
647certantes pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. At medias inter caedes exsultat Amazon, unum exserta latus pugnae, pharetrata Camilla, et nunc lenta manu spargens hastilia denset, nunc validam dextra rapit indefessa bipennem;
652aureus ex umero sonat arcus et arma Dianae. Illa etiam in tergum, siquando pulsa recessit, spicula converso fugientia dirigit arcu. At circum lectae comites, Larinaque virgo Tullaque et aeratam quatiens Tarpeia securem,
657Italides, quas ipsa decus sibi dia Camilla delegit pacisque bonas bellique ministras: quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru
662Penthesilea refert, magnoque ululante tumultu feminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis. Quem telo primum, quem postremum, aspera virgo, deicis? Aut quot humi morientia corpora fundis? Eunaeum Clitio primum patre, cuius apertum
667adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus: sanguinis ille vomens rivos cadit atque cruentam mandit humum moriensque suo se in volnere versat. Tum Lirim Pagasumque super; quorum alter habenas suffosso revolutus equo dum colligit, alter
672dum subit ac dextram labenti tendit inermem, praecipites pariterque ruunt. His addit Amastrum Hippotaden, sequiturque incumbens eminus hasta Tereaque Harpalycumque et Demophoonta Chrominque; quotque emissa manu contorsit spicula virgo,
677tot Phrygii cecidere viri. Procul Ornytus armis ignotis et equo venator Iapyge fertur, cui pellis latos umeros erepta iuvenco pugnatori operit, caput ingens oris hiatus et malae texere lupi cum dentibus albis,
682agrestisque manus armat sparus; ipse catervis vertitur in mediis et toto vertice supra est. Hunc illa exceptum, neque enim labor agmine verso, traicit et super haec inimico pectore fatur: Silvis te, Tyrrhene, feras agitare putasti?
687Advenit qui vestra dies muliebribus armis verba redarguerit. Nomen tamen haud leve patrum manibus hoc referes, telo cecidisse Camillae. Protinus Orsilochum et Buten, duo maxima Teucrum corpora, sed Buten aversum cuspide fixit
692loricam galeamque inter, qua colla sedentis lucent et laevo dependet parma lacerto, Orsilochum fugiens magnumque agitata per orbem eludit gyro interior sequiturque sequentem, tum validam perque arma viro perque ossa securim
697altior exsurgens oranti et multa precanti congeminat: vulnus calido rigat ora cerebro. Incidit huic subitoque aspectu territus haesit Appenninicolae bellator filius Auni, haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata sinebant.
702Isque ubi se nullo iam cursu evadere pugnae posse neque instantem reginam avertere cernit, consilio versare dolos ingressus et astu incipit haec: Quid tam egregium, si femina forti fidis equo? Dimitte fugam et te comminus aequo
707mecum crede solo pugnaeque adcinge pedestri: iam nosces, ventosa ferat cui gloria fraudem. Dixit, at illa furens acrique adcensa dolore tradit equum comiti paribusque resistit in armis, ense pedes nudo puraque interrita parma.
712At iuvenis, vicisse dolo ratus, avolat ipse, haud mora, conversisque fugax aufertur habenis quadrupedemque citum ferrata calce fatigat. Vane Ligus frustraque animis elate superbis, nequiquam patrias temptasti lubricus artis,
717nec fraus te incolumem fallaci perferet Auno, haec fatur virgo et pernicibus ignea plantis transit equum cursu frenisque adversa prehensis congreditur poenasque inimico ex sanguine sumit: quam facile accipiter saxo sacer ales ab alto
722consequitur pennis sublimem in nube columbam comprensamque tenet pedibusque eviscerat uncis; tum cruor et vulsae labuntur ab aethere plumae. At non haec nullis hominum sator atque deorum observans oculis summo sedet altus Olympo:
727Tyrrhenum genitor Tarchonem in proelia saeva suscitat et stimulis haud mollibus incitat iras. Ergo inter caedes cedentiaque agmina Tarchon fertur equo variisque instigat vocibus alas, nomine quemque vocans, reficitque in proelia pulsos.
732Quis metus, O numquam dolituri, O semper inertes Tyrrheni, quae tanta animis ignavia venit? Femina palantis agit atque haec agmina vertit! Quo ferrum quidve haec gerimus tela inrita dextris? At non in Venerem segnes nocturnaque bella
737aut ubi curva choros indixit tibia Bacchi, exspectate dapes et plenae pocula mensae, hic amor, hoc studium, dum sacra secundus haruspex nuntiet ac lucos vocet hostia pinguis in altos! Haec effatus equum in medios, moriturus et ipse,
742concitat et Venulo adversum se turbidus infert dereptumque ab equo dextra complectitur hostem et gremium ante suum multa vi concitus aufert. Tollitur in caelum clamor, cunctique Latini convertere oculos. Volat igneus aequore Tarchon
747arma virumque ferens; tum summa ipsius ab hasta defringit ferrum et partis rimatur apertas, qua vulnus letale ferat; contra ille repugnans sustinet a iugulo dextram et vim viribus exit. Utque volans alte raptum cum fulva draconem
752fert aquila implicuitque pedes atque unguibus haesit, saucius at serpens sinuosa volumina versat adrectisque horret squamis et sibilat ore, arduus insurgens; illa haud minus urget obunco luctantem rostro, simul aethera verberat alis:
757haud aliter praedam Tiburtum ex agmine Tarchon portat ovans. Ducis exemplum eventumque secuti Maeonidae incurrunt. Tum fatis debitus Arruns velocem iaculo et multa prior arte Camillam circuit et quae sit fortuna facillima, temptat.
762Qua se cumque furens medio tulit agmine virgo, hac Arruns subit et tacitus vestigia lustrat; qua victrix redit illa pedemque ex hoste reportat, hac iuvenis furtim celeris detorquet habenas. Hos aditus iamque hos aditus omnemque pererrat
767undique circuitum et certam quatit improbus hastam. Forte sacer Cybelo Chloreus olimque sacerdos insignis longe Phrygiis fulgebat in armis spumantemque agitabat equum, quem pellis aënis in plumam squamis auro conserta tegebat.
772Ipse, peregrina ferrugine clarus et ostro, spicula torquebat Lycio Gortynia cornu; aureus ex umeris erat arcus et aurea vati cassida; tum croceam chlamydemque sinusque crepantis carbaseos fulvo in nodum collegerat auro
777pictus acu tunicas et barbara tegmina crurum. Hunc virgo, sive ut templis praefigeret arma Troïa, captivo sive ut se ferret in auro venatrix, unum ex omni certamine pugnae caeca sequebatur totumque incauta per agmen
782femineo praedae et spoliorum ardebat amore, telum ex insidiis cum tandem tempore capto concitat et superos Arruns sic voce precatur: Summe deum, sancti custos Soractis Apollo, quem primi colimus, cui pineus ardor acervo
787pascitur et medium freti pietate per ignem cultores multa premimus vestigia pruna, da, pater, hoc nostris aboleri dedecus armis, omnipotens. Non exuvias pulsaeve tropaeum virginis aut spolia ulla peto (mihi cetera laudem
792facta ferent): haec dira meo dum vulnere pestis pulsa cadat, patrias remeabo inglorius urbes. Audiit et voti Phoebus succedere partem mente dedit, partem volucris dispersit in auras: sterneret ut subita turbatam morte Camillam,
797adnuit oranti; reducem ut patria alta videret, non dedit, inque Notos vocem vertere procellae. Ergo ut missa manu sonitum dedit hasta per auras, convertere animos acris oculosque tulere cuncti ad reginam Volsci. Nihil ipsa nec aurae
802nec sonitus memor aut venientis ab aethere teli, hasta sub exsertam donec perlata papillam haesit virgineumque alte bibit acta cruorem. Concurrunt trepidae comites dominamque ruentem suscipiunt. Fugit ante omnis exterritus Arruns,
807laetitia mixtoque metu, nec iam amplius hastae credere nec telis occurrere virginis audet. Ac velut ille, prius quam tela inimica sequantur, continuo in montis sese avius abdidit altos occiso pastore lupus magnove iuvenco,
812conscius audacis facti, caudamque remulcens subiecit pavitantem utero silvasque petivit: haud secus ex oculis se turbidus abstulit Arruns contentusque fuga mediis se immiscuit armis. Illa manu moriens telum trahit, ossa sed inter
817ferreus ad costas alto stat vulnere mucro: labitur exsanguis, labuntur frigida leto lumina, purpureus quondam color ora reliquit. Tum sic exspirans Accam ex aequalibus unam adloquitur fidam ante alias, quae sola Camillae,
822quicum partiri curas; atque haec ita fatur: Hactenus, Acca soror, potui: nunc vulnus acerbum conficit, et tenebris nigrescunt omnia circum. Effuge et haec Turno mandata novissima perfer: succedat pugnae Troianosque arceat urbe.
827Iamque vale. Simul his dictis linquebat habenas, ad terram non sponte fluens. Tum frigida toto paulatim exsolvit se corpore lentaque colla et captum leto posuit caput, arma relinquunt, vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.
832Tum vero immensus surgens ferit aurea clamor sidera: deiecta crudescit pugna Camilla, incurrunt densi simul omnis copia Teucrum Tyrrhenique duces Evandrique Arcades alae. At Triviae custos iamdudum in montibus Opis
837alta sedet summis spectatque interrita pugnas. Utque procul medio iuvenum in clamore furentum prospexit tristi multatam morte Camillam, ingemuitque deditque has imo pectore voces: Heu nimium, virgo, nimium crudele luisti
842supplicium, Teucros conata lacessere bello! Nec tibi desertae in dumis coluisse Dianam profuit aut nostras umero gessisse sagittas. Non tamen indecorem tua te regina reliquit extrema iam in morte, neque hoc sine nomine letum
847per gentis erit aut famam patieris inultae. Nam quicumque tuum violavit vulnere corpus, morte luet merita. Fuit ingens monte sub alto regis Dercenni terreno ex aggere bustum antiqui Laurentis opacaque ilice tectum:
852hic dea se primum rapido pulcherrima nisu sistit et Arruntem tumulo speculatur ab alto. Ut vidit laetantem animis ac vana tumentem, Cur, inquit, diversus abis? Huc dirige gressum, huc periture veni, capias ut digna Camillae
857praemia. Tune etiam telis moriere Dianae? dixit, et aurata volucrem Threissa sagittam deprompsit pharetra cornuque infensa tetendit et duxit longe, donec curvata coirent inter se capita et manibus iam tangeret aequis,
862laeva aciem ferri, dextra nervoque papillam. Extemplo teli stridorem aurasque sonantis audiit una Arruns, haesitque in corpore ferrum. Illum exspirantem socii atque extrema gementem obliti ignoto camporum in pulvere linquunt,
867Opis ad aetherium pennis aufertur Olympum. Prima fugit domina amissa levis ala Camillae; turbati fugiunt Rutuli, fugit acer Atinas disiectique duces desolatique manipli tuta petunt et equis aversi ad moenia tendunt.
872Nec quisquam instantis Teucros letumque ferentis sustentare valet telis aut sistere contra, sed laxos referunt umeris languentibus arcus, quadrupedumque putrem cursu quatit ungula campum. Volvitur ad muros caligine turbidus atra
877pulvis, et e speculis percussae pectora matres femineum clamorem ad caeli sidera tollunt. Qui cursu portas primi inrupere patentis, hos inimica super mixto premit agmine turba; nec miseram effugiunt mortem, sed limine in ipso,
882moenibus in patriis atque inter tuta domorum confixi exspirant animas. Pars claudere portas: nec sociis aperire viam nec moenibus audent accipere orantis, oriturque miserrima caedes defendentum armis aditus inque arma ruentum.
887Exclusi ante oculos lacrumantumque ora parentum pars in praecipitis fossas urgente ruina volvitur, immissis pars caeca et concita frenis arietat in portas et duros obice postis. Ipsae de muris summo certamine matres,
892monstrat amor verus patriae, ut videre Camillam, tela manu trepidae iaciunt ac robore duro stipitibus ferrum sudibusque imitantur obustis praecipites primaeque mori pro moenibus ardent. Interea Turnum in silvis saevissimus implet
897nuntius, et iuveni ingentem fert Acca tumultum: deletas Volscorum acies, cecidisse Camillam, ingruere infensos hostis et Marte secundo omnia corripuisse, metum iam ad moenia ferri. Ille furens, et saeva Iovis sic numina pellunt,
902deserit obsessos collis, nemora aspera linquit. Vix e conspectu exierat campumque tenebat, cum pater Aeneas saltus ingressus apertos exsuperatque iugum silvaque evadit opaca. Sic ambo ad muros rapidi totoque feruntur
907agmine nec longis inter se passibus absunt; ac simul Aeneas fumantis pulvere campos prospexit longe Laurentiaque agmina vidit, et saevum Aenean adgnovit Turnus in armis adventumque pedum flatusque audivit equorum.
912Continuoque ineant pugnas et proelia temptent, ni roseus fessos iam gurgite Phoebus Hibero tinguat equos noctemque die labente reducat: considunt castris ante urbem et moenia vallant.
Book 12
1Turnus ut infractos adverso Marte Latinos defecisse videt, sua nunc promissa reposci, se signari oculis, ultro implacabilis ardet attollitque animos. Poenorum qualis in arvis saucius ille gravi venantum vulnere pectus
6tum demum movet arma leo gaudetque comantis excutiens cervice toros fixumque latronis inpavidus frangit telum et fremit ore cruento: haud secus adcenso gliscit violentia Turno. Tum sic adfatur regem atque ita turbidus infit:
11Nulla mora in Turno; nihil est quod dicta retractent ignavi Aeneadae, nec quae pepigere recusent. Congredior, fer sacra, pater, et concipe foedus. Aut hac Dardanium dextra sub Tartara mittam, desertorem Asiae (sedeant spectentque Latini),
16et solus ferro crimen commune refellam, aut habeat victos, cedat Lavinia coniunx. Olli sedato respondit corde Latinus: O praestans animi iuvenis, quantum ipse feroci virtute exsuperas, tanto me impensius aequum est
21consulere atque omnis metuentem expendere casus. Sunt tibi regna patris Dauni, sunt oppida capta multa manu, nec non aurumque animusque Latino est; sunt aliae innuptae Latio et Laurentibus arvis, nec genus indecores. Sine me haec haud mollia fatu
26sublatis aperire dolis, simul hoc animo hauri. Me natam nulli veterum sociare procorum fas erat, idque omnes divique hominesque canebant. Victus amore tui, cognato sanguine victus coniugis et maestae lacrumis, vincla omnia rupi:
31promissam eripui genero, arma impia sumpsi. Ex illo qui me casus, quae, Turne, sequantur bella, vides, quantos primus patiare labores. Bis magna victi pugna vix urbe tuemur spes Italas; recalent nostro Thybrina fluenta
36sanguine adhuc campique ingentes ossibus albent. Quo referor totiens? Quae mentem insania mutat? Si Turno exstincto socios sum adscire paratus, cur non incolumi potius certamina tollo? Quid consanguinei Rutuli, quid cetera dicet
41Italia, ad mortem si te—Fors dicta refutet!— prodiderim, natam et conubia nostra petentem? Respice res bello varias; miserere parentis longaevi, quem nunc maestum patria Ardea longe dividit. Haudquaquam dictis violentia Turni
46flectitur: exsuperat magis aegrescitque medendo. Ut primum fari potuit, sic institit ore: Quam pro me curam geris, hanc precor, optime, pro me deponas letumque sinas pro laude pacisci: et nos tela, pater, ferrumque haud debile dextra
51spargimus; et nostro sequitur de volnere sanguis. longe illi dea mater erit, quae nube fugacem feminea tegat et vanis sese occulat umbris. At regina, nova pugnae conterrita sorte, flebat et ardentem generum monitura tenebat:
56Turne, per has ego te lacrimas, per siquis Amatae tangit honos animum (spes tu nunc una, senectae tu requies miserae, decus imperiumque Latini te penes, in te omnis domus inclinata recumbit). unum oro: desiste manum committere Teucris.
61Qui te cumque manent isto certamine casus, et me, Turne, manent: simul haec invisa relinquam lumina nec generum Aenean captiva videbo. Accepit vocem lacrimis Lavinia matris flagrantis perfusa genas, quoi plurimus ignem
66subiecit rubor et calefacta per ora cucurrit. Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro siquis ebur, aut mixta rubent ubi lilia multa alba rosa: talis virgo dabat ore colores. Illum turbat amor, figitque in virgine voltus:
71ardet in arma magis paucisque adfatur Amatam. Ne, quaeso, ne me lacrimis neve omine tanto prosequere in duri certamina Martis euntem, O mater; neque enim Turno mora libera mortis. Nuntius haec Idmon Phrygio mea dicta tyranno
76haud placitura refer: cum primum crastina caelo puniceis invecta rotis Aurora rubebit, non Teucros agat in Rutulos, Teucrum arma quiescant et Rutuli; nostro dirimamus sanguine bellum, illo quaeratur coniunx Lavinia campo.
81Haec ubi dicta dedit rapidusque in tecta recessit. poscit equos gaudetque tuens ante ora frementis, Pilumno quos ipsa decus dedit Orithyia, qui candore nives anteirent, cursibus auras. Circumstant properi aurigae manibusque lacessunt
86pectora plausa cavis et colla comantia pectunt. Ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco circumdat loricam umeris; simul aptat habendo ensemque clipeumque et rubrae cornua cristae. ensem, quem Dauno ignipotens deus ipse parenti
91fecerat et Stygia candentem tinxerat unda. Exin quae mediis ingenti adnixa columnae aedibus adstabat, validam vi corripit hastam, Actoris Aurunci spolium, quassatque trementem vociferans: Nunc, O numquam frustrata vocatus
96hasta meos, nunc tempus adest: te maximus Actor te Turni nunc dextra gerit. Da sternere corpus loricamque manu valida lacerare revulsam semiviri Phrygis et foedare in pulvere crinis vibratos calido ferro murraque madentis.
101His agitur furiis; totoque ardentis ab ore scintillae absistunt, oculis micat acribus ignis: mugitus veluti cum prima in proelia taurus terrificos ciet atque irasci in cornua temptat, arboris obnixus trunco, ventosque lacessit
106ictibus aut sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena. Nec minus interea maternis saevos in armis Aeneas acuit Martem et se suscitat ira, oblato gaudens componi foedere bellum, tum socios maestique metum solatur Iuli,
111fata docens, regique iubet responsa Latino certa referre viros et pacis dicere leges. Postera vix summos spargebat lumine montis orta dies, cum primum alto se gurgite tollunt solis equi lucemque elatis naribus efflant:
116campum ad certamen magnae sub moenibus urbis dimensi Rutulique viri Teucrique parabant in medioque focos et dis communibus aras gramineas. Alii fontemque ignemque ferebant, velati limo et verbena tempora vincti.
121Procedit legio Ausonidum, pilataque plenis agmina se fundunt portis. Hinc Troïus omnis Tyrrhenusque ruit variis exercitus armis, haud secus instructi ferro, quam si aspera Martis pugna vocet; nec non mediis in milibus ipsi
126ductores auro volitant ostroque decori, et genus Assaraci Mnestheus et fortis Asilas et Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles. Utque dato signo spatia in sua quisque recessit, defigunt tellure hastas et scuta reclinant.
131Tum studio effusae matres et volgus inermum invalidique senes turris ac tecta domorum obsedere, alii portis sublimibus adstant. At Iuno e summo, qui nunc Albanus habetur, tum neque nomen erat nec honos aut gloria monti,
136prospiciens tumulo campum aspectabat et ambas Laurentum Troumque acies urbemque Latini. Extemplo Turni sic est adfata sororem diva deam, stagnis quae fluminibusque sonoris praesidet (hunc illi rex aetheris altus honorem
141Iuppiter erepta pro virginitate sacravit): Nympha, decus fluviorum, animo gratissima nostro, scis ut te cunctis unam, quaecumque Latinae magnanimi Iovis ingratum ascendere cubile, praetulerim caelique lubens in parte locarim:
146disce tuum, ne me incuses, Iuturna, dolorem. Qua visa est Fortuna pati Parcaeque sinebant cedere res Latio, Turnum et tua moenia texi: nunc iuvenem imparibus video concurrere fatis, Parcarumque dies et vis inimica propinquat.
151Non pugnam aspicere hanc oculis, non foedera possum. Tu pro germano siquid praesentius audes, perge: decet. Forsan miseros meliora sequentur. Vix ea, cum lacrimas oculis Iuturna profudit terque quaterque manu pectus percussit honestum.
156Non lacrumis hoc tempus, ait Saturnia Iuno: Adcelera et fratrem, siquis modus, eripe morti, aut tu bella cie conceptumque excute foedus: auctor ego audendi. Sic exhortata reliquit incertam et tristi turbatam volnere mentis.
161Interea reges, ingenti mole Latinus quadriiugo vehitur curru, cui tempora circum aurati bis sex radii fulgentia cingunt, Solis avi specimen; bigis it Turnus in albis, bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro;
166hinc pater Aeneas, Romanae stirpis origo, sidereo flagrans clipeo et caelestibus armis, et iuxta Ascanius, magnae spes altera Romae, procedunt castris, puraque in veste sacerdos saetigeri fetum suis intonsamque bidentem
171adtulit admovitque pecus flagrantibus aris. Illi ad surgentem conversi lumina solem dant fruges manibus salsas et tempora ferro summa notant pecudum paterisque altaria libant. Tum pius Aeneas stricto sic ense precatur:
176Esto nunc Sol testis et haec mihi Terra vocanti, quam propter tantos potui perferre labores, et pater omnipotens et tu Saturnia coniunx, iam melior, iam, diva, precor, tuque inclute Mavors, cuncta tuo qui bella, pater, sub numine torques;
181fontisque fluviosque voco, quaeque aetheris alti religio et quae caeruleo sunt numina ponto: cesserit Ausonio si fors victoria Turno, convenit Evandri victos discedere ad urbem, cedet Iulus agris, nec post arma ulla rebelles
186Aeneadae referent ferrove haec regna lacessent, sin nostrum adnuerit nobis Victoria Martem (ut potius reor et potius di numine firment), non ego nec Teucris Italos parere iubebo nec mihi regna peto: paribus se legibus ambae
191invictae gentes aeterna in foedera mittant. Sacra deosque dabo; socer arma Latinus habeto, imperium sollemne socer; mihi moenia Teucri constituent, urbique dabit Lavinia nomen. Sic prior Aeneas; sequitur sic deinde Latinus
196suspiciens caelum tenditque ad sidera dextram: Haec eadem, Aenea, terram mare sidera iuro Latonaeque genus duplex Ianumque bifrontem vimque deum infernam et duri sacraria Ditis; audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulmine sancit.
201Tango aras, medios ignis et numina testor: nulla dies pacem hanc Italis nec foedera rumpet, quo res cumque cadent; nec me vis ulla volentem avertet, non, si tellurem effundat in undas diluvio miscens caelumque in Tartara solvat;
206ut sceptrum hoc (dextra sceptrum nam forte gerebat) numquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nec umbras, cum semel in silvis imo de stirpe recisum matre caret posuitque comas et bracchia ferro, olim arbos, nunc artificis manus aere decoro
211inclusit patribusque dedit gesture gestare Latinis. Talibus inter se firmabant foedera dictis conspectu in medio procerum. Tum rite sacratas in flammam iugulant pecudes et viscera vivis eripiunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras.
216At vero Rutulis inpar ea pugna videri iamdudum et vario misceri pectora motu; tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis. Adiuvat incessu tacito progressus et aram suppliciter venerans demisso lumine Turnus
221tabentesque genae et iuvenali in corpore pallor. Quem simul ac Iuturna soror crebrescere vidit sermonem et volgi variare labantia corda, in medias acies, formam adsimulata Camerti, cui genus a proavis ingens clarumque paternae
226nomen erat virtutis, et ipse acerrimus armis, in medias dat sese acies haud nescia rerum rumoresque serit varios ac talia fatur: Non pudet, O Rutuli, pro cunctis talibus unam obiectare animam? Numerone an viribus aequi
231non sumus? En omnes et Troes et Arcades hi sunt fatalesque manus, infensa Etruria Turno: vix hostem, alterni si congrediamur, habemus. Ille quidem ad superos, quorum se devovet aris, succedet fama vivusque per ora feretur:
236nos patria amissa dominis parere superbis cogemur, qui nunc lenti consedimus arvis. Talibus incensa est iuvenum sententia dictis iam magis atque magis, serpitque per agmina murmur; ipsi Laurentes mutati ipsique Latini.
241Qui sibi iam requiem pugnae rebusque salutem sperabant, nunc arma volunt foedusque precantur infectum et Turni sortem miserantur iniquam. His aliud maius Iuturna adiungit et alto dat signum caelo, quo non praesentius ullum
246turbavit mentes Italas monstroque fefellit. Namque volans rubra fulvus Iovis ales in aethra litoreas agitabat aves turbamque sonantem agminis aligeri, subito cum lapsus ad undas cycnum excellentem pedibus rapit improbus uncis.
251Adrexere animos Itali, cunctaeque volucres convertunt clamore fugam, mirabile visu, aetheraque obscurant pennis hostemque per auras facta nube premunt, donec vi victus et ipso pondere defecit, praedamque ex unguibus ales
256proiecit fluvio penitusque in nubila fugit. Tum vero augurium Rutuli clamore salutant expediuntque manus; primusque Tolumnius augur Hoc erat, hoc, votis, inquit, quod saepe petivi. Adcipio adgnoscoque deos; me, me duce ferrum
261corripite, O miseri, quos improbus advena bello territat invalidas ut aves et litora vestra vi populat: petet ille fugam penitusque profundo vela dabit. Vos unanimi densete catervas et regem vobis pugna defendite raptum.
266Dixit et adversos telum contorsit in hostis procurrens: sonitum dat stridula cornus et auras certa secat. Simul hoc, simul ingens clamor et omnes turbati cunei calefactaque corda tumultu. Hasta volans, ut forte novem pulcherrima fratrum
271corpora constiterant contra, quos fida crearat una tot Arcadio coniunx Tyrrhena Gylippo, horum unum ad medium, teritur qua sutilis alvo balteus et laterum iuncturas fibula mordet egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis
276transadigit costas fulvaque effundit harena. At fratres, animosa phalanx accensaque luctu, pars, gladios stringunt manibus, pars missile ferrum corripiunt caecique ruunt. Quos agmina contra procurrunt Laurentum, hinc densi rursus inundant
281Troes Agyllinique et pictis Arcades armis: sic omnis amor unus habet decernere ferro. Diripuere aras, it toto turbida caelo tempestas telorum ac ferreus ingruit imber, craterasque focosque ferunt. Fugit ipse Latinus
286pulsatos referens infecto foedere divos. Infrenant alii currus aut corpora saltu subiciunt in equos et strictis ensibus adsunt. Messapus regem regisque insigne gerentem, Tyrrhenum Aulesten, avidus confundere foedus,
291adverso proterret equo: ruit ille recedens et miser oppositis a tergo involvitur aris in caput inque umeros. At fervidus advolat hasta Messapus teloque orantem multa trabali desuper altus equo graviter ferit atque ita fatur:
296Hoc habet, haec melior magnis data victima divis. Concurrunt Itali spoliantque calentia membra. Obvius ambustum torrem Corynaeus ab ara corripit et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti occupat os flammis: olli ingens barba reluxit
301nidoremque ambusta dedit. Super ipse secutus caesariem laeva turbati corripit hostis inpressoque genu nitens terrae adplicat ipsum: sic rigido latus ense ferit. Podalirius Alsum pastorem primaque acie per tela ruentem,
306ense sequens nudo superimminet: ille securi adversi frontem mediam mentumque reducta disicit et sparso late rigat arma cruore. Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget somnus, in aeternam conduntur lumina noctem.
311At pius Aeneas dextram tendebat inermem nudato capite atque suos clamore vocabat: Quo ruitis? Quaeve ista repens discordia surgit? O cohibete iras! Ictum iam foedus et omnes compositae leges; mihi ius concurrere soli;
316me sinite atque auferte metus; ego foedera faxo firma manu; Turnum debent haec iam mihi sacra. Has inter voces, media inter talia verba ecce viro stridens alis adlapsa sagitta est incertum qua pulsa manu, quo turbine adacta,
321quis tantam Rutulis laudem, casusne deusne, adtulerit: pressa est insignis gloria facti. nec sese Aeneae iactavit vulnere quisquam. Turnus ut Aenean cedentem ex agmine vidit turbatosque duces, subita spe fervidus ardet:
326poscit equos atque arma simul saltuque superbus emicat in currum et manibus molitur habenas. Multa virum volitans dat fortia corpora Leto, semineces volvit multos aut agmina curru proterit aut raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas.
331Qualis apud gelidi cum flumina concitus Hebri sanguineus Mavors clipeo increpat atque furentis bella movens immittit equos; illi aequore aperto ante Notos Zephyrumque volant; gemit ultima pulsu Thraca pedum; circumque atrae Formidinis ora
336Iraeque Insidiaeque, dei comitatus, aguntur: talis equos alacer media inter proelia Turnus fumantis sudore quatit, miserabile caesis hostibus insultans; spargit rapida ungula rores sanguineos, mixtaque cruor calcatur harena.
341Iamque neci Sthenelumque dedit Thamyrumque Pholumque, hunc congressus et hunc, illum eminus; eminus ambo Imbrasidas, Glaucum atque Laden, quos Imbrasus ipse nutrierat Lycia paribusque ornaverat armis, vel conferre manum vel equo praevertere ventos.
346Parte alia media Eumedes in proelia fertur, antiqui proles bello praeclara Dolonis, nomine avum referens, animo manibusque parentem, qui quondam, castra ut Danaum speculator adiret, ausus Pelidae pretium sibi poscere currus;
351illum Tydides alio pro talibus ausis adfecit pretio, nec equis adspirat Achillis. Hunc procul ut campo Turnus prospexit aperto, ante levi iaculo longum per inane secutus sistit equos biiugis et curru desilit atque
356semianimi lapsoque supervenit et pede collo impresso dextrae mucronem extorquet et alto fulgentem tinguit iugulo atque haec insuper addit: En agros et quam bello, Troiane, petisti, Hesperiam metire iacens: haec praemia qui me
361ferro ausi temptare ferunt, sic moenia condunt. Huic comitem Asbyten coniecta cuspide mittit. Chloreaque Sybarimque Daretaque Thersilochumque et sternacis equi lapsum cervice Thymoeten. Ac velut Edoni Boreae cum spiritus alto
366insonat Aegaeo sequiturque ad litora fluctus, qua venti incubuere, fugam dant nubila caelo: sic Turno, quacumque viam secat, agmina cedunt conversaeque ruunt acies; fert impetus ipsum, et cristam adverso curru quatit aura volantem.
371Non tulit instantem Phegeus animisque frementem: obiecit sese ad currum et spumantia frenis ora citatorum dextra detorsit equorum. Dum trahitur pendetque iugis, hunc lata retectum lancea consequitur rumpitque infixa bilicem
376loricam et summum degustat volnere corpus. Ille tamen clipeo obiecto conversus in hostem ibat et auxilium ducto mucrone petebat: cum rota praecipitem et procursu concitus axis impulit effunditque solo, Turnusque secutus
381imam inter galeam summi thoracis et oras abstulit ense caput truncumque reliquit harenae. Atque ea dum campis victor dat funera Turnus, interea Aenean Mnestheus et fidus Achates Ascaniusque comes castris statuere cruentum,
386alternos longa nitentem cuspide gressus. Saevit et infracta luctatur arundine telum eripere auxilioque viam, quae proxima, poscit ense secent lato vulnus telique latebram rescindant penitus seseque in bella remittant.
391Iamque aderat Phoebo ante alios dilectus Iapyx Iasides, acri quondam cui captus amore ipse suas artes, sua munera, laetus Apollo augurium citharamque dabat celerisque sagittas. Ille ut depositi proferret fata parentis,
396scire potestates herbarum usumque medendi maluit et mutas agitare inglorius artes. Stabat acerba fremens, ingentem nixus in hastam Aeneas magno iuvenum et maerentis Iuli concursu, lacrimis immobilis. Ille retorto
401Paeonium in morem senior succinctus amictu multa manu medica Phoebique potentibus herbis nequiquam trepidat, nequiquam spicula dextra sollicitat prensatque tenaci forcipe ferrum. Nulla viam Fortuna regit, nihil auctor Apollo
406subvenit; et saevus campis magis ac magis horror crebrescit propiusque malum est. Iam pulvere caelum stare vident: subeunt equites, et spicula castris densa cadunt mediis. It tristis ad aethera clamor bellantum iuvenum et duro sub Marte cadentum.
411Hic Venus, indigno nati concussa dolore, dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida, puberibus caulem foliis et flore comantem purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris gramina, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae:
416hoc Venus, obscuro faciem circumdata nimbo, detulit; hoc fusum labris splendentibus amnem inficit occulte medicans spargitque salubris ambrosiae sucos et odoriferam panaceam. Fovit ea volnus lympha longaevus Iapyx
421ignorans, subitoque omnis de corpore fugit quippe dolor, omnis stetit imo volnere sanguis; iamque secuta manum nullo cogente sagitta excidit, atque novae rediere in pristina vires. Arma citi properate viro! Quid statis? Iapyx
426conclamat primusque animos adcendit in hostem. Non haec humanis opibus, non arte magistra proveniunt neque te, Aenea, mea dextera servat: maior agit deus atque opera ad maiora remittit. Ille avidus pugnae suras incluserat auro
431hinc atque hinc oditque moras hastamque coruscat. Postquam habilis lateri clipeus loricaque tergo est, Ascanium fusis circum complectitur armis summaque per galeam delibans oscula fatur: Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem,
436fortunam ex aliis. Nunc te mea dextera bello defensum dabit et magna inter praemia ducet. Tu facito, mox cum matura adoleverit aetas, sis memor, et te animo repetentem exempla tuorum et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitet Hector.
441Haec ubi dicta dedit, portis sese extulit ingens, telum immane manu quatiens; simul agmine denso Antheusque Mnestheusque ruunt omnisque relictis turba fluit castris: tum caeco pulvere campus miscetur pulsuque pedum tremit excita tellus.
446Vidit ab adverso venientis aggere Turnus, videre Ausonii, gelidusque per ima cucurrit ossa tremor: prima ante omnis Iuturna Latinos audiit adgnovitque sonum et tremefacta refugit. Ille volat campoque atrum rapit agmen aperto.
451Qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus it mare per medium; miseris heu praescia longe horrescunt corda agricolis, dabit ille ruinas arboribus stragemque satis, ruet omnia late; ante volant sonitumque ferunt ad litora venti:
456talis in adversos ductor Rhoeteius hostis agmen agit, densi cuneis se quisque coactis adglomerant. Ferit ense gravem Thymbraeus Osirim, Archetium Mnestheus, Epulonem obtruncat Achates Ufentemque Gyas; cadit ipse Tolumnius augur,
461primus in adversos telum qui torserat hostis. Tollitur in caelum clamor, versique vicissim pulverulenta fuga Rutuli dant terga per agros. Ipse neque aversos dignatur sternere Morti nec pede congressos aequo nec tela ferentis
466insequitur: solum densa in caligine Turnum vestigat lustrans, solum in certamina poscit. Hoc concussa metu mentem Iuturna virago aurigam Turni media inter lora Metiscum excutit et longe lapsum temone relinquit:
471ipsa subit manibusque undantis flectit habenas, cuncta gerens, vocemque et corpus et arma Metisci. Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis aedes pervolat et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo, pabula parva legens nidisque loquacibus escas,
476et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc umida circum stagna sonat: similis medios Iuturna per hostis fertur equis rapidoque volans obit omnia curru iamque hic germanum iamque hic ostentat ovantem nec conferre manum patitur, volat avia longe.
481Haud minus Aeneas tortos legit obvius orbes vestigatque virum et disiecta per agmina magna voce vocat. Quotiens oculos coniecit in hostem alipedumque fugam cursu temptavit equorum, aversos totiens currus Iuturna retorsit.
486Heu quid agat? Vario nequiquam fluctuat aestu, diversaeque vocant animum in contraria curae. Huic Messapus, uti laeva duo forte gerebat lenta levis cursu praefixa hastilia ferro, horum unum certo contorquens dirigit ictu.
491Substitit Aeneas et se collegit in arma, poplite subsidens; apicem tamen incita summum hasta tulit summasque excussit vertice cristas. Tum vero adsurgunt irae; insidiisque subactus, diversos ubi sensit equos currumque referri,
496multa Iovem et laesi testatus foederis aras iam tandem invadit medios et Marte secundo terribilis saevam nullo discrimine caedem suscitat irarumque omnis effundit habenas. Quis mihi nunc tot acerba deus, quis carmine caedes
501diversas obitumque ducum, quos aequore toto inque vicem nunc Turnus agit, nunc Troius heros, expediat? Tanton placuit concurrere motu, Iuppiter, aeterna gentis in pace futuras? Aeneas Rutulum Sucronem, ea prima ruentis
506pugna loco statuit Teucros, haud multa morantem excipit in latus et, qua fata celerrima, crudum transadigit costas et cratis pectoris ensem. Turnus equo deiectum Amycum fratremque Dioren, congressus pedes, hunc venientem cuspide longa,
511hunc mucrone ferit curruque abscisa duorum suspendit capita et rorantia sanguine portat. Ille Talon Tanaimque neci fortemque Cethegum, tris uno congressu, et maestum mittit Oniten, nomen Echionium matrisque genus Peridiae,
516hic fratres Lycia missos et Apollinis agris et iuvenem exosum nequiquam bella Menoeten, Arcada, piscosae cui circum flumina Lernae ars fuerat pauperque domus nec nota potentum munera conductaque pater tellure serebat.
521Ac velut immissi diversis partibus ignes arentem in silvam et virgulta sonantia lauro, aut ubi decursu rapido de montibus altis dant sonitum spumosi amnes et in aequora currunt quisque suum populatus iter: non segnius ambo
526Aeneas Turnusque ruunt per proelia; nunc nunc fluctuat ira intus, rumpuntur nescia vinci pectora, nunc totis in volnera viribus itur. Murranum hic, atavos et avorum antiqua sonantem nomina per regesque actum genus omne Latinos,
531praecipitem scopulo atque ingentis turbine saxi excutit effunditque solo: hunc lora et iuga subter provolvere rotae, crebro super ungula pulsu incita nec domini memorum proculcat equorum. Ille ruenti Hyllo animisque immane frementi
536occurrit telumque aurata ad tempora torquet: olli per galeam fixo stetit hasta cerebro. Dextera nec tua te, Graium fortissime Cretheu eripuit Turno. Nec di texere Cupencum Aenea veniente sui: dedit obvia ferro
541pectora, nec misero clipei mora profuit aerei. Te quoque Laurentes viderunt, Aeole, campi oppetere et late terram consternere tergo. Occidis, Argivae quem non potuere phalanges sternere nec Priami regnorum eversor Achilles;
546hic tibi mortis erant metae: domus alta sub Ida, Lyrnesi domus alta, solo Laurente sepulchrum. Totae adeo conversae acies, omnesque Latini, omnes Dardanidae, Mnestheus acerque Serestus et Messapus equum domitor et fortis Asilas
551Tuscorumque phalanx Evandrique Arcades alae, pro se quisque viri summa nituntur opum vi: nec mora nec requies, vasto certamine tendunt. Hic mentem Aeneae genetrix pulcherrima misit, iret ut ad muros urbique adverteret agmen
556ocius et subita turbaret clade Latinos. Ille ut vestigans diversa per agmina Turnum huc atque huc acies circumtulit, aspicit urbem immunem tanti belli atque impune quietam. Continuo pugnae adcendit maioris imago:
561Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum ductores tumulumque capit, quo cetera Teucrum concurrit legio nec scuta aut spicula densi deponunt. Celso medius stans aggere fatur: Nequa meis esto dictis mora; Iuppiter hac stat,
566neu quis ob inceptum subitum mihi segnior ito. Urbem hodie, causam belli, regna ipsa Latini, ni frenum accipere et victi parere fatentur, eruam et aequa solo fumantia culmina ponam. Scilicet exspectem, libeat dum proelia Turno
571nostra pati rursusque velit concurrere victus? Hoc caput, O cives, haec belli summa nefandi: ferte faces propere foedusque reposcite flammis. Dixerat, atque animis pariter certantibus omnes dant cuneum densaque ad muros mole feruntur.
576Scalae improviso subitusque apparuit ignis. Discurrunt alii ad portas primosque trucidant, ferrum alii torquent et obumbrant aethera telis. Ipse inter primos dextram sub moenia tendit Aeneas magnaque incusat voce Latinum
581testaturque deos, iterum se ad proelia cogi, bis iam Italos hostis, haec altera foedera rumpi. Exoritur trepidos inter discordia civis: urbem alii reserare iubent et pandere portas Dardanidis ipsumque trahunt in moenia regem,
586arma ferunt alii et pergunt defendere muros. Inclusas ut cum latebroso in pumice pastor vestigavit apes fumoque implevit amaro: illae intus trepidae rerum per cerea castra discurrunt magnisque acuunt stridoribus iras;
591volvitur ater odor tectis, tum murmure caeco intus saxa sonant, vacuas it fumus ad auras. Accidit haec fessis etiam fortuna Latinis, quae totam luctu concussit funditus urbem. Regina ut tectis venientem prospicit hostem,
596incessi muros, ignis ad tecta volare, nusquam acies contra Rutulas, nulla agmina Turni: infelix pugnae iuvenem in certamine credit exstinctum et, subito mentem turbata dolore, se causam clamat crimenque caputque malorum,
601multaque per maestum demens effata furorem purpureos moritura manu discindit amictus et nodum informis leti trabe nectit ab alta. Quam cladem miserae postquam accepere Latinae, filia prima manu flavos Lavinia crinis
606et roseas laniata genas, tum cetera circum turba furit: resonant late plangoribus aedes. Hinc totam infelix volgatur fama per urbem. Demittunt mentes; it scissa veste Latinus, coniugis attonitus fatis urbisque ruina,
611canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans. Interea extremo bellator in aequore Turnus palantis sequitur paucos iam segnior atque iam minus atque minus successu laetus equorum attulit hunc illi caecis terroribus aura
618commixtum clamorem adrectasque impulit aures confusae sonus urbis et inlaetabile murmur. Ei mihi! Quid tanto turbantur moenia luctu? Quisve ruit tantus diversa clamor ab urbe? Sic ait adductisque amens subsistit habenis.
623Atque huic, in faciem soror ut conversa Metisci aurigae currumque et equos et lora regebat, talibus occurrit dictis: Hac, Turne, sequamur Troiugenas, qua prima viam victoria pandit; sunt alii, qui tecta manu defendere possint.
628Ingruit Aeneas Italis et proelia miscet: et nos saeva manu mittamus funera Teucris. Nec numero inferior pugnae nec honore recedes. Turnus ad haec: O soror, et dudum adgnovi, cum prima per artem
633foedera turbasti teque haec in bella dedisti, et nunc nequiquam fallis dea. Sed quis Olympo demissam tantos voluit te ferre labores? An fratris miseri letum ut crudele videres? Nam quid ago? Aut quae iam spondet Fortuna salutem?
638Vidi oculos ante ipse meos me voce vocantem Murranum, quo non superat mihi carior alter, oppetere ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum. Occidit infelix nostrum ne dedecus Ufens adspiceret; Teucri potiuntur corpore et armis.
643Exscindine domos (id rebus defuit unum) perpetiar, dextra nec Drancis dicta refellam? Terga dabo et Turnum fugientem haec terra videbit? Usque adeone mori miserum est? Vos O mihi Manes este boni, quoniam superis aversa voluntas!
648Sancta ad vos anima atque istius nescia culpae descendam, magnorum haud umquam indignus avorum. Vix ea fatus erat: medios volat ecce per hostis vectus equo spumante Saces, adversa sagitta saucius ora, ruitque implorans nomine Turnum:
653Turne, in te suprema salus: miserere tuorum. Fulminat Aeneas armis summasque minatur deiecturum arces Italum exscidioque daturum; iamque faces ad tecta volant. In te ora Latini, in te oculos referunt; mussat rex ipse Latinus,
658quos generos vocet aut quae sese ad foedera flectat. Praeterea regina, tui fidissima, dextra occidit ipsa sua lucemque exterrita fugit. Soli pro portis Messapus et acer Atinas sustentant aciem. Circum hos utrimque phalanges
663stant densae, strictisque seges mucronibus horret ferrea: tu currum deserto in gramine versas. Obstipuit varia confusus imagine rerum Turnus et obtutu tacito stetit. Aestuat ingens uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu
668et furiis agitatus amor et conscia virtus. Ut primum discussae umbrae et lux reddita menti, ardentis oculorum orbes ad moenia torsit turbidus eque rotis magnam respexit ad urbem. Ecce autem flammis inter tabulata volutus
673ad caelum undabat vortex turrimque tenebat, turrim, compactis trabibus quam eduxerat ipse subdideratque rotas pontisque instraverat altos. Iam iam fata, soror, superant; absiste morari; quo deus et quo dura vocat Fortuna, sequamur.
678Stat conferre manum Aeneae, stat quidquid acerbi est morte pati; neque me indecorem, germana, videbis amplius. Hunc, oro, sine me furere ante furorem. Dixit et e curru saltum dedit ocius arvis perque hostis, per tela ruit maestamque sororem
683deserit ac rapido cursu media agmina rumpit. Ac veluti montis saxum de vertice praeceps cum ruit avulsum vento, seu turbidus imber proluit aut annis solvit sublapsa vetustas; fertur in abruptum magno mons improbus actu
688exsultatque solo, silvas armenta virosque involvens secum: disiecta per agmina Turnus sic urbis ruit ad muros, ubi plurima fuso sanguine terra madet striduntque hastilibus aurae, significatque manu et magno simul incipit ore:
693Parcite iam, Rutuli, et vos tela inhibete, Latini; quaecumque est Fortuna, mea est: me verius unum pro vobis foedus luere et decernere ferro. Discessere omnes medii spatiumque dedere. At pater Aeneas audito nomine Turni
698deserit et muros et summas deserit arces praecipitatque moras omnis, opera omnia rumpit, laetitia exsultans, horrendumque intonat armis; quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx aut ipse coruscis cum fremit ilicibus quantus gaudetque nivali
703vertice se attollens pater Appenninus ad auras. Iam vero et Rutuli certatim et Troes et omnes convertere oculos Itali, quique alta tenebant moenia quique imos pulsabant ariete muros, armaque deposuere umeris. Stupet ipse Latinus
708ingentis, genitos diversis partibus orbis, inter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro. Atque illi, ut vacuo patuerunt aequore campi, procursu rapido, coniectis eminus hastis, invadunt Martem clipeis atque aere sonoro.
713Dat gemitum tellus; tum crebros ensibus ictus congeminant: fors et virtus miscentur in unum. Ac velut ingenti Sila summove Taburno cum duo conversis inimica in proelia tauri frontibus incurrunt; pavidi cessere magistri,
718stat pecus omne metu mutum mussantque iuvencae, quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta sequantur; illi inter sese multa vi volnera miscent cornuaque obnixi infigunt et sanguine largo colla armosque lavant; gemitu nemus omne remugit:
723non alitur Tros Aeneas et Daunius heros concurrunt clipeis; ingens fragor aethera complet. Iuppiter ipse duas aequato examine lances sustinet et fata imponit diversa duorum, quem damnet labor et quo vergat pondere letum;
728Emicat hic, impune putans, et corpore toto alte sublatum consurgit Turnus in ensem et ferit: exclamant Troes trepidique Latini, arrectaeque amborum acies. At perfidus ensis frangitur in medioque ardentem deserit ictu [...]
733ni fuga subsidio subeat. Fugit ocior euro, ut capulum ignotum dextramque aspexit inermem. Fama est praecipitem, cum prima in proelia iunctos conscendebat equos, patrio mucrone relicto, dum trepidat, ferrum aurigae rapuisse Metisci.
738Idque diu, dum terga dabant palantia Teucri, suffecit: postquam arma dei ad Volcania ventumst, mortalis mucro glacies ceu futilis ictu dissiluit; fulva resplendent fragmina harena. Ergo amens diversa fuga petit aequora Turnus
743et nunc huc, inde huc incertos implicat orbes undique enim densa Teucri inclusere corona, atque hinc vasta palus, hinc ardua moenia cingunt. Nec minus Aeneas, quamquam tardata sagitta interdum genua impediunt cursumque recusant,
748insequitur trepidique pedem pede fervidus urget: inclusum veluti siquando flumine nanctus cervum aut puniceae saeptum formidine pinnae venator cursu canis et latratibus instat; ille autem, insidiis et ripa territus alta,
753mille fugit refugitque vias; at vividus Umber haeret hians, iam iamque tenet similisque tenenti increpuit malis morsuque elusus inani est. Tum vero exoritur clamor, ripaeque lacusque responsant circa et caelum tonat omne tumultu.
758Ille simul fugiens Rutulos simul increpat omnis, nomine quemque vocans, notumque efflagitat ensem. Aeneas mortem contra praesensque minatur exitium, si quisquam adeat, terretque trementis excisurum urbem minitans et saucius instat.
763Quinque orbis explent cursu totidemque retexunt huc illuc; neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur praemia, sed Turni de vita et sanguine certant. Forte sacer Fauno foliis oleaster amaris hic steterat, nautis olim venerabile lignum,
768servati ex undis ubi figere dona solebant Laurenti divo et votas suspendere vestes, sed stirpem Teucri nullo discrimine sacrum sustulerant, puro ut possent concurrere campo. Hic hasta Aeneae stabat, huc impetus illam
773detulerat fixam et lenta in radice tenebat. Incubuit voluitque manu convellere ferrum Dardanides teloque sequi, quem prendere cursu non poterat. Tum vero amens formidine Turnus Faune, precor, miserere, inquit, tuque optima ferrum
778terra tene, colui vestros si semper honores, quos contra Aeneadae bello fecere profanos. Dixit opemque dei non cassa in vota vocavit. Namque diu luctans lentoque in stirpe moratus viribus haud ullis valuit discludere morsus
783roboris Aeneas. Dum nititur acer et instat, rursus in aurigae faciem mutata Metisci procurrit fratrique ensem dea Daunia reddit. Quod Venus audaci nymphae indignata licere adcessit telumque alta ab radice revellit.
788Olli sublimes armis animisque refecti, hic gladio fidens, hic acer et arduus hasta, adsistunt contra certamina Martis anheli. Iunonem interea rex omnipotentis Olympi adloquitur fulva pugnas de nube tuentem:
793Qua iam finis erit, coniunx? Quid denique restat? Indigetem Aenean scis ipsa et scire fateris deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli. Quid struis, aut qua spe gelidis in nubibus haeres? Mortalin decuit violari volnere divom,
798aut ensem (quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?) ereptum reddi Turno et vim crescere victis? Desine iam tandem precibusque inflectere nostris, ventum ad supremum est. Terris agitare vel undis Troianos potuisti, infandum adcendere bellum,
805deformare domum et luctu miscere hymenaeos: ulterius temptare veto. Sic Iuppiter orsus; sic dea submisso contra Saturnia voltu: Ista quidem quia nota mihi tua, magne, voluntas, Iuppiter, et Turnum et terras invita reliqui;
810nec tu me aeria solam nunc sede videres digna indigna pati, sed flammis cincta sub ipsa starem acie traheremque inimica in proelia Teucros. Iuturnam misero, fateor, succurrere fratri suasi et pro vita maiora audere probavi,
815non ut tela tamen, non ut contenderet arcum: adiuro Stygii caput implacabile fontis, una superstitio superis quae reddita divis. Et nunc cedo equidem pugnasque exosa relinquo. Illud te, nulla fati quod lege tenetur,
820pro Latio obtestor, pro maiestate tuorum: cum iam conubis pacem felicibus, esto, component, cum iam leges et foedera iungent, ne vetus indigenas nomen mutare Latinos neu Troas fieri iubeas Teucrosque vocari
825aut vocem mutare viros aut vertere vestem. Sit Latium, sint Albani per saecula reges, sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago: occidit, occideritque sinas cum nomine Troia. Olli subridens hominum rerumque repertor
830Es germana Iovis Saturnique altera proles: irarum tantos volvis sub pectore fluctus. Verum age et inceptum frustra submitte furorem do quod vis, et me victusque volensque remitto. Sermonem Ausonii patrium moresque tenebunt,
835utque est nomen erit; commixti corpore tantum subsident Teucri. Morem ritusque sacrorum adiciam faciamque omnis uno ore Latinos. Hinc genus Ausonio mixtum quod sanguine surget, supra homines, supra ire deos pietate videbis,
840nec gens ulla tuos aeque celebrabit honores. Adnuit his Iuno et mentem laetata retorsit. Interea excedit caelo nubemque relinquit. His actis aliud genitor secum ipse volutat Iuturnamque parat fratris dimittere ab armis.
845Dicuntur geminae pestes cognomine Dirae, quas et Tartaream Nox intempesta Megaeram uno eodemque tulit partu paribusque revinxit serpentum spiris ventosasque addidit alas. Hae Iovis ad solium saevique in limine regis
850adparent acuuntque metum mortalibus aegris, siquando letum horrificum morbosque deum rex molitur meritas aut bello territat urbes. Harum unam celerem demisit ab aethere summo Iuppiter inque omen Iuturnae occurrere iussit.
855Illa volat celerique ad terram turbine fertur. Non secus ac nervo per nubem impulsa sagitta, armatam saevi Parthus quam felle veneni, Parthus sive Cydon, telum immedicabile, torsit, stridens et celeris incognita transilit umbras:
860talis se sata Nocte tulit terrasque petivit. Postquam acies videt Iliacas atque agmina Turni, alitis in parvae subitam conlecta figuram, quae quondam in bustis aut culminibus desertis nocte sedens serum canit importuna per umbras,
865hanc versa in faciem Turni se pestis ob ora fertque refertque sonans clipeumque everberat alis. Olli membra novus solvit formidine torpor, adrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit. At procul ut Dirae stridorem adgnovit et alas,
870infelix crinis scindit Iuturna solutos, unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis: Quid nunc te tua, Turne, potest germana iuvare? Aut quid iam durae superat mihi? Qua tibi lucem arte morer? Talin possum me opponere monstro?
875Iam iam linquo acies. Ne me terrete timentem, obscenae volucres: alarum verbera nosco letalemque sonum, nec fallunt iussa superba magnanimi Iovis. Haec pro virginitate reponit? Quo vitam dedit aeternam? Cur mortis ademptast
880condicio? Possem tantos finire dolores nunc certe et misero fratri comes ire per umbras! Immortalis ego? Aut quicquam mihi dulce meorum te sine, frater, erit? O quae satis ima dehiscet terra mihi Manisque deam demittet ad imos?
885Tantum effata caput glauco contexit amictu multa gemens et se fluvio dea condidit alto. Aeneas instat contra telumque coruscat ingens arboreum et saevo sic pectore fatur: Quae nunc deinde mora est? Aut quid iam, Turne, retractas?
890Non cursu, saevis certandum est comminus armis. Verte omnis tete in facies et contrahe quidquid sive animis sive arte vales; opta ardua pennis astra sequi clausumve cava te condere terra. Ille caput quassans Non me tua fervida terrent
895dicta, ferox: di me terrent et Iuppiter hostis. Nec plura effatus saxum circumspicit ingens, saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte iacebat, limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis. Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,
900qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus: ille manu raptum trepida torquebat in hostem altior insurgens et cursu concitus heros. Sed neque currentem se nec cognoscit euntem tollentemve manus saxumve immane moventem;
905genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis. Tum lapis ipse viri, vacuum per inane volutus, nec spatium evasit totum neque pertulit ictum. Ac velut in somnis, oculos ubi languida pressit nocte quies, nequiquam avidos extendere cursus
910velle videmur et in mediis conatibus aegri succidimus, non lingua valet, non corpore notae sufficiunt vires, nec vox aut verba sequuntur: sic Turno, quacumque viam virtute petivit, successum dea dira negat. Tum pectore sensus
915vertuntur varii. Rutulos aspectat et urbem cunctaturque metu letumque instare tremescit; nec quo se eripiat, nec qua vi tendat in hostem, nec currus usquam videt aurigamve sororem. Cunctanti telum Aeneas fatale coruscat,
920sortitus fortunam oculis, et corpore toto eminus intorquet. Murali concita numquam tormento sic saxa fremunt, nec fulmine tanti dissultant crepitus. Volat atri turbinis instar exitium dirum hasta ferens orasque recludit
925loricae et clipei extremos septemplicis orbes. Per medium stridens transit femur. Incidit ictus ingens ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus. Consurgunt gemitu Rutuli, totusque remugit mons circum, et vocem late nemora alta remittunt.
930Ille humilis supplexque oculos, dextramque precantem protendens, Equidem merui nec deprecor, inquit: utere sorte tua. Miseri te siqua parentis tangere cura potest, oro (fuit et tibi talis Anchises genitor), Dauni miserere senectae
935et me seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis redde meis. Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas Ausonii videre; tua est Lavinia coniunx: ulterius ne tende odiis. Stetit acer in armis Aeneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit;
940et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis Pallantis pueri, victum quem volnere Turnus straverat atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat.
945Ille, oculis postquam saevi monimenta doloris exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus et ira terribilis, Tune hinc spoliis indute meorum eripiare mihi? Pallas te hoc volnere, Pallas immolat et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit,
950hoc dicens ferrum adverso sub pectore condit fervidus. Ast illi solvuntur frigore membra vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.
Book 1
1Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram; multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,
6inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum, Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae. Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores
11impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni, Karthago, Italiam contra Tiberinaque longe ostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli; quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam
16posthabita coluisse Samo; hic illius arma, hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse, si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque. Progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;
21hinc populum late regem belloque superbum venturum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas. Id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli, prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis— necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores
26exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae, et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores. His accensa super, iactatos aequore toto Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,
31arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos errabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum. Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem! Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,
36cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore volnus, haec secum: Mene incepto desistere victam, nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem? Quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,
41unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei? Ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem, disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis, illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto.
46Ast ego, quae divom incedo regina, Iovisque et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos bella gero! Et quisquam numen Iunonis adoret praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem? Talia flammato secum dea corde volutans
51nimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus austris, Aeoliam venit. Hic vasto rex Aeolus antro luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras imperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat. Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis
56circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras. Ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundum quippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras. Sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris,
61hoc metuens, molemque et montis insuper altos imposuit, regemque dedit, qui foedere certo et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas. Ad quem tum Iuno supplex his vocibus usa est: Aeole, namque tibi divom pater atque hominum rex
66et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento, gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor, Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penates: incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppes, aut age diversos et disiice corpora ponto.
71Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore nymphae, quarum quae forma pulcherrima Deiopea, conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo, omnis ut tecum meritis pro talibus annos exigat, et pulchra faciat te prole parentem.
76Aeolus haec contra: Tuus, O regina, quid optes explorare labor; mihi iussa capessere fas est. Tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divom, nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.
81Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem impulit in latus: ac venti, velut agmine facto, qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant. Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis
86Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus. Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum. Eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque Teucrorum ex oculis; ponto nox incubat atra. Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether,
91praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem. Extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra: ingemit, et duplicis tendens ad sidera palmas talia voce refert: O terque quaterque beati, quis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis
96contigit oppetere! O Danaum fortissime gentis Tydide! Mene Iliacis occumbere campis non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra, saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector, ubi ingens Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis
101scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit? Talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella velum adversa ferit, fluctusque ad sidera tollit. Franguntur remi; tum prora avertit, et undis dat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.
106Hi summo in fluctu pendent; his unda dehiscens terram inter fluctus aperit; furit aestus harenis. Tris Notus abreptas in saxa latentia torquet— saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras— dorsum immane mari summo; tris Eurus ab alto
111in brevia et Syrtis urguet, miserabile visu, inliditque vadis atque aggere cingit harenae. Unam, quae Lycios fidumque vehebat Oronten, ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontus in puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magister
116volvitur in caput; ast illam ter fluctus ibidem torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex. Adparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto, arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas. Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati,
121et qua vectus Abas, et qua grandaevus Aletes, vicit hiems; laxis laterum compagibus omnes accipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt. Interea magno misceri murmure pontum, emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imis
126stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et alto prospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda. Disiectam Aeneae, toto videt aequore classem, fluctibus oppressos Troas caelique ruina, nec latuere doli fratrem Iunonis et irae.
131Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur: Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri? Iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti, miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles? Quos ego—sed motos praestat componere fluctus.
136Post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis. Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro: non illi imperium pelagi saevumque tridentem, sed mihi sorte datum. Tenet ille immania saxa, vestras, Eure, domos; illa se iactet in aula
141Aeolus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet. Sic ait, et dicto citius tumida aequora placat, collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit. Cymothoe simul et Triton adnixus acuto detrudunt navis scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;
146et vastas aperit syrtis, et temperat aequor, atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas. Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est seditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus, iamque faces et saxa volant—furor arma ministrat;
151tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant; ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet,— sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam prospiciens genitor caeloque invectus aperto
156flectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo. Defessi Aeneadae, quae proxima litora, cursu contendunt petere, et Libyae vertuntur ad oras. Est in secessu longo locus: insula portum efficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto
161frangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos. Hinc atque hinc vastae rupes geminique minantur in caelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice late aequora tuta silent; tum silvis scaena coruscis desuper horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra.
166Fronte sub adversa scopulis pendentibus antrum, intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo, nympharum domus: hic fessas non vincula navis ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu. Huc septem Aeneas collectis navibus omni
171ex numero subit; ac magno telluris amore egressi optata potiuntur Troes harena, et sale tabentis artus in litore ponunt. Ac primum silici scintillam excudit Achates, succepitque ignem foliis, atque arida circum
176nutrimenta dedit, rapuitque in fomite flammam. Tum Cererem corruptam undis Cerealiaque arma expediunt fessi rerum, frugesque receptas et torrere parant flammis et frangere saxo. Aeneas scopulum interea conscendit, et omnem
181prospectum late pelago petit, Anthea si quem iactatum vento videat Phrygiasque biremis, aut Capyn, aut celsis in puppibus arma Caici. Navem in conspectu nullam, tris litore cervos prospicit errantis; hos tota armenta sequuntur
186a tergo, et longum per vallis pascitur agmen. Constitit hic, arcumque manu celerisque sagittas corripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates; ductoresque ipsos primum, capita alta ferentis cornibus arboreis, sternit, tum volgus, et omnem
191miscet agens telis nemora inter frondea turbam; nec prius absistit, quam septem ingentia victor corpora fundat humi, et numerum cum navibus aequet. Hinc portum petit, et socios partitur in omnes. Vina bonus quae deinde cadis onerarat Acestes
196litore Trinacrio dederatque abeuntibus heros, dividit, et dictis maerentia pectora mulcet: O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum— O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem. Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantis
201accestis scopulos, vos et Cyclopea saxa experti: revocate animos, maestumque timorem mittite: forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas
206ostendunt; illic fas regna resurgere Troiae. Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis. Talia voce refert, curisque ingentibus aeger spem voltu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem. Illi se praedae accingunt, dapibusque futuris;
211tergora deripiunt costis et viscera nudant; pars in frusta secant veribusque trementia figunt; litore aena locant alii, flammasque ministrant. Tum victu revocant vires, fusique per herbam implentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae.
216Postquam exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae, amissos longo socios sermone requirunt, spemque metumque inter dubii, seu vivere credant, sive extrema pati nec iam exaudire vocatos. Praecipue pius Aeneas nunc acris Oronti,
221nunc Amyci casum gemit et crudelia secum fata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum. Et iam finis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summo despiciens mare velivolum terrasque iacentis litoraque et latos populos, sic vertice caeli
226constitit, et Libyae defixit lumina regnis. Atque illum talis iactantem pectore curas tristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentis adloquitur Venus: O qui res hominumque deumque aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres,
231quid meus Aeneas in te committere tantum, quid Troes potuere, quibus, tot funera passis, cunctus ob Italiam terrarum clauditur orbis? Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis, hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,
236qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent, pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit? Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens; nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos
241insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum? Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis, Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intima tutus regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi, unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis
246it mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti. Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit Teucrorum, et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit Troia; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit: nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem,
251navibus (infandum!) amissis, unius ob iram prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris. Hic pietatis honos? Sic nos in sceptra reponis? Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum, voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat,
256oscula libavit natae, dehinc talia fatur: Parce metu, Cytherea: manent immota tuorum fata tibi; cernes urbem et promissa Lavini moenia, sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli magnanimum Aenean; neque me sententia vertit.
261Hic tibi (fabor enim, quando haec te cura remordet, longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo) bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet, tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas,
266ternaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis. At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo additur,—Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,— triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini
271transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam. Hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos gente sub Hectorea, donec regina sacerdos, Marte gravis, geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem. Inde lupae fulvo nutricis tegmine laetus
276Romulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet. His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono; imperium sine fine dedi. Quin aspera Iuno, quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat,
281consilia in melius referet, mecumque fovebit Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam: sic placitum. Veniet lustris labentibus aetas, cum domus Assaraci Phthiam clarasque Mycenas servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis.
286Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar, imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris,— Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo. Hunc tu olim caelo, spoliis Orientis onustum, accipies secura; vocabitur hic quoque votis.
291Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis; cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus, iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus, saeva sedens super arma, et centum vinctus aenis
296post tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore cruento. Haec ait, et Maia genitum demittit ab alto, ut terrae, utque novae pateant Karthaginis arces hospitio Teucris, ne fati nescia Dido finibus arceret: volat ille per aera magnum
301remigio alarum, ac Libyae citus adstitit oris. Et iam iussa facit, ponuntque ferocia Poeni corda volente deo; in primis regina quietum accipit in Teucros animum mentemque benignam. At pius Aeneas, per noctem plurima volvens,
306ut primum lux alma data est, exire locosque explorare novos, quas vento accesserit oras, qui teneant, nam inculta videt, hominesne feraene, quaerere constituit, sociisque exacta referre Classem in convexo nemorum sub rupe cavata
311arboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbris occulit; ipse uno graditur comitatus Achate, bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro. Cui mater media sese tulit obvia silva, virginis os habitumque gerens, et virginis arma
316Spartanae, vel qualis equos Threissa fatigat Harpalyce, volucremque fuga praevertitur Hebrum. Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcum venatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis, nuda genu, nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.
321Ac prior, Heus inquit iuvenes, monstrate mearum vidistis si quam hic errantem forte sororum, succinctam pharetra et maculosae tegmine lyncis, aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem. Sic Venus; et Veneris contra sic filius orsus:
326Nulla tuarum audita mihi neque visa sororum— O quam te memorem, virgo? Namque haud tibi voltus mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat: O, dea certe— an Phoebi soror? an nympharum sanguinis una?— sis felix, nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem,
331et, quo sub caelo tandem, quibus orbis in oris iactemur, doceas. Ignari hominumque locorumque erramus, vento huc vastis et fluctibus acti: multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra. Tum Venus: Haud equidem tali me dignor honore;
336virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram, purpureoque alte suras vincire cothurno. Punica regna vides, Tyrios et Agenoris urbem; sed fines Libyci, genus intractabile bello. Imperium Dido Tyria regit urbe profecta,
341germanum fugiens. Longa est iniuria, longae ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum. Huic coniunx Sychaeus erat, ditissimus agri Phoenicum, et magno miserae dilectus amore, cui pater intactam dederat, primisque iugarat
346ominibus. Sed regna Tyri germanus habebat Pygmalion, scelere ante alios immanior omnes. Quos inter medius venit furor. Ille Sychaeum impius ante aras, atque auri caecus amore, clam ferro incautum superat, securus amorum
351germanae; factumque diu celavit, et aegram, multa malus simulans, vana spe lusit amantem. Ipsa sed in somnis inhumati venit imago coniugis, ora modis attollens pallida miris, crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro
356nudavit, caecumque domus scelus omne retexit. Tum celerare fugam patriaque excedere suadet, auxiliumque viae veteres tellure recludit thesauros, ignotum argenti pondus et auri. His commota fugam Dido sociosque parabat:
361conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae, corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari Pygmalionis opes pelago; dux femina facti. Devenere locos, ubi nunc ingentia cernis
366moenia surgentemque novae Karthaginis arcem, mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam, taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo. Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris, quove tenetis iter? Quaerenti talibus ille
371suspirans, imoque trahens a pectore vocem: O dea, si prima repetens ab origine pergam, et vacet annalis nostrorum audire laborum, ante diem clauso componat Vesper Olympo. Nos Troia antiqua, si vestras forte per auris
376Troiae nomen iit, diversa per aequora vectos forte sua Libycis tempestas adpulit oris. Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste Penates classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus. Italiam quaero patriam et genus ab Iove summo.
381Bis denis Phrygium conscendi navibus aequor, matre dea monstrante viam, data fata secutus; vix septem convolsae undis Euroque supersunt. Ipse ignotus, egens, Libyae deserta peragro, Europa atque Asia pulsus. Nec plura querentem
386passa Venus medio sic interfata dolore est: Quisquis es, haud, credo, invisus caelestibus auras vitalis carpis, Tyriam qui adveneris urbem. Perge modo, atque hinc te reginae ad limina perfer, Namque tibi reduces socios classemque relatam
391nuntio, et in tutum versis aquilonibus actam, ni frustra augurium vani docuere parentes. Aspice bis senos laetantis agmine cycnos, aetheria quos lapsa plaga Iovis ales aperto turbabat caelo; nunc terras ordine longo
396aut capere, aut captas iam despectare videntur: ut reduces illi ludunt stridentibus alis, et coetu cinxere polum, cantusque dedere, haud aliter puppesque tuae pubesque tuorum aut portum tenet aut pleno subit ostia velo.
401Perge modo, et, qua te ducit via, dirige gressum. Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit, ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem spiravere, pedes vestis defluxit ad imos, et vera incessu patuit dea. Ille ubi matrem
406adgnovit, tali fugientem est voce secutus: Quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis ludis imaginibus? Cur dextrae iungere dextram non datur, ac veras audire et reddere voces? Talibus incusat, gressumque ad moenia tendit:
411at Venus obscuro gradientes aere saepsit, et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu, cernere ne quis eos, neu quis contingere posset, molirive moram, aut veniendi poscere causas. Ipsa Paphum sublimis abit, sedesque revisit
416laeta suas, ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaeo ture calent arae, sertisque recentibus halant. Corripuere viam interea, qua semita monstrat. Iamque ascendebant collem, qui plurimus urbi imminet, adversasque adspectat desuper arces.
421Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam, miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum. Instant ardentes Tyrii pars ducere muros, molirique arcem et manibus subvolvere saxa, pars optare locum tecto et concludere sulco.
427hic portus alii effodiunt; hic alta theatris fundamenta locant alii, immanisque columnas rupibus excidunt, scaenis decora alta futuris. Qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos
432educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas, aut onera accipiunt venientum, aut agmine facto ignavom fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent: fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.
437O fortunati, quorum iam moenia surgunt! Aeneas ait, et fastigia suspicit urbis. Infert se saeptus nebula, mirabile dictu, per medios, miscetque viris, neque cernitur ulli. Lucus in urbe fuit media, laetissimus umbra,
442quo primum iactati undis et turbine Poeni effodere loco signum, quod regia Iuno monstrarat, caput acris equi; sic nam fore bello egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem. Hic templum Iunoni ingens Sidonia Dido
447condebat, donis opulentum et numine divae, aerea cui gradibus surgebant limina, nexaeque aere trabes, foribus cardo stridebat aenis. Hoc primum in luco nova res oblata timorem leniit, hic primum Aeneas sperare salutem
452ausus, et adflictis melius confidere rebus. Namque sub ingenti lustrat dum singula templo, reginam opperiens, dum, quae fortuna sit urbi, artificumque manus inter se operumque laborem miratur, videt Iliacas ex ordine pugnas,
457bellaque iam fama totum volgata per orbem, Atridas, Priamumque, et saevum ambobus Achillem. Constitit, et lacrimans, Quis iam locus inquit Achate, quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris? En Priamus! Sunt hic etiam sua praemia laudi;
462sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt. Solve metus; feret haec aliquam tibi fama salutem. Sic ait, atque animum pictura pascit inani, multa gemens, largoque umectat flumine voltum. Namque videbat, uti bellantes Pergama circum
467hac fugerent Graii, premeret Troiana iuventus, hac Phryges, instaret curru cristatus Achilles. Nec procul hinc Rhesi niveis tentoria velis adgnoscit lacrimans, primo quae prodita somno Tydides multa vastabat caede cruentus,
472ardentisque avertit equos in castra, prius quam pabula gustassent Troiae Xanthumque bibissent. Parte alia fugiens amissis Troilus armis, infelix puer atque impar congressus Achilli, fertur equis, curruque haeret resupinus inani,
477lora tenens tamen; huic cervixque comaeque trahuntur per terram, et versa pulvis inscribitur hasta. Interea ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant crinibus Iliades passis peplumque ferebant, suppliciter tristes et tunsae pectora palmis;
482diva solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat. Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectora muros, exanimumque auro corpus vendebat Achilles. Tum vero ingentem gemitum dat pectore ab imo, ut spolia, ut currus, utque ipsum corpus amici,
487tendentemque manus Priamum conspexit inermis. Se quoque principibus permixtum adgnovit Achivis, Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma. Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis Penthesilea furens, mediisque in milibus ardet,
492aurea subnectens exsertae cingula mammae, bellatrix, audetque viris concurrere virgo. Haec dum Dardanio Aeneae miranda videntur, dum stupet, obtutuque haeret defixus in uno, regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido,
497incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva. Qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae hinc atque hinc glomerantur oreades; illa pharetram fert umero, gradiensque deas supereminet omnis:
502Latonae tacitum pertemptant gaudia pectus: talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris. Tum foribus divae, media testudine templi, saepta armis, solioque alte subnixa resedit.
507Iura dabat legesque viris, operumque laborem partibus aequabat iustis, aut sorte trahebat: cum subito Aeneas concursu accedere magno Anthea Sergestumque videt fortemque Cloanthum, Teucrorumque alios, ater quos aequore turbo
512dispulerat penitusque alias avexerat oras. Obstipuit simul ipse simul perculsus Achates laetitiaque metuque; avidi coniungere dextras ardebant; sed res animos incognita turbat. Dissimulant, et nube cava speculantur amicti,
517quae fortuna viris, classem quo litore linquant, quid veniant; cunctis nam lecti navibus ibant, orantes veniam, et templum clamore petebant. Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi, maxumus Ilioneus placido sic pectore coepit:
522O Regina, novam cui condere Iuppiter urbem iustitiaque dedit gentis frenare superbas, Troes te miseri, ventis maria omnia vecti, oramus, prohibe infandos a navibus ignis, parce pio generi, et propius res aspice nostras.
527Non nos aut ferro Libycos populare Penatis venimus, aut raptas ad litora vertere praedas; non ea vis animo, nec tanta superbia victis. Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt, terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae;
532Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem. Hic cursus fuit: cum subito adsurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion in vada caeca tulit, penitusque procacibus austris
537perque undas, superante salo, perque invia saxa dispulit; huc pauci vestris adnavimus oris. Quod genus hoc hominum? Quaeve hunc tam barbara morem permittit patria? Hospitio prohibemur harenae; bella cient, primaque vetant consistere terra.
542Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma at sperate deos memores fandi atque nefandi. Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo iustior alter, nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis. Quem si fata virum servant, si vescitur aura
547aetheria, neque adhuc crudelibus occubat umbris, non metus; officio nec te certasse priorem paeniteat. Sunt et Siculis regionibus urbes arvaque, Troianoque a sanguine clarus Acestes. Quassatam ventis liceat subducere classem,
552et silvis aptare trabes et stringere remos: si datur Italiam, sociis et rege recepto, tendere, ut Italiam laeti Latiumque petamus; sin absumpta salus, et te, pater optume Teucrum, pontus habet Lybiae, nec spes iam restat Iuli,
557at freta Sicaniae saltem sedesque paratas, unde huc advecti, regemque petamus Acesten. Talibus Ilioneus; cuncti simul ore fremebant Dardanidae. Tum breviter Dido, voltum demissa, profatur:
562Solvite corde metum, Teucri, secludite curas. Res dura et regni novitas me talia cogunt moliri, et late finis custode tueri. Quis genus Aeneadum, quis Troiae nesciat urbem, virtutesque virosque, aut tanti incendia belli?
567Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Poeni, nec tam aversus equos Tyria Sol iungit ab urbe. Seu vos Hesperiam magnam Saturniaque arva, sive Erycis finis regemque optatis Acesten, auxilio tutos dimittam, opibusque iuvabo.
572Voltis et his mecum pariter considere regnis; urbem quam statuo vestra est, subducite navis; Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur. Atque utinam rex ipse Noto compulsus eodem adforet Aeneas! Equidem per litora certos
577dimittam et Libyae lustrare extrema iubebo, si quibus eiectus silvis aut urbibus errat. His animum arrecti dictis et fortis Achates et pater Aeneas iamdudum erumpere nubem ardebant. Prior Aenean compellat Achates:
582Nate dea, quae nunc animo sententia surgit? omnia tuta vides, classem sociosque receptos. Unus abest, medio in fluctu quem vidimus ipsi submersum; dictis respondent cetera matris. Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfusa repente
587scindit se nubes et in aethera purgat apertum. Restitit Aeneas claraque in luce refulsit, os umerosque deo similis; namque ipsa decoram caesariem nato genetrix lumenque iuventae purpureum et laetos oculis adflarat honores:
592quale manus addunt ebori decus, aut ubi flavo argentum Pariusve lapis circumdatur auro. Tum sic reginam adloquitur, cunctisque repente improvisus ait: Coram, quem quaeritis, adsum, Troius Aeneas, Lybicis ereptus ab undis.
597O sola infandos Troiae miserata labores, quae nos, reliquias Danaum, terraeque marisque omnibus exhaustos iam casibus, omnium egenos, urbe, domo, socias, grates persolvere dignas non opis est nostrae, Dido, nec quicquid ubique est
602gentis Dardaniae, magnum quae sparsa per orbem. Di tibi, si qua pios respectant numina, si quid usquam iustitia est et mens sibi conscia recti, praemia digna ferant. Quae te tam laeta tulerunt saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?
607In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet, semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt, quae me cumque vocant terrae. Sic fatus, amicum Ilionea petit dextra, laevaque Serestum,
612post alios, fortemque Gyan fortemque Cloanthum. Obstipuit primo aspectu Sidonia Dido, casu deinde viri tanto, et sic ore locuta est: Quis te, nate dea, per tanta pericula casus insequitur? Quae vis immanibus applicat oris?
617Tune ille Aeneas, quem Dardanio Anchisae alma Venus Phrygii genuit Simoentis ad undam? Atque equidem Teucrum memini Sidona venire finibus expulsum patriis, nova regna petentem auxilio Beli; genitor tum Belus opimam
622vastabat Cyprum, et victor dicione tenebat. Tempore iam ex illo casus mihi cognitus urbis Troianae nomenque tuum regesque Pelasgi. Ipse hostis Teucros insigni laude ferebat, seque ortum antiqua Teucrorum ab stirpe volebat.
627Quare agite, O tectis, iuvenes, succedite nostris. Me quoque per multos similis fortuna labores iactatam hac demum voluit consistere terra. Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco. Sic memorat; simul Aenean in regia ducit
632tecta, simul divom templis indicit honorem. Nec minus interea sociis ad litora mittit viginti tauros, magnorum horrentia centum terga suum, pinguis centum cum matribus agnos, munera laetitiamque dii.
637At domus interior regali splendida luxu instruitur, mediisque parant convivia tectis: arte laboratae vestes ostroque superbo, ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro fortia facta patrum, series longissima rerum
642per tot ducta viros antiqua ab origine gentis. Aeneas (neque enim patrius consistere mentem passus amor) rapidum ad navis praemittit Achaten, Ascanio ferat haec, ipsumque ad moenia ducat; omnis in Ascanio cari stat cura parentis.
647Munera praeterea, Iliacis erepta ruinis, ferre iubet, pallam signis auroque rigentem, et circumtextum croceo velamen acantho, ornatus Argivae Helenae, quos illa Mycenis, Pergama cum peteret inconcessosque hymenaeos,
652extulerat, matris Ledae mirabile donum: praeterea sceptrum, Ilione quod gesserat olim, maxima natarum Priami, colloque monile bacatum, et duplicem gemmis auroque coronam. Haec celerans ita ad naves tendebat Achates.
657At Cytherea novas artes, nova pectore versat Consilia, ut faciem mutatus et ora Cupido pro dulci Ascanio veniat, donisque furentem incendat reginam, atque ossibus implicet ignem; quippe domum timet ambiguam Tyriosque bilinguis;
662urit atrox Iuno, et sub noctem cura recursat. Ergo his aligerum dictis adfatur Amorem: Nate, meae vires, mea magna potentia solus, nate, patris summi qui tela Typhoia temnis, ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco.
667Frater ut Aeneas pelago tuus omnia circum litora iactetur odiis Iunonis iniquae, nota tibi, et nostro doluisti saepe dolore. Hunc Phoenissa tenet Dido blandisque moratur vocibus; et vereor, quo se Iunonia vertant
672hospitia; haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum. Quocirca capere ante dolis et cingere flamma reginam meditor, ne quo se numine mutet, sed magno Aeneae mecum teneatur amore. Qua facere id possis, nostram nunc accipe mentem.
677Regius accitu cari genitoris ad urbem Sidoniam puer ire parat, mea maxima cura, dona ferens, pelago et flammis restantia Troiae: hunc ego sopitum somno super alta Cythera aut super Idalium sacrata sede recondam,
682ne qua scire dolos mediusve occurrere possit. Tu faciem illius noctem non amplius unam falle dolo, et notos pueri puer indue voltus, ut, cum te gremio accipiet laetissima Dido regalis inter mensas laticemque Lyaeum,
687cum dabit amplexus atque oscula dulcia figet, occultum inspires ignem fallasque veneno. Paret Amor dictis carae genetricis, et alas exuit, et gressu gaudens incedit Iuli. At Venus Ascanio placidam per membra quietem
692inrigat, et fotum gremio dea tollit in altos Idaliae lucos, ubi mollis amaracus illum floribus et dulci adspirans complectitur umbra. Iamque ibat dicto parens et dona Cupido regia portabat Tyriis, duce laetus Achate.
697Cum venit, aulaeis iam se regina superbis aurea composuit sponda mediamque locavit. Iam pater Aeneas et iam Troiana iuventus conveniunt, stratoque super discumbitur ostro. Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
702expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis. Quinquaginta intus famulae, quibus ordine longam cura penum struere, et flammis adolere Penatis; centum aliae totidemque pares aetate ministri, qui dapibus mensas onerent et pocula ponant.
707Nec non et Tyrii per limina laeta frequentes convenere, toris iussi discumbere pictis. Mirantur dona Aeneae, mirantur Iulum flagrantisque dei voltus simulataque verba, Praecipue infelix, pesti devota futurae,
713expleri mentem nequit ardescitque tuendo Phoenissa, et pariter puero donisque movetur. Ille ubi complexu Aeneae colloque pependit et magnum falsi implevit genitoris amorem, reginam petit haec oculis, haec pectore toto
718haeret et interdum gremio fovet, inscia Dido, insidat quantus miserae deus; at memor ille matris Acidaliae paulatim abolere Sychaeum incipit, et vivo temptat praevertere amore iam pridem resides animos desuetaque corda.
723Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remotae, crateras magnos statuunt et vina coronant. Fit strepitus tectis, vocemque per ampla volutant atria; dependent lychni laquearibus aureis incensi, et noctem flammis funalia vincunt.
728Hic regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit implevitque mero pateram, quam Belus et omnes a Belo soliti; tum facta silentia tectis: Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur, hunc laetum Tyriisque diem Troiaque profectis
733esse velis, nostrosque huius meminisse minores. Adsit laetitiae Bacchus dator, et bona Iuno; et vos, O, coetum, Tyrii, celebrate faventes. Dixit, et in mensam laticum libavit honorem, primaque, libato, summo tenus attigit ore,
738tum Bitiae dedit increpitans; ille impiger hausit spumantem pateram, et pleno se proluit auro post alii proceres. Cithara crinitus Iopas personat aurata, docuit quem maximus Atlas. Hic canit errantem lunam solisque labores;
743unde hominum genus et pecudes; unde imber et ignes; Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones; quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet. Ingeminant plausu Tyrii, Troesque sequuntur.
748Nec non et vario noctem sermone trahebat infelix Dido, longumque bibebat amorem, multa super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore multa; nunc quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis, nunc quales Diomedis equi, nunc quantus Achilles.
753Immo age, et a prima dic, hospes, origine nobis insidias, inquit, Danaum, casusque tuorum, erroresque tuos; nam te iam septima portat omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus aestas.
Book 1
1Arms and the man I sing, who first made way, predestined exile, from the Trojan shore to Italy, the blest Lavinian strand. Smitten of storms he was on land and sea by violence of Heaven, to satisfy
6stern Juno's sleepless wrath; and much in war he suffered, seeking at the last to found the city, and bring o'er his fathers' gods to safe abode in Latium; whence arose the Latin race, old Alba's reverend lords,
11and from her hills wide-walled, imperial Rome. O Muse, the causes tell! What sacrilege, or vengeful sorrow, moved the heavenly Queen to thrust on dangers dark and endless toil a man whose largest honor in men's eyes
16was serving Heaven? Can gods such anger feel? In ages gone an ancient city stood— Carthage, a Tyrian seat, which from afar made front on Italy and on the mouths of Tiber's stream; its wealth and revenues
21were vast, and ruthless was its quest of war. 'T is said that Juno, of all lands she loved, most cherished this,—not Samos' self so dear. Here were her arms, her chariot; even then a throne of power o'er nations near and far,
26if Fate opposed not, 't was her darling hope to 'stablish here; but anxiously she heard that of the Trojan blood there was a breed then rising, which upon the destined day should utterly o'erwhelm her Tyrian towers,
31a people of wide sway and conquest proud should compass Libya's doom;—such was the web the Fatal Sisters spun. Such was the fear of Saturn's daughter, who remembered well what long and unavailing strife she waged
36for her loved Greeks at Troy. Nor did she fail to meditate th' occasions of her rage, and cherish deep within her bosom proud its griefs and wrongs: the choice by Paris made; her scorned and slighted beauty; a whole race
41rebellious to her godhead; and Jove's smile that beamed on eagle-ravished Ganymede. With all these thoughts infuriate, her power pursued with tempests o'er the boundless main the Trojans, though by Grecian victor spared
46and fierce Achilles; so she thrust them far from Latium; and they drifted, Heaven-impelled, year after year, o'er many an unknown sea— O labor vast, to found the Roman line! Below th' horizon the Sicilian isle
51just sank from view, as for the open sea with heart of hope they sailed, and every ship clove with its brazen beak the salt, white waves. But Juno of her everlasting wound knew no surcease, but from her heart of pain
56thus darkly mused: “Must I, defeated, fail of what I will, nor turn the Teucrian King from Italy away? Can Fate oppose? Had Pallas power to lay waste in flame the Argive fleet and sink its mariners,
61revenging but the sacrilege obscene by Ajax wrought, Oileus' desperate son? She, from the clouds, herself Jove's lightning threw, scattered the ships, and ploughed the sea with storms. Her foe, from his pierced breast out-breathing fire,
66in whirlwind on a deadly rock she flung. But I, who move among the gods a queen, Jove's sister and his spouse, with one weak tribe make war so long! Who now on Juno calls? What suppliant gifts henceforth her altars crown?”
71So, in her fevered heart complaining still, unto the storm-cloud land the goddess came, a region with wild whirlwinds in its womb, Aeolia named, where royal Aeolus in a high-vaulted cavern keeps control
76o'er warring winds and loud concourse of storms. There closely pent in chains and bastions strong, they, scornful, make the vacant mountain roar, chafing against their bonds. But from a throne of lofty crag, their king with sceptred hand
81allays their fury and their rage confines. Did he not so, our ocean, earth, and sky were whirled before them through the vast inane. But over-ruling Jove, of this in fear, hid them in dungeon dark: then o'er them piled
86huge mountains, and ordained a lawful king to hold them in firm sway, or know what time, with Jove's consent, to loose them o'er the world. To him proud Juno thus made lowly plea: “Thou in whose hands the Father of all gods
91and Sovereign of mankind confides the power to calm the waters or with winds upturn, great Aeolus! a race with me at war now sails the Tuscan main towards Italy, bringing their Ilium and its vanquished powers.
96Uprouse thy gales. Strike that proud navy down! Hurl far and wide, and strew the waves with dead! Twice seven nymphs are mine, of rarest mould; of whom Deiopea, the most fair, I give thee in true wedlock for thine own,
101to mate thy noble worth; she at thy side shall pass long, happy years, and fruitful bring her beauteous offspring unto thee their sire.” Then Aeolus: “'T is thy sole task, O Queen, to weigh thy wish and will. My fealty
106thy high behest obeys. This humble throne is of thy gift. Thy smiles for me obtain authority from Jove. Thy grace concedes my station at your bright Olympian board, and gives me lordship of the darkening storm.”
111Replying thus, he smote with spear reversed the hollow mountain's wall; then rush the winds through that wide breach in long, embattled line, and sweep tumultuous from land to land: with brooding pinions o'er the waters spread,
116east wind and south, and boisterous Afric gale upturn the sea; vast billows shoreward roll; the shout of mariners, the creak of cordage, follow the shock; low-hanging clouds conceal from Trojan eyes all sight of heaven and day;
121night o'er the ocean broods; from sky to sky the thunders roll, the ceaseless lightnings glare; and all things mean swift death for mortal man. Straightway Aeneas, shuddering with amaze, groaned loud, upraised both holy hands to Heaven,
126and thus did plead: “O thrice and four times blest, ye whom your sires and whom the walls of Troy looked on in your last hour! O bravest son Greece ever bore, Tydides! O that I had fallen on Ilian fields, and given this life
131struck down by thy strong hand! where by the spear of great Achilles, fiery Hector fell, and huge Sarpedon; where the Simois in furious flood engulfed and whirled away so many helms and shields and heroes slain!”
136While thus he cried to Heaven, a shrieking blast smote full upon the sail. Up surged the waves to strike the very stars; in fragments flew the shattered oars; the helpless vessel veered and gave her broadside to the roaring flood,
141where watery mountains rose and burst and fell. Now high in air she hangs, then yawning gulfs lay bare the shoals and sands o'er which she drives. Three ships a whirling south wind snatched and flung on hidden rocks,—altars of sacrifice
146Italians call them, which lie far from shore a vast ridge in the sea; three ships beside an east wind, blowing landward from the deep, drove on the shallows,—pitiable sight,— and girdled them in walls of drifting sand.
151That ship, which, with his friend Orontes, bore the Lycian mariners, a great, plunging wave struck straight astern, before Aeneas' eyes. Forward the steersman rolled and o'er the side fell headlong, while three times the circling flood
156spun the light bark through swift engulfing seas. Look, how the lonely swimmers breast the wave! And on the waste of waters wide are seen weapons of war, spars, planks, and treasures rare, once Ilium's boast, all mingled with the storm.
161Now o'er Achates and Ilioneus, now o'er the ship of Abas or Aletes, bursts the tempestuous shock; their loosened seams yawn wide and yield the angry wave its will. Meanwhile how all his smitten ocean moaned,
166and how the tempest's turbulent assault had vexed the stillness of his deepest cave, great Neptune knew; and with indignant mien uplifted o'er the sea his sovereign brow. He saw the Teucrian navy scattered far
171along the waters; and Aeneas' men o'erwhelmed in mingling shock of wave and sky. Saturnian Juno's vengeful stratagem her brother's royal glance failed not to see; and loud to eastward and to westward calling,
176he voiced this word:“What pride of birth or power is yours, ye winds, that, reckless of my will, audacious thus, ye ride through earth and heaven, and stir these mountain waves? Such rebels I— nay, first I calm this tumult! But yourselves
181by heavier chastisement shall expiate hereafter your bold trespass. Haste away and bear your king this word! Not unto him dominion o'er the seas and trident dread, but unto me, Fate gives. Let him possess
186wild mountain crags, thy favored haunt and home, O Eurus! In his barbarous mansion there, let Aeolus look proud, and play the king in yon close-bounded prison-house of storms!” He spoke, and swiftlier than his word subdued
191the swelling of the floods; dispersed afar th' assembled clouds, and brought back light to heaven. Cymothoe then and Triton, with huge toil, thrust down the vessels from the sharp-edged reef; while, with the trident, the great god's own hand
196assists the task; then, from the sand-strewn shore out-ebbing far, he calms the whole wide sea, and glides light-wheeled along the crested foam. As when, with not unwonted tumult, roars in some vast city a rebellious mob,
201and base-born passions in its bosom burn, till rocks and blazing torches fill the air (rage never lacks for arms)—if haply then some wise man comes, whose reverend looks attest a life to duty given, swift silence falls;
206all ears are turned attentive; and he sways with clear and soothing speech the people's will. So ceased the sea's uproar, when its grave Sire looked o'er th' expanse, and, riding on in light, flung free rein to his winged obedient car.
211Aeneas' wave-worn crew now landward made, and took the nearest passage, whither lay the coast of Libya. A haven there walled in by bold sides of a rocky isle, offers a spacious and secure retreat,
216where every billow from the distant main breaks, and in many a rippling curve retires. Huge crags and two confronted promontories frown heaven-high, beneath whose brows outspread the silent, sheltered waters; on the heights
221the bright and glimmering foliage seems to show a woodland amphitheatre; and yet higher rises a straight-stemmed grove of dense, dark shade. Fronting on these a grotto may be seen, o'erhung by steep cliffs; from its inmost wall
226clear springs gush out; and shelving seats it has of unhewn stone, a place the wood-nymphs love. In such a port, a weary ship rides free of weight of firm-fluked anchor or strong chain. Hither Aeneas of his scattered fleet
231saving but seven, into harbor sailed; with passionate longing for the touch of land, forth leap the Trojans to the welcome shore, and fling their dripping limbs along the ground. Then good Achates smote a flinty stone,
236secured a flashing spark, heaped on light leaves, and with dry branches nursed the mounting flame. Then Ceres' gift from the corrupting sea they bring away; and wearied utterly ply Ceres' cunning on the rescued corn,
241and parch in flames, and mill 'twixt two smooth stones. Aeneas meanwhile climbed the cliffs, and searched the wide sea-prospect; haply Antheus there, storm-buffeted, might sail within his ken, with biremes, and his Phrygian mariners,
246or Capys or Caicus armor-clad, upon a towering deck. No ship is seen; but while he looks, three stags along the shore come straying by, and close behind them comes the whole herd, browsing through the lowland vale
251in one long line. Aeneas stopped and seized his bow and swift-winged arrows, which his friend, trusty Achates, close beside him bore. His first shafts brought to earth the lordly heads of the high-antlered chiefs; his next assailed
256the general herd, and drove them one and all in panic through the leafy wood, nor ceased the victory of his bow, till on the ground lay seven huge forms, one gift for every ship. Then back to shore he sped, and to his friends
261distributed the spoil, with that rare wine which good Acestes while in Sicily had stored in jars, and prince-like sent away with his Ioved guest;—this too Aeneas gave; and with these words their mournful mood consoled.
266“Companions mine, we have not failed to feel calamity till now. O, ye have borne far heavier sorrow: Jove will make an end also of this. Ye sailed a course hard by infuriate Scylla's howling cliffs and caves.
271Ye knew the Cyclops' crags. Lift up your hearts! No more complaint and fear! It well may be some happier hour will find this memory fair. Through chance and change and hazard without end, our goal is Latium; where our destinies
276beckon to blest abodes, and have ordained that Troy shall rise new-born! Have patience all! And bide expectantly that golden day.” Such was his word, but vexed with grief and care, feigned hopes upon his forehead firm he wore,
281and locked within his heart a hero's pain. Now round the welcome trophies of his chase they gather for a feast. Some flay the ribs and bare the flesh below; some slice with knives, and on keen prongs the quivering strips impale,
286place cauldrons on the shore, and fan the fires. Then, stretched at ease on couch of simple green, they rally their lost powers, and feast them well on seasoned wine and succulent haunch of game. But hunger banished and the banquet done,
291in long discourse of their lost mates they tell, 'twixt hopes and fears divided; for who knows whether the lost ones live, or strive with death, or heed no more whatever voice may call? Chiefly Aeneas now bewails his friends,
296Orontes brave and fallen Amycus, or mourns with grief untold the untimely doom of bold young Gyas and Cloanthus bold. After these things were past, exalted Jove, from his ethereal sky surveying clear
301the seas all winged with sails, lands widely spread, and nations populous from shore to shore, paused on the peak of heaven, and fixed his gaze on Libya. But while he anxious mused, near him, her radiant eyes all dim with tears,
306nor smiling any more, Venus approached, and thus complained: “O thou who dost control things human and divine by changeless laws, enthroned in awful thunder! What huge wrong could my Aeneas and his Trojans few
311achieve against thy power? For they have borne unnumbered deaths, and, failing Italy, the gates of all the world against them close. Hast thou not given us thy covenant that hence the Romans when the rolling years
316have come full cycle, shall arise to power from Troy's regenerate seed, and rule supreme the unresisted lords of land and sea? O Sire, what swerves thy will? How oft have I in Troy's most lamentable wreck and woe
321consoled my heart with this, and balanced oft our destined good against our destined ill! But the same stormful fortune still pursues my band of heroes on their perilous way. When shall these labors cease, O glorious King?
326Antenor, though th' Achaeans pressed him sore, found his way forth, and entered unassailed Illyria's haven, and the guarded land of the Liburni. Straight up stream he sailed where like a swollen sea Timavus pours
331a nine-fold flood from roaring mountain gorge, and whelms with voiceful wave the fields below. He built Patavium there, and fixed abodes for Troy's far-exiled sons; he gave a name to a new land and race; the Trojan arms
336were hung on temple walls; and, to this day, lying in perfect peace, the hero sleeps. But we of thine own seed, to whom thou dost a station in the arch of heaven assign, behold our navy vilely wrecked, because
341a single god is angry; we endure this treachery and violence, whereby wide seas divide us from th' Hesperian shore. Is this what piety receives? Or thus doth Heaven's decree restore our fallen thrones?”
346Smiling reply, the Sire of gods and men, with such a look as clears the skies of storm chastely his daughter kissed, and thus spake on: “Let Cytherea cast her fears away! Irrevocably blest the fortunes be
351of thee and thine. Nor shalt thou fail to see that City, and the proud predestined wall encompassing Lavinium. Thyself shall starward to the heights of heaven bear Aeneas the great-hearted. Nothing swerves
356my will once uttered. Since such carking cares consume thee, I this hour speak freely forth, and leaf by leaf the book of fate unfold. Thy son in Italy shall wage vast war and, quell its nations wild; his city-wall
361and sacred laws shall be a mighty bond about his gathered people. Summers three shall Latium call him king; and three times pass the winter o'er Rutulia's vanquished hills. His heir, Ascanius, now Iulus called
366(Ilus it was while Ilium's kingdom stood), full thirty months shall reign, then move the throne from the Lavinian citadel, and build for Alba Longa its well-bastioned wall. Here three full centuries shall Hector's race
371have kingly power; till a priestess queen, by Mars conceiving, her twin offspring bear; then Romulus, wolf-nursed and proudly clad in tawny wolf-skin mantle, shall receive the sceptre of his race. He shall uprear
376and on his Romans his own name bestow. To these I give no bounded times or power, but empire without end. Yea, even my Queen, Juno, who now chastiseth land and sea with her dread frown, will find a wiser way,
381and at my sovereign side protect and bless the Romans, masters of the whole round world, who, clad in peaceful toga, judge mankind. Such my decree! In lapse of seasons due, the heirs of Ilium's kings shall bind in chains
386Mycenae's glory and Achilles' towers, and over prostrate Argos sit supreme. Of Trojan stock illustriously sprung, lo, Caesar comes! whose power the ocean bounds, whose fame, the skies. He shall receive the name
391Iulus nobly bore, great Julius, he. Him to the skies, in Orient trophies dress, thou shalt with smiles receive; and he, like us, shall hear at his own shrines the suppliant vow. Then will the world grow mild; the battle-sound
396will be forgot; for olden Honor then, with spotless Vesta, and the brothers twain, Remus and Romulus, at strife no more, will publish sacred laws. The dreadful gates whence issueth war, shall with close-jointed steel
401be barred impregnably; and prisoned there the heaven-offending Fury, throned on swords, and fettered by a hundred brazen chains, shall belch vain curses from his lips of gore.” These words he gave, and summoned Maia's son,
406the herald Mercury, who earthward flying, should bid the Tyrian realms and new-built towers welcome the Trojan waifs; lest Dido, blind to Fate's decree, should thrust them from the land. He takes his flight, with rhythmic stroke of wing,
411across th' abyss of air, and soon draws near unto the Libyan mainland. He fulfils his heavenly task; the Punic hearts of stone grow soft beneath the effluence divine; and, most of all, the Queen, with heart at ease
416awaits benignantly her guests from Troy. But good Aeneas, pondering all night long his many cares, when first the cheerful dawn upon him broke, resolved to take survey of this strange country whither wind and wave
421had driven him,—for desert land it seemed,— to learn what tribes of man or beast possess a place so wild, and careful tidings bring back to his friends. His fleet of ships the while, where dense, dark groves o'er-arch a hollowed crag,
426he left encircled in far-branching shade. Then with no followers save his trusty friend Achates, he went forth upon his way, two broad-tipped javelins poising in his hand. Deep to the midmost wood he went, and there
431his Mother in his path uprose; she seemed in garb and countenance a maid, and bore, like Spartan maids, a weapon; in such guise Harpalyce the Thracian urges on her panting coursers and in wild career
436outstrips impetuous Hebrus as it flows. Over her lovely shoulders was a bow, slender and light, as fits a huntress fair; her golden tresses without wimple moved in every wind, and girded in a knot
441her undulant vesture bared her marble knees. She hailed them thus: “Ho, sirs, I pray you tell if haply ye have noted, as ye came, one of my sisters in this wood astray? She bore a quiver, and a lynx's hide
446her spotted mantle was; perchance she roused some foaming boar, and chased with loud halloo.” So Venus spoke, and Venus' son replied: “No voice or vision of thy sister fair has crossed my path, thou maid without a name!
451Thy beauty seems not of terrestrial mould, nor is thy music mortal! Tell me, goddess, art thou bright Phoebus' sister? Or some nymph, the daughter of a god? Whate'er thou art, thy favor we implore, and potent aid
456in our vast toil. Instruct us of what skies, or what world's end, our storm-swept lives have found! Strange are these lands and people where we rove, compelled by wind and wave. Lo, this right hand shall many a victim on thine altar slay!”
461Then Venus: “Nay, I boast not to receive honors divine. We Tyrian virgins oft bear bow and quiver, and our ankles white lace up in purple buskin. Yonder lies the Punic power, where Tyrian masters hold
466Agenor's town; but on its borders dwell the Libyans, by battles unsubdued. Upon the throne is Dido, exiled there from Tyre, to flee th' unnatural enmity of her own brother. 'T was an ancient wrong;
471too Iong the dark and tangled tale would be; I trace the larger outline of her story: Sichreus was her spouse, whose acres broad no Tyrian lord could match, and he was-blessed by his ill-fated lady's fondest love,
476whose father gave him her first virgin bloom in youthful marriage. But the kingly power among the Tyrians to her brother came, Pygmalion, none deeper dyed in crime in all that land. Betwixt these twain there rose
481a deadly hatred,—and the impious wretch, blinded by greed, and reckless utterly of his fond sister's joy, did murder foul upon defenceless and unarmed Sichaeus, and at the very altar hewed him down.
486Long did he hide the deed, and guilefully deceived with false hopes, and empty words, her grief and stricken love. But as she slept, her husband's tombless ghost before her came, with face all wondrous pale, and he laid bare
491his heart with dagger pierced, disclosing so the blood-stained altar and the infamy that darkened now their house. His counsel was to fly, self-banished, from her ruined land, and for her journey's aid, he whispered where
496his buried treasure lay, a weight unknown of silver and of gold. Thus onward urged, Dido, assembling her few trusted friends, prepared her flight. There rallied to her cause all who did hate and scorn the tyrant king,
501or feared his cruelty. They seized his ships, which haply rode at anchor in the bay, and loaded them with gold; the hoarded wealth of vile and covetous Pygmalion they took to sea. A woman wrought this deed.
506Then came they to these lands where now thine eyes behold yon walls and yonder citadel of newly rising Carthage. For a price they measured round so much of Afric soil as one bull's hide encircles, and the spot
511received its name, the Byrsa. But, I pray, what men are ye? from what far land arrived, and whither going?” When she questioned thus, her son, with sighs that rose from his heart's depths, this answer gave:
516“Divine one, if I tell my woes and burdens all, and thou could'st pause to heed the tale, first would the vesper star th' Olympian portals close, and bid the day in slumber lie. Of ancient Troy are we—
521if aught of Troy thou knowest! As we roved from sea to sea, the hazard of the storm cast us up hither on this Libyan coast. I am Aeneas, faithful evermore to Heaven's command; and in my ships I bear
526my gods ancestral, which I snatched away from peril of the foe. My fame is known above the stars. I travel on in quest of Italy, my true home-land, and I from Jove himself may trace my birth divine.
531With twice ten ships upon the Phryglan main I launched away. My mother from the skies gave guidance, and I wrought what Fate ordained. Yet now scarce seven shattered ships survive the shock of wind and wave; and I myself
536friendless, bereft, am wandering up and down this Libyan wilderness! Behold me here, from Europe and from Asia exiled still!” But Venus could not let him longer plain, and stopped his grief midway:
541“Whoe'er thou art, I deem that not unblest of heavenly powers, with vital breath still thine, thou comest hither unto our Tyrian town. Go steadfast on, and to the royal threshold make thy way!
546I bring thee tidings that thy comrades all are safe at land; and all thy ships, conveyed by favoring breezes, safe at anchor lie; or else in vain my parents gave me skill to read the skies. Look up at yonder swans!
551A flock of twelve, whose gayly fluttering file, erst scattered by Jove's eagle swooping down from his ethereal haunt, now form anew their long-drawn line, and make a landing-place, or, hovering over, scan some chosen ground,
556or soaring high, with whir of happy wings, re-circle heaven in triumphant song: likewise, I tell thee, thy Iost mariners are landed, or fly landward at full sail. Up, then! let yon plain path thy guidance be,”
561She ceased and turned away. A roseate beam from her bright shoulder glowed; th' ambrosial hair breathed more than mortal sweetness, while her robes fell rippling to her feet. Each step revealed the veritable goddess. Now he knew
566that vision was his mother, and his words pursued the fading phantom as it fled: “Why is thy son deluded o'er and o'er with mocking dreams,—another cruel god? Hast thou no hand-clasp true, nor interchange
571of words unfeigned betwixt this heart and thine?” Such word of blame he spoke, and took his way toward the city's rampart. Venus then o'erveiled them as they moved in darkened air,— a liquid mantle of thick cloud divine,—
576that viewless they might pass, nor would any obstruct, delay, or question why they came. To Paphos then she soared, her Ioved abode, where stands her temple, at whose hundred shrines garlands of myrtle and fresh roses breathe,
581and clouds of orient sweetness waft away. Meanwhile the wanderers swiftly journey on along the clear-marked road, and soon they climb the brow of a high hill, which close in view o'er-towers the city's crown. The vast exploit,
586where lately rose but Afric cabins rude, Aeneas wondered at: the smooth, wide ways; the bastioned gates; the uproar of the throng. The Tyrians toil unwearied; some up-raise a wall or citadel, from far below
591lifting the ponderous stone; or with due care choose where to build, and close the space around with sacred furrow; in their gathering-place the people for just governors, just laws, and for their reverend senate shout acclaim.
596Some clear the harbor mouth; some deeply lay the base of a great theatre, and carve out proud columns from the mountain, to adorn their rising stage with lofty ornament. so busy bees above a field of flowers
601in early summer amid sunbeams toil, leading abroad their nation's youthful brood; or with the flowing honey storing close the pliant cells, until they quite run o'er with nectared sweet; while from the entering swarm
606they take their little loads; or lined for war, rout the dull drones, and chase them from the hive; brisk is the task, and all the honeyed air breathes odors of wild thyme. “How blest of Heaven. These men that see their promised ramparts rise!”
611Aeneas sighed; and swift his glances moved from tower to tower; then on his way he fared, veiled in the wonder-cloud, whence all unseen of human eyes,—O strange the tale and true!— he threaded the thronged streets, unmarked, unknown.
616Deep in the city's heart there was a grove of beauteous shade, where once the Tyrians, cast here by stormful waves, delved out of earth that portent which Queen Juno bade them find,— the head of a proud horse,—that ages long
621their boast might be wealth, luxury and war. Upon this spot Sidonian Dido raised a spacious fane to Juno, which became splendid with gifts, and hallowed far and wide for potency divine. Its beams were bronze,
626and on loud hinges swung the brazen doors. A rare, new sight this sacred grove did show, which calmed Aeneas' fears, and made him bold to hope for safety, and with lifted heart from his low-fallen fortunes re-aspire.
631For while he waits the advent of the Queen, he scans the mighty temple, and admires the city's opulent pride, and all the skill its rival craftsmen in their work approve. Behold! he sees old Ilium's well-fought fields
636in sequent picture, and those famous wars now told upon men's lips the whole world round. There Atreus' sons, there kingly Priam moved, and fierce Pelides pitiless to both. Aeneas paused, and, weeping, thus began:
641“Alas, Achates, what far region now, what land in all the world knows not our pain? See, it is Priam! Virtue's wage is given— O even here! Here also there be tears for what men bear, and mortal creatures feel
646each other's sorrow. Therefore, have no fear! This story of our loss forbodes us well.” So saying, he received into his heart that visionary scene, profoundly sighed, and let his plenteous tears unheeded flow.
651There he beheld the citadel of Troy girt with embattled foes; here, Greeks in flight some Trojan onset 'scaped; there, Phrygian bands before tall-plumed Achilles' chariot sped. The snowy tents of Rhesus spread hard by
656(he sees them through his tears), where Diomed in night's first watch burst o'er them unawares with bloody havoc and a host of deaths; then drove his fiery coursers o'er the plain before their thirst or hunger could be stayed
661on Trojan corn or Xanthus' cooling stream. Here too was princely Troilus, despoiled, routed and weaponless, O wretched boy! Ill-matched against Achilles! His wild steeds bear him along, as from his chariot's rear
666he falls far back, but clutches still the rein; his hair and shoulders on the ground go trailing, and his down-pointing spear-head scrawls the dust. Elsewhere, to Pallas' ever-hostile shrine, daughters of Ilium, with unsnooded hair,
671and lifting all in vain her hallowed pall, walked suppliant and sad, beating their breasts, with outspread palms. But her unswerving eyes the goddess fixed on earth, and would not see. Achilles round the Trojan rampart thrice
676had dragged the fallen Hector, and for gold was making traffic of the lifeless clay. Aeneas groaned aloud, with bursting heart, to see the spoils, the car, the very corpse of his lost friend,—while Priam for the dead
681stretched forth in piteous prayer his helpless hands. There too his own presentment he could see surrounded by Greek kings; and there were shown hordes from the East, and black-browed Memnon's arms; her band of Amazons, with moon-shaped shields,
686Penthesilea led; her martial eye flamed on from troop to troop; a belt of gold beneath one bare, protruded breast she bound— a warrior-virgin braving mail-clad men. While on such spectacle Aeneas' eyes
691looked wondering, while mute and motionless he stood at gaze, Queen Dido to the shrine in lovely majesty drew near; a throng of youthful followers pressed round her way. So by the margin of Eurotas wide
696or o'er the Cynthian steep, Diana leads her bright processional; hither and yon are visionary legions numberless of Oreads; the regnant goddess bears a quiver on her shoulders, and is seen
701emerging tallest of her beauteous train; while joy unutterable thrills the breast of fond Latona: Dido not less fair amid her subjects passed, and not less bright her glow of gracious joy, while she approved
706her future kingdom's pomp and vast emprise. Then at the sacred portal and beneath the temple's vaulted dome she took her place, encompassed by armed men, and lifted high upon a throne; her statutes and decrees
711the people heard, and took what lot or toil her sentence, or impartial urn, assigned. But, lo! Aeneas sees among the throng Antheus, Sergestus, and Cloanthus bold, with other Teucrians, whom the black storm flung
716far o'er the deep and drove on alien shores. Struck dumb was he, and good Achates too, half gladness and half fear. Fain would they fly to friendship's fond embrace; but knowing not what might befall, their hearts felt doubt and care.
721Therefore they kept the secret, and remained forth-peering from the hollow veil of cloud, haply to learn what their friends' fate might be, or where the fleet was landed, or what aim had brought them hither; for a chosen few
726from every ship had come to sue for grace, and all the temple with their voices rang. The doors swung wide; and after access given and leave to speak, revered Ilioneus with soul serene these lowly words essayed:
731“O Queen, who hast authority of Jove to found this rising city, and subdue with righteous governance its people proud, we wretched Trojans, blown from sea to sea, beseech thy mercy; keep the curse of fire
736from our poor ships! We pray thee, do no wrong unto a guiltless race. But heed our plea! No Libyan hearth shall suffer by our sword, nor spoil and plunder to our ships be borne; such haughty violence fits not the souls
741of vanquished men. We journey to a land named, in Greek syllables, Hesperia: a storied realm, made mighty by great wars and wealth of fruitful land; in former days Oenotrians had it, and their sons, 't is said,
746have called it Italy, a chieftain's name to a whole region given. Thitherward our ships did fare; but with swift-rising flood the stormful season of Orion's star drove us on viewless shoals; and angry gales
751dispersed us, smitten by the tumbling surge, among innavigable rocks. Behold, we few swam hither, waifs upon your shore! What race of mortals this? What barbarous land, that with inhospitable laws ye thrust
756a stranger from your coasts, and fly to arms, nor grant mere foothold on your kingdom's bound? If man thou scornest and all mortal power, forget not that the gods watch good and ill! A king we had; Aeneas,—never man
761in all the world more loyal, just and true, nor mightier in arms! If Heaven decree his present safety, if he now do breathe the air of earth and is not buried low among the dreadful shades, then fear not thou!
766For thou wilt never rue that thou wert prompt to do us the first kindness. O'er the sea in the Sicilian land, are cities proud, with martial power, and great Acestes there is of our Trojan kin. So grant us here
771to beach our shattered ships along thy shore, and from thy forest bring us beam and spar to mend our broken oars. Then, if perchance we find once more our comrades and our king, and forth to Italy once more set sail,
776to Italy, our Latin hearth and home, we will rejoicing go. But if our weal is clean gone by, and thee, blest chief and sire, these Libyan waters keep, and if no more Iulus bids us hope,—then, at the least,
781to yon Sicilian seas, to friendly lands whence hither drifting with the winds we came, let us retrace the journey and rejoin good King Acestes.” So Ilioneus ended his pleading; the Dardanidae
786murmured assent. Then Dido, briefly and with downcast eyes, her answer made: “O Teucrians, have no fear! Bid care begone! It was necessity, and my young kingdom's weakness, which compelled
791the policy of force, and made me keep such vigilant sentry my wide co'ast along. Aeneas and his people, that fair town of Troy—who knows them not? The whole world knows those valorous chiefs and huge, far-flaming wars.
796Our Punic hearts are not of substance all insensible and dull: the god of day drives not his fire-breathing steeds so far from this our Tyrian town. If ye would go to great Hesperia, where Saturn reigned,
801or if voluptuous Eryx and the throne of good Acestes be your journey's end, I send you safe; I speed you on your way. But if in these my realms ye will abide, associates of my power, behold, I build
806this city for your own! Choose haven here for your good ships. Beneath my royal sway Trojan and Tyrian equal grace will find. But O, that this same storm had brought your King. Aeneas, hither! I will bid explore
811our Libya's utmost bound, where haply he in wilderness or hamlet wanders lost.” By these fair words to joy profoundly stirred, Father Aeneas and Achates brave to cast aside the cloud that wrapped them round
816yearned greatly; and Achates to his King spoke thus: “O goddess-born, in thy wise heart what purpose rises now? Lo! All is well! Thy fleet and followers are safe at land. One only comes not, who before our eyes
821sank in the soundless sea. All else fulfils thy mother's prophecy.” Scarce had he spoke when suddenly that overmantling cloud was cloven, and dissolved in lucent air; forth stood Aeneas. A clear sunbeam smote
826his god-like head and shoulders. Venus' son of his own heavenly mother now received youth's glowing rose, an eye of joyful fire, and tresses clustering fair. 'T is even so the cunning craftsman unto ivory gives
831new beauty, or with circlet of bright gold encloses silver or the Parian stone. Thus of the Queen he sued, while wonderment fell on all hearts. “Behold the man ye seek, for I am here! Aeneas, Trojan-born,
836brought safely hither from yon Libyan seas! O thou who first hast looked with pitying eye on Troy's unutterable grief, who even to us (escaped our Grecian victor, and outworn by all the perils land and ocean know),
841to us, bereft and ruined, dost extend such welcome to thy kingdom and thy home! I have no power, Dido, to give thanks to match thine ample grace; nor is there power in any remnant of our Dardan blood,
846now fled in exile o'er the whole wide world. May gods on high (if influence divine bless faithful lives, or recompense be found in justice and thy self-approving mind) give thee thy due reward. What age was blest
851by such a birth as thine? What parents proud such offspring bore? O, while the rivers run to mingle with the sea, while shadows pass along yon rounded hills from vale to vale, and while from heaven's unextinguished fire
856the stars be fed—so Iong thy glorious name, thy place illustrious and thy virtue's praise, abide undimmed.—Yet I myself must go to lands I know not where.” After this word his right hand clasped his Ioved Ilioneus,
861his left Serestus; then the comrades all, brave Gyas, brave Cloanthus, and their peers. Sidonian Dido felt her heart stand still when first she looked on him; and thrilled again to hear what vast adventure had befallen
866so great a hero. Thus she welcomed him: “What chance, O goddess-born, o'er danger's path impels? What power to this wild coast has borne? Art thou Aeneas, great Anchises' son, whom lovely Venus by the Phrygian stream
871of Simois brought forth unto the day? Now I bethink me of when Teucer came to Sidon, exiled, and of Belus' power desired a second throne. For Belus then, our worshipped sire, despoiled the teeming land
876of Cyprus, as its conqueror and king. And since that hour I oft have heard the tale of fallen Troy, of thine own noble name, and of Achaean kings. Teucer was wont, although their foe, to praise the Teucrian race,
881and boasted him of that proud lineage sprung. Therefore, behold, our portals are swung wide for all your company. I also bore hard fate like thine. I too was driven of storms and after long toil was allowed at last
886to call this land my home. O, I am wise in sorrow, and I help all suffering souls!” So saying, she bade Aeneas welcome take beneath her royal roof, and to the gods made sacrifice in temples, while she sent
891unto the thankful Trojans on the shore a score of bulls, and of huge, bristling swine, a herd of a whole hundred, and a flock of goodly lambs, a hundred, who ran close beside the mother-ewes: and all were given
896in joyful feast to please the Heavenly Powers. Her palace showed a monarch's fair array all glittering and proud, and feasts were spread within the ample court. Rich broideries hung deep incarnadined with Tyrian skill;
901the board had massy silver, gold-embossed, where gleamed the mighty deeds of all her sires, a graven chronicle of peace and war prolonged, since first her ancient line began, from royal sire to son.
906Aeneas now (for love in his paternal heart spoke loud and gave no rest) bade swift Achates run to tell Ascanius all, and from the ship to guide him upward to the town,—for now
911the father's whole heart for Ascanius yearned. And gifts he bade them bring, which had been saved in Ilium's fall: a richly broidered cloak heavy with golden emblems; and a veil by leaves of saffron lilies bordered round,
916which Argive Helen o'er her beauty threw, her mother Leda's gift most wonderful, and which to Troy she bore, when flying far in lawless wedlock from Mycenae's towers; a sceptre, too, once fair Ilione's,
921eldest of Priam's daughters; and round pearls strung in a necklace, and a double crown of jewels set in gold. These gifts to find, Achates to the tall ships sped away. But Cytherea in her heart revolved
926new wiles, new schemes: how Cupid should transform his countenance, and, coming in the guise of sweet Ascanius, still more inflame the amorous Queen with gifts, and deeply fuse through all her yielding frame his fatal fire.
931Sooth, Venus feared the many-languaged guile which Tyrians use; fierce Juno's hate she feared, and falling night renewed her sleepless care. Therefore to Love, the light-winged god, she said: “Sweet son, of whom my sovereignty and power
936alone are given! O son, whose smile may scorn the shafts of Jove whereby the Titans fell, to thee I fly, and humbly here implore thy help divine. Behold, from land to land Aeneas, thine own brother, voyages on
941storm-driven, by Juno's causeless enmity. Thou knowest it well, and oft hast sighed to see my sighs and tears. Dido the Tyrian now detains him with soft speeches; and I fear such courtesy from Juno means us ill;
946she is not one who, when the hour is ripe, bids action pause. I therefore now intend the Tyrian Queen to snare, and siege her breast with our invading fire, before some god shall change her mood. But let her bosom burn
951with love of my Aeneas not less than mine. This thou canst bring to pass. I pray thee hear the plan I counsel. At his father's call Ascanius, heir of kings, makes haste to climb to yon Sidonian citadel; my grace
956protects him, and he bears gifts which were saved from hazard of the sea and burning Troy. Him lapped in slumber on Cythera's hill, or in Idalia's deep and hallowing shade, myself will hide, lest haply he should learn
961our stratagem, and burst in, foiling all. Wear thou his shape for one brief night thyself, and let thy boyhood feign another boy's familiar countenance; when Dido there, beside the royal feast and flowing wine,
966all smiles and joy, shall clasp thee to her breast while she caresses thee, and her sweet lips touch close with thine, then let thy secret fire breathe o'er her heart, to poison and betray.” The love-god to his mother's dear behest
971gave prompt assent. He put his pinions by and tripped it like Iulus, light of heart. But Venus o'er Ascanius' body poured a perfect sleep, and, to her heavenly breast enfolding him, far, far away upbore
976to fair Idalia's grove, where fragrant buds of softly-petalled marjoram embower in pleasurable shade. Cupid straightway obeyed his mother's word and bore the gifts,
981each worthy of a king, as offerings to greet the Tyrian throne; and as he went he clasped Achates' friendly hand, and smiled. Father Aeneas now, and all his band of Trojan chivalry, at social feast,
986on lofty purple-pillowed couches lie; deft slaves fresh water on their fingers pour, and from reed-woven basketry renew the plenteous bread, or bring smooth napery of softest weave; fifty handmaidens serve,
991whose task it is to range in order fair the varied banquet, or at altars bright throw balm and incense on the sacred fires. A hundred more serve with an equal band of beauteous pages, whose obedient skill
996piles high the generous board and fills the bowl. The Tyrians also to the festal hall come thronging, and receive their honor due, each on his painted couch; with wondering eyes Aeneas' gifts they view, and wondering more,
1001mark young Iulus' radiant brows divine, his guileful words, the golden pall he bears, and broidered veil with saffron lilies bound. The Tyrian Queen ill-starred, already doomed to her approaching woe, scanned ardently,
1006with kindling cheek and never-sated eyes, the precious gifts and wonder-gifted boy. He round Aeneas' neck his arms entwined, fed the deep yearning of his seeming sire, then sought the Queen's embrace; her eyes, her soul
1011clave to him as she strained him to her breast. For Dido knew not in that fateful hour how great a god betrayed her. He began, remembering his mother (she who bore the lovely Acidalian Graces three),
1016to make the dear name of Sichaeus fade, and with new life, new love, to re-possess her Iong-since slumbering bosom's Iost desire. When the main feast is over, they replace the banquet with huge bowls, and crown the wine
1021with ivy-leaf and rose. Loud rings the roof with echoing voices; from the gilded vault far-blazing cressets swing, or torches bright drive the dark night away. The Queen herself called for her golden chalice studded round
1026with jewels, and o'er-brimming it with wine as Belus and his proud successors use, commanded silence, and this utterance made: “Great Jove, of whom are hospitable laws for stranger-guest, may this auspicious day
1031bless both our Tyrians and the wanderers from Trojan shore. May our posterity keep this remembrance! Let kind Juno smile, and Bacchus, Iord of mirth, attend us here! And, O ye Tyrians, come one and all,
1036and with well-omened words our welcome share!” So saying, she outpoured the sacred drop due to the gods, and lightly from the rim sipped the first taste, then unto Bitias gave with urgent cheer; he seized it, nothing loth,
1041quaffed deep and long the foaming, golden bowl, then passed to others. On a gilded Iyre the flowing-haired Iopas woke a song taught him by famous Atlas: of the moon he sang, the wanderer, and what the sun's
1046vast labors be; then would his music tell whence man and beast were born, and whence were bred clouds, lightnings, and Arcturus' stormful sign, the Hyades, rain-stars, and nigh the Pole the great and lesser Wain; for well he knew
1051why colder suns make haste to quench their orb in ocean-stream, and wintry nights be slow. Loudly the Tyrians their minstrel praised, and Troy gave prompt applause. Dido the while with varying talk prolonged the fateful night,
1056and drank both long and deep of love and wine. Now many a tale of Priam would she crave, of Hector many; or what radiant arms Aurora's son did wear; what were those steeds of Diomed, or what the stature seemed
1061of great Achilles. “Come, illustrious guest, begin the tale,” she said, “begin and tell the perfidy of Greece, thy people's fall, and all thy wanderings. For now,—Ah, me! Seven times the summer's burning stars have seen
1066thee wandering far o'er alien lands and seas.”
Book 2
1Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant. Inde toro pater Aeneas sic orsus ab alto: Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem, Troianas ut opes et lamentabile regnum eruerint Danai; quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,
6et quorum pars magna fui. Quis talia fando Myrmidonum Dolopumve aut duri miles Ulixi temperet a lacrimis? Et iam nox umida caelo praecipitat, suadentque cadentia sidera somnos. Sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros
11et breviter Troiae supremum audire laborem, quamquam animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit, incipiam.Fracti bello fatisque repulsi ductores Danaum, tot iam labentibus annis, instar montis equum divina Palladis arte
16aedificant, sectaque intexunt abiete costas: votum pro reditu simulant; ea fama vagatur. Huc delecta virum sortiti corpora furtim includunt caeco lateri, penitusque cavernas ingentis uterumque armato milite complent.
21Est in conspectu Tenedos, notissima fama insula, dives opum, Priami dum regna manebant, nunc tantum sinus et statio male fida carinis: huc se provecti deserto in litore condunt. Nos abiisse rati et vento petiisse Mycenas:
26ergo omnis longo solvit se Teucria luctu; panduntur portae; iuvat ire et Dorica castra desertosque videre locos litusque relictum. Hic Dolopum manus, hic saevus tendebat Achilles; classibus hic locus; hic acie certare solebant.
31Pars stupet innuptae donum exitiale Minervae, et molem mirantur equi; primusque Thymoetes duci intra muros hortatur et arce locari, sive dolo, seu iam Troiae sic fata ferebant. At Capys, et quorum melior sententia menti,
36aut pelago Danaum insidias suspectaque dona praecipitare iubent, subiectisque urere flammis, aut terebrare cavas uteri et temptare latebras. Scinditur incertum studia in contraria volgus. Primus ibi ante omnis, magna comitante caterva,
41Laocoön ardens summa decurrit ab arce, et procul: O miseri, quae tanta insania, cives? Creditis avectos hostis? Aut ulla putatis dona carere dolis Danaum? Sic notus Ulixes? aut hoc inclusi ligno occultantur Achivi,
46aut haec in nostros fabricata est machina muros inspectura domos venturaque desuper urbi, aut aliquis latet error; equo ne credite, Teucri. Quicquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentis. Sic fatus, validis ingentem viribus hastam
51in latus inque feri curvam compagibus alvum contorsit: stetit illa tremens, uteroque recusso insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae. Et, si fata deum, si mens non laeva fuisset, impulerat ferro Argolicas foedare latebras,
56Troiaque, nunc stares, Priamique arx alta, maneres. Ecce, manus iuvenem interea post terga revinctum pastores magno ad regem clamore trahebant Dardanidae, qui se ignotum venientibus ultro, hoc ipsum ut strueret Troiamque aperiret Achivis,
61obtulerat, fidens animi atque in utrumque paratus, seu versare dolos, seu certae occumbere morti. Undique visendi studio Troiana iuventus circumfusa ruit, certantque inludere capto. Accipe nunc Danaum insidias, et crimine ab uno
66disce omnes. Namque ut conspectu in medio turbatus, inermis constitit atque oculis Phrygia agmina circumspexit: Heu, quae nunc tellus inquit quae me aequora possunt accipere? Aut quid iam misero mihi denique restat,
71cui neque apud Danaos usquam locus, et super ipsi Dardanidae infensi poenas cum sanguine poscunt? Quo gemitu conversi animi, compressus et omnis impetus. Hortamur fari; quo sanguine cretus, quidve ferat, memoret, quae sit fiducia capto.
77Cuncta equidem tibi, Rex, fuerit quodcumque, fatebor vera, inquit; neque me Argolica de gente negabo: hoc primum; nec, si miserum Fortuna Sinonem finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque improba finget. Fando aliquod si forte tuas pervenit ad auris
82Belidae nomen Palamedis et incluta fama gloria, quem falsa sub proditione Pelasgi insontem infando indicio, quia bella vetabat, demisere neci, nunc cassum lumine lugent. Illi me comitem et consanguinitate propinquum
87pauper in arma pater primis huc misit ab annis, dum stabat regno incolumis regumque vigebat consiliis, et nos aliquod nomenque decusque gessimus. Invidia postquam pellacis Ulixi— haud ignota loquor—superis concessit ab oris,
92adflictus vitam in tenebris luctuque trahebam, et casum insontis mecum indignabar amici. Nec tacui demens, et me, fors si qua tulisset, si patrios umquam remeassem victor ad Argos, promisi ultorem, et verbis odia aspera movi.
97Hinc mihi prima mali labes, hinc semper Ulixes criminibus terrere novis, hinc spargere voces in volgum ambiguas, et quaerere conscius arma. Nec requievit enim, donec, Calchante ministro— sed quid ego haec autem nequiquam ingrata revolvo?
102Quidve moror, si omnis uno ordine habetis Achivos, idque audire sat est? Iamdudum sumite poenas, hoc Ithacus velit, et magno mercentur Atridae. Tum vero ardemus scitari et quaerere causas, ignari scelerum tantorum artisque Pelasgae.
107Prosequitur pavitans, et ficto pectore fatur: Saepe fugam Danai Troia cupiere relicta moliri, et longo fessi discedere bello; fecissentque utinam! Saepe illos aspera ponti interclusit hiemps, et terruit Auster euntis.
112Praecipue, cum iam hic trabibus contextus acernis staret equus, toto sonuerunt aethere nimbi. Suspensi Eurypylum scitantem oracula Phoebi mittimus, isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat: Sanguine placastis ventos et virgine caesa,
117cum primum Iliacas, Danai, venistis ad oras; sanguine quaerendi reditus, animaque litandum Argolica. Volgi quae vox ut venit ad auris, obstipuere animi, gelidusque per ima cucurrit ossa tremor, cui fata parent, quem poscat Apollo.
122Hic Ithacus vatem magno Calchanta tumultu protrahit in medios; quae sint ea numina divom, flagitat; et mihi iam multi crudele canebant artificis scelus, et taciti ventura videbant. Bis quinos silet ille dies, tectusque recusat
127prodere voce sua quemquam aut opponere morti. Vix tandem, magnis Ithaci clamoribus actus, composito rumpit vocem, et me destinat arae. Adsensere omnes, et, quae sibi quisque timebat, unius in miseri exitium conversa tulere.
132Iamque dies infanda aderat; mihi sacra parari, et salsae fruges, et circum tempora vittae: eripui, fateor, leto me, et vincula rupi, limosoque lacu per noctem obscurus in ulva delitui, dum vela darent, si forte dedissent.
137Nec mihi iam patriam antiquam spes ulla videndi, nec dulcis natos exoptatumque parentem; quos illi fors et poenas ob nostra reposcent effugia, et culpam hanc miserorum morte piabunt. Quod te per superos et conscia numina veri,
142per si qua est quae restet adhuc mortalibus usquam intemerata fides, oro, miserere laborum tantorum, miserere animi non digna ferentis. His lacrimis vitam damus, et miserescimus ultro. Ipse viro primus manicas atque arta levari
147vincla iubet Priamus, dictisque ita fatur amicis: Quisquis es, amissos hinc iam obliviscere Graios; noster eris, mihique haec edissere vera roganti: Quo molem hanc immanis equi statuere? Quis auctor? Quidve petunt? Quae religio, aut quae machina belli?
152Dixerat. Ille, dolis instructus et arte Pelasga, sustulit exutas vinclis ad sidera palmas: Vos, aeterni ignes, et non violabile vestrum testor numen ait vos arae ensesque nefandi, quos fugi, vittaeque deum, quas hostia gessi:
157fas mihi Graiorum sacrata resolvere iura, fas odisse viros, atque omnia ferre sub auras, si qua tegunt; teneor patriae nec legibus ullis. Tu modo promissis maneas, servataque serves Troia fidem, si vera feram, si magna rependam.
162Omnis spes Danaum et coepti fiducia belli Palladis auxiliis semper stetit. Impius ex quo Tydides sed enim scelerumque inventor Ulixes, fatale adgressi sacrato avellere templo Palladium, caesis summae custodibus arcis,
167corripuere sacram effigiem, manibusque cruentis virgineas ausi divae contingere vittas; ex illo fluere ac retro sublapsa referri spes Danaum, fractae vires, aversa deae mens. Nec dubiis ea signa dedit Tritonia monstris.
172Vix positum castris simulacrum, arsere coruscae luminibus flammae arrectis, salsusque per artus sudor iit, terque ipsa solo—mirabile dictu— emicuit, parmamque ferens hastamque trementem. Extemplo temptanda fuga canit aequora Calchas,
177nec posse Argolicis exscindi Pergama telis, omina ni repetant Argis, numenque reducant, quod pelago et curvis secum avexere carinis. Et nunc, quod patrias vento petiere Mycenas, arma deosque parant comites, pelagoque remenso
182improvisi aderunt: ita digerit omina Calchas. Hanc pro Palladio moniti, pro numine laeso effigiem statuere, nefas quae triste piaret. Hanc tamen immensam Calchas attollere molem roboribus textis caeloque educere iussit,
187ne recipi portis, aut duci in moenia possit, neu populum antiqua sub religione tueri. Nam si vestra manus violasset dona Minervae, tum magnum exitium (quod di prius omen in ipsum convertant!) Priami imperio Phrygibusque futurum;
192sin manibus vestris vestram ascendisset in urbem, ultro Asiam magno Pelopea ad moenia bello venturam, et nostros ea fata manere nepotes. Talibus insidiis periurique arte Sinonis credita res, captique dolis lacrimisque coactis,
197quos neque Tydides, nec Larisaeus Achilles, non anni domuere decem, non mille carinae. Hic aliud maius miseris multoque tremendum obicitur magis, atque improvida pectora turbat. Laocoön, ductus Neptuno sorte sacerdos,
202sollemnis taurum ingentem mactabat ad aras. Ecce autem gemini a Tenedo tranquilla per alta— horresco referens—immensis orbibus angues incumbunt pelago, pariterque ad litora tendunt; pectora quorum inter fluctus arrecta iubaeque
207sanguineae superant undas; pars cetera pontum pone legit, sinuatque immensa volumine terga. Fit sonitus spumante salo; iamque arva tenebant, ardentisque oculos suffecti sanguine et igni, sibila lambebant linguis vibrantibus ora.
212Diffugimus visu exsangues: illi agmine certo Laocoönta petunt; et primum parva duorum corpora natorum serpens amplexus uterque implicat, et miseros morsu depascitur artus; post ipsum auxilio subeuntem ac tela ferentem
217corripiunt, spirisque ligant ingentibus; et iam bis medium amplexi, bis collo squamea circum terga dati, superant capite et cervicibus altis. Ille simul manibus tendit divellere nodos, perfusus sanie vittas atroque veneno,
222clamores simul horrendos ad sidera tollit: quales mugitus, fugit cum saucius aram taurus, et incertam excussit cervice securim. At gemini lapsu delubra ad summa dracones effugiunt saevaeque petunt Tritonidis arcem,
227sub pedibusque deae clipeique sub orbe teguntur. Tum vero tremefacta novus per pectora cunctis insinuat pavor, et scelus expendisse merentem Laocoönta ferunt, sacrum qui cuspide robur laeserit, et tergo sceleratam intorserit hastam.
232Ducendum ad sedes simulacrum orandaque divae numina conclamant. Dividimus muros et moenia pandimus urbis. Accingunt omnes operi, pedibusque rotarum subiciunt lapsus, et stuppea vincula collo
237intendunt: scandit fatalis machina muros, feta armis. Pueri circum innuptaeque puellae sacra canunt, funemque manu contingere gaudent. Illa subit, mediaeque minans inlabitur urbi. O patria, O divom domus Ilium, et incluta bello
242moenia Dardanidum, quater ipso in limine portae substitit, atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere: instamus tamen inmemores caecique furore, et monstrum infelix sacrata sistimus arce. Tunc etiam fatis aperit Cassandra futuris
247ora, dei iussu non umquam credita Teucris. Nos delubra deum miseri, quibus ultimus esset ille dies, festa velamus fronde per urbem. Vertitur interea caelum et ruit oceano nox, involvens umbra magna terramque polumque
252Myrmidonumque dolos; fusi per moenia Teucri conticuere, sopor fessos complectitur artus: et iam Argiva phalanx instructis navibus ibat a Tenedo tacitae per amica silentia lunae litora nota petens, flammas cum regia puppis
257extulerat, fatisque deum defensus iniquis inclusos utero Danaos et pinea furtim laxat claustra Sinon. Illos patefactus ad auras reddit equus, laetique cavo se robore promunt Thessandrus Sthenelusque duces, et dirus Ulixes,
262demissum lapsi per funem, Acamasque, Thoasque, Pelidesque Neoptolemus, primusque Machaon, et Menelaus, et ipse doli fabricator Epeos. Invadunt urbem somno vinoque sepultam; caeduntur vigiles, portisque patentibus omnis
267accipiunt socios atque agmina conscia iungunt. Tempus erat, quo prima quies mortalibus aegris incipit, et dono divom gratissima serpit. In somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector visus adesse mihi, largosque effundere fletus,
272raptatus bigis, ut quondam, aterque cruento pulvere, perque pedes traiectus lora tumentis. Ei mihi, qualis erat, quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore, qui redit exuvias indutus Achilli, vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis,
277squalentem barbam et concretos sanguine crinis volneraque illa gerens, quae circum plurima muros accepit patrios. Ultro flens ipse videbar Compellare virum et maestas expromere voces: O lux Dardaniae, spes O fidissima Teucrum,
282quae tantae tenuere morae? Quibus Hector ab oris exspectate venis? Ut te post multa tuorum funera, post varios hominumque urbisque labores defessi aspicimus! Quae causa indigna serenos foedavit voltus? Aut cur haec volnera cerno?
287Ille nihil, nec me quaerentem vana moratur, sed graviter gemitus imo de pectore ducens, Heu fuge, nate dea, teque his, ait, eripe flammis. Hostis habet muros; ruit alto a culmine Troia. Sat patriae Priamoque datum: si Pergama dextra
292defendi possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent. Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troia penatis: hos cape fatorum comites, his moenia quaere magna, pererrato statues quae denique ponto. Sic ait, et manibus vittas Vestamque potentem
297aeternumque adytis effert penetralibus ignem. Diverso interea miscentur moenia luctu, et magis atque magis, quamquam secreta parentis Anchisae domus arboribusque obtecta recessit, clarescunt sonitus, armorumque ingruit horror.
302Excutior somno, et summi fastigia tecti ascensu supero, atque arrectis auribus adsto: in segetem veluti cum flamma furentibus austris incidit, aut rapidus montano flumine torrens sternit agros, sternit sata laeta boumque labores,
307praecipitisque trahit silvas, stupet inscius alto accipiens sonitum saxi de vertice pastor. Tum vero manifesta fides, Danaumque patescunt insidiae. Iam Deiphobi dedit ampla ruinam Volcano superante domus; iam proxumus ardet
312Ucalegon; Sigea igni freta lata relucent. Exoritur clamorque virum clangorque tubarum. Arma amens capio; nec sat rationis in armis, sed glomerare manum bello et concurrere in arcem cum sociis ardent animi; furor iraque mentem
317praecipitant, pulchrumque mori succurrit in armis. Ecce autem telis Panthus elapsus Achivom, Panthus Othryades, arcis Phoebique sacerdos, sacra manu victosque deos parvumque nepotem ipse trahit, cursuque amens ad limina tendit.
322Quo res summa, loco, Panthu? Quam prendimus arcem? Vix ea fatus eram, gemitu cum talia reddit: Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus Dardaniae: fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium et ingens gloria Teucrorum; ferus omnia Iuppiter Argos
327transtulit; incensa Danai dominantur in urbe. Arduus armatos mediis in moenibus adstans fundit equus, victorque Sinon incendia miscet insultans; portis alii bipatentibus adsunt, milia quot magnis umquam venere Mycenis;
332obsedere alii telis angusta viarum oppositi; stat ferri acies mucrone corusco stricta, parata neci; vix primi proelia temptant portarum vigiles, et caeco Marte resistunt. Talibus Othryadae dictis et numine divom
337in flammas et in arma feror, quo tristis Erinys, quo fremitus vocat et sublatus ad aethera clamor. Addunt se socios Rhipeus et maximus armis Epytus oblati per lunam Hypanisque Dymasque, et lateri adglomerant nostro, iuvenisque Coroebus,
342Mygdonides: illis ad Troiam forte diebus venerat, insano Cassandrae incensus amore, et gener auxilium Priamo Phrygibusque ferebat, infelix, qui non sponsae praecepta furentis audierit.
347Quos ubi confertos audere in proelia vidi, incipio super his: Iuvenes, fortissima frustra pectora, si vobis audentem extrema cupido certa sequi, quae sit rebus fortuna videtis: excessere omnes, adytis arisque relictis,
352di, quibus imperium hoc steterat; succurritis urbi incensae; moriamur et in media arma ruamus. Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem. Sic animis iuvenum furor additus: inde, lupi ceu raptores atra in nebula, quos improba ventris
357exegit caecos rabies, catulique relicti faucibus exspectant siccis, per tela, per hostis vadimus haud dubiam in mortem, mediaeque tenemus urbis iter; nox atra cava circumvolat umbra. Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando
362explicet, aut possit lacrimis aequare labores? Urbs antiqua ruit, multos dominata per annos; plurima perque vias sternuntur inertia passim corpora, perque domos et religiosa deorum limina. Nec soli poenas dant sanguine Teucri;
367quondam etiam victis redit in praecordia virtus victoresque cadunt Danai: crudelis ubique luctus, ubique pavor, et plurima mortis imago. Primus se, Danaum magna comitante caterva, Androgeos offert nobis, socia agmina credens
372inscius, atque ultro verbis compellat amicis: Festinate, viri: nam quae tam sera moratur segnities? Alii rapiunt incensa feruntque Pergama; vos celsis nunc primum a navibus itis. Dixit, et extemplo, neque enim responsa dabantur
377fida satis, sensit medios delapsus in hostis. Obstipuit, retroque pedem cum voce repressit: inprovisum aspris veluti qui sentibus anguem pressit humi nitens, trepidusque repente refugit attollentem iras et caerula colla tumentem;
382haud secus Androgeos visu tremefactus abibat. Inruimus, densis et circumfundimur armis, ignarosque loci passim et formidine captos sternimus: adspirat primo fortuna labori. Atque hic successu exsultans animisque Coroebus,
387O socii, qua prima inquit fortuna salutis monstrat iter, quoque ostendit se dextra, sequamur mutemus clipeos, Danaumque insignia nobis aptemus: dolus an virtus, quis in hoste requirat? Arma dabunt ipsi. Sic fatus, deinde comantem
392Androgei galeam clipeique insigne decorum induitur, laterique Argivum accommodat ensem. Hoc Rhipeus, hoc ipse Dymas omnisque iuventus laeta facit; spoliis se quisque recentibus armat. Vadimus immixti Danais haud numine nostro,
397multaque per caecam congressi proelia noctem conserimus, multos Danaum demittimus Orco. Diffugiunt alii ad navis, et litora cursu fida petunt: pars ingentem formidine turpi scandunt rursus equum et nota conduntur in alvo.
402Heu nihil invitis fas quemquam fidere divis! Ecce trahebatur passis Priameïa virgo crinibus a templo Cassandra adytisque Minervae, ad caelum tendens ardentia lumina frustra,— lumina, nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas.
407Non tulit hanc speciem furiata mente Coroebus, et sese medium iniecit periturus in agmen. Consequimur cuncti et densis incurrimus armis. Hic primum ex alto delubri culmine telis nostrorum obruimur, oriturque miserrima caedes
412armorum facie et Graiarum errore iubarum. Tum Danai gemitu atque ereptae virginis ira undique collecti invadunt, acerrimus Aiax, et gemini Atridae, Dolopumque exercitus omnis; adversi rupto ceu quondam turbine venti
417confligunt, Zephyrusque Notusque et laetus Eois Eurus equis; stridunt silvae, saevitque tridenti spumeus atque imo Nereus ciet aequora fundo. Illi etiam, si quos obscura nocte per umbram fudimus insidiis totaque agitavimus urbe,
422apparent; primi clipeos mentitaque tela adgnoscunt, atque ora sono discordia signant. Ilicet obruimur numero; primusque Coroebus Penelei dextra divae armipotentis ad aram procumbit; cadit et Rhipeus, iustissimus unus
427qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus aequi: dis aliter visum; pereunt Hypanisque Dymasque confixi a sociis; nec te tua plurima, Panthu, labentem pietas nec Apollinis infula texit. Iliaci cineres et flamma extrema meorum,
432testor, in occasu vestro nec tela nec ullas vitavisse vices Danaum, et, si fata fuissent ut caderem, meruisse manu. Divellimur inde, Iphitus et Pelias mecum, quorum Iphitus aevo iam gravior, Pelias et volnere tardus Ulixi;
437protinus ad sedes Priami clamore vocati. Hic vero ingentem pugnam, ceu cetera nusquam bella forent, nulli tota morerentur in urbe. Sic Martem indomitum, Danaosque ad tecta ruentis cernimus, obsessumque acta testudine limen.
442Haerent parietibus scalae, postisque sub ipsos nituntur gradibus, clipeosque ad tela sinistris protecti obiciunt, prensant fastigia dextris. Dardanidae contra turris ac tota domorum culmina convellunt; his se, quando ultima cernunt,
447extrema iam in morte parant defendere telis; auratasque trabes, veterum decora alta parentum, devolvunt; alii strictis mucronibus imas obsedere fores; has servant agmine denso. Instaurati animi, regis succurrere tectis,
452auxilioque levare viros, vimque addere victis. Limen erat caecaeque fores et pervius usus tectorum inter se Priami, postesque relicti a tergo, infelix qua se, dum regna manebant, saepius Andromache ferre incomitata solebat
457ad soceros, et avo puerum Astyanacta trahebat. Evado ad summi fastigia culminis, unde tela manu miseri iactabant inrita Teucri. Turrim in praecipiti stantem summisque sub astra eductam tectis, unde omnis Troia videri
462et Danaum solitae naves et Achaia castra, adgressi ferro circum, qua summa labantis iuncturas tabulata dabant, convellimus altis sedibus, impulimusque; ea lapsa repente ruinam cum sonitu trahit et Danaum super agmina late
467incidit: ast alii subeunt, nec saxa, nec ullum telorum interea cessat genus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primoque in limine Pyrrhus exsultat, telis et luce coruscus aëna; qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus
472frigida sub terra tumidum quem bruma tegebat, nunc, positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa, lubrica convolvit sublato pectore terga arduus ad solem, et linguis micat ore trisulcis. Una ingens Periphas et equorum agitator Achillis,
477armiger Automedon, una omnis Scyria pubes succedunt tecto, et flammas ad culmina iactant. Ipse inter primos correpta dura bipenni limina perrumpit, postisque a cardine vellit aeratos; iamque excisa trabe firma cavavit
482robora, et ingentem lato dedit ore fenestram. Adparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt; adparent Priami et veterum penetralia regum, armatosque vident stantis in limine primo. At domus interior gemitu miseroque tumultu
487miscetur, penitusque cavae plangoribus aedes femineis ululant; ferit aurea sidera clamor. Tum pavidae tectis matres ingentibus errant; amplexaeque tenent postis atque oscula figunt. Instat vi patria Pyrrhus; nec claustra, neque ipsi
492custodes sufferre valent; labat ariete crebro ianua, et emoti procumbunt cardine postes. Fit via vi; rumpunt aditus, primosque trucidant immissi Danai, et late loca milite complent. Non sic, aggeribus ruptis cum spumeus amnis
497exiit, oppositasque evicit gurgite moles, fertur in arva furens cumulo, camposque per omnis cum stabulis armenta trahit. Vidi ipse furentem caede Neoptolemum geminosque in limine Atridas; vidi Hecubam centumque nurus, Priamumque per aras
502sanguine foedantem, quos ipse sacraverat, ignis. Quinquaginta illi thalami, spes tanta nepotum, barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi, procubuere; tenent Danai, qua deficit ignis. Forsitan et Priami fuerint quae fata requiras.
507Urbis uti captae casum convolsaque vidit limina tectorum et medium in penetralibus hostem, arma diu senior desueta trementibus aevo circumdat nequiquam umeris, et inutile ferrum cingitur, ac densos fertur moriturus in hostis.
512Aedibus in mediis nudoque sub aetheris axe ingens ara fuit iuxtaque veterrima laurus, incumbens arae atque umbra complexa Penatis. Hic Hecuba et natae nequiquam altaria circum, praecipites atra ceu tempestate columbae,
517condensae et divom amplexae simulacra sedebant. Ipsum autem sumptis Priamum iuvenalibus armis ut vidit, Quae mens tam dira, miserrime coniunx, impulit his cingi telis? Aut quo ruis? inquit; Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis
522tempus eget, non, si ipse meus nunc adforet Hector. Huc tandem concede; haec ara tuebitur omnis, aut moriere simul. Sic ore effata recepit ad sese et sacra longaevum in sede locavit. Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de caede Polites,
527unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostis porticibus longis fugit, et vacua atria lustrat saucius: illum ardens infesto volnere Pyrrhus insequitur, iam iamque manu tenet et premit hasta. Ut tandem ante oculos evasit et ora parentum,
532concidit, ac multo vitam cum sanguine fudit. Hic Priamus, quamquam in media iam morte tenetur, non tamen abstinuit, nec voci iraeque pepercit: At tibi pro scelere, exclamat, pro talibus ausis, di, si qua est caelo pietas, quae talia curet,
537persolvant grates dignas et praemia reddant debita, qui nati coram me cernere letum fecisti et patrios foedasti funere voltus. At non ille, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles talis in hoste fuit Priamo; sed iura fidemque
542supplicis erubuit, corpusque exsangue sepulchro reddidit Hectoreum, meque in mea regna remisit. Sic fatus senior, telumque imbelle sine ictu coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum e summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.
547Cui Pyrrhus: Referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis Pelidae genitori; illi mea tristia facta degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento. Nunc morere. Hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem traxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,
552implicuitque comam laeva, dextraque coruscum extulit, ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem. Haec finis Priami fatorum; hic exitus illum sorte tulit, Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum
557regnatorem Asiae. Iacet ingens litore truncus, avolsumque umeris caput, et sine nomine corpus. At me tum primum saevus circumstetit horror Obstipui; subiit cari genitoris imago, ut regem aequaevum crudeli volnere vidi
562vitam exhalantem; subiit deserta Creüsa, et direpta domus, et parvi casus Iuli. Respicio, et quae sit me circum copia lustro. Deseruere omnes defessi, et corpora saltu ad terram misere aut ignibus aegra dedere.
589cum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, videndam obtulit et pura per noctem in luce refulsit alma parens, confessa deam, qualisque videri caelicolis et quanta solet, dextraque prehensum continuit, roseoque haec insuper addidit ore:
594Nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras? Quid furis, aut quonam nostri tibi cura recessit? Non prius aspicies, ubi fessum aetate parentem liqueris Anchisen; superet coniunxne Creüsa, Ascaniusque puer? Quos omnes undique Graiae
599circum errant acies, et, ni mea cura resistat, iam flammae tulerint inimicus et hauserit ensis. Non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacaenae culpatusve Paris: divom inclementia, divom, has evertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam.
604Aspice—namque omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti mortalis hebetat visus tibi et umida circum caligat, nubem eripiam; tu ne qua parentis iussa time, neu praeceptis parere recusa:— hic, ubi disiectas moles avolsaque saxis
609saxa vides mixtoque undantem pulvere fumum. Neptunus muros magnoque emota tridenti fundamenta quatit, totamque a sedibus urbem eruit; hic Iuno Scaeas saevissima portas prima tenet, sociumque furens a navibus agmen
614ferro accincta vocat. Iam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Pallas insedit, nimbo effulgens et Gorgone saeva. Ipse pater Danais animos viresque secundas sufficit, ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma.
619Eripe, nate, fugam, finemque impone labori. Nusquam abero, et tutum patrio te limine sistam. Dixerat, et spissis noctis se condidit umbris. Adparent dirae facies inimicaque Troiae numina magna deum.
624Tum vero omne mihi visum considere in ignis Ilium et ex imo verti Neptunia Troia; ac veluti summis antiquam in montibus ornum cum ferro accisam crebrisque bipennibus instant eruere agricolae certatim,—illa usque minatur
629et tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat, volneribus donec paulatim evicta, supremum congemuit, traxitque iugis avolsa ruinam. Descendo, ac ducente deo flammam inter et hostis expedior; dant tela locum, flammaeque recedunt.
634Atque ubi iam patriae perventum ad limina sedis antiquasque domos, genitor, quem tollere in altos optabam primum montis primumque petebam, abnegat excisa vitam producere Troia exsiliumque pati. Vos O, quibus integer aevi
639sanguis, ait solidaeque suo stant robore vires, vos agitate fugam: me si caelicolae voluissent ducere vitam, has mihi servassent sedes. Satis una superque vidimus exscidia et captae superavimus urbi.
644Sic O, sic positum adfati discedite corpus. Ipse manu mortem inveniam; miserebitur hostis exuviasque petet; facilis iactura sepulcri. Iam pridem invisus divis et inutilis annos demoror, ex quo me divom pater atque hominum rex
649fulminis adflavit ventis et contigit igni. Talia perstabat memorans, fixusque manebat. Nos contra effusi lacrimis, coniunxque Creüsa Ascaniusque omnisque domus, ne vertere secum cuncta pater fatoque urguenti incumbere vellet.
654Abnegat, inceptoque et sedibus haeret in isdem. Rursus in arma feror, mortemque miserrimus opto: nam quod consilium aut quae iam fortuna dabatur? Mene efferre pedem, genitor, te posse relicto sperasti, tantumque nefas patrio excidit ore?
659Si nihil ex tanta Superis placet urbe relinqui, et sedet hoc animo, perituraeque addere Troiae teque tuosque iuvat, patet isti ianua leto, iamque aderit multo Priami de sanguine Pyrrhus, natum ante ora patris, patrem qui obtruncat ad aras.
664Hoc erat, alma parens, quod me per tela, per ignis eripis, ut mediis hostem in penetralibus, utque Ascanium patremque meum iuxtaque Creüsam alterum in alterius mactatos sanguine cernam? Arma, viri, ferte arma; vocat lux ultima victos.
669Reddite me Danais; sinite instaurata revisam proelia: Numquam omnes hodie moriemur inulti. Hinc ferro accingor rursus clipeoque sinistram insertabam aptans, meque extra tecta ferebam. Ecce autem complexa pedes in limine coniunx
674haerebat, parvumque patri tendebat Iulum: Si periturus abis, et nos rape in omnia tecum; sin aliquam expertus sumptis spem ponis in armis, hanc primum tutare domum. Cui parvus Iulus, cui pater et coniunx quondam tua dicta relinquor?
679Talia vociferans gemitu tectum omne replebat, cum subitum dictuque oritur mirabile monstrum. Namque manus inter maestorumque ora parentum ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli fundere lumen apex, tactuque innoxia mollis
684lambere flamma comas et circum tempora pasci. Nos pavidi trepidare metu, crinemque flagrantem excutere et sanctos restinguere fontibus ignis. At pater Anchises oculos ad sidera laetus extulit, et caelo palmas cum voce tetendit:
689Iuppiter omnipotens, precibus si flecteris ullis, aspice nos; hoc tantum, et, si pietate meremur, da deinde auxilium, pater, atque haec omina firma. Vix ea fatus erat senior, subitoque fragore intonuit laevum, et de caelo lapsa per umbras
694stella facem ducens multa cum luce cucurrit. Illam, summa super labentem culmina tecti, cernimus Idaea claram se condere silva signantemque vias; tum longo limite sulcus dat lucem, et late circum loca sulphure fumant.
699Hic vero victus genitor se tollit ad auras, adfaturque deos et sanctum sidus adorat. Iam iam nulla mora est; sequor et qua ducitis adsum. Di patrii, servate domum, servate nepotem. Vestrum hoc augurium, vestroque in numine Troia est.
704Cedo equidem, nec, nate, tibi comes ire recuso. Dixerat ille; et iam per moenia clarior ignis auditur, propiusque aestus incendia volvunt. Ergo age, care pater, cervici imponere nostrae; ipse subibo umeris, nec me labor iste gravabit:
709quo res cumque cadent, unum et commune periclum, una salus ambobus erit. Mihi parvus Iulus sit comes, et longe servet vestigia coniunx: vos, famuli, quae dicam, animis advertite vestris. Est urbe egressis tumulus templumque vetustum
714desertae Cereris, iuxtaque antiqua cupressus religione patrum multos servata per annos. Hanc ex diverso sedem veniemus in unam. Tu, genitor, cape sacra manu patriosque Penatis; me, bello e tanto digressum et caede recenti,
719attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo abluero. Haec fatus, latos umeros subiectaque colla veste super fulvique insternor pelle leonis, succedoque oneri; dextrae se parvus Iulus
724implicuit sequiturque patrem non passibus aequis; pone subit coniunx: ferimur per opaca locorum; et me, quem dudum non ulla iniecta movebant tela neque adverso glomerati ex agmine Grai, nunc omnes terrent aurae, sonus excitat omnis
729suspensum et pariter comitique onerique timentem. Iamque propinquabam portis, omnemque videbar evasisse viam, subito cum creber ad auris visus adesse pedum sonitus, genitorque per umbram prospiciens; Nate exclamat, fuge nate, propinquant.
734Ardentis clipeos atque aera micantia cerno!— Hic mihi nescio quod trepido male numen amicum confusam eripuit mentem. Namque avia cursu dum sequor, et nota excedo regione viarum, heu, misero coniunx fatone erepta Creüsa
739substitit, erravitne via, seu lassa resedit, incertum; nec post oculis est reddita nostris. Nec prius amissam respexi animumque reflexi, quam tumulum antiquae Cereris sedemque sacratam venimus; hic demum collectis omnibus una
744defuit, et comites natumque virumque fefellit. Quem non incusavi amens hominumque deorumque, aut quid in eversa vidi crudelius urbe? Ascanium Anchisenque patrem Teucrosque Penatis commendo sociis et curva valle recondo;
749ipse urbem repeto et cingor fulgentibus armis. Stat casus renovare omnis, omnemque reverti per Troiam, et rursus caput obiectare periclis. Principio muros obscuraque limina portae, qua gressum extuleram, repeto, et vestigia retro
754observata sequor per noctem et lumine lustro. Horror ubique animo, simul ipsa silentia terrent. Inde domum, si forte pedem, si forte tulisset, me refero: inruerant Danai, et tectum omne tenebant. Ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia vento
759volvitur; exsuperant flammae, furit aestus ad auras. Procedo et Priami sedes arcemque reviso. Et iam porticibus vacuis Iunonis asylo custodes lecti Phoenix et dirus Ulixes praedam adservabant. Huc undique Troia gaza
764incensis erepta adytis, mensaeque deorum, crateresque auro solidi, captivaque vestis congeritur; pueri et pavidae longo ordine matres stant circum. Ausus quin etiam voces iactare per umbram
769implevi clamore vias, maestusque Creüsam nequiquam ingeminans iterumque iterumque vocavi. Quaerenti et tectis urbis sine fine furenti infelix simulacrum atque ipsius umbra Creüsae visa mihi ante oculos et nota maior imago.
774Obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit. Quid tantum insano iuvat indulgere dolori, O dulcis coniunx? Non haec sine numine divom eveniunt; nec te hinc comitem asportare Creüsam fas, aut ille sinit superi regnator Olympi.
780Longa tibi exsilia, et vastum maris aequor arandum, et terram Hesperiam venies, ubi Lydius arva inter opima virum leni fluit agmine Thybris: illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx parta tibi. Lacrimas dilectae pelle Creüsae.
785Non ego Myrmidonum sedes Dolopumve superbas aspiciam, aut Graiis servitum matribus ibo, Dardanis, et divae Veneris nurus. Sed me magna deum genetrix his detinet oris: iamque vale, et nati serva communis amorem.
790Haec ubi dicta dedit, lacrimantem et multa volentem dicere deseruit, tenuisque recessit in auras. Ter conatus ibi collo dare bracchia circum: ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, par levibus ventis volucrique simillima somno.
795Sic demum socios consumpta nocte reviso. Atque hic ingentem comitum adfluxisse novorum invenio admirans numerum, matresque virosque, collectam exsilio pubem, miserabile volgus. Undique convenere, animis opibusque parati,
800in quascumque velim pelago deducere terras. Iamque iugis summae surgebat Lucifer Idae ducebatque diem, Danaique obsessa tenebant limina portarum, nec spes opis ulla dabatur; cessi, et sublato montes genitore petivi.
Book 2
1A general silence fell; and all gave ear, while, from his lofty station at the feast, Father Aeneas with these words began :— A grief unspeakable thy gracious word, o sovereign lady, bids my heart live o'er:
6how Asia's glory and afflicted throne the Greek flung down; which woeful scene I saw, and bore great part in each event I tell. But O! in telling, what Dolopian churl, or Myrmidon, or gory follower
11of grim Ulysses could the tears restrain? 'T is evening; lo! the dews of night begin to fall from heaven, and yonder sinking stars invite to slumber. But if thy heart yearn to hear in brief of all our evil days
16and Troy's last throes, although the memory makes my soul shudder and recoil in pain, I will essay it. Wearied of the war, and by ill-fortune crushed, year after year, the kings of Greece, by Pallas' skill divine,
21build a huge horse, a thing of mountain size, with timbered ribs of fir. They falsely say it has been vowed to Heaven for safe return, and spread this lie abroad. Then they conceal choice bands of warriors in the deep, dark side,
26and fill the caverns of that monstrous womb with arms and soldiery. In sight of Troy lies Tenedos, an island widely famed and opulent, ere Priam's kingdom fell, but a poor haven now, with anchorage
31not half secure; 't was thitherward they sailed, and lurked unseen by that abandoned shore. We deemed them launched away and sailing far, bound homeward for Mycenae. Teucria then threw off her grief inveterate; all her gates
36swung wide; exultant went we forth, and saw the Dorian camp untenanted, the siege abandoned, and the shore without a keel. “Here!” cried we, “the Dolopian pitched; the host of fierce Achilles here; here lay the fleet;
41and here the battling lines to conflict ran.” Others, all wonder, scan the gift of doom by virgin Pallas given, and view with awe that horse which loomed so large. Thymoetes then bade lead it through the gates, and set on high
46within our citadel,—or traitor he, or tool of fate in Troy's predestined fall. But Capys, as did all of wiser heart, bade hurl into the sea the false Greek gift, or underneath it thrust a kindling flame
51or pierce the hollow ambush of its womb with probing spear. Yet did the multitude veer round from voice to voice and doubt of all. Then from the citadel, conspicuous, Laocoon, with all his following choir,
56hurried indignant down; and from afar thus hailed the people: “O unhappy men! What madness this? Who deems our foemen fled? Think ye the gifts of Greece can lack for guile? Have ye not known Ulysses? The Achaean
61hides, caged in yonder beams; or this is reared for engin'ry on our proud battlements, to spy upon our roof-tops, or descend in ruin on the city. 'T is a snare. Trust not this horse, O Troy, whate'er it bode!
66I fear the Greeks, though gift on gift they bear.” So saying, he whirled with ponderous javelin a sturdy stroke straight at the rounded side of the great, jointed beast. A tremor struck its towering form, and through the cavernous womb
71rolled loud, reverberate rumbling, deep and long. If heaven's decree, if our own wills, that hour, had not been fixed on woe, his spear had brought a bloody slaughter on our ambushed foe, and Troy were standing on the earth this day!
76O Priam's towers, ye were unfallen still! But, lo! with hands fast bound behind, a youth by clamorous Dardan shepherds haled along, was brought before our king,—to this sole end a self-surrendered captive, that he might,
81although a nameless stranger, cunningly deliver to the Greek the gates of Troy. His firm-set mind flinched not from either goal,— success in crime, or on swift death to fall. The thronging Trojan youth made haste his way
86from every side, all eager to see close their captive's face, and clout with emulous scorn. Hear now what Greek deception is, and learn from one dark wickedness the whole. For he, a mark for every eye, defenceless, dazed,
91stood staring at our Phrygian hosts, and cried: “Woe worth the day! What ocean or what shore will have me now? What desperate path remains for miserable me? Now have I lost all foothold with the Greeks, and o'er my head
96Troy's furious sons call bloody vengeance down.” Such groans and anguish turned all rage away and stayed our lifted hands. We bade him tell his birth, his errand, and from whence might be such hope of mercy for a foe in chains.
101Then fearing us no more, this speech he dared: “O King! I will confess, whate'er befall, the whole unvarnished truth. I will not hide my Grecian birth. Yea, thus will I begin. For Fortune has brought wretched Sinon low;
106but never shall her cruelty impair his honor and his truth. Perchance the name of Palamedes, Belus' glorious son, has come by rumor to your listening ears; whom by false witness and conspiracy,
111because his counsel was not for this war, the Greeks condemned, though guiltless, to his death, and now make much lament for him they slew. I, his companion, of his kith and kin, sent hither by my humble sire's command,
116followed his arms and fortunes from my youth. Long as his throne endured, and while he throve in conclave with his kingly peers, we twain some name and lustre bore; but afterward, because that cheat Ulysses envied him
121(Ye know the deed), he from this world withdrew, and I in gloom and tribulation sore lived miserably on, lamenting loud my lost friend's blameless fall. A fool was I that kept not these lips closed; but I had vowed
126that if a conqueror home to Greece I came, I would avenge. Such words moved wrath, and were the first shock of my ruin; from that hour, Ulysses whispered slander and alarm; breathed doubt and malice into all men's ears,
131and darkly plotted how to strike his blow. Nor rest had he, till Calchas, as his tool,- but why unfold this useless, cruel story? Why make delay? Ye count all sons of Greece arrayed as one; and to have heard thus far
136suffices you. Take now your ripe revenge! Ulysses smiles and Atreus' royal sons with liberal price your deed of blood repay.” We ply him then with passionate appeal and question all his cause: of guilt so dire
141or such Greek guile we harbored not the thought. So on he prates, with well-feigned grief and fear, and from his Iying heart thus told his tale: “Full oft the Greeks had fain achieved their flight, and raised the Trojan siege, and sailed away
146war-wearied quite. O, would it had been so! Full oft the wintry tumult of the seas did wall them round, and many a swollen storm their embarcation stayed. But chiefly when, all fitly built of beams of maple fair,
151this horse stood forth,— what thunders filled the skies! With anxious fears we sent Eurypylus to ask Apollo's word; and from the shrine he brings the sorrowful commandment home: ‘By flowing blood and by a virgin slain
156the wild winds were appeased, when first ye came, ye sons of Greece, to Ilium's distant shore. Through blood ye must return. Let some Greek life your expiation be.’ The popular ear the saying caught, all spirits were dimmed o'er;
161cold doubt and horror through each bosom ran, asking what fate would do, and on what wretch Apollo's choice would fall. Ulysses, then, amid the people's tumult and acclaim, thrust Calchas forth, some prophecy to tell
166to all the throng: he asked him o'er and o'er what Heaven desired. Already not a few foretold the murderous plot, and silently watched the dark doom upon my life impend. Twice five long days the seer his lips did seal,
171and hid himself, refusing to bring forth His word of guile, and name what wretch should die. At last, reluctant, and all loudly urged By false Ulysses, he fulfils their plot, and, lifting up his voice oracular,
176points out myself the victim to be slain. Nor did one voice oppose. The mortal stroke horribly hanging o'er each coward head was changed to one man's ruin, and their hearts endured it well. Soon rose th' accursed morn;
181the bloody ritual was ready; salt was sprinkled on the sacred loaf; my brows were bound with fillets for the offering. But I escaped that death—yes! I deny not! I cast my fetters off, and darkling lay
186concealed all night in lake-side sedge and mire, awaiting their departure, if perchance they should in truth set sail. But nevermore shall my dear, native country greet these eyes. No more my father or my tender babes
191shall I behold. Nay, haply their own lives are forfeit, when my foemen take revenge for my escape, and slay those helpless ones, in expiation of my guilty deed. O, by yon powers in heaven which witness truth,
196by aught in this dark world remaining now of spotless human faith and innocence, I do implore thee look with pitying eye on these long sufferings my heart hath borne. O, pity! I deserve not what I bear.”
201Pity and pardon to his tears we gave, and spared his life. King Priam bade unbind the fettered hands and loose those heavy chains that pressed him sore; then with benignant mien addressed him thus: “ Whate'er thy place or name,
206forget the people thou hast Iost, and be henceforth our countryman. But tell me true! What means the monstrous fabric of this horse? Who made it? Why? What offering to Heaven, or engin'ry of conquest may it be?”
211He spake; and in reply, with skilful guile, Greek that he was! the other lifted up his hands, now freed and chainless, to the skies: “O ever-burning and inviolate fires, witness my word! O altars and sharp steel,
216whose curse I fled, O fillets of the gods, which bound a victim's helpless forehead, hear! 'T is lawful now to break the oath that gave my troth to Greece. To execrate her kings is now my solemn duty. Their whole plot
221I publish to the world. No fatherland and no allegiance binds me any more. O Troy, whom I have saved, I bid thee keep the pledge of safety by good Priam given, for my true tale shall my rich ransom be.
226The Greeks' one hope, since first they opened war, was Pallas, grace and power. But from the day when Diomed, bold scorner of the gods, and false Ulysses, author of all guile, rose up and violently bore away
231Palladium, her holy shrine, hewed down the sentinels of her acropolis, and with polluted, gory hands dared touch the goddess, virgin fillets, white and pure,— thenceforth, I say, the courage of the Greeks
236ebbed utterly away; their strength was Iost, and favoring Pallas all her grace withdrew. No dubious sign she gave. Scarce had they set her statue in our camp, when glittering flame flashed from the staring eyes; from all its limbs
241salt sweat ran forth; three times (O wondrous tale!) it gave a sudden skyward leap, and made prodigious trembling of her lance and shield. The prophet Calchas bade us straightway take swift flight across the sea; for fate had willed
246the Trojan citadel should never fall by Grecian arm, till once more they obtain new oracles at Argos, and restore that god the round ships hurried o'er the sea. Now in Mycenae, whither they are fled,
251new help of heaven they find, and forge anew the means of war. Back hither o'er the waves they suddenly will come. So Calchas gave the meaning of the god. Warned thus, they reared in place of Pallas, desecrated shrine
256yon image of the horse, to expiate the woeful sacrilege. Calchas ordained that they should build a thing of monstrous size of jointed beams, and rear it heavenward, so might it never pass your gates, nor come
261inside your walls, nor anywise restore unto the Trojans their lost help divine. For had your hands Minerva's gift profaned, a ruin horrible—O, may the gods bring it on Calchas rather!—would have come
266on Priam's throne and all the Phrygian power. But if your hands should lift the holy thing to your own citadel, then Asia's host would hurl aggression upon Pelops' land, and all that curse on our own nation fall.”
271Thus Sinon's guile and practiced perjury our doubt dispelled. His stratagems and tears wrought victory where neither Tydeus' son, nor mountain-bred Achilles could prevail, nor ten years' war, nor fleets a thousand strong.
276But now a vaster spectacle of fear burst over us, to vex our startled souls. Laocoon, that day by cast of lot priest unto Neptune, was in act to slay a huge bull at the god's appointed fane.
281Lo! o'er the tranquil deep from Tenedos appeared a pair (I shudder as I tell) of vastly coiling serpents, side by side, stretching along the waves, and to the shore taking swift course; their necks were lifted high,
286their gory dragon-crests o'ertopped the waves; all else, half seen, trailed low along the sea; while with loud cleavage of the foaming brine their monstrous backs wound forward fold on fold. Soon they made land; the furious bright eyes
291glowed with ensanguined fire; their quivering tongues lapped hungrily the hissing, gruesome jaws. All terror-pale we fled. Unswerving then the monsters to Laocoon made way. First round the tender limbs of his two sons
296each dragon coiled, and on the shrinking flesh fixed fast and fed. Then seized they on the sire, who flew to aid, a javelin in his hand, embracing close in bondage serpentine twice round the waist; and twice in scaly grasp
301around his neck, and o'er him grimly peered with lifted head and crest; he, all the while, his holy fillet fouled with venomous blood, tore at his fetters with a desperate hand, and lifted up such agonizing voice,
306as when a bull, death-wounded, seeks to flee the sacrificial altar, and thrusts back from his doomed head the ill-aimed, glancing blade. then swiftly writhed the dragon-pair away unto the templed height, and in the shrine
311of cruel Pallas sure asylum found beneath the goddess' feet and orbed shield. Such trembling horror as we ne'er had known seized now on every heart. “ Of his vast guilt Laocoon,” they say, “receives reward;
316for he with most abominable spear did strike and violate that blessed wood. Yon statue to the temple! Ask the grace of glorious Pallas!” So the people cried in general acclaim.Ourselves did make
321a breach within our walls and opened wide the ramparts of our city. One and all were girded for the task. Smooth-gliding wheels were 'neath its feet; great ropes stretched round its neck, till o'er our walls the fatal engine climbed,
326pregnant with men-at-arms. On every side fair youths and maidens made a festal song, and hauled the ropes with merry heart and gay. So on and up it rolled, a tower of doom, and in proud menace through our Forum moved.
331O Ilium, my country, where abode the gods of all my sires! O glorious walls of Dardan's sons! before your gates it passed, four times it stopped and dreadful clash of arms four times from its vast concave loudly rang.
336Yet frantic pressed we on, our hearts all blind, and in the consecrated citadel set up the hateful thing. Cassandra then from heaven-instructed heart our doom foretold; but doomed to unbelief were Ilium's sons.
341Our hapless nation on its dying day flung free o'er streets and shrines the votive flowers. The skies rolled on; and o'er the ocean fell the veil of night, till utmost earth and heaven and all their Myrmidonian stratagems
346were mantled darkly o'er. In silent sleep the Trojan city lay; dull slumber chained its weary life. But now the Greek array of ordered ships moved on from Tenedos, their only light the silent, favoring moon,
351on to the well-known strand. The King displayed torch from his own ship, and Sinon then, whom wrathful Heaven defended in that hour, let the imprisoned band of Greeks go free from that huge womb of wood; the open horse
356restored them to the light; and joyfully emerging from the darkness, one by one, princely Thessander, Sthenelus, and dire Ulysses glided down the swinging cord. Closely upon them Neoptolemus,
361the son of Peleus, came, and Acamas, King Menelaus, Thoas and Machaon, and last, Epeus, who the fabric wrought. Upon the town they fell, for deep in sleep and drowsed with wine it lay; the sentinels
366they slaughtered, and through gates now opened wide let in their fellows, and arrayed for war th' auxiliar legions of the dark design. That hour it was when heaven's first gift of sleep on weary hearts of men most sweetly steals.
371O, then my slumbering senses seemed to see Hector, with woeful face and streaming eyes; I seemed to see him from the chariot trailing, foul with dark dust and gore, his swollen feet pierced with a cruel thong. Ah me! what change
376from glorious Hector when he homeward bore the spoils of fierce Achilles; or hurled far that shower of torches on the ships of Greece! Unkempt his beard, his tresses thick with blood, and all those wounds in sight which he did take
381defending Troy. Then, weeping as I spoke, I seemed on that heroic shape to call with mournful utterance: “O star of Troy! O surest hope and stay of all her sons! Why tarriest thou so Iong? What region sends
386the long-expected Hector home once more? These weary eyes that look on thee have seen hosts of thy kindred die, and fateful change upon thy people and thy city fall. O, say what dire occasion has defiled
391thy tranquil brows? What mean those bleeding wounds?” Silent he stood, nor anywise would stay my vain lament; but groaned, and answered thus: “Haste, goddess-born, and out of yonder flames achieve thy flight. Our foes have scaled the wall;
396exalted Troy is falling. Fatherland and Priam ask no more. If human arm could profit Troy, my own had kept her free. Her Lares and her people to thy hands Troy here commends. Companions let them be
401of all thy fortunes. Let them share thy quest of that wide realm, which, after wandering far, thou shalt achieve, at last, beyond the sea.” He spoke: and from our holy hearth brought forth the solemn fillet, the ancestral shrines,
406and Vesta's ever-bright, inviolate fire. Now shrieks and loud confusion swept the town; and though my father's dwelling stood apart embowered deep in trees, th' increasing din drew nearer, and the battle-thunder swelled.
411I woke on sudden, and up-starting scaled the roof, the tower, then stood with listening ear: 't was like an harvest burning, when wild winds uprouse the flames; 't was like a mountain stream that bursts in flood and ruinously whelms
416sweet fields and farms and all the ploughman's toil, whirling whole groves along; while dumb with fear, from some far cliff the shepherd hears the sound. Now their Greek plot was plain, the stratagem at last laid bare. Deiphobus' great house
421sank vanquished in the fire. Ucalegon's hard by was blazing, while the waters wide around Sigeum gave an answering glow. Shrill trumpets rang; Ioud shouting voices roared; wildly I armed me (when the battle calls,
426how dimly reason shines!); I burned to join the rally of my peers, and to the heights defensive gather. Frenzy and vast rage seized on my soul. I only sought what way with sword in hand some noble death to die.
431When Panthus met me, who had scarce escaped the Grecian spears,—Panthus of Othrys' line, Apollo's priest within our citadel; his holy emblems, his defeated gods, and his small grandson in his arms he bore,
436while toward the gates with wild, swift steps he flew. “How fares the kingdom, Panthus? What strong place is still our own?” But scarcely could I ask when thus, with many a groan, he made reply:— “Dardania's death and doom are come to-day,
441implacable. There is no Ilium now; our Trojan name is gone, the Teucrian throne Quite fallen. For the wrathful power of Jove has given to Argos all our boast and pride. The Greek is Iord of all yon blazing towers.
446yon horse uplifted on our city's heart disgorges men-at-arms. False Sinon now, with scorn exultant, heaps up flame on flame. Others throw wide the gates. The whole vast horde that out of proud Mycenae hither sailed
451is at us. With confronting spears they throng each narrow passage. Every steel-bright blade is flashing naked, making haste for blood. Our sentries helpless meet the invading shock and give back blind and unavailing war.”
456By Panthus' word and by some god impelled, I flew to battle, where the flames leaped high, where grim Bellona called, and all the air resounded high as heaven with shouts of war. Rhipeus and Epytus of doughty arm
461were at my side, Dymas and Hypanis, seen by a pale moon, join our little band; and young Coroebus, Mygdon's princely son, who was in Troy that hour because he loved Cassandra madly, and had made a league
466as Priam's kinsman with our Phrygian arms: ill-starred, to heed not what the virgin raved! When these I saw close-gathered for the fight, I thus addressed them: “Warriors, vainly brave, if ye indeed desire to follow one
471who dares the uttermost brave men may do, our evil plight ye see: the gods are fled from every altar and protecting fire, which were the kingdom's stay. Ye offer aid unto your country's ashes. Let us fight
476unto the death! To arms, my men, to arms! The single hope and stay of desperate men is their despair.” Thus did I rouse their souls. Then like the ravening wolves, some night of cloud, when cruel hunger in an empty maw
481drives them forth furious, and their whelps behind wait famine-throated; so through foemen's steel we flew to surest death, and kept our way straight through the midmost town . The wings of night brooded above us in vast vault of shade.
486But who the bloodshed of that night can tell? What tongue its deaths shall number, or what eyes find meed of tears to equal all its woe? The ancient City fell, whose throne had stood age after age. Along her streets were strewn
491the unresisting dead; at household shrines and by the temples of the gods they lay. Yet not alone was Teucrian blood required: oft out of vanquished hearts fresh valor flamed, and the Greek victor fell. Anguish and woe
496were everywhere; pale terrors ranged abroad, and multitudinous death met every eye. Androgeos, followed by a thronging band of Greeks, first met us on our desperate way; but heedless, and confounding friend with foe,
501thus, all unchallenged, hailed us as his own : “Haste, heroes! Are ye laggards at this hour? Others bear off the captives and the spoil of burning Troy. Just from the galleys ye?” He spoke; but straightway, when no safe reply
506returned, he knew himself entrapped, and fallen into a foeman's snare; struck dumb was he and stopped both word and motion; as one steps, when blindly treading a thick path of thorns, upon a snake, and sick with fear would flee
511that lifted wrath and swollen gorge of green: so trembling did Androgeos backward fall. At them we flew and closed them round with war; and since they could not know the ground, and fear had whelmed them quite, we swiftly laid them low.
516Thus Fortune on our first achievement smiled; and, flushed with victory, Cormbus cried: “Come, friends, and follow Fortune's finger, where she beckons us what path deliverance lies. Change we our shields, and these Greek emblems wear.
521'Twixt guile and valor who will nicely weigh When foes are met? These dead shall find us arms.” With this, he dons Androgeos' crested helm and beauteous, blazoned shield; and to his side girds on a Grecian blade. Young Rhipeus next,
526with Dymas and the other soldiery, repeat the deed, exulting, and array their valor in fresh trophies from the slain. Now intermingled with our foes we moved, and alien emblems wore; the long, black night
531brought many a grapple, and a host of Greeks down to the dark we hurled. Some fled away, seeking their safe ships and the friendly shore. Some cowards foul went clambering back again to that vast horse and hid them in its maw.
536But woe is me! If gods their help withhold, 't is impious to be brave. That very hour the fair Cassandra passed us, bound in chains, King Priam's virgin daughter, from the shrine and altars of Minerva; her loose hair
541had lost its fillet; her impassioned eyes were lifted in vain prayer,—her eyes alone! For chains of steel her frail, soft hands confined. Coroebus' eyes this horror not endured, and, sorrow-crazed, he plunged him headlong in
546the midmost fray, self-offered to be slain, while in close mass our troop behind him poured. But, at this point, the overwhelming spears of our own kinsmen rained resistless down from a high temple-tower; and carnage wild
551ensued, because of the Greek arms we bore and our false crests. The howling Grecian band, crazed by Cassandra's rescue, charged at us from every side; Ajax of savage soul, the sons of Atreus, and that whole wild horde
556Achilles from Dolopian deserts drew. 'T was like the bursting storm, when gales contend, west wind and South, and jocund wind of morn upon his orient steeds—while forests roar, and foam-flecked Nereus with fierce trident stirs
561the dark deep of the sea. All who did hide in shadows of the night, by our assault surprised, and driven in tumultuous flight, now start to view. Full well they now can see our shields and borrowed arms, and clearly note
566our speech of alien sound; their multitude o'erwhelms us utterly. Coroebus first at mailed Minerva's altar prostrate lay, pierced by Peneleus, blade; then Rhipeus fell; we deemed him of all Trojans the most just,
571most scrupulously righteous; but the gods gave judgment otherwise. There Dymas died, and Hypanis, by their compatriots slain; nor thee, O Panthus, in that mortal hour, could thy clean hands or Phoebus, priesthood save.
576O ashes of my country! funeral pyre of all my kin! bear witness that my breast shrank not from any sword the Grecian drew, and that my deeds the night my country died deserved a warrior's death, had Fate ordained.
581But soon our ranks were broken; at my side stayed Iphitus and Pelias; one with age was Iong since wearied, and the other bore the burden of Ulysses' crippling wound. Straightway the roar and tumult summoned us
586to Priam's palace,where a battle raged as if save this no conflict else were known, and all Troy's dying brave were mustered there. There we beheld the war-god unconfined; The Greek besiegers to the roof-tops fled;
591or, with shields tortoise-back, the gates assailed. Ladders were on the walls; and round by round, up the huge bulwark as they fight their way, the shielded left-hand thwarts the falling spears, the right to every vantage closely clings.
596The Trojans hurl whole towers and roof-tops down upon the mounting foe; for well they see that the last hour is come, and with what arms the dying must resist. Rich gilded beams, with many a beauteous blazon of old time,
601go crashing down. Men armed with naked swords defend the inner doors in close array. Thus were our hearts inflamed to stand and strike for the king's house, and to his body-guard bring succor, and renew their vanquished powers.
606A certain gate I knew, a secret way, which gave free passage between Priam's halls, and exit rearward; hither, in the days before our fall, the lone Andromache was wont with young Astyanax to pass
611in quest of Priam and her husband's kin. This way to climb the palace roof I flew, where, desperate, the Trojans with vain skill hurled forth repellent arms. A tower was there, reared skyward from the roof-top, giving view
616of Troy's wide walls and full reconnaissance of all Achaea's fleets and tented field; this, with strong steel, our gathered strength assailed, and as the loosened courses offered us great threatening fissures, we uprooted it
621from its aerial throne and thrust it down. It fell with instantaneous crash of thunder along the Danaan host in ruin wide. But fresh ranks soon arrive; thick showers of stone rain down, with every missile rage can find.
626Now at the threshold of the outer court Pyrrhus triumphant stood, with glittering arms and helm of burnished brass. He glittered like some swollen viper, fed on poison-leaves, whom chilling winter shelters underground,
631till, fresh and strong, he sheds his annual scales and, crawling forth rejuvenate, uncoils his slimy length; his lifted gorge insults the sunbeam with three-forked and quivering tongue. Huge Periphas was there; Automedon,
636who drove Achilles' steeds, and bore his arms. Then Scyros' island-warriors assault the palaces, and hurl reiterate fire at wall and tower. Pyrrhus led the van; seizing an axe he clove the ponderous doors
641and rent the hinges from their posts of bronze; he cut the beams, and through the solid mass burrowed his way, till like a window huge the breach yawned wide, and opened to his gaze a vista of long courts and corridors,
646the hearth and home of many an ancient king, and Priam's own; upon its sacred bourne the sentry, all in arms, kept watch and ward. Confusion, groans, and piteous turmoil were in that dwelling; women shrieked and wailed
651from many a dark retreat, and their loud cry rang to the golden stars. Through those vast halls the panic-stricken mothers wildly roved, and clung with frantic kisses and embrace unto the columns cold. Fierce as his sire,
656Pyrrhus moves on; nor bar nor sentinel may stop his way; down tumbles the great door beneath the battering beam, and with it fall hinges and framework violently torn. Force bursts all bars; th' assailing Greeks break in,
661do butchery, and with men-at-arms possess what place they will. Scarce with an equal rage a foaming river, when its dykes are down, o'erwhelms its mounded shores, and through the plain rolls mountain-high, while from the ravaged farms
666its fierce flood sweeps along both flock and fold. My own eyes looked on Neoptolemus frenzied with slaughter, and both Atreus' sons upon the threshold frowning; I beheld her hundred daughters with old Hecuba;
671and Priam, whose own bleeding wounds defiled the altars where himself had blessed the fires; there fifty nuptial beds gave promise proud of princely heirs; but all their brightness now, of broidered cunning and barbaric gold,
676lay strewn and trampled on. The Danaan foe stood victor, where the raging flame had failed. But would ye haply know what stroke of doom on Priam fell? Now when his anguish saw his kingdom lost and fallen, his abode
681shattered, and in his very hearth and home th' exulting foe, the aged King did bind his rusted armor to his trembling thews,— all vainly,— and a useless blade of steel he girded on; then charged, resolved to die
686encircled by the foe. Within his walls there stood, beneath the wide and open sky, a lofty altar; an old laurel-tree leaned o'er it, and enclasped in holy shade the statues of the tutelary powers.
691Here Hecuba and all the princesses took refuge vain within the place of prayer. Like panic-stricken doves in some dark storm, close-gathering they sate, and in despair embraced their graven gods. But when the Queen
696saw Priam with his youthful harness on, “What frenzy, O my wretched lord,” she cried, “Arrayed thee in such arms? O, whither now? Not such defences, nor such arm as thine, the time requires, though thy companion were
701our Hector's self. O, yield thee, I implore! This altar now shall save us one and all, or we must die together.” With these words she drew him to her side, and near the shrine made for her aged spouse a place to cling.
706But, lo! just 'scaped of Pyrrhus' murderous hand, Polites, one of Priam's sons, fled fast along the corridors, through thronging foes and a thick rain of spears. Wildly he gazed across the desolate halls, wounded to death.
711Fierce Pyrrhus followed after, pressing hard with mortal stroke, and now his hand and spear were close upon:— when the lost youth leaped forth into his father's sight, and prostrate there lay dying, while his life-blood ebbed away.
716Then Priam, though on all sides death was nigh, quit not the strife, nor from loud wrath refrained: “Thy crime and impious outrage, may the gods (if Heaven to mortals render debt and due) justly reward and worthy honors pay!
721My own son's murder thou hast made me see, blood and pollution impiously throwing upon a father's head. Not such was he, not such, Achilles, thy pretended sire, when Priam was his foe. With flush of shame
726he nobly listened to a suppliant's plea in honor made. He rendered to the tomb my Hector's body pale, and me did send back to my throne a king.” With this proud word the aged warrior hurled with nerveless arm
731his ineffectual spear, which hoarsely rang rebounding on the brazen shield, and hung piercing the midmost boss,- but all in vain. Then Pyrrhus: “Take these tidings, and convey message to my father, Peleus' son!
736tell him my naughty deeds! Be sure and say how Neoptolemus hath shamed his sires. Now die!” With this, he trailed before the shrines the trembling King, whose feet slipped in the stream of his son's blood. Then Pyrrhus' left hand clutched
741the tresses old and gray; a glittering sword his right hand lifted high, and buried it far as the hilt in that defenceless heart. So Priam's story ceased. Such final doom fell on him, while his dying eyes surveyed
746Troy burning, and her altars overthrown, though once of many an orient land and tribe the boasted lord. In huge dismemberment his severed trunk lies tombless on the shore, the head from shoulder torn, the corpse unknown.
751Then first wild horror on my spirit fell and dazed me utterly. A vision rose of my own cherished father, as I saw the King, his aged peer, sore wounded Iying in mortal agony; a vision too
756of lost Creusa at my ravaged hearth, and young Iulus' peril. Then my eyes looked round me seeking aid. But all were fled, war-wearied and undone; some earthward leaped from battlement or tower; some in despair
761yielded their suffering bodies to the flame. I stood there sole surviving; when, behold, to Vesta's altar clinging in dumb fear, hiding and crouching in the hallowed shade, Tyndarus' daughter!— 't was the burning town
766lighted full well my roving steps and eyes. In fear was she both of some Trojan's rage for Troy o'erthrown, and of some Greek revenge, or her wronged husband's Iong indignant ire. So hid she at that shrine her hateful brow,
771being of Greece and Troy, full well she knew, the common curse. Then in my bosom rose a blaze of wrath; methought I should avenge my dying country, and with horrid deed pay crime for crime. “Shall she return unscathed
776to Sparta, to Mycenae's golden pride, and have a royal triumph? Shall her eyes her sire and sons, her hearth and husband see, while Phrygian captives follow in her train? is Priam murdered? Have the flames swept o'er
781my native Troy? and cloth our Dardan strand sweat o'er and o'er with sanguinary dew? O, not thus unavenged! For though there be no glory if I smite a woman's crime, nor conqueror's fame for such a victory won,
786yet if I blot this monster out, and wring full punishment from guilt, the time to come will praise me, and sweet pleasure it will be to glut my soul with vengeance and appease the ashes of my kindred.”So I raved,
791and to such frenzied purpose gave my soul. Then with clear vision (never had I seen her presence so unclouded) I beheld, in golden beams that pierced the midnight gloom, my gracious mother, visibly divine,
796and with that mien of majesty she wears when seen in heaven; she stayed me with her hand, and from her lips of rose this counsel gave: “O son, what sorrow stirs thy boundless rage? what madness this? Or whither vanisheth
801thy love of me? Wilt thou not seek to know where bides Anchises, thy abandoned sire, now weak with age? or if Creusa lives and young Ascanius, who are ringed about with ranks of Grecian foes, and long ere this—
806save that my love can shield them and defend— had fallen on flame or fed some hungry sword? Not Helen's hated beauty works thee woe; nor Paris, oft-accused. The cruelty of gods, of gods unaided, overwhelms
811thy country's power, and from its Iofty height casts Ilium down. Behold, I take away the barrier-cloud that dims thy mortal eye, with murk and mist o'er-veiling. Fear not thou to heed thy mother's word, nor let thy heart
816refuse obedience to her counsel given. 'Mid yonder trembling ruins, where thou see'st stone torn from stone, with dust and smoke uprolling, 't is Neptune strikes the wall; his trident vast makes her foundation tremble, and unseats
821the city from her throne. Fierce Juno leads resistless onset at the Scaean gate, and summons from the ships the league of powers, wearing her wrathful sword. On yonder height behold Tritonia in the citadel
826clothed with the lightning and her Gorgon-shield! Unto the Greeks great Jove himself renews their courage and their power; 't is he thrusts on the gods themselves against the Trojan arms. Fly, O my son! The war's wild work give o'er!
831I will be always nigh and set thee safe upon thy father's threshold.” Having said, she fled upon the viewless night away. Then loomed o'er Troy the apparition vast of her dread foes divine; I seemed to see
836all Ilium sink in fire, and sacred Troy, of Neptune's building, utterly o'erthrown. So some huge ash-tree on the mountain's brow (when rival woodmen, heaving stroke on stroke of two-edged axes, haste to cast her down)
841sways ominously her trembling, leafy top, and drops her smitten head; till by her wounds vanquished at last, she makes her dying groan, and falls in loud wreck from the cliffs uptorn. I left the citadel; and, led by Heaven,
846threaded the maze of deadly foes and fires, through spears that glanced aside and flames that fell. Soon came I to my father's ancient seat, our home and heritage. But lo! my sire (whom first of all I sought, and first would bear
851to safe asylum in the distant hills) vowed he could never, after fallen Troy, live longer on, or bear an exile's woe. “O you,” he cried, “whose blood not yet betrays the cruel taint of time, whose powers be still
856unpropped and undecayed, go, take your flight. If heavenly wrath had willed my life to spare, this dwelling had been safe. It is too much that I have watched one wreck, and for too Iong outlived my vanquished country. Thus, O, thus!
861Compose these limbs for death, and say farewell. My own hand will procure it; or my foe will end me of mere pity, and for spoil will strip me bare. It is an easy loss to have no grave. For many a year gone by,
866accursed of Heaven, I tarry in this world a useless burden, since that fatal hour when Jove, of gods the Sire and men the King, his lightnings o'er me breathed and blasting fire.” Such fixed resolve he uttered o'er and o'er,
871and would not yield, though with my tears did join my spouse Creusa, fair Ascanius, and our whole house, imploring the gray sire not with himself to ruin all, nor add yet heavier burdens to our crushing doom.
876He still cried, “No!” and clung to where he sat and to the same dread purpose. I once more back to the fight would speed. For death alone I made my wretched prayer. What space was left for wisdom now? What chance or hope was given?
881“Didst thou, dear father, dream that I could fly sundered from thee? Did such an infamy fall from a father's lips? If Heaven's decree will of this mighty nation not let live a single soul, if thine own purpose be
886to cast thyself and thy posterity into thy country's grave, behold, the door is open to thy death! Lo, Pyrrhus comes red-handed from King Priam! He has slain a son before a father's eyes, and spilt
891a father's blood upon his own hearthstone. Was it for this, O heavenly mother mine, that thou hast brought me safe through sword and fire? that I might see these altars desecrate by their worst foes? that I might look upon
896my sire, my wife, and sweet Ascanius dead at my feet in one another's blood? To arms, my men, to arms! The hour of death now beckons to the vanquished. Let me go whither the Greeks are gathered; let me stand
901where oft revives the flagging stroke of war: Not all of us die unavenged this day!” I clasped my sword-belt round me once again, fitted my left arm to my shield, and turned to fly the house; but at the threshold clung
906Creusa to my knees, and lifted up Iulus to his father's arms. “If thou wouldst rush on death,” she cried, “O, suffer us to share thy perils with thee to the end. But if this day's work bid thee trust a sword,
911defend thy hearthstone first. Who else shall guard thy babe Iulus, or thy reverend sire? Or me, thy wife that was—what help have I?” So rang the roof-top with her piteous cries: but lo! a portent wonderful to see
916on sudden rose; for while his parents' grief held the boy close in arm and full in view, there seemed upon Iulus' head to glow a flickering peak of fire; the tongue of flame innocuous o'er his clustering tresses played,
921and hovered round his brows. We, horror-struck, grasped at his burning hair, and sprinkled him, to quench that holy and auspicious fire. then sire Anchises with exultant eyes looked heavenward, and lifted to the stars
926his voice and outstretched hands. “Almighty Jove, if aught of prayer may move thee, let thy grace now visit us! O, hear this holy vow! And if for service at thine altars done, we aught can claim, O Father, lend us aid,
931and ratify the omen thou hast given!” Scarce ceased his aged voice, when suddenly from leftward, with a deafening thunder-peal, cleaving the blackness of the vaulted sky, a meteor-star in trailing splendor ran,
936exceeding bright. We watched it glide sublime o'er tower and town, until its radiant beam in forest-mantled Ida died away; but left a furrow on its track in air, a glittering, Iong line, while far and wide
941the sulphurous fume and exhalation flowed. My father strove not now; but lifted him in prayer to all the gods, in holy awe of that auspicious star, and thus exclaimed: “Tarry no moment more! Behold, I come!
946Whithersoe'er ye lead, my steps obey. Gods of my fathers, O, preserve our name! Preserve my son, and his! This augury is yours; and Troy on your sole strength relies. I yield, dear son; I journey at thy side.”
951He spoke; and higher o'er the blazing walls leaped the loud fire, while ever nearer drew the rolling surges of tumultuous flame. “Haste, father, on these bending shoulders climb! This back is ready, and the burden light;
956one peril smites us both, whate'er befall; one rescue both shall find. Close at my side let young Iulus run, while, not too nigh, my wife Creusa heeds what way we go. Ye servants of our house, give ear, I pray,
961to my command. Outside the city's gates lies a low mound and long since ruined fane to Ceres vowed; a cypress, ancient shade o'erhangs it, which our fathers' pious care protected year by year; by various paths
966be that our meeting-place. But in thy hands bring, sire, our household gods, and sanctifies: for me to touch, who come this very hour from battle and the fresh blood of the slain, were but abomination, till what time
971in living waters I shall make me clean.” So saying, I bowed my neck and shoulders broad, o'erspread me with a lion's tawny skin, and lifted up my load. Close at my side little Iulus twined his hand in mine
976and followed, with unequal step, his sire. My wife at distance came. We hastened on, creeping through shadows; I, who once had viewed undaunted every instrument of war and all the gathered Greeks in grim array,
981now shook at every gust, and heard all sounds with fevered trepidation, fearing both for him I bore and him who clasped my hand. Now near the gates I drew, and deemed our flight safely at end, when suddenly I heard
986the sounding tread of many warriors that seemed hard-by, while through the murky night my father peered, and shouted, “O my son, away, away! for surely all our foes are here upon us, and my eyes behold
991the glance of glittering shields and flash of arms.” O, then some evil-working, nameless god clouded my senses quite: for while I sped along our pathless way, and left behind all paths and regions known—O wretched me!—
996Creusa on some dark disaster fell; she stopped, or wandered, or sank down undone,— I never knew what way,—and nevermore I looked on her alive. Yet knew I not my loss, nor backward turned a look or thought,
1001till by that hallowed hill to Ceres vowed we gathered all,— and she alone came not, while husband, friends, and son made search in vain. What god, what man, did not my grief accuse in frenzied word? In all the ruined land
1006what worse woe had I seen? Entrusting then my sire, my son, and all the Teucrian gods to the deep shadows of a slanting vale where my allies kept guard, I tried me back to that doomed town, re-girt in glittering arms.
1011Resolved was I all hazards to renew, all Troy to re-explore, and once again offer my life to perils without end. The walls and gloomy gates whence forth I came I first revisit, and retrace my way,
1016searching the night once more. On all sides round horror spread wide; the very silence breathed a terror on my soul. I hastened then back to my fallen home, if haply there her feet had strayed; but the invading Greeks
1021were its possessors, though the hungry fire was blown along the roof-tree, and the flames rolled raging upward on the fitful gale. To Priam's house I haste, and climb once more the citadel; in Juno's temple there,
1026the chosen guardians of her wasted halls, Phoenix and dread Ulysses watched the spoil. Here, snatched away from many a burning fane, Troy's treasures lay,—rich tables for the gods, thick bowls of messy gold, and vestures rare,
1031confusedly heaped up, while round the pile fair youths and trembling virgins stood forlorn. Yet oft my voice rang dauntless through the gloom, from street to street I cried with anguish vain; and on Creusa piteously calling,
1036woke the lamenting echoes o'er and o'er. While on this quest I roamed the city through, of reason reft there rose upon my sight— O shape of sorrow!— my Creusa's ghost, hers truly, though a loftier port it wore.
1041I quailed, my hair rose, and I gasped for fear; but thus she spoke, and soothed my grief away: “Why to these frenzied sorrows bend thy soul, O husband ever dear! The will of Heaven hath brought all this to pass. Fate doth not send
1046Creusa the long journeys thou shalt take, or hath th' Olympian King so given decree. Long is thy banishment; thy ship must plough the vast, far-spreading sea. Then shalt thou come unto Hesperia, whose fruitful plains
1051are watered by the Tiber, Lydian stream, of smooth, benignant Bow. Thou shalt obtain fair fortunes, and a throne and royal bride. For thy beloved Creusa weep no more! No Myrmidon's proud palace waits me now;
1056Dolopian shall not scorn, nor Argive dames command a slave of Dardan's royal stem and wife to Venus' son. On these loved shores the Mother of the Gods compels my stay. Farewell! farewell! O, cherish evermore
1061thy son and mine!” Her utterance scarce had ceased, when, as I strove through tears to make reply, she left me, and dissolved in empty air. Thrice would my frustrate arms her form enfold; thrice from the clasp of hand that vision fled,
1066like wafted winds and like a fleeting dream. The night had passed, and to my friends once more I made my way, much wondering to find a mighty multitude assembled there of friends new-come,—matrons and men-at-arms,
1071and youth for exile bound,— a doleful throng. From far and near they drew, their hearts prepared and their possessions gathered, to sail forth to lands unknown, wherever o'er the wave I bade them follow. Now above the crest
1076of loftiest Ida rose the morning-star, chief in the front of day. The Greeks held fast the captive gates of Troy. No help or hope was ours any more. Then, yielding all, and lifting once again my aged sire,
1081for refuge to the distant hills I fled.
Book 3
1Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem immeritam visum Superis, ceciditque superbum Ilium, et omnis humo fumat Neptunia Troia, diversa exsilia et desertas quaerere terras auguriis agimur divom, classemque sub ipsa
6Antandro et Phrygiae molimur montibus Idae, incerti, quo fata ferant, ubi sistere detur, contrahimusque viros. Vix prima inceperat aestas, et pater Anchises dare fatis vela iubebat; litora cum patriae lacrimans portusque relinquo
11et campos, ubi Troia fuit: feror exsul in altum cum sociis natoque Penatibus et magnis dis. Terra procul vastis colitur Mavortia campis, Thraces arant, acri quondam regnata Lycurgo, hospitium antiquum Troiae sociique Penates,
16dum Fortuna fuit. Feror huc, et litore curvo moenia prima loco, fatis ingressus iniquis, Aeneadasque meo nomen de nomine fingo. Sacra Dionaeae matri divisque ferebam auspicibus coeptorum operum, superoque nitentem
21caelicolum regi mactabam in litore taurum. Forte fuit iuxta tumulus, quo cornea summo virgulta et densis hastilibus horrida myrtus. Accessi, viridemque ab humo convellere silvam conatus, ramis tegerem ut frondentibus aras,
26horrendum et dictu video mirabile monstrum. Nam, quae prima solo ruptis radicibus arbos vellitur, huic atro liquuntur sanguine guttae, et terram tabo maculant. Mihi frigidus horror membra quatit, gelidusque coit formidine sanguis.
31Rursus et alterius lentum convellere vimen insequor, et causas penitus temptare latentis: ater et alterius sequitur de cortice sanguis. Multa movens animo nymphas venerabar agrestis Gradivumque patrem, Geticis qui praesidet arvis,
36rite secundarent visus omenque levarent. Tertia sed postquam maiore hastilia nisu adgredior, genibusque adversae obluctor harenae— eloquar, an sileam?—gemitus lacrimabilis imo auditur tumulo, et vox reddita fertur ad auris:
41Quid miserum, Aenea, laceras? Iam parce sepulto; parce pias scelerare manus. Non me tibi Troia externum tulit, aut cruor hic de stipite manat. Heu, fuge crudelis terras, fuge litus avarum: nam Polydorus ego; hic confixum ferrea texit
46telorum seges et iaculis increvit acutis. Tum vero ancipiti mentem formidine pressus obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit. Hunc Polydorum auri quondam cum pondere magno infelix Priamus furtim mandarat alendum
51Threicio regi, cum iam diffideret armis Dardaniae, cingique urbem obsidione videret. Ille, ut opes fractae Teucrum, et Fortuna recessit, res Agamemnonias victriciaque arma secutus, fas omne abrumpit; Polydorum obtruncat, et auro
56vi potitur. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames? Postquam pavor ossa reliquit, delectos populi ad proceres primumque parentem monstra deum refero, et quae sit sententia posco. Omnibus idem animus, scelerata excedere terra,
61linqui pollutum hospitium, et dare classibus austros. Ergo instauramus Polydoro funus, et ingens aggeritur tumulo tellus; stant Manibus arae, caeruleis maestae vittis atraque cupresso, et circum Iliades crinem de more solutae;
66inferimus tepido spumantia cymbia lacte sanguinis et sacri pateras, animamque sepulchro condimus, et magna supremum voce ciemus. Inde, ubi prima fides pelago, placataque venti dant maria et lenis crepitans vocat Auster in altum,
71deducunt socii navis et litora complent: provehimur portu, terraeque urbesque recedunt. Sacra mari colitur medio gratissima tellus Nereidum matri et Neptuno Aegaeo, quam pius arquitenens oras et litora circum
76errantem Mycono e celsa Gyaroque revinxit, immotamque coli dedit et contemnere ventos. Huc feror; haec fessos tuto placidissima portu accipit: egressi veneramur Apollinis urbem. Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos
81vittis et sacra redimitus tempora lauro, occurrit; veterem Anchisen adgnovit amicum. Iungimus hospitio dextras, et tecta subimus. Templa dei saxo venerabar structa vetusto: Da propriam, Thymbraee, domum; da moenia fessis
86et genus et mansuram urbem; serva altera Troiae Pergama, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli. Quem sequimur? Quove ire iubes? Ubi ponere sedes? Da, pater, augurium, atque animis inlabere nostris. Vix ea fatus eram: tremere omnia visa repente,
91liminaque laurusque dei, totusque moveri mons circum, et mugire adytis cortina reclusis. Submissi petimus terram, et vox fertur ad auris: Dardanidae duri, quae vos a stirpe parentum prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto
96accipiet reduces. Antiquam exquirite matrem: hic domus Aeneae cunctis dominabitur oris, et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis. Haec Phoebus; mixtoque ingens exorta tumultu laetitia, et cuncti quae sint ea moenia quaerunt,
101quo Phoebus vocet errantis iubeatque reverti? Tum genitor, veterum volvens monumenta virorum, Audite, O proceres ait et spes discite vestras: Creta Iovis magni medio iacet insula ponto; mons Idaeus ubi, et gentis cunabula nostrae.
106Centum urbes habitant magnas, uberrima regna; maximus unde pater, si rite audita recordor, Teucrus Rhoeteas primum est advectus in oras, optavitque locum regno. Nondum Ilium et arces Pergameae steterant; habitabant vallibus imis.
111hinc mater cultrix Cybeli Corybantiaque aera Idaeumque nemus; hinc fida silentia sacris, et iuncti currum dominae subiere leones. Ergo agite, et, divom ducunt qua iussa, sequamur; placemus ventos et Gnosia regna petamus.
116Nec longo distant cursu; modo Iuppiter adsit, tertia lux classem Cretaeis sistet in oris. Sic fatus, meritos aris mactavit honores, taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo nigram Hiemi pecudem, Zephyris felicibus albam.
121Fama volat pulsum regnis cessisse paternis Idomenea ducem, desertaque litora Cretae hoste vacare domos, sedesque adstare relictas. Linquimus Ortygiae portus, pelagoque volamus, bacchatamque iugis Naxon viridemque Donysam,
126Olearon, niveamque Paron, sparsasque per aequor Cycladas, et crebris legimus freta consita terris. Nauticus exoritur vario certamine clamor; hortantur socii: Cretam proavosque petamus! Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntis
131et tandem antiquis Curetum adlabimur oris. Ergo avidus muros optatae molior urbis, Pergameamque voco, et laetam cognomine gentem hortor amare focos arcemque attollere tectis. Iamque fere sicco subductae litore puppes;
136conubiis arvisque novis operata iuventus; iura domosque dabam: subito cum tabida membris, corrupto caeli tractu, miserandaque venit arboribusque satisque lues et letifer annus. Linquebant dulcis animas, aut aegra trahebant
141corpora; tum sterilis exurere Sirius agros; arebant herbae, et victum seges aegra negabat. Rursus ad oraclum Ortygiae Phoebumque remenso hortatur pater ire mari, veniamque precari: quam fessis finem rebus ferat; unde laborum
146temptare auxilium iubeat; quo vertere cursus. Nox erat, et terris animalia somnus habebat: effigies sacrae divom Phrygiique Penates, quos mecum a Troia mediisque ex ignibus urbis extuleram, visi ante oculos adstare iacentis
151in somnis, multo manifesti lumine, qua se plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras; tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis: Quod tibi delato Ortygiam dicturus Apollo est, hic canit, et tua nos en ultro ad limina mittit.
156Nos te, Dardania incensa, tuaque arma secuti, nos tumidum sub te permensi classibus aequor, idem venturos tollemus in astra nepotes, imperiumque urbi dabimus: tu moenia magnis magna para, longumque fugae ne linque laborem.
161Mutandae sedes: non haec tibi litora suasit Delius, aut Cretae iussit considere Apollo. Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt, terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae; Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores
166Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem: hae nobis propriae sedes; hinc Dardanus ortus, Iasiusque pater, genus a quo principe nostrum. Surge age, et haec laetus longaevo dicta parenti haud dubitanda refer: Corythum terrasque requirat
171Ausonias; Dictaea negat tibi Iuppiter arva. Talibus attonitus visis et voce deorum— nec sopor illud erat, sed coram adgnoscere voltus velatasque comas praesentiaque ora videbar; tum gelidus toto manabat corpore sudor
176corripio e stratis corpus, tendoque supinas ad caelum cum voce manus, et munera libo intemerata focis. Perfecto laetus honore Anchisen facio certum, remque ordine pando. Adgnovit prolem ambiguam geminosque parentes,
181seque novo veterum deceptum errore locorum. Tum memorat: Nate, Iliacis exercite fatis, sola mihi talis casus Cassandra canebat. Nunc repeto haec generi portendere debita nostro, et saepe Hesperiam, saepe Itala regna vocare.
186Sed quis ad Hesperiae venturos litora Teucros crederet, aut quem tum vates Cassandra moveret? Cedamus Phoebo, et moniti meliora sequamur. Sic ait, et cuncti dicto paremus ovantes. Hanc quoque deserimus sedem, paucisque relictis
191vela damus, vastumque cava trabe currimus aequor. Postquam altum tenuere rates, nec iam amplius ullae adparent terrae, caelum undique et undique pontus, tum mihi caeruleus supra caput adstitit imber, noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris.
196Continuo venti volvunt mare, magnaque surgunt aequora; dispersi iactamur gurgite vasto; involvere diem nimbi, et nox umida caelum abstulit; ingeminant abruptis nubibus ignes. Excutimur cursu, et caecis erramus in undis.
201Ipse diem noctemque negat discernere caelo, nec meminisse viae media Palinurus in unda. Tris adeo incertos caeca caligine soles erramus pelago, totidem sine sidere noctes. Quarto terra die primum se attollere tandem
206visa, aperire procul montis, ac volvere fumum. Vela cadunt, remis insurgimus; haud mora nautae adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt. Servatum ex undis Strophadum me litora primum accipiunt; Strophades Graio stant nomine dictae,
211insulae Ionio in magno, quas dira Celaeno Harpyiaeque colunt aliae, Phineia postquam clausa domus, mensasque metu liquere priores. Tristius haud illis monstrum, nec saevior ulla pestis et ira deum Stygiis sese extulit undis.
216Virginei volucrum voltus, foedissima ventris proluvies, uncaeque manus, et pallida semper ora fame. Huc ubi delati portus intravimus, ecce laeta boum passim campis armenta videmus,
221caprigenumque pecus nullo custode per herbas. Inruimus ferro, et divos ipsumque vocamus in partem praedamque Iovem; tum litore curvo exstruimusque toros, dapibusque epulamur opimis. At subitae horrifico lapsu de montibus adsunt
226Harpyiae, et magnis quatiunt clangoribus alas, diripiuntque dapes, contactuque omnia foedant immundo; tum vox taetrum dira inter odorem. Rursum in secessu longo sub rupe cavata, arboribus clausi circum atque horrentibus umbris,
231instruimus mensas arisque reponimus ignem: rursum ex diverso caeli caecisque latebris turba sonans praedam pedibus circumvolat uncis, polluit ore dapes. Sociis tunc, arma capessant, edico, et dira bellum cum gente gerendum.
236Haud secus ac iussi faciunt, tectosque per herbam disponunt enses et scuta latentia condunt. Ergo ubi delapsae sonitum per curva dedere litora, dat signum specula Misenus ab alta aere cavo. Invadunt socii, et nova proelia temptant,
241obscenas pelagi ferro foedare volucres: sed neque vim plumis ullam nec volnera tergo accipiunt, celerique fuga sub sidera lapsae semesam praedam et vestigia foeda relinquunt. Una in praecelsa consedit rupe Celaeno,
246infelix vates, rumpitque hanc pectore vocem: Bellum etiam pro caede boum stratisque iuvencis, Laomedontiadae, bellumne inferre paratis, et patrio Harpyias insontis pellere regno? Accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta,
251quae Phoebo pater omnipotens, mihi Phoebus Apollo praedixit, vobis Furiarum ego maxuma pando. Italiam cursu petitis, ventisque vocatis ibitis Italiam, portusque intrare licebit; sed non ante datam cingetis moenibus urbem,
256quam vos dira fames nostraeque iniuria caedis ambesas subigat malis absumere mensas. Dixit, et in silvam pennis ablata refugit. At sociis subita gelidus formidine sanguis deriguit; cecidere animi, nec iam amplius armis,
261sed votis precibusque iubent exposcere pacem, sive deae, seu sint dirae obscenaeque volucres. Et pater Anchises passis de litore palmis numina magna vocat, meritosque indicit honores: Di, prohibete minas; di, talem avertite casum,
266et placidi servate pios! Tum litore funem deripere, excussosque iubet laxare rudentes. Tendunt vela Noti; fugimus spumantibus undis, qua cursum ventusque gubernatorque vocabat. Iam medio adparet fluctu nemorosa Zacynthos
271Dulichiumque Sameque et Neritos ardua saxis. Effugimus scopulos Ithacae, Laertia regna, et terram altricem saevi exsecramur Ulixi. Mox et Leucatae nimbosa cacumina montis et formidatus nautis aperitur Apollo.
276Hunc petimus fessi et parvae succedimus urbi; ancora de prora iacitur, stant litore puppes. Ergo insperata tandem tellure potiti, lustramurque Iovi votisque incendimus aras, Actiaque Iliacis celebramus litora ludis.
281Exercent patrias oleo labente palaestras nudati socii; iuvat evasisse tot urbes Argolicas, mediosque fugam tenuisse per hostis. Interea magnum sol circumvolvitur annum, et glacialis hiemps aquilonibus asperat undas.
286Aere cavo clipeum. magni gestamen Abantis, postibus adversis figo, et rem carmine signo: AENEAS HAEC DE DANAIS VICTORIBVS ARMA. Linquere tum portus iubeo et considere transtris: certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora verrunt.
291Protinus aërias Phaeacum abscondimus arces, litoraque Epiri legimus portuque subimus Chaonio, et celsam Buthroti accedimus urbem. Hic incredibilis rerum fama occupat auris, Priamiden Helenum Graias regnare per urbes,
296coniugio Aeacidae Pyrrhi sceptrisque potitum, et patrio Andromachen iterum cessisse marito. Obstipui, miroque incensum pectus amore, compellare virum et casus cognoscere tantos. Progredior portu, classis et litora linquens,
301sollemnis cum forte dapes et tristia dona ante urbem in luco falsi Simoentis ad undam libabat cineri Andromache, Manisque vocabat Hectoreum ad tumulum, viridi quem caespite inanem et geminas, causam lacrimis, sacraverat aras.
306Ut me conspexit venientem et Troïa circum arma amens vidit, magnis exterrita monstris deriguit visu in medio, calor ossa reliquit; labitur, et longo vix tandem tempore fatur: Verane te facies, verus mihi nuntius adfers,
311nate dea? Vivisne, aut, si lux alma recessit, Hector ubi est? Dixit, lacrimasque effudit et omnem implevit clamore locum. Vix pauca furenti subicio, et raris turbatus vocibus hisco: Vivo equidem, vitamque extrema per omnia duco;
316ne dubita, nam vera vides. Heu, quis te casus deiectam coniuge tanto excipit, aut quae digna satis fortuna revisit Hectoris Andromachen? Pyrrhin’ conubia servas? Deiecit vultum et demissa voce locuta est:
321O felix una ante alias Priameïa virgo, hostilem ad tumulum Troiae sub moenibus altis iussa mori, quae sortitus non pertulit ullos, nec victoris eri tetigit captiva cubile! nos, patria incensa, diversa per aequora vectae,
326stirpis Achilleae fastus iuvenemque superbum, servitio enixae, tulimus: qui deinde, secutus Ledaeam Hermionen Lacedaemoniosque hymenaeos, me famulo famulamque Heleno transmisit habendam. Ast illum, ereptae magno inflammatus amore
331coniugis et scelerum Furiis agitatus, Orestes excipit incautum patriasque obtruncat ad aras. Morte Neoptolemi regnorum reddita cessit pars Heleno, qui Chaonios cognomine campos Chaoniamque omnem Troiano a Chaone dixit,
336Pergamaque Iliacamque iugis hanc addidit arcem. Sed tibi qui cursum venti, quae fata dedere? Aut quisnam ignarum nostris deus adpulit oris? Quid puer Ascanius? superatne et vescitur aura, quem tibi iam Troia—
341Ecqua tamen puero est amissae cura parentis? Ecquid in antiquam virtutem animosque virilis et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitat Hector? Talia fundebat lacrimans longosque ciebat incassum fletus, cum sese a moenibus heros
346Priamides multis Helenus comitantibus adfert, adgnoscitque suos, laetusque ad limina ducit, et multum lacrimas verba inter singula fundit. Procedo, et parvam Troiam simulataque magnis Pergama, et arentem Xanthi cognomine rivum
351adgnosco, Scaeaeque amplector limina portae. Nec non et Teucri socia simul urbe fruuntur: illos porticibus rex accipiebat in amplis; aulaï medio libabant pocula Bacchi, impositis auro dapibus, paterasque tenebant.
356Iamque dies alterque dies processit, et aurae vela vocant tumidoque inflatur carbasus austro. His vatem adgredior dictis ac talia quaeso: Troiugena, interpres divom, qui numina Phoebi, qui tripodas, Clarii laurus, qui sidera sentis,
361et volucrum linguas et praepetis omina pennae, fare age—namque omnem cursum mihi prospera dixit religio, et cuncti suaserunt numine divi Italiam petere et terras temptare repostas: sola novum dictuque nefas Harpyia Celaeno
366prodigium canit, et tristis denuntiat iras, obscenamque famem—quae prima pericula vito? Quidve sequens tantos possim superare labores? Hic Helenus, caesis primum de more iuvencis, exorat pacem divom, vittasque resolvit
371sacrati capitis, meque ad tua limina, Phoebe, ipse manu multo suspensum numine ducit, atque haec deinde canit divino ex ore sacerdos: Nate dea,—nam te maioribus ire per altum auspiciis manifesta fides: sic fata deum rex
376sortitur, volvitque vices; is vertitur ordo— pauca tibi e multis, quo tutior hospita lustres aequora et Ausonio possis considere portu, expediam dictis; prohibent nam cetera Parcae scire Helenum farique vetat Saturnia Iuno.
381Principio Italiam, quam tu iam rere propinquam vicinosque, ignare, paras invadere portus, longa procul longis via dividit invia terris. Ante et Trinacria lentandus remus in unda, et salis Ausonii lustrandum navibus aequor,
386infernique lacus, Aeaeaeque insula Circae, quam tuta possis urbem componere terra: signa tibi dicam, tu condita mente teneto: cum tibi sollicito secreti ad fluminis undam litoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus
391triginta capitum fetus enixa iacebit. alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati, is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum. Nec tu mensarum morsus horresce futuros: fata viam invenient, aderitque vocatus Apollo.
396Has autem terras, Italique hanc litoris oram, proxuma quae nostri perfunditur aequoris aestu, effuge; cuncta malis habitantur moenia Grais. Hic et Narycii posuerunt moenia Locri, et Sallentinos obsedit milite campos
401Lyctius Idomeneus; hic illa ducis Meliboei parva Philoctetae subnixa Petelia muro. Quin, ubi transmissae steterint trans aequora classes, et positis aris iam vota in litore solves, purpureo velare comas adopertus amictu,
406ne qua inter sanctos ignis in honore deorum hostilis facies occurrat et omina turbet. Hunc socii morem sacrorum, hunc ipse teneto: hac casti maneant in religione nepotes. Ast ubi digressum Siculae te admoverit orae
411ventus, et angusti rarescent claustra Pelori, laeva tibi tellus et longo laeva petantur aequora circuitu: dextrum fuge litus et undas. Haec loca vi quondam et vasta convolsa ruina— tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas—
416dissiluisse ferunt, cum protinus utraque tellus una foret; venit medio vi pontus et undis Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit, arvaque et urbes litore diductas angusto interluit aestu. Dextrum Scylla latus, laevum implacata Charybdis
421obsidet, atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras erigit alternos et sidera verberat unda. At Scyllam caecis cohibet spelunca latebris, ora exsertantem et navis in saxa trahentem.
426Prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo pube tenus, postrema immani corpore pristis, delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum. Praestat Trinacrii metas lustrare Pachyni cessantem, longos et circumflectere cursus,
431quam semel informem vasto vidisse sub antro Scyllam, et caeruleis canibus resonantia saxa. Praeterea, si qua est Heleno prudentia, vati si qua fides, animum si veris implet Apollo, unum illud tibi, nate dea, proque omnibus unum
436praedicam, et repetens iterumque iterumque monebo: Iunonis magnae primum prece numen adora; Iunoni cane vota libens, dominamque potentem supplicibus supera donis: sic denique victor Trinacria finis Italos mittere relicta.
441Huc ubi delatus Cumaeam accesseris urbem, divinosque lacus, et Averna sonantia silvis, insanam vatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima fata canit, foliisque notas et nomina mandat. Quaecumque in foliis descripsit carmina virgo,
446digerit in numerum, atque antro seclusa relinquit. Illa manent immota locis, neque ab ordine cedunt; verum eadem, verso tenuis cum cardine ventus impulit et teneras turbavit ianua frondes, numquam deinde cavo volitantia prendere saxo,
451nec revocare situs aut iungere carmina curat: inconsulti abeunt, sedemque odere Sibyllae. Hic tibi ne qua morae fuerint dispendia tanti,— quamvis increpitent socii, et vi cursus in altum vela vocet, possisque sinus implere secundos,—
456quin adeas vatem precibusque oracula poscas ipsa canat, vocemque volens atque ora resolvat. Illa tibi Italiae populos venturaque bella, et quo quemque modo fugiasque ferasque laborem expediet, cursusque dabit venerata secundos.
461Haec sunt, quae nostra liceat te voce moneri. Vade age, et ingentem factis fer ad aethera Troiam. Quae postquam vates sic ore effatus amico est, dona dehinc auro gravia sectoque elephanto imperat ad navis ferri, stipatque carinis
466ingens argentum, Dodonaeosque lebetas, loricam consertam hamis auroque trilicem, et conum insignis galeae cristasque comantis, arma Neoptolemi; sunt et sua dona parenti. Addit equos, additque duces;
471remigium supplet; socios simul instruit armis. Interea classem velis aptare iubebat Anchises, fieret vento mora ne qua ferenti. Quem Phoebi interpres multo compellat honore: Coniugio, Anchise, Veneris dignate superbo,
476cura deum, bis Pergameis erepte ruinis, ecce tibi Ausoniae tellus; hanc arripe velis. Et tamen hanc pelago praeterlabare necesse est; Ausoniae pars illa procul, quam pandit Apollo. Vade ait O felix nati pietate. Quid ultra
481provehor, et fando surgentis demoror austros? Nec minus Andromache digressu maesta supremo fert picturatas auri subtemine vestes et Phrygiam Ascanio chlamydem (nec cedit honore), textilibusque onerat donis, ac talia fatur:
486Accipe et haec, manuum tibi quae monumenta mearum sint, puer, et longum Andromachae testentur amorem, coniugis Hectoreae. Cape dona extrema tuorum, O mihi sola mei super Astyanactis imago: sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat;
491et nunc aequali tecum pubesceret aevo. Hos ego digrediens lacrimis adfabar obortis: Vivite felices, quibus est fortuna peracta iam sua; nos alia ex aliis in fata vocamur. Vobis parta quies; nullum maris aequor arandum,
496arva neque Ausoniae semper cedentia retro quaerenda. Effigiem Xanthi Troiamque videtis quam vestrae fecere manus, melioribus, opto, auspiciis, et quae fuerit minus obvia Graiis. Si quando Thybrim vicinaque Thybridis arva
501intraro, gentique meae data moenia cernam, cognatas urbes olim populosque propinquos, Epiro, Hesperia, quibus idem Dardanus auctor atque idem casus, unam faciemus utramque Troiam animis; maneat nostros ea cura nepotes.
506Provehimur pelago vicina Ceraunia iuxta, unde iter Italiam cursusque brevissimus undis. Sol ruit interea et montes umbrantur opaci; sternimur optatae gremio telluris ad undam, sortiti remos, passimque in litore sicco
511corpora curamus; fessos sopor inrigat artus. Necdum orbem medium Nox horis acta subibat: haud segnis strato surgit Palinurus et omnis explorat ventos, atque auribus aera captat; sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo,
516Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones, armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona. Postquam cuncta videt caelo constare sereno, dat clarum e puppi signum; nos castra movemus, temptamusque viam et velorum pandimus alas.
521Iamque rubescebat stellis Aurora fugatis, cum procul obscuros collis humilemque videmus Italiam. Italiam primus conclamat Achates, Italiam laeto socii clamore salutant. Tum pater Anchises magnum cratera corona
526induit, implevitque mero, divosque vocavit stans celsa in puppi: Di maris et terrae tempestatumque potentes, ferte viam vento facilem et spirate secundi. Crebrescunt optatae aurae portusque patescit
531iam propior, templumque adparet in arce Minervae. Vela legunt socii et proras ad litora torquent. Portus ab Euroo fluctu curvatus in arcum, obiectae salsa spumant aspargine cautes; ipse latet; gemino demittunt bracchia muro
536turriti scopuli, refugitque ab litore templum. Quattuor hic, primum omen, equos in gramine vidi tondentis campum late, candore nivali. Et pater Anchises: Bellum, O terra hospita, portas bello armantur equi, bellum haec armenta minantur.
541Sed tamen idem olim curru succedere sueti quadrupedes, et frena iugo concordia ferre; spes et pacis ait. Tum numina sancta precamur Palladis armisonae, quae prima accepit ovantis, et capita ante aras Phrygio velamur amictu;
546praeceptisque Heleni, dederat quae maxima, rite Iunoni Argivae iussos adolemus honores. Haud mora, continuo perfectis ordine votis, cornua velatarum obvertimus antemarum, Graiugenumque domos suspectaque linquimus arva.
551Hinc sinus Herculei (si vera est fama) Tarenti cernitur; attollit se diva Lacinia contra, Caulonisque arces et navifragum Scylaceum. Tum procul e fluctu Trinacria cernitur Aetna, et gemitum ingentem pelagi pulsataque saxa
556audimus longe fractasque ad litora voces, exsultantque vada, atque aestu miscentur harenae. Et pater Anchises: Nimirum haec illa Charybdis: hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat. Eripite, O socii, pariterque insurgite remis!
561Haud minus ac iussi faciunt, primusque rudentem contorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas. laevam cuncta cohors remis ventisque petivit. Tollimur in caelum curvato gurgite, et idem subducta ad Manis imos desedimus unda.
566Ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dedere: ter spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra. Interea fessos ventus cum sole reliquit, ignarique viae Cyclopum adlabimur oris. Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens
571ipse; sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis; interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem, turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla, attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit; interdum scopulos avolsaque viscera montis
576erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo. Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus urgueri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam impositam ruptis flammam exspirare caminis;
581et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnem murmure Trinacriam, et caelum subtexere fumo. Noctem illam tecti silvis immania monstra perferimus, nec quae sonitum det causa videmus. Nam neque erant astrorum ignes, nec lucidus aethra
586siderea polus, obscuro sed nubila caelo, et lunam in nimbo nox intempesta tenebat. Postera iamque dies primo surgebat Eoo, umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram: cum subito e silvis, macie confecta suprema,
591ignoti nova forma viri miserandaque cultu procedit, supplexque manus ad litora tendit. Respicimus: dira inluvies inmissaque barba, consertum tegumen spinis; at cetera Graius, Isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troia vidit
597arma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit, continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praeceps cum fletu precibusque tulit: Per sidera testor, per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen, tollite me, Teucri; quascumque abducite terras;
602hoc sat erit. Scio me Danais e classibus unum, et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse Penatis; pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri, spargite me in fluctus, vastoque inmergite ponto. Si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit.
607Dixerat, et genua amplexus genibusque volutans haerebat. Qui sit, fari, quo sanguine cretus, hortamur; quae deinde agitet fortuna, fateri. Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus, dat iuveni, atque animum praesenti pignore firmat.
612Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur: Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulixi, nomine Achaemenides, Troiam genitore Adamasto paupere—mansissetque utinam fortuna!—profectus. Hic me, dum trepidi crudelia limina linquunt,
617inmemores socii vasto Cyclopis in antro deseruere. Domus sanie dapibusque cruentis, intus opaca, ingens; ipse arduus, altaque pulsat sidera—Di, talem terris avertite pestem!— nec visu facilis nec dictu adfabilis ulli.
622Visceribus miserorum et sanguine vescitur atro. Vidi egomet, duo de numero cum corpora nostro prensa manu magna, medio resupinus in antro, frangeret ad saxum, sanieque aspersa natarent limina; vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo
627manderet, et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus. Haud impune quidem; nec talia passus Ulixes, oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto. Nam simul expletus dapibus vinoque sepultus cervicem inflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum
632immensus, saniem eructans et frusta cruento per somnum commixta mero, nos magna precati numina sortitique vices, una undique circum fundimur, et telo lumen terebramus acuto,— ingens, quod torva solum sub fronte latebat,
637Argolici clipei aut Phoebeae lampadis instar,— et tandem laeti sociorum ulciscimur umbras. Sed fugite, O miseri, fugite, atque ab litore funem rumpite. Nam qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro
642lanigeras claudit pecudes atque ubera pressat, centum alii curva haec habitant ad litora volgo infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant. Tertia iam lunae se cornua lumine complent, cum vitam in silvis inter deserta ferarum
647lustra domosque traho, vastosque ab rupe Cyclopas prospicio, sonitumque pedum vocemque tremesco. Victum infelicem, bacas lapidosaque corna, dant rami et volsis pascunt radicibus herbae. Omnia conlustrans, hanc primum ad litora classem
652conspexi venientem. Huic me, quaecumque fuisset, addixi: satis est gentem effugisse nefandam. Vos animam hanc potius quocumque absumite leto. Vix ea fatus erat, summo cum monte videmus ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem
657pastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem, monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum. Trunca manu pinus regit et vestigia firmat; lanigerae comitantur oves—ea sola voluptas solamenque mali.
662Postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora venit, luminis effossi fluidum lavit inde cruorem, dentibus infrendens gemitu, graditurque per aequor iam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit. Nos procul inde fugam trepidi celerare, recepto
667supplice sic merito, tacitique incidere funem; vertimus et proni certantibus aequora remis. Sensit, et ad sonitum vocis vestigia torsit; verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas, nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo,
672clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes contremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellus Italiae, curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis. At genus e silvis Cyclopum et montibus altis excitum ruit ad portus et litora complent.
677Cernimus adstantis nequiquam lumine torvo Aetnaeos fratres, caelo capita alta ferentis, concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celso aeriae quercus, aut coniferae cyparissi constiterunt, silva alta Iovis, lucusve Dianae.
682Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentis excutere, et ventis intendere vela secundis. Contra iussa monent Heleni Scyllam atque Charybdin inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo, ni teneant cursus; certum est dare lintea retro.
687Ecce autem Boreas angusta ab sede Pelori missus adest. Vivo praetervehor ostia saxo Pantagiae Megarosque sinus Thapsumque iacentem. Talia monstrabat relegens errata retrorsus litora Achaemenides; comes infelicis Ulixi.
692Sicanio praetenta sinu iacet insula contra Plemyrium undosum; nomen dixere priores Ortygiam. Alpheum fama est huc Elidis amnem occultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nunc ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.
697Iussi numina magna loci veneramur; et inde exsupero praepingue solum stagnantis Helori. Hinc altas cautes proiectaque saxa Pachyni radimus, et fatis numquam concessa moveri adparet Camerina procul campique Geloi,
702immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta. Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxuma longe moenia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum; teque datis linquo ventis, palmosa Selinus, et vada dura lego saxis Lilybeia caecis.
707Hinc Drepani me portus et inlaetabilis ora accipit. Hic, pelagi tot tempestatibus actis, heu genitorem, omnis curae casusque levamen, amitto Anchisen: hic me, pater optume, fessum deseris, heu, tantis nequiquam erepte periclis!
712Nec vates Helenus, cum multa horrenda moneret, hos mihi praedixit luctus, non dira Celaeno. Hic labor extremus, longarum haec meta viarum. Hinc me digressum vestris deus adpulit oris. Sic pater Aeneas intentis omnibus unus
717fata renarrabat divom, cursusque docebat. Conticuit tandem, factoque hic fine quievit.
Book 3
1When Asia's power and Priam's race and throne, though guiltless, were cast down by Heaven's decree, when Ilium proud had fallen, and Neptune's Troy in smouldering ash lay level with the ground, to wandering exile then and regions wild
6the gods by many an augury and sign compelled us forth. We fashioned us a fleet within Antander's haven, in the shade of Phrygian Ida's peak (though knowing not whither our fate would drive, or where afford
11a resting-place at last), and my small band of warriors I arrayed. As soon as smiled the light of summer's prime, my reverend sire Anchises bade us on the winds of Fate to spread all sail. Through tears I saw recede
16my native shore, the haven and the plains where once was Troy. An exile on the seas, with son and followers and household shrines, and Troy's great guardian-gods, I took my way. There is a far-off land where warriors breed,
21where Thracians till the boundless plains, and where the cruel-eyed Lycurgus once was king. Troy's old ally it was, its deities had brotherhood with ours before our fall. Thither I fared, and on its winding shores
26set my first walls, though partial Fate opposed our entrance there. In memory of my name I called its people the Aeneadae. Unto Dione's daughter, and all gods who blessed our young emprise, due gifts were paid;
31and unto the supreme celestial King I slew a fair white bull beside the sea. But haply near my place of sacrifice a mound was seen, and on the summit grew a copse of corner and a myrtle tree,
36with spear-like limbs outbranched on every side. This I approached, and tried to rend away from its deep roots that grove of gloomy green, and dress my altars in its leafy boughs. But, horrible to tell, a prodigy
41smote my astonished eyes: for the first tree, which from the earth with broken roots I drew, dripped black with bloody drops, and gave the ground dark stains of gore. Cold horror shook my frame, and every vein within me froze for fear.
46Once more I tried from yet another stock the pliant stem to tear, and to explore the mystery within,—but yet again the foul bark oozed with clots of blackest gore! From my deep-shaken soul I made a prayer
51to all the woodland nymphs and to divine Gradivus, patron of the Thracian plain, to bless this sight, to lift its curse away. But when at a third sheaf of myrtle spears I fell upon my knees, and tugged amain
56against the adverse ground (I dread to tell!), a moaning and a wail from that deep grave burst forth and murmured in my listening ear: “Why wound me, great Aeneas, in my woe? O, spare the dead, nor let thy holy hands
61do sacrilege and sin! I, Trojan-born, was kin of thine. This blood is not of trees. Haste from this murderous shore, this land of greed. O, I am Polydorus! Haste away! Here was I pierced; a crop of iron spears
66has grown up o'er my breast, and multiplied to all these deadly javelins, keen and strong.” Then stood I, burdened with dark doubt and fear I quailed, my hair rose and my utterance choked. For once this Polydorus, with much gold,
71ill-fated Priam sent by stealth away for nurture with the Thracian king, what time Dardania's war Iooked hopeless, and her towers were ringed about by unrelenting siege. That king, when Ilium's cause was ebbing low,
76and fortune frowned, gave o'er his plighted faith to Agamemnon's might and victory; he scorned all honor and did murder foul on Polydorus, seizing lawlessly on all the gold. O, whither at thy will,
81curst greed of gold, may mortal hearts be driven? Soon as my shuddering ceased, I told this tale of prodigies before the people's chiefs, who sat in conclave with my kingly sire, and bade them speak their reverend counsel forth.
86All found one voice; to leave that land of sin, where foul abomination had profaned a stranger's right; and once more to resign our fleet unto the tempest and the wave. But fit and solemn funeral rites were paid
91to Polydorus. A high mound we reared of heaped-up earth, and to his honored shade built a perpetual altar, sadly dressed in cypress dark and purple pall of woe. Our Ilian women wailed with loosened hair;
96new milk was sprinkled from a foaming cup, and from the shallow bowl fresh blood out-poured upon the sacred ground. So in its tomb we laid his ghost to rest, and loudly sang, with prayer for peace, the long, the last farewell.
101After these things, when first the friendly sea looked safe and fair, and o'er its tranquil plain light-whispering breezes bade us launch away, my men drew down our galleys to the brine, thronging the shore. Soon out of port we ran,
106and watched the hills and cities fading far. There is a sacred island in mid-seas, to fruitful Doris and to Neptune dear, which grateful Phoebus, wielder of the bow, the while it drifted loose from land to land,
111chained firmly where the crags of Gyaros and Myconos uptower, and bade it rest immovable, in scorn of wind and wave. Thither I sped; by this my weary ships found undisturbed retreat and haven fair.
116To land we came and saw with reverent eyes Apollo's citadel. King Anius, his people's king, and priest at Phoebus' fane, came forth to meet us, wearing on his brow the fillets and a holy laurel crown.
121Unto Anchises he gave greeting kind, claimed old acquaintance, grasped us by the hand, and bade us both his roof and welcome share. Then, kneeling at the shrine of time-worn stone: “Thou who at Thymbra on the Trojan shore
126hast often blessed my prayer, O, give to me a hearth and home, and to this war-worn band defensive towers and offspring multiplied in an abiding city; give to Troy a second citadel, that shall survive
131Achilles' wrath and all our Argive foe. Whom shall we follow? Whither lies our way? Where wilt thou grant us an abiding-place? Send forth, O King, thy voice oracular, and on our spirits move.” Scarce had I spoke
136when sudden trembling through the laurels ran and smote the holy portals; far and wide the mighty ridges of the mountain shook, and from the opening shrine the tripod moaned. Prostrate to earth we fall, as on our ears
141this utterance breaks: “O breed of iron men, ye sons of Dardanus! the self-same land where bloomed at first your far-descended stem shall to its bounteous bosom draw ye home. Seek out your ancient Mother! There at last
146Aeneas' race shall reign on every shore, and his sons' sons, and all their house to be.” So Phoebus spoke; and mighty joy uprose from all my thronging people, who would know where Phoebus' city lay, and whitherward
151the god ordained the wandering tribe's return. Then spake my father, pondering olden days and sacred memories of heroes gone: “Hear, chiefs and princes, what your hopes shall be! The Isle of Crete, abode of lofty Jove,
156rests in the middle sea. Thence Ida soars; there is the cradle of our race. It boasts a hundred cities, seats of fruitful power. Thence our chief sire, if duly I recall the olden tale, King Teucer sprung, who first
161touched on the Trojan shore, and chose his seat of kingly power. There was no Ilium then nor towered Pergama; in lowly vales their dwelling; hence the ancient worship given to the Protectress of Mount Cybele,
166mother of Gods, what time in Ida's grove the brazen Corybantic cymbals clang, or sacred silence guards her mystery, and lions yoked her royal chariot draw. Up, then, and follow the behests divine!
171Pour offering to the winds, and point your keels unto that realm of Minos. It is near. if Jove but bless, the third day's dawn should see our ships at Cretan land.” So, having said, he slew the victims for each altar's praise.
176A bull to Neptune, and a bull to thee, o beauteous Apollo! A black lamb unto the clouds and storms; but fleece of snow to the mild zephyrs was our offering. The tale was told us that Idomeneus,
181from his hereditary kindgom driven, had left his Crete abandoned, that no foe now harbored there, but all its dwellings lay untenanted of man. So forth we sailed out of the port of Delos, and sped far
186along the main. The maenad-haunted hills of Naxos came in view; the ridges green of fair Donysa, with Olearos, and Paros, gleaming white, and Cyclades scattered among the waves, as close we ran
191where thick-strewn islands vex the channelled seas with rival shout the sailors cheerly called: “On, comrades! On, to Crete and to our sires!” Freely behind us blew the friendly winds, and gave smooth passage to that fabled shore,
196the land of the Curetes, friends of Jove. There eagerly I labored at the walls of our long-prayed-for city; and its name was Pergamea; to my Trojan band, pleased with such name, I gave command to build
201altar and hearth, and raise the lofty tower. But scarce the ships were beached along the strand (While o'er the isle my busy mariners ploughed in new fields and took them wives once more, — I giving homes and laws) when suddenly
206a pestilence from some infectious sky seized on man's flesh, and horribly exhaled o'er trees and crops a fatal year of plague. Some breathed their last, while others weak and worn lived on; the dog-star parched the barren fields;
211grass withered, and the sickly, mouldering corn refused us life. My aged father then bade us re-cross the waves and re-implore Apollo's mercy at his island shrine; if haply of our weariness and woe
216he might vouchsafe the end, or bid us find help for our task, or guidance o'er the sea. 'T was night, and sleep possessed all breathing things; when, lo! the sacred effigies divine, the Phrygian gods which through the flames I bore
221from fallen Troy, seemed in a vision clear to stand before me where I slumbering lay, bathed in bright beams which from the moon at full streamed through the latticed wall: and thus they spoke to soothe my care away. “Apollo's word,
226which in far Delos the god meant for thee, is uttered here. Behold, he sends ourselves to this thy house, before thy prayer is made. We from Troy's ashes have companioned thee in every fight; and we the swollen seas,
231guided by thee, in thine own ships have crossed; our power divine shall set among the stars thy seed to be, and to thy city give dominion evermore. For mighty men go build its mighty walls! Seek not to shun
236the hard, long labors of an exile's way. Change this abode! Not thine this Cretan shore, nor here would Delian Phoebus have thee bide. There is a land the roving Greeks have named Hesperia. It is a storied realm
241made mighty by great wars and fruitful land. Oenotrians had it, and their sons, 't is said, have called it Italy, a chieftain's name to a whole region given. That land alone our true abode can be; for Dardanus
246was cradled there, and old Iasius, their blood the oldest of our ancient line. Arise! go forth and cheer thy father gray with the glad tidings! Bid him doubt no more! Ausonia seek and Corythus; for Jove
251denies this Cretan realm to thine and thee.” I marvelled at the heavenly presences so vocal and so bright, for 't was not sleep; but face to face I deemed I could discern each countenance august and holy brow,
256each mantled head; and from my body ran cold sweat of awe. From my low couch I sprang, lifting to heaven my suppliant hands and prayer, and o'er my hearth poured forth libations free. After th' auspicious offering, I told
261Anchises the whole tale in order due. He owned our stock two-branched, of our great sires the twofold line, and that his thought had strayed, in new confusion mingling ancient names; then spoke: “O son, in Ilium's doom severe
266afflicted ever! To my ears alone this dark vicissitude Cassandra sang. I mind me now that her wild tongue foretold such destiny. For oft she called aloud ‘Hesperia!’ oft ‘Italia's kingdom!’ called.
271But who had faith that Teucer's sons should come to far Hesperia? What mortal ear gave heed to sad Cassandra's voice divine? Now Phoebus speaks. Obedient let us be, and, warned by him, our happier Iot pursue!”
276He spoke: with heart of hope we all obeyed; again we changed abode; and, leaving there a feeble few, again with spreading sails we coursed in hollow ship the spacious sea. When from the deep the shores had faded far,
281and only sky and sea were round our way, full in the zenith hung a purple cloud, storm-laden, dark as night, and every wave grew black and angry, while perpetual gales came rolling o'er the main, and mountain-high
286the wreckful surges rose; our ships were hurled wide o'er the whirling waters; thunder-clouds and misty murk of night made end of all the light of heaven, save where the rifted storm flashed with the oft-reiterate shaft of Jove.
291Then went we drifting, beaten from our course, upon a trackless sea. Not even the eyes of Palinurus could tell night from noon or ken our way. Three days of blinding dark, three nights without a star, we roved the seas;
296The fourth, land seemed to rise. Far distant hills and rolling smoke we saw. Down came our sails, out flew the oars, and with prompt stroke the crews swept the dark waves and tossed the crested foam. From such sea-peril safe, I made the shores
301of Strophades,—a name the Grecians gave to islands in the broad Ionic main, — the Strophades, where dread Celaeno bides, with other Harpies, who had quit the halls of stricken Phineus, and for very fear
306fled from the routed feast; no prodigy more vile than these, nor plague more pitiless ere rose by wrath divine from Stygian wave; birds seem they, but with face like woman-kind; foul-flowing bellies, hands with crooked claws,
311and ghastly lips they have, with hunger pale. Scarce had we made the haven, when, behold! Fair herds of cattle roaming a wide plain, and horned goats, untended, feeding free in pastures green, surprised our happy eyes.
316with eager blades we ran to take and slay, asking of every god, and chicfly Jove, to share the welcome prize: we ranged a feast, with turf-built couches and a banquet-board along the curving strand. But in a trice,
321down from the high hills swooping horribly, the Harpies loudly shrieking, flapped their wings, snatched at our meats, and with infectious touch polluted all; infernal was their cry, the stench most vile. Once more in covert far
326beneath a caverned rock, and close concealed with trees and branching shade, we raised aloft our tables, altars, and rekindled fires. Once more from haunts unknown the clamorous flock from every quarter flew, and seized its prey
331with taloned feet and carrion lip most foul. I called my mates to arms and opened war on that accursed brood. My band obeyed; and, hiding in deep grass their swords and shields, in ambush lay. But presently the foe
336swept o'er the winding shore with loud alarm : then from a sentry-crag, Misenus blew a signal on his hollow horn. My men flew to the combat strange, and fain would wound with martial steel those foul birds of the sea;
341but on their sides no wounding blade could fall, nor any plume be marred. In swiftest flight to starry skies they soared, and left on earth their half-gnawed, stolen feast, and footprints foul. Celaeno only on a beetling crag
346took lofty perch, and, prophetess of ill, shrieked malediction from her vulture breast: “Because of slaughtered kine and ravished herd, sons of Laomedon, have ye made war? And will ye from their rightful kingdom drive
351the guiltless Harpies? Hear, O, hear my word (Long in your bosoms may it rankle sore!) which Jove omnipotent to Phoebus gave, Phoebus to me: a word of doom, which I, the Furies' elder sister, here unfold:
356‘To Italy ye fare. The willing winds your call have heard; and ye shall have your prayer in some Italian haven safely moored. But never shall ye rear the circling walls of your own city, till for this our blood
361by you unjustly spilt, your famished jaws bite at your tables, aye,—and half devour.’” She spoke: her pinions bore her to the grove, and she was seen no more. But all my band shuddered with shock of fear in each cold vein;
366their drooping spirits trusted swords no more, but turned to prayers and offerings, asking grace, scarce knowing if those creatures were divine, or but vast birds, ill-omened and unclean. Father Anchises to the gods in heaven
371uplifted suppliant hands, and on that shore due ritual made, crying aloud; “Ye gods avert this curse, this evil turn away! Smile, Heaven, upon your faithful votaries.” Then bade he launch away, the chain undo,
376set every cable free and spread all sail. O'er the white waves we flew, and took our way where'er the helmsman or the winds could guide. Now forest-clad Zacynthus met our gaze, engirdled by the waves; Dulichium,
381same, and Neritos, a rocky steep, uprose. We passed the cliffs of Ithaca that called Laertes king, and flung our curse on fierce Ulysses' hearth and native land. nigh hoar Leucate's clouded crest we drew,
386where Phoebus' temple, feared by mariners, loomed o'er us; thitherward we steered and reached the little port and town. Our weary fleet dropped anchor, and lay beached along the strand. So, safe at land, our hopeless peril past,
391we offered thanks to Jove, and kindled high his altars with our feast and sacrifice; then, gathering on Actium's holy shore, made fair solemnities of pomp and game. My youth, anointing their smooth, naked limbs,
396wrestled our wonted way. For glad were we, who past so many isles of Greece had sped and 'scaped our circling foes. Now had the sun rolled through the year's full circle, and the waves were rough with icy winter's northern gales.
401I hung for trophy on that temple door a swelling shield of brass (which once was worn by mighty Abas) graven with this line: SPOIL OF AENEAS FROM TRIUMPHANT FOES. Then from that haven I command them forth;
406my good crews take the thwarts, smiting the sea with rival strokes, and skim the level main. Soon sank Phaeacia's wind-swept citadels out of our view; we skirted the bold shores of proud Epirus, in Chaonian land,
411and made Buthrotum's port and towering town. Here wondrous tidings met us, that the son of Priam, Helenus, held kingly sway o'er many Argive cities, having wed the Queen of Pyrrhus, great Achilles' son,
416and gained his throne; and that Andromache once more was wife unto a kindred lord. Amazement held me; all my bosom burned to see the hero's face and hear this tale of strange vicissitude. So up I climbed,
421leaving the haven, fleet, and friendly shore. That self-same hour outside the city walls, within a grove where flowed the mimic stream of a new Simois, Andromache, with offerings to the dead, and gifts of woe,
426poured forth libation, and invoked the shade of Hector, at a tomb which her fond grief had consecrated to perpetual tears, though void; a mound of fair green turf it stood, and near it rose twin altars to his name.
431She saw me drawing near; our Trojan helms met her bewildered eyes, and, terror-struck at the portentous sight, she swooning fell and lay cold, rigid, lifeless, till at last, scarce finding voice, her lips addressed me thus :
436“Have I true vision? Bringest thou the word Of truth, O goddess-born? Art still in flesh? Or if sweet light be fled, my Hector, where?” With flood of tears she spoke, and all the grove reechoed to her cry. Scarce could I frame
441brief answer to her passion, but replied with broken voice and accents faltering: “I live, 't is true. I lengthen out my days through many a desperate strait. But O, believe that what thine eyes behold is vision true.
446Alas! what lot is thine, that wert unthroned from such a husband's side? What after-fate could give thee honor due? Andromache, once Hector's wife, is Pyrrhus still thy lord?” With drooping brows and lowly voice she cried :
451“O, happy only was that virgin blest, daughter of Priam, summoned forth to die in sight of Ilium, on a foeman's tomb! No casting of the lot her doom decreed, nor came she to her conqueror's couch a slave.
456Myself from burning Ilium carried far o'er seas and seas, endured the swollen pride of that young scion of Achilles' race, and bore him as his slave a son. When he sued for Hermione, of Leda's line,
461and nuptial-bond with Lacedaemon's Iords, I, the slave-wife, to Helenus was given, and slave was wed with slave. But afterward Orestes, crazed by loss of her he loved, and ever fury-driven from crime to crime,
466crept upon Pyrrhus in a careless hour and murdered him upon his own hearth-stone. Part of the realm of Neoptolemus fell thus to Helenus, who called his lands Chaonian, and in Trojan Chaon's name
471his kingdom is Chaonia. Yonder height is Pergamus, our Ilian citadel. What power divine did waft thee to our shore, not knowing whither? Tell me of the boy Ascanius! Still breathes he earthly air?
476In Troy she bore him—is he mourning still that mother ravished from his childhood's eyes? what ancient valor stirs the manly soul of thine own son, of Hector's sister's child?” Thus poured she forth full many a doleful word
481with unavailing tears. But as she ceased, out of the city gates appeared the son of Priam, Helenus, with princely train. He welcomed us as kin, and glad at heart gave guidance to his house, though oft his words
486fell faltering and few, with many a tear. Soon to a humbler Troy I lift my eyes, and of a mightier Pergamus discern the towering semblance; there a scanty stream runs on in Xanthus' name, and my glad arms
491the pillars of a Scaean gate embrace. My Teucrian mariners with welcome free enjoyed the friendly town; his ample halls our royal host threw wide; full wine-cups flowed within the palace; golden feast was spread,
496and many a goblet quaffed. Day followed day, while favoring breezes beckoned us to sea, and swelled the waiting canvas as they blew. Then to the prophet-priest I made this prayer: “Offspring of Troy, interpreter of Heaven!
501Who knowest Phoebus' power, and readest well the tripod, stars, and vocal laurel leaves to Phoebus dear, who know'st of every bird the ominous swift wing or boding song, o, speak! For all my course good omens showed,
506and every god admonished me to sail in quest of Italy's far-distant shores; but lone Celaeno, heralding strange woe, foretold prodigious horror, vengeance dark, and vile, unnatural hunger. How elude
511such perils? Or by what hard duty done may such huge host of evils vanquished be?” Then Helenus, with sacrifice of kine in order due, implored the grace of Heaven, unloosed the fillets from his sacred brow,
516and led me, Phoebus, to thy temple's door, awed by th' o'er-brooding godhead, whose true priest, with lips inspired, made this prophetic song: “O goddess-born, indubitably shines the blessing of great gods upon thy path
521across the sea; the heavenly King supreme thy destiny ordains; 't is he unfolds the grand vicissitude, which now pursues a course immutable. I will declare of thy large fate a certain bounded part;
526that fearless thou may'st view the friendly sea, and in Ausonia's haven at the last find thee a fixed abode. Than this no more the Sister Fates to Helenus unveil, and Juno, Saturn's daughter, grants no more.
531First, that Italia (which nigh at hand thou deemest, and wouldst fondly enter in by yonder neighboring bays) lies distant far o'er trackless course and long, with interval of far-extended lands. Thine oars must ply
536the waves of Sicily; thy fleet must cleave the large expanse of that Ausonian brine; the waters of Avernus thou shalt see, and that enchanted island where abides Aeaean Circe, ere on tranquil shore
541thou mayest plant thy nation. Lo! a sign I tell thee; hide this wonder in thy heart: Beside a certain stream's sequestered wave, thy troubled eyes, in shadowy flex grove that fringes on the river, shall descry
546a milk-white, monstrous sow, with teeming brood of thirty young, new littered, white like her, all clustering at her teats, as prone she lies. There is thy city's safe, predestined ground, and there thy labors' end. Vex not thy heart
551about those ‘tables bitten’, for kind fate thy path will show, and Phoebus bless thy prayer. But from these lands and yon Italian shore, where from this sea of ours the tide sweeps in, escape and flee, for all its cities hold
556pernicious Greeks, thy foes: the Locri there have builded walls; the wide Sallentine fields are filled with soldiers of Idomeneus; there Meliboean Philoctetes' town, petilia, towers above its little wall.
561Yea, even when thy fleet has crossed the main, and from new altars built along the shore thy vows to Heaven are paid, throw o'er thy head a purple mantle, veiling well thy brows, lest, while the sacrificial fire ascends
566in offering to the gods, thine eye behold some face of foe, and every omen fail. Let all thy people keep this custom due, and thou thyself be faithful; let thy seed forever thus th' immaculate rite maintain.
571After departing hence, thou shalt be blown toward Sicily, and strait Pelorus' bounds will open wide. Then take the leftward way: those leftward waters in long circuit sweep, far from that billowy coast, the opposing side.
576These regions, so they tell, in ages gone by huge and violent convulsion riven (Such mutability is wrought by time), sprang wide asunder; where the doubled strand sole and continuous lay, the sea's vast power
581burst in between, and bade its waves divide Hesperia's bosom from fair Sicily, while with a straitened firth it interflowed their fields and cities sundered shore from shore. The right side Scylla keeps; the left is given
586to pitiless Charybdis, who draws down to the wild whirling of her steep abyss the monster waves, and ever and anon flings them at heaven, to lash the tranquil stars. But Scylla, prisoned in her eyeless cave,
591thrusts forth her face, and pulls upon the rocks ship after ship; the parts that first be seen are human; a fair-breasted virgin she, down to the womb; but all that lurks below is a huge-membered fish, where strangely join
596the flukes of dolphins and the paunch of wolves. Better by far to round the distant goal of the Trinacrian headlands, veering wide from thy true course, than ever thou shouldst see that shapeless Scylla in her vaulted cave,
601where grim rocks echo her dark sea-dogs' roar. Yea, more, if aught of prescience be bestowed on Helenus, if trusted prophet he, and Phoebus to his heart true voice have given, o goddess-born, one counsel chief of all
606I tell thee oft, and urge it o'er and o'er. To Juno's godhead lift thy Ioudest prayer; to Juno chant a fervent votive song, and with obedient offering persuade that potent Queen. So shalt thou, triumphing,
611to Italy be sped, and leave behind Trinacria.When wafted to that shore, repair to Cumae's hill, and to the Lake Avernus with its whispering grove divine. There shalt thou see a frenzied prophetess,
616who from beneath the hollow scarped crag sings oracles, or characters on leaves mysterious names. Whate'er the virgin writes, on leaves inscribing the portentous song, she sets in order, and conceals them well
621in her deep cave, where they abide unchanged in due array. Yet not a care has she, if with some swinging hinge a breeze sweeps in, to catch them as they whirl: if open door disperse them flutterlig through the hollow rock,
626she will not link their shifted sense anew, nor re-invent her fragmentary song. Oft her unanswered votaries depart, scorning the Sibyl's shrine. But deem not thou thy tarrying too Iong, whate'er thy stay.
631Though thy companions chide, though winds of power invite thy ship to sea, and well would speed the swelling sail, yet to that Sibyl go. Pray that her own lips may sing forth for thee the oracles, uplifting her dread voice
636in willing prophecy. Her rede shall tell of Italy, its wars and tribes to be, and of what way each burden and each woe may be escaped, or borne. Her favoring aid will grant swift, happy voyages to thy prayer.
641Such counsels Heaven to my lips allows. arise, begone! and by thy glorious deeds set Troy among the stars! “ So spake the prophet with benignant voice. Then gifts he bade be brought of heavy gold
646and graven ivory, which to our ships he bade us bear; each bark was Ioaded full with messy silver and Dodona's pride of brazen cauldrons; a cuirass he gave of linked gold enwrought and triple chain;
651a noble helmet, too, with flaming crest and lofty cone, th' accoutrement erewhile of Neoptolemus. My father too had fit gifts from the King; whose bounty then gave steeds and riders; and new gear was sent
656to every sea-worn ship, while he supplied seafarers, kit to all my loyal crews. Anchises bade us speedily set sail, nor lose a wind so fair; and answering him, Apollo's priest made reverent adieu:
661“Anchises, honored by the love sublime of Venus, self and twice in safety borne from falling Troy, chief care of kindly Heaven, th' Ausonian shore is thine. Sail thitherward! For thou art pre-ordained to travel far
666o'er yonder seas; far in the distance lies that region of Ausonia, Phoebus' voice to thee made promise of. Onward, I say, o blest in the exceeding loyal love of thy dear son! Why keep thee longer now?
671Why should my words yon gathering winds detain?” Likewise Andromache in mournful guise took last farewell, bringing embroidered robes of golden woof; a princely Phrygian cloak she gave Ascanius, vying with the King
676in gifts of honor; and threw o'er the boy the labors of her loom, with words like these: “Accept these gifts, sweet youth, memorials of me and my poor handicraft, to prove th' undying friendship of Andromache,
681once Hector's wife. Take these last offerings of those who are thy kin—O thou that art of my Astyanax in all this world the only image! His thy lovely eyes! Thy hands, thy lips, are even what he bore,
686and like thy own his youthful bloom would be.” Thus I made answer, turning to depart with rising tears: “Live on, and be ye blessed, whose greatness is accomplished! As for me, from change to change Fate summons, and I go;
691but ye have won repose. No leagues of sea await your cleaving keel. Not yours the quest of fading Italy's delusive shore. Here a new Xanthus and a second Troy your labor fashioned and your eyes may see—
696more blest, I trust, less tempting to our foes! If e'er on Tiber and its bordering vales I safely enter, and these eyes behold our destined walls, then in fraternal bond let our two nations live, whose mutual boast
701is one Dardanian blood, one common story. Epirus with Hesperia shall be one Troy in heart and soul. But this remains for our sons' sons the happy task and care.” Forth o'er the seas we sped and kept our course
706nigh the Ceraunian headland, where begins the short sea-passage unto Italy. Soon sank the sun, while down the shadowed hills stole deeper gloom; then making shore, we flung our bodies on a dry, sea-bordering sand,
711couched on earth's welcome breast; the oars were ranged in order due; the tides of slumber dark o'erflowed our lives. But scarce the chariot of Night, on wings of swift, obedient Hours, had touched the middle sky, when wakeful sprang
716good Palinurus from his pillowed stone: with hand at ear he caught each airy gust and questioned of the winds; the gliding stars he called by name, as onward they advanced through the still heaven; Arcturus he beheld,
721the Hyades, rain-bringers, the twin Bears, and vast Orion girt in golden arms. He blew a trumpet from his ship; our camp stirred to the signal for embarking; soon we rode the seas once more with swelling sail.
726Scarce had Aurora's purple from the sky warned off the stars, when Iying very low along th' horizon, the dimmed hills we saw of Italy; Achates first gave cry “Italia!” with answering shouts of joy,
731my comrades' voices cried, “Italia, hail!” Anchises, then, wreathed a great bowl with flowers and filled with wine, invoking Heaven to bless, and thus he prayed from our ship's lofty stern: “O Iords of land and sea and every storm!
736Breathe favoring breezes for our onward way!” Fresh blew the prayed-for winds. A haven fair soon widened near us; and its heights were crowned by a Greek fane to Pallas. Yet my men furled sail and shoreward veered the pointing prow.
741the port receding from the orient wave is curved into a bow; on either side the jutting headlands toss the salt sea-foam and hide the bay itself. Like double wall the towered crags send down protecting arms,
746while distant from the shore the temple stands. Here on a green sward, the first omen given, I saw four horses grazing through the field, each white as snow. Father Anchises cried: “Is war thy gift, O new and alien land?
751Horses make war; of war these creatures bode. Yet oft before the chariot of peace their swift hoofs go, and on their necks they bear th' obedient yoke and rein. Therefore a hope of peace is also ours.” Then we implored
756Minerva's mercy, at her sacred shrine, the mail-clad goddess who gave welcome there; and at an altar, mantling well our brows the Phrygian way, as Helenus ordained, we paid the honors his chief counsel urged,
761with blameless rite, to Juno, Argive Queen. No tarrying now, but after sacrifice we twirled the sailyards and shook out all sail, leaving the cities of the sons of Greece and that distrusted land. Tarentum's bay
766soon smiled before us, town of Hercules, if fame be true; opposing it uptowers Lacinia's headland unto Juno dear, the heights of Caulon, and that sailors' bane, ship-shattering Scylaceum. Thence half seen,
771trinacrian Aetna cleaves th' horizon line; we hear from far the crash of shouting seas, where lifted billows leap the tide-swept sand. Father Anchises cried: “'T is none but she— Charybdis! Helenus this reef foretold,
776and rocks of dreadful name. O, fly, my men! Rise like one man with long, strong sweep of oars!” Not unobedient they! First Palinure veered to the leftward wave the willing keel, and sails and oars together leftward strove.
781We shot to skyward on the arching surge, then, as she sank, dropped deeper than the grave; thrice bellowed the vast cliffs from vaulted wall; thrice saw we spouted foam and showers of stars. After these things both wind and sun did fail;
786and weary, worn, not witting of our way, we drifted shoreward to the Cyclops' land. A spreading bay is there, impregnable to all invading storms; and Aetna's throat with roar of frightful ruin thunders nigh.
791Now to the realm of light it lifts a cloud of pitch-black, whirling smoke, and fiery dust, shooting out globes of flame, with monster tongues that lick the stars; now huge crags of itself, out of the bowels of the mountain torn,
796its maw disgorges, while the molten rock rolls screaming skyward; from the nether deep the fathomless abyss makes ebb and flow. Enceladus, his body lightning-scarred, lies prisoned under all, so runs the tale:
801o'er him gigantic Aetna breathes in fire from crack and seam; and if he haply turn to change his wearied side, Trinacria's isle trembles and moans, and thick fumes mantle heaven. That night in screen and covert of a grove
806we bore the dire convulsion, unaware whence the loud horror came. For not a star its lamp allowed, nor burned in upper sky the constellated fires, but all was gloom, and frowning night confined the moon in cloud.
811When from the eastern waves the light of morn began to peer, and from the upper sky Aurora flamed away the dark and dew, out of the forest sprang a startling shape of hunger-wasted misery; a man
816in wretched guise, who shoreward came with hands outstretched in supplication. We turned back and scanned him well. All grime and foulness he, with long and tangled beard, his savage garb fastened with thorns; but in all else he seemed
821a Greek, and in his country's league of arms sent to the seige of Troy. Then he beheld the Dardan habit, and our Trojan steel, he somewhat paused, as if in dread dismay such sight to see, and falteringly moved;
826but soon with headlong steps he sought the shore, ejaculating broken sobs and prayers: “By stars above! By gods on high! O, hear! By this bright heavenly air we mortals breathe, save me, sweet Trojans! Carry me away
831unto what land ye will! I ask no more. I came, I know it, in the ships of Greece; and I did war, 't is true, with Ilium's gods. O, if the crime deserve it, fling my corse on yonder waves, and in the boundless brine
836sink me forever! Give me in my death the comfort that by human hands I die.” He clasped our knees, and writhing on his own clung fast. We bid him tell his race and name, and by what fate pursued. Anchises gave
841his own right hand in swift and generous aid, and by prompt token cheered the exile's heart, who, banishing his fears, poured forth this tale :— “My home was Ithaca, and I partook the fortunes of Ulysses evil-starred.
846My name is Achemenides, my sire was Adamastus, and I sailed for Troy, being so poor,—O, that I ne'er had change the lot I bore! In yon vast Cyclops' cave my comrades, flying from its gruesome door,
851left me behind, forgotten. 'T is a house of gory feasts of flesh, 't is deep and dark, and vaulted high. He looms as high as heaven; I pray the blessed gods to rid the earth of the vile monster! None can look on him,
856none speak with him. He feeds on clotted gore of disembowelled men. These very eyes saw him seize two of our own company, and, as he lolled back in the cave, he clutched and dashed them on the stones, fouling the floor
861with torrent of their blood; myself I saw him crunch with his teeth the dripping, bloody limbs still hot and pulsing on his hungry jaw. But not without reward! For such a sight Ulysses would not brook, and Ithaca
866forgot not in such strait the name he bore. For soon as, gorged with feasting and o'ercome with drunken slumber, the foul giant lay sprawled through the cave, his head dropped helpless down, disgorging as he slept thick drool of gore
871and gobbets drenched with bloody wine; then we, calling on Heaven and taking place by lot, drew round him like one man, and with a beam sharpened at end bored out that monster eye, which, huge and sole, lay under the grim brow,
876round as an Argive shield or Phoebus' star. Thus took we joyful vengeance for the shades of our lost mates. But, O ill-fated men! Fly, I implore, and cut the cables free along the beach! For in the land abide,
881like Polyphemus, who in hollow cave kept fleecy sheep, and milked his fruitful ewes, a hundred other, huge as he, who rove wide o'er this winding shore and mountains fair: Cyclops accursed, bestial! Thrice the moon
886has filled her horns with light, while here I dwell in lonely woods and lairs of creatures wild; or from tall cliffs out-peering I discern the Cyclops, and shrink shuddering from the sound of their vast step and cry. My sorry fare
891is berries and hard corners dropped from trees, or herb-roots torn out from the niggard ground. Though watching the whole sea, only today Have I had sight of ships. To you I fled. Whate'er ye be, it was my only prayer
896to 'scape that monster brood. I ask no more. O, set me free by any death ye will!” He scarce had said, when moving o'er the crest of a high hill a giant shape we saw: that shepherd Polyphemus, with his flocks
901down-wending to the well-known water-side; huge, shapeless, horrible, with blinded eye, bearing a lopped pine for a staff, he made his footing sure, while the white, fleecy sheep, sole pleasure now, and solace of his woes,
906ran huddling at his side. Soon to the vast flood of the level brine he came, and washed the flowing gore away from that out-hollowed eye; he gnashed his teeth, groaning, and deep into the watery way
911stalked on, his tall bulk wet by scarce a wave. We fled in haste, though far, and with us bore the truthful suppliant; cut silently the anchor-ropes, and, bending to the oar, swept on with eager strokes clean out to sea.
916Aware he was, and toward our loud halloo whirled sudden round; but when no power had he to seize or harm, nor could his fierce pursuit o'ertake the Ionian surges as they rolled, he raised a cry incredible; the sea
921with all its billows trembled; the wide shore of Italy from glens and gorges moaned, and Aetna roared from every vaulted cave. Then rallied from the grove-clad, Iofty isle the Cyclops' clan, and lined the beach and bay.
926We saw each lonely eyeball glare in vain, as side by side those brothers Aetna-born stood towering high, a conclave dark and dire: as when, far up some mountain's famous crest, wind-fronting oaks or cone-clad cypresses
931have made assembling in the solemn hills, Jove's giant wood or Dian's sacred grove. We, terror-struck, would fly we knew not where, with loosened sheet and canvas swelling strong before a welcome wind; but Helenus
936bade us both Scylla and Charybdis fear, where 'twixt the twain death straitly hems the way; and so the counsel was to veer our bark the course it came. But lo! a northern gale burst o'er us from Pelorus' narrowed side,
941and on we rode far past Pantagia's bay of unhewn rock, and past the haven strong of Megara, and Thapsus Iying low. Such were the names retold, and such the shores shown us by Achemenides, whose fate
946made him familiar there, for he had sailed with evil-starred Ulysses o'er that sea. Off the Sicilian shore an island lies, wave-washed Plemmyrium, called in olden days Ortygia; here Alpheus, river-god,
951from Elis flowed by secret sluice, they say, beneath the sea, and mingles at thy mouth, fair Arethusa! with Sicilian waves. Our voices hailed the great gods of the land with reverent prayer; then skirted we the shore,
956where smooth Helorus floods the fruitful plain. Under Pachynus' beetling precipice we kept our course; then Camarina rose in distant view, firm-seated evermore by Fate's decree; and that far-spreading vale
961of Gela, with the name of power it takes from its wide river; and, uptowering far, the ramparts of proud Acragas appeared, where fiery steeds were bred in days of old. Borne by the winds, along thy coast I fled,
966Selinus, green with palm! and past the shore of Lilybaeum with its treacherous reef; till at the last the port of Drepanum received me to its melancholy strand. Here, woe is me I outworn by stormful seas,
971my sire, sole comfort of my grievous doom, Anchises ceased to be. O best of sires! Here didst thou leave me in the weary way; through all our perils—O the bitter loss! — borne safely, but in vain. King Helenus,
976whose prophet-tongue of dark events foretold, spoke not this woe; nor did Celeno's curse of this forebode. Such my last loss and pain; such, of my weary way, the destined goal. From thence departing, the divine behest
981impelled me to thy shores, O listening queen! Such was, while all gave ear, the tale sublime father Aeneas, none but he, set forth of wanderings and of dark decrees divine: silent at last, he ceased, and took repose.
Book 4
1At regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura volnus alit venis, et caeco carpitur igni. Multa viri virtus animo, multusque recursat gentis honos: haerent infixi pectore voltus verbaque, nec placidam membris dat cura quietem.
6Postera Phoebea lustrabat lampade terras, umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram, cum sic unanimam adloquitur male sana sororem: Anna soror, quae me suspensam insomnia terrent! Quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes,
11quem sese ore ferens, quam forti pectore et armis! Credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse deorum. Degeneres animos timor arguit: heu, quibus ille iactatus fatis! Quae bella exhausta canebat! Si mihi non animo fixum immotumque sederet,
16ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare iugali, postquam primus amor deceptam morte fefellit; si non pertaesum thalami taedaeque fuisset, huic uni forsan potui succumbere culpae. Anna, fatebor enim, miseri post fata Sychaei
21coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede Penatis, solus hic inflexit sensus, animumque labantem impulit: adgnosco veteris vestigia flammae. Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat, vel Pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,
26pallentis umbras Erebi noctemque profundam, ante, Pudor, quam te violo, aut tua iura resolvo. Ille meos, primus qui me sibi iunxit, amores abstulit; ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro. Sic effata sinum lacrimis implevit obortis.
31Anna refert: O luce magis dilecta sorori, solane perpetua maerens carpere iuventa, nec dulcis natos, Veneris nec praemia noris? Id cinerem aut Manis credis curare sepultos? Esto: aegram nulli quondam flexere mariti,
36non Libyae, non ante Tyro; despectus Iarbas ductoresque alii, quos Africa terra triumphis dives alit: placitone etiam pugnabis amori? Nec venit in mentem, quorum consederis arvis? Hinc Gaetulae urbes, genus insuperabile bello,
41et Numidae infreni cingunt et inhospita Syrtis; hinc deserta siti regio, lateque furentes Barcaei. Quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam, germanique minas? Dis equidem auspicibus reor et Iunone secunda
46hunc cursum Iliacas vento tenuisse carinas. Quam tu urbem, soror, hanc cernes, quae surgere regna coniugio tali! Teucrum comitantibus armis Punica se quantis attollet gloria rebus! Tu modo posce deos veniam, sacrisque litatis
51indulge hospitio, causasque innecte morandi, dum pelago desaevit hiemps et aquosus Orion, quassataeque rates, dum non tractabile caelum. His dictis incensum animum inflammavit amore, spemque dedit dubiae menti, solvitque pudorem.
56Principio delubra adeunt, pacemque per aras exquirunt; mactant lectas de more bidentis legiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo, Iunoni ante omnis, cui vincla iugalia curae. Ipsa, tenens dextra pateram, pulcherrima Dido
61candentis vaccae media inter cornua fundit, aut ante ora deum pinguis spatiatur ad aras, instauratque diem donis, pecudumque reclusis pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta. Heu vatum ignarae mentes! quid vota furentem,
66quid delubra iuvant? Est mollis flamma medullas interea, et tacitum vivit sub pectore volnus. Uritur infelix Dido, totaque vagatur urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerva sagitta, quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit
71pastor agens telis, liquitque volatile ferrum nescius; illa fuga silvas saltusque peragrat Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis arundo. Nunc media Aenean secum per moenia ducit, Sidoniasque ostentat opes urbemque paratam;
76incipit effari, mediaque in voce resistit; nunc eadem labente die convivia quaerit, Iliacosque iterum demens audire labores exposcit, pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore. Post, ubi digressi, lumenque obscura vicissim
81luna premit suadentque cadentia sidera somnos, sola domo maeret vacua, stratisque relictis incubat, illum absens absentem auditque videtque; aut gremio Ascanium, genitoris imagine capta, detinet, infandum si fallere possit amorem.
86Non coeptae adsurgunt turres, non arma iuventus exercet, portusve aut propugnacula bello tuta parant; pendent opera interrupta, minaeque murorum ingentes aequataque machina caelo. Quam simul ac tali persensit peste teneri
91cara Iovis coniunx, nec famam obstare furori, talibus adgreditur Venerem Saturnia dictis: Egregiam vero laudem et spolia ampla refertis tuque puerque tuus, magnum et memorabile numen, una dolo divom si femina victa duorum est!
96Nec me adeo fallit veritam te moenia nostra suspectas habuisse domos Karthaginis altae. Sed quis erit modus, aut quo nunc certamine tanto? Quin potius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos exercemus? Habes, tota quod mente petisti:
101ardet amans Dido, traxitque per ossa furorem. Communem hunc ergo populum paribusque regamus auspiciis; liceat Phrygio servire marito, dotalisque tuae Tyrios permittere dextrae. Olli—sensit enim simulata mente locutam,
106quo regnum Italiae Libycas averteret oras— sic contra est ingressa Venus: Quis talia demens abnuat, aut tecum malit contendere bello, si modo, quod memoras, factum fortuna sequatur. Sed fatis incerta feror, si Iuppiter unam
111esse velit Tyriis urbem Troiaque profectis, miscerive probet populos, aut foedera iungi. Tu coniunx tibi fas animum temptare precando. Perge; sequar. Tum sic excepit regia Iuno: Mecum erit iste labor: nunc qua ratione, quod instat
116confieri possit, paucis, adverte, docebo. Venatum Aeneas unaque miserrima Dido in nemus ire parant, ubi primos crastinus ortus extulerit Titan, radiisque retexerit orbem. His ego nigrantem commixta grandine nimbum,
121dum trepidant alae, saltusque indagine cingunt, desuper infundam, et tonitru caelum omne ciebo. Diffugient comites et nocte tegentur opaca: speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem devenient; adero, et, tua si mihi certa voluntas,
127hic hymenaeus erit.—Non adversata petenti adnuit, atque dolis risit Cytherea repertis. Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit. It portis iubare exorto delecta iuventus; retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro,
132Massylique ruunt equites et odora canum vis. Reginam thalamo cunctantem ad limina primi Poenorum exspectant, ostroque insignis et auro stat sonipes, ac frena ferox spumantia mandit. Tandem progreditur, magna stipante caterva,
137Sidoniam picto chlamydem circumdata limbo. Cui pharetra ex auro, crines nodantur in aurum, aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem. Nec non et Phrygii comites et laetus Iulus incedunt. Ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnis
142infert se socium Aeneas atque agmina iungit. Qualis ubi hibernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta deserit ac Delum maternam invisit Apollo, instauratque choros, mixtique altaria circum Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi;
147ipse iugis Cynthi graditur, mollique fluentem fronde premit crinem fingens atque implicat auro; tela sonant umeris: haud illo segnior ibat Aeneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore. Postquam altos ventum in montis atque invia lustra,
152ecce ferae, saxi deiectae vertice, caprae decurrere iugis; alia de parte patentis transmittunt cursu campos atque agmina cervi pulverulenta fuga glomerant montisque relinquunt. At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri
157gaudet equo, iamque hos cursu, iam praeterit illos, spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem. Interea magno misceri murmure caelum incipit; insequitur commixta grandine nimbus;
162et Tyrii comites passim et Troiana iuventus Dardaniusque nepos Veneris diversa per agros tecta metu petiere; ruunt de montibus amnes. Speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem deveniunt: prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno
167dant signum; fulsere ignes et conscius aether conubiis, summoque ulularunt vertice nymphae. Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum causa fuit; neque enim specie famave movetur, nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem:
172coniugium vocat; hoc praetexit nomine culpam. Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes— Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum; mobilitate viget, viresque adquirit eundo, parva metu primo, mox sese attollit in auras,
177ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit. Illam Terra parens, ira inritata deorum, extremam (ut perhibent) Coeo Enceladoque sororem progenuit, pedibus celerem et pernicibus alis, monstrum horrendum, ingens, cui, quot sunt corpore plumae
182tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu, tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures. Nocte volat caeli medio terraeque per umbram, stridens, nec dulci declinat lumina somno; luce sedet custos aut summi culmine tecti,
187turribus aut altis, et magnas territat urbes; tam ficti pravique tenax, quam nuntia veri. Haec tum multiplici populos sermone replebat gaudens, et pariter facta atque infecta canebat: venisse Aenean, Troiano sanguine cretum,
192cui se pulchra viro dignetur iungere Dido; nunc hiemem inter se luxu, quam longa, fovere regnorum immemores turpique cupidine captos. Haec passim dea foeda virum diffundit in ora. Protinus ad regem cursus detorquet Iarban,
197incenditque animum dictis atque aggerat iras. Hic Hammone satus, rapta Garamantide Nympha, templa Iovi centum latis immania regnis, centum aras posuit, vigilemque sacraverat ignem, excubias divom aeternas, pecudumque cruore
202pingue solum et variis florentia limina sertis. Isque amens animi et rumore accensus amaro dicitur ante aras media inter numina divom multa Iovem manibus supplex orasse supinis: Iuppiter omnipotens, cui nunc Maurusia pictis
207gens epulata toris Lenaeum libat honorem, aspicis haec, an te, genitor, cum fulmina torques, nequiquam horremus, caecique in nubibus ignes terrificant animos et inania murmura miscent? Femina, quae nostris errans in finibus urbem
212exiguam pretio posuit, cui litus arandum cuique loci leges dedimus, conubia nostra reppulit, ac dominum Aenean in regna recepit. Et nunc ille Paris cum semiviro comitatu, Maeonia mentum mitra crinemque madentem
217subnexus, rapto potitur: nos munera templis quippe tuis ferimus, famamque fovemus inanem. Talibus orantem dictis arasque tenentem audiit omnipotens, oculosque ad moenia torsit regia et oblitos famae melioris amantes.
222Tum sic Mercurium adloquitur ac talia mandat: Vade age, nate, voca Zephyros et labere pennis, Dardaniumque ducem, Tyria Karthagine qui nunc exspectat, fatisque datas non respicit urbes, adloquere, et celeris defer mea dicta per auras.
227Non illum nobis genetrix pulcherrima talem promisit, Graiumque ideo bis vindicat armis; sed fore, qui gravidam imperiis belloque frementem Italiam regeret, genus alto a sanguine Teucri proderet, ac totum sub leges mitteret orbem.
232Si nulla accendit tantarum gloria rerum, nec super ipse sua molitur laude laborem, Ascanione pater Romanas invidet arces? Quid struit, aut qua spe inimica in gente moratur, nec prolem Ausoniam et Lavinia respicit arva?
237Naviget: haec summa est; hic nostri nuntius esto. Dixerat. Ille patris magni parere parabat imperio; et primum pedibus talaria nectit aurea, quae sublimem alis sive aequora supra seu terram rapido pariter cum flamine portant;
242tum virgam capit: hac animas ille evocat Orco pallentis, alias sub Tartara tristia mittit, dat somnos adimitque, et lumina morte resignat. Illa fretus agit ventos, et turbida tranat nubila; iamque volans apicem et latera ardua cernit
247Atlantis duri, caelum qui vertice fulcit, Atlantis, cinctum adsidue cui nubibus atris piniferum caput et vento pulsatur et imbri; nix umeros infusa tegit; tum flumina mento praecipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida barba.
252Hic primum paribus nitens Cyllenius alis constitit; hinc toto praeceps se corpore ad undas misit, avi similis, quae circum litora, circum piscosos scopulos humilis volat aequora iuxta. Haud aliter terras inter caelumque volabat,
257litus harenosum Libyae ventosque secabat materno veniens ab avo Cyllenia proles. Ut primum alatis tetigit magalia plantis, Aenean fundantem arces ac tecta novantem conspicit; atque illi stellatus iaspide fulva
262ensis erat, Tyrioque ardebat murice laena demissa ex umeris, dives quae munera Dido fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro. Continuo invadit: Tu nunc Karthaginis altae fundamenta locas, pulchramque uxorius urbem
267exstruis, heu regni rerumque oblite tuarum? Ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo regnator, caelum ac terras qui numine torquet; ipse haec ferre iubet celeris mandata per auras: quid struis, aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris?
272Si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum, Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli respice, cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus debentur. Tali Cyllenius ore locutus mortalis visus medio sermone reliquit,
278et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. At vero Aeneas aspectu obmutuit amens, arrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit. Ardet abire fuga dulcisque relinquere terras, attonitus tanto monitu imperioque deorum.
283Heu quid agat? Quo nunc reginam ambire furentem audeat adfatu? Quae prima exordia sumat? Atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc, in partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat. Haec alternanti potior sententia visa est:
288Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum, classem aptent taciti sociosque ad litora cogant, arma parent, et quae rebus sit causa novandis dissimulent; sese interea, quando optuma Dido nesciat et tantos rumpi non speret amores,
293temptaturum aditus, et quae mollissima fandi tempora, quis rebus dexter modus. Ocius omnes imperio laeti parent ac iussa facessunt. At regina dolos—quis fallere possit amantem? praesensit, motusque excepit prima futuros,
298omnia tuta timens. Eadem impia Fama furenti detulit armari classem cursumque parari. Saevit inops animi, totamque incensa per urbem bacchatur, qualis commotis excita sacris Thyias, ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho
303orgia, nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithaeron. Tandem his Aenean compellat vocibus ultro: Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum posse nefas, tacitusque mea decedere terra? Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,
308nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido? Quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem, et mediis properas aquilonibus ire per altum, crudelis? Quid, si non arva aliena domosque ignotas peteres, sed Troia antiqua maneret,
313Troia per undosum peteretur classibus aequor Mene fugis? Per ego has lacrimas dextramque tuam te (quando aliud mihi iam miserae nihil ipsa reliqui) per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos, si bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quicquam
318dulce meum, miserere domus labentis, et istam— oro, si quis adhuc precibus locus—exue mentem. Te propter Libycae gentes Nomadumque tyranni odere, infensi Tyrii; te propter eundem exstinctus pudor, et, qua sola sidera adibam,
323fama prior. Cui me moribundam deseris, hospes? Hoc solum nomen quoniam de coniuge restat. Quid moror? An mea Pygmalion dum moenia frater destruat, aut captam ducat Gaetulus Iarbas? Saltem si qua mihi de te suscepta fuisset
328ante fugam suboles, si quis mihi parvulus aula luderet Aeneas, qui te tamen ore referret, non equidem omnino capta ac deserta viderer. Dixerat. Ille Iovis monitis immota tenebat lumina, et obnixus curam sub corde premebat.
333Tandem pauca refert: Ego te, quae plurima fando enumerare vales, numquam, regina, negabo promeritam; nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae, dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus. Pro re pauca loquar. Neque ego hanc abscondere furto
338speravi—ne finge—fugam, nec coniugis umquam praetendi taedas, aut haec in foedera veni. Me si fata meis paterentur ducere vitam auspiciis et sponte mea componere curas, urbem Troianam primum dulcisque meorum
343reliquias colerem, Priami tecta alta manerent, et recidiva manu posuissem Pergama victis. Sed nunc Italiam magnam Gryneus Apollo, Italiam Lyciae iussere capessere sortes: hic amor, haec patria est. Si te Karthaginis arces,
348Phoenissam, Libycaeque aspectus detinet urbis, quae tandem, Ausonia Teucros considere terra, invidia est? Et nos fas extera quaerere regna. Me patris Anchisae, quotiens umentibus umbris nox operit terras, quotiens astra ignea surgunt,
353admonet in somnis et turbida terret imago; me puer Ascanius capitisque iniuria cari, quem regno Hesperiae fraudo et fatalibus arvis. Nunc etiam interpres divom, Iove missus ab ipso— testor utrumque caput—celeris mandata per auras
358detulit; ipse deum manifesto in lumine vidi intrantem muros, vocemque his auribus hausi. Desine meque tuis incendere teque querelis: Italiam non sponte sequor. Talia dicentem iamdudum aversa tuetur,
363huc illuc volvens oculos, totumque pererrat luminibus tacitis, et sic accensa profatur: Nec tibi diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor, perfide; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.
368Nam quid dissimulo, aut quae me ad maiora reservo? Num fletu ingemuit nostro? Num lumina flexit? Num lacrimas victus dedit, aut miseratus amantem est? Quae quibus anteferam? Iam iam nec maxuma Iuno, nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis.
373Nusquam tuta fides. Eiectum litore, egentem excepi, et regni demens in parte locavi; amissam classem, socios a morte reduxi. Heu furiis incensa feror! Nunc augur Apollo, nunc Lyciae sortes, nunc et Iove missus ab ipso
378interpres divom fert horrida iussa per auras. Scilicet is Superis labor est, ea cura quietos sollicitat. Neque te teneo, neque dicta refello. I, sequere Italiam ventis, pete regna per undas. Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt,
383supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido saepe vocaturum. Sequar atris ignibus absens, et, cum frigida mors anima seduxerit artus, omnibus umbra locis adero. Dabis, improbe, poenas. Audiam et haec Manis veniet mihi fama sub imos.
388His medium dictis sermonem abrumpit, et auras aegra fugit, seque ex oculis avertit et aufert, linquens multa metu cunctantem et multa parantem dicere. Suscipiunt famulae, conlapsaque membra marmoreo referunt thalamo stratisque reponunt.
393At pius Aeneas, quamquam lenire dolentem solando cupit et dictis avertere curas, multa gemens magnoque animum labefactus amore, iussa tamen divom exsequitur, classemque revisit. Tum vero Teucri incumbunt, et litore celsas
398deducunt toto naves: natat uncta carina; frondentisque ferunt remos et robora silvis infabricata, fugae studio. Migrantis cernas, totaque ex urbe ruentis. Ac velut ingentem formicae farris acervum
403cum populant, hiemis memores, tectoque reponunt; it nigrum campis agmen, praedamque per herbas convectant calle angusto; pars grandia trudunt obnixae frumenta umeris; pars agmina cogunt castigantque moras; opere omnis semita fervet.
408Quis tibi tum, Dido, cernenti talia sensus? quosve dabas gemitus, cum litora fervere late prospiceres arce ex summa, totumque videres misceri ante oculos tantis clamoribus aequor? Improbe Amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis?
413Ire iterum in lacrimas, iterum temptare precando cogitur, et supplex animos submittere amori, ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat. Anna, vides toto properari litore; circum undique convenere; vocat iam carbasus auras,
418puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas. Hunc ego si potui tantum sperare dolorem, et perferre, soror, potero. Miserae hoc tamen unum exsequere, Anna, mihi. Solam nam perfidus ille te colere, arcanos etiam tibi credere sensus;
423sola viri mollis aditus et tempora noras. I, soror, atque hostem supplex adfare superbum: non ego cum Danais Troianam exscindere gentem Aulide iuravi, classemve ad Pergama misi, nec patris Anchisae cineres Manisve revelli,
428cur mea dicta neget duras demittere in auris. Quo ruit? Extremum hoc miserae det munus amanti: exspectet facilemque fugam ventosque ferentis. Non iam coniugium antiquum, quod prodidit, oro, nec pulchro ut Latio careat regnumque relinquat:
433tempus inane peto, requiem spatiumque furori, dum mea me victam doceat fortuna dolere. Extremam hanc oro veniam—miserere sororis— quam mihi cum dederit, cumulatam morte remittam. Talibus orabat, talisque miserrima fletus
438fertque refertque soror: sed nullis ille movetur fletibus, aut voces ullas tractabilis audit; fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit auris. Ac, velut annoso validam cum robore quercum Alpini Boreae nunc hinc nunc flatibus illinc
443eruere inter se certant; it stridor, et altae consternunt terram concusso stipite frondes; ipsa haeret scopulis, et, quantum vertice ad auras aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit: haud secus adsiduis hinc atque hinc vocibus heros
448tunditur, et magno persentit pectore curas; mens immota manet; lacrimae volvuntur inanes. Tum vero infelix fatis exterrita Dido mortem orat; taedet caeli convexa tueri. Quo magis inceptum peragat lucemque relinquat,
453vidit, turicremis cum dona imponeret aris, horrendum dictu, latices nigrescere sacros, fusaque in obscenum se vertere vina cruorem. Hoc visum nulli, non ipsi effata sorori. Praeterea fuit in tectis de marmore templum
458coniugis antiqui, miro quod honore colebat, velleribus niveis et festa fronde revinctum: hinc exaudiri voces et verba vocantis visa viri, nox cum terras obscura teneret; solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo
463saepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces; multaque praeterea vatum praedicta priorum terribili monitu horrificant. Agit ipse furentem in somnis ferus Aeneas; semperque relinqui sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur
468ire viam, et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra. Eumenidum veluti demens videt agmina Pentheus, et solem geminum et duplicis se ostendere Thebas; aut Agamemnonius scaenis agitatus Orestes armatam facibus matrem et serpentibus atris
473cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limine Dirae. Ergo ubi concepit furias evicta dolore decrevitque mori, tempus secum ipsa modumque exigit, et, maestam dictis adgressa sororem, consilium voltu tegit, ac spem fronte serenat:
478Inveni, germana, viam—gratare sorori— quae mihi reddat eum, vel eo me solvat amantem. Oceani finem iuxta solemque cadentem ultimus Aethiopum locus est, ubi maxumus Atlas axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum:
483hinc mihi Massylae gentis monstrata sacerdos, Hesperidum templi custos, epulasque draconi quae dabat, et sacros servabat in arbore ramos, spargens umida mella soporiferumque papaver. Haec se carminibus promittit solvere mentes
488quas velit, ast aliis duras immittere curas, sistere aquam fluviis, et vertere sidera retro; nocturnosque movet Manis: mugire videbis sub pedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos. Testor, cara, deos et te, germana, tuumque
493dulce caput, magicas invitam accingier artes. Tu secreta pyram tecto interiore sub auras erige, et arma viri, thalamo quae fixa reliquit impius, exuviasque omnis, lectumque iugalem, quo perii, superimponas: abolere nefandi
498cuncta viri monumenta iuvat, monstratque sacerdos. Haec effata silet; pallor simul occupat ora. Non tamen Anna novis praetexere funera sacris germanam credit, nec tantos mente furores concipit, aut graviora timet, quam morte Sychaei:
503ergo iussa parat. At regina, pyra penetrali in sede sub auras erecta ingenti taedis atque ilice secta, intenditque locum sertis, et fronde coronat funerea; super exuvias ensemque relictum
508effigiemque toro locat, haud ignara futuri. Stant arae circum, et crines effusa sacerdos ter centum tonat ore deos, Erebumque Chaosque, tergeminamque Hecaten, tria virginis ora Dianae. Sparserat et latices simulatos fontis Averni,
513falcibus et messae ad lunam quaeruntur aënis pubentes herbae nigri cum lacte veneni; quaeritur et nascentis equi de fronte revolsus et matri praereptus amor. Ipsa mola manibusque piis altaria iuxta,
518unum exuta pedem vinclis, in veste recincta, testatur moritura deos et conscia fati sidera; tum, si quod non aequo foedere amantes curae numen habet iustumque memorque, precatur. Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem
523corpora per terras, silvaeque et saeva quierant aequora: cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu, cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes pictaeque volucres, quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti
528. At non infelix animi Phoenissa, nec umquam Solvitur in somnos, oculisve aut pectore noctem accipit: ingeminant curae, rursusque resurgens saevit amor, magnoque irarum fluctuat aestu.
533Sic adeo insistit, secumque ita corde volutat: En, quid ago? Rursusne procos inrisa priores experiar, Nomadumque petam conubia supplex, quos ego sim totiens iam dedignata maritos? Iliacas igitur classes atque ultima Teucrum
538iussa sequar? Quiane auxilio iuvat ante levatos, et bene apud memores veteris stat gratia facti? Quis me autem, fac velle, sinet, ratibusve superbis invisam accipiet? Nescis heu, perdita, necdum Laomedonteae sentis periuria gentis?
543Quid tum, sola fuga nautas comitabor ovantes, an Tyriis omnique manu stipata meorum inferar, et, quos Sidonia vix urbe revelli, rursus agam pelago, et ventis dare vela iubebo? Quin morere, ut merita es, ferroque averte dolorem.
548Tu lacrimis evicta meis, tu prima furentem his, germana, malis oneras atque obicis hosti. Non licuit thalami expertem sine crimine vitam degere, more ferae, tales nec tangere curas! Non servata fides cineri promissa Sychaeo!
553Tantos illa suo rumpebat pectore questus. Aeneas celsa in puppi, iam certus eundi, carpebat somnos, rebus iam rite paratis. Huic se forma dei voltu redeuntis eodem obtulit in somnis, rursusque ita visa monere est—
558omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventa: Nate dea, potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos, nec, quae te circum stent deinde pericula, cernis, demens, nec Zephyros audis spirare secundos?
563Illa dolos dirumque nefas in pectore versat, certa mori, varioque irarum fluctuat aestu. Non fugis hinc praeceps, dum praecipitare potestas? Iam mare turbari trabibus, saevasque videbis conlucere faces, iam fervere litora flammis,
568si te his attigerit terris Aurora morantem. Heia age, rumpe moras. Varium et mutabile semper femina. Sic fatus, nocti se immiscuit atrae. Tum vero Aeneas, subitis exterritus umbris, corripit e somno corpus, sociosque fatigat:
573Praecipites vigilate, viri, et considite transtris; solvite vela citi. Deus aethere missus ab alto festinare fugam tortosque incidere funes ecce iterum stimulat. Sequimur te, sancte deorum, quisquis es, imperioque iterum paremus ovantes.
578Adsis o placidusque iuves, et sidera caelo dextra feras. Dixit, vaginaque eripit ensem fulmineum, strictoque ferit retinacula ferro. Idem omnes simul ardor habet, rapiuntque ruuntque; litora deseruere; latet sub classibus aequor;
583adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt. Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile. Regina e speculis ut primum albescere lucem vidit, et aequatis classem procedere velis,
588litoraque et vacuos sensit sine remige portus, terque quaterque manu pectus percussa decorum, flaventesque abscissa comas, Pro Iuppiter, ibit hic ait et nostris inluserit advena regnis? Non arma expedient, totaque ex urbe sequentur,
593deripientque rates alii navalibus? Ite, ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos!— Quid loquor, aut ubi sum? Quae mentem insania mutat? Infelix Dido, nunc te facta impia tangunt. Tum decuit, cum sceptra dabas.—En dextra fidesque,
598quem secum patrios aiunt portare Penates, quem subiisse umeris confectum aetate parentem! Non potui abreptum divellere corpus, et undis spargere? Non socios, non ipsum absumere ferro Ascanium, patriisque epulandum ponere mensis?—
603Verum anceps pugnae fuerat fortuna:—fuisset. Quem metui moritura? Faces in castra tulissem, implessemque foros flammis, natumque patremque cum genere extinxem, memet super ipsa dedissem. Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras,
608tuque harum interpres curarum et conscia Iuno, nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes, et Dirae ultrices, et di morientis Elissae, accipite haec, meritumque malis advertite numen, et nostras audite preces. Si tangere portus
613infandum caput ac terris adnare necesse est, et sic fata Iovis poscunt, hic terminus haeret: at bello audacis populi vexatus et armis, finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Iuli, auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum
618funera; nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquae tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur, sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus harena. Haec precor, hanc vocem extremam cum sanguine fundo. Tum vos, o Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futurum
623exercete odiis, cinerique haec mittite nostro munera. Nullus amor populis, nec foedera sunto. Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor, qui face Dardanios ferroque sequare colonos, nunc, olim, quocumque dabunt se tempore vires.
628Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas imprecor, arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotesque. Haec ait, et partis animum versabat in omnis, invisam quaerens quam primum abrumpere lucem. Tum breviter Barcen nutricem adfata Sychaei;
633namque suam patria antiqua cinis ater habebat: Annam cara mihi nutrix huc siste sororem; dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lympha, et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat: sic veniat; tuque ipsa pia tege tempora vitta.
638Sacra Iovi Stygio, quae rite incepta paravi, perficere est animus, finemque imponere curis, Dardaniique rogum capitis permittere flammae. Sic ait: illa gradum studio celerabat anili. At trepida, et coeptis immanibus effera Dido,
643sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementis interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura, interiora domus inrumpit limina, et altos conscendit furibunda rogos, ensemque recludit Dardanium, non hos quaesitum munus in usus.
648Hic, postquam Iliacas vestes notumque cubile conspexit, paulum lacrimis et mente morata, incubuitque toro, dixitque novissima verba: Dulces exuviae, dum fata deusque sinebant, accipite hanc animam, meque his exsolvite curis.
653Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi, et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit imago. Urbem praeclaram statui; mea moenia vidi; ulta virum, poenas inimico a fratre recepi; felix, heu nimium felix, si litora tantum
658numquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae! Dixit, et, os impressa toro, Moriemur inultae, sed moriamur ait. Sic, sic iuvat ire sub umbras: Hauriat hunc oculis ignem crudelis ab alto Dardanus, et nostrae secum ferat omina mortis.
663Dixerat; atque illam media inter talia ferro conlapsam aspiciunt comites, ensemque cruore spumantem, sparsasque manus. It clamor ad alta atria; concussam bacchatur Fama per urbem. Lamentis gemituque et femineo ululatu
668tecta fremunt; resonat magnis plangoribus aether, non aliter, quam si immissis ruat hostibus omnis Karthago aut antiqua Tyros, flammaeque furentes culmina perque hominum volvantur perque deorum. Audiit exanimis, trepidoque exterrita cursu
673unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis per medios ruit, ac morientem nomine clamat: Hoc illud, germana, fuit? Me fraude petebas? Hoc rogus iste mihi, hoc ignes araeque parabant? Quid primum deserta querar? Comitemne sororem
678sprevisti moriens? Eadem me ad fata vocasses: idem ambas ferro dolor, atque eadem hora tulisset. His etiam struxi manibus, patriosque vocavi voce deos, sic te ut posita crudelis abessem? Exstinxti te meque, soror, populumque patresque
683Sidonios urbemque tuam. Date volnera lymphis abluam, et, extremus si quis super halitus errat, ore legam. Sic fata, gradus evaserat altos, semianimemque sinu germanam amplexa fovebat cum gemitu, atque atros siccabat veste cruores.
688Illa, graves oculos conata attollere, rursus deficit; infixum stridit sub pectore vulnus. Ter sese attollens cubitoque adnixa levavit; ter revoluta toro est, oculisque errantibus alto quaesivit caelo lucem, ingemuitque reperta.
693Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem difficilisque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo, quae luctantem animam nexosque resolveret artus. Nam quia nec fato, merita nec morte peribat, sed misera ante diem, subitoque accensa furore,
698nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco. Ergo Iris croceis per caelum roscida pennis, mille trahens varios adverso sole colores, devolat, et supra caput adstitit: Hunc ego Diti
703sacrum iussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo. Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat: omnis et una dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit.
Book 4
1Now felt the Queen the sharp, slow-gathering pangs of love; and out of every pulsing vein nourished the wound and fed its viewless fire. Her hero's virtues and his lordly line keep calling to her soul; his words, his glance,
6cling to her heart like lingering, barbed steel, and rest and peace from her vexed body fly. A new day's dawn with Phoebus' lamp divine lit up all lands, and from the vaulted heaven Aurora had dispelled the dark and dew;
11when thus unto the ever-answering heart of her dear sister spoke the stricken Queen: “Anna, my sister, what disturbing dreams perplex me and alarm? What guest is this new-welcomed to our house? How proud his mien!
16What dauntless courage and exploits of war! Sooth, I receive it for no idle tale that of the gods he sprang. 'T is cowardice betrays the base-born soul. Ah me! How fate has smitten him with storms! What dire extremes
21of war and horror in his tale he told! O, were it not immutably resolved in my fixed heart, that to no shape of man I would be wed again (since my first love left me by death abandoned and betrayed);
26loathed I not so the marriage torch and train, I could—who knows?—to this one weakness yield. Anna, I hide it not! But since the doom of my ill-starred Sichaeus, when our shrines were by a brother's murder dabbled o'er,
31this man alone has moved me; he alone has shaken my weak will. I seem to feel the motions of love's lost, familiar fire. But may the earth gape open where I tread, and may almighty Jove with thunder-scourge
36hurl me to Erebus' abysmal shade, to pallid ghosts and midnight fathomless, before, O Chastity! I shall offend thy holy power, or cast thy bonds away! He who first mingled his dear life with mine
41took with him all my heart. 'T is his alone — o, let it rest beside him in the grave!” She spoke: the bursting tears her breast o'erflowed. “O dearer to thy sister than her life,” Anna replied, “wouldst thou in sorrow's weed
46waste thy long youth alone, nor ever know sweet babes at thine own breast, nor gifts of love? Will dust and ashes, or a buried ghost reck what we do? 'T is true thy grieving heart was cold to earlier wooers, Libya's now,
51and long ago in Tyre. Iarbas knew thy scorn, and many a prince and captain bred in Afric's land of glory. Why resist a love that makes thee glad? Hast thou no care what alien lands are these where thou dost reign?
56Here are Gaetulia's cities and her tribes unconquered ever; on thy borders rove Numidia's uncurbed cavalry; here too lies Syrtis' cruel shore, and regions wide of thirsty desert, menaced everywhere
61by the wild hordes of Barca. Shall I tell of Tyre's hostilities, the threats and rage of our own brother? Friendly gods, I bow, wafted the Teucrian ships, with Juno's aid, to these our shores. O sister, what a throne,
66and what imperial city shall be thine, if thus espoused! With Trojan arms allied how far may not our Punic fame extend in deeds of power? Call therefore on the gods to favor thee; and, after omens fair,
71give queenly welcome, and contrive excuse to make him tarry, while yon wintry seas are loud beneath Orion's stormful star, and on his battered ships the season frowns.” So saying, she stirred a passion-burning breast
76to Iove more madly still; her words infused a doubting mind with hope, and bade the blush of shame begone. First to the shrines they went and sued for grace; performing sacrifice, choosing an offering of unblemished ewes,
81to law-bestowing Ceres, to the god of light, to sire Lyeus, Iord of wine; but chiefly unto Juno, patroness of nuptial vows. There Dido, beauteous Queen held forth in her right hand the sacred bowl
86and poured it full between the lifted horns of the white heifer; or on temple floors she strode among the richly laden shrines, the eyes of gods upon her, worshipping with many a votive gift; or, peering deep
91into the victims' cloven sides, she read the fate-revealing tokens trembling there. How blind the hearts of prophets be! Alas! Of what avail be temples and fond prayers to change a frenzied mind? Devouring ever,
96love's fire burns inward to her bones; she feels quick in her breast the viewless, voiceless wound. Ill-fated Dido ranges up and down the spaces of her city, desperate her life one flame—like arrow-stricken doe
101through Cretan forest rashly wandering, pierced by a far-off shepherd, who pursues with shafts, and leaves behind his light-winged steed, not knowing; while she scours the dark ravines of Dicte and its woodlands; at her heart
106the mortal barb irrevocably clings. around her city's battlements she guides aeneas, to make show of Sidon's gold, and what her realm can boast; full oft her voice essays to speak and frembling dies away:
111or, when the daylight fades, she spreads anew a royal banquet, and once more will plead mad that she is, to hear the Trojan sorrow; and with oblivious ravishment once more hangs on his lips who tells; or when her guests
116are scattered, and the wan moon's fading horn bedims its ray, while many a sinking star invites to slumber, there she weeps alone in the deserted hall, and casts her down on the cold couch he pressed. Her love from far
121beholds her vanished hero and receives his voice upon her ears; or to her breast, moved by a father's image in his child, she clasps Ascanius, seeking to deceive her unblest passion so. Her enterprise
126of tower and rampart stops: her martial host no Ionger she reviews, nor fashions now defensive haven and defiant wall; but idly all her half-built bastions frown, and enginery of sieges, high as heaven.
131But soon the chosen spouse of Jove perceived the Queen's infection; and because the voice of honor to such frenzy spoke not, she, daughter of Saturn, unto Venus turned and counselled thus: “How noble is the praise,
136how glorious the spoils of victory, for thee and for thy boy! Your names should be in lasting, vast renown—that by the snare of two great gods in league one woman fell! it 'scapes me not that my protected realms
141have ever been thy fear, and the proud halls of Carthage thy vexation and annoy. Why further go? Prithee, what useful end has our long war? Why not from this day forth perpetual peace and nuptial amity?
146Hast thou not worked thy will? Behold and see how Iove-sick Dido burns, and all her flesh 'The madness feels! So let our common grace smile on a mingled people! Let her serve a Phrygian husband, while thy hands receive
151her Tyrian subjects for the bridal dower!” In answer (reading the dissembler's mind which unto Libyan shores were fain to shift italia's future throne) thus Venus spoke: “'T were mad to spurn such favor, or by choice
156be numbered with thy foes. But can it be that fortune on thy noble counsel smiles? To me Fate shows but dimly whether Jove unto the Trojan wanderers ordains a common city with the sons of Tyre,
161with mingling blood and sworn, perpetual peace. His wife thou art; it is thy rightful due to plead to know his mind. Go, ask him, then! For humbly I obey!” With instant word Juno the Queen replied: “Leave that to me!
166But in what wise our urgent task and grave may soon be sped, I will in brief unfold to thine attending ear. A royal hunt in sylvan shades unhappy Dido gives for her Aeneas, when to-morrow's dawn
171uplifts its earliest ray and Titan's beam shall first unveil the world. But I will pour black storm-clouds with a burst of heavy hail along their way; and as the huntsmen speed to hem the wood with snares, I will arouse
176all heaven with thunder. The attending train shall scatter and be veiled in blinding dark, while Dido and her hero out of Troy to the same cavern fly. My auspices I will declare—if thou alike wilt bless;
181and yield her in true wedlock for his bride. Such shall their spousal be!” To Juno's will Cythera's Queen inclined assenting brow, and laughed such guile to see. Aurora rose, and left the ocean's rim. The city's gates
186pour forth to greet the morn a gallant train of huntsmen, bearing many a woven snare and steel-tipped javelin; while to and fro run the keen-scented dogs and Libyan squires. The Queen still keeps her chamber; at her doors
191the Punic lords await; her palfrey, brave in gold and purple housing, paws the ground and fiercely champs the foam-flecked bridle-rein. At last, with numerous escort, forth she shines: her Tyrian pall is bordered in bright hues,
196her quiver, gold; her tresses are confined only with gold; her robes of purple rare meet in a golden clasp. To greet her come the noble Phrygian guests; among them smiles the boy Iulus; and in fair array
201Aeneas, goodliest of all his train. In such a guise Apollo (when he leaves cold Lycian hills and Xanthus' frosty stream to visit Delos to Latona dear) ordains the song, while round his altars cry
206the choirs of many islands, with the pied, fantastic Agathyrsi; soon the god moves o'er the Cynthian steep; his flowing hair he binds with laurel garland and bright gold; upon his shining shoulder as he goes
211the arrows ring:—not less uplifted mien aeneas wore; from his illustrious brow such beauty shone. Soon to the mountains tall the cavalcade comes nigh, to pathless haunts of woodland creatures; the wild goats are seen,
216from pointed crag descending leap by leap down the steep ridges; in the vales below are routed deer, that scour the spreading plain, and mass their dust-blown squadrons in wild flight, far from the mountain's bound. Ascanius
221flushed with the sport, spurs on a mettled steed from vale to vale, and many a flying herd his chase outspeeds; but in his heart he prays among these tame things suddenly to see a tusky boar, or, leaping from the hills,
226a growling mountain-lion, golden-maned. Meanwhile low thunders in the distant sky mutter confusedly; soon bursts in full the storm-cloud and the hail. The Tyrian troop is scattered wide; the chivalry of Troy,
231with the young heir of Dardan's kingly line, of Venus sprung, seek shelter where they may, with sudden terror; down the deep ravines the swollen torrents roar. In that same hour Queen Dido and her hero out of Troy
236to the same cavern fly. Old Mother-Earth and wedlock-keeping Juno gave the sign; the flash of lightnings on the conscious air were torches to the bridal; from the hills the wailing wood-nymphs sobbed a wedding song.
241Such was that day of death, the source and spring of many a woe. For Dido took no heed of honor and good-name; nor did she mean her loves to hide; but called the lawlessness a marriage, and with phrases veiled her shame.
246Swift through the Libyan cities Rumor sped. Rumor! What evil can surpass her speed? In movement she grows mighty, and achieves strength and dominion as she swifter flies. small first, because afraid, she soon exalts
251her stature skyward, stalking through the lands and mantling in the clouds her baleful brow. The womb of Earth, in anger at high Heaven, bore her, they say, last of the Titan spawn, sister to Coeus and Enceladus.
256Feet swift to run and pinions like the wind the dreadful monster wears; her carcase huge is feathered, and at root of every plume a peering eye abides; and, strange to tell, an equal number of vociferous tongues,
261foul, whispering lips, and ears, that catch at all. At night she spreads midway 'twixt earth and heaven her pinions in the darkness, hissing loud, nor e'er to happy slumber gives her eyes: but with the morn she takes her watchful throne
266high on the housetops or on lofty towers, to terrify the nations. She can cling to vile invention and malignant wrong, or mingle with her word some tidings true. She now with changeful story filled men's ears,
271exultant, whether false or true she sung: how, Trojan-born Aeneas having come, Dido, the lovely widow, Iooked his way, deigning to wed; how all the winter long they passed in revel and voluptuous ease,
276to dalliance given o'er; naught heeding now of crown or kingdom—shameless! lust-enslaved! Such tidings broadcast on the lips of men the filthy goddess spread; and soon she hied to King Iarbas, where her hateful song
281to newly-swollen wrath his heart inflamed. Him the god Ammon got by forced embrace upon a Libyan nymph; his kingdoms wide possessed a hundred ample shrines to Jove, a hundred altars whence ascended ever
286the fires of sacrifice, perpetual seats for a great god's abode, where flowing blood enriched the ground, and on the portals hung garlands of every flower. The angered King, half-maddened by malignant Rumor's voice,
291unto his favored altars came, and there, surrounded by the effluence divine, upraised in prayer to Jove his suppliant hands. “Almighty Jupiter, to whom each day, at banquet on the painted couch reclined,
296Numidia pours libation! Do thine eyes behold us? Or when out of yonder heaven, o sire, thou launchest the swift thunderbolt, is it for naught we fear thee? Do the clouds shoot forth blind fire to terrify the soul
301with wild, unmeaning roar? O, Iook upon that woman, who was homeless in our realm, and bargained where to build her paltry town, receiving fertile coastland for her farms, by hospitable grant! She dares disdain
306our proffered nuptial vow. She has proclaimed Aeneas partner of her bed and throne. And now that Paris, with his eunuch crew, beneath his chin and fragrant, oozy hair ties the soft Lydian bonnet, boasting well
311his stolen prize. But we to all these fanes, though they be thine, a fruitless offering bring, and feed on empty tales our trust in thee.” As thus he prayed and to the altars clung, th' Omnipotent gave ear, and turned his gaze
316upon the royal dwelling, where for love the amorous pair forgot their place and name. Then thus to Mercury he gave command: “Haste thee, my son, upon the Zephyrs call, and take thy winged way! My mandate bear
321unto that prince of Troy who tarries now in Tyrian Carthage, heedless utterly of empire Heaven-bestowed. On winged winds hasten with my decrees. Not such the man his beauteous mother promised; not for this
326twice did she shield him from the Greeks in arms: but that he might rule Italy, a land pregnant with thrones and echoing with war; that he of Teucer's seed a race should sire, and bring beneath its law the whole wide world.
331If such a glory and event supreme enkindle not his bosom; if such task to his own honor speak not; can the sire begrudge Ascanius the heritage of the proud name of Rome? What plans he now?
336What mad hope bids him linger in the lap of enemies, considering no more the land Lavinian and Ausonia's sons. Let him to sea! Be this our final word: this message let our herald faithful bear.”
341He spoke. The god a prompt obedience gave to his great sire's command. He fastened first those sandals of bright gold, which carry him aloft o'er land or sea, with airy wings that race the fleeting wind; then lifted he
346his wand, wherewith he summons from the grave pale-featured ghosts, or, if he will, consigns to doleful Tartarus; or by its power gives slumber or dispels; or quite unseals the eyelids of the dead: on this relying,
351he routs the winds or cleaves th' obscurity of stormful clouds. Soon from his flight he spied the summit and the sides precipitous of stubborn Atlas, whose star-pointing peak props heaven; of Atlas, whose pine-wreathed brow
356is girdled evermore with misty gloom and lashed of wind and rain; a cloak of snow melts on his shoulder; from his aged chin drop rivers, and ensheathed in stiffening ice glitters his great grim beard. Here first was stayed
361the speed of Mercury's well-poising wing; here making pause, from hence he headlong flung his body to the sea; in motion like some sea-bird's, which along the levelled shore or round tall crags where rove the swarming fish,
366flies Iow along the waves: o'er-hovering so between the earth and skies, Cyllene's god flew downward from his mother's mountain-sire, parted the winds and skimmed the sandy merge of Libya. When first his winged feet
371came nigh the clay-built Punic huts, he saw Aeneas building at a citadel, and founding walls and towers; at his side was girt a blade with yellow jaspers starred, his mantle with the stain of Tyrian shell
376flowed purple from his shoulder, broidered fair by opulent Dido with fine threads of gold, her gift of love; straightway the god began: “Dost thou for lofty Carthage toil, to build foundations strong? Dost thou, a wife's weak thrall,
381build her proud city? Hast thou, shameful loss! Forgot thy kingdom and thy task sublime? From bright Olympus, I. He who commands all gods, and by his sovran deity moves earth and heaven—he it was who bade
386me bear on winged winds his high decree. What plan is thine? By what mad hope dost thou linger so Iong in lap of Libyan land? If the proud reward of thy destined way move not thy heart, if all the arduous toil
391to thine own honor speak not, Iook upon Iulus in his bloom, thy hope and heir Ascanius. It is his rightful due in Italy o'er Roman lands to reign.” After such word Cyllene's winged god
396vanished, and e'er his accents died away, dissolved in air before the mortal's eyes. Aeneas at the sight stood terror-dumb with choking voice and horror-rising hair. He fain would fly at once and get him gone
401from that voluptuous land, much wondering at Heaven's wrathful word. Alas! how stir? What cunning argument can plead his cause before th' infuriate Queen? How break such news? Flashing this way and that, his startled mind
406makes many a project and surveys them all. But, pondering well, his final counsel stopped at this resolve: he summoned to his side Mnestheus, Sergestus, and Serestus bold, and bade them fit the fleet, all silently
411gathering the sailors and collecting gear, but carefully dissembling what emprise such novel stir intends: himself the while (Since high-born Dido dreamed not love so fond could have an end) would seek an audience,
416at some indulgent time, and try what shift such matters may require. With joy they heard, and wrought, assiduous, at their prince's plan. But what can cheat true love? The Queen foreknew his stratagem, and all the coming change
421perceived ere it began. Her jealous fear counted no hour secure. That unclean tongue of Rumor told her fevered heart the fleet was fitting forth, and hastening to be gone. Distractedly she raved, and passion-tossed
426roamed through her city, like a Maenad roused by the wild rout of Bacchus, when are heard the third year's orgies, and the midnight scream to cold Cithaeron calls the frenzied crew. Finding Aeneas, thus her plaint she poured:
431“Didst hope to hide it, false one, that such crime was in thy heart,—to steal without farewell out of my kingdom? Did our mutual joy not move thee; nor thine own true promise given once on a time? Nor Dido, who will die
436a death of sorrow? Why compel thy ships to brave the winter stars? Why off to sea so fast through stormy skies? O, cruelty! If Troy still stood, and if thou wert not bound for alien shore unknown, wouldst steer for Troy
441through yonder waste of waves? Is it from me thou takest flight? O, by these flowing tears, by thine own plighted word (for nothing more my weakness left to miserable me), by our poor marriage of imperfect vow,
446if aught to me thou owest, if aught in me ever have pleased thee—O, be merciful to my low-fallen fortunes! I implore, if place be left for prayer, thy purpose change! Because of thee yon Libyan savages
451and nomad chiefs are grown implacable, and my own Tyrians hate me. Yes, for thee my chastity was slain and honor fair, by which alone to glory I aspired, in former days. To whom dost thou in death
456abandon me? my guest!—since but this name is left me of a husband! Shall I wait till fell Pygmalion, my brother, raze my city walls? Or the Gaetulian king, Iarbas, chain me captive to his car? .
461O, if, ere thou hadst fled, I might but bear some pledge of love to thee, and in these halls watch some sweet babe Aeneas at his play, whose face should be the memory of thine own — I were not so forsaken, Iost, undone!”
466She said. But he, obeying Jove's decree, gazed steadfastly away; and in his heart with strong repression crushed his cruel pain; then thus the silence broke: “O Queen, not one of my unnumbered debts so strongly urged
471would I gainsay. Elissa's memory will be my treasure Iong as memory holds, or breath of life is mine. Hear my brief plea! 'T was not my hope to hide this flight I take, as thou hast dreamed. Nay, I did never light
476a bridegroom's torch, nor gave I thee the vow of marriage. Had my destiny decreed, that I should shape life to my heart's desire, and at my own will put away the weight of foil and pain, my place would now be found
481in Troy, among the cherished sepulchres of my own kin, and Priam's mansion proud were standing still; or these my loyal hands had rebuilt Ilium for her vanquished sons. But now to Italy Apollo's power
486commands me forth; his Lycian oracles are loud for Italy. My heart is there, and there my fatherland. If now the towers of Carthage and thy Libyan colony delight thy Tyrian eyes; wilt thou refuse
491to Trojan exiles their Ausonian shore? I too by Fate was driven, not less than thou, to wander far a foreign throne to find. Oft when in dewy dark night hides the world, and flaming stars arise, Anchises' shade
496looks on me in my dreams with angered brow. I think of my Ascanius, and the wrong to that dear heart, from whom I steal away Hesperia, his destined home and throne. But now the winged messenger of Heaven,
501sent down by Jove (I swear by thee and me!), has brought on winged winds his sire's command. My own eyes with unclouded vision saw the god within these walls; I have received with my own ears his word. No more inflame
506with lamentation fond thy heart and mine. 'T is not my own free act seeks Italy.” She with averted eyes and glance that rolled speechless this way and that, had listened long to his reply, till thus her rage broke forth:
511“No goddess gave thee birth. No Dardanus begot thy sires. But on its breast of stone Caucasus bore thee, and the tigresses of fell Hyrcania to thy baby lip their udders gave. Why should I longer show
516a lying smile? What worse can I endure? Did my tears draw one sigh? Did he once drop his stony stare? or did he yield a tear to my lament, or pity this fond heart? Why set my wrongs in order? Juno, now,
521and Jove, the son of Saturn, heed no more where justice lies. No trusting heart is safe in all this world. That waif and castaway I found in beggary and gave him share— fool that I was!—in my own royal glory.
526His Iost fleet and his sorry crews I steered from death away. O, how my fevered soul unceasing raves! Forsooth Apollo speaks! His Lycian oracles! and sent by Jove the messenger of Heaven on fleeting air
531the ruthless bidding brings! Proud business for gods, I trow, that such a task disturbs their still abodes! I hold thee back no more, nor to thy cunning speeches give the lie. Begone! Sail on to Italy, thy throne,
536through wind and wave! I pray that, if there be any just gods of power, thou mayest drink down death on the mid-sea rocks, and often call with dying gasps on Dido's name—while I pursue with vengeful fire. When cold death rends
541the body from the breath, my ghost shall sit forever in thy path. Full penalties thy stubborn heart shall pay. They'll bring me never in yon deep gulf of death of all thy woe.” Abrupt her utterance ceased; and sick at heart
546she fled the light of day, as if to shrink from human eyes, and left Aeneas there irresolute with horror, while his soul framed many a vain reply. Her swooning shape her maidens to a marble chamber bore
551and on her couch the helpless limbs reposed. Aeneas, faithful to a task divine, though yearning sore to remedy and soothe such misery, and with the timely word her grief assuage, and though his burdened heart
556was weak because of love, while many a groan rose from his bosom, yet no whit did fail to do the will of Heaven, but of his fleet resumed command. The Trojans on the shore ply well their task and push into the sea
561the lofty ships. Now floats the shining keel, and oars they bring all leafy from the grove, with oak half-hewn, so hurried was the flight. Behold them how they haste—from every gate forth-streaming!—just as when a heap of corn
566is thronged with ants, who, knowing winter nigh, refill their granaries; the long black line runs o'er the levels, and conveys the spoil in narrow pathway through the grass; a part with straining and assiduous shoulder push
571the kernels huge; a part array the file, and whip the laggards on; their busy track swarms quick and eager with unceasing toil. O Dido, how thy suffering heart was wrung, that spectacle to see! What sore lament
576was thine, when from the towering citadel the whole shore seemed alive, the sea itself in turmoil with loud cries! Relentless Love, to what mad courses may not mortal hearts by thee be driven? Again her sorrow flies
581to doleful plaint and supplication vain; again her pride to tyrant Love bows down lest, though resolved to die, she fail to prove each hope of living: “O Anna, dost thou see yon busy shore? From every side they come.
586their canvas wooes the winds, and o'er each prow the merry seamen hang their votive flowers. Dear sister, since I did forebode this grief, I shall be strong to bear it. One sole boon my sorrow asks thee, Anna! Since of thee,
591thee only, did that traitor make a friend, and trusted thee with what he hid so deep — the feelings of his heart; since thou alone hast known what way, what hour the man would yield to soft persuasion—therefore, sister, haste,
596and humbly thus implore our haughty foe: ‘I was not with the Greeks what time they swore at Aulis to cut off the seed of Troy; I sent no ships to Ilium. Pray, have I profaned Anchises' tomb, or vexed his shade?’
601Why should his ear be deaf and obdurate to all I say? What haste? May he not make one last poor offering to her whose love is only pain? O, bid him but delay till flight be easy and the winds blow fair.
606I plead no more that bygone marriage-vow by him forsworn, nor ask that he should lose his beauteous Latium and his realm to be. Nothing but time I crave! to give repose and more room to this fever, till my fate
611teach a crushed heart to sorrow. I implore this last grace. (To thy sister's grief be kind!) I will requite with increase, till I die.” Such plaints, such prayers, again and yet again, betwixt the twain the sorrowing sister bore.
616But no words move, no lamentations bring persuasion to his soul; decrees of Fate oppose, and some wise god obstructs the way that finds the hero's ear. Oft-times around the aged strength of some stupendous oak
621the rival blasts of wintry Alpine winds smite with alternate wrath: Ioud is the roar, and from its rocking top the broken boughs are strewn along the ground; but to the crag steadfast it ever clings; far as toward heaven
626its giant crest uprears, so deep below its roots reach down to Tartarus:—not less the hero by unceasing wail and cry is smitten sore, and in his mighty heart has many a pang, while his serene intent
631abides unmoved, and tears gush forth in vain. Then wretched Dido, by her doom appalled, asks only death. It wearies her to see the sun in heaven. Yet that she might hold fast her dread resolve to quit the light of day,
636behold, when on an incense-breathing shrine her offering was laid—O fearful tale!— the pure libation blackened, and the wine flowed like polluting gore. She told the sight to none, not even to her sister's ear.
641A second sign was given: for in her house a marble altar to her husband's shade, with garlands bright and snowy fleeces dressed, had fervent worship; here strange cries were heard as if her dead spouse called while midnight reigned,
646and round her towers its inhuman song the lone owl sang, complaining o'er and o'er with lamentation and long shriek of woe. Forgotten oracles by wizards told whisper old omens dire. In dreams she feels
651cruel Aeneas goad her madness on, and ever seems she, friendless and alone, some lengthening path to travel, or to seek her Tyrians through wide wastes of barren lands. Thus frantic Pentheus flees the stern array
656of the Eumenides, and thinks to see two noonday lights blaze oer his doubled Thebes; or murdered Agamemnon's haunted son, Orestes, flees his mother's phantom scourge of flames and serpents foul, while at his door
661avenging horrors wait. Now sorrow-crazed and by her grief undone, resolved on death, the manner and the time her secret soul prepares, and, speaking to her sister sad, she masks in cheerful calm her fatal will:
666“I know a way—O, wish thy sister joy!— to bring him back to Iove, or set me free. On Ocean's bound and next the setting sun lies the last Aethiop land, where Atlas tall lifts on his shoulder the wide wheel of heaven,
671studded with burning stars. From thence is come a witch, a priestess, a Numidian crone, who guards the shrine of the Hesperides and feeds the dragon; she protects the fruit of that enchanting tree, and scatters there
676her slumb'rous poppies mixed with honey-dew. Her spells and magic promise to set free what hearts she will, or visit cruel woes on men afar. She stops the downward flow of rivers, and turns back the rolling stars;
681on midnight ghosts she calls: her vot'ries hear earth bellowing loud below, while from the hills the ash-trees travel down. But, sister mine, thou knowest, and the gods their witness give, how little mind have I to don the garb
686of sorcery. Depart in secret, thou, and bid them build a lofty funeral pyre inside our palalce-wall, and heap thereon the hero's arms, which that blasphemer hung within my chamber; every relic bring,
691and chiefly that ill-omened nuptial bed, my death and ruin! For I must blot out all sight and token of this husband vile. 'T is what the witch commands.” She spoke no more, and pallid was her brow. Yet Anna's mind
696knew not what web of death her sister wove by these strange rites, nor what such frenzy dares; nor feared she worse than when Sichaeus died, but tried her forth the errand to fulfil. Soon as the funeral pyre was builded high
701in a sequestered garden, Iooming huge with boughs of pine and faggots of cleft oak, the queen herself enwreathed it with sad flowers and boughs of mournful shade; and crowning all she laid on nuptial bed the robes and sword
706by him abandoned; and stretched out thereon a mock Aeneas;—but her doom she knew. Altars were there; and with loose locks unbound the priestess with a voice of thunder called three hundred gods, Hell, Chaos, the three shapes
711of triple Hecate, the faces three of virgin Dian. She aspersed a stream from dark Avernus drawn, she said; soft herbs were cut by moonlight with a blade of bronze, oozing black poison-sap; and she had plucked
716that philter from the forehead of new foal before its dam devours. Dido herself, sprinkling the salt meal, at the altar stands; one foot unsandalled, and with cincture free, on all the gods and fate-instructed stars,
721foreseeing death, she calls. But if there be some just and not oblivious power on high, who heeds when lovers plight unequal vow, to that god first her supplications rise. Soon fell the night, and peaceful slumbers breathed
726on all earth's weary creatures; the loud seas and babbling forests entered on repose; now midway in their heavenly course the stars wheeled silent on; the outspread lands below lay voiceless; all the birds of tinted wing,
731and flocks that haunt the merge of waters wide or keep the thorny wold, oblivious lay beneath the night so still; the stings of care ceased troubling, and no heart its burden knew. Not so the Tyrian Queen's deep-grieving soul!
736To sleep she could not yield; her eyes and heart refused the gift of night; her suffering redoubled, and in full returning tide her love rebelled, while on wild waves of rage she drifted to and fro. So, ceasing not
741from sorrow, thus she brooded on her wrongs: “What refuge now? Shall I invite the scorn of my rejected wooers, or entreat of some disdainful, nomad blackamoor to take me to his bed—though many a time
746such husbands I made mock of? Shall I sail on Ilian ships away, and sink to be the Trojans' humble thrall? Do they rejoice that once I gave them bread? Lives gratitude in hearts like theirs for bygone kindnesses?
751O, who, if so I stooped, would deign to bear on yon proud ships the scorned and fallen Queen? Lost creature! Woe betide thee! Knowest thou not the perjured children of Laomedon? What way is left? Should I take flight alone
756and join the revelling sailors? Or depart with Tyrians, the whole attending train of my own people? Hard the task to force their hearts from Sidon's towers; how once more compel to sea, and bid them spread the sail?
761Nay, perish! Thou hast earned it. Let the sword from sorrow save thee! Sister of my blood— who else but thee,—my own tears borne down, didst heap disaster on my frantic soul, and fling me to this foe? Why could I not
766pass wedlock by, and live a blameless life as wild things do, nor taste of passion's pain? But I broke faith! I cast the vows away made at Sichaeus' grave.” Such loud lament burst from her breaking heart with doleful sound.
771Meanwhile Aeneas on his lofty ship, having made ready all, and fixed his mind to launch away upon brief slumher fell. But the god came; and in the self-same guise once more in monitory vision spoke,
776all guised as Mercury,—his voice, his hue, his golden locks, and young limbs strong and fair. “Hail, goddess-born! Wouldst linger on in sleep at such an hour? Nor seest thou the snares that hem thee round? Nor hearest thou the voice
781of friendly zephyrs calling? Senseless man! That woman's breast contrives some treachery and horrid stroke; for, resolute to die, she drifts on swollen floods of wrath and scorn. Wilt thou not fly before the hastening hour
786of flight is gone? To-morrow thou wilt see yon waters thronged with ships, the cruel glare of fire-brands, and yonder shore all flame, if but the light of morn again surprise thee loitering in this land. Away! Away!
791Stay not! A mutable and shifting thing is woman ever.” Such command he spoke, then melted in the midnight dark away. Aeneas, by that fleeting vision struck with an exceeding awe, straightway leaped forth
796from slumber's power, and to his followers cried : “Awake, my men! Away! Each to his place upon the thwarts! Unfurl at once the sails! A god from heaven a second time sent down urges our instant flight and bids us cut
801the twisted cords. Whatever be thy name, behold, we come, O venerated Power! Again with joy we follow! Let thy grace assist us as we go! And may thy power bring none but stars benign across our sky.”
806So saying, from its scabbard forth he flashed the lightning of his sword, with naked blade striking the hawsers free. Like ardor seized on all his willing men, who raced and ran; and, while their galleys shadowed all the sea,
811clean from the shore they scudded, with strong strokes sweeping the purple waves and crested foam. Aurora's first young beams to earth were pouring as from Tithonus' saffron bed she sprang; while from her battlements the wakeful Queen
816watched the sky brighten, saw the mated sails push forth to sea, till all her port and strand held not an oar or keel. Thrice and four times she smote her lovely breast with wrathful hand, and tore her golden hair. “Great Jove,” she cries,
821“Shall that departing fugitive make mock of me, a queen? Will not my men-at-arms draw sword, give chase, from all my city thronging? Down from the docks, my ships! Out, out! Begone! Take fire and sword! Bend to your oars, ye slaves!
826What have I said? Where am I? What mad thoughts delude this ruined mind? Woe unto thee, thou wretched Dido, now thy impious deeds strike back upon thee. Wherefore struck they not, as was most fit, when thou didst fling away
831thy sceptre from thy hand? O Iying oaths! O faith forsworn! of him who brings, they boast, his father's gods along, and bowed his back to lift an age-worn sire! Why dared I not seize on him, rend his body limb from limb,
836and hurl him piecemeal on the rolling sea? Or put his troop of followers to the sword, ascanius too, and set his flesh before that father for a feast? Such fearful war had been of doubtful issue. Be it so!
841What fears a woman dying? Would I had attacked their camp with torches, kindled flame from ship to ship, until that son and sire, with that whole tribe, were unto ashes burned in one huge holocaust—myself its crown!
846Great orb of light whose holy beam surveys all earthly deeds! Great Juno, patroness of conjugal distress, who knowest all! Pale Hecate, whose name the witches cry at midnight crossways! O avenging furies!
851O gods that guard Queen Dido's dying breath! Give ear, and to my guiltless misery extend your power. Hear me what I pray! If it be fated that yon creature curst drift to the shore and happy haven find,
856if Father Iove's irrevocable word such goal decree—there may he be assailed by peoples fierce and bold. A banished man, from his Iulus' kisses sundered far, may his own eyes see miserably slain
861his kin and kind, and sue for alien arms. nor when he basely bows him to receive terms of unequal peace, shall he be blest with sceptre or with life; but perish there before his time, and lie without a grave
866upon the barren sand. For this I pray. This dying word is flowing from my heart with my spilt blood. And—O ye Tyrians! I sting with your hatred all his seed and tribe forevermore. This is the offering
871my ashes ask. Betwixt our nations twain, No Iove! No truce or amity! Arise, Out of my dust, unknown Avenger, rise! To harry and lay waste with sword and flame those Dardan settlers, and to vex them sore,
876to-day, to-morrow, and as long as power is thine to use! My dying curse arrays shore against shore and the opposing seas in shock of arms with arms. May living foes pass down from sire to son insatiate war!”
881She said. From point to point her purpose flew, seeking without delay to quench the flame of her loathed life. Brief bidding she addressed to Barce then, Sichaeus' nurse (her own lay dust and ashes in a lonely grave
886beside the Tyrian shore), “Go, nurse, and call my sister Anna! Bid her quickly bathe her limbs in living water, and procure due victims for our expiating fires. bid her make haste. Go, bind on thy own brow
891the sacred fillet. For to Stygian Jove it is my purpose now to consummate the sacrifice ordained, ending my woe, and touch with flame the Trojan's funeral pyre.” The aged crone to do her bidding ran
896with trembling zeal. But Dido (horror-struck at her own dread design, unstrung with fear, her bloodshot eyes wide-rolling, and her cheek twitching and fever-spotted, her cold brow blanched with approaching death)—sped past the doors
901into the palace garden; there she leaped, a frenzied creature, on the lofty pyre and drew the Trojan's sword; a gift not asked for use like this! When now she saw the garb of Ilian fashion, and the nuptial couch
906she knew too well, she lingered yet awhile for memory and tears, and, falling prone on that cold bed, outpoured a last farewell: “Sweet relics! Ever dear when Fate and Heaven upon me smiled, receive my parting breath,
911and from my woe set free! My life is done. I have accomplished what my lot allowed; and now my spirit to the world of death in royal honor goes. The founder I of yonder noble city, I have seen
916walls at my bidding rise. I was avenged for my slain husband: I chastised the crimes of our injurious brother. Woe is me! Blest had I been, beyond deserving blest, if but the Trojan galleys ne'er had moored
921upon my kingdom's bound!”So saying, she pressed one last kiss on the couch. “Though for my death no vengeance fall, O, give me death!” she cried. “O thus! O thus! it is my will to take the journey to the dark. From yonder sea
926may his cold Trojan eyes discern the flames that make me ashes! Be this cruel death his omen as he sails!” She spoke no more. But almost ere she ceased, her maidens all thronged to obey her cry, and found their Queen
931prone fallen on the sword, the reeking steel still in her bloody hands. Shrill clamor flew along the lofty halls; wild rumor spread through the whole smitten city: Ioud lament, groans and the wail of women echoed on
936from roof to roof, and to the dome of air the noise of mourning rose. Such were the cry if a besieging host should break the walls of Carthage or old Tyre, and wrathful flames o'er towers of kings and worshipped altars roll.
941Her sister heard. Half in a swoon, she ran with trembling steps, where thickest was the throng, beating her breast, while with a desperate hand she tore at her own face, and called aloud upon the dying Queen. “Was it for this
946my own true sister used me with such guile? O, was this horrid deed the dire intent of altars, Iofty couch, and funeral fires? What shall I tell for chiefest of my woes? Lost that I am! Why, though in death, cast off
951thy sister from thy heart? Why not invite one mortal stroke for both, a single sword, one agony together? But these hands built up thy pyre; and my voice implored the blessing of our gods, who granted me
956that thou shouldst perish thus—and I not know! In thy self-slaughter, sister, thou hast slain myself, thy people, the grave counsellors of Sidon, and yon city thou didst build to be thy throne!—Go, fetch me water, there!
961That I may bathe those gashes! If there be one hovering breath that stays, let my fond lips discover and receive!” So saying, she sprang up from stair to stair, and, clasping to her breast her sister's dying form, moaned grievously,
966and staunched the dark blood with her garment's fold. Vainly would Dido lift her sinking eyes, but backward fell, while at her heart the wound opened afresh; three times with straining arm she rose; three times dropped helpless, her dimmed eyes
971turned skyward, seeking the sweet light of day, — which when she saw, she groaned. Great Juno then looked down in mercy on that lingering pain and labor to depart: from realms divine she sent the goddess of the rainbow wing,
976Iris, to set the struggling spirit free and loose its fleshly coil. For since the end came not by destiny, nor was the doom of guilty deed, but of a hapless wight to sudden madness stung, ere ripe to die,
981therefore the Queen of Hades had not shorn the fair tress from her forehead, nor assigned that soul to Stygian dark. So Iris came on dewy, saffron pinions down from heaven, a thousand colors on her radiant way,
986from the opposing sun. She stayed her flight above that pallid brow: “I come with power to make this gift to Death. I set thee free from thy frail body's bound.” With her right hand she cut the tress: then through its every limb
991the sinking form grew cold; the vital breath fled forth, departing on the viewless air.
Book 5
1Interea medium Aeneas iam classe tenebat certus iter, fluctusque atros Aquilone secabat, moenia respiciens, quae iam infelicis Elissae conlucent flammis. Quae tantum accenderit ignem, causa latet; duri magno sed amore dolores
6polluto, notumque, furens quid femina possit, triste per augurium Teucrorum pectora ducunt. Ut pelagus tenuere rates, nec iam amplius ulla occurrit tellus, maria undique et undique caelum, olli caeruleus supra caput adstitit imber,
11noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris. Ipse gubernator puppi Palinurus ab alta: Heu! quianam tanti cinxerunt aethera nimbi? Quidve, pater Neptune, paras? Sic deinde locutus colligere arma iubet validisque incumbere remis,
16obliquatque sinus in ventum, ac talia fatur: Magnanime Aenea, non, si mihi Iuppiter auctor spondeat, hoc sperem Italiam contingere caelo. Mutati transversa fremunt et vespere ab atro consurgunt venti, atque in nubem cogitur aër.
21Nec nos obniti contra, nec tendere tantum sufficimus. Superat quoniam Fortuna, sequamur, quoque vocat, vertamus iter. Nec litora longe fida reor fraterna Erycis portusque Sicanos, si modo rite memor servata remetior astra.
26Tum pius Aeneas: Equidem sic poscere ventos iamdudum et frustra cerno te tendere contra: Flecte viam velis. An sit mihi gratior ulla, quove magis fessas optem demittere naves, quam quae Dardanium tellus mihi servat Acesten,
31et patris Anchisae gremio complectitur ossa? Haec ubi dicta, petunt portus, et vela secundi intendunt Zephyri; fertur cita gurgite classis, et tandem laeti notae advertuntur harenae. At procul ex celso miratus vertice montis
36adventum sociasque rates occurrit Acestes, horridus in iaculis et pelle Libystidis ursae, Troïa Criniso conceptum flumine mater quem genuit: veterum non immemor ille parentum gratatur reduces, et gaza laetus agresti
41excipit, ac fessos opibus solatur amicis. Postera cum primo stellas Oriente fugarat clara dies, socios in coetum litore ab omni advocat Aeneas, tumulique ex aggere fatur: Dardanidae magni, genus alto a sanguine divom,
46annuus exactis completur mensibus orbis, ex quo reliquias divinique ossa parentis Condidimus terra maestasque sacravimus aras. Iamque dies, nisi fallor, adest, quem semper acerbum, semper honoratum—sic di voluistis—habebo.
51Hunc ego Gaetulis agerem si Syrtibus exsul, Argolicove mari deprensus et urbe Mycenae; annua vota tamen sollemnisque ordine pompas exsequerer, strueremque suis altaria donis. Nunc ultro ad cineres ipsius et ossa parentis,
56haud equidem sine mente, reor, sine numine divom, adsumus et portus delati intramus amicos. Ergo agite, et laetum cuncti celebremus honorem; poscamus ventos; atque haec me sacra quotannis urbe velit posita templis sibi ferre dicatis.
61Bina boum vobis Troia generatus Acestes dat numero capita in naves; adhibete Penates et patrios epulis et quos colit hospes Acestes. Praeterea, si nona diem mortalibus almum Aurora extulerit radiisque retexerit orbem,
66prima citae Teucris ponam certamina classis; quique pedum cursu valet, et qui viribus audax aut iaculo incedit melior levibusque sagittis, seu crudo fidit pugnam committere caestu, cuncti adsint, meritaeque exspectent praemia palmae.
71Ore favete omnes, et cingite tempora ramis. Sic fatus, velat materna tempora myrto; hoc Elymus facit, hoc aevi maturus Acestes, hoc puer Ascanius, sequitur quos cetera pubes. Ille e concilio multis cum milibus ibat
76ad tumulum, magna medius comitante caterva. Hic duo rite mero libans carchesia Baccho fundit humi, duo lacte novo, duo sanguine sacro, purpureosque iacit flores, ac talia fatur: Salve, sancte parens: iterum salvete, recepti
81nequiquam cineres, animaeque umbraeque paternae. Non licuit fines Italos fataliaque arva, nec tecum Ausonium (quicumque est) quaerere Thybrim. Dixerat haec, adytis cum lubricus anguis ab imis septem ingens gyros, septena volumina traxit,
86amplexus placide tumulum lapsusque per aras, caeruleae cui terga notae, maculosus et auro squamam incendebat fulgor, ceu nubibus arcus mille iacit varios adverso sole colores. Obstipuit visu Aeneas. Ille agmine longo
91tandem inter pateras et levia pocula serpens libavitque dapes, rursusque innoxius imo successit tumulo, et depasta altaria liquit. Hoc magis inceptos genitori instaurat honores, incertus, geniumne loci famulumne parentis
96esse putet: caedit binas de more bidentes, totque sues, totidem nigrantis terga iuvencos; vinaque fundebat pateris, animamque vocabat Anchisae magni Manisque Acheronte remissos. Nec non et socii, quae cuique est copia, laeti
101dona ferunt, onerant aras, mactantque iuvencos; ordine aena locant alii, fusique per herbam subiciunt veribus prunas et viscera torrent. Exspectata dies aderat, nonamque serena Auroram Phaethontis equi iam luce vehebant,
106famaque finitimos et clari nomen Acestae excierat; laeto complerant litora coetu, visuri Aeneadas, pars et certare parati. Munera principio ante oculos circoque locantur in medio, sacri tripodes viridesque coronae,
111et palmae pretium victoribus, armaque et ostro perfusae vestes, argenti aurique talenta; et tuba commissos medio canit aggere ludos. Prima pares ineunt gravibus certamina remis quattuor ex omni delectae classe carinae.
116Velocem Mnestheus agit acri remige Pristim, mox Italus Mnestheus, genus a quo nomine Memmi; ingentemque Gyas ingenti mole Chimaeram, urbis opus, triplici pubes quam Dardana versu impellunt, terno consurgunt ordine remi;
121Sergestusque, domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen, Centauro invehitur magna, Scyllaque Cloanthus caerulea, genus unde tibi, Romane Cluenti. Est procul in pelago saxum spumantia contra litora, quod tumidis submersum tunditur olim
126fluctibus, hiberni condunt ubi sidera cori; tranquillo silet, immotaque attollitur unda campus, et apricis statio gratissima mergis. Hic viridem Aeneas frondenti ex ilice metam constituit signum nautis pater, unde reverti
131scirent, et longos ubi circumflectere cursus. Tum loca sorte legunt, ipsique in puppibus auro ductores longe effulgent ostroque decori; cetera populea velatur fronde iuventus, nudatosque umeros oleo perfilsa nitescit.
136Considunt transtris, intentaque brachia remis; intenti exspectant signum, exsultantiaque haurit corda pavor pulsans, laudumque arrecta cupido. Inde, ubi clara dedit sonitum tuba, finibus omnes, haud mora, prosiluere suis; ferit aethera clamor
141nauticus, adductis spumant freta versa lacertis. Infindunt pariter sulcos, totumque dehiscit convulsum remis rostrisque tridentibus aequor. Non tam praecipites biiugo certamine campum corripuere, ruuntque effusi carcere currus,
146nec sic immissis aurigae undantia lora concussere iugis pronique in verbera pendent. Tum plausu fremituque virum studiisque faventum consonat omne nemus, vocemque inclusa volutant litora, pulsati colles clamore resultant.
151Effugit ante alios primisque elabitur undis turbam inter fremitumque Gyas; quem deinde Cloanthus consequitur, melior remis, sed pondere pinus tarda tenet. Post hos aequo discrimine Pristis Centaurusque locum tendunt superare priorem;
156et nunc Pristis habet, nunc victam praeterit ingens Centaurus, nunc una ambae iunctisque feruntur frontibus, et longa sulcant vada salsa carina. Iamque propinquabant scopulo metamque tenebant, cum princeps medioque Gyas in gurgite victor
161rectorem navis compellat voce Menoeten: Quo tantum mihi dexter abis? Huc dirige gressum; litus ama, et laevas stringat sine palmula cautes; altum alii teneant. Dixit; sed caeca Menoetes saxa timens proram pelagi detorquet ad undas.
166Quo diversus abis? iterum Pete saxa, Menoete! cum clamore Gyas revocabat; et ecce Cloanthum respicit instantem tergo, et propiora tenentem. Ille inter navemque Gyae scopulosque sonantes radit iter laevum interior, subitoque priorem
171praeterit, et metis tenet aequora tuta relictis. Tum vero exarsit iuveni dolor ossibus ingens, nec lacrimis caruere genae, segnemque Menoeten, oblitus decorisque sui sociumque salutis, in mare praecipitem puppi deturbat ab alta;
176ipse gubernaclo rector subit, ipse magister, hortaturque viros, clavumque ad litora torquet. At gravis, ut fundo vix tandem redditus imo est, iam senior madidaque fluens in veste Menoetes summa petit scopuli siccaque in rupe resedit.
181Ilium et labentem Teucri et risere natantem, et salsos rident revomentem pectore fluctus. Hic laeta extremis spes est accensa duobus, Sergesto Mnestheique, Gyan superare morantem. Sergestus capit ante locum scopuloque propinquat,
186nec tota tamen ille prior praeeunte carina; parte prior, partem rostro premit aemula Pristis. At media socios incedens nave per ipsos hortatur Mnestheus: Nunc, nunc insurgite remis, Hectorei socii, Troiae quos sorte suprema
191delegi comites; nunc illas promite vires, nunc animos, quibus in Gaetulis Syrtibus usi, Ionioque mari Maleaeque sequacibus undis. Non iam prima peto Mnestheus, neque vincere certo; quamquam O!—sed superent, quibus hoc, Neptune, dedisti;
196extremos pudeat rediisse; hoc vincite, cives, et prohibete nefas. Olli certamine summo procumbunt; vastis tremit ictibus aerea puppis, subtrahiturque solum; tum creber anhelitus artus aridaque ora quatit, sudor fluit undique rivis.
201Attulit ipse viris optatum casus honorem. Namque furens animi dum proram ad saxa suburguet interior, spatioque subit Sergestus iniquo, infelix saxis in procurrentibus haesit. Concussae cautes, et acuto in murice remi
206obnixi crepuere, inlisaque prora pependit. Consurgunt nautae et magno clamore morantur, ferratasque trudes et acuta cuspide contos expediunt, fractosque legunt in gurgite remos. At laetus Mnestheus successuque acrior ipso
211agmine remorum celeri ventisque vocatis prona petit maria et pelago decurrit aperto. Qualis spelunca subito commota columba, cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi, fertur in ana volans, plausumque exterrita pennis
216dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa quieto radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas: sic Mnestheus, sic ipsa fuga secat ultima Pristis aequora, sic illam fert impetus ipse volantem. Et primum in scopulo luctantem deserit alto
221Sergestum, brevibusque vadis frustraque vocantem auxilia, et fractis discentem currere remis Inde Gyan ipsamque ingenti mole Chimaeram consequitur; cedit, quoniam spoliata magistro est. Solus iamque ipso superest in fine Cloanthus:
226quem petit, et summis adnixus viribus urguet. Tum vero ingeminat clamor, cunctique sequentem instigant studiis, resonatque fragoribus aether. Hi proprium decus et partum indignantur honorem ni teneant, vitamque volunt pro laude pacisci;
231hos successus alit: possunt, quia posse videntur. Et fors aequatis cepissent praemia rostris, ni palmas ponto tendens utrasque Cloanthus fudissetque preces, divosque in vota vocasset: Di, quibus imperium est pelagi, quorum aequora curro,
236vobis laetus ego hoc candentem in litore taurum constituam ante aras, voti reus, extaque salsos porriciam in fluctus et vina liquentia fundam. Dixit, eumque imis sub fluctibus audiit omnis Nereidum Phorcique chorus Panopeaque virgo,
241et pater ipse manu magna Portunus euntem impulit; illa Noto citius volucrique sagitta ad terram fugit, et portu se condidit alto. Tum satus Anchisa, cunctis ex more vocatis, victorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum
246declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro, muneraque in naves ternos optare iuvencos, vinaque et argenti magnum dat ferre talentum. Ipsis praecipuos ductoribus addit honores: victori chlamydem auratam, quam plurima circum
251purpura maeandro duplici Meliboea cucurrit, intextusque puer frondosa regius Ida veloces iaculo cervos cursuque fatigat, acer, anhelanti similis, quem praepes ab Ida sublimem pedibus rapuit Iovis armiger uncis;
256longaevi palmas nequiquam ad sidera tendunt custodes, saevitque canum latratus in auras. At qui deinde locum tenuit virtute secundum, levibus huic hamis consertam auroque trilicem loricam, quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse
261victor apud rapidum Simoënta sub Ilio alto, donat habere viro, decus et tutamen in armis. Vix illam famuli Phegeus Sagarisque ferebant multiplicem, conixi umeris; indutus at olim Demoleos cursu palantes Troas agebat.
266Tertia dona facit geminos ex aere lebetas, cymbiaque argento perfecta atque aspera signis. Iamque adeo donati omnes opibusque superbi puniceis ibant evincti tempora taenis, cum saevo e scopulo multa vix arte revolsus,
271amissis remis atque ordine debilis uno, inrisam sine honore ratem Sergestus agebat. Qualis saepe viae deprensus in aggere serpens, aerea quem obliquum rota transiit, aut gravis ictu seminecem liquit saxo lacerumque viator;
276nequiquam longos fugiens dat corpore tortus, parte ferox, ardensque oculis, et sibila colla arduus attollens, pars volnere clauda retentat nexantem nodis seque in sua membra plicantem: tali remigio navis se tarda movebat;
281vela facit tamen, et velis subit ostia plenis. Sergestum Aeneas promisso munere donat, servatam ob navem laetus sociosque reductos. Olli serva datur, operum haud ignara Minervae, Cressa genus, Pholoë, geminique sub ubere nati.
286Hoc pius Aeneas misso certamine tendit gramineum in campum, quem collibus undique curvis cingebant silvae, mediaque in valle theatri circus erat; quo se multis cum milibus heros consessu medium tulit exstructoque resedit.
291Hic, qui forte velint rapido contendere cursu, invitat pretiis animos, et praemia ponit. Undique conveniunt Teucri mixtique Sicani, Nisus et Euryalus primi, Euryalus forma insignis viridique iuventa,
296Nisus amore pio pueri; quos deinde secutus regius egregia Priami de stirpe Diores; hunc Salius simul et Patron, quorum alter Acarnan, alter ab Arcadio Tegeaeae sanguine gentis; tum duo Trinacrii iuvenes, Helymus Panopesque,
301adsueti silvis, comites senioris Acestae; multi praeterea, quos fama obscura recondit. Aeneas quibus in mediis sic deinde locutus: Accipite haec animis, laetasque advertite mentes: nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit.
306Gnosia bina dabo levato lucida ferro spicula caelatamque argento ferre bipennem; omnibus hic erit unus honos. Tres praemia primi accipient flavaque caput nectentur oliva. Primus equum phaleris insignem victor habeto;
311alter Amazoniam pharetram plenamque sagittis Threïciis, lato quam circum amplectitur auro balteus et tereti subnectit fibula gemma; tertius Argolica hac galea contentus abito. Haec ubi dicta, locum capiunt, signoque repente
316corripiunt spatia audito, limenque relinquunt, effusi nimbo similes, simul ultima signant. Primus abit longeque ante omnia corpora Nisus emicat, et ventis et fulminis ocior alis; proximus huic, longo sed proxumus intervallo,
321insequitur Salius; spatio post deinde relicto tertius Euryalus: Euryalumque Helymus sequitur; quo deinde sub ipso ecce volat calcemque terit iam calce Diores, incumbens umero, spatia et si plura supersint,
326transeat elapsus prior, ambiguumque relinquat. Iamque fere spatio extremo fessique sub ipsam finem adventabant, levi cum sanguine Nisus labitur infelix, caesis ut forte iuvencis fusus humum viridisque super madefecerat herbas.
331Hic iuvenis iam victor ovans vestigia presso haud tenuit titubata solo, sed pronus in ipso concidit immundoque fimo sacroque cruore. Non tamen Euryali, non ille oblitus amorum; nam sese opposuit Salio per lubrica surgens;
336ille autem spissa iacuit revolutus harena. Emicat Euryalus, et munere victor amici prima tenet, plausuque volat fremituque secundo. Post Helymus subit, et nunc tertia palma Diores. Hic totum caveae consessum ingentis et ora
341prima patrum magnis Salius clamoribus implet, ereptumque dolo reddi sibi poscit honorem. Tutatur favor Euryalum, lacrimaeque decorae, gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore virtus. Adiuvat et magna proclamat voce Diores,
346qui subiit palmae, frustraque ad praemia venit ultima, si primi Salio reddentur honores. Tum pater Aeneas Vestra inquit munera vobis certa manent, pueri, et palmam movet ordine nemo; me liceat casus misereri insontis amici.
351Sic fatus, tergum Gaetuli immane leonis dat Salio, villis onerosum atque unguibus aureis. Hic Nisus, Si tanta inquit sunt praemia victis, et te lapsorum miseret, quae munera Niso digna dabis, primam merui qui laude coronam,
356ni me, quae Salium, fortuna inimica tulisset? Et simul his dictis faciem ostentabat et udo turpia membra fimo. Risit pater optimus olli et clipeum efferri iussit, Didymaonis artem, Neptuni sacro Danais de poste refixum.
361Hoc iuvenem egregium praestanti munere donat; Post, ubi confecti cursus, et dona peregit: Nunc, si cui virtus animusque in pectore praesens, adsit, et evinctis attollat brachia palmis. Sic ait, et geminum pugnae proponit honorem,
366victori velatum auro vittisque iuvencum, ensem atque insignem galeam solacia victo. Nec mora: continuo vastis cum viribus effert ora Dares, magnoque virum se murmure tollit; solus qui Paridem solitus contendere contra,
371idemque ad tumulum, quo maximus occubat Hector, victorem Buten immani corpore, qui se Bebrycia veniens Amyci de gente ferebat, perculit, et fulva moribundum extendit harena. Talis prima Dares caput altum in proelia tollit,
376ostenditque umeros latos, alternaque iactat brachia protendens, et verberat ictibus auras. Quaeritur huic alius; nec quisquam ex agmine tanto audet adire virum manibusque inducere caestus. Ergo alacris, cunctosque putans excedere palma,
381Aeneae stetit ante pedes, nec plura moratus tum laeva taurum cornu tenet, atque ita fatur: Nate dea, si nemo audet se credere pugnae, quae finis standi? Quo me decet usque teneri? Ducere dona iube. Cuncti simul ore fremebant
386Dardanidae, reddique viro promissa iubebant. Hic gravis Entellum dictis castigat Acestes, proximus ut viridante toro consederat herbae: Entelle, heroum quondam fortissime frustra, tantane tam patiens nullo certamine tolli
391dona sines? Ubi nunc nobis deus ille magister nequiquam memoratus Eryx? Ubi fama per omnem Trinacriam, et spolia illa tuis pendentia tectis? Ille sub haec: Non laudis amor, nec gloria cessit pulsa metu; sed enim gelidus tardante senecta
396sanguis hebet, frigentque effetae in corpore vires. Si mihi, quae quondam fuerat, quaque improbus iste exsultat fidens, si nunc foret illa iuventas, haud equidem pretio inductus pulchroque iuvenco venissem, nec dona moror. Sic deinde locutus
401in medium geminos immani pondere caestus proiecit, quibus acer Eryx in proelia suetus ferre manum, duroque intendere brachia tergo. Obstipuere animi: tantorum ingentia septem terga boum plumbo insuto ferroque rigebant.
406Ante omnes stupet ipse Dares, longeque recusat; magnanimusque Anchisiades et pondus et ipsa huc illuc vinclorum immensa volumina versat. Tum senior talis referebat pectore voces: Quid, si quis caestus ipsius et Herculis arma
411vidisset, tristemque hoc ipso in litore pugnam? Haec germanus Eryx quondam tuus arma gerebat;— sanguine cernis adhuc sparsoque infecta cerebro;— his magnum Alciden contra stetit; his ego suetus, dum melior vires sanguis dabat, aemula necdum
416temporibus geminis canebat sparsa senectus. Sed si nostra Dares haec Troius arma recusat, idque pio sedet Aeneae, probat auctor Acestes, aequemus pugnas. Erycis tibi terga remitto; solve metus; et tu Troianos exue caestus.
421Haec fatus, duplicem ex umeris reiecit amictum et magnos membrorum artus, magna ossa lacertosque exuit, atque ingens media consistit harena. Tum satus Anchisa caestus pater extulit aequos, et paribus palmas amborum innexuit armis.
426Constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque, brachiaque ad superas interritus extulit auras. Abduxere retro longe capita ardua ab ictu, immiscentque manus manibus, pugnamque lacessunt. Ille pedum melior motu, fretusque iuventa;
431hic membris et mole valens, sed tarda trementi genua labant, vastos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. Multa viri nequiquam inter se volnera iactant, multa cavo lateri ingeminant, et pectore vastos dant sonitus, erratque auris et tempora circum
436crebra manus, duro crepitant sub volnere malae. Stat gravis Entellus nisuque immotus eodem, corpore tela modo atque oculis vigilantibus exit. Ille, velut celsam oppugnat qui molibus urbem, aut montana sedet circum castella sub armis,
441nunc hos, nunc illos aditus, omnemque pererrat arte locum, et variis adsultibus inritus urguet. Ostendit dextram insurgens Entellus, et alte extulit: ille ictum venientem a vertice velox praevidit, celerique elapsus corpore cessit.
446Entellus vires in ventum effudit, et ultro ipse gravis graviterque ad terram pondere vasto concidit, ut quondam cava concidit aut Erymantho, aut Ida in magna, radicibus eruta pinus. Consurgunt studiis Teucri et Trinacria pubes;
451it clamor caelo, primusque accurrit Acestes, aequaevumque ab humo miserans attollit amicum. At non tardatus casu neque territus heros acrior ad pugnam redit ac vim suscitat ira. Tum pudor incendit vires et conscia virtus,
456praecipitemque Daren ardens agit aequore toto, nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra; nec mora, nec requies: quam multa grandine nimbi culminibus crepitant, sic densis ictibus heros creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta.
461Tum pater Aeneas procedere longius iras et saevire animis Entellum haud passus acerbis; sed finem imposuit pugnae, fessumque Dareta eripuit mulcens dictis, ac talia fatur: Infelix, quae tanta animum dementia cepit?
466Non vires alias conversaque numina sentis? Cede deo. Dixitque et proelia voce diremit. Ast illum fidi aequales, genua aegra trahentem, iactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem ore eiectantem mixtosque in sanguine dentes,
471ducunt ad naves; galeamque ensemque vocati accipiunt; palmam Entello taurumque relinquunt. Hic victor, superans animis tauroque superbus: Nate dea, vosque haec inquit cognoscite, Teucri, et mihi quae fuerint iuvenali in corpore vires,
476et qua servetis revocatum a morte Dareta. Dixit, et adversi contra stetit ora iuvenci, qui donum adstabat pugnae, durosque reducta libravit dextra media inter cornua caestus, arduus, effractoque inlisit in ossa cerebro.
481sternitur exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos. Ille super tales effundit pectore voces: Hanc tibi, Eryx, meliorem animam pro morte Daretis persolvo; hic victor caestus artemque repono. Protinus Aeneas celeri certare sagitta
486invitat qui forte velint, et praemia ponit, ingentique manu malum de nave Seresti erigit, et volucrem traiecto in fune columbam, quo tendant ferrum, malo suspendit ab alto. Convenere viri, deiectamque aerea sortem
491accepit galea; et primus clamore secundo Hyrtacidae ante omnes exit locus Hippocoöntis; quem modo navali Mnestheus certamine victor consequitur, viridi Mnestheus evinctus oliva. Tertius Eurytion, tuus, o clarissime, frater,
496Pandare, qui quondam, iussus confundere foedus, in medios telum torsisti primus Achivos. Extremus galeaque ima subsedit Acestes, ausus et ipse manu iuvenum temptare laborem. Tum validis flexos incurvant viribus arcus
501pro se quisque viri, et depromunt tela pharetris. Primaque per caelum, nervo stridente, sagitta Hyrtacidae iuvenis volucres diverberat auras; et venit, adversique infigitur arbore mali. Intremuit malus, timuitque exterrita pennis
506ales, et ingenti sonuerunt omnia plausu. Post acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu, alta petens, pariterque oculos telumque tetendit. Ast ipsam miserandus avem contingere ferro non valuit: nodos et vincula linea rupit,
511quis innexa pedem malo pendebat ab alto: illa notos atque alta volans in nubila fugit. Tum rapidus, iamdudum arcu contenta parato tela tenens, fratrem Eurytion in Pota vocavit, iam vacuo laetam caelo speculatus, et alis
516plaudentem nigra figit sub nube columbam. Decidit exanimis, vitamque reliquit in astris aetheriis, fixamque refert delapsa sagittam. Amissa solus palma superabat Acestes; qui tamen aerias telum contendit in auras,
521ostentans artemque pater arcumque sonantem. Hic oculis subito obicitur magnoque futurum augurio monstrum; docuit post exitus ingens, seraque terrifici cecinerunt omina vates. Namque volans liquidis in nubibus arsit harundo,
526signavitque viam flammis, tenuisque recessit consumpta in ventos, caelo ceu saepe refixa transcurrunt crinemque volantia sidera ducunt. Attonitis haesere animis, superosque precati Trinacrii Teucrique viri; nec maximus omen
531abnuit Aeneas; sed laetum amplexus Acesten muneribus cumulat magnis, ac talia fatur: Sume, pater; nam te voluit rex magnus Olympi talibus auspiciis exsortem ducere honores. Ipsius Anchisae longaevi hoc munus habebis,
536cratera impressum signis, quem Thracius olim Anchisae genitori in magno munere Cisseus ferre sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris. Sic fatus cingit viridanti tempora lauro, et primum ante omnes victorem appellat Acesten.
541Nec bonus Eurytion praelato invidit honori, quamvis solus avem caelo deiecit ab alto. Proximus ingreditur donis, qui vincula rupit; extremus, volucri qui fixit arundine malum. At pater Aeneas, nondum certamine misso,
546custodem ad sese comitemque impubis Iuli Epytiden vocat, et fidam sic fatur ad aurem: Vade age, et Ascanio, si iam puerile paratum agmen habet secum, cursusque instruxit equorum, ducat avo turmas, et sese ostendat in armis,
551dic ait. Ipse omnem longo decedere circo infusum populum, et campos iubet esse patentes. Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum frenatis lucent in equis, quos omnis euntes Trinacriae mirata fremit Troiaeque iuventus.
556omnibus in morem tonsa coma pressa corona; cornea bina ferunt praefixa hastilia ferro; pars levis umero pharetras; it pectore summo flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri. Tres equitum numero turmae, ternique vagantur
561ductores: pueri bis seni quemque secuti agmine partito fulgent paribusque magistris. Una acies iuvenum, ducit quam parvus ovantem nomen avi referens Priamus,—tua clara, Polite, progenies, auctura Italos,—quem Thracius albis
566portat equus bicolor maculis, vestigia primi alba pedis frontemque ostentans arduus albam. Alter Atys, genus unde Atii duxere Latini, parvus Atys, pueroque puer dilectus Iulo. Extremus, formaque ante omnis pulcher, Iulus
571Sidonio est invectus equo, quem candida Dido esse sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris. Cetera Trinacrii pubes senioris Acestae fertur equis. Excipiunt plausu pavidos, gaudentque tuentes
576Dardanidae, veterumque adgnoscunt ora parentum. Postquam omnem laeti consessum oculosque suorum lustravere in equis, signum clamore paratis Epytides longe dedit insonuitque flagello. Olli discurrere pares, atque agmina terni
581diductis solvere choris, rursusque vocati convertere vias infestaque tela tulere. Inde alios ineunt cursus aliosque recursus adversi spatiis, alternosque orbibus orbes impediunt, pugnaeque cient simulacra sub armis;
586et nunc terga fuga nudant, nunc spicula vertunt infensi, facta pariter nunc pace feruntur. Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta parietibus textum caecis iter, ancipitemque mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi
591falleret indeprensus et inremeabilis error; haud alio Teucrum nati vestigia cursu impediunt texuntque fugas et proelia ludo, delphinum similes, qui per maria umida nando Carpathium Libycumque secant,
596Hunc morem cursus atque haec certamina primus Ascanius, Longam muris cum cingeret Albam, rettulit, et priscos docuit celebrare Latinos, quo puer ipse modo, secum quo Troïa pubes; Albani docuere suos; hinc maxima porro
601accepit Roma, et patrium servavit honorem; Troiaque nunc pueri, Troianum dicitur agmen. Hac celebrata tenus sancto certamina patri. Hic primum fortuna fidem mutata novavit. Dum variis tumulo referunt sollemnia ludis,
606Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno Iliacam ad classem, ventosque adspirat eunti, multa movens, necdum antiquum saturata dolorem. Illa, viam celerans per mille coloribus arcum, nulli visa cito decurrit tramite virgo.
611Conspicit ingentem concursum, et litora lustrat, desertosque videt portus classemque relictam. At procul in sola secretae Troades acta amissum Anchisen flebant, cunctaeque profundum pontum adspectabant flentes. Heu tot vada fessis
616et tantum superesse maris! vox omnibus una. Urbem orant; taedet pelagi perferre laborem. Ergo inter medias sese haud ignara nocendi conicit, et faciemque deae vestemque reponit; fit Beroë, Tmarii coniunx longaeva Dorycli,
621cui genus et quondam nomen natique fuissent; ac sic Dardanidum mediam se matribus infert: O miserae, quas non manus inquit Achaïca bello traxerit ad letum patriae sub moenibus! O gens infelix, cui te exitio Fortuna reservat?
626Septuma post Troiae exscidium iam vertitur aestas, cum freta, cum terras omnes, tot inhospita saxa sideraque emensae ferimur, dum per mare magnum Italiam sequimur fugientem, et volvimur undis. Hic Erycis fines fraterni, atque hospes Acestes:
631quis prohibet muros iacere et dare civibus urbem? O patria et rapti nequiquam ex hoste Penates, nullane iam Troiae dicentur moenia? Nusquam Hectoreos amnes, Xanthum et Simoenta, videbo? Quin agite et mecum infaustas exurite puppes.
636Nam mihi Cassandrae per somnum vatis imago ardentes dare visa faces: Hic quaerite Troiam; hic domus est inquit vobis. Iam tempus agi res, nec tantis mora prodigiis. En quattuor arae Neptuno; deus ipse faces animumque ministrat.
641Haec memorans, prima infensum vi corripit ignem, sublataque procul dextra conixa coruscat, et iacit: arrectae mentes stupefactaque corda Iliadum. Hic una e multis, quae maxima natu, Pyrgo, tot Priami natorum regia nutrix:
646Non Beroë vobis, non haec Rhoeteïa, matres, est Dorycli coniunx; divini signa decoris ardentesque notate oculos; qui spiritus illi, qui voltus, vocisque sonus, vel gressus eunti. Ipsa egomet dudum Beroen digressa reliqui
651aegram, indignantem, tali quod sola careret munere, nec meritos Anchisae inferet honores. Haec effata. At matres primo ancipites oculisque malignis ambiguae spectare rates miserum inter amorem
656praesentis terrae fatisque vocantia regna, cum dea se paribus per caelum sustulit alis, ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum. Tum vero attonitae monstris actaeque furore conclamant, rapiuntque focis penetralibus ignem;
661pars spoliant aras, frondem ac virgulta facesque coniciunt. Furit immissis Volcanus habenis transtra per et remos et pictas abiete puppes. Nuntius Anchisae ad tumulum cuneosque theatri incensas perfert naves Eumelus, et ipsi
666respiciunt atram in nimbo volitare favillam. Primus et Ascanius, cursus ut laetus equestres ducebat, sic acer equo turbata petivit castra, nec exanimes possunt retinere magistri. Quis furor iste novus? Quo nunc, quo tenditis inquit,
671heu, miserae cives? Non hostem inimicaque castra Argivum, vestras spes uritis. En, ego vester Ascanius! Galeam ante pedes proiecit inanem, qua ludo indutus belli simulacra ciebat; accelerat simul Aeneas, simul agmina Teucrum.
676Ast illae diversa metu per litora passim diffugiunt, silvasque et sicubi concava furtim saxa petunt; piget incepti lucisque, suosque mutatae adgnoscunt, excussaque pectore Iuno est. Sed non idcirco flammae atque incendia vires
681indomitas posuere; udo sub robore vivit stuppa vomens tardum fumum, lentusque carinas est vapor, et toto descendit corpore pestis, nec vires heroum infusaque flumina prosunt. Tum pius Aeneas umeris abscindere vestem,
686auxilioque vocare deos, et tendere palmas: Iuppiter omnipotens, si nondum exosus ad unum Troianos, si quid pietas antiqua labores respicit humanos, da flammam evadere classi nunc, Pater, et tenues Teucrum res eripe leto.
691Vel tu, quod superest infesto fulmine morti, si mereor, demitte, tuaque hic obrue dextra. Vix haec ediderat, cum effusis imbribus atra tempestas sine more furit, tonitruque tremescunt ardua terrarum et campi; ruit aethere toto
696turbidus imber aqua densisque nigerrimus austris; implenturque super puppes; semiusta madescunt robora; restinctus donec vapor omnis, et omnes, quattuor amissis, servatae a peste carinae. At pater Aeneas, casu concussus acerbo,
701nunc huc ingentes, nunc illuc pectore curas mutabat versans, Siculisne resideret arvis, oblitus fatorum, Italasne capesseret oras. Tum senior Nautes, unum Tritonia Pallas quem docuit multaque insignem reddidit arte,
706haec responsa dabat, vel quae portenderet ira magna deum, vel quae fatorum posceret ordo; isque his Aenean solatus vocibus infit: Nate dea, quo fata trahunt retrahuntque, sequamur; quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.
711Est tibi Dardanius divinae stirpis Acestes: hunc cape consiliis socium et coniunge volentem; huic trade, amissis superant qui navibus, et quos pertaesum magni incepti rerumque tuarum est; longaevosque senes ac fessas aequore matres,
716et quidquid tecum invalidum metuensque pericli est, delige, et his habeant terris sine moenia fessi: urbem appellabunt permisso nomine Acestam. Talibus incensus dictis senioris amici, tum vero in curas animo diducitur omnes.
721Et nox atra polum bigis subvecta tenebat: visa dehinc caelo facies delapsa parentis Anchisae subito tales effundere voces: Nate, mihi vita quondam, dum vita manebat, care magis, nate, Iliacis exercite fatis,
726imperio Iovis huc venio, qui classibus ignem depulit, et caelo tandem miseratus ab alto est. Consiliis pare, quae nunc pulcherrima Nautes dat senior; lectos iuvenes, fortissima corda, defer in Italiam; gens dura atque aspera cultu
731debellanda tibi Latio est. Ditis tamen ante infernas accede domos, et Averna per alta congressus pete, nate, meos. Non me impia namque Tartara habent, tristes umbrae, sed amoena piorum concilia Elysiumque colo. Huc casta Sibylla
736nigrarum multo pecudum te sanguine ducet: tum genus omne tuum, et quae dentur moenia, disces. Iamque vale: torquet medios Nox humida cursus, et me saevus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis. Dixerat, et tenuis fugit, ceu fumus, in auras.
741Aeneas, Quo deinde ruis, quo proripis? inquit, Quem fugis, aut quis te nostris complexibus arcet? Haec memorans cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes, Pergameumque Larem et canae penetralia Vestae farre pio et plena supplex veneratur acerra.
746Extemplo socios primumque arcessit Acesten, et Iovis imperium et cari praecepta parentis edocet, et quae nunc animo sententia constet. Haud mora consiliis, nec iussa recusat Acestes. Transcribunt urbi matres, populumque volentem
751deponunt, animos nil magnae laudis egentes. Ipsi transtra novant, flammisque ambesa reponunt robora navigiis, aptant remosque rudentesque, exigui numero, sed bello vivida virtus. Interea Aeneas urbem designat aratro
756sortiturque domos; hoc Ilium et haec loca Troiam esse iubet. Gaudet regno Troianus Acestes, indicitque forum et patribus dat iura vocatis. Tum vicina astris, Erycino in vertice sedes fundatur Veneri Idaliae, tumuloque sacerdos
761ac lucus late sacer additur Anchiseo. Iamque dies epulata novem gens omnis, et aris factus honos: placidi straverunt aequora venti, creber et adspirans rursus vocat Auster in altum. Exoritur procurva ingens per litora fletus;
766complexi inter se noctemque diemque morantur. Ipsae iam matres, ipsi, quibus aspera quondam visa maris facies et non tolerabile nomen, ire volunt, omnemque fugae perferre laborem. Quos bonus Aeneas dictis solatur amicis,
771et consanguineo lacrimans commendat Acestae. Tris Eryci vitulos et Tempestatibus agnam caedere deinde iubet, solvique ex ordine funem. Ipse, caput tonsae foliis evinctus olivae, stans procul in prora pateram tenet, extaque salsos
776proiicit in fluctus ac vina liquentia fundit. Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntes. Certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora verrunt. At Venus interea Neptunum exercita curis adloquitur, talesque effundit pectore questus:
781Iunonis gravis ira nec exsaturabile pectus cogunt me, Neptune, preces descendere in omnes; quam nec longa dies, pietas nec mitigat ulla, nec Iovis imperio fatisque infracta quiescit. Non media de gente Phrygum exedisse nefandis
786urbem odiis satis est, nec poenam traxe per omnem: reliquias Troiae, cineres atque ossa peremptae insequitur: causas tanti sciat illa furoris. Ipse mihi nuper Libycis tu testis in undis quam molem subito excierit: maria omnia caelo
791miscuit, Aeoliis nequiquam freta procellis, in regnis hoc ausa tuis. Per scelus ecce etiam Troianis matribus actis exussit foede puppes, et classe subegit amissa socios ignotae linquere terrae.
796Quod superest, oro, liceat dare tuta per undas vela tibi, liceat Laurentem attingere Thybrim: si concessa peto, si dant ea moenia Parcae. Tum Saturnius haec domitor maris edidit alti: Fas omne est, Cytherea, meis te fidere regnis,
801unde genus ducis: merui quoque; saepe furores compressi, et rabiem tantam caelique marisque. Nec minor in terris, Xanthum Simoëntaque testor, Aeneae mihi cura tui. Cum Troia Achilles exanimata sequens impingeret agmina muris,
806milia multa daret leto, gemerentque repleti amnes, nec reperire viam atque evolvere posset in mare se Xanthus, Pelidae tunc ego forti congressum Aenean nec dis nec viribus aequis nube cava rapui, cuperem cum vertere ab imo
811structa meis manibus periurae moenia Troiae. Nunc quoque mens eadem perstat mihi: pelle timores. Tutus, quos optas, portus accedet Averni. Unus erit tantum, amissum quem gurgite quaeres; unum pro multis dabitur caput.
816His ubi laeta deae permulsit pectora dictis, iungit equos auro genitor, spumantiaque addit frena feris, manibusque omnes effundit habenas. Caeruleo per summa levis volat aequora curru; subsidunt undae, tumidumque sub axe tonanti
821sternitur aequor aquis; fugiunt vasto aethere nimbi. Tum variae comitum facies, immania cete, et senior Glauci chorus, Inousque Palaemon, Tritonesque citi, Phorcique exercitus omnis; laeva tenent Thetis, et Melite, Panopeaque virgo,
826Nisaee, Spioque, Thaliaque, Cymodoceque. Hic patris Aeneae suspensam blanda vicissim gaudia pertemptant mentem: iubet ocius omnes attolli malos, intendi brachia velis. Una omnes fecere pedem pariterque sinistros,
831nunc dextros solvere sinus; una ardua torquent cornua detorquentque; ferunt sua flamina classem. Princeps ante omnes densum Palinurus agebat agmen; ad hunc alii cursum contendere iussi. Iamque fere mediam caeli Nox humida metam
836contigerat; placida laxabant membra quiete sub remis fusi per dura sedilia nautae: cum levis aetheriis delapsus Somnus ab astris aëra dimovit tenebrosum et dispulit umbras, te, Palinure, petens, tibi somnia tristia portans
841insonti; puppique deus consedit in alta, Phorbanti similis, funditque has ore loquelas: Iaside Palinure, ferunt ipsa aequora classem; aequatae spirant aurae; datur hora quieti. Pone caput, fessosque oculos furare labori:
846ipse ego paulisper pro te tua munera inibo. Cui vix attollens Palinurus lumina fatur: Mene salis placidi voltum fluctusque quietos ignorare iubes? Mene huic confidere monstro? Aenean credam quid enim fallacibus auris
851et caelo, totiens deceptus fraude sereni? Talia dicta dabat, clavumque affixus et haerens nusquam amittebat, oculosque sub astra tenebat. Ecce deus ramum Lethaeo rore madentem, vique soporatum Stygia, super utraque quassat
856tempora, cunctantique natantia lumina solvit. Vix primos inopina quies laxaverat artus, et super incumbens cum puppis parte revolsa, cumque gubernaclo, liquidas proiecit in undas praecipitem ac socios nequiquam saepe vocantem;
861ipse volans tenues se sustulit ales ad auras. Currit iter tutum non secius aequore classis, promissisque patris Neptuni interrita fertur. Iamque adeo scopulos Sirenum advecta subibat, difficiles quondam multorumque ossibus albos,
866tum rauca adsiduo longe sale saxa sonabant: cum pater amisso fluitantem errare magistro sensit, et ipse ratem nocturnis rexit in undis, multa gemens, casuque animum concussus amici O nimium caelo et pelago confise sereno,
871nudus in ignota, Palinure, iacebis harena!
Book 5
1Meanwhile Aeneas, now well launched away, steered forth with all the fleet to open sea, on his unswerving course, and ploughed the waves, sped by a driving gale; but when his eyes looked back on Carthage, they beheld the glare
6of hapless Dido's fire. Not yet was known what kindled the wild flames; but that the pang of outraged love is cruel, and what the heart of desperate woman dares, they knew too well, and sad foreboding shook each Trojan soul.
11Soon in mid-sea, beyond all chart of shore, when only seas and skies were round their way, full in the zenith loomed a purple cloud, storm-laden, dark as night, and every wave grew black and angry; from his Iofty seat
16the helmsman Palinurus cried, “Alas! What means this host of storms encircling heaven? What, Neptune, wilt thou now?” He, having said, bade reef and tighten, bend to stronger stroke, and slant sail to the wind; then spake again:
21“High-souled Aeneas, not if Jove the King gave happy omen, would I have good hope of making Italy through yonder sky. Athwart our course from clouded evening-star rebellious winds run shifting, and the air
26into a cloud-wrack rolls. Against such foes too weak our strife and strain! Since now the hand of Fortune triumphs, let us where she calls obedient go. For near us, I believe, lies Eryx' faithful and fraternal shore:
31here are Sicilian havens, if my mind of yon familiar stars have knowledge true.” then good Aeneas: “For a friendly wind long have I sued, and watched thee vainly strive. Shift sail! What happier land for me and mine,
36or for our storm-beat ships what safer shore, than where Dardanian Acestes reigns; the land whose faithful bosom cherishes Anchises' ashes?” Heedful of his word, they landward steer, while favoring zephyrs fill
41the spreading sail. On currents swift and strong the fleet is wafted, and with thankful soul they moor on Sicily's familiar strand. From a far hill-top having seen with joy the entering ships, and knowing them for friends,
46good King Acestes ran to bid them hail. Garbed in rough pelt of Libyan bear was he, and javelins he bore, in sylvan guise: for him the river-god Crimisus sired of Trojan wife. Remembering in his heart
51his ancient blood, he greeted with glad words the wanderers returned; bade welcome to his rude abundance, and with friendly gifts their weariness consoled. The morrow morn, soon as the new beams of a golden day
56had banished every star, Aeneas called a council of his followers on the shore, and from a fair green hillock gave this word: “Proud sons of Dardanus, whose lofty line none but the gods began! This day fulfils
61the annual cycle of revolving time, since the dear relics of my god-like sire to earth we gave, and with dark offerings due built altars sorrowful. If now I err not, this is my day—ye gods have willed it so! —
66for mourning and for praise. Should it befall me exiled in Gaetulia's wilderness, or sailing some Greek sea, or at the walls of dire Mycenae, still would I renew unfailing vows, and make solemnity
71with thankful rites, and worshipful array, at altars rich with gifts. But, lo, we come, beyond all hope, where lie the very bones of my great sire. Nor did it come to pass without divine intent and heavenly power,
76that on these hospitable shores we stand. Up, then! For we will make a festal day, imploring lucky winds! O, may his spirit grant me to build my city, where his shrines forever shall receive perpetual vows
81made in his name! This prince of Trojan line, Acestes, upon every ship bestows a pair of oxen. To our offerings call the powers that bless the altars and the fires of our ancestral hearth; and join with these
86the gods of good Acestes. Presently, when the ninth dawn shall bring its beam benign to mortal men, and show the radiant world, or all my Teucrian people I ordain a holiday of games; the flying ships
91shall first contend; then swiftest runners try a foot-race; after that the champions bold who step forth for a cast of javelins, or boast the soaring arrow; or fear not the boxing-bout, with gauntlet of thick thongs.
96This summons is for all; let all have hope to earn some noble palm! And from this hour speak but well-boding words, and bind your brows with garlands green.” So saying, he twined a wreath of his own mother's myrtle-tree, to shade
101his sacred brow; the hero Helymus, and King Acestes for his tresses gray, like coronals took on; Ascanius and all the warrior youth like emblems wore. Then in th' attendant throng conspicuous,
106with thousands at his side, the hero moved from place of council to his father's tomb. There on the ground he poured libation due, two beakers of good wine, of sweet milk two, two of the victim's blood—and scattered flowers
111of saddest purple stain, while thus he prayed: “Hail, hallowed sire! And hail, ye ashes dear of him I vainly saved! O soul and shade of my blest father! Heaven to us denied to find together that predestined land
116of Italy, or our Ausonian stream of Tiber—ah! but where?” He scarce had said, when from the central shrine a gliding snake, coiled seven-fold in seven spirals wide, twined round the tomb and trailed innocuous o'er
121the very altars; his smooth back was flecked with green and azure, and his changeful scales gleamed golden, as the cloud-born rainbow flings its thousand colors from th' opposing sun. Aeneas breathless watched the serpent wind
126among the bowls and cups of polished rim, tasting the sacred feast; where, having fed, back to the tomb all harmless it withdrew. Then with new zeal his sacrifice he brings in honor of his sire; for he must deem
131that serpent the kind genius of the place, or of his very father's present shade some creature ministrant. Two lambs he slew, the wonted way, two swine, and, sable-hued, the yoke of bulls; from shallow bowl he poured
136libation of the grape, and called aloud on great Anchises' spirit, and his shade, from Acheron set free. Then all the throng, each from his separate store, heap up the shrines with victims slain; some range in order fair
141the brazen cauldrons; or along the grass, scattered at ease, hold o'er the embers bright the spitted flesh and roast it in the flames. Arrived the wished-for day; through cloudless sky the coursers of the Sun's bright-beaming car
146bore upward the ninth morn. The neighboring folk thronged eager to the shore; some hoped to see Aeneas and his warriors, others fain would their own prowess prove in bout and game. Conspicuous lie the rewards, ranged in sight
151in the mid-circus; wreaths of laurel green, the honored tripod, coronals of palm for conquerors' brows, accoutrements of war, rare robes of purple stain, and generous weight of silver and of gold. The trumpet's call
156proclaimed from lofty mound the opening games. First, side by side, with sturdy, rival oars, four noble galleys, pride of all the fleet, come forward to contend. The straining crew of Mnestheus bring his speedy Pristis on, —
161Mnestheus in Italy erelong the sire of Memmius' noble line. Brave Gyas guides his vast Chimaera, a colossal craft, a floating city, by a triple row of Dardan sailors manned, whose banks of oars
166in triple order rise. Sergestus, he of whom the Sergian house shall after spring, rides in his mighty Centaur. Next in line, on sky-blue Scylla proud Cloanthus rides — whence thy great stem, Cluentius of Rome!
171Fronting the surf-beat shore, far out at sea rises a rock, which under swollen waves lies buffeted unseen, when wintry storms mantle the stars; but when the deep is calm, lifts silently above the sleeping wave
176its level field,—a place where haunt and play flocks of the sea-birds, Iovers of the sun. Here was the goal; and here Aeneas set a green-leaved flex-tree, to be a mark for every captain's eye, from whence to veer
181the courses of their ships in sweeping curves and speed them home. Now places in the line are given by lot. Upon the lofty sterns the captains ride, in beautiful array of Tyriao purple and far-flaming gold;
186the crews are poplar-crowned, the shoulders bare rubbed well with glittering oil; their straining arms make long reach to the oar, as on the thwarts they sit attentive, listening for the call of the loud trumpet; while with pride and fear
191their hot hearts throb, impassioned for renown. Soon pealed the signal clear; from all the line instant the galleys bounded, and the air rang to the rowers, shouting, while their arms pulled every inch and flung the waves in foam;
196deep cut the rival strokes; the surface fair yawned wide beneath their blades and cleaving keels. Not swifter scour the chariots o'er the plain, sped headlong from the line behind their teams of mated coursers, while each driver shakes
201loose, rippling reins above his plunging pairs, and o'er the lash leans far. With loud applause vociferous and many an urgent cheer the woodlands rang, and all the concave shores back from the mountains took the Trojan cry
206in answering song. Forth-flying from his peers, while all the crowd acclaims, sped Gyas' keel along the outmost wave. Cloanthus next pushed hard upon, with stronger stroke of oars but heavier ship. At equal pace behind
211the Pristis and the Centaur fiercely strive for the third place. Now Pristis seems to lead, now mightier Centaur past her flies, then both ride on together, prow with prow, and cleave long lines of foaming furrow with swift keels.
216Soon near the rock they drew, and either ship was making goal,—when Gyas, in the lead, and winner of the half-course, Ioudly hailed menoetes, the ship's pilot: “Why so far to starboard, we? Keep her head round this way!
221Hug shore! Let every oar-blade almost graze that reef to larboard! Let the others take the deep-sea course outside!” But while he spoke, Menoetes, dreading unknown rocks below, veered off to open sea. “Why steer so wide?
226Round to the rock, Menoetes!” Gyas roared, — again in vain, for looking back he saw cloanthus hard astern, and ever nearer, who, in a trice, betwixt the booming reef and Gyas' galley, lightly forward thrust
231the beak of Scylla to the inside course, and, quickly taking lead, flew past the goal to the smooth seas beyond. Then wrathful grief flamed in the warrior's heart, nor was his cheek unwet with tears; and, reckless utterly
236of his own honor and his comrades, lives, he hurled poor, slack Menoetes from the poop headlong upon the waters, while himself, pilot and master both, the helm assuming, urged on his crew, and landward took his way.
241But now, with heavy limbs that hardly won his rescue from the deep, engulfing wave, up the rude rock graybeard Menoetes climbed with garment dripping wet, and there dropped down upon the cliff's dry top. With laughter loud
246the Trojan crews had watched him plunging, swimming, and now to see his drink of bitter brine spewed on the ground, the sailors laughed again. But Mnestheus and Sergestus, coming last, have joyful hope enkindled in each heart
251to pass the laggard Gyas. In the lead Sergestus' ship shoots forth; and to the rock runs boldly nigh; but not his whole long keel may pass his rival; the projecting beak is followed fast by Pristis' emulous prow.
256Then, striding straight amidships through his crew, thus Mnestheus urged them on: “O Hector's friends! Whom in the dying hours of Troy I chose for followers! Now stand ye to your best! Put forth the thews of valor that ye showed
261in the Gaetulian Syrtes, or that sea Ionian, or where the waves race by the Malean promontory! Mnestheus now hopes not to be the first, nor do I strive for victory. O Father Neptune, give
266that garland where thou wilt! But O, the shame if we are last! Endure it not, my men! The infamy refuse!” So, bending low, they enter the home-stretch. Beneath their stroke the brass-decked galley throbs, and under her
271the sea-floor drops away. On, on they fly! Parched are the panting lips, and sweat in streams pours down their giant sides; but lucky chance brought the proud heroes what their honor craved. For while Sergestus furiously drove
276his ship's beak toward the rock, and kept inside the scanty passage, by his evil star he grounded on the jutting reef; the cliffs rang with the blow, and his entangled oars grated along the jagged granite, while
281the prow hung wrecked and helpless. With loud cry upsprang the sailors, while the ship stood still, and pushed off with long poles and pointed iron, or snatched the smashed oars from the whirling tide. Mnestheus exults; and, roused to keener strife
286by happy fortune, with a quicker stroke of each bright rank of oars, and with the breeze his prayer implored, skims o'er the obedient wave and sweeps the level main. Not otherwise a startled dove, emerging o'er the fields
291from secret cavern in the crannied hill where her safe house and pretty nestlings lie, soars from her nest, with whirring wings—but soon through the still sky she takes her path of air on pinions motionless. So Pristis sped
296with Mnestheus, cleaving her last stretch of sea, by her own impulse wafted. She outstripped Sergestus first; for he upon the reef fought with the breakers, desperately shouting for help, for help in vain, with broken oars
301contriving to move on. Then Mnestheus ran past Gyas, in Chimaera's ponderous hulk, of pilot now bereft; at last remains Cloanthus his sole peer, whom he pursues with a supreme endeavor. From the shore
306burst echoing cheers that spur him to the chase, and wild applause makes all the welkin ring. The leaders now with eager souls would scorn to Iose their glory, and faint-hearted fail to grasp a prize half-won, but fain would buy
311honor with life itself; the followers too are flushed with proud success, and feel them strong because their strength is proven. Both ships now with indistinguishable prows had sped to share one prize,—but with uplifted hands
316spread o'er the sea, Cloanthus, suppliant, called on the gods to bless his votive prayer: “Ye gods who rule the waves, whose waters be my pathway now; for you on yonder strand a white bull at the altar shall be slain
321in grateful tribute for a granted vow; and o'er the salt waves I will scatter far the entrails, and outpour the flowing wine.” He spoke; and from the caverns under sea Phorcus and virgin Panopea heard,
326and all the sea-nymphs' choir; while with strong hand the kindly God of Havens rose and thrust the gliding ship along, that swifter flew than south wind, or an arrow from the string, and soon made land in haven safe and sure.
331Aeneas then, assembling all to hear, by a far-sounding herald's voice proclaimed Cloanthus victor, and arrayed his brows with the green laurel-garland; to the crews three bulls, at choice, were given, and plenteous wine
336and talent-weight of silver; to the chiefs illustrious gifts beside; the victor had a gold-embroidered mantle with wide band of undulant Meliboean purple rare, where, pictured in the woof, young Ganymede
341through Ida's forest chased the light-foot deer with javelin; all flushed and panting he. But lo! Jove's thunder-bearing eagle fell, and his strong talons snatched from Ida far the royal boy, whose aged servitors
346reached helpless hands to heaven; his faithful hound bayed fiercely at the air. To him whose worth the second place had won, Aeneas gave a smooth-linked golden corselet, triple-chained, of which his own victorious hand despoiled
351Demoleos, by the swift, embattled stream of Simois, under Troy,—and bade it be a glory and defence on valor's field; scarce might the straining shoulders of two slaves, Phegeus and Sagaris, the load endure,
356yet oft Demoleos in this armor dressed charged down full speed on routed hosts of Troy. The third gift was two cauldrons of wrought brass, and bowls of beaten silver, cunningly embossed with sculpture fair. Bearing such gifts,
361th' exultant victors onward moved, each brow bound with a purple fillet. But behold! Sergestus, from the grim rock just dragged off by cunning toil, one halting rank of oars left of his many lost, comes crawling in
366with vanquished ship, a mockery to all. As when a serpent, on the highway caught, some brazen wheel has crushed, or traveller with heavy-smiting blow left half alive and mangled by a stone; in vain he moves
371in writhing flight; a part is lifted high with hissing throat and angry, glittering eyes; but by the wounded part a captive still he knots him fold on fold: with such a track the maimed ship labored slow; but by her sails
376she still made way, and with full canvas on arrived at land. Aeneas then bestowed a boon upon Sergestus, as was meet for reward of the ship in safety brought with all its men; a fair slave was the prize,
381the Cretan Pholoe, well taught to weave, and twin boy-babes upon her breast she bore. Then good Aeneas, the ship-contest o'er, turned to a wide green valley, circled round with clasp of wood-clad hills, wherein was made
386an amphitheatre; entering with a throng of followers, the hero took his seat in mid-arena on a lofty mound. For the fleet foot-race, now, his summons flies, — he offers gifts, and shows the rewards due.
391The mingling youth of Troy and Sicily hastened from far. Among the foremost came the comrades Nisus and Euryalus, Euryalus for beauty's bloom renowned, Nisus for loyal love; close-following these
396Diores strode, a prince of Priam's line; then Salius and Patron, who were bred in Acarnania and Arcady; then two Sicilian warriors, Helymus and Panopes, both sylvan bred and born,
401comrades of King Acestes; after these the multitude whom Fame forgets to tell. Aeneas, so surrounded, thus spake forth: “Hear what I purpose, and with joy receive! of all your company, not one departs
406with empty hand. The Cretan javelins bright-tipped with burnished steel, and battle-axe adorned with graven silver, these shall be the meed of all. The three first at the goal shall bind their foreheads with fair olive green,
411and win the rewards due. The first shall lead, victorious, yon rich-bridled steed away; this Amazonian quiver, the next prize, well-stocked with Thracian arrows; round it goes a baldrick broad and golden,—in its clasp
416a lustrous gem. The third man goes away taking this helmet from the Argive spoil.” They heard, and took their places. The loud horn gave signal, and impetuous from the line, swift as a bursting storm they sped away,
421eyes fixed upon the goal. Far in advance Nisus shot forward, swifter than the winds or winged thunderbolt; the next in course, next, but out-rivalled far, was Salius, and after him a space, Euryalus
426came third; him Helymus was hard upon; and, look! Diores follows, heel on heel, close at his shoulder—if the race be long he sure must win, or claim a doubtful prize. Now at the last stretch, spent and panting, all
431pressed to the goal, when in a slime of blood Nisus, hard fate! slipped down, where late the death of victims slain had drenched the turf below. Here the young victor, with his triumph flushed, lost foothold on the yielding ground, and plunged
436face forward in the pool of filth and gore; but not of dear Euryalus was he forgetful then, nor heedless of his friend; but rising from the mire he hurled himself in Salius' way; so he in equal plight
441rolled in the filthy slough. Euryalus leaped forth, the winner of the race by gift of his true friend, and flying to the goal stood first, by many a favoring shout acclaimed. Next Helymus ran in; and, for the third, last prize,
446Diores. But the multitude now heard the hollowed hill-side ringing with wild wrath from Salius, clamoring where the chieftains sate for restitution of his stolen prize, lost by a cheat. But general favor smiles
451upon Euryalus, whose beauteous tears commend him much, and nobler seems the worth of valor clothed in youthful shape so fair. Diores, too, assists the victor's claim, with loud appeal—he too has won a prize,
456and vainly holds his last place, if the first to Salius fall. Aeneas then replied: “Your gifts, my gallant youths, remain secure. None can re-judge the prize. But to console the misadventure of a blameless friend,
461is in my power.” Therewith to Salius an Afric lion's monstrous pelt he gave, with ponderous mane, the claws o'erlaid with gold. But Nisus cried: “If such a gift be found for less than victory, and men who fall
466are worthy so much sorrow, pray, what prize shall Nisus have? For surely I had won the proudest of the garlands, if one stroke of inauspicious fortune had not fallen on Salius and me.” So saying, he showed
471his smeared face and his sorry limbs befouled with mire and slime. Then laughed the gracious sire, and bade a shield be brought, the cunning work of Didymaon, which the Greeks tore down from Neptune's temple; with this noble gift
476he sent the high-born youth upon his way. The foot-race over and the gifts disbursed, “Come forth!” he cries, “if any in his heart have strength and valor, let him now pull on the gauntlets and uplift his thong-bound arms
481in challenge.” For the reward of this fight a two-fold gift he showed: the victor's meed, a bullock decked and gilded; but a sword and glittering helmet to console the fallen. Straightway, in all his pride of giant strength,
486Dares Ioomed up, and wondering murmurs ran along the gazing crowd; for he alone was wont to match with Paris, he it was met Butes, the huge-bodied champion boasting the name and race of Amycus,
491Bythinian-born; him felled he at a blow, and stretched him dying on the tawny sand. Such Dares was, who now held high his head, fierce for the fray, bared both his shoulders broad, lunged out with left and right, and beat the air.
496Who shall his rival be? Of all the throng not one puts on the gauntlets, or would face the hero's challenge. Therefore, striding forth, believing none now dare but yield the palm, he stood before Aeneas, and straightway
501seized with his left hand the bull's golden horn, and cried, “O goddess-born, if no man dares to risk him in this fight, how Iong delay? how Iong beseems it I should stand and wait? Bid me bear off my prize.” The Trojans all
506murmured assent, and bade the due award of promised gift. But with a brow severe Acestes to Entellus at his side addressed upbraiding words, where they reclined on grassy bank and couch of pleasant green:
511“O my Entellus, in the olden days bravest among the mighty, but in vain! Endurest thou to see yon reward won without a blow? Where, prithee, is that god who taught thee? Are thy tales of Eryx vain?
516Does all Sicilia praise thee? Is thy roof with trophies hung?” The other in reply: “My jealous honor and good name yield not to fear. But age, so cold and slow to move, makes my blood laggard, and my ebbing powers
521in all my body are but slack and chill. O, if I had what yonder ruffian boasts— my own proud youth once more! I would not ask the fair bull for a prize, nor to the lists in search of gifts come forth.” So saying, he threw
526into the mid-arena a vast pair of ponderous gauntlets, which in former days fierce Eryx for his fights was wont to bind on hand and arm, with the stiff raw-hide thong. All marvelled; for a weight of seven bulls' hides
531was pieced with lead and iron. Dares stared astonished, and step after step recoiled; high-souled Anchises' son, this way and that, turned o'er the enormous coil of knots and thongs; then with a deep-drawn breath the veteran spoke:
536“O, that thy wondering eyes had seen the arms of Hercules, and what his gauntlets were! Would thou hadst seen the conflict terrible upon this self-same shore! These arms were borne by Eryx. Look; thy brother's!—spattered yet
541with blood, with dashed-out brains! In these he stood when he matched Hercules. I wore them oft when in my pride and prime, ere envious age shed frost upon my brows. But if these arms be of our Trojan Dares disapproved,
546if good Aeneas rules it so, and King Acestes wills it, let us offer fight on even terms. Let Eryx' bull's-hide go. Tremble no more! But strip those gauntlets off — fetched here from Troy.” So saying, he dropped down
551the double-folded mantle from his shoulders, stripped bare the huge joints, the huge arms and thews, and towered gigantic in the midmost ring. Anchises' son then gave two equal pairs of gauntlets, and accoutred with like arms
556both champions. Each lifted him full height on tiptoe; each with mien unterrified held both fists high in air, and drew his head far back from blows assailing. Then they joined in struggle hand to hand, and made the fray
561each moment fiercer. One was light of foot and on his youth relied; the other strong in bulk of every limb, but tottering on sluggish knees, while all his body shook with labor of his breath. Without avail
566they rained their blows, and on each hollow side, each sounding chest, the swift, reverberate strokes fell without pause; around their ears and brows came blow on blow, and with relentless shocks the smitten jaws cracked loud. Entellus stands
571unshaken, and, the self-same posture keeping, only by body-movement or quick eye parries attack. Dares (like one in siege against a mountain-citadel, who now will drive with ram and engine at the craggy wall,
576now wait in full-armed watch beneath its towers) tries manifold approach, most craftily invests each point of vantage, and renews his unsuccessful, ever various war. Then, rising to the stroke, Entellus poised
581aloft his ponderous right; but, quick of eye, the other the descending wrath foresaw and nimbly slipped away; Entellus so wasted his stroke on air, and, self-o'erthrown, dropped prone to earth his monstrous length along,
586as when on Erymanth or Ida falls a hollowed pine from giant roots uptorn. Alike the Teucrian and Trinacrian throng shout wildly; while Acestes, pitying, hastes to lift his gray companion. But, unchecked,
591undaunted by his fall, the champion brave rushed fiercer to the fight, his strength now roused by rage, while shame and courage confident kindle his soul; impetuous he drives Dares full speed all round the ring, with blows
596redoubled right and left. No stop or stay gives he, but like a storm of rattling hail upon a house-top, so from each huge hand the champion's strokes on dizzy Dares fall. Then Sire Aeneas willed to make a stay
601to so much rage, nor let Entellus' soul flame beyond bound, but bade the battle pause, and, rescuing weary Dares, thus he spoke in soothing words: “Ill-starred! What mad attempt is in thy mind? Will not thy heart confess
606thy strength surpassed, and auspices averse? Submit, for Heaven decrees!” With such wise words he sundered the fell strife. But trusty friends bore Dares off: his spent limbs helpless trailed, his head he could not lift, and from his lips
611came blood and broken teeth. So to the ship they bore him, taking, at Aeneas' word, the helmet and the sword—but left behind Entellus' prize of victory, the bull. He, then, elate and glorying, spoke forth:
616“See, goddess-born, and all ye Teucrians, see, what strength was mine in youth, and from what death ye have clelivered Dares.” Saying so, he turned him full front to the bull, who stood for reward of the fight, and, drawing back
621his right hand, poising the dread gauntlet high, swung sheer between the horns and crushed the skull; a trembling, lifeless creature, to the ground the bull dropped forward dead. Above the fallen Entellus cried aloud, “This victim due
626I give thee, Eryx, more acceptable than Dares' death to thy benignant shade. For this last victory and joyful day, my gauntlets and my art I leave with thee.” Forthwith Aeneas summons all who will
631to contest of swift arrows, and displays reward and prize. With mighty hand he rears a mast within th' arena, from the ship of good Sergestus taken; and thereto a fluttering dove by winding cord is bound
636for target of their shafts. Soon to the match the rival bowmen came and cast the lots into a brazen helmet. First came forth Hippocoon's number, son of Hyrtacus, by cheers applauded; Mnestheus was the next,
641late victor in the ship-race, Mnestheus crowned with olive-garland; next Eurytion, brother of thee, O bowman most renowned, Pandarus, breaker of the truce, who hurled his shaft upon the Achaeans, at the word
646the goddess gave. Acestes' Iot and name came from the helmet last, whose royal hand the deeds of youth dared even yet to try. Each then with strong arm bends his pliant bow, each from the quiver plucks a chosen shaft.
651First, with loud arrow whizzing from the string, the young Hippocoon with skyward aim cuts through the yielding air; and lo! his barb pierces the very wood, and makes the mast tremble; while with a fluttering, frighted wing
656the bird tugs hard,—and plaudits fill the sky. Boldly rose Mnestheus, and with bow full-drawn aimed both his eye and shaft aloft; but he failing, unhappy man, to bring his barb up to the dove herself, just cut the cord
661and broke the hempen bond, whereby her feet were captive to the tree: she, taking flight, clove through the shadowing clouds her path of air. But swiftly—for upon his waiting bow he held a shaft in rest—Eurytion
666invoked his brother's shade, and, marking well the dove, whose happy pinions fluttered free in vacant sky, pierced her, hard by a cloud; lifeless she fell, and left in light of heaven her spark of life, as, floating down, she bore
671the arrow back to earth. Acestes now remained, last rival, though the victor's palm to him was Iost; yet did the aged sire, to show his prowess and resounding bow, hurl forth one shaft in air; then suddenly
676all eyes beheld such wonder as portends events to be (but when fulfilment came, too late the fearful seers its warning sung): for, soaring through the stream of cloud, his shaft took fire, tracing its bright path in flame,
681then vanished on the wind,—as oft a star will fall unfastened from the firmament, while far behind its blazing tresses flow. Awe-struck both Trojan and Trinacrian stood, calling upon the gods. Nor came the sign
686in vain to great Aeneas. But his arms folded the blest Acestes to his heart, and, Ioading him with noble gifts, he cried: “Receive them, sire! The great Olympian King some peerless honor to thy name decrees
691by such an omen given. I offer thee this bowl with figures graven, which my sire, good gray Anchises, for proud gift received of Thracian Cisseus, for their friendship's pledge and memory evermore.” Thereon he crowned
696his brows with garland of the laurel green, and named Acestes victor over all. Nor could Eurytion, noble youth, think ill of honor which his own surpassed, though he, he only, pierced the bird in upper air.
701Next gift was his whose arrow cut the cord; last, his whose light shaft clove the lofty pine. Father Aeneas now, not making end of game and contest, summoned to his side Epytides, the mentor and true friend
706of young Iulus, and this bidding gave to his obedient ear: “Arise and go where my Ascanius has lined his troop of youthful cavalry, and trained the steeds to tread in ranks of war. Bid him lead forth
711the squadron in our sire Anchises' name, and wear a hero's arms!” So saying, he bade the course be cleared, and from the whole wide field th' insurging, curious multitude withdrew. In rode the boys, to meet their parents' eyes,
716in even lines, a glittering cavalry; while all Trinacria and the host from Troy made loud applause. On each bright brow a well-trimmed wreath the flowing tresses bound; two javelins of corner tipped with steel
721each bore for arms; some from the shoulder slung a polished quiver; to each bosom fell a pliant necklace of fine, twisted gold. Three bands of horsemen ride, three captains proud prance here and there, assiduous in command,
726each of his twelve, who shine in parted lines which lesser captains lead. One cohort proud follows a little Priam's royal name — one day, Polites, thy illustrious race through him prolonged, shall greater glory bring
731to Italy. A dappled Thracian steed with snow-white spots and fore-feet white as snow bears him along, its white face lifted high. Next Atys rode, young Atys, sire to be of th' Atian house in Rome, a boy most dear
736unto the boy Iulus; last in line, and fairest of the throng, Iulus came, astride a steed from Sidon, the fond gift of beauteous Dido and her pledge of love. Close followed him the youthful chivalry
741of King Acestes on Trinacrian steeds. The Trojans, with exultant, Ioud acclaim, receive the shy-faced boys, and joyfully trace in the features of the sons their sires. After, with smiling eyes, the horsemen proud
746have greeted each his kin in all the throng, Epytides th' appointed signal calls, and cracks his lash; in even lines they move, then, Ioosely sundering in triple band, wheel at a word and thrust their lances forth
751in hostile ranks; or on the ample field retreat or charge, in figure intricate of circling troop with troop, and swift parade of simulated war; now from the field they flee with backs defenceless to the foe;
756then rally, lance in rest—or, mingling all, make common front, one legion strong and fair. As once in Crete, the lofty mountain-isle, that-fabled labyrinthine gallery wound on through lightless walls, with thousand paths
761which baffled every clue, and led astray in unreturning mazes dark and blind: so did the sons of Troy their courses weave in mimic flights and battles fought for play, like dolphins tumbling in the liquid waves,
766along the Afric or Carpathian seas. This game and mode of march Ascanius, when Alba Longa's bastions proudly rose, taught to the Latin people of the prime; and as the princely Trojan and his train
771were wont to do, so Alba to her sons the custom gave; so glorious Rome at last the heritage accepted and revered; and still we know them for the “Trojan Band,” and call the lads a “Troy.” Such was the end
776of game and contest at Anchises' grave. Then fortune veered and different aspect wore. For 'ere the sacred funeral games are done, Saturnian Juno from high heaven sent down the light-winged Iris to the ships of Troy,
781giving her flight good wind—still full of schemes and hungering to avenge her ancient wrong. Unseen of mortal eye, the virgin took her pathway on the thousand-colored bow, and o'er its gliding passage earthward flew.
786She scanned the vast assemblage; then her gaze turned shoreward, where along the idle bay the Trojan galleys quite unpeopled rode. But far removed, upon a lonely shore, a throng of Trojan dames bewailed aloud
791their lost Anchises, and with tears surveyed the mighty deep. “O weary waste of seas! What vast, untravelled floods beyond us roll!” So cried they with one voice, and prayed the gods for an abiding city; every heart
796loathed utterly the long, laborious sea. Then in their midst alighted, not unskilled in working woe, the goddess; though she wore nor garb nor form divine, but made herself one Beroe, Doryclus' aged wife,
801who in her happier days had lineage fair and sons of noble name; in such disguise she called the Trojan dames:“O ye ill-starred, that were not seized and slain by Grecian foes under your native walls! O tribe accursed,
806what death is Fate preparing? Since Troy fell the seventh summer flies, while still we rove o'er cruel rocks and seas, from star to star, from alien land to land, as evermore we chase, storm-tossed, that fleeting Italy
811across the waters wide. Behold this land of Eryx, of Acestes, friend and kin; what hinders them to raise a rampart here and build a town? O city of our sires! O venerated gods from haughty foes
816rescued in vain! Will nevermore a wall rise in the name of Troy? Shall I not see a Xanthus or a Simois, the streams to Hector dear? Come now! I lead the way. Let us go touch their baneful ships with fire!
821I saw Cassandra in a dream. Her shade, prophetic ever, gave me firebrands, and cried, ‘Find Ilium so! The home for thee is where thou art.’ Behold, the hour is ripe for our great act! No longer now delay
826to heed the heavenly omen. Yonder stand four altars unto Neptune. 'T is the god, the god himself, gives courage for the deed, and swift-enkindling fire.” So having said, she seized a dreadful brand; then, lifting high,
831waved it all flaming, and with furious arm hurled it from far. The Ilian matrons gazed, bewildered and appalled. But one, of all the eldest, Pyrgo, venerated nurse of Priam's numerous sons, exclaimed, “Nay, nay!
836This is no Beroe, my noble dames. Doryclus knew her not. Behold and see her heavenly beauty and her radiant eyes! What voice of music and majestic mien, what movement like a god! Myself am come
841from Beroe sick, and left her grieving sore that she, she only, had no gift to bring of mournful honor to Anchises' shade.” She spoke. The women with ill-boding eyes looked on the ships. Their doubting hearts were torn
846'twixt tearful passion for the beauteous isle their feet then trod, and that prophetic call of Fate to lands unknown. Then on wide wings soared Iris into heaven, and through the clouds clove a vast arch of light. With wonder dazed,
851the women in a shrieking frenzy rose, took embers from the hearth-stones, stole the fires upon the altars—faggots, branches, brands — and rained them on the ships. The god of fire, through thwarts and oars and bows of painted fir,
856ran in unbridled flame. Swift to the tomb of Sire Anchises, to the circus-seats, the messenger Eumelus flew, to bring news of the ships on fire; soon every eye the clouds of smoke and hovering flame could see.
861Ascanius, who had led with smiling brow his troops of horse, accoutred as he was, rode hot-haste to the turmoil of the camp, nor could his guards restrain . “What madness now? What is it ye would do?” he cried. “Alas!
866Ill-fated women! Not our enemies, nor the dread bulwarks of the Greek ye burn, but all ye have to hope for. Look at me, your own Ascanius!” His helmet then into their midst he flung, which he had worn
871for pageantry of war. Aeneas, too, with Trojan bands sped thither. But far off, the women, panic-scattered on the shore, fled many ways, and deep in caverned crags or shadowed forests hid them, for they Ioathed
876their deed and life itself; their thoughts were changed; they knew their kin and husbands, and their hearts from Juno were set free. But none the less the burning and indomitable flames raged without stay; beneath the ships' smeared sides
881the hempen fuel puffed a lingering smoke, as, through the whole bulk creeping, the slow fire devoured its way; and little it availed that strong men fought the fire with stream on stream. Then good Aeneas from his shoulder rent
886his garment, and with lifted hands implored the help of Heaven. “O Jove omnipotent! If thou not yet thy wrath implacable on every Trojan pourest, if thou still hast pity, as of old, for what men bear,
891O, grant my fleet deliverance from this flame! From uttermost destruction, Father, save our desperate Trojan cause! Or even now — last cruelty! thy fatal thunders throw. If this be my just meed, let thy dread arm
896confound us all.” But scarce the prayer is said, when with a bursting deluge a dark storm falls, marvellous to see; while hills and plains with thunder shake, and to each rim of heaven spreads swollen cloud-rack, black with copious rain
901and multitudinous gales. The full flood pours on every ship, and all the smouldering beams are drenched, until the smoke and flames expire and (though four ships be lost) the burning fleet rides rescued from its doom. But smitten sore
906by this mischance, Aeneas doubtfully weighs in his heart its mighty load of cares, and ponders if indeed he may abide in Sicily, not heeding prophet-songs, or seek Italian shores. Thereon uprose
911Nautes, an aged sire, to whom alone Tritonian Pallas of her wisdom gave and made his skill renowned; he had the power to show celestial anger's warning signs, or tell Fate's fixed decree. The gifted man
916thus to Aeneas comfortably spoke: “O goddess-born, we follow here or there, as Fate compels or stays. But come what may, he triumphs over Fortune, who can bear whate'er she brings. Behold, Acestes draws
921from Dardanus his origin divine! Make him thy willing friend, to share with thee thy purpose and thy counsel. Leave with him the crews of the lost ships, and all whose hearts repine at thy high task and great emprise:
926the spent old men, the women ocean-weary, whate'er is feeble found, or faint of heart in danger's hour,—set that apart, and give such weary ones within this friendly isle a city called Acesta,—if he will.”
931Much moved Aeneas was by this wise word of his gray friend, though still his anxious soul was vexed by doubt and care. But when dark night had brought her chariot to the middle sky, the sacred shade of Sire Anchises seemed,
936from heaven descending, thus to speak aloud: “My son, than life more dear, when life was mine! O son, upon whose heart the Trojan doom has weighed so Iong! Beside thy couch I stand, at pleasure of great Jove, whose hand dispelled
941the mad fire from thy ships; and now he looks from heaven with pitying brow. I bid thee heed the noble counsels aged Nautes gave. Only with warriors of dauntless breast to Italy repair; of hardy breed,
946of wild, rough life, thy Latin foes will be. But first the shores of Pluto and the Shades thy feet must tread, and through the deep abyss of dark Avernus come to me, thy sire: for I inhabit not the guilty gloom
951of Tartarus, but bright Elysian day, where all the just their sweet assemblies hold. Hither the virgin Sibyl, if thou give full offerings of the blood of sable kine, shall lead thee down; and visions I will show
956of cities proud and nations sprung from thee. Farewell, for dewy Night has wheeled her way far past her middle course; the panting steeds of orient Morn breathe pitiless upon me.” He spoke, and passed, like fleeting clouds of smoke,
961to empty air. “O, whither haste away?” Aeneas cried. “Whom dost thou fly? What god from my fond yearning and embrace removes?” Then on the altar of the gods of Troy he woke the smouldering embers, at the shrine
966of venerable Vesta, worshipping with hallowed bread and incense burning free. Straightway he calls assembly of his friends, — Acestes first in honor,—and makes known Jove's will, the counsel of his cherished sire,
971and his own fresh resolve. With prompt assent they hear his word, nor does Acestes fail the task to share. They people the new town with women; and leave every wight behind who wills it—souls not thirsting for high praise.
976Themselves re-bench their ships, rebuild, and fit with rope and oar the flame-swept galleys all; a band not large, but warriors bold and true. Aeneas, guiding with his hand a plough, marks out the city's ground, gives separate lands
981by lot, and bids within this space appear a second Troy. Trojan Acestes takes the kingly power, and with benignant joy appoints a forum, and decrees just laws before a gathered senate. Then they raise
986on that star-circled Erycinian hill, the temple to Idalian Venus dear; and at Anchises' sepulchre ordain a priesthood and wide groves of hallowed shade. Now the nine days of funeral pomp are done,
991and every altar has had honors due from all the folk. Now tranquil-breathing winds have levelled the great deep, while brisk and free, a favoring Auster bids them launch away. But sound of many a wailing voice is heard
996along the winding shore; for ere they go, in fond embraces for a night and day they linger still. The women—aye, and men! — who hated yesterday the ocean's face and loathed its name, now clamor to set sail
1001and bear all want and woe to exiles known. But good Aeneas with benignant words their sorrow soothes, and, not without a tear, consigns them to Acestes' kindred care. Then bids he sacrifice to Eryx' shade
1006three bulls, and to the wind-gods and the storm a lamb, then loose the ships in order due. He, with a garland of shorn olive, stood holding aloft the sacrificial bowl from his own vessel's prow, and scattered far
1011the sacred entrails o'er the bitter wave, with gift of flowing wine. Swift at the stern a fair wind rose and thrust them; while the crews with rival strokes swept o'er the spreading sea. Venus, the while, disturbed with grief and care,
1016to Neptune thus her sorrowing heart outpoured: “Stern Juno's wrath and breast implacable compel me, Neptune, to abase my pride in lowly supplication. Lapse of days, nor prayers, nor virtues her hard heart subdue,
1021nor Jove's command; nor will she rest or yield at Fate's decree. Her execrable grudge is still unfed, although she did consume the Trojan city, Phrygia's midmost throne, and though she has accomplished stroke on stroke
1026of retribution. But she now pursues the remnant—aye! the ashes and bare bones of perished Ilium; though the cause and spring of wrath so great none but herself can tell. Wert thou not witness on the Libyan wave
1031what storm she stirred, immingling sea and sky, and with Aeolian whirlwinds made her war, — in vain and insolent invasion, sire, of thine own realm and power? Behold, but now, goading to evil deeds the Trojan dames,
1036she basely burned his ships; he in strange lands must leave the crews of his Iost fleet behind. O, I entreat thee, let the remnant sail in safety o'er thy sea, and end their way in Tiber's holy stream;—if this my prayer
1041be lawful, and that city's rampart proud be still what Fate intends.”Then Saturn's son, the ruler of the seas profound, replied: “Queen of Cythera, it is meet for thee to trust my waves from which thyself art sprung.
1046Have I not proved a friend, and oft restrained the anger and wild wrath of seas and skies? On land, let Simois and Xanthus tell if I have loved Aeneas! On that day Achilles drove the shuddering hosts of Troy
1051in panic to the walls, and hurled to death innumerable foes, until the streams were choked with dead, and Xanthus scarce could find his wonted path to sea; that self-same day, aeneas, spent, and with no help of Heaven,
1056met Peleus' dreadful son:—who else but I in cloudy mantle bore him safe afar? Though 't was my will to cast down utterly the walls of perjured Troy, which my own hands had built beside the sea. And even to-day
1061my favor changes not. Dispel thy fear! Safe, even as thou prayest, he shall ride to Cumae's haven, where Avernus lies. One only sinks beneath th' engulfing seas, — one life in lieu of many.” Having soothed
1066and cheered her heart divine, the worshipped sire flung o'er his mated steeds a yoke of gold, bridled the wild, white mouths, and with strong hand shook out long, Ioosened reins. His azure car skimmed light and free along the crested waves;
1071before his path the rolling billows all were calm and still, and each o'er-swollen flood sank 'neath his sounding wheel; while from the skies the storm-clouds fled away. Behind him trailed a various company; vast bulk of whales,
1076the hoary band of Glaucus, Ino's son, Palaemon and the nimble Tritons all, the troop of Phorcus; and to leftward ranged Thalia, Thetis, and fair Alelite, with virgin Panopea, and the nymphs
1081Nesaea, Spio and Cymodoce. Now in Aeneas' ever-burdened breast the voice of hope revived. He bade make haste to raise the masts, spread canvas on the spars; all hands hauled at the sheets, and left or right
1086shook out the loosened sails, or twirled in place the horn-tipped yards. Before a favoring wind the fleet sped on. The line in close array was led by Palinurus, in whose course all ships were bid to follow. Soon the car
1091of dewy Night drew near the turning-point of her celestial round. The oarsmen all yielded their limbs to rest, and prone had fallen on the hard thwarts, in deep, unpillowed slumber. Then from the high stars on light-moving wings,
1096the God of Sleep found passage through the dark and clove the gloom,—to bring upon thy head, O Palinurus, an ill-boding sleep, though blameless thou. Upon thy ship the god in guise of Phorbas stood, thus whispering:
1101“Look, Palinurus, how the flowing tides lift on thy fleet unsteered, and changeless winds behind thee breathe! 'T is now a happy hour take thy rest. Lay down the weary head. Steal tired eyes from toiling. I will do
1106thine office for thee, just a little space.” But Palinurus, lifting scarce his eyes, thus answered him: “Have I not known the face of yonder placid seas and tranquil waves? Put faith in such a monster? Could I trust —
1111I, oft by ocean's treacherous calm betrayed — my lord Aeneas to false winds and skies?” So saying, he grasped his rudder tight, and clung more firmly, fixing on the stars his eyes. Then waved the god above his brows a branch
1116wet with the dews of Lethe and imbued with power of Stygian dark, until his eyes wavered and slowly sank. The slumberous snare had scarce unbound his limbs, when, leaning o'er, the god upon the waters flung him forth,
1121hands clutching still the helm and ship-rail torn, and calling on his comrades, but in vain. Then soared th' immortal into viewless air; and in swift course across the level sea the fleet sped safe, protected from all fear
1126by Neptune's vow. Yet were they drawing nigh the sirens' island-steep, where oft are seen white, bleaching bones, and to the distant ear the rocks roar harshly in perpetual foam. Then of his drifting fleet and pilot gone
1131Aeneas was aware, and, taking helm, steered through the midnight waves, with many a sigh; and, by his comrade's pitiable death sore-smitten, cried, “O, thou didst trust too far fair skies and seas, and liest without a grave,
1136my Palinurus, in a land unknown!”
Book 6
1Sic fatur lacrimans, classique immittit habenas, et tandem Euboïcis Cumarum adlabitur oris. Obvertunt pelago proras; tum dente tenaci ancora fundabat naves, et litora curvae praetexunt puppes. Iuvenum manus emicat ardens
6litus in Hesperium; quaerit pars semina flammae abstrusa in venis silicis, pars densa ferarum tecta rapit silvas, inventaque flumina monstrat. At pius Aeneas arces, quibus altus Apollo praesidet, horrendaeque procul secreta Sibyllae
11antrum immane petit, magnum cui mentem animumque Delius inspirat vates, aperitque futura. Iam subeunt Triviae lucos atque aurea tecta. Daedalus, ut fama est, fugiens Minoïa regna, praepetibus pennis ausus se credere caelo,
16insuetum per iter gelidas enavit ad Arctos, Chalcidicaque levis tandem super adstitit arce. Redditus his primum terris, tibi, Phoebe, sacravit remigium alarum, posuitque immania templa. In foribus letum Androgeo: tum pendere poenas
21Cecropidae iussi—miserum!—septena quotannis corpora natorum; stat ductis sortibus urna. Contra elata mari respondet Gnosia tellus: hic crudelis amor tauri, suppostaque furto Pasiphaë, mixtumque genus prolesque biformis
26Minotaurus inest, Veneris monumenta nefandae; hic labor ille domus et inextricabilis error; magnum reginae sed enim miseratus amorem Daedalus ipse dolos tecti ambagesque resolvit, caeca regens filo vestigia. Tu quoque magnam
31partem opere in tanto, sineret dolor, Icare, haberes. Bis conatus erat casus effingere in auro; bis patriae cecidere manus. Quin protinus omnia perlegerent oculis, ni iam praemissus Achates adforet, atque una Phoebi Triviaeque sacerdos,
36Deiphobe Glauci, fatur quae talia regi: Non hoc ista sibi tempus spectacula poscit; nunc grege de intacto septem mactare iuvencos praestiterit, totidem lectas de more bidentes. Talibus adfata Aenean (nec sacra morantur
41iussa viri), Teucros vocat alta in templa sacerdos. Excisum Euboicae latus ingens rupis in antrum, quo lati ducunt aditus centum, ostia centum; unde ruunt totidem voces, responsa Sibyllae. Ventum erat ad limen, cum virgo. Poscere fata
46tempus ait; deus, ecce, deus! Cui talia fanti ante fores subito non voltus, non color unus, non comptae mansere comae; sed pectus anhelum, et rabie fera corda tument; maiorque videri, nec mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando
51iam propiore dei. Cessas in vota precesque, Tros ait Aenea? Cessas? Neque enim ante dehiscent attonitae magna ora domus. Et talia fata conticuit. Gelidus Teucris per dura cucurrit ossa tremor, funditque preces rex pectore ab imo:
56Phoebe, graves Troiae semper miserate labores, Dardana qui Paridis direxti tela manusque corpus in Aeacidae, magnas obeuntia terras tot maria intravi duce te, penitusque repostas Massylum gentes praetentaque Syrtibus arva,
61iam tandem Italiae fugientis prendimus oras; hac Troiana tenus fuerit Fortuna secuta. Vos quoque Pergameae iam fas est parcere genti, dique deaeque omnes quibus obstitit Ilium et ingens gloria Dardaniae. Tuque, O sanctissima vates,
66praescia venturi, da, non indebita posco regna meis fatis, Latio considere Teucros errantisque deos agitataque numina Troiae. Tum Phoebo et Triviae solido de marmore templum instituam, festosque dies de nomine Phoebi.
71Te quoque magna manent regnis penetralia nostris: hic ego namque tuas sortes arcanaque fata, dicta meae genti, ponam, lectosque sacrabo, alma, viros. Foliis tantum ne carmina manda, ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis;
76ipsa canas oro. Finem dedit ore loquendi. At, Phoebi nondum patiens, immanis in antro bacchatur vates, magnum si pectore possit excussisse deum; tanto magis ille fatigat os rabidum, fera corda domans, fingitque premendo.
81Ostia iamque domus patuere ingentia centum sponte sua, vatisque ferunt responsa per auras: O tandem magnis pelagi defuncte periclis! Sed terrae graviora manent. In regna Lavini Dardanidae venient; mitte hanc de pectore curam;
86sed non et venisse volent. Bella, horrida bella, et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno. Non Simois tibi, nec Xanthus, nec Dorica castra defuerint; alius Latio iam partus Achilles, natus et ipse dea; nec Teucris addita Iuno
91usquam aberit; cum tu supplex in rebus egenis quas gentes Italum aut quas non oraveris urbes! Causa mali tanti coniunx iterum hospita Teucris externique iterum thalami. Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito,
96qua tua te Fortuna sinet. Via prima salutis, quod minime reris, Graia pandetur ab urbe. Talibus ex adyto dictis Cumaea Sibylla horrendas canit ambages antroque remugit, obscuris vera involvens: ea frena furenti
101concutit, et stimulos sub pectore vertit Apollo. Ut primum cessit furor et rabida ora quierunt, incipit Aeneas heros: Non ulla laborum, O virgo, nova mi facies inopinave surgit; omnia praecepi atque animo mecum ante peregi.
106Unum oro: quando hic inferni ianua regis dicitur, et tenebrosa palus Acheronte refuso, ire ad conspectum cari genitoris et ora contingat; doceas iter et sacra ostia pandas. Illum ego per flammas et mille sequentia tela
111eripui his umeris, medioque ex hoste recepi; ille meum comitatus iter, maria omnia mecum atque omnes pelagique minas caelique ferebat, invalidus, vires ultra sortemque senectae. Quin, ut te supplex peterem et tua limina adirem,
116idem orans mandata dabat. Gnatique patrisque, alma, precor, miserere;—potes namque omnia, nec te nequiquam lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis;— si potuit Manes arcessere coniugis Orpheus, Threïcia fretus cithara fidibusque canoris,
121si fratrem Pollux alterna morte redemit, itque reditque viam totiens. Quid Thesea, magnum quid memorem Alciden? Et mi genus ab Iove summo. Talibus orabat dictis, arasque tenebat, cum sic orsa loqui vates: Sate sanguine divom,
126Tros Anchisiade, facilis descensus Averno; noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, hoc opus, hic labor est. Pauci, quos aequus amavit Iuppiter, aut ardens evexit ad aethera virtus,
131dis geniti potuere. Tenent media omnia silvae, Cocytusque sinu labens circumvenit atro. Quod si tantus amor menti, si tanta cupido est, bis Stygios innare lacus, bis nigra videre Tartara, et insano iuvat indulgere labori,
136accipe, quae peragenda prius. Latet arbore opaca aureus et foliis et lento vimine ramus, Iunoni infernae dictus sacer; hunc tegit omnis lucus, et obscuris claudunt convallibus umbrae. Sed non ante datur telluris operta subire,
141auricomos quam quis decerpserit arbore fetus. Hoc sibi pulchra suum ferri Proserpina munus instituit. Primo avulso non deficit alter aureus, et simili frondescit virga metallo. Ergo alte vestiga oculis, et rite repertum
146carpe manu; namque ipse volens facilisque sequetur, si te fata vocant; aliter non viribus ullis vincere, nec duro poteris convellere ferro. Praeterea iacet exanimum tibi corpus amici— heu nescis—totamque incestat funere classem,
151dum consulta petis nostroque in limine pendes. Sedibus hunc refer ante suis et conde sepulchro. Duc nigras pecudes; ea prima piacula sunto: sic demum lucos Stygis et regna invia vivis aspicies. Dixit, pressoque obmutuit ore.
156Aeneas maesto defixus lumina voltu ingreditur, linquens antrum, caecosque volutat eventus animo secum. Cui fidus Achates it comes, et paribus curis vestigia figit. Multa inter sese vario sermone serebant,
161quem socium exanimem vates, quod corpus humandum diceret. Atque illi Misenum in litore sicco, ut venere, vident indigna morte peremptum, Misenum Aeoliden, quo non praestantior alter aere ciere viros, Martemque accendere cantu.
166Hectoris hic magni fuerat comes, Hectora circum et lituo pugnas insignis obibat et hasta: postquam illum vita victor spoliavit Achilles, Dardanio Aeneae sese fortissimus heros addiderat socium, non inferiora secutus.
171Sed tum, forte cava dum personat aequora concha, demens, et cantu vocat in certamina divos, aemulus exceptum Triton, si credere dignum est, inter saxa virum spumosa inmerserat unda. Ergo omnes magno circum clamore fremebant,
176praecipue pius Aeneas. Tum iussa Sibyllae, haud mora, festinant flentes, aramque sepulchri congerere arboribus caeloque educere certant. Itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum; procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ilex,
181fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur scinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus ornos. Nec non Aeneas opera inter talia primus hortatur socios, paribusque accingitur armis. Atque haec ipse suo tristi cum corde volutat,
186aspectans silvam inmensam, et sic voce precatur: Si nunc se nobis ille aureus arbore ramus ostendat nemore in tanto, quando omnia vere heu nimium de te vates, Misene, locuta est. Vix ea fatus erat, geminae cum forte columbae
191ipsa sub ora viri caelo venere volantes, et viridi sedere solo. Tum maximus heros maternas agnoscit aves, laetusque precatur: Este duces, O, si qua via est, cursumque per auras dirigite in lucos, ubi pinguem dives opacat
196ramus humum. Tuque, O, dubiis ne defice rebus, diva parens. Sic effatus vestigia pressit, observans quae signa ferant, quo tendere pergant. Pascentes illae tantum prodire volando, quantum acie possent oculi servare sequentum.
201Inde ubi venere ad fauces grave olentis Averni, tollunt se celeres, liquidumque per aëra lapsae sedibus optatis geminae super arbore sidunt, discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit. Quale solet silvis brumali frigore viscum
206fronde virere nova, quod non sua seminat arbos, et croceo fetu teretis circumdare truncos, talis erat species auri frondentis opaca ilice, sic leni crepitabat brattea vento. Corripit Aeneas extemplo avidusque refringit
211cunctantem, et vatis portat sub tecta Sibyllae. Nec minus interea Misenum in litore Teucri flebant, et cineri ingrato suprema ferebant. Principio pinguem taedis et robore secto ingentem struxere pyram, cui frondibus atris
216intexunt latera, et ferales ante cupressos constituunt, decorantque super fulgentibus armis. Pars calidos latices et aëna undantia flammis expediunt, corpusque lavant frigentis et unguunt. Fit gemitus. Tum membra toro defleta reponunt,
221purpureasque super vestes, velamina nota, coniciunt. Pars ingenti subiere feretro, triste ministerium, et subiectam more parentum aversi tenuere facem. Congesta cremantur turea dona, dapes, fuso crateres olivo.
226Postquam conlapsi cineres et flamma quievit reliquias vino et bibulam lavere favillam, ossaque lecta cado texit Corynaeus aëno. Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda, spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae,
231lustravitque viros, dixitque novissima verba. At pius Aeneas ingenti mole sepulcrum imponit, suaque arma viro, remumque tubamque, monte sub aërio, qui nunc Misenus ab illo dicitur, aeternumque tenet per saecula nomen.
236His actis, propere exsequitur praecepta Sibyllae. Spelunca alta fuit vastoque immanis hiatu, scrupea, tuta lacu nigro nemorumque tenebris, quam super haud ullae poterant impune volantes tendere iter pennis—talis sese halitus atris
241faucibus effundens supera ad convexa ferebat: quattuor hic primum nigrantis terga iuvencos constituit, frontique invergit vina sacerdos; et summas carpens media inter cornua saetas ignibus imponit sacris, libamina prima,
247voce vocans Hecaten, Caeloque Ereboque potentem. Supponunt alii cultros, tepidumque cruorem suscipiunt pateris. Ipse atri velleris agnam Aeneas matri Eumenidum magnaeque sorori ense ferit, sterilemque tibi. Proserpina, vaccam.
252Tum Stygio regi nocturnas inchoat aras, et solida imponit taurorum viscera flammis, pingue superque oleum infundens ardentibus extis. Ecce autem, primi sub lumina solis et ortus, sub pedibus mugire solum, et iuga coepta moveri
257silvarum, visaeque canes ululare per umbram, adventante dea. Procul O procul este, profani, conclamat vates, totoque absistite luco; tuque invade viam, vaginaque eripe ferrum: nunc animis opus, Aenea, nunc pectore firmo.
262Tantum effata, furens antro se immisit aperto; ille ducem haud timidis vadentem passibus aequat. Di, quibus imperium est animarum, umbraeque silentes, et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte tacentia late, sit mihi fas audita loqui; sit numine vestro
267pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas! Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, perque domos Ditis vacuas et inania regna: quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna est iter in silvis, ubi caelum condidit umbra
272Iuppiter, et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem. Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus Orci Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus, et Metus, et malesuada Fames, ac turpis Egestas,
277terribiles visu formae: Letumque, Labosque; tum consanguineus Leti Sopor, et mala mentis Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum, ferreique Eumenidum thalami, et Discordia demens, vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis.
282In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia volgo vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent. Multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum: Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllaeque biformes,
287et centumgeminus Briareus, ac belua Lernae horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera, Gorgones Harpyiaeque et forma tricorporis umbrae. Corripit hic subita trepidus formidine ferrum Aeneas, strictamque aciem venientibus offert,
292et, ni docta comes tenues sine corpore vitas admoneat volitare cava sub imagine formae, inruat, et frustra ferro diverberet umbras. Hinc via, Tartarei quae fert Acherontis ad undas. Turbidus hic caeno vastaque voragine gurges
297aestuat, atque omnem Cocyto eructat harenam. Portitor has horrendus aquas et flumina servat terribili squalore Charon, cui plurima mento canities inculta iacet; stant lumina flamma, sordidus ex umeris nodo dependet amictus.
302Ipse ratem conto subigit, velisque ministrat, et ferruginea subvectat corpora cymba, iam senior, sed cruda deo viridisque senectus. Huc omnis turba ad ripas effusa ruebat, matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vita
307magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae, impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum: quam multa in silvis autumni frigore primo lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto quam multae glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus
312trans pontum fugat, et terris immittit apricis. Stabant orantes primi transmittere cursum, tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore. Navita sed tristis nunc hos nunc accipit illos, ast alios longe submotos arcet harena.
317Aeneas, miratus enim motusque tumultu, Dic ait O virgo, quid volt concursus ad amnem? Quidve petunt animae, vel quo discrimine ripas hae linquunt, illae remis vada livida verrunt? Olli sic breviter fata est longaeva sacerdos:
322Anchisa generate, deum certissima proles, Cocyti stagna alta vides Stygiamque paludem, di cuius iurare timent et fallere numen. Haec omnis, quam cernis, inops inhumataque turba est; portitor ille Charon; hi, quos vehit unda, sepulti.
327Nec ripas datur horrendas et rauca fluenta transportare prius quam sedibus ossa quierunt. Centum errant annos volitantque haec litora circum; tum demum admissi stagna exoptata revisunt. Constitit Anchisa satus et vestigia pressit,
332multa putans, sortemque animo miseratus iniquam. Cernit ibi maestos et mortis honore carentes Leucaspim et Lyciae ductorem classis Oronten, quos, simul ab Troia ventosa per aequora vectos, obruit Auster, aqua involvens navemque virosque.
337Ecce gubernator sese Palinurus agebat, qui Libyco nuper cursu, dum sidera servat, exciderat puppi mediis effusus in undis. Hunc ubi vix multa maestum cognovit in umbra, sic prior adloquitur: Quis te, Palinure, deorum
342eripuit nobis, medioque sub aequore mersit? Dic age. Namque mihi, fallax haud ante repertus, hoc uno responso animum delusit Apollo, qui fore te ponto incolumem, finesque canebat venturum Ausonios. En haec promissa fides est?
347Ille autem: Neque te Phoebi cortina fefellit, dux Anchisiade, nec me deus aequore mersit. Namque gubernaclum multa vi forte revolsum, cui datus haerebam custos cursusque regebam, praecipitans traxi mecum. Maria aspera iuro
352non ullum pro me tantum cepisse timorem, quam tua ne, spoliata armis, excussa magistro, deficeret tantis navis surgentibus undis. Tris Notus hibernas immensa per aequora noctes vexit me violentus aqua; vix lumine quarto
357prospexi Italiam summa sublimis ab unda. Paulatim adnabam terrae; iam tuta tenebam, ni gens crudelis madida cum veste gravatum prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis ferro invasisset, praedamque ignara putasset.
362Nunc me fluctus habet, versantque in litore venti. Quod te per caeli iucundum lumen et auras, per genitorem oro, per spes surgentis Iuli, eripe me his, invicte, malis: aut tu mihi terram inice, namque potes, portusque require Velinos;
367aut tu, si qua via est, si quam tibi diva creatrix ostendit—neque enim, credo, sine numine divom flumina tanta paras Stygiamque innare paludem— da dextram misero, et tecum me tolle per undas, sedibus ut saltem placidis in morte quiescam.
372Talia fatus erat, coepit cum talia vates: Unde haec, o Palinure, tibi tam dira cupido? Tu Stygias inhumatus aquas amnemque severum Eumenidum aspicies, ripamve iniussus adibis? Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.
377Sed cape dicta memor, duri solatia casus. Nam tua finitimi, longe lateque per urbes prodigiis acti caelestibus, ossa piabunt, et statuent tumulum, et tumulo sollemnia mittent, aeternumque locus Palinuri nomen habebit.
382His dictis curae emotae, pulsusque parumper corde dolor tristi: gaudet cognomine terrae. Ergo iter inceptum peragunt fluvioque propinquant. Navita quos iam inde ut Stygia prospexit ab unda per tacitum nemus ire pedemque advertere ripae,
387sic prior adgreditur dictis, atque increpat ultro: Quisquis es, armatus qui nostra ad flumina tendis, fare age, quid venias, iam istinc, et comprime gressum. Umbrarum hic locus est, somni noctisque soporae; corpora viva nefas Stygia vectare carina.
392Nec vero Alciden me sum laetatus euntem accepisse lacu, nec Thesea Pirithoumque, dis quamquam geniti atque invicti viribus essent. Tartareum ille manu custodem in vincla petivit, ipsius a solio regis, traxitque trementem;
397hi dominam Ditis thalamo deducere adorti. Quae contra breviter fata est Amphrysia vates: Nullae hic insidiae tales; absiste moveri; nec vim tela ferunt; licet ingens ianitor antro aeternum latrans exsanguis terreat umbras,
402casta licet patrui servet Proserpina limen. Troius Aeneas, pietate insignis et armis, ad genitorem imas Erebi descendit ad umbras. Si te nulla movet tantae pietatis imago, at ramum hunc (aperit ramum, qui veste latebat)
407adgnoscas. Tumida ex ira tum corda residunt. Nec plura his. Ille admirans venerabile donum fatalis virgae, longo post tempore visum, caeruleam advertit puppim, ripaeque propinquat. Inde alias animas, quae per iuga longa sedebant,
412deturbat, laxatque foros; simul accipit alveo ingentem Aenean. Gemuit sub pondere cymba sutilis, et multam accepit rimosa paludem. Tandem trans fluvium incolumis vatemque virumque informi limo glaucaque exponit in ulva.
417Cerberus haec ingens latratu regna trifauci personat, adverso recubans immanis in antro. Cui vates, horrere videns iam colla colubris, melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam obicit. Ille fame rabida tria guttura pandens
422corripit obiectam, atque immania terga resolvit fusus humi, totoque ingens extenditur antro. Occupat Aeneas aditum custode sepulto, evaditque celer ripam inremeabilis undae. Continuo auditae voces, vagitus et ingens,
427infantumque animae flentes in limine primo, quos dulcis vitae exsortes et ab ubere raptos abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo; hos iuxta falso damnati crimine mortis. Nec vero hae sine sorte datae, sine iudice, sedes:
432quaesitor Minos urnam movet; ille silentum conciliumque vocat vitasque et crimina discit. Proxuma deinde tenent maesti loca, qui sibi letum insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi proiecere animas. Quam vellent aethere in alto
437nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores! Fas obstat, tristisque palus inamabilis undae alligat, et noviens Styx interfusa coërcet. Nec procul hinc partem fusi monstrantur in omnem lugentes campi: sic illos nomine dicunt.
442Hic, quos durus amor crudeli tabe peredit, secreti celant calles et myrtea circum silva tegit; curae non ipsa in morte relinquunt. His Phaedram Procrimque locis, maestamque Eriphylen crudelis nati monstrantem volnera, cernit,
447Evadnenque et Pasiphaën; his Laodamia it comes, et iuvenis quondam, nunc femina, Caeneus, rursus et in veterem fato revoluta figuram. Inter quas Phoenissa recens a volnere Dido errabat silva in magna; quam Troius heros
452ut primum iuxta stetit adgnovitque per umbras obscuram, qualem primo qui surgere mense aut videt, aut vidisse putat per nubila lunam, demisit lacrimas, dulcique adfatus amore est: Infelix Dido, verus mihi nuntius ergo
457venerat exstinctam, ferroque extrema secutam? Funeris heu tibi causa fui? Per sidera iuro, per superos, et si qua fides tellure sub ima est, invitus, regina, tuo de litore cessi. Sed me iussa deum, quae nunc has ire per umbras,
462per loca senta situ cogunt noctemque profundam, imperiis egere suis; nec credere quivi hunc tantum tibi me discessu ferre dolorem. Siste gradum, teque aspectu ne subtrahe nostro. Quem fugis? Extremum fato, quod te adloquor, hoc est.
467Talibus Aeneas ardentem et torva tuentem lenibat dictis animum, lacrimasque ciebat. Illa solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat, nec magis incepto voltum sermone movetur, quam si dura silex aut stet Marpesia cautes.
472tandem corripuit sese, atque inimica refugit in nemus umbriferum, coniunx ubi pristinus illi respondet curis aequatque Sychaeus amorem. Nec minus Aeneas, casu concussus iniquo, prosequitur lacrimis longe, et miseratur euntem.
477Inde datum molitur iter. Iamque arva tenebant ultima, quae bello clari secreta frequentant. Hic illi occurrit Tydeus, hic inclutus armis Parthenopaeus et Adrasti pallentis imago; hic multum fleti ad superos belloque caduci
482Dardanidae, quos ille omnes longo ordine cernens ingemuit, Glaucumque Medontaque Thersilochumque, tris Antenoridas, Cererique sacrum Polyphoeten, Idaeumque, etiam currus, etiam arma tenentem. circumstant animae dextra laevaque frequentes;
487nec vidisse semel satis est; iuvat usque morari, et conferre gradum, et veniendi discere causas. At Danaum proceres Agamemnoniaeque phalanges ut videre virum fulgentiaque arma per umbras, ingenti trepidare metu; pars vertere terga,
492ceu quondam petiere rates; pars tollere vocem exiguam, inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes. Atque hic Priamiden laniatum corpore toto Deiphobum videt et lacerum crudeliter ora, ora manusque ambas, populataque tempora raptis
497auribus, et truncas inhonesto volnere nares. Vix adeo adgnovit pavitantem et dira tegentem supplicia, et notis compellat vocibus ultro: Deiphobe armipotens, genus alto a sanguine Teucri quis tam crudeles optavit sumere poenas?
502Cui tantum de te licuit? Mihi fama suprema nocte tulit fessum vasta te caede Pelasgum procubuisse super confusae stragis acervum. Tunc egomet tumulum Rhoeteo litore inanem constitui, et magna Manes ter voce vocavi.
507Nomen et arma locum servant; te, amice, nequivi conspicere, et patria decedens ponere terra. Ad quae Priamides: Nihil O tibi amice relictum; omnia Deiphobo solvisti et funeris umbris. Sed me fata mea et scelus exitiale Lacaenae
512his mersere malis; illa haec monumenta reliquit. Namque ut supremam falsa inter gaudia noctem egerimus, nosti; et nimium meminisse necesse est. Cum fatalis equus saltu super ardua venit Pergama, et armatum peditem gravis attulit alvo,
517illa, chorum simulans, evantes orgia circum ducebat Phrygias; flammam media ipsa tenebat ingentem, et summa Danaos ex arce vocabat. Tum me, confectum curis somnoque gravatum, infelix habuit thalamus, pressitque iacentem
522dulcis et alta quies placidaeque simillima morti. Egregia interea coniunx arma omnia tectis amovet, et fidum capiti subduxerat ensem; intra tecta vocat Menelaum, et limina pandit, scilicet id magnum sperans fore munus amanti,
527et famam exstingui veterum sic posse malorum. Quid moror? Inrumpunt thalamo; comes additur una hortator scelerum Aeolides. Di, talia Grais instaurate, pio si poenas ore reposco! Sed te qui vivum casus, age, fare vicissim,
532attulerint. Pelagine venis erroribus actus, an monitu divom? An quae te Fortuna fatigat, ut tristes sine sole domos, loca turbida, adires? Hac vice sermonum roseïs Aurora quadrigis iam medium aetherio cursu traiecerat axem;
537et fors omne datum traherent per talia tempus; sed comes admonuit, breviterque adfata Sibylla est: Nox ruit, Aenea; nos flendo ducimus horas. Hic locus est, partes ubi se via findit in ambas: dextera quae Ditis magni sub moenia tendit,
542hac iter Elysium nobis; at laeva malorum exercet poenas, et ad impia Tartara mittit. Deiphobus contra: Ne saevi, magna sacerdos; discedam, explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris. I decus, i, nostrum; melioribus utere fatis!
547Tantum effatus, et in verbo vestigia torsit. Respicit Aeneas subito, et sub rupe sinistra moenia lata videt, triplici circumdata muro, quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis, Tartareus Phlegethon, torquetque sonantia saxa.
552Porta adversa ingens, solidoque adamante columnae, vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere bello caelicolae valeant; stat ferrea turris ad auras, Tisiphoneque sedens, palla succincta cruenta, vestibulum exsomnis servat noctesque diesque.
557Hinc exaudiri gemitus, et saeva sonare verbera; tum stridor ferri, tractaeque catenae. Constitit Aeneas, strepitumque exterritus hausit. Quae scelerum facies, O virgo, effare; quibusve urguentur poenis? Quis tantus plangor ad auras?
562Tum vates sic orsa loqui: Dux inclute Teucrum, nulli fas casto sceleratum insistere limen; sed me cum lucis Hecate praefecit Avernis, ipsa deum poenas docuit, perque omnia duxit. Gnosius haec Rhadamanthus habet, durissima regna,
567castigatque auditque dolos, subigitque fateri, quae quis apud superos, furto laetatus inani, distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem. Continuo sontes ultrix accincta flagello Tisiphone quatit insultans, torvosque sinistra
572intentans angues vocat agmina saeva sororum. Tum demum horrisono stridentes cardine sacrae panduntur portae. Cernis custodia qualis vestibulo sedeat, facies quae limina servet? Quinquaginta atris immanis hiatibus Hydra
577saevior intus habet sedem. Tum Tartarus ipse bis patet in praeceps tantum tenditque sub umbras, quantus ad aetherium caeli suspectus Olympum. Hic genus antiquum Terrae, Titania pubes, fulmine deiecti fundo volvuntur in imo.
582Hic et Aloidas geminos immania vidi corpora, qui manibus magnum rescindere caelum adgressi, superisque Iovem detrudere regnis. Vidi et crudeles dantem Salmonea poenas, dum flammas Iovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi.
587Quattuor hic invectus equis et lampada quassans per Graium populos mediaeque per Elidis urbem ibat ovans, divomque sibi poscebat honorem,— demens, qui nimbos et non imitabile fulmen aere et cornipedum pulsu simularet equorum.
592At pater omnipotens densa inter nubila telum contorsit, non ille faces nec fumea taedis lumina, praecipitemque immani turbine adegit. Nec non et Tityon, Terrae omniparentis alumnum, cernere erat, per tota novem cui iugera corpus
597porrigitur, rostroque immanis voltur obunco immortale iecur tondens fecundaque poenis viscera, rimaturque epulis, habitatque sub alto pectore, nec fibris requies datur ulla renatis. quos super atra silex iam iam lapsura cadentique
603imminet adsimilis; lucent genialibus altis aurea fulcra toris, epulaeque ante ora paratae regifico luxu; Furiarum maxima iuxta accubat, et manibus prohibet contingere mensas, exsurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore.
608Hic, quibus invisi fratres, dum vita manebat, pulsatusve parens, et fraus innexa clienti, aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis, nec partem posuere suis (quae maxima turba est), quique ob adulterium caesi, quique arma secuti
613impia nec veriti dominorum fallere dextras, inclusi poenam exspectant. Ne quaere doceri quam poenam, aut quae forma viros fortunave mersit. Saxum ingens volvunt alii, radiisque rotarum districti pendent; sedet, aeternumque sedebit,
618infelix Theseus; Phlegyasque miserrimus omnis admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras: Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere divos. Vendidit hic auro patriam, dominumque potentem imposuit; fixit leges pretio atque refixit;
623hic thalamum invasit natae vetitosque hymenaeos; ausi omnes immane nefas, ausoque potiti. Non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, ferrea vox, omnis scelerum comprendere formas, omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim.
628Haec ubi dicta dedit Phoebi longaeva sacerdos: Sed iam age, carpe viam et susceptum perfice munus; adceleremus ait; Cyclopum educta caminis moenia conspicio atque adverso fornice portas, haec ubi nos praecepta iubent deponere dona.
633Dixerat, et pariter, gressi per opaca viarum, corripiunt spatium medium, foribusque propinquant. Occupat Aeneas aditum, corpusque recenti spargit aqua, ramumque adverso in limine figit. His demum exactis, perfecto munere divae,
638devenere locos laetos et amoena virecta fortunatorum nemorum sedesque beatas. Largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit purpureo, solemque suum, sua sidera norunt. Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris,
643contendunt ludo et fulva luctantur harena; pars pedibus plaudunt choreas et carmina dicunt. Nec non Threïcius longa cum veste sacerdos obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum, iamque eadem digitis, iam pectine pulsat eburno.
648Hic genus antiquum Teucri, pulcherrima proles, magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis, Ilusque Assaracusque et Troiae Dardanus auctor. Arma procul currusque virum miratur inanes. Stant terra defixae hastae, passimque soluti
653per campum pascuntur equi. Quae gratia currum armorumque fuit vivis, quae cura nitentis pascere equos, eadem sequitur tellure repostos. Conspicit, ecce, alios dextra laevaque per herbam vescentis, laetumque choro paeana canentis
658inter odoratum lauri nemus, unde superne plurimus Eridani per silvam volvitur amnis. Hic manus ob patriam pugnando volnera passi, quique sacerdotes casti, dum vita manebat, quique pii vates et Phoebo digna locuti,
663inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes, quique sui memores alios fecere merendo, omnibus his nivea cinguntur tempora vitta. Quos circumfusos sic est adfata Sybilla, Musaeum ante omnes, medium nam plurima turba
668hunc habet, atque umeris exstantem suspicit altis: Dicite, felices animae, tuque, optime vates, quae regio Anchisen, quis habet locus? Illius ergo venimus, et magnos Erebi transnavimus amnes. Atque huic responsum paucis ita reddidit heros:
673Nulli certa domus; lucis habitamus opacis, riparumque toros et prata recentia rivis incolimus. Sed vos, si fert ita corde voluntas, hoc superate iugum; et facili iam tramite sistam. Dixit, et ante tulit gressum, camposque nitentis
678desuper ostentat; dehinc summa cacumina linquunt. At pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti inclusas animas superumque ad lumen ituras lustrabat studio recolens, omnemque suorum forte recensebat numerum carosque nepotes,
683fataque fortunasque virum moresque manusque. Isque ubi tendentem adversum per gramina videt Aenean, alacris palmas utrasque tetendit, effusaeque genis lacrimae, et vox excidit ore: Venisti tandem, tuaque exspectata parenti
688vicit iter durum pietas? Datur ora tueri, nate, tua, et notas audire et reddere voces? Sic equidem ducebam animo rebarque futurum, tempora dinumerans, nec me mea cura fefellit. Quas ego te terras et quanta per aequora vectum
693accipio! quantis iactatum, nate, periclis! Quam metui, ne quid Libyae tibi regna nocerent! Ille autem: Tua me, genitor, tua tristis imago, saepius occurrens, haec limina tendere adegit: stant sale Tyrrheno classes. Da iungere dextram,
698da, genitor, teque amplexu ne subtrahe nostro. Sic memorans, largo fletu simul ora rigabat. Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum, ter frustra comprensa manus effugit imago, Interea videt Aeneas in valle reducta
704seclusum nemus et virgulta sonantia silvis, Lethaeumque, domos placidas qui praenatat, amnem. Hunc circum innumerae gentes populique volabant; ac—velut in pratis ubi apes aestate serena floribus insidunt variis, et candida circum
709lilia funduntur—strepit omnis murmure campus. Horrescit visu subito, causasque requirit inscius Aeneas, quae sint ea flumina porro, quive viri tanto complerint agmine ripas. Tum pater Anchises: Animae, quibus altera fato
714corpora debentur, Lethaei ad fluminis undam securos latices et longa oblivia potant. iampridem hanc prolem cupio enumerare meorum, quo magis Italia mecum laetere reperta. O pater, anne aliquas ad caelum hinc ire putandum est
720sublimis animas, iterumque ad tarda reverti corpora? Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido? Dicam equidem, nec te suspensum, nate, tenebo suscipit Anchises, atque ordine singula pandit. Principio caelum ac terras camposque liquentis
725lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus mens agitat molem et magno se corpore miscet. Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitaeque volantum, et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus.
730Igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo seminibus, quantum non noxia corpora tardant, terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra. Hinc metuunt cupiuntque, dolent gaudentque, neque auras dispiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco.
735Quin et supremo cum lumine vita reliquit, non tamen omne malum miseris nec funditus omnes corporeae excedunt pestes, penitusque necesse est multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris. Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum
740supplicia expendunt: aliae panduntur inanes suspensae ad ventos; aliis sub gurgite vasto infectum eluitur scelus, aut exuritur igni; quisque suos patimur Manes; exinde per amplum mittimur Elysium, et pauci laeta arva tenemus;
745donec longa dies, perfecto temporis orbe, concretam exemit labem, purumque relinquit aetherium sensum atque auraï simplicis ignem. Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos, Lethaeum ad fluvium deus evocat agmine magno,
750scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant, rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti. Dixerat Anchises, natumque unaque Sibyllam conventus trahit in medios turbamque sonantem, et tumulum capit, unde omnes longo ordine possit
755adversos legere, et venientum discere vultus. Nunc age, Dardaniam prolem quae deinde sequatur gloria, qui maneant Itala de gente nepotes, inlustris animas nostrumque in nomen ituras, expediam dictis, et te tua fata docebo.
760Ille, vides, pura iuvenis qui nititur hasta, proxuma sorte tenet lucis loca, primus ad auras aetherias Italo commixtus sanguine surget, silvius, Albanum nomen, tua postuma proles, quem tibi longaevo serum Lavinia coniunx
765educet silvis regem regumque parentem, unde genus Longa nostrum dominabitur Alba. Proxumus ille Procas, Troianae gloria gentis, et Capys, et Numitor, et qui te nomine reddet Silvius Aeneas, pariter pietate vel armis
770egregius, si umquam regnandam acceperit Albam. Qui iuvenes! Quantas ostentant, aspice, vires, atque umbrata gerunt civili tempora quercu! Hi tibi Nomentum et Gabios urbemque Fidenam, hi Collatinas imponent montibus arces,
775Pometios Castrumque Inui Bolamque Coramque. Haec tum nomina erunt, nunc sunt sine nomine terrae. Quin et avo comitem sese Mavortius addet Romulus, Assaraci quem sanguinis Ilia mater educet. Viden, ut geminae stant vertice cristae,
780et pater ipse suo superum iam signat honore? En, huius, nate, auspiciis illa incluta Roma imperium terris, animos aequabit Olympo, septemque una sibi muro circumdabit arces, felix prole virum: qualis Berecyntia mater
785invehitur curru Phrygias turrita per urbes, laeta deum partu, centum complexa nepotes, omnes caelicolas, omnes supera alta tenentes. Huc geminas nunc flecte acies, hanc aspice gentem Romanosque tuos. Hic Caesar et omnis Iuli
790progenies magnum caeli ventura sub axem. Hic vir, hic est, tibi quem promitti saepius audis, Augustus Caesar, Divi genus, aurea condet saecula qui rursus Latio regnata per arva Saturno quondam, super et Garamantas et Indos
795proferet imperium: iacet extra sidera tellus, extra anni solisque vias, ubi caelifer Atlas axem umero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum. Huius in adventum iam nunc et Caspia regna responsis horrent divom et Maeotia tellus,
800et septemgemini turbant trepida ostia Nili. Nec vero Alcides tantum telluris obivit, fixerit aeripedem cervam licet, aut Erymanthi pacarit nemora, et Lernam tremefecerit arcu; nec, qui pampineis victor iuga flectit habenis,
805Liber, agens celso Nysae de vertice tigres. Et dubitamus adhuc virtute extendere vires, aut metus Ausonia prohibet consistere terra? Quis procul ille autem ramis insignis olivae sacra ferens? Nosco crines incanaque menta
810regis Romani, primus qui legibus urbem fundabit, Curibus parvis et paupere terra missus in imperium magnum. Cui deinde subibit, otia qui rumpet patriae residesque movebit Tullus in arma viros et iam desueta triumphis
815agmina. Quem iuxta sequitur iactantior Ancus, nunc quoque iam nimium gaudens popularibus auris. Vis et Tarquinios reges, animamque superbam ultoris Bruti, fascesque videre receptos? Consulis imperium hic primus saevasque secures
820accipiet, natosque pater nova bella moventes ad poenam pulchra pro libertate vocabit. Infelix, utcumque ferent ea facta minores, vincet amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido. Quin Decios Drusosque procul saevumque securi
825aspice Torquatum et referentem signa Camillum. Illae autem, paribus quas fulgere cernis in armis, concordes animae nunc et dum nocte premuntur, heu quantum inter se bellum, si lumina vitae attigerint, quantas acies stragemque ciebunt!
830Aggeribus socer Alpinis atque arce Monoeci descendens, gener adversis instructus Eois. Ne, pueri, ne tanta animis adsuescite bella, neu patriae validas in viscera vertite vires; tuque prior, tu parce, genus qui ducis Olympo,
835proice tela manu, sanguis meus!— Ille triumphata Capitolia ad alta Corintho victor aget currum, caesis insignis Achivis. Eruet ille Argos Agamemnoniasque Mycenas, ipsumque Aeaciden, genus armipotentis Achilli,
840ultus avos Troiae, templa et temerata Minervae. Quis te, magne Cato, tacitum, aut te, Cosse, relinquat? Quis Gracchi genus, aut geminos, duo fulmina belli, Scipiadas, cladem Libyae, parvoque potentem Fabricium vel te sulco Serrane, serentem?
845quo fessum rapitis, Fabii? Tu Maxumus ille es, unus qui nobis cunctando restituis rem. Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera, credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore voltus, orabunt causas melius, caelique meatus
850describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent: tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento; hae tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem, parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos. Sic pater Anchises, atque haec mirantibus addit:
855Aspice, ut insignis spoliis Marcellus opimis ingreditur, victorque viros supereminet omnes! Hic rem Romanam, magno turbante tumultu, sistet, eques sternet Poenos Gallumque rebellem, tertiaque arma patri suspendet capta Quirino.
860Atque hic Aeneas; una namque ire videbat egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis, sed frons laeta parum, et deiecto lumina voltu: Quis, pater, ille, virum qui sic comitatur euntem? Filius, anne aliquis magna de stirpe nepotum?
865Quis strepitus circa comitum! Quantum instar in ipso! Sed nox atra caput tristi circumvolat umbra. Tum pater Anchises, lacrimis ingressus obortis: O gnate, ingentem luctum ne quaere tuorum; ostendent terris hunc tantum fata, neque ultra
870esse sinent. Nimium vobis Romana propago visa potens, Superi, propria haec si dona fuissent. Quantos ille virum magnam Mavortis ad urbem campus aget gemitus, vel quae, Tiberine, videbis funera, cum tumulum praeterlabere recentem!
875Nec puer Iliaca quisquam de gente Latinos in tantum spe tollet avos, nec Romula quondam ullo se tantum tellus iactabit alumno. Heu pietas, heu prisca fides, invictaque bello dextera! Non illi se quisquam impune tulisset
880obvius armato, seu cum pedes iret in hostem, seu spumantis equi foderet calcaribus armos. Heu, miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, tu Marcellus eris. Manibus date lilia plenis, purpureos spargam flores, animamque nepotis
885his saltem adcumulem donis, et fungar inani munere—Sic tota passim regione vagantur aëris in campis latis, atque omnia lustrant. Quae postquam Anchises natum per singula duxit, incenditque animum famae venientis amore,
890exin bella viro memorat quae deinde gerenda, Laurentisque docet populos urbemque Latini, et quo quemque modo fugiatque feratque laborem. Sunt geminae Somni portae, quarum altera fertur cornea, qua veris facilis datur exitus umbris;
895altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto, sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia Manes. His ubi tum natum Anchises unaque Sibyllam prosequitur dictis, portaque emittit eburna, ille viam secat ad naves sociosque revisit:
900tum se ad Caietae recto fert litore portum.
Book 6
1After such words and tears, he flung free rein To the swift fleet, which sped along the wave To old Euboean Cumae's sacred shore. They veer all prows to sea; the anchor fluke Makes each ship sure, and shading the long strand
6The rounded sterns jut o'er. Impetuously The eager warriors leap forth to land Upon Hesperian soil. One strikes the flint To find the seed-spark hidden in its veins; One breaks the thick-branched trees, and steals away
11The shelter where the woodland creatures bide; One leads his mates where living waters flow. Aeneas, servant of the gods, ascends The templed hill where lofty Phoebus reigns, And that far-off, inviolable shrine
16Of dread Sibylla, in stupendous cave, O'er whose deep soul the god of Delos breathes Prophetic gifts, unfolding things to come. Here are pale Trivia's golden house and grove. Here Daedalus, the ancient story tells,
21Escaping Minos' power, and having made Hazard of heaven on far-mounting wings, Floated to northward, a cold, trackless way, And lightly poised, at last, o'er Cumae's towers. Here first to earth come down, he gave to thee
26His gear of wings, Apollo! and ordained Vast temples to thy name and altars fair. On huge bronze doors Androgeos' death was done; And Cecrops' children paid their debt of woe, Where, seven and seven,—0 pitiable sight!—
31The youths and maidens wait the annual doom, Drawn out by lot from yonder marble urn. Beyond, above a sea, lay carven Crete:— The bull was there; the passion, the strange guile; And Queen Pasiphae's brute-human son,
36The Minotaur—of monstrous loves the sign. Here was the toilsome, labyrinthine maze, Where, pitying love-lorn Ariadne's tears, The crafty Daedalus himself betrayed The secret of his work; and gave the clue
41To guide the path of Theseus through the gloom. 0 Icarus, in such well-graven scene How proud thy place should be! but grief forbade: Twice in pure gold a father's fingers strove To shape thy fall, and twice they strove in vain.
46Aeneas long the various work would scan; But now Achates comes, and by his side Deiphobe, the Sibyl, Glaucus' child. Thus to the prince she spoke : “Is this thine hour
51To stand and wonder? Rather go obtain From young unbroken herd the bullocks seven, And seven yearling ewes, our wonted way.” Thus to Aeneas; his attendants haste To work her will; the priestess, calling loud,
56Gathers the Trojans to her mountain-shrine. Deep in the face of that Euboean crag A cavern vast is hollowed out amain, With hundred openings, a hundred mouths, Whence voices flow, the Sibyl's answering songs.
61While at the door they paused, the virgin cried : “Ask now thy doom!—the god! the god is nigh!” So saying, from her face its color flew, Her twisted locks flowed free, the heaving breast Swelled with her heart's wild blood; her stature seemed
66Vaster, her accent more than mortal man, As all th' oncoming god around her breathed : “On with thy vows and prayers, 0 Trojan, on! For only unto prayer this haunted cave May its vast lips unclose.” She spake no more.
71An icy shudder through the marrow ran Of the bold Trojans; while their sacred King Poured from his inmost soul this plaint and prayer : “Phoebus, who ever for the woes of Troy Hadst pitying eyes! who gavest deadly aim
76To Paris when his Dardan shaft he hurled On great Achilles! Thou hast guided me Through many an unknown water, where the seas Break upon kingdoms vast, and to the tribes Of the remote Massyli, whose wild land
81To Syrtes spreads. But now; because at last I touch Hesperia's ever-fleeting bound, May Troy's ill fate forsake me from this day! 0 gods and goddesses, beneath whose wrath Dardania's glory and great Ilium stood,
86Spare, for ye may, the remnant of my race! And thou, most holy prophetess, whose soul Foreknows events to come, grant to my prayer (Which asks no kingdom save what Fate decrees) That I may stablish in the Latin land
91My Trojans, my far-wandering household-gods, And storm-tossed deities of fallen Troy. Then unto Phoebus and his sister pale A temple all of marble shall be given, And festal days to Phoebus evermore.
96Thee also in my realms a spacious shrine Shall honor; thy dark books and holy songs I there will keep, to be my people's law; And thee, benignant Sibyl for all time A company of chosen priests shall serve.
101O, not on leaves, light leaves, inscribe thy songs! Lest, playthings of each breeze, they fly afar In swift confusion! Sing thyself, I pray.” So ceased his voice;the virgin through the cave, Scarce bridled yet by Phoebus' hand divine,
106Ecstatic swept along, and vainly stove To fing its potent master from her breast; But he more strongly plied his rein and curb Upon her frenzied lips, and soon subdued Her spirit fierce, and swayed her at his will.
111Free and self-moved the cavern's hundred adoors Swung open wide, and uttered to the air The oracles the virgin-priestess sung : “Thy long sea-perils thou hast safely passed; But heavier woes await thee on the land.
116Truly thy Trojans to Lavinian shore Shall come—vex not thyself thereon—but, oh! Shall rue their coming thither! war, red war! And Tiber stained with bloody foam I see. Simois, Xanthus, and the Dorian horde
121Thou shalt behold; a new Achilles now In Latium breathes,—he, too, of goddess born; And Juno, burden of the sons of Troy, Will vex them ever; while thyself shalt sue In dire distress to many a town and tribe
126Through Italy; the cause of so much ill Again shall be a hostess-queen, again A marriage-chamber for an alien bride. Oh! yield not to thy woe, but front it ever, And follow boldly whither Fortune calls.
131Thy way of safety, as thou least couldst dream, Lies through a city of the Greeks, thy foes.” Thus from her shrine Cumaea's prophetess Chanted the dark decrees; the dreadful sound Reverberated through the bellowing cave,
136Commingling truth with ecstasies obscure. Apollo, as she raged, flung loosened rein, And thrust beneath her heart a quickening spur. When first her madness ceased, and her wild lips Were still at last, the hero thus began :
141“No tribulations new, 0 Sibyl blest, Can now confront me; every future pain I have foretasted; my prophetic soul Endured each stroke of fate before it fell. One boon I ask. If of th' infernal King
146This be the portal where the murky wave Of swollen Acheron o'erflows its bound, Here let me enter and behold the face Of my loved sire. Thy hand may point the way; Thy word will open wide yon holy doors.
151My father through the flames and falling spears, Straight through the centre of our foes, I bore Upon these shoulders. My long flight he shared From sea to sea, and suffered at my side The anger of rude waters and dark skies,—
156Though weak—0 task too great for old and gray! Thus as a suppliant at thy door to stand, Was his behest and prayer. On son and sire, 0 gracious one, have pity,—for thy rule Is over all; no vain authority
161Hadst thou from Trivia o'er th' Avernian groves. If Orpheus could call back his loved one's shade, Emboldened by the lyre's melodious string : If Pollux by the interchange of death Redeemed his twin, and oft repassed the way :
166If Theseus—but why name him? why recall Alcides' task? I, too, am sprung from Jove.” Thus, to the altar clinging, did he pray : The Sibyl thus replied : “Offspring of Heaven, Anchises' son, the downward path to death
171Is easy; all the livelong night and day Dark Pluto's door stands open for a guest. But 0! remounting to the world of light, This is a task indeed, a strife supreme. Few, very few, whom righteous Jove did bless,
176Or quenchless virtue carried to the stars, Children of gods, have such a victory won. Grim forests stop the way, and, gliding slow, Cocytus circles through the sightless gloom. But if it be thy dream and fond desire
181Twice o'er the Stygian gulf to travel, twice On glooms of Tartarus to set thine eyes, If such mad quest be now thy pleasure—hear What must be first fulfilled . A certain tree Hides in obscurest shade a golden bough,
186Of pliant stems and many a leaf of gold, Sacred to Proserpine, infernal Queen. Far in the grove it hides; in sunless vale Deep shadows keep it in captivity. No pilgrim to that underworld can pass
191But he who plucks this burgeoned, leafy gold; For this hath beauteous Proserpine ordained Her chosen gift to be. Whene'er it is culled, A branch out-leafing in like golden gleam, A second wonder-stem, fails not to spring.
196Therefore go seek it with uplifted eyes! And when by will of Heaven thou findest it, Reach forth and pluck; for at a touch it yields, A free and willing gift, if Fate ordain; But otherwise no mortal strength avails,
201Nor strong, sharp steel, to rend it from the tree. Another task awaits; thy friend's cold clay Lies unentombed. Alas! thou art not ware (While in my house thou lingerest, seeking light) That all thy ships are by his death defiled.
206Unto his resting-place and sepulchre, Go, carry him! And sable victims bring, In expiation, to his mournful shade. So at the last on yonder Stygian groves, And realms to things that breathe impassable,
211Thine eye shall gaze.” So closed her lips inspired. Aeneas then drew forth, with downcast eyes, From that dark cavern, pondering in his heart The riddle of his fate. His faithful friend Achates at his side, with paces slow,
216Companioned all his care, while their sad souls Made mutual and oft-renewed surmise What comrade dead, what cold and tombless clay, The Sibyl's word would show. But as they mused,
221Behold Misenus on the dry sea-sands, By hasty hand of death struck guiltless down! A son of Aeolus, none better knew To waken heroes by the clarion's call, With war-enkindling sound. Great Hector's friend
226In happier days, he oft at Hector's side Strode to the fight with glittering lance and horn. But when Achilles stripped his fallen foe, This dauntless hero to Aeneas gave Allegiance true, in not less noble cause.
231But, on a day, he chanced beside the sea To blow his shell-shaped horn, and wildly dared Challenge the gods themselves to rival song; Till jealous Triton, if the tale be true, Grasped the rash mortal, and out-flung him far
236'mid surf-beat rocks and waves of whirling foam. Now from all sides, with tumult and loud cry, The Trojans came,—Aeneas leading all In faithful grief; they hasten to fulfil The Sibyl's mandate, and with many a tear
241Build, altar-wise, a pyre, of tree on tree Heaped high as heaven : then they penetrate The tall, old forest, where wild creatures bide, And fell pitch-pines, or with resounding blows Of axe and wedge, cleave oak and ash-tree through,
246Or logs of rowan down the mountains roll. Aeneas oversees and shares the toil, Cheers on his mates, and swings a woodman's steel. But, sad at heart with many a doubt and care, O'erlooks the forest wide; then prays aloud :
251“0, that the Golden Bough from this vast grove Might o'er me shine! For, 0 Aeolides, The oracle foretold thy fate, too well!” Scarce had he spoken, when a pair of doves Before his very eyes flew down from heaven
256To the green turf below; the prince of Troy Knew them his mother's birds, and joyful cried, “0, guide me on, whatever path there be! In airy travel through the woodland fly, To where yon rare branch shades the blessed ground.
261Fail thou not me, in this my doubtful hour, 0 heavenly mother!” So saying, his steps lie stayed, Close watching whither they should signal give; The lightly-feeding doves flit on and on, Ever in easy ken of following eyes,
266Till over foul Avernus' sulphurous throat Swiftly they lift them through the liquid air, In silent flight, and find a wished-for rest On a twy-natured tree, where through green boughs Flames forth the glowing gold's contrasted hue.
271As in the wintry woodland bare and chill, Fresh-budded shines the clinging mistletoe, Whose seed is never from the parent tree O'er whose round limbs its tawny tendrils twine,— So shone th' out-leafing gold within the shade
276Of dark holm-oak, and so its tinsel-bract Rustled in each light breeze. Aeneas grasped The lingering bough, broke it in eager haste, And bore it straightway to the Sibyl's shrine. Meanwhile the Trojans on the doleful shore
281Bewailed Misenus, and brought tribute there Of grief's last gift to his unheeding clay. First, of the full-sapped pine and well-hewn oak A lofty pyre they build; then sombre boughs Around it wreathe, and in fair order range
286Funereal cypress; glittering arms are piled High over all; on blazing coals they lift Cauldrons of brass brimmed o'er with waters pure; And that cold, lifeless clay lave and anoint With many a moan and cry; on their last couch
291The poor, dead limbs they lay, and mantle o'er With purple vesture and familiar pall. Then in sad ministry the chosen few, With eyes averted, as our sires did use, Hold the enkindling torch beneath the pyre :
296They gather up and burn the gifts of myrrh, The sacred bread and bowls of flowing oil; And when in flame the dying embers fall, On thirsty ash they pour the streams of wine. Good Corynaeus, in an urn of brass
301The gathered relics hides; and three times round, With blessed olive branch and sprinkling dew, Purges the people with ablution cold, In lustral rite; oft chanting, “Hail! Farewell!” Faithful Aeneas for his comrade built
306A mighty tomb, and dedicated there Trophy of arms, with trumpet and with oar, Beneath a windy hill, which now is called “Misenus,”—for all time the name to bear. After these toils, they hasten to fulfil
311What else the Sibyl said. Straightway they find A cave profound, of entrance gaping wide, O'erhung with rock, in gloom of sheltering grove, Near the dark waters of a lake, whereby No bird might ever pass with scathless wing,
316So dire an exhalation is breathed out From that dark deep of death to upper air :— Hence, in the Grecian tongue, Aornos called. Here first four youthful bulls of swarthy hide Were led for sacrifice; on each broad brow
321The priestess sprinkled wine; 'twixt the two horns Outplucked the lifted hair, and cast it forth Upon the holy flames, beginning so Her offerings; then loudly sued the power of Hecate, a Queen in heaven and hell.
326Some struck with knives, and caught in shallow bowls The smoking blood. Aeneas' lifted hand Smote with a sword a sable-fleeced ewe To Night, the mother of th' Eumenides, And Earth, her sister dread; next unto thee,
331O Proserpine, a curst and barren cow; Then unto Pluto, Stygian King, he built An altar dark, and piled upon the flames The ponderous entrails of the bulls, and poured Free o'er the burning flesh the goodly oil.
336Then lo! at dawn's dim, earliest beam began Beneath their feet a groaning of the ground : The wooded hill-tops shook, and, as it seemed, She-hounds of hell howled viewless through the shade , To hail their Queen. “Away, 0 souls profane!
341Stand far away!” the priestess shrieked, “nor dare Unto this grove come near! Aeneas, on! Begin thy journey! Draw thy sheathed blade! Now, all thy courage! now, th' unshaken soul!” She spoke, and burst into the yawning cave
346With frenzied step; he follows where she leads, And strides with feet unfaltering at her side. Ye gods! who rule the spirits of the dead! Ye voiceless shades and silent lands of night! 0 Phlegethon! 0 Chaos! let my song,
351If it be lawful, in fit words declare What I have heard; and by your help divine Unfold what hidden things enshrouded lie In that dark underworld of sightless gloom. They walked exploring the unpeopled night,
356Through Pluto's vacuous realms, and regions void, As when one's path in dreary woodlands winds Beneath a misty moon's deceiving ray, When Jove has mantled all his heaven in shade, And night seals up the beauty of the world.
361In the first courts and entrances of Hell Sorrows and vengeful Cares on couches lie : There sad Old Age abides, Diseases pale, And Fear, and Hunger, temptress to all crime; Want, base and vile, and, two dread shapes to see,
366Bondage and Death : then Sleep, Death's next of kin; And dreams of guilty joy. Death-dealing War Is ever at the doors, and hard thereby The Furies' beds of steel, where wild-eyed Strife Her snaky hair with blood-stained fillet binds.
371There in the middle court a shadowy elm Its ancient branches spreads, and in its leaves Deluding visions ever haunt and cling. Then come strange prodigies of bestial kind : Centaurs are stabled there, and double shapes
376Like Scylla, or the dragon Lerna bred, With hideous scream; Briareus clutching far His hundred hands, Chimaera girt with flame, A crowd of Gorgons, Harpies of foul wing, And giant Geryon's triple-monstered shade.
381Aeneas, shuddering with sudden fear, Drew sword and fronted them with naked steel; And, save his sage conductress bade him know These were but shapes and shadows sweeping by, His stroke had cloven in vain the vacant air.
386Hence the way leads to that Tartarean stream Of Acheron, whose torrent fierce and foul Disgorges in Cocytus all its sands. A ferryman of gruesome guise keeps ward Upon these waters,—Charon, foully garbed,
391With unkempt, thick gray beard upon his chin, And staring eyes of flame; a mantle coarse, All stained and knotted, from his shoulder falls, As with a pole he guides his craft, tends sail, And in the black boat ferries o'er his dead;—
396Old, but a god's old age looks fresh and strong. To those dim shores the multitude streams on— Husbands and wives, and pale, unbreathing forms Of high-souled heroes, boys and virgins fair, And strong youth at whose graves fond parents mourned.
401As numberless the throng as leaves that fall When autumn's early frost is on the grove; Or like vast flocks of birds by winter's chill Sent flying o'er wide seas to lands of flowers. All stood beseeching to begin their voyage
406Across that river, and reached out pale hands, In passionate yearning for its distant shore. But the grim boatman takes now these, now those, Or thrusts unpitying from the stream away. Aeneas, moved to wonder and deep awe,
411Beheld the tumult; “Virgin seer!” he cried, . “Why move the thronging ghosts toward yonder stream? What seek they there? Or what election holds That these unwilling linger, while their peers Sweep forward yonder o'er the leaden waves?”
416To him, in few, the aged Sibyl spoke : “Son of Anchises, offspring of the gods, Yon are Cocytus and the Stygian stream, By whose dread power the gods themselves do fear To take an oath in vain. Here far and wide
421Thou seest the hapless throng that hath no grave. That boatman Charon bears across the deep Such as be sepulchred with holy care. But over that loud flood and dreadful shore No trav'ler may be borne, until in peace
426His gathered ashes rest. A hundred years Round this dark borderland some haunt and roam, Then win late passage o'er the longed-for wave.” Aeneas lingered for a little space, Revolving in his soul with pitying prayer
431Fate's partial way. But presently he sees Leucaspis and the Lycian navy's lord, Orontes; both of melancholy brow, Both hapless and unhonored after death, Whom, while from Troy they crossed the wind-swept seas,
436A whirling tempest wrecked with ship and crew. There, too, the helmsman Palinurus strayed : Who, as he whilom watched the Libyan stars, Had fallen, plunging from his lofty seat Into the billowy deep. Aeneas now
441Discerned his sad face through the blinding gloom, And hailed him thus : “0 Palinurus, tell What god was he who ravished thee away From me and mine, beneath the o'crwhelming wave? Speak on! for he who ne'er had spoke untrue,
446Apollo's self, did mock my listening mind, And chanted me a faithful oracle That thou shouldst ride the seas unharmed, and touch Ausonian shores. Is this the pledge divine?” Then he, “0 chieftain of Anchises' race,
451Apollo's tripod told thee not untrue. No god did thrust me down beneath the wave, For that strong rudder unto which I clung, My charge and duty, and my ship's sole guide, Wrenched from its place, dropped with me as I fell.
456Not for myself—by the rude seas I swear— Did I have terror, but lest thy good ship, Stripped of her gear, and her poor pilot lost, Should fail and founder in that rising flood. Three wintry nights across the boundless main
461The south wind buffeted and bore me on; At the fourth daybreak, lifted from the surge, I looked at last on Italy, and swam With weary stroke on stroke unto the land. Safe was I then. Alas! but as I climbed
466With garments wet and heavy, my clenched hand Grasping the steep rock, came a cruel horde Upon me with drawn blades, accounting me— So blind they were!—a wrecker's prize and spoil. Now are the waves my tomb; and wandering winds
471Toss me along the coast. 0, I implore, By heaven's sweet light, by yonder upper air, By thy lost father, by Iulus dear, Thy rising hope and joy, that from these woes, Unconquered chieftain, thou wilt set me free!
476Give me a grave where Velia's haven lies, For thou hast power! Or if some path there be, If thy celestial mother guide thee here (For not, I ween, without the grace of gods Wilt cross yon rivers vast, you Stygian pool)
481Reach me a hand! and bear with thee along! Until (least gift!) death bring me peace and calm.” Such words he spoke: the priestess thus replied: “Why, Palinurus, these unblest desires? Wouldst thou, unsepulchred, behold the wave
486Of Styx, stern river of th' Eumenides? Wouldst thou, unbidden, tread its fearful strand? Hope not by prayer to change the laws of Heaven! But heed my words, and in thy memory Cherish and keep, to cheer this evil time.
491Lo, far and wide, led on by signs from Heaven, Thy countrymen from many a templed town Shall consecrate thy dust, and build thy tomb, A tomb with annual feasts and votive flowers, To Palinurus a perpetual fame!”
496Thus was his anguish stayed, from his sad heart Grief ebbed awhile, and even to this day, Our land is glad such noble name to wear. The twain continue now their destined way Unto the river's edge. The Ferryman,
501Who watched them through still groves approach his shore, Hailed them, at distance, from the Stygian wave, And with reproachful summons thus began: “Whoe'er thou art that in this warrior guise Unto my river comest,—quickly tell
506Thine errand! Stay thee where thou standest now! This is ghosts' land, for sleep and slumbrous dark. That flesh and blood my Stygian ship should bear Were lawless wrong. Unwillingly I took Alcides, Theseus, and Pirithous,
511Though sons of gods, too mighty to be quelled. One bound in chains yon warder of Hell's door, And dragged him trembling from our monarch's throne: The others, impious, would steal away Out of her bride-bed Pluto's ravished Queen.”
516Briefly th' Amphrysian priestess made reply: “Not ours, such guile: Fear not! This warrior's arms Are innocent. Let Cerberus from his cave Bay ceaselessly, the bloodless shades to scare; Let Proserpine immaculately keep
521The house and honor of her kinsman King. Trojan Aeneas, famed for faithful prayer And victory in arms, descends to seek His father in this gloomy deep of death. If loyal goodness move not such as thee,
526This branch at least” (she drew it from her breast) “Thou knowest well.” Then cooled his wrathful heart; With silent lips he looked and wondering eyes Upon that fateful, venerable wand,
531Seen only once an age. Shoreward he turned, And pushed their way his boat of leaden hue. The rows of crouching ghosts along the thwarts He scattered, cleared a passage, and gave room To great Aeneas. The light shallop groaned
536Beneath his weight, and, straining at each seam, Took in the foul flood with unstinted flow. At last the hero and his priestess-guide Came safe across the river, and were moored 'mid sea-green sedges in the formless mire.
541Here Cerberus, with triple-throated roar, Made all the region ring, as there he lay At vast length in his cave. The Sibyl then, Seeing the serpents writhe around his neck, Threw down a loaf with honeyed herbs imbued
546And drowsy essences: he, ravenous, Gaped wide his three fierce mouths and snatched the bait, Crouched with his large backs loose upon the ground, And filled his cavern floor from end to end. Aeneas through hell's portal moved, while sleep
551Its warder buried; then he fled that shore Of Stygian stream, whence travellers ne'er return. Now hears he sobs, and piteous, lisping cries Of souls of babes upon the threshold plaining; Whom, ere they took their portion of sweet life,
556Dark Fate from nursing bosoms tore, and plunged In bitterness of death. Nor far from these, The throng of dead by unjust judgment slain. Not without judge or law these realms abide: Wise Minos there the urn of justice moves,
561And holds assembly of the silent shades, Hearing the stories of their lives and deeds. Close on this place those doleful ghosts abide, Who, not for crime, but loathing life and light With their own hands took death, and cast away
566The vital essence. Willingly, alas! They now would suffer need, or burdens bear, If only life were given! But Fate forbids. Around them winds the sad, unlovely wave Of Styx: nine times it coils and interflows.
571Not far from hence, on every side outspread, The Fields of Sorrow lie,—such name they bear; Here all whom ruthless love did waste away Wander in paths unseen, or in the gloom Of dark myrtle grove: not even in death
576Have they forgot their griefs of long ago. Here impious Phaedra and poor Procris bide; Lorn Eriphyle bares the vengeful wounds Her own son's dagger made; Evadne here, And foul Pasiphae Pasiphaë are seen; hard by,
581Laodamia, nobly fond and fair; And Caeneus, not a boy, but maiden now, By Fate remoulded to her native seeming. Here Tyrian Dido, too, her wound unhealed, Roamed through a mighty wood. The Trojan's eyes
586Beheld her near him through the murky gloom, As when, in her young month and crescent pale, One sees th' o'er-clouded moon, or thinks he sees. Down dropped his tears, and thus he fondly spoke: “0 suffering Dido! Were those tidings true
591That thou didst fling thee on the fatal steel? Thy death, ah me! I dealt it. But I swear By stars above us, by the powers in Heaven, Or whatsoever oath ye dead believe, That not by choice I fled thy shores, 0 Queen!
596Divine decrees compelled me, even as now Among these ghosts I pass, and thread my way Along this gulf of night and loathsome land. How could I deem my cruel taking leave Would bring thee at the last to all this woe?
6010, stay! Why shun me? Wherefore haste away? Our last farewell! Our doom! I speak it now!” Thus, though she glared with fierce, relentless gaze, Aaeneas, with fond words and tearful plea, Would soothe her angry soul. But on the ground
606She fixed averted eyes. For all he spoke Moved her no more than if her frowning brow Were changeless flint or carved in Parian stone. Then, after pause, away in wrath she fled, And refuge took within the cool, dark grove,
611Where her first spouse, Sichaeus, with her tears Mingled his own in mutual love and true. Aeneas, none the less, her guiltless woe With anguish knew, watched with dimmed eyes her way, And pitied from afar the fallen Queen.
616But now his destined way he must be gone; Now the last regions round the travellers lie, Where famous warriors in the darkness dwell: Here Tydeus comes in view, with far-renowned Parthenopaeus and Adrastus pale;
621Here mourned in upper air with many a moan, In battle fallen, the Dardanidae, Whose long defile Aeneas groans to see: Glaucus and Medon and Thersilochus, Antenor's children three, and Ceres' priest,
626That Polypoetes, and Idaeus still. Keeping the kingly chariot and spear. Around him left and right the crowding shades Not only once would see, but clutch and cling Obstructive, asking on what quest he goes.
631Soon as the princes of Argolic blood, With line on line of Agamemnon's men, Beheld the hero and his glittering arms Flash through the dark, they trembled with amaze, Or turned in flight, as if once more they fled
636To shelter of the ships; some raised aloft A feeble shout, or vainly opened wide Their gaping lips in mockery of sound. Here Priam's son, with body rent and torn, Deiphobus Deïphobus is seen,—his mangled face,
641His face and bloody hands, his wounded head Of ears and nostrils infamously shorn. Scarce could Aeneas know the shuddering shade That strove to hide its face and shameful scar; But, speaking first, he said, in their own tongue:
646“Deiphobus, strong warrior, nobly born Of Teucer's royal stem, what ruthless foe Could wish to wreak on thee this dire revenge? Who ventured, unopposed, so vast a wrong? The rumor reached me how, that deadly night,
651Wearied with slaying Greeks, thyself didst fall Prone on a mingled heap of friends and foes. Then my own hands did for thy honor build An empty tomb upon the Trojan shore, And thrice with echoing voice I called thy shade.
656Thy name and arms are there. But, 0 my friend, Thee could I nowhere find, but launched away, Nor o'er thy bones their native earth could fling.” To him the son of Priam thus replied: “Nay, friend, no hallowed rite was left undone,
661But every debt to death and pity due The shades of thy Deiphobus received. My fate it was, and Helen's murderous wrong, Wrought me this woe; of her these tokens tell. For how that last night in false hope we passed,
666Thou knowest,—ah, too well we both recall! When up the steep of Troy the fateful horse Came climbing, pregnant with fierce men-at-arms, 't was she, accurst, who led the Phrygian dames In choric dance and false bacchantic song,
671And, waving from the midst a lofty brand, Signalled the Greeks from Ilium's central tower In that same hour on my sad couch I lay, Exhausted by long care and sunk in sleep, That sweet, deep sleep, so close to tranquil death.
676But my illustrious bride from all the house Had stolen all arms; from 'neath my pillowed head She stealthily bore off my trusty sword; Then loud on Menelaus did she call, And with her own false hand unbarred the door;
681Such gift to her fond lord she fain would send To blot the memory of his ancient wrong! Why tell the tale, how on my couch they broke, While their accomplice, vile Aeolides, Counselled to many a crime. 0 heavenly Powers!
686Reward these Greeks their deeds of wickedness, If with clean lips upon your wrath I call! But, friend, what fortunes have thy life befallen? Tell point by point. Did waves of wandering seas Drive thee this way, or some divine command?
691What chastisement of fortune thrusts thee on Toward this forlorn abode of night and cloud?” While thus they talked, the crimsoned car of Morn Had wheeled beyond the midmost point of heaven, On her ethereal road. The princely pair
696Had wasted thus the whole brief gift of hours; But Sibyl spoke the warning: “Night speeds by, And we, Aeneas, lose it in lamenting. Here comes the place where cleaves our way in twain. Thy road, the right, toward Pluto's dwelling goes,
701And leads us to Elysium. But the left Speeds sinful souls to doom, and is their path To Tartarus th' accurst.” Deiphobus Deïphobus Cried out: “0 priestess, be not wroth with us! Back to the ranks with yonder ghosts I go.
7060 glory of my race, pass on! Thy lot Be happier than mine!” He spoke, and fled. Aeneas straightway by the leftward cliff Beheld a spreading rampart, high begirt With triple wall, and circling round it ran
711A raging river of swift floods of flame, Infernal Phlegethon, which whirls along Loud-thundering rocks. A mighty gate is there Columned in adamant; no human power, Nor even the gods, against this gate prevail.
716Tall tower of steel it has; and seated there Tisiphone, in blood-flecked pall arrayed, Sleepless forever, guards the entering way. Hence groans are heard, fierce cracks of lash and scourge, Loud-clanking iron links and trailing chains.
721Aeneas motionless with horror stood o'erwhelmed at such uproar. “0 virgin, say What shapes of guilt are these? What penal woe Harries them thus? What wailing smites the air?” To whom the Sibyl, “Far-famed prince of Troy,
726The feet of innocence may never pass Into this house of sin. But Hecate, When o'er th' Avernian groves she gave me power, Taught me what penalties the gods decree, And showed me all. There Cretan Rhadamanth
731His kingdom keeps, and from unpitying throne Chastises and lays bare the secret sins Of mortals who, exulting in vain guile, Elude till death, their expiation due. There, armed forever with her vengeful scourge,
736Tisiphone, with menace and affront, The guilty swarm pursues; in her left hand She lifts her angered serpents, while she calls A troop of sister-furies fierce as she. Then, grating loud on hinge of sickening sound,
741Hell's portals open wide. 0, dost thou see What sentinel upon that threshold sits, What shapes of fear keep guard upon that gloom? Far, far within the dragon Hydra broods With half a hundred mouths, gaping and black;
746And Tartarus slopes downward to the dark Twice the whole space that in the realms of light Th' Olympian heaven above our earth aspires. — Here Earth's first offspring, the Titanic brood, Roll lightning-blasted in the gulf profound;
751The twin Aloidae Aloïdae , colossal shades, Came on my view; their hands made stroke at Heaven And strove to thrust Jove from his seat on high. I saw Salmoneus his dread stripes endure, Who dared to counterfeit Olympian thunder
756And Jove's own fire. In chariot of four steeds, Brandishing torches, he triumphant rode Through throngs of Greeks, o'er Elis' sacred way, Demanding worship as a god. 0 fool! To mock the storm's inimitable flash—
761With crash of hoofs and roll of brazen wheel! But mightiest Jove from rampart of thick cloud Hurled his own shaft, no flickering, mortal flame, And in vast whirl of tempest laid him low. Next unto these, on Tityos I looked,
766Child of old Earth, whose womb all creatures bears: Stretched o'er nine roods he lies; a vulture huge Tears with hooked beak at his immortal side, Or deep in entrails ever rife with pain Gropes for a feast, making his haunt and home
771In the great Titan bosom; nor will give To ever new-born flesh surcease of woe. Why name Ixion and Pirithous, The Lapithae, above whose impious brows A crag of flint hangs quaking to its fall,
776As if just toppling down, while couches proud, Propped upon golden pillars, bid them feast In royal glory: but beside them lies The eldest of the Furies, whose dread hands Thrust from the feast away, and wave aloft
781A flashing firebrand, with shrieks of woe. Here in a prison-house awaiting doom Are men who hated, long as life endured, Their brothers, or maltreated their gray sires, Or tricked a humble friend; the men who grasped
786At hoarded riches, with their kith and kin Not sharing ever—an unnumbered throng; Here slain adulterers be; and men who dared To fight in unjust cause, and break all faith With their own lawful lords. Seek not to know
791What forms of woe they feel, what fateful shape Of retribution hath o'erwhelmed them there. Some roll huge boulders up; some hang on wheels, Lashed to the whirling spokes; in his sad seat Theseus is sitting, nevermore to rise;
796Unhappy Phlegyas uplifts his voice In warning through the darkness, calling loud, ‘0, ere too late, learn justice and fear God!’ Yon traitor sold his country, and for gold Enchained her to a tyrant, trafficking
801In laws, for bribes enacted or made void; Another did incestuously take His daughter for a wife in lawless bonds. All ventured some unclean, prodigious crime; And what they dared, achieved. I could not tell,
806Not with a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, Or iron voice, their divers shapes of sin, Nor call by name the myriad pangs they bear.” So spake Apollo's aged prophetess. “Now up and on!” she cried. “Thy task fulfil!
811We must make speed. Behold yon arching doors Yon walls in furnace of the Cyclops forged! 'T is there we are commanded to lay down Th' appointed offering.” So, side by side, Swift through the intervening dark they strode,
816And, drawing near the portal-arch, made pause. Aeneas, taking station at the door, Pure, lustral waters o'er his body threw, And hung for garland there the Golden Bough. Now, every rite fulfilled, and tribute due
821Paid to the sovereign power of Proserpine, At last within a land delectable Their journey lay, through pleasurable bowers Of groves where all is joy,—a blest abode! An ampler sky its roseate light bestows
826On that bright land, which sees the cloudless beam Of suns and planets to our earth unknown. On smooth green lawns, contending limb with limb, Immortal athletes play, and wrestle long 'gainst mate or rival on the tawny sand;
831With sounding footsteps and ecstatic song, Some thread the dance divine: among them moves The bard of Thrace, in flowing vesture clad, Discoursing seven-noted melody, Who sweeps the numbered strings with changeful hand,
836Or smites with ivory point his golden lyre. Here Trojans be of eldest, noblest race, Great-hearted heroes, born in happier times, Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus, Illustrious builders of the Trojan town.
841Their arms and shadowy chariots he views, And lances fixed in earth, while through the fields Their steeds without a bridle graze at will. For if in life their darling passion ran To chariots, arms, or glossy-coated steeds,
846The self-same joy, though in their graves, they feel. Lo! on the left and right at feast reclined Are other blessed souls, whose chorus sings Victorious paeans on the fragrant air Of laurel groves; and hence to earth outpours
851Eridanus, through forests rolling free. Here dwell the brave who for their native land Fell wounded on the field; here holy priests Who kept them undefiled their mortal day; And poets, of whom the true-inspired song
856Deserved Apollo's name; and all who found New arts, to make man's life more blest or fair; Yea! here dwell all those dead whose deeds bequeath Deserved and grateful memory to their kind. And each bright brow a snow-white fillet wears.
861Unto this host the Sibyl turned, and hailed Musaeus, midmost of a numerous throng, Who towered o'er his peers a shoulder higher: “0 spirits blest! 0 venerable bard! Declare what dwelling or what region holds
866Anchises, for whose sake we twain essayed Yon passage over the wide streams of hell.” And briefly thus the hero made reply: “No fixed abode is ours. In shadowy groves We make our home, or meadows fresh and fair,
871With streams whose flowery banks our couches be. But you, if thitherward your wishes turn, Climb yonder hill, where I your path may show.” So saying, he strode forth and led them on, Till from that vantage they had prospect fair
876Of a wide, shining land; thence wending down, They left the height they trod;for far below Father Anchises in a pleasant vale Stood pondering, while his eyes and thought surveyed A host of prisoned spirits, who there abode
881Awaiting entrance to terrestrial air. And musing he reviewed the legions bright Of his own progeny and offspring proud— Their fates and fortunes, virtues and great deeds. Soon he discerned Aeneas drawing nigh
886o'er the green slope, and, lifting both his hands In eager welcome, spread them swiftly forth. Tears from his eyelids rained, and thus he spoke: “Art here at last? Hath thy well-proven love Of me thy sire achieved yon arduous way?
891Will Heaven, beloved son, once more allow That eye to eye we look? and shall I hear Thy kindred accent mingling with my own? I cherished long this hope. My prophet-soul Numbered the lapse of days, nor did my thought
896Deceive. 0, o'er what lands and seas wast driven To this embrace! What perils manifold Assailed thee, 0 my son, on every side! How long I trembled, lest that Libyan throne Should work thee woe!”
901Aeneas thus replied: “Thine image, sire, thy melancholy shade, Came oft upon my vision, and impelled My journey hitherward. Our fleet of ships Lies safe at anchor in the Tuscan seas.
906Come, clasp my hand! Come, father, I implore, And heart to heart this fond embrace receive!” So speaking, all his eyes suffused with tears; Thrice would his arms in vain that shape enfold. Thrice from the touch of hand the vision fled,
911Like wafted winds or likest hovering dreams. After these things Aeneas was aware Of solemn groves in one deep, distant vale, Where trees were whispering, and forever flowed The river Lethe, through its land of calm.
916Nations unnumbered roved and haunted there: As when, upon a windless summer morn, The bees afield among the rainbow flowers Alight and sip, or round the lilies pure Pour forth in busy swarm, while far diffused
921Their murmured songs from all the meadows rise. Aeneas in amaze the wonder views, And fearfully inquires of whence and why; What yonder rivers be; what people press, Line after line, on those dim shores along.
926Said Sire Anchises: “Yonder thronging souls To reincarnate shape predestined move. Here, at the river Lethe's wave, they quaff Care-quelling floods, and long oblivion. Of these I shall discourse, and to thy soul
931Make visible the number and array Of my posterity; so shall thy heart In Italy, thy new-found home, rejoice.” “0 father,” said Aeneas, “must I deem That from this region souls exalted rise
936To upper air, and shall once more return To cumbering flesh? 0, wherefore do they feel, Unhappy ones, such fatal lust to live?” “I speak, my son, nor make thee longer doubt,” Anchises said, and thus the truth set forth,
941In ordered words from point to point unfolding: “Know first that heaven and earth and ocean's plain, The moon's bright orb, and stars of Titan birth Are nourished by one Life; one primal Mind, Immingled with the vast and general frame,
946Fills every part and stirs the mighty whole. Thence man and beast, thence creatures of the air, And all the swarming monsters that be found Beneath the level of the marbled sea; A fiery virtue, a celestial power,
951Their native seeds retain; but bodies vile, With limbs of clay and members born to die, Encumber and o'ercloud; whence also spring Terrors and passions, suffering and joy; For from deep darkness and captivity
956All gaze but blindly on the radiant world. Nor when to life's last beam they bid farewell May sufferers cease from pain, nor quite be freed From all their fleshly plagues; but by fixed law, The strange, inveterate taint works deeply in.
961For this, the chastisement of evils past Is suffered here, and full requital paid. Some hang on high, outstretched to viewless winds; For some their sin's contagion must be purged In vast ablution of deep-rolling seas,
966Or burned away in fire. Each man receives His ghostly portion in the world of dark; But thence to realms Elysian we go free, Where for a few these seats of bliss abide, Till time's long lapse a perfect orb fulfils,
971And takes all taint away, restoring so The pure, ethereal soul's first virgin fire. At last, when the millennial aeon strikes, God calls them forth to yon Lethaean stream, In numerous host, that thence, oblivious all,
976They may behold once more the vaulted sky, And willingly to shapes of flesh return.” So spoke Anchises; then led forth his son, The Sibyl with him, to the assembled shades (A voiceful throng), and on a lofty mound
981His station took, whence plainly could be seen The long procession, and each face descried. “Hark now! for of the glories I will tell That wait our Dardan blood; of our sons' sons Begot upon the old Italian breed,
986Who shall be mighty spirits, and prolong Our names, their heritage. I will unfold The story, and reveal the destined years. Yon princeling, thou beholdest leaning there Upon a royal lance, shall next emerge
991Into the realms of day. He is the first Of half-Italian strain, the last-born heir To thine old age by fair Lavinia given, Called Silvius, a royal Alban name (Of sylvan birth and sylvan nurture he),
996A king himself and sire of kings to come, By whom our race in Alba Longa reign. Next Procas stands, our Trojan people's boast; Capys and Numitor, and, named like thee, Aeneas Sylvius, like thee renowned
1001For faithful honor and for deeds of war, When he ascends at last his Alban throne. Behold what warrior youth they be! How strong Their goodly limbs! Above their shaded brows The civic oak they wear! For thee they build
1006Nomentum, and the walls of Gabii, Fidena too, and on the mountains pile Collatia's citadels, Pometii, Bola and Cora, Castrum-Inui— Such be the names the nameless lands shall bear.
1011See, in that line of sires the son of Mars, Great Romulus, of Ilian mother born, From far-descended line of Trojan kings! See from his helm the double crest uprear, While his celestial father in his mien
1016Shows forth his birth divine! Of him, my son, Great Rome shall rise, and, favored of his star, Have power world-wide, and men of godlike mind. She clasps her seven hills in single wall, Proud mother of the brave! So Cybele,
1021The Berecynthian goddess, castle-crowned, On through the Phrygian kingdoms speeds her car, Exulting in her hundred sons divine, All numbered with the gods, all throned on high. “Let now thy visionary glance look long
1026On this thy race, these Romans that be thine. Here Caesar, of Iulus' glorious seed, Behold ascending to the world of light! Behold, at last, that man, for this is he, So oft unto thy listening ears foretold,
1031Augustus Caesar, kindred unto Jove. He brings a golden age; he shall restore Old Saturn's sceptre to our Latin land, And o'er remotest Garamant and Ind His sway extend; the fair dominion
1036outruns th' horizon planets, yea, beyond The sun's bright path, where Atlas' shoulder bears Yon dome of heaven set thick with burning stars. Against his coming the far Caspian shores Break forth in oracles; the Maeotian land
1041Trembles, and all the seven-fold mouths of Nile. Not o'er domain so wide Alcides passed, Although the brazen-footed doe he slew And stilled the groves of Erymanth, and bade The beast of Lerna at his arrows quail.
1046Nor half so far triumphant Baechus drove, With vine-entwisted reins, his frolic team Of tigers from the tall-topped Indian hill. “Still do we doubt if heroes' deeds can fill A realm so wide? Shall craven fear constrain
1051Thee or thy people from Ausonia's shore? Look, who is he I may discern from far By olive-branch and holy emblems known? His flowing locks and hoary beard, behold! Fit for a Roman king! By hallowed laws
1056He shall found Rome anew—from mean estate In lowly Cures led to mightier sway. But after him arises one whose reign Shall wake the land from slumber: Tullus then Shall stir slack chiefs to battle, rallying
1061His hosts which had forgot what triumphs be. Him boastful Ancus follows hard upon, o'erflushed with his light people's windy praise. Wilt thou see Tarquins now? And haughty hand Of vengeful Brutus seize the signs of power?
1066He first the consul's name shall take; he first Th' inexorable fasces sternly bear. When his own sons in rash rebellion join, The father and the judge shall sentence give In beauteous freedom's cause—unhappy he!
1071Howe'er the age to come the story tell, 't will bless such love of honor and of Rome. See Decius, sire and son, the Drusi, see! Behold Torquatus with his axe! Look where Camillus brings the Gallic standards home!
1076“But who are these in glorious armor clad And equal power? In this dark world of cloud Their souls in concord move;—but woe is me! What duel 'twixt them breaks, when by and by The light of life is theirs, and forth they call
1081Their long-embattled lines to carnage dire! Allied by nuptial truce, the sire descends From Alpine rampart and that castled cliff, Monoecus by the sea; the son arrays His hostile legions in the lands of morn.
1086Forbear, my children! School not your great souls In such vast wars, nor turn your giant strength Against the bowels of your native land! But be thou first, 0 first in mercy! thou Who art of birth Olympian! Fling away
1091Thy glorious sword, mine offspring and mine heir! “Yonder is one whose chariot shall ascend The laurelled Capitolian steep; he rides In glory o'er Achaea's hosts laid low, And Corinth overthrown. There, too, is he
1096Who shall uproot proud Argos and the towers Of Agamemnon; vanquishing the heir Even of Aeacus, the warrior seed Of Peleus' son; such vengeance shall be wrought For Troy's slain sires, and violated shrines!
1101“Or who could fail great Cato's name to tell? Or, Cossus, thine? or in oblivion leave The sons of Gracchus? or the Scipios, Twin thunderbolts of war, and Libya's bane? Or, more than kingly in his mean abode,
1106Fabricius? or Serranus at the plough? Ye Fabii, how far would ye prolong My weary praise? But see! 'T is Maximus, Who by wise waiting saves his native land. “Let others melt and mould the breathing bronze
1111To forms more fair,—aye! out of marble bring Features that live; let them plead causes well; Or trace with pointed wand the cycled heaven, And hail the constellations as they rise; But thou, 0 Roman, learn with sovereign sway
1116To rule the nations. Thy great art shall be To keep the world in lasting peace, to spare humbled foe, and crush to earth the proud.” So did Anchises speak, then, after pause, Thus to their wondering ears his word prolonged:
1121“Behold Marcellus, bright with glorious spoil, In lifted triumph through his warriors move! The Roman power in tumultuous days He shall establish; he rides forth to quell Afric and rebel Gaul; and to the shrine
1126Of Romulus the third-won trophy brings.” Then spoke Aeneas, for he now could see A beauteous youth in glittering dress of war, Though of sad forehead and down-dropping eyes: “Say, father, who attends the prince? a son?
1131Or of his greatness some remoter heir? How his friends praise him, and how matchless he! But mournful night Tests darkly o'er his brow.” With brimming eyes Anchises answer gave: “Ask not, 0 son, what heavy weight of woe
1136Thy race shall bear, when fate shall just reveal This vision to the world, then yield no more. 0 gods above, too glorious did ye deem The seed of Rome, had this one gift been sure? The lamentation of a multitude
1141Arises from the field of Mars, and strikes The city's heart. 0 Father Tiber, see What pomp of sorrow near the new-made tomb Beside thy fleeting stream! What Ilian youth Shall e'er his Latin kindred so advance
1146In hope of glory? When shall the proud land Of Romulus of such a nursling boast? Ah, woe' is me! 0 loyal heart and true! 0 brave, right arm invincible! What foe Had 'scaped his onset in the shock of arms,
1151Whether on foot he strode, or if he spurred The hot flanks of his war-horse flecked with foam? 0 lost, lamented child! If thou evade Thy evil star, Marcellus thou shalt be. 0 bring me lilies! Bring with liberal hand!
1156Sad purple blossoms let me throw—the shade Of my own kin to honor, heaping high My gifts upon his grave! So let me pay An unavailing vow!” Then, far and wide
1161Through spacious fields of air, they wander free, Witnessing all; Anchises guides his son From point to point, and quickens in his mind Hunger for future fame. Of wars he tells Soon imminent; of fair Laurentum's tribes;
1166Of King Latinus' town; and shows what way Each task and hardship to prevent, or bear. Now Sleep has portals twain, whereof the one Is horn, they say, and easy exit gives To visions true; the other, gleaming white
1171With polished ivory, the.dead employ To people night with unsubstantial dreams. Here now Anchises bids his son farewell; And with Sibylla, his companion sage, Up through that ivory portal lets him rise.
1176Back to his fleet and his dear comrades all Aeneas hastes.Then hold they their straight course Into Caieta's bay. An anchor holds Each lofty prow; the sterns stand firm on shore.
Book 7
1Tu quoque litoribus nostris, Aeneia nutrix, aeternam moriens famam, Caieta, dedisti; et nunc servat honos sedem tuus ossaque nomen Hesperia in magna, siqua est ea gloria, signat. At pius exsequiis Aeneas rite solutis,
6aggere composito tumuli, postquam alta quierunt aequora, tendit iter velis portumque relinquit. Adspirant aurae in noctem nec candida cursus Luna negat, splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus. Proxima Circaeae raduntur litora terrae,
11dives inaccessos ubi Solis filia lucos adsiduo resonat cantu tectisque superbis urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum, arguto tenuis percurrens pectine telas. Hinc exaudiri gemitus iraeque leonum
16vincla recusantum et sera sub nocte rudentum, saetigerique sues atque in praesaepibus ursi saevire ac formae magnorum ululare luporum, quos hominum ex facie dea saeva potentibus herbis induerat Circe in voltus ac terga ferarum.
21Quae ne monstra pii paterentur talia Troes delati in portus neu litora dira subirent, Neptunus ventis implevit vela secundis atque fugam dedit et praeter vada fervida vexit. Iamque rubescebat radiis mare et aethere ab alto
26Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis: cum venti posuere omnisque repente resedit flatus et in lento luctantur marmore tonsae. Atque hic Aeneas ingentem ex aequore lucum prospicit. Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amoeno
31verticibus rapidis et multa flavus arena in mare prorumpit. Variae circumque supraque adsuetae ripis volucres et fluminis alveo aethera mulcebant cantu lucoque volabant. flectere iter sociis terraeque advertere proras
36imperat et laetus fluvio succedit opaco. Nunc age, qui reges, Erato, quae tempora rerum, quis Latio antiquo fuerit status, advena classem cum primum Ausoniis exercitus appulit oris, expediam et primae revocabo exordia pugnae.
41tu vatem, tu, diva, mone. Dicam horrida bella, dicam acies actosque animis in funera reges Tyrrhenamque manum totamque sub arma coactam Hesperiam. Maior rerum mihi nascitur ordo, maius opus moveo.Rex arva Latinus et urbes
46iam senior longa placidas in pace regebat. Hunc Fauno et nympha genitum Laurente Marica accipimus, Fauno Picus pater isque parentem te, Saturne, refert, tu sanguinis ultimus auctor. filius huic fato divom prolesque virilis
51nulla fuit primaque oriens erepta iuventa est. Sola domum et tantas servabat filia sedes, iam matura viro, iam plenis nubilis annis. Multi illam magno e Latio totaque petebant Ausonia. Petit ante alios pulcherrimus omnis
56Turnus, avis atavisque potens, quem regia coniunx adiungi generum miro properabat amore; sed variis portenta deum terroribus obstant. Laurus erat tecti medio in penetralibus altis, sacra comam multosque metu servata per annos,
61quam pater inventam, primas cum conderet arces, ipse ferebatur Phoebo sacrasse Latinus Laurentisque ab ea nomen posuisse colonis. Huius apes summum densae (mirabile dictu), stridore ingenti liquidum trans aethera vectae,
66obsedere apicem, ex pedibus per mutua nexis examen subitum ramo frondente pependit. Continuo vates: Externum cernimus, inquit, adventare virum et partis petere agmen easdem partibus ex isdem et summa dominarier arce.
71Praeterea, castis adolet dum altaria taedis et iuxta genitorem adstat Lavinia virgo, visa (nefas) longis comprendere crinibus ignem, regalisque accensa comas, accensa coronam insignem gemmis, tum fumida lumine fulvo
77involvi ac totis Volcanum spargere tectis. Id vero horrendum ac visu mirabile ferri: namque fore inlustrem fama fatisque canebant ipsam, sed populo magnum portendere bellum. At rex sollicitus monstris oracula Fauni,
82fatidici genitoris, adit lucosque sub alta consulit Albunea, nemorum quae maxima sacro fonte sonat saevamque exhalat opaca mephitim. Hinc Italae gentes omnisque Oenotria tellus in dubiis responsa petunt; huc dona sacerdos
87cum tulit et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti pellibus incubuit stratis somnosque petivit, multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris et varias audit voces fruiturque deorum conloquio atque imis Acheronta adfatur Avernis.
92Hic et tum pater ipse petens responsa Latinus centum lanigeras mactabat rite bidentis atque harum effultus tergo stratisque iacebat velleribus: subita ex alto vox reddita luco est: Ne pete conubiis natam sociare Latinis,
97O mea progenies, thalamis neu crede paratis: externi venient generi, qui sanguine nostrum nomen in astra ferant quorumque a stirpe nepotes omnia sub pedibus, qua Sol utrumque recurrens aspicit Oceanum, vertique regique videbunt.
102Haec responsa patris Fauni monitusque silenti nocte datos non ipse suo premit ore Latinus, sed circum late volitans iam Fama per urbes Ausonias tulerat, cum Laomedontia pubes gramineo ripae religavit ab aggere classem.
107Aeneas primique duces et pulcher Iulus corpora sub ramis deponunt arboris altae instituuntque dapes et adorea liba per herbam subiciunt epulis (sic Iuppiter ipse monebat) et Cereale solum pomis agrestibus augent.
112Consumptis hic forte aliis ut vertere morsus exiguam in Cererem penuria adegit edendi et violare manu malisque audacibus orbem fatalis crusti patulis nec parcere quadris: Heus ! etiam mensas consumimus, inquit Iulus,
117nec plura adludens. Ea vox audita laborum prima tulit finem, primamque loquentis ab ore eripuit pater ac stupefactus numine pressit. Continuo: Salve fatis mihi debita tellus vosque, ait, O fidi Troiae salvete penates:
122hic domus, haec patria est. Genitor mihi talia namque (nunc repeto) Anchises fatorum arcana reliquit: cum te, nate, fames ignota ad litora vectum accisis coget dapibus consumere mensas, tum sperare domos defessus ibique memento
127prima locare manu molirique aggere tecta. Haec erat illa fames; haec nos suprema manebat, exiliis positura modum. Quare agite et primo laeti cum lumine solis quae loca, quive habeant homines, ubi moenia gentis,
132vestigemus et a portu diversa petamus. Nunc pateras libate Iovi precibusque vocate Anchisen genitorem, et vina reponite mensis. Sic deinde effatus frondenti tempora ramo implicat et geniumque loci primamque deorum
137Tellurem nymphasque et adhuc ignota precatur flumina, tum Noctem Noctisque orientia signa Idaeumque Iovem Phrygiamque ex ordine matrem invocat et duplicis caeloque ereboque parentis. Hic pater omnipotens ter caelo clarus ab alto
142intonuit radiisque ardentem lucis et auro ipse manu quatiens ostendit ab aethere nubem. Diditur hic subito Troiana per agmina rumor advenisse diem, quo debita moenia condant. Certatim instaurant epulas atque omine magno
147crateras laeti statuunt et vina coronant. Postera cum prima lustrabat lampade terras orta dies, urbem et finis et litora gentis diversi explorant: haec fontis stagna Numici, hunc Thybrim fluvium, hic fortis habitare Latinos.
152Tum satus Anchisa delectos ordine ab omni centum oratores augusta ad moenia regis ire iubet, ramis velatos Palladis omnis, donaque ferre viro pacemque exposcere Teucris. Haud mora, festinant iussi rapidisque feruntur
157passibus. Ipse humili designat moenia fossa moliturque locum primasque in litore sedes castrorum in morem pinnis atque aggere cingit. Iamque iter emensi turris ac tecta Latinorum ardua cernebant iuvenes muroque subibant.
162Ante urbem pueri et primaevo flore iuventus exercentur equis domitantque in pulvere currus aut acris tendunt arcus aut lenta lacertis spicula contorquent cursuque ictuque lacessunt: cum praevectus equo longaevi regis ad auris
167nuntius ingentis ignota in veste reportat advenisse viros. Ille intra tecta vocari imperat et solio medius consedit avito. Tectum augustum ingens. centum sublime columnis, urbe fuit summa, Laurentis regia Pici,
172horrendum silvis et religione parentum. Hic sceptra accipere et primos attollere fasces regibus omen erat, hoc illis curia templum, hae sacris sedes epulis, hic ariete caeso perpetuis soliti patres considere mensis.
177Quin etiam veterum effigies ex ordine avorum antiqua e cedro, Italusque paterque Sabinus vitisator, curvam servans sub imagine falcem, Saturnusque senex Ianique bifrontis imago vestibulo astabant, aliique ab origine reges
182Martiaque ob patriam pugnando volnera passi. Multaque praeterea sacris in postibus arma, captivi pendent currus curvaeque secures et cristae capitum et portarum ingentia claustra spiculaque clipeique ereptaque rostra carinis.
187Ipse Quirinali lituo parvaque sedebat succinctus trabea laevaque ancile gerebat Picus, equum domitor; quem capta cupidine coniunx aurea percussum virga versumque venenis fecit avem Circe sparsitque coloribus alas.
192Tali intus templo divom patriaque Latinus sede sedens Teucros ad sese in tecta vocavit, atque haec ingressis placido prior edidit ore: Dicite, Dardanidae (neque enim nescimus et urbem et genus, auditique advertitis aequore cursum),
197quid petitis ? Quae causa rates aut cuius egentis litus ad Ausonium tot per vada caerula vexit? Sive errore viae seu tempestatibus acti, qualia multa mari nautae patiuntur in alto, fluminis intrastis ripas portuque sedetis,
202ne fugite hospitium neve ignorate Latinos Saturni gentem, haud vinclo nec legibus aequam, sponte sua veterisque dei se more tenentem. Atque equidem memini (fama est obscurior annis) Auruncos ita ferre senes, his ortus ut agris
207Dardanus Idaeas Phrygiae penetravit ad urbes Threiciamque Samum, quae nunc Samothracia fertur. Hinc illum, Corythi Tyrrhena ab sede profectum, aurea nunc solio stellantis regia caeli accipit et numerum divorum altaribus auget.
212Dixerat, et dicta Ilioneus sic voce secutus: Rex, genus egregium Fauni, nec fluctibus actos, atra subegit hiemps vestris succedere terris nec sidus regione viae litusve fefellit: consilio hanc omnes animisque volentibus urbem,
217adferimur, pulsi regnis, quae maxima quondam extremo veniens Sol aspiciebat Olympo. Ab Iove principium generis, Iove Dardana pubes gaudet avo, rex ipse Iovis de gente suprema, Troius Aeneas, tua nos ad limina misit.
222Quanta per Idaeos saevis effusa Mycenis tempestas ierit campos, quibus actus uterque Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrerit orbis, audiit et siquem tellus extrema refuso summovet oceano et siquem extenta plagarum
227quattuor in medio dirimit plaga solis iniqui. Diluvio ex illo tot vasta per aequora vecti dis sedem exiguam patriis litusque rogamus innocuum et cunctis undamque auramque patentem. Non erimus regno indecores, nec vestra feretur
232fama levis tantique abolescet gratia facti, nec Troiam Ausonios gremio excepisse pigebit. Fata per Aeneae iuro dextramque potentem sive fide seu quis bello est expertus et armis: multi nos populi, multae (ne temne, quod ultro
237praeferimus manibus vittas ac verba precantia) et petiere sibi et voluere adiungere gentes; sed nos fata deum vestras exquirere terras imperiis egere suis. Hinc Dardanus ortus; huc repetit iussisque ingentibus urguet Apollo
242Tyrrhenum ad Thybrim et fontis vada sacra Numici. Dat tibi praeterea fortunae parva prioris munera, reliquias Troia ex ardente receptas. Hoc pater Anchises auro libabat ad aras; hoc Priami gestamen erat, cum iura vocatis
247more daret populis, sceptrumque sacerque tiaras Iliadumque labor vestes. Talibus Ilionei dictis defixa Latinus obtutu tenet ora soloque immobilis haeret intentos volvens oculos. Nec purpura regem
252picta movet nec sceptra movent Priameia tantum, quantum in conubio natae thalamoque moratur, et veteris Fauni voluit sub pectore sortem, hunc illum fatis externa ab sede profectum portendi generum paribusque in regna vocari
257auspiciis, huic progeniem virtute futuram egregiam et totum quae viribus occupet orbem. tandem laetus ait: Di nostra incepta secundent auguriumque suum; dabitur, Troiane, quod optas, munera nec sperno. Non vobis rege Latino
262divitis uber agri Troiaeve opulentia deerit. Ipse modo Aeneas, nostri si tanta cupido est, si iungi hospitio properat sociusque vocari, adveniat voltus neve exhorrescat amicos: illi pacis erit dextram tetigisse tyranni.
267vos contra regi mea nunc mandata referte. Est mihi nata, viro gentis quam iungere nostrae non patrio ex adyto sortes, non plurima caelo monstra sinunt: generos externis adfore ab oris, hoc Latio restare canunt, qui sanguine nostrum
272nomen in astra ferant. Hunc illum poscere fata et reor et, siquid veri mens augurat, opto. haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni (stabant ter centum nitidi in praesaepibus altis): omnibus extemplo Teucris iubet ordine duci
277instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis; aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent, tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum; absenti Aeneae currum geminosque iugalis semine ab aetherio, spirantis naribus ignem,
282illorum de gente, patri quos daedala Circe supposita de matre nothos furata creavit. Talibus Aeneadae donis dictisque Latini sublimes in equis redeunt pacemque reportant. Ecce autem Inachiis sese referebat ab Argis
287saeva Iovis coniunx aurasque invecta tenebat, et laetum Aenean classemque ex aethere longe Dardaniam Siculo prospexit ab usque Pachyno. moliri iam tecta videt, iam fidere terrae, deseruisse rates: stetit acri fixa dolore.
292Tum quassans caput haec effundit pectore dicta: Heu stirpem invisam et fatis contraria nostris fata Phrygum ! Num Sigeis occumbere campis, num capti potuere capi, num incensa cremavit Troia viros ? Medias acies mediosque per ignis
297invenere viam. At, credo, mea numina tandem fessa iacent odiis aut exsaturata quievi. Quin etiam patria excussos infesta per undas ausa sequi et profugis toto me opponere ponto ! Absumptae in Teucros vires caelique marisque.
302Quid Syrtes aut Scylla mihi, quid vasta Charybdis profuit? Optato conduntur Thybridis alveo, securi pelagi atque mei. Mars perdere gentem immanem Lapithum valuit, concessit in iras ipse deum antiquam genitor Calydona Dianae,
307quod scelus aut Lapithis tantum aut Calydona merentem? Ast ego magna Iovis coniunx, nil linquere inausum quae potui infelix, quae memet in omnia verti, vincor ab Aenea. Quod si mea numina non sunt magna satis, dubitem haud equidem implorare quod usquam est:
312flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. Non dabitur regnis, esto, prohibere Latinis, atque immota manet fatis Lavinia coniunx: at trahere atque moras tantis licet addere rebus, at licet amborum populos exscindere regum.
317Hac gener atque socer coeant mercede suorum: sanguine Troiano et Rutulo dotabere, virgo, et Bellona manet te pronuba. Nec face tantum Cisseis praegnans ignis enixa iugalis quin idem Veneri partus suus et Paris alter
322funestaeque iterum recidiva in Pergama taedae. Haec ubi dicta dedit, terras Horrenda petivit: luctificam Allecto dirarum ab sede dearum infernisque ciet tenebris, cui tristia bella iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi.
327Odit et ipse pater Pluton, odere sorores Tartareae monstrum: tot sese vertit in ora, tam saevae facies, tot pullulat atra colubris. Quam Iuno his acuit verbis ac talia fatur: Hunc mihi da proprium, virgo sata Nocte, laborem,
332hanc operam, ne noster honos infractave cedat fama loco, neu conubiis ambire Latinum Aeneadae possint Italosve obsidere finis. Tu potes unanimos armare in proelia fratres atque odiis versare domos, tu verbera tectis
337funereasque inferre faces, tibi nomina mille, mille nocendi artes. Fecundum concute pectus, disice compositam pacem, sere crimina belli: arma velit poscatque simul rapiatque inventus. Exin Gorgoneis Allecto infecta venenis
342principio Latium et Laurentis tecta tyranni celsa petit tacitumque obsedit limen Amatae, quam super adventu Teucrum Turnique hymenaeis femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant. Huic dea caeruleis unum de crinibus anguem
347conicit inque sinum praecordia ad intuma subdit, quo furibunda domum monstro permisceat omnem. Ille inter vestes et levia pectora lapsus volvitur attactu nullo fallitque furentem, vipeream inspirans animam: fit tortile collo
352aurum ingens coluber, fit longae taenia vittae innectitque comas, et membris lubricus errat. Ac dum prima lues udo sublapsa veneno pertemptat sensus atque ossibus implicat ignem necdum animus toto percepit pectore flammam,
357mollius et solito matrum de more locuta est, multa super nata lacrimans Phrygiisque hymenaeis: Exsulibusne datur ducenda Lavinia Teucris, O genitor, nec te miseret gnataeque tuique ? Nec matris miseret, quam primo aquilone relinquet
362perfidus alta petens abducta virgine praedo? An non sic Phrygius penetrat Lacedaemona pastor Ledaeamque Helenam Troianas vexit ad urbes ? Quid tua sancta fides, quid cura antiqua tuorum et consanguineo totiens data dextera Turno?
367Si gener externa petitur de gente Latinis idque sedet Faunique premunt te iussa parentis, omnem equidem sceptris terram quae libera nostris dissidet, externam reor et sic dicere divos. Et Turno, si prima domus repetatur origo,
372Inachus Acrisiusque patres mediaeque Mycenae. His ubi nequiquam dictis experta Latinum contra stare videt penitusque in viscera lapsum serpentis furiale malum totamque pererrat, tum vero infelix, ingentibus excita monstris,
377immensam sine more furit lymphata per urbem. Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere turbo, quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum intenti ludo exercent; ille actus habena curvatis fertur spatiis; stupet inscia supra
382inpubesque manus, mirata volubile buxum; dant animos plagae: non cursu segnior illo per medias urbes agitur populosque feroces. Quin etiam in silvas, simulato numine Bacchi, maius adorta nefas maioremque orsa furorem
387evolat et natam frondosis montibus abdit, quo thalamum eripiat Teucris taedasque moretur, Euhoe Bacche, fremens, solum te virgine dignum vociferans, etenim mollis tibi sumere thyrsos, te lustrare choro, sacrum tibi pascere crinem.
392Fama volat, furiisque accensas pectore matres idem omnis simul ardor agit nova quaerere tecta: deseruere domos, ventis dant colla comasque, ast aliae tremulis ululatibus aethera complent, pampineasque gerunt incinctae pellibus hastas;
397ipsa inter medias flagrantem fervida pinum sustinet ac natae Turnique canit hymenaeos, sanguineam torquens aciem, torvumque repente clamat: Io matres, audite, ubi quaeque, Latinae: Siqua piis animis manet infelicis Amatae
402gratia, si iuris materni cura remordet, solvite crinalis vittas, capite orgia mecum. Talem inter silvas, inter deserta ferarum, reginam Allecto stimulis agit undique Bacchi. Postquam visa satis primos acuisse furores
407consiliumque omnemque domum vertisse Latini, protinus hinc fuscis tristis dea tollitur alis audacis Rutuli ad muros, quam dicitur urbem Acrisioneis Danae fundasse colonis, praecipiti delata noto. Locus Ardea quondam
412dictus avis, et nunc magnum manet Ardea nomen, sed fortuna fuit; tectis hic Turnus in altis iam mediam nigra carpebat nocte quietem. Allecto torvam faciem et furialia membra exuit, in vultus sese transformat anilis;
417et frontem obscenam rugis arat, induit albos cum vitta crinis, tum ramum innectit olivae; fit Calybe Iunonis anus templique sacerdos et iuveni ante oculos his se cum vocibus offert: Turne, tot incassum fusos patiere labores
422et tua Dardaniis transcribi sceptra colonis? Rex tibi coniugium et quaesitas sanguine dotes abnegat, externusque in regnum quaeritur heres. I nunc, ingratis offer te, inrise, periclis; Tyrrhenas, i, sterne acies; tege pace Latinos.
427Haec adeo tibi me, placida cum nocte iaceres, ipsa palam fari omnipotens Saturnia iussit. Quare age et armari pubem portisque moveri laetus in arma para, et Phrygios qui flumine pulchro consedere duces pictasque exure carinas.
432Caelestum vis magna iubet. Rex ipse Latinus, ni dare coniugium et dicto parere fatetur, sentiat et tandem Turnum experiatur in armis. Hic iuvenis vatem inridens sic orsa vicissim ore refert: Classis invectas Thybridis undam
437non, ut rere, meas effugit nuntius auris. Ne tantos mihi finge metus; nec regia Iuno inmemor est nostri. Sed te victa situ verique effeta senectus, o mater, curis nequiquam exercet et arma
442regum inter falsa vatem formidine ludit. Cura tibi divom effigies et templa tueri: bella viri pacemque gerent, quis bella gerenda. Talibus Allecto dictis exarsit in iras, at iuveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus,
447deriguere oculi: tot Erinys sibilat hydris tantaque se facies aperit; tum flammea torquens lumina cunctantem et quaerentem dicere plura reppulit et geminos erexit crinibus anguis verberaque insonuit rabidoque haec addidit ore:
452En ego victa situ, quam veri effeta senectus arma inter regum falsa formidine ludit. Respice ad haec: adsum dirarum ab sede sororum, bella manu letumque gero. Sic effata facem iuveni coniecit et atro
457lumine fumantis fixit sub pectore taedas. Olli somnum ingens rumpit pavor, ossaque et artus perfundit toto proruptus corpore sudor; arma amens fremit, arma toro tectisque requirit; saevit amor ferri et scelerata insania belli,
462ira super: magno veluti cum flamma sonore virgea suggeritur costis undantis aëni exsultantque aestu latices, furit intus aquaï fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis, nec iam se capit unda, volat vapor ater ad auras.
467Ergo iter ad regem polluta pace Latinum indicit primis iuvenum et iubet arma parari, tutari Italiam, detrudere finibus hostem: se satis ambobus Teucrisque venire Latinisque. Haec ubi dicta dedit divosque in vota vocavit,
472certatim sese Rutuli exhortantur in arma: hunc decus egregium formae movet atque iuventae, hunc atavi reges, hunc claris dextera factis. Dum Turnus Rutulos animis audacibus implet, Allecto in Teucros Stygiis se concitat alis,
477arte nova speculata locum, quo litore pulcher insidiis cursuque feras agitabat Iulus. Hic subitam canibus rabiem Cocytia virgo obicit et noto naris contingit odore, ut cervum ardentes agerent; quae prima laborum
482causa fuit belloque animos accendit agrestis. Cervus erat forma praestanti et cornibus ingens, Tyrrhidae pueri quem matris ab ubere raptum nutribant Tyrrhusque pater, cui regia parent armenta et late custodia credita campi.
487Adsuetum imperiis soror omni Silvia cura mollibus intexens ornabat cornua sertis pectebatque ferum puroque in fonte lavabat. Ille, manum patiens mensaeque adsuetus erili, errabat silvis rursusque ad limina nota
492ipse domum sera quamvis se nocte ferebat. Hunc procul errantem rabidae venantis Iuli commovere canes, fluvio cum forte secundo deflueret ripaque aestus viridante levaret. Ipse etiam, eximiae laudis succensus amore,
497Ascanius curvo direxit spicula cornu; nec dextrae erranti deus afuit, actaque multo perque uterum sonitu perque ilia venit harundo. Saucius at quadrupes nota intra tecta refugit successitque gemens stabulis questuque cruentus
502atque imploranti similis tectum omne replebat. Silvia prima soror, palmis percussa lacertos, auxilium vocat et duros conclamat agrestis. Olli, pestis enim tacitis latet aspera silvis, inprovisi adsunt, hic torre armatus obusto,
507stipitis hic gravidi nodis: quod cuique repertum rimanti, telum ira facit. Vocat agmina Tyrrhus, quadrifidam quercum cuneis ut forte coactis scindebat, rapta spirans immane securi. At saeva e speculis tempus dea nacta nocendi
512ardua tecta petit stabuli et de culmine summo pastorale canit signum cornuque recurvo Tartaream intendit vocem, qua protinus omne contremuit nemus et silvae insonuere profundae; audiit et Triviae longe lacus, audiit amnis
517sulfurea Nar albus aqua fontesque Velini, et trepidae matres pressere ad pectora natos. Tum vero ad vocem celeres, qua bucina signum dira dedit, raptis concurrunt undique telis indomiti agricolae; nec non et Troïa pubes
522Ascanio auxilium castris effundit apertis. Direxere acies. Non iam certamine agresti, stipitibus duris agitur sudibusve praeustis, sed ferro ancipiti decernunt atraque late horrescit strictis seges ensibus aeraque fulgent
527sole lacessita et lucem sub nubila iactant: fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere vento, paulatim sese tollit mare et altius undas erigit, inde imo consurgit ad aethera fundo. Hic iuvenis primam ante aciem stridente sagitta,
532natorum Tyrrhi fuerat qui maximus, Almo, sternitur; haesit enim sub gutture volnus et udae vocis iter tenuemque inclusit sanguine vitam. Corpora multa virum circa seniorque Galaesus, dum paci medium se offert, iustissimus unus
537qui fuit Ausoniisque olim ditissimus arvis: quinque greges illi balantum, quina redibant armenta, et terram centum vertebat aratris. Atque ea per campos aequo dum Marte geruntur, promissi dea facta potens, ubi sanguine bellum
542imbuit et primae commisit funera pugnae, deserit Hesperiam et caeli convexa per auras Iunonem victrix adfatur voce superba: En, perfecta tibi bello discordia tristi: dic in amicitiam coeant et foedera iungant.
547Quando quidem Ausonio respersi sanguine Teucros, hoc etiam his addam, tua si mihi certa voluntas: finitimas in bella feram rumoribus urbes accendamque animos insani Martis amore, undique ut auxilio veniunt; spargam arma per agros.
552Tum contra Iuno; Terrorum et fraudis abunde est; stant belli causae, pugnatur comminus armis, quae fors prima dedit sanguis novus imbuit arma. Talia coniugia et talis celebrent hymenaeos egregium Veneris genus et rex ipse Latinus.
557Te super aetherias errare licentius auras haud pater ille velit, summi regnator Olympi: cede locis; ego, siqua super fortuna laborum est, ipsa regam. Talis dederat Saturnia voces. Illa autem attollit stridentis anguibus alas
562Cocytique petit sedem, supera ardua linquens. Est locus Italiae medio sub montibus altis, nobilis et fama multis memoratus in oris, Amsancti valles: densis hunc frondibus atrum urguet utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus
567dat sonitum saxis et torto vertice torrens. Hic specus horrendum et saevi spiracula Ditis monstrantur, ruptoque ingens Acheronte vorago pestiferas aperit fauces, quis condita Erinys, invisum numen, terras caelumque levabat.
572Nec minus interea extremam Saturnia bello imponit regina manum. Ruit omnis in urbem pastorum ex acie numerus caesosque reportant Almonem puerum foedatique ora Galaesi implorantque deos obtestanturque Latinum.
577Turnus adest medioque in crimine caedis et igni terrorem ingeminat: Teucros in regna vocari, stirpem admisceri Phrygiam, se limine pelli. Tum quorum attonitae Baccho nemora avia matres insultant thiasis (neque enim leve nomen Amatae),
582undique collecti coeunt Martemque fatigant. Ilicet infandum cuncti contra omina bellum, contra fata deum perverso numine poscunt, certatim regis circumstant tecta Latini. Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistit,
587ut pelagi rupes magno veniente fragore, quae sese multis circum latrantibus undis mole tenet; scopuli nequiquam et spumea circum saxa fremunt laterique inlisa refunditur alga. Verum ubi nulla datur caecum exsuperare potestas
592consilium et saevae nutu Iunonis eunt res, multa deos aurasque pater testatus inanis: Frangimur heu fatis, inquit, ferimurque procella! Ipsi has sacrilego pendetis sanguine poenas, O miseri. Te, Turne, nefas, te triste manebit
597supplicium, votisque deos venerabere seris. Nam mihi parta quies, omnisque in limine portus; funere felici spolior. Nec plura locutus saepsit se tectis rerumque reliquit habenas. Mos erat Hesperio in Latio, quem protinus urbes
602Albanae coluere sacrum nunc maxima rerum Roma colit, cum prima movent in proelia Martem, sive Getis inferre manu lacrimabile bellum Hyrcanisve Arabisve parant seu tendere ad Indos Auroramque sequi Parthosque reposcere signa.
607Sunt geminae belli portae (sic nomine dicunt) religione sacrae et saevi formidine Martis; centum aerei claudunt vectes aeternaque ferri robora, nec custos absistit limine Ianus: has, ubi certa sedet patribus sententia pugnae,
612ipse Quirinali trabea cinctuque Gabino insignis reserat stridentia limina consul, ipse vocat pugnas; sequitur tum cetera pubes, aereaque adsensu conspirant cornua rauco. Hoc et tum Aeneadis indicere bella Latinus
617more iubebatur tristisque recludere portas. Abstinuit tactu pater aversusque refugit foeda ministeria et caecis se condidit umbris. Tum regina deum caelo delapsa morantis impulit ipsa manu portas, et cardine verso
622belli ferratos rumpit Saturnia postes. Ardet inexcita Ausonia atque immobilis ante; Pars pedes ire parat campis, pars arduus altis pulverulentus equis furit; omnes arma requirunt. Pars levis clipeos et spicula lucida tergent
627arvina pingui subiguntque in cote secures; signaque ferre iuvat sonitusque audire tubarum. Quinque adeo magnae positis incudibus urbes tela novant, Atina potens Tiburque superbum, Ardea Crustumerique et turrigerae Antemnae.
632Tegmina tuta cavant capitum flectuntque salignas umbonum cratis; alii thoracas aenos aut levis ocreas lento ducunt argento; vomeris huc et falcis honos, huc omnis aratri cessit amor; recoquunt patrios fornacibus enses.
637Classica iamque sonant; it bello tessera signum. Hic galeam tectis trepidus rapit, ille frementis ad iuga cogit equos clipeumque auroque trilicem loricam induitur fidoque accingitur ense. Pandite nunc Helicona, deae, cantusque movete,
642qui bello exciti reges, quae quemque secutae complerint campos acies, quibus Itala iam tum floruerit terra alma viris, quibus arserit armis. Et meministis enim, divae, et memorare potestis: ad nos vix tenuis famae perlabitur aura.
647Primus init bellum Tyrrhenis asper ab oris contemptor divom Mezentius agminaque armat. Filius huic iuxta Lausus, quo pulchrior alter non fuit excepto Laurentis corpore Turni, Lausus, equum domitor debellatorque ferarum,
652ducit Agyllina nequiquam ex urbe secutos mille viros, dignus, patriis qui laetior esset imperiis et cui pater haud Mezentius esset. Post hos insignem palma per gramina currum victoresque ostentat equos satus Hercule pulchro
657pulcher Aventinus, clipeoque insigne paternum centum angues cinctamque gerit serpentibus hydram; collis Aventini silva quem Rhea sacerdos furtivum partu sub luminis edidit oras, mixta deo mulier, postquam Laurentia victor
662Geryone extincto Tirynthius attigit arva Tyrrhenoque boves in flumine lavit Hiberas. Pila manu saevosque gerunt in bella dolones et tereti pugnant mucrone veruque Sabello. Ipse pedes, tegumen torquens immane leonis,
667terribili impexum saeta cum dentibus albis indutus capiti, sic regia tecta subibat, horridus, Herculeoque umeros innexus amictu. Tum gemini fratres Tiburtia moenia linquunt, fratris Tiburti dictam cognomine gentem,
672Catillusque acerque Coras, Argiva iuventus, et primam ante aciem densa inter tela feruntur: ceu duo nubigenae cum vertice montis ab alto descendunt centauri, Homolen Othrymque nivalem linquentes cursu rapido; dat euntibus ingens
677silva locum et magno cedunt virgulta fragore. Nec Praenestinae fundator defuit urbis, Volcano genitum pecora inter agrestia regem inventumque focis omnis quem credidit aetas Caeculus. Hunc late legio comitatur agrestis:
682quique altum Praeneste viri quique arva Gabinae Iunonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit, quos, Amasene pater. Non illis omnibus arma, nec clipei currusve sonant: pars maxima glandes
687liventis plumbi spargit, pars spicula gestat bina manu, fulvosque lupi de pelle galeros tegmen habent capiti, vestigia nuda sinistri instituere pedis, crudus tegit altera pero. At Messapus, equum domitor, Neptunia proles,
692quem neque fas igni cuiquam nec sternere ferro, iam pridem resides populos desuetaque bello agmina in arma vocat subito ferrumque retractat. Hi Fescenninas acies Aequosque Faliscos. Hi Soractis habent arces Flaviniaque arva
697et Cimini cum monte lacum lucosque Capenos. Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant, ceu quondam nivei liquida inter nubila cycni, cum sese e pastu referunt et longa canoros dant per colla modos, sonat amnis et Asia longe
702pulsa palus. Nec quisquam aeratas acies ex agmine tanto misceri putet, aeriam sed gurgite ab alto urgueri volucrum raucarum ad litora nubem. Ecce Sabinorum prisco de sanguine magnum
707agmen agens Clausus magnique ipse agminis instar, Claudia nunc a quo diffunditur et tribus et gens per Latium, postquam in partem data Roma Sabinis. Una ingens Amiterna cohors priscique Quirites, Ereti manus omnis oliviferaeque Mutuscae;
712qui Nomentum urbem, qui Rosea rura Velini, qui Tetricae horrentis rupes montemque Severum Casperiamque colunt Forulosque et flumen Himellae, qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt, quos frigida misit Nursia, et Hortinae classes populique Latini,
717quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen: quam multi Libyco volvuntur marmore fluctus saevus ubi Orion hibernis conditur undis; vel cum sole novo densae torrentur aristae aut Hermi campo aut Lyciae flaventibus arvis.
722Scuta sonant pulsuque pedum conterrita tellus. Hinc Agamemnonius, Troiani nominis hostis, curru iungit Halaesus equos Turnoque ferocis mille rapit populos, vertunt felicia Baccho Massica qui rastris et quos de collibus altis
727Aurunci misere patres, Sidicinaque iuxta aequora quique Cales linquunt, amnisque vadosi accola Volturni, pariterque Saticulus asper Oscorumque manus. Teretes sunt aclydes illis tela, sed haec lento mos est aptare flagello;
732laevas caetra tegit, falcati comminus enses. Nec tu carminibus nostris indictus abibis, Oebale, quem generasse Telon Sebethide nympha fertur, Teleboum Capreas cum regna teneret, iam senior; patriis sed non et filius arvis
737contentus late iam tum dicione premebat Sarrastis populos et quae rigat aequora Sarnus quique Rufras Batulumque tenent atque arva Celemnae et quos maliferae despectant moenia Abellae, Teutonico ritu soliti torquere cateias,
742tegmina quis capitum raptus de subere cortex, aerataeque micant peltae, micat aereus ensis. Et te montosae misere in proelia Nersae, Ufens, insignem fama et felicibus armis; horrida praecipue cui gens adsuetaque multo
747venatu nemorum, duris Aequicula glaebis. Armati terram exercent, semperque recentis convectare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto. Quin et Marruvia venit de gente sacerdos, fronde super galeam et felici comptus oliva.
752Archippi regis missu, fortissimus Umbro, vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat mulcebatque iras et morsus arte levabat. Sed non Dardaniae medicari cuspidis ictum
757evaluit, neque eum iuvere in volnera cantus somniferi et Marsis quaesitae montibus herbae. Te nemus Angitiae, vitrea te Fucinus unda, te liquidi flevere lacus. Ibat et Hippolyti proles pulcherrima bello,
762Virbius, insignem quem mater Aricia misit, eductum Egeriae lucis umentia circum litora, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Dianae. Namque ferunt fama Hippolytum, postquam arte novercae occiderit patriasque explerit sanguine poenas
767turbatis distractus equis, ad sidera rursus aetheria et superas caeli venisse sub auras, Paeoniis revocatum herbis et amore Dianae. Tum pater omnipotens, aliquem indignatus ab umbris mortalem infernis ad lumina surgere vitae,
772ipse repertorem medicinae talis et artis fulmine Phoebigenam Stygias detrusit ad undas. At Trivia Hippolytum secretis alma recondit sedibus et nymphae Egeriae nemorique relegat, solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevom
777exigeret versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset. Unde etiam templo Triviae lucisque sacratis cornipedes arcentur equi, quod litore currum et iuvenem monstris pavidi effudere marinis. Filius ardentis haud setius aequore campi
782exercebat equos curruque in bella ruebat. Ipse inter primos praestanti corpore Turnus vertitur arma tenens et toto vertice supra est. Cui triplici crinita iuba galea alta Chimaeram sustinet, Aetnaeos efflantem faucibus ignis:
787tam magis illa fremens et tristibus effera flammis, quam magis effuso crudescunt sanguine pugnae. At levem clipeum sublatis cornibus Io auro insignibat, iam saetis obsita, iam bos (argumentum ingens), et custos virginis Argus
792caelataque amnem fundens pater Inachus urna. Insequitur nimbus peditum clipeataque totis agmina densentur campis, Argivaque pubes Auruncaeque manus, Rutuli veteresque Sicani et Sacranae acies et picti scuta Labici;
797qui saltus, Tiberine, tuos sacrumque Numici litus arant Rutulosque exercent vomere colles Circaeumque iugum, quis Iuppiter Anxurus arvis praesidet et viridi gaudens Feronia luco; qua Saturae iacet atra palus gelidusque per imas
802quaerit iter vallis atque in mare conditur Ufens. Hos super advenit Volsca de gente Camilla agmen agens equitum et florentis aere catervas, bellatrix, non illa colo calathisve Minervae femineas adsueta manus, sed proelia virgo
807dura pati cursuque pedum praevertere ventos. Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret gramina nec teneras cursu laesisset aristas, vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti ferret iter celeris nec tingueret aequore plantas.
812Illam omnis tectis agrisque effusa iuventus turbaque miratur matrum et prospectat euntem, attonitis inhians animis, ut regius ostro velet honos levis umeros, ut fibula crinem auro internectat, Lyciam ut gerat ipsa pharetram
817et pastoralem praefixa cuspide myrtum.
Book 7
1One more immortal name thy death bequeathed, Nurse of Aeneas, to Italian shores, Caieta; there thy honor hath a home; Thy bones a name: and on Hesperia's breast Their proper glory.When Aeneas now
6The tribute of sepulchral vows had paid Beside the funeral mound, and o'er the seas Stillness had fallen, he flung forth his sails, And leaving port pursued his destined way. Freshly the night-winds breathe; the cloudless moon
11Outpours upon his path unstinted beam, And with far-trembling glory smites the sea. Close to the lands of Circe soon they fare, Where the Sun's golden daughter in far groves Sounds forth her ceaseless song; her lofty hall
16Is fragrant every night with flaring brands Of cedar, giving light the while she weaves With shrill-voiced shuttle at her linens fine. From hence are heard the loud lament and wrath Of lions, rebels to their linked chains
21And roaring all night long; great bristly boars And herded bears, in pinfold closely kept, Rage horribly, and monster-wolves make moan; Whom the dread goddess with foul juices strong From forms of men drove forth, and bade to wear
26the mouths and maws of beasts in Circe's thrall. But lest the sacred Trojans should endure such prodigy of doom, or anchor there on that destroying shore, kind Neptune filled their sails with winds of power, and sped them on
31in safety past the perils of that sea. Now morning flushed the wave, and saffron-garbed Aurora from her rose-red chariot beamed in highest heaven; the sea-winds ceased to stir; a sudden calm possessed the air, and tides
36of marble smoothness met the laboring oar. Then, gazing from the deep, Aeneas saw a stretch of groves, whence Tiber's smiling stream, its tumbling current rich with yellow sands, burst seaward forth: around it and above
41shore-haunting birds of varied voice and plume flattered the sky with song, and, circling far o'er river-bed and grove, took joyful wing. Thither to landward now his ships he steered, and sailed, high-hearted, up the shadowy stream.
46Hail, Erato! while olden kings and thrones and all their sequent story I unfold! How Latium's honor stood, when alien ships brought war to Italy, and from what cause the primal conflict sprang, O goddess, breathe
51upon thy bard in song. Dread wars I tell, array of battle, and high-hearted kings thrust forth to perish, when Etruria's host and all Hesperia gathered to the fray. Events of grander march impel my song,
56and loftier task I try. Latinus, then an aged king, held long-accepted sway o'er tranquil vales and towns. He was the son of Faunus, so the legend tells, who wed the nymph Marica of Laurentian stem.
61Picus was Faunus' father, whence the line to Saturn's Ioins ascends. O heavenly sire, from thee the stem began! But Fate had given to King Latinus' body no heirs male: for taken in the dawning of his day
66his only son had been; and now his home and spacious palace one sole daughter kept, who was grown ripe to wed and of full age to take a husband. Many suitors tried from all Ausonia and Latium's bounds;
71but comeliest in all their princely throng came Turnus, of a line of mighty sires. Him the queen mother chiefly loved, and yearned to call him soon her son. But omens dire and menaces from Heaven withstood her will.
76A laurel-tree grew in the royal close, of sacred leaf and venerated age, which, when he builded there his wall and tower, Father Latinus found, and hallowed it to Phoebus' grace and power, wherefrom the name
81Laurentian, which his realm and people bear. Unto this tree-top, wonderful to tell, came hosts of bees, with audible acclaim voyaging the stream of air, and seized a place on the proud, pointing crest, where the swift swarm,
86with interlacement of close-clinging feet, swung from the leafy bough. “Behold, there comes,” the prophet cried, “a husband from afar! To the same region by the self-same path behold an arm'd host taking lordly sway
91upon our city's crown!” Soon after this, when, coming to the shrine with torches pure, Lavinia kindled at her father's side the sacrifice, swift seemed the flame to burn along her flowing hair—O sight of woe!
96Over her broidered snood it sparkling flew, lighting her queenly tresses and her crown of jewels rare: then, wrapt in flaming cloud, from hall to hall the fire-god's gift she flung. This omen dread and wonder terrible
101was rumored far: for prophet-voices told bright honors on the virgin's head to fall by Fate's decree, but on her people, war. The King, sore troubled by these portents, sought oracular wisdom of his sacred sire,
106Faunus, the fate-revealer, where the groves stretch under high Albunea, and her stream roars from its haunted well, exhaling through vast, gloomful woods its pestilential air. Here all Oenotria's tribes ask oracles
111in dark and doubtful days: here, when the priest has brought his gifts, and in the night so still, couched on spread fleeces of the offered flock, awaiting slumber lies, then wondrously a host of flitting shapes he sees, and hears
116voices that come and go: with gods he holds high converse, or in deep Avernian gloom parleys with Acheron. Thither drew near Father Latinus, seeking truth divine. Obedient to the olden rite, he slew
121a hundred fleecy sheep, and pillowed lay upon their outstretched skins. Straightway a voice out of the lofty forest met his prayer. “Seek not in wedlock with a Latin lord to join thy daughter, O my son and seed!
126Beware this purposed marriage! There shall come sons from afar, whose blood shall bear our name starward; the children of their mighty loins, as far as eve and morn enfold the seas, shall see a subject world beneath their feet
131submissive lie.” This admonition given Latinus hid not. But on restless wing rumor had spread it, when the men of Troy along the river-bank of mounded green their fleet made fast.Aeneas and his chiefs,
136with fair Iulus, under spreading boughs of one great tree made resting-place, and set the banquet on. Thin loaves of altar-bread along the sward to bear their meats were laid (such was the will of Jove), and wilding fruits
141rose heaping high, with Ceres' gift below. Soon, all things else devoured, their hunger turned to taste the scanty bread, which they attacked with tooth and nail audacious, and consumed both round and square of that predestined leaven.
146“Look, how we eat our tables even!” cried Iulus, in a jest. Such was the word which bade their burdens fall. From his boy's lip the father caught this utterance of Fate, silent with wonder at the ways of Heaven;
151then swift he spoke: “Hail! O my destined shore, protecting deities of Ilium, hail! Here is our home, our country here! This day I publish the mysterious prophecy by Sire Anchises given: ‘My son,’ said he,
156‘When hunger in strange lands shall bid devour the tables of thy banquet gone, then hope for home, though weary, and take thought to build a dwelling and a battlement.’ Behold! This was our fated hunger! This last proof
161will end our evil days. Up, then! For now by morning's joyful beam we will explore what men, what cities, in this region be, and, leaving ship, our several errands ply. Your gift to Jove outpour! Make thankful prayer
166unto Anchises' shade! To this our feast bring back the flowing wine!” Thereat he bound his forehead with green garland, calling loud upon the Genius of that place, and Earth, eldest of names divine; the Nymphs he called,
171and river-gods unknown; his voice invoked the night, the omen-stars through night that roll. Jove, Ida's child, and Phrygia's fertile Queen: he called his mother from Olympian skies, and sire from Erebus. Lo, o'er his head
176three times unclouded Jove omnipotent in thunder spoke, and, with effulgent ray from his ethereal tract outreaching far, shook visibly the golden-gleaming air. Swift, through the concourse of the Trojans, spread
181news of the day at hand when they should build their destined walls. So, with rejoicing heart at such vast omen, they set forth a feast with zealous emulation, ranging well the wine-cups fair with many a garland crowned.
186Soon as the morrow with the lamp of dawn looked o'er the world, they took their separate ways, exploring shore and towns; here spread the pools and fountain of Numicius; here they see the river Tiber, where bold Latins dwell.
191Anchises' son chose out from his brave band a hundred envoys, bidding them depart to the King's sacred city, each enwreathed with Pallas' silver leaf; and gifts they bear to plead for peace and friendship at his throne.
196While on this errand their swift steps are sped, Aeneas, by a shallow moat and small, his future city shows, breaks ground, and girds with mound and breastwork like a camp of war the Trojans' first abode. Soon, making way
201to where the Latin citadel uprose, the envoys scanned the battlements, and paused beneath its wall. Outside the city gates fair youths and striplings in life's early bloom course with swift steeds, or steer through dusty cloud
206the whirling chariot, or stretch stout bows, or hurl the seasoned javelin, or strive in boxing-bout and foot-race: one of these made haste on horseback to the aged King, with tidings of a stranger company
211in foreign garb approaching. The good King bade call them to his house, and took his seat in mid-court on his high, ancestral throne. Large and majestical the castle rose: a hundred columns lifted it in air
216upon the city's crown—the royal keep of Picus of Laurentum; round it lay deep, gloomy woods by olden worship blest. Here kings took sceptre and the fasces proud with omens fair; the selfsame sacred place
221was senate-house and temple; here was found a hall for hallowed feasting, where a ram was offered up, and at long banquet-boards the nation's fathers sat in due array. Here ranged ancestral statues roughly hewn
226of ancient cedar-wood: King Italus; Father Sabinus, planter of the vine, a curving sickle in his sculptured hand; gray-bearded Saturn; and the double brow of Janus' head; and other sires and kings
231were wardens of the door, with many a chief wounded in battle for his native land. Trophies of arms in goodly order hung along the columns: chariots of war from foeman taken, axes of round blade,
236plumed helmets, bolts and barriers of steel from city-gates, shields, spears, and beaks of bronze from captured galleys by the conqueror torn. Here, wielding his Quirinal augur-staff, girt in scant shift, and bearing on his left
241the sacred oval shield, appeared enthroned Picus, breaker of horses, whom his bride, enamoured Circe, smote with golden wand, and, raining o'er him potent poison-dew, changed to a bird of pied and dappled wings.
246In such a temple of his gods did Sire Latinus, on hereditary throne, welcome the Trojans to his halls, and thus with brow serene gave greeting as they came: “O sons of Dardanus, think not unknown
251your lineage and city! Rumored far your venturous voyage has been. What seek ye here? What cause, what quest, has brought your barks and you o'er the blue waters to Ausonia's hills? What way uncharted, or wild stress of storm,
256or what that sailors suffer in mid-sea, unto this river bank and haven bore? Doubt not our welcome! We of Latin land are Saturn's sons, whose equitable minds, not chained by statute or compulsion, keep
261in freedom what the god's good custom gave. Now I bethink me our Ausonian seers have dark, dim lore that 't was this land gave birth to Dardanus, who after took his way through Phrygian Ida's towns and Samothrace.
266Once out of Tuscan Corythus he fared; but now in golden house among the stars he has a throne, and by his altars blest adds to the number of the gods we praise.” He spoke; Ilioneus this answer made:
271“O King, great heir of Faunus! No dark storm impelled us o'er the flood thy realm to find. Nor star deceived, nor strange, bewildering shore threw out of our true course; but we are come by our free choice and with deliberate aim
276to this thy town, though exiled forth of realms once mightiest of all the sun-god sees when moving from his utmost eastern bound. From Jove our line began; the sons of Troy boast Jove to be their sire, and our true King
281is of Olympian seed. To thine abode Trojan Aeneas sent us. How there burst o'er Ida's vales from dread Mycenae's kings a tempest vast, and by what stroke of doom all Asia's world with Europe clashed in war,
286that lone wight hears whom earth's remotest isle has banished to the Ocean's rim, or he whose dwelling is the ample zone that burns betwixt the changeful sun-god's milder realms, far severed from the world. We are the men
291from war's destroying deluge safely borne over the waters wide. We only ask some low-roofed dwelling for our fathers' gods, some friendly shore, and, what to all is free, water and air. We bring no evil name
296upon thy people; thy renown will be but wider spread; nor of a deed so fair can grateful memory die. Ye ne'er will rue that to Ausonia's breast ye gathered Troy. I swear thee by the favored destinies
301of great Aeneas, by his strength of arm in friendship or in war, that many a tribe (O, scorn us not, that, bearing olive green, with suppliant words we come), that many a throne has sued us to be friends. But Fate's decree
306to this thy realm did guide. Here Dardanus was born; and with reiterate command this way Apollo pointed to the stream of Tiber and Numicius' haunted spring. Lo, these poor tributes from his greatness gone
311Aeneas sends, these relics snatched away from Ilium burning: with this golden bowl Anchises poured libation when he prayed; and these were Priam's splendor, when he gave laws to his gathered states; this sceptre his,
316this diadem revered, and beauteous pall, handwork of Asia's queens.” So ceased to speak Ilioneus. But King Latinus gazed unanswering on the ground, all motionless save for his musing eyes. The broidered pall
321of purple, and the sceptre Priam bore, moved little on his kingly heart, which now pondered of giving to the bridal bed his daughter dear. He argues in his mind the oracle of Faunus:—might this be
326that destined bridegroom from an alien land, to share his throne, to get a progeny of glorious valor, which by mighty deeds should win the world for kingdom? So at last with joyful brow he spoke: “Now let the gods
331our purpose and their own fair promise bless! Thou hast, O Trojan, thy desire. Thy gifts I have not scorned; nor while Latinus reigns shall ye lack riches in my plenteous land, not less than Trojan store. But where is he,
336Aeneas' self? If he our royal love so much desire, and have such urgent mind to be our guest and friend, let him draw near, nor turn him from well-wishing looks away! My offering and pledge of peace shall be
341to clasp your monarch's hand. Bear back, I pray, this answer to your King: my dwelling holds a daughter, whom with husband of her blood great signs in heaven and from my father's tomb forbid to wed. A son from alien shores
346they prophesy for Latium's heir, whose seed shall lift our glory to the stars divine. I am persuaded this is none but he, that man of destiny; and if my heart be no false prophet, I desire it so.”
351Thus having said, the sire took chosen steeds from his full herd, whereof, well-groomed and fair, three hundred stood within his ample pale. Of these to every Teucrian guest he gave a courser swift and strong, in purple clad
356and broidered housings gay; on every breast hung chains of gold; in golden robes arrayed, they champed the red gold curb their teeth between. For offering to Aeneas, he bade send a chariot, with chargers twain of seed
361ethereal, their nostrils breathing fire: the famous kind which guileful Circe bred, cheating her sire, and mixed the sun-god's team with brood-mares earthly born. The sons of Troy, such gifts and greetings from Latinus bearing,
366rode back in pomp his words of peace to bring. But lo! from Argos on her voyage of air rides the dread spouse of Jove. She, sky-enthroned above the far Sicilian promontory, pachynus, sees Dardania's rescued fleet,
371and all Aeneas' joy. The prospect shows houses a-building, lands of safe abode, and the abandoned ships. With bitter grief she stands at gaze: then with storm-shaken brows, thus from her heart lets loose the wrathful word:
376“O hated race! O Phrygian destinies — to mine forevermore (unhappy me!) a scandal and offense! Did no one die on Troy's embattled plain? Could captured slaves not be enslaved again? Was Ilium's flame
381no warrior's funeral pyre? Did they walk safe through serried swords and congregated fires? At last, methought, my godhead might repose, and my full-fed revenge in slumber lie. But nay! Though flung forth from their native land,
386I o'er the waves, with enmity unstayed, dared give them chase, and on that exiled few hurled the whole sea. I smote the sons of Troy with ocean's power and heaven's. But what availed Syrtes, or Scylla, or Charybdis' waves?
391The Trojans are in Tiber; and abide within their prayed-for land delectable, safe from the seas and me! Mars once had power the monstrous Lapithae to slay; and Jove to Dian's honor and revenge gave o'er
396the land of Calydon. What crime so foul was wrought by Lapithae or Calydon? But I, Jove's wife and Queen, who in my woes have ventured each bold stroke my power could find, and every shift essayed,—behold me now
401outdone by this Aeneas! If so weak my own prerogative of godhead be, let me seek strength in war, come whence it will! If Heaven I may not move, on Hell I call. To bar him from his Latin throne exceeds
406my fated power. So be it! Fate has given Lavinia for his bride. But long delays I still can plot, and to the high event deferment and obstruction. I can smite the subjects of both kings. Let sire and son
411buy with their people's blood this marriage-bond! Let Teucrian and Rutulian slaughter be thy virgin dower, and Bellona's blaze light thee the bridal bed! Not only teemed the womb of Hecuba with burning brand,
416and brought forth nuptial fires; but Venus, too, such offspring bore, a second Paris, who to their new Troy shall fatal wedlock bring.” So saying, with aspect terrible she sped earthward her way; and called from gloom of hell
421Alecto, woeful power, from cloudy throne among the Furies, where her heart is fed with horrid wars, wrath, vengeance, treason foul, and fatal feuds. Her father Pluto loathes the creature he engendered, and with hate
426her hell-born sister-fiends the monster view. A host of shapes she wears, and many a front of frowning black brows viper-garlanded. Juno to her this goading speech addressed: “O daughter of dark Night, arouse for me
431thy wonted powers and our task begin! Lest now my glory fail, my royal name be vanquished, while Aeneas and his crew cheat with a wedlock bond the Latin King and seize Italia's fields. Thou canst thrust on
436two Ioving brothers to draw sword and slay, and ruin homes with hatred, calling in the scourge of Furies and avenging fires. A thousand names thou bearest, and thy ways of ruin multiply a thousand-fold.
441Arouse thy fertile breast! Go, rend in twain this plighted peace! Breed calumnies and sow causes of battle, till yon warrior hosts cry out for swords and leap to gird them on.” Straightway Alecto, through whose body flows
446the Gorgon poison, took her viewless way to Latium and the lofty walls and towers of the Laurentian King. Crouching she sate in silence on the threshold of the bower where Queen Amata in her fevered soul
451pondered, with all a woman's wrath and fear, upon the Trojans and the marriage-suit of Turnus. From her Stygian hair the fiend a single serpent flung, which stole its way to the Queen's very heart, that, frenzy-driven,
456she might on her whole house confusion pour. Betwixt her smooth breast and her robe it wound unfelt, unseen, and in her wrathful mind instilled its viper soul. Like golden chain around her neck it twined, or stretched along
461the fillets on her brow, or with her hair enwrithing coiled; then on from limb to limb slipped tortuous. Yet though the venom strong thrilled with its first infection every vein, and touched her bones with fire, she knew it not,
466nor yielded all her soul, but made her plea in gentle accents such as mothers use; and many a tear she shed, about her child, her darling, destined for a Phrygian's bride: “O father! can we give Lavinia's hand
471to Trojan fugitives? why wilt thou show no mercy on thy daughter, nor thyself; nor unto me, whom at the first fair wind that wretch will leave deserted, bearing far upon his pirate ship my stolen child?
476Was it not thus that Phrygian shepherd came to Lacedaemon, ravishing away Helen, the child of Leda, whom he bore to those false Trojan lands? Hast thou forgot thy plighted word? Where now thy boasted love
481of kith and kin, and many a troth-plight given unto our kinsman Turnus? If we need an alien son, and Father Faunus' words irrevocably o'er thy spirit brood, I tell thee every land not linked with ours
486under one sceptre, but distinct and free, is alien; and 't is thus the gods intend. Indeed, if Turnus' ancient race be told, it sprang of Inachus, Acrisius, and out of mid-Mycenae.” But she sees
491her lord Latinus resolute, her words an effort vain; and through her body spreads the Fury's deeply venomed viper-sting. Then, woe-begone, by dark dreams goaded on, she wanders aimless, fevered and unstrung
496along the public ways; as oft one sees beneath the twisted whips a leaping top sped in long spirals through a palace-close by lads at play: obedient to the thong, it weaves wide circles in the gaping view
501of its small masters, who admiring see the whirling boxwood made a living thing under their lash. So fast and far she roved from town to town among the clansmen wild. Then to the wood she ran, feigning to feel
506the madness Bacchus loves; for she essays a fiercer crime, by fiercer frenzy moved. Now in the leafy dark of mountain vales she hides her daughter, ravished thus away from Trojan bridegroom and the wedding-feast.
511“Hail, Bacchus! Thou alone,” she shrieked and raved, “art worthy such a maid. For thee she bears the thyrsus with soft ivy-clusters crowned, and trips ecstatic in thy beauteous choir. For thee alone my daughter shall unbind
516the glory of her virgin hair.” Swift runs the rumor of her deed; and, frenzy-driven, the wives of Latium to the forests fly, enkindled with one rage. They leave behind their desolated hearths, and let rude winds
521o'er neck and tresses blow; their voices fill the welkin with convulsive shriek and wail; and, with fresh fawn-skins on their bodies bound, they brandish vine-clad spears. The Queen herself lifts high a blazing pine tree, while she sings
526a wedding-song for Turnus and her child. With bloodshot glance and anger wild, she cries: “Ho! all ye Latin wives, if e'er ye knew kindness for poor Amata, if ye care for a wronged mother's woes, O, follow me!
531Cast off the matron fillet from your brows, and revel to our mad, voluptuous song.” Thus, through the woodland haunt of creatures wild, Alecto urges on the raging Queen with Bacchus' cruel goad. But when she deemed
536the edge of wrath well whetted, and the house of wise Latinus of all reason reft, then soared the black-winged goddess to the walls of the bold Rutule, to the city built (So runs the tale) by beauteous Danae
541and her Acrisian people, shipwrecked there by south wind strong. Its name was Ardea in language of our sires, and that proud name of Ardea still it wears, though proud no more. Here Turnus in the gloom of midnight lay
546half-sleeping in his regal hall. For him Alecto her grim fury-guise put by, and wore an old crone's face, her baleful brow delved deep with wrinkled age, her hoary hair in sacred fillet bound, and garlanded
551with leaf of olive: Calybe she seemed, an aged servitress ot Juno's shrine, and in this seeming thus the prince addressed:— “O Turnus, wilt thou tamely see thy toil lavished in vain? and thy true throne consigned
556to Trojan wanderers? The King repels thy noble wooing and thy war-won dower. He summons him a son of alien stem to take his kingdom. Rouse thee now, and front, scorned and without reward, these perilous days.
561Tread down that Tuscan host! Protect the peace of Latium from its foe! Such is the word which, while in night and slumber thou wert laid, Saturnia's godhead, visibly revealed, bade me declare. Up, therefore, and array
566thy warriors in arms! Swift sallying forth from thy strong city-gates, on to the fray exultant go! Assail the Phrygian chiefs who tent them by thy beauteous river's marge, and burn their painted galleys! 't is the will
571of gods above that speaks. Yea, even the King Latinus, if he will not heed thy plea, or hear thy wooing, shall be taught too late what Turnus is in panoply of war.” In mocking answer to the prophetess
576the warrior thus replied: “That stranger fleet in Tiber moored, not, as thy folly prates, of me unnoted lies. Vex me no more with thy fantastic terror. Juno's power is watchful of my cause. 'T is mere old age,
581gone to decay and dotage, fills thy breast with vain foreboding, and, while kings contend, scares and deceives thy visionary eye. Guard thou in yonder temple's holy shade the images divine! Of peace and war
586let men and warriors the burden bear!” So kindled he Alecto's wrath to flame; and even as he spoke a shudder thrilled the warrior's body, and his eyeballs stood stonily staring at the hydra hair
591which hissed and writhed above the grisly head of the large-looming fiend. With eyes of fire horribly rolling, she repelled him far, while he but faltered speechless. She upraised two coiling snakes out of her tresses, cracked
596the lashes of her scourge, and wrathfully, with raving lips replied: “Look well on me, gone to decay and dotage of old age! And mocked with foolish fear while kings contend! Wilt hearken now! Behold me, hither flown
601from where my sister-furies dwell! My hands bring bloody death and war.” She spoke, and hurled her firebrand at the hero, thrusting deep beneath his heart her darkly smouldering flame. Then horror broke his sleep, and fearful sweat
606dripped from his every limb. He shrieked aloud for arms; and seized the ready arms that lay around his couch and hall. Then o'er his soul the lust of battle and wild curse of war broke forth in angry power, as when the flames
611of faggots round the bubbling cauldron sing, and up the waters leap; the close-kept flood brims over, streaming, foaming, breaking bound, and flings thick clouds in air. He, summoning his chieftains, bade them on Latinus move,
616break peace, take arms, and, over Italy their shields extending, to thrust forth her foe: himself for Teucrian with Latin joined was more than match. He called upon the gods in witness of his vows: while, nothing loth,
621Rutulia's warriors rushed into array; some by his youth and noble beauty moved, some by his kingly sires and fame in arms. While Turnus stirred Rutulia's valiant souls, Alecto on her Stygian pinions sped
626to where the Teucrians lay. She scanned the ground with eager guile, where by the river's marge fair-browed Iulus with his nets and snares rode fiercely to the chase. Then o'er his hounds that hell-born virgin breathed a sudden rage,
631and filled each cunning nostril with the scent of stags, till forth in wild pursuit they flew. Here all the woe began, and here awoke in rustic souls the swift-enkindling war. For a fair stag, tall-antlered, stolen away
636even from its mother's milk, had long been kept by Tyrrhus and his sons—the shepherd he of all the royal flocks, and forester of a wide region round. With fondest care their sister Silvia entwined its horns
641with soft, fresh garlands, tamed it to run close, and combed the creature, or would bring to bathe at a clear, crystal spring. It knew the hands of all its gentle masters, and would feed from their own dish; or wandering through the wood,
646come back unguided to their friendly door, though deep the evening shade. Iulus' dogs now roused this wanderer in their ravening chase, as, drifted down-stream far from home it lay, on a green bank a-cooling. From bent bow
651Ascanius, eager for a hunter's praise, let go his shaft; nor did Alecto fail his aim to guide: but, whistling through the air, the light-winged reed pierced deep in flank and side. Swift to its cover fled the wounded thing,
656and crept loud-moaning to its wonted stall, where, like a blood-stained suppliant, it seemed to fill that shepherd's house with plaintive prayer. Then Silvia the sister, smiting oft on breast and arm, made cry for help, and called
661the sturdy rustics forth in gathering throng. These now (for in the silent forest couched the cruel Fury) swift to battle flew. One brandished a charred stake, another swung a knotted cudgel, as rude anger shapes
666its weapon of whate'er the searching eye first haps to fall on. Tyrrhus roused his clans, just when by chance he split with blows of wedge an oak in four; and, panting giant breath, shouldered his woodman's axe. Alecto then,
671prompt to the stroke of mischief, soared aloft from where she spying sate, to the steep roof of a tall byre, and from its peak of straw blew a wild signal on a shepherd's horn, outflinging her infernal note so far
676that all the forest shuddered, and the grove throbbed to its deepest glen. Cold Trivia's lake from end to end gave ear, and every wave of the white stream of Nar, the lonely pools of still Velinus heard: while at the sound
681pale mothers to their breasts their children drew. Swift to the signal of the dreadful horn, snatching their weapons rude, the freeborn swains assembled for the fray; the Trojan bands poured from their bivouac with instant aid
686for young Ascanius. In array of war both stand confronting. Not mere rustic brawl with charred oak-staff and cudgel is the fight, but with the two-edged steel; the naked swords wave like dark-bladed harvest-field, while far
691the brazen arms flash in the smiting sun, and skyward fling their beam: so some wide sea, at first but whitened in the rising wind, swells its slow-rolling mass and ever higher its billows rears, until the utmost deep
696lifts in one surge to heaven. The first to fall was Almo, eldest-born of Tyrrhus' sons, whom, striding in the van, a loud-winged shaft laid low in death; deep in his throat it clung, and silenced with his blood the dying cry
701of his frail life. Around him fell the forms of many a brave and strong; among them died gray-haired Galaesus pleading for a truce: righteous he was, and of Ausonian fields a prosperous master; five full flocks had he
706of bleating sheep, and from his pastures came five herds of cattle home; his busy churls turned with a hundred ploughs his fruitful glebe. While o'er the battle-field thus doubtful swung the scales of war, the Fury (to her task
711now equal proven) having dyed the day a deep-ensanguined hue, and opened fight with death and slaughter, made no tarrying within Hesperia, but skyward soared, and, Ioud in triumph, insolently thus
716to Juno called: “See, at thy will, their strife full-blown to war and woe! Could even thyself command them now to truce and amity? But I, that with Ausonia's blood befoul their Trojan hands, yet more can do, if thou
721shift not thy purpose. For with dire alarms I will awake the bordering states to war enkindling in their souls the frenzied lust the war-god breathes; till from th' horizon round the reinforcement pours—I scattering seeds
726of carnage through the land.” In answer spoke juno: “Enough of artifice and fear! Thy provocation works. Now have they joined in close and deadly combat, and warm blood those sudden-leaping swords incarnadines,
731which chance put in their hands. Such nuptial joys, such feast of wedlock, let the famous son of Venus with the King Latinus share! But yon Olympian Sire and King no more permits thee freely in our skies to roam.
736Go, quit the field! Myself will take control of hazards and of labors yet to be.” Thus Saturn's daughter spoke. Alecto then, unfolding far her hissing, viperous wings, turned toward her Stygian home, and took farewell
741of upper air. Deep in Italia lies a region mountain-girded, widely famed, and known in olden songs from land to land: the valley of Amsanctus; deep, dark shades enclose it between forest-walls, whereby
746through thunderous stony channel serpentines a roaring fall. Here in a monstrous cave are breathing-holes of hell, a vast abyss where Acheron opes wide its noisome jaws: in this Alecto plunged, concealing so
751her execrable godhead, while the air of earth and heaven felt the curse removed. Forthwith the sovereign hands of Juno haste to consummate the war. The shepherds bear back from the field of battle to the town
756the bodies of the slain: young Almo's corse and gray Galaesus' bleeding head. They call just gods in heaven to Iook upon their wrong, and bid Latinus see it. Turnus comes, and, while the angry mob surveys the slain,
761adds fury to the hour. “Shall the land have Trojan lords? Shall Phrygian marriages debase our ancient, royal blood—and I be spurned upon the threshold?” Then drew near the men whose frenzied women-folk had held
766bacchantic orgies in the pathless grove, awed by Amata's name: these, gathering, sued loud for war. Yea, all defied the signs and venerable omens; all withstood divine decrees, and clamored for revenge,
771prompted by evil powers. They besieged the house of King Latinus, shouting-loud with emulous rage. But like a sea-girt rock unmoved he stood; like sea-girt rock when surge of waters o'er it sweeps, or howling waves
776surround; it keeps a ponderous front of power, though foaming cliffs around it vainly roar; from its firm base the broken sea-weeds fall. But when authority no whit could change their counsels blind, and each event fulfilled
781dread Juno's will, then with complaining prayer the aged sire cried loud upon his gods and on th' unheeding air: “Alas,” said he, “My doom is shipwreck, and the tempest bears my bark away! O wretches, your own blood
786shall pay the forfeit for your impious crime. O Turnus! O abominable deed! Avenging woes pursue thee; to deaf gods thy late and unavailing prayer shall rise. Now was my time to rest. But as I come
791close to my journey's end, thou spoilest me of comfort in my death.” With this the King fled to his house and ceased his realm to guide. A sacred custom the Hesperian land of Latium knew, by all the Alban hills
796honored unbroken, which wide-ruling Rome keeps to this day, when to new stroke she stirs the might of Mars; if on the Danube's wave resolved to fling the mournful doom of war, or on the Caspian folk or Arabs wild;
801or chase the morning far as India's verge, ind from the Parthian despot wrest away our banners Iost. Twin Gates of War there be, of fearful name, to Mars' fierce godhead vowed: a hundred brass bars shut them, and the strength
806of uncorrupting steel; in sleepless watch Janus the threshold keeps. 'T is here, what time the senate's voice is war, the consul grave in Gabine cincture and Quirinal shift himself the griding hinges backward moves,
811and bids the Romans arm; obedient then the legionary host makes Ioud acclaim, and hoarse consent the brazen trumpets blow. Thus King Latinus on the sons of Troy was urged to open war, and backward roll
816those gates of sorrow: but the aged king recoiled, refused the loathsome task, and fled to solitary shades. Then from the skies the Queen of gods stooped down, and her sole hand the lingering portal moved; Saturnia
821swung on their hinges the barred gates of war. ausonia from its old tranquillity bursts forth in flame. Foot-soldiers through the field run to and fro; and mounted on tall steeds the cavaliers in clouds of dust whirl by.
826All arm in haste. Some oil the glittering shield or javelin bright, or on the whetstone wear good axes to an edge, while joyful bands uplift the standards or the trumpets blow. Five mighty cities to their anvils bring
831new-tempered arms: Atina—martial name — proud Tibur, Ardea, Crustumium, and river-walled Antemnae, crowned with towers strong hollow helmets on their brows they draw and weave them willow-shields; or melt and mould
836corselets of brass or shining silver greaves; none now for pruning-hook or sacred plough have love or care: but old, ancestral swords for hardier tempering to the smith they bring. Now peals the clarion; through the legions pass
841the watchwords: the impatient yeoman takes his helmet from the idle roof-tree hung; while to his chariot the master yokes the mettled war-horse, dons a shining shield and golden mail, and buckles his good sword.
846Virgins of Helicon, renew my song! Instruct me what proud kings to battle flown with following legions throng the serried plain. Tell me what heroes and illustrious arms Italia's bosom in her dawning day
851benignant bore: for your celestial minds, have memory of the past, but faint and low steals glory's whisper on a mortal ear. Foremost in fight, from shores Etrurian came Mezentius, scornful rebel against Heaven,
856his people all in arms; and at his side Lausus his heir (no fairer youth than he, save Turnus of Laurentum), Lausus, skilled o break proud horses and wild beasts to quell; who from Agylla's citadel in vain
861led forth his thousand warriors: worthy he to serve a nobler sire, and happier far he had ne'er been born Mezentius' son. Next after these, conspicuous o'er the plain, with palm-crowned chariot and victorious steeds,
866rode forth well-moulded Aventinus, sprung from shapely Hercules; upon the shield his blazon was a hundred snakes, and showed his father's hydra-cincture serpentine; him deep in Aventine's most secret grove
871the priestess Rhea bore—a mortal maid clasped in a god's embrace the wondrous day when, flushed with conquest of huge Geryon, the lord of Tiryns to Laurentum drove, and washed in Tiber's wave th' Iberian kine.
876His followers brandished pointed pikes and staves, or smooth Sabellian bodkin tipped with steel; but he, afoot, swung round him as he strode a monstrous lion-skin, its bristling mane and white teeth crowning his ferocious brow:
881for garbed as Hercules he sought his King. Then came twin brethren, leaving Tibur's keep (named from Tiburtus, brother of them twain) Catillus and impetuous Coras, youth of Argive seed, who foremost in the van
886pressed ever where the foemen densest throng: as when two centaurs, children of the cloud, from mountain-tops descend in swift career, the snows of Homole and Othrys leaving, while crashing thickets in their pathway fall.
891Nor was Praeneste's founder absent there, by Vulcan sired, among the herds and hinds, and on a hearth-stone found (so runs the tale each pious age repeats) King Caeculus with rustic legions gathered from afar:
896from steep Praeneste and the Gabian vale to Juno dear, from Anio's cold stream, from upland Hernic rocks and foaming rills, from rich Anagnia's pastures, and the plain whence Amasenus pours his worshipped wave.
901Not all of armor boast, and seldom sound the chariot and shield; but out of slings they hurl blue balls of lead, or in one hand a brace of javelins bear; pulled o'er their brows are hoods of tawny wolf-skin; as they march
906the left foot leaves a barefoot track behind, a rawhide sandal on the right they wear. Messapus came, steed-tamer, Neptune's son, by sword and fire invincible: this day, though mild his people and unschooled in war,
911he calls them to embattled lines, and draws no lingering sword. Fescennia musters there, Aequi Falisci, and what clans possess Soracte's heights, Flavinia's fruitful farms, Ciminian lake and mountain, and the groves
916about Capena. Rank on rank they move, loud singing of their chieftain's praise: as when a flock of snowy swans through clouded air return from feeding, and make tuneful cry from their long throats, while Asia's rivers hear,
921and lone Cayster's startled moorland rings: for hardly could the listening ear discern the war-cry of a mail-clad host; the sound was like shrill-calling birds, when home from sea their soaring flock moves shoreward like a cloud.
926Then, one of far-descended Sabine name, Clausus advanced, the captain of a host, and in himself an equal host he seemed; from his proud loins the high-born Claudian stem through Latium multiplies, since Roman power
931with Sabine first was wed. A cohort came from Amiternum and the olden wall of Cures, called Quirites even then; Eretum answered and Mutusca's hill with olives clad, Velinus' flowery field,
936nomentum's fortress, the grim precipice of Tetrica, Severus' upland fair, Casperia, Foruli, Himella's waves, Tiber and Fabaris, and wintry streams of Nursia; to the same proud muster sped
941Tuscan with Latin tribes, and loyal towns beside whose walls ill-omened Allia flows. As numerous they moved as rolling waves that stir smooth Libyan seas, when in cold floods sinks grim Orion's star; or like the throng
946of clustering wheat-tops in the summer sun, near Hermus or on Lycia's yellowing plain: shields clashed; their strong tramp smote the trembling ground. Now Agamemnon's kinsman, cruel foe to the mere name of Troy, Halaesus, yokes
951the horses of his car and summons forth a thousand savage clans at Turnus' call : rude men whose mattocks to the Massic hills bring Bacchus' bounty, or by graybeard sires sent from Auruncan upland and the mead
956of Sidicinum; out of Cales came its simple folk; and dwellers by the stream of many-shoaled Volturnus, close-allied with bold Saticulan or Oscan swains. Their arms are tapered javelins, which they wear
961bound by a coiling thong; a shield conceals the left side, and they fight with crooked swords. Nor shalt thou, Oebalus, depart unsung, whom minstrels say the nymph Sebethis bore to Telon, who in Capri was a king
966when old and gray; but that disdaining son quitted so small a seat, and conquering sway among Sarrastian folk and those wide plains watered by Sarnus' wave, became a king over Celenna, Rufrae, Batulum,
971and where among her apple-orchards rise Abella's walls. All these, as Teutons use, hurl a light javelin; for helm they wear stripped cork-tree bark; the crescent of their shields is gleaming bronze, and gleaming bronze the sword.
976Next Ufens, mountain-bred, from Nersae came to join the war; of goodly fame was he for prosperous arms: his Aequian people show no gentle mien, but scour the woods for prey, or, ever-armed, across the stubborn glebe
981compel the plough; though their chief pride and joy are rapine, violence, and plundered store. Next after these, his brows and helmet bound with noble olive, from Marruvium came a priest, brave Umbro, ordered to the field
986by King Archippus: o'er the viper's brood, and venomed river-serpents he had power to scatter slumber with wide-waving hands and wizard-songs. His potent arts could soothe their coiling rage and heal the mortal sting:
991but 'gainst a Trojan sword no drug had he, nor could his drowsy spells his flesh repair, nor gathered simples from the Marsic hills. Thee soon in wailing woods Anguitia mourned, thee, Fucinus, the lake of crystal wave,
996thee, many a mountain-tarn! Next, Virbius in martial beauty rode, son of Hippolytus, whose mother, proud Aricia, sent him in his flower of fame out of Egeria's hills and cloudy groves
1001where lies Diana's gracious, gifted fane. For legend whispers that Hippolytus, by step-dame's plot undone, his life-blood gave to sate his vengeful father, and was rent in sunder by wild horses; but the grave
1006to air of heaven and prospect of the stars restored him;—for Diana's love and care poured out upon him Paeon's healing balm. But Jove, almighty Sire, brooked not to see a mortal out of death and dark reclimb
1011to light of life, and with a thunderbolt hurled to the Stygian river Phoebus' son, who dared such good elixir to compound. But pitying Trivia hid Hippolytus in her most secret cave, and gave in ward
1016to the wise nymph Egeria in her grove; where he lived on inglorious and alone, ranging the woods of Italy, and bore the name of Virbius. 'T is for this cause the hallowed woods to Trivia's temple vowed
1021forbid loud-footed horses, such as spilled stripling and chariot on the fatal shore, scared by the monsters peering from the sea. Yet did the son o'er that tumultuous plain his battle-chariot guide and plunging team.
1026Lo, Turnus strides conspicuous in the van, full armed, of mighty frame, his lordly head high o'er his peers emerging! His tall helm with flowing triple crest for ensign bears Chimaera, whose terrific lips outpour
1031volcanic fires; where'er the menace moves of her infernal flames and wrathful frown, there wildest flows the purple flood of war. On his smooth shield deep graven in the gold is horned Io—wondrous the device!—
1036a shaggy heifer-shape the maiden shows; Argus is watching her, while Inachus pours forth his river from the pictured urn. A storm of tramping troops, to Turnus sworn, throngs all the widespread plain with serried shields:
1041warriors of Argos, and Auruncan bands, Sicani, Rutuli, Sacranian hosts, Labicum's painted shields; all who till thy woodland vales, O Tiber! or the shore Numicius hallows; all whose ploughs upturn
1046Rutulia's hills, or that Circaean range where Jove of Anxur guards, and forests green make fair Feronia glad; where lie the fens of Satura, and Ufens' icy wave through lowland valleys seeks his seaward way.
1051Last came Camilla, of the Volscians bred, leading her mail-clad, radiant chivalry; a warrior-virgin, of Minerva's craft of web and distaff, fit for woman's toil, no follower she; but bared her virgin breast
1056to meet the brunt of battle, and her speed left even the winds behind; for she would skim an untouched harvest ere the sickle fell, nor graze the quivering wheat-tops as she ran; or o'er the mid-sea billows' swollen surge
1061so swiftly race, she wet not in the wave her flying feet. For sight of her the youth from field and fortress sped, and matrons grave stood wondering as she passed, well-pleased to see her royal scarf in many a purple fold
1066float off her shining shoulder, her dark hair in golden clasp caught fast, and how she bore for arms a quiver of the Lycian mode, and shepherd's shaft of myrtle tipped with steel.
Book 8
1Ut belli signum Laurenti Turnus ab arce extulit et rauco strepuerunt cornua cantu, utque acris concussit equos utque impulit arma, extemplo turbati animi, simul omne tumultu coniurat trepido Latium saevitque iuventus
6effera. Ductores primi Messapus et Ufens contemptorque deum Mezentius undique cogunt auxilia et latos vastant cultoribus agros. mittitur et magni Venulus Diomedis ad urbem, qui petat auxilium et Latio consistere Teucros,
11advectum Aenean classi victosque penatis inferre et fatis regem se dicere posci edoceat multasque viro se adiungere gentis Dardanio et late Latio increbrescere nomen. Quid struat his coeptis, quem, si Fortuna sequatur,
16eventum pugnae cupiat, manifestius ipsi quam Turno regi aut regi apparere Latino. Talia per Latium. Quae Laomedontius heros cuncta videns magno curarum fluctuat aestu, atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc.
21In partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat: sicut aquae tremulum labris ubi lumen aenis sole repercussum aut radiantis imagine lunae omnia pervolitat late loca iamque sub auras erigitur summique ferit lacuaria tecti.
26Nox erat, et terras animalia fessa per omnis alituum pecudumque genus sopor altus habebat: cum pater in ripa gelidique sub aetheris axe Aeneas, tristi turbatus pectora bello, procubuit seramque dedit per membra quietem.
31Huic deus ipse loci fluvio Tiberinus amoeno populeas inter senior se attollere frondes visus; eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu carbasus, et crinis umbrosa tegebat harundo, tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis:
36O sate gente deum, Troianam ex hostibus urbem qui revehis nobis aeternaque Pergama servas, exspectate solo Laurenti arvisque Latinis, hic tibi certa domus, certi, ne absiste, penates; neu belli terrere minis: tumor omnis et irae
41concessere deum. Nunc qua ratione quod instat expedias victor, paucis (adverte) docebo. Arcades his oris, genus a Pallante profectum, qui regem Euandrum comites, qui signa secuti,
53delegere locum et posuere in montibus urbem Pallantis proavi de nomine Pallanteum. Hi bellum adsidue ducunt cum gente Latina; hos castris adhibe socios et foedera iunge. Ipse ego te ripis et recto flumine ducam,
58adversum remis superes subvectus ut amnem. Surge age, nate dea, primisque cadentibus astris Iunoni fer rite preces iramque minasque supplicibus supera votis. Mihi victor honorem persolves. Ego sum pleno quem flumine cernis
63stringentem ripas et pinguia culta secantem, caeruleus Thybris, caelo gratissimus amnis. Hic mihi magna domus, celsis caput urbibus, exit. Dixit, deinde lacu fluvius se condidit alto, ima petens; nox Aenean somnusque reliquit.
68Surgit et aetherii spectans orientia solis lumina rite cavis undam de flumine palmis sustinet ac talis effundit ad aethera voces: Nymphae, Laurentes nymphae, genus amnibus unde est, tuque, o Thybri tuo genitor cum flumine sancto,
73accipite Aenean et tandem arcete periclis. Quo te cumque lacus miserantem incommoda nostra fonte tenet, quocumque solo pulcherrimus exis, semper honore meo, semper celebrabere donis corniger hesperidum fluvius regnator aquarum.
78Adsis o tantum et propius tua numina firmes. sic memorat geminasque legit de classe biremis remigioque aptat, socios simul instruit armis. Ecce autem subitum atque oculis mirabile monstrum; candida per silvam cum fetu concolor albo
83procubuit viridique in litore conspicitur sus. Quam pius Aeneas tibi enim, tibi, maxuma Iuno, mactat sacra ferens et cum grege sistit ad aram. Thybris ea fluvium, quam longa est, nocte tumentem leniit, et tacita refluens ita substitit unda,
88mitis ut in morem stagni placidaeque paludis sterneret aequor aquis, remo ut luctamen abesset. Ergo iter inceptum celerant rumore secundo; labitur uncta vadis abies; mirantur et undae, miratur nemus insuetum fulgentia longe
93scuta virum fluvio pictasque innare carinas. Olli remigio noctemque diemque fatigant et longos superant flexus variisque teguntur arboribus viridisque secant placido aequore silvas. Sol medium caeli conscenderat igneus orbem,
98cum muros arcemque procul ac rara domorum tecta vident, quae nunc Romana potentia caelo aequavit, tum res inopes Euandrus habebat: ocius advertunt proras urbique propinquant. Forte die sollemnem illo rex Arcas honorem
103Amphitryoniadae magno divisque ferebat ante urbem in luco. Pallas huic filius una, una omnes iuvenum primi pauperque senatus tura dabant, tepidusque cruor fumabat ad aras. Ut celsas videre rates atque inter opacum
108adlabi nemus et tacitis incumbere remis, terrentur visu subito cunctique relictis consurgunt mensis. Audax quos rumpere Pallas sacra vetat raptoque volat telo obvius ipse et procul e tumulo: Iuvenes, quae causa subegit
113ignotas temptare vias, quo tenditis? inquit. Qui genus? Unde domo? Pacemne huc fertis an arma? Tum pater Aeneas puppi sic fatur ab alta paciferaeque manu ramum praetendit olivae: Troiugenas ac tela vides inimica Latinis,
118quos illi bello profugos egere superbo. Euandrum petimus. Ferte haec et dicite lectos Dardaniae venisse duces socia arma rogantis. Obstipuit tanto percussus nomine Pallas: Egredere o quicumque es ait coramque parentem
123adloquere ac nostris succede penatibus hospes. excepitque manu dextramque amplexus inhaesit. Progressi subeunt luco fluviumque relinquunt. Tum regem Aeneas dictis adfatur amicis: Optume Graiugenum, cui me Fortuna precari
128et vitta comptos voluit praetendere ramos, non equidem extimui, Danaum quod ductor et Arcas quodque a stirpe fores geminis coniunctus Atridis; sed mea me virtus et sancta oracula divom cognatique patres, tua terris didita fama,
133coniunxere tibi et fatis egere volentem. Dardanus, Iliacae primus pater urbis et auctor, Electra, ut Grai perhibent, Atlantide cretus, advehitur Teucros; Electram maxumus Atlas edidit, aetherios umero qui sustinet orbes
138vobis Mercurius pater est, quem candida Maia Cyllenae gelido conceptum vertice fudit; at Maiam, auditis si quicquam credimus, Atlas, idem Atlas generat, caeli qui sidera tollit. Sic genus amborum scindit se sanguine ab uno.
143His fretus non legatos neque prima per artem temptamenta tui pepigi: me, me ipse meumque obieci caput et supplex ad limina veni. Gens eadem, quae te, crudeli Daunia bello insequitur; nos si pellant, nihil afore credunt,
148quin omnem Hesperiam penitus sua sub iuga mittant et mare quod supra teneant quodque adluit infra. Accipe daque fidem: sunt nobis fortia bello pectora, sunt animi et rebus spectata iuventus. Dixerat Aeneas. Ille os oculosque loquentis
153iamdudum et totum lustrabat lumine corpus. Tum sic pauca refert: Ut te, fortissime Teucrum, accipio agnoscoque libens! Ut verba parentis et vocem Anchisae magni voltumque recordor! Nam memini Hesionae visentem regna sororis
158Laomedontiaden Priamum, Salamina petentem, protinus Arcadiae gelidos invisere finis. Tum mihi prima genas vestibat flore iuventas, mirabarque duces Teucros, mirabar et ipsum Laomedontiaden, sed cunctis altior ibat
163Anchises: mihi mens iuvenali ardebat amore compellare virum et dextrae coniungere dextram. Accessi et cupidus Phenei sub moenia duxi. Ille mihi insignem pharetram Lyciasque sagittas discedens chlamydemque auro dedit intertextam
168frenaque bina meus quae nunc habet aurea Pallas. Ergo et quam petitis iuncta est mihi foedere dextra, et lux cum primum terris se crastina reddet, auxilio laetos dimittam opibusque iuvabo. Interea sacra haec, quando huc venistis amici,
173annua, quae differre nefas, celebrate faventes nobiscum et iam nunc sociorum adsuescite mensis. Haec ubi dicta, dapes iubet et sublata reponi pocula gramineoque viros locat ipse sedili praecipuumque toro et villosi pelle leonis
178accipit Aenean solioque invitat acerno. Tum lecti iuvenes certatim araeque sacerdos viscera tosta ferunt taurorum onerantque canistris dona laboratae Cereris Bacchumque ministrant. Vescitur Aeneas simul et Troiana iuventus
183perpetui tergo bovis et lustralibus extis. Postquam exempta fames et amor compressus edendi, rex Euandrus ait: Non haec sollemnia nobis, has ex more dapes, hanc tanti numinis aram vana superstitio veterumque ignara deorum
188inposuit: saevis, hospes Troiane, periclis servati facimus meritosque novamus honores. Iam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem, disiectae procul ut moles desertaque montis stat domus et scopuli ingentem traxere ruinam.
193Hic spelunca fuit, vasto summota recessu, semihominis Caci facies quam dira tenebat solis inaccessam radiis; semperque recenti caede tepebat humus, foribusque adfixa superbis ora virum tristi pendebant pallida tabo.
198Huic monstro Volcanus erat pater: illius atros ore vomens ignis magna se mole ferebat. Attulit et nobis aliquando optantibus aetas auxilium adventumque dei. Nam maximus ultor, tergemini nece Geryonae spoliisque superbus
203Alcides aderat taurosque hac victor agebat ingentis, vallemque boves amnemque tenebant. At furiis Caci mens effera, nequid inausum aut intractatum scelerisve dolive fuisset, quattuor a stabulis praestanti corpore tauros
208avertit, totidem forma superante iuvencas; atque hos, nequa forent pedibus vestigia rectis, cauda in speluncam tractos versisque viarum indiciis raptos saxo occultabat opaco: quaerenti nulla ad speluncam signa ferebant.
213Interea, cum iam stabulis saturata moveret Amphytrioniades armenta abitumque pararet, discessu mugire boves atque omne querelis impleri nemus et colles clamore relinqui. reddidit una boum vocem vastoque sub antro
218mugiit et Caci spem custodita fefellit. Hic vero Alcidae furiis exarserat atro felle dolor: rapit arma manu nodisque gravatum robur et aerii cursu petit ardua montis. Tum primum nostri Cacum videre timentem
223turbatumque oculis: fugit ilicet ocior Euro speluncamque petit, pedibus timor addidit alas. Ut sese inclusit ruptisque immane catenis deiecit saxum, ferro quod et arte paterna pendebat, fultosque emuniit obice postis,
228ecce furens animis aderat Tirynthius omnemque accessum lustrans huc ora ferebat et illuc, dentibus infrendens. Ter totum fervidus ira lustrat Aventini montem, ter saxea temptat limina nequiquam, ter fessus valle resedit.
233Stabat acuta silex, praecisis undique saxis speluncae dorso insurgens, altissima visu, dirarum nidis domus opportuna volucrum. Hanc, ut prona iugo laevum incumbebat in amnem, dexter in adversum nitens concussit et imis
238avolsam solvit radicibus; inde repente inpulit, inpulsu quo maximus intonat aether dissultant ripae refluitque exterritus amnis. At specus et Caci detecta apparuit ingens regia, et umbrosae penitus patuere cavernae:
243non secus ac siqua penitus vi terra dehiscens infernas reseret sedes et regna recludat pallida, dis invisa, superque immane barathrum cernatur, trepident inmisso lumine manes. Ergo insperata deprensum luce repente
248inclusumque cavo saxo atque insueta rudentem desuper Alcides telis premit omniaque arma advocat et ramis vastisque molaribus instat. Ille autem, neque enim fuga iam super ulla pericli, faucibus ingentem fumum (mirabile dictu)
253evomit involvitque domum caligine caeca, prospectum eripiens oculis, glomeratque sub antro fumiferam noctem commixtis igne tenebris. Non tulit Alcides animis seque ipse per ignem praecipiti iecit saltu, qua plurimus undam
258fumus agit nebulaque ingens specus aestuat atra. Hic Cacum in tenebris incendia vana vomentem corripit in nodum complexus et angit inhaerens elisos oculos et siccum sanguine guttur. Panditur extemplo foribus domus atra revolsis,
263abstractaeque boves abiurataeque rapinae caelo ostenduntur, pedibusque informe cadaver protrahitur. Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo terribilis oculos, voltum villosaque saetis pectora semiferi atque extinctos faucibus ignis.
268Ex illo celebratus honos, laetique minores servavere diem, primusque Potitius auctor et domus Herculei custos Pinaria sacri. Hanc aram luco statuit, quae maxuma semper dicetur nobis et erit quae maxuma semper.
273Quare agite, o iuvenes, tantarum in munere laudum cingite fronde comas et pocula porgite dextris communemque vocate deum et date vina volentes. Dixerat, Herculea bicolor cum populus umbra velavitque comas foliisque innexa pependit
278et sacer implevit dextram scyphus. Ocius omnes in mensam laeti libant divosque precantur. Devexo interea propior fit Vesper Olympo, iamque sacerdotes primusque Potitius ibant, pellibus in morem cincti, flammasque ferebant.
283Instaurant epulas et mensae grata secundae dona ferunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras. tum Salii ad cantus incensa altaria circum populeis adsunt evincti tempora ramis, hic iuvenum chorus, ille senum; qui carmine laudes
288Herculeas et facta ferunt: ut prima novercae monstra manu geminosque premens eliserit angues, ut bello egregias idem disiecerit urbes, Troiamque Oechaliamque, ut duros mille labores rege sub Eurystheo fatis Iunonis iniquae
293pertulerit. Tu nubigenas, invicte, bimembris Hylaeeumque Pholumque, manu, tu Cresia mactas prodigia et vastum Nemeae sub rupe leonem. Te Stygii tremuere lacus, te ianitor Orci ossa super recubans antro semesa cruento;
298nec te ullae facies, non terruit ipse Typhoeus, arduus arma tenens; non te rationis egentem Lernaeus turba capitum circumstetit anguis. Salve, vera Iovis proles, decus addite divis, et nos et tua dexter adi pede sacra secundo.
303Talia carminibus celebrant; super omnia Caci speluncam adiciunt spirantemque ignibus ipsum. Consonat omne nemus strepitu collesque resultant. Exim se cuncti divinis rebus ad urbem perfectis referunt. Ibat rex obsitus aevo
308et comitem Aenean iuxta natumque tenebat ingrediens varioque viam sermone levabat. miratur facilisque oculos fert omnia circum Aeneas capiturque locis et singula laetus exquiritque auditque virum monimenta priorum.
313Tum rex Euandrus, Romanae conditor arcis: Haec nemora indigenae fauni nymphaeque tenebant gensque virum truncis et duro robore nata, quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros aut componere opes norant aut parcere parto,
318sed rami atque asper victu venatus alebat. Primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo, arma Iovis fugiens et regnis exsul ademptis. Is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis composuit legesque dedit Latiumque vocari
323maluit, his quoniam latuisset tutis in oris. Aurea quae perhibent illo sub rege fuere saecula. Sic placida populos in pace regebat, deterior donec paulatim ac decolor aetas et belli rabies et amor successit habendi.
328Tum manus Ausonia et gentes venere Sicanae, saepius et nomen posuit Saturnia tellus; tum reges asperque immani corpore Thybris, a quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrim diximus, amisit verum vetus Albula nomen;
333me pulsum patria pelagique extrema sequentem Fortuna omnipotens et ineluctabile fatum his posuere locis matrisque egere tremenda Carmentis nymphae monita et deus auctor Apollo. Vix ea dicta: dehinc progressus monstrat et aram
338et Carmentalem Romani nomine portam quam memorant, nymphae priscum Carmentis honorem, vatis fatidicae, cecinit quae prima futuros Aeneadas magnos et nobile Pallanteum. Hinc lucum ingentem quem Romulus acer Asylum
343rettulit et gelida monstrat sub rupe Lupercal, Parrhasio dictum Panos de more Lycaei. Nec non et sacri monstrat nemus Argileti testaturque locum et letum docet hospitis Argi. Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia ducit,
348aurea nunc, olim silvestribus horrida dumis. Iam tum religio pavidos terrebat agrestis dira loci, iam tum silvam saxumque tremebant. Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem (quis deus incertum est) habitat deus: Arcades ipsum
353credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem aegida concuteret dextra nimbosque cieret. Haec duo praeterea disiectis oppida muris, reliquias veterumque vides monimenta virorum. Hanc Ianus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem:
358Ianiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen. Talibus inter se dictis ad tecta subibant pauperis Euandri passimque armenta videbant Romanoque foro et lautis mugire Carinis. Ut ventum ad sedes: Haec, inquit, limina victor
363Alcides subiit, haec illum regia cepit. Aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum finge deo rebusque veni non asper egenis. dixit et angusti subter fastigia tecti ingentem Aenean duxit stratisque locavit
368effultum foliis et pelle Libystidis ursae. Nox ruit et fuscis tellurem amplectitur alis. At Venus haud animo nequiquam exterrita mater Laurentumque minis et duro mota tumultu Volcanum adloquitur thalamoque haec coniugis aureo
373incipit et dictis divinum adspirat amorem: Dum bello Argolici vastabant Pergama reges debita casurasque inimicis ignibus arces, non ullum auxilium miseris, non arma rogavi artis opisque tuae nec te, carissime coniunx,
378incassumve tuos volui exercere labores, quamvis et Priami deberem plurima natis et durum Aeneae flevissem saepe laborem. Nunc Iovis imperiis Rutulorum constitit oris: ergo eadem supplex venio et sanctum mihi numen
383arma rogo genetrix nato. Te filia Nerei, te potuit lacrimis Tithonia flectere coniunx. Aspice qui coeant populi, quae moenia clausis ferrum acuant portis in me exscidiumque meorum. Dixerat et niveis hinc atque hinc diva lacertis
388cunctantem amplexu molli fovet. Ille repente accepit solitam flammam, notusque medullas intravit calor et labefacta per ossa cucurrit: non secus atque olim tonitru cum rupta corusco ignea rima micans percurrit lumine nimbos.
393Sensit laeta dolis et formae conscia coniunx. Tum pater aeterno fatur devinctus amore: Quid causas petis ex alto? Fiducia cessit quo tibi, diva, mei? Similis si cura fuisset, tum quoque fas nobis Teucros armare fuisset:
398nec pater omnipotens Troiam nec fata vetabant stare decemque alios Priamum superesse per annos. Et nunc, si bellare paras atque haec tibi mens est, quidquid in arte mea possum promittere curae, quod fieri ferro liquidove potest electro,
403quantum ignes animaeque valent, absiste precando viribus indubitare tuis. Ea verba locutus optatos dedit amplexus placidumque petivit coniugis infusus gremio per membra soporem. Inde ubi prima quies medio iam noctis abactae
408curriculo expulerat somnum, cum femina primum, cui tolerare colo vitam tenuique Minerva impositum, cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes, noctem addens operi, famulasque ad lumina longo exercet penso, castum ut servare cubile
413coniugis et possit parvos educere natos: haud secus Ignipotens nec tempore segnior illo mollibus e stratis opera ad fabrilia surgit. Insula Sicanium iuxta latus Aeoliamque erigitur Liparen, fumantibus ardua saxis,
418quam subter specus et Cyclopum exesa caminis antra Aetnaea tonant validique incudibus ictus auditi referunt gemitus striduntque cavernis stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat, Volcani domus et Volcania nomine tellus.
423Hoc tunc ignipotens caelo descendit ab alto. Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in antro, Brontesque Steropesque et nudus membra Pyragmon. His informatum manibus iam parte polita fulmen erat, toto genitor quae plurima caelo
428deicit in terras, pars inperfecta manebat. Tris imbris torti radios, tris nubis aquosae addiderant, rutili tris ignis et alitis austri: fulgores nunc horrificos sonitumque metumque miscebant operi flammisque sequacibus iras.
433Parte alia Marti currumque rotasque volucris instabant, quibus ille viros, quibus excitat urbes; aegidaque horriferam, turbatae Palladis arma, certatim squamis serpentum auroque polibant conexosque anguis ipsamque in pectore divae
438Gorgona, desecto vertentem lumina collo. Tollite cuncta, inquit, coeptosque auferte labores, Aetnaei Cyclopes, et huc advertite mentem: arma acri facienda viro. Nunc viribus usus, nunc manibus rapidis, omni nunc arte magistra.
443Praecipitate moras. Nec plura effatus; at illi ocius incubuere omnes pariterque laborem sortiti. Fluit aes rivis aurique metallum, volnificusque chalybs vasta fornace liquescit. Ingentum clipeum informant, unum omnia contra
448tela Latinorum, septenosque orbibus orbes impediunt. Alii ventosis follibus auras accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt aera lacu. Gemit impositis incudibus antrum. Illi inter sese multa vi bracchia tollunt
453in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe massam. Haec pater Aeoliis properat dum Lemnius oris, Euandrum ex humili tecto lux suscitat alma et matutini volucrum sub culmine cantus. Consurgit senior tunicaque inducitur artus
458et Tyrrhena pedum circumdat vincula plantis; tum lateri atque umeris Tegeaeum subligat ensem, demissa ab laeva pantherae terga retorquens. Nec non et gemini custodes limine ab alto praecedunt gressumque canes comitantur erilem.
463Hospitis Aeneae sedem et secreta petebat sermonum memor et promissi muneris heros. Nec minus Aeneas se matutinus agebat. Filius huic Pallas, illi comes ibat Achates. Congressi iungunt dextras mediisque residunt
468aedibus et licito tandem sermone fruuntur. Rex prior haec: Maxume Teucrorum ductor, quo sospite numquam res equidem Troiae victas aut regna fatebor, nobis ad belli auxilium pro nomine tanto
473exiguae vires: hinc Tusco claudimur amni, hinc Rutulus premit et murum circumsonat armis. Sed tibi ego ingentis populos opulentaque regnis iungere castra paro, quam fors inopina salutem ostentat: fatis huc te poscentibus adfers.
478Haud procul hinc saxo incolitur fundata vetusto urbis Agyllinae sedes, ubi Lydia quondam gens, bello praeclara, iugis insedit Etruscis. Hanc multos florentem annos rex deinde superbo imperio et saevis tenuit Mezentius armis.
483Quid memorem infandas caedes, quid facta tyranni effera? Di capiti ipsius generique reservent! Mortua quin etiam iungebat corpora vivis componens manibusque manus atque oribus ora, tormenti genus, et sanie taboque fluentis
488complexu in misero longa sic morte necabat. at fessi tandem cives infanda furentem armati circumsistunt ipsumque domumque, obtruncant socios, ignem ad fastigia iactant. Ille inter caedem Rutulorum elapsus in agros
493confugere et Turni defendier hospitis armis. Ergo omnis furiis surrexit Etruria iustis: regem ad supplicium praesenti Marte reposcunt. his ego te, Aenea, ductorem milibus addam. Toto namque fremunt condensae litore puppes
498Signaque ferre iubent; retinet longaevus haruspex fata canens, O Maeoniae delecta iuventus, flos veterum virtusque virum, quos iustus in hostem fert dolor et merita accendit Mezentius ira, nulli fas Italo tantam subiungere gentem:
503externos optate duces; tum Etrusca resedit hoc acies campo, monitis exterrita divom. Ipse oratores ad me regnique coronam cum sceptro misit mandatque insignia Tarchon, succedam castris Tyrrhenaque regna capessam.
508Sed mihi tarda gelu saeclisque effeta senectus invidet imperium seraeque ad fortia vires. natum exhortarer, ni mixtus matre Sabella hinc partem patriae traheret. Tu, cuius et annis et generi fatum indulgent, quem numina poscunt,
513ingredere, o Teucrum atque Italum fortissime ductor. hunc tibi praeterea, spes et solacia nostri, Pallanta adiungam; sub te tolerare magistro militiam et grave Martis opus, tua cernere facta adsuescat primis et te miretur ab annis.
518Arcadas huic equites bis centum, robora pubis lecta dabo totidemque suo tibi nomine Pallas. Vix ea fatus erat, defixique ora tenebant Aeneas Anchisiades et fidus Achates multaque dura suo tristi cum corde putabant,
523ni signum caelo Cytherea dedisset aperto. Namque inproviso vibratus ab aethere fulgor cum sonitu venit, et ruere omnia visa repente Tyrrhenusque tubae mugire per aethera clangor. Suspiciunt, iterum atque iterum fragor increpat ingens:
528arma inter nubem caeli regione serena per sudum rutilare vident et pulsa tonare. Obstipuere animis alii, sed Troius heros agnovit sonitum et divae promissa parentis. Tum memorat: Ne vero, hospes, ne quaere profecto,
533quem casum portenta ferant: ego poscor Olympo. Hoc signum cecinit missuram diva creatrix, si bellum ingrueret, Volcaniaque arma per auras laturam auxilio. Heu quantae miseris caedes Laurentibus instant;
538quas poenas mihi, Turne, dabis; quam multa sub undas scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volves, Thybri pater! Poscant acies et foedera rumpant. Haec ubi dicta dedit, solio se tollit ab alto et primum Herculeis sopitas ignibus aras
543excitat hesternumque larem parvosque penatis laetus adit: mactant lectas de more bidentis Euandrus pariter, pariter Troiana iuventus. Post hinc ad navis graditur sociosque revisit. Quorum de numero qui sese in bella sequantur
548praestantis virtute legit; pars cetera prona fertur aqua segnisque secundo defluit amni, nuntia ventura Ascanio rerumque patrisque. Dantur equi Teucris Tyrrhena petentibus arva; ducunt exsortem Aeneae, quem fulva leonis
553pellis obit totum, praefulgens unguibus aureis. Fama volat parvam subito volgata per urbem, ocius ire equites Tyrrheni ad litora regis. vota metu duplicant matres, propiusque periclo it timor, et maior Martis iam apparet imago.
558tum pater Evandrus dextram complexus euntis haeret inexpletus lacrimans, ac talia fatur: O mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos, (qualis eram, cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa stravi scutorumque incendi victor acervos
563et regem hac Erulum dextra sub Tartara misi, nascenti cui tris animas Feronia mater (horrendum dictu) dederat; terna arma movenda, ter Leto sternendus erat; cui tunc tamen omnis abstulit haec animas dextra et totidem exuit armis:
568non ego nunc dulci amplexu divellerer usquam, nate, tuo, neque finitimo Mezentius umquam huic capiti insultans tot ferro saeva dedisset funera, tam multis viduasset civibus urbem. At vos, o superi, et divom tu maxume rector
573Iuppiter, Arcadii, quaeso, miserescite regis et patrias audite preces. Si numina vestra incolumem Pallanta mihi, si fata reservant, si visurus eum vivo et venturus in unum: vitam oro, patior quemvis durare laborem.
578Sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris: nunc O nunc liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam, dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri, dum te, care puer, mea sera et sola voluptas, complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris
583volneret. Haec genitor digressu dicta supremo fundebat: famuli conlapsum in tecta ferebant. Iamque adeo exierat portis equitatus apertis, Aeneas inter primos et fidus Achates, inde alii Troiae proceres, ipse agmine Pallas
588in medio chlamyde et pictis conspectus in armis: qualis ubi Oceani perfusus Lucifer unda, quem Venus ante alios astrorum diligit ignis, extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrasque resolvit. Stant pavidae in muris matres oculisque sequuntur
593pulveream nubem et fulgentis aere catervas. Olli per dumos, qua proxuma meta viarum, armati tendunt; it clamor, et agmine facto quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum. Est ingens gelidum lucus prope Caeritis amnem,
598religione patrum late sacer; undique colles inclusere cavi et nigra nemus abiete cingunt. Silvano fama est veteres sacrasse Pelasgos, arvorum pecorisque deo, lucumque diemque, qui primi finis aliquando habuere Latinos:
603haud procul hinc Tarcho et Tyrrheni tuta tenebant castra locis, celsoque omnis de colle videri iam poterat legio et latis tendebat in arvis. Huc pater Aeneas et bello lecta iuventus succedunt fessique et equos et corpora curant.
608At Venus aetherios inter dea candida nimbos dona ferens aderat; natumque in valle reducta ut procul egelido secretum flumine vidit, talibus adfata est dictis seque obtulit ultro: En perfecta mei promissa coniugis arte
613munera, ne mox aut Laurentis, nate, superbos aut acrem dubites in proelia poscere Turnum. Dixit et amplexus nati Cytherea petivit, arma sub adversa posuit radiantia quercu. Ille, deae donis et tanto laetus honore,
618expleri nequit atque oculos per singula volvit miraturque interque manus et bracchia versat terribilem cristis galeam flammasque vomentem fatiferumque ensem, loricam ex aere rigentem sanguineam ingentem, qualis cum caerula nubes
623solis inardescit radiis longeque refulget; tum levis ocreas electro auroque recocto hastamque et clipei non enarrabile textum. Illic res Italas Romanorumque triumphos haud vatum ignarus venturique inscius aevi
628fecerat ignipotens, illic genus omne futurae stirpis ab Ascanio. pugnataque in ordine bella. Fecerat et viridi fetam Mavortis in antro procubuisse lupam, geminos huic ubera circum ludere pendentis pueros et lambere matrem
633impavidos, illam tereti cervice reflexa mulcere alternos et corpora fingere lingua. Nec procul hinc Romam et raptas sine more Sabinas consessu caveae magnis circensibus actis addiderat subitoque novum consurgere bellum
638Romulidis Tatioque seni Curibusque severis. Post idem inter se posito certamine reges armati Iovis ante aram paterasque tenentes stabant et caesa iungebant foedera porca. Haud procul inde citae Mettum in diversa quadrigae
643distulerant, at tu dictis, Albane, maneres, raptabatque viri mendacis viscera Tullus per silvam, et sparsi rorabant sanguine vepres. Nec non Tarquinium eiectum Porsenna iubebat accipere ingentique urbem obsidione premebat:
648Aeneadae in ferrum pro libertate ruebant. Illum indignanti similem similemque minanti aspiceres, pontem auderet quia vellere Cocles et fluvium vinclis innaret Cloelia ruptis. In summo custos Tarpeiae Manlius arcis
653stabat pro templo et Capitolia celsa tenebat, Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo. Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser porticibus Gallos in limine adesse canebat. Galli per dumos aderant arcemque tenebant,
658defensi tenebris et dono noctis opacae: aurea caesaries ollis atque aurea vestis, virgatis lucent sagulis, tum lactea colla auro innectuntur, duo quisque Alpina coruscant gaesa manu, scutis protecti corpora longis.
663Hic exsultantis Salios nudosque Lupercos lanigerosque apices et lapsa ancilia caelo extuderat, castae ducebant sacra per urbem pilentis matres in mollibus. Hinc procul addit Tartareas etiam sedes, alta ostia Ditis,
668et scelerum poenas et te, Catilina, minaci pendentem scopulo Furiarumque ora trementem, secretosque pios, his dantem iura Catonem. Haec inter tumidi late maris ibat imago aurea, sed fluctu spumabant caerula cano;
673et circum argento clari delphines in orbem aequora verrebant caudis aestumque secabant. In medio classis aeratas, Actia bella, cernere erat, totumque instructo Marte videres fervere Leucaten auroque effulgere fluctus.
678Hinc Augustus agens Italos in proelia Caesar cum patribus populoque, penatibus et magnis dis, stans celsa in puppi; geminas cui tempora flammas laeta vomunt patriumque aperitur vertice sidus. Parte alia ventis et dis Agrippa secundis
683arduus agmen agens; cui, belli insigne superbum, tempora navali fulgent rostrata corona. Hinc ope barbarica variisque Antonius armis, victor ab Aurorae populis et litore rubro, Aegyptum viresque Orientis et ultima secum
688Bactra vehit, sequiturque (nefas) Aegyptia coniunx. Una omnes ruere, ac totum spumare reductis convolsum remis rostrisque tridentibus aequor. alta petunt: pelago credas innare revolsas Cycladas aut montis concurrere montibus altos,
693tanta mole viri turritis puppibus instant. stuppea flamma manu telisque volatile ferrum spargitur, arva nova Neptunia caede rubescunt. Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina sistro necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit anguis.
698omnigenumque deum monstra et latrator Anubis contra Neptunum et Venerem contraque Minervam tela tenent. Saevit medio in certamine Mavors caelatus ferro tristesque ex aethere Dirae, et scissa gaudens vadit Discordia palla,
703quam cum sanguineo sequitur Bellona flagello. Actius haec cernens arcum tendebat Apollo desuper: omnis eo terrore Aegyptus et Indi, omnis Arabs, omnes vertebant terga Sabaei. Ipsa videbatur ventis regina vocatis
708vela dare et laxos iam iamque inmittere funis. Illam inter caedes pallentem morte futura fecerat Ignipotens undis et Iapyge ferri, contra autem magno maerentem corpore Nilum pandentemque sinus et tota veste vocantem
713caeruleum in gremium latebrosaque flumina victos. At Caesar, triplici invectus Romana triumpho moenia, dis Italis votum inmortale sacrabat, maxuma tercentum totam delubra per urbem. Laetitia ludisque viae plausuque fremebant;
718omnibus in templis matrum chorus, omnibus arae; ante aras terram caesi stravere iuvenci. Ipse, sedens niveo candentis limine Phoebi, dona recognoscit populorum aptatque superbis postibus; incedunt victae longo ordine gentes,
723quam variae linguis, habitu tam vestis et armis. Hic Nomadum genus et discinctos Mulciber Afros, hic Lelegas Carasque sagittiferosque Gelonos finxerat; Euphrates ibat iam mollior undis, extremique hominum Morini, Rhenusque bicornis,
728indomitique Dahae, et pontem indignatus Araxes. Talia per clipeum Volcani, dona parentis, miratur rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet, attollens umero famamque et fata nepotum.
Book 8
1When Turnus from Laurentum's bastion proud published the war, and roused the dreadful note of the harsh trumpet's song; when on swift steeds the lash he laid and clashed his sounding arms; then woke each warrior soul; all Latium stirred
6with tumult and alarm; and martial rage enkindled youth's hot blood. The chieftains proud, Messapus, Ufens, and that foe of Heaven, Mezentius, compel from far and wide their loyal hosts, and strip the field and farm
11of husbandmen. To seek auxiliar arms they send to glorious Diomed's domain the herald Venulus, and bid him cry: “Troy is to Latium come; Aeneas' fleet has come to land. He brings his vanquished gods,
16and gives himself to be our destined King. Cities not few accept him, and his name through Latium waxes large. But what the foe by such attempt intends, what victory is his presumptuous hope, if Fortune smile,
21Aetolia's lord will not less wisely fear than royal Turnus or our Latin King.” Thus Latium's cause moved on. Meanwhile the heir of great Laomedon, who knew full well the whole wide land astir, was vexed and tossed
26in troubled seas of care. This way and that his swift thoughts flew, and scanned with like dismay each partial peril or the general storm. Thus the vexed waters at a fountain's brim, smitten by sunshine or the silver sphere
31of a reflected moon, send forth a beam of flickering light that leaps from wall to wall, or, skyward lifted in ethereal flight, glances along some rich-wrought, vaulted dome. Now night had fallen, and all weary things,
36all shapes of beast or bird, the wide world o'er, lay deep in slumber. So beneath the arch of a cold sky Aeneas laid him down upon the river-bank, his heart sore tried by so much war and sorrow, and gave o'er
41his body to its Iong-delayed repose. There, 'twixt the poplars by the gentle stream, the River-Father, genius of that place, old Tiberinus visibly uprose; a cloak of gray-green lawn he wore, his hair
46o'erhung with wreath of reeds. In soothing words thus, to console Aeneas' cares, he spoke: “Seed of the gods! who bringest to my shore thy Trojan city wrested from her foe, a stronghold everlasting, Latium's plain
51and fair Laurentum long have looked for thee. Here truly is thy home. Turn not away. Here the true guardians of thy hearth shall be. Fear not the gathering war. The wrath of Heaven has stilled its swollen wave. A sign I tell:
56Lest thou shouldst deem this message of thy sleep a vain, deluding dream, thou soon shalt find in the oak-copses on my margent green, a huge sow, with her newly-littered brood of thirty young; along the ground she lies,
61snow-white, and round her udders her white young. There shall thy city stand, and there thy toil shall find untroubled rest. After the lapse of thrice ten rolling years, Ascanius shall found a city there of noble name,
66White-City, Alba; 't is no dream I sing! But I instruct thee now by what wise way th' impending wars may bring thee victory: receive the counsel, though the words be few: within this land are men of Arcady,
71of Pallas' line, who, following in the train of King Evander and his men-at-arms, built them a city in the hills, and chose (honoring Pallas, their Pelasgian sire), the name of Pallanteum. They make war
76incessant with the Latins. Therefore call this people to thy side and bind them close in federated power. My channel fair and shaded shore shall guide thee where they dwell, and thy strong oarsmen on my waters borne
81shall mount my falling stream. Rise, goddess-born, and ere the starlight fade give honor due to Juno, and with supplicating vow avert her wrath and frown. But unto me make offering in thy victorious hour,
86in time to come. I am the copious flood which thou beholdest chafing at yon shores and parting fruitful fields: cerulean stream of Tiber, favored greatly of high Heaven. here shall arise my house magnificent,
91a city of all cities chief and crown.” So spake the river-god, and sank from view down to his deepest cave; then night and sleep together from Aeneas fled away. He rose, and to the orient beams of morn
96his forehead gave; in both his hollowed palms he held the sacred waters of the stream, and called aloud: “O ye Laurentian nymphs, whence flowing rills be born, and chiefly thou, O Father Tiber, worshipped stream divine,
101accept Aeneas, and from peril save! If in some hallowed lake or haunted spring thy power, pitying my woes, abides, or wheresoe'er the blessed place be found whence first thy beauty flows, there evermore
106my hands shall bring thee gift and sacrifice. O chief and sovereign of Hesperian streams, O river-god that hold'st the plenteous horn, protect us, and confirm thy words divine!” He spoke; then chose twin biremes from the fleet,
111gave them good gear and armed their loyal crews. But, lo! a sudden wonder met his eyes: white gleaming through the grove, with all her brood white like herself, on the green bank the Sow stretched prone. The good Aeneas slew her there,
116Great Juno, for a sacrifice to thee, himself the priest, and with the sucklings all beside shine altar stood. So that whole night the god of Tiber calmed his swollen wave, ebbing or lingering in silent flow,
121till like some gentle lake or sleeping pool his even waters lay, and strove no more against the oarsmen's toil. Upon their way they speed with joyful sound; the well-oiled wood slips through the watery floor; the wondering waves,
126and all the virgin forests wondering, behold the warriors in far-shining arms their painted galleys up the current drive. O'er the long reaches of the winding flood their sturdy oars outweary the slow course
131of night and day. Fair groves of changeful green arch o'er their passage, and they seem to cleave green forests in the tranquil wave below. Now had the flaming sun attained his way to the mid-sphere of heaven, when they discerned
136walls and a citadel in distant view, with houses few and far between; 't was there, where sovran Rome to-day has rivalled Heaven, Evander's realm its slender strength displayed: swiftly they turned their prows and neared the town.
141It chanced th' Arcadian King had come that day to honor Hercules, Amphitryon's son, and to the powers divine pay worship due in groves outside the wall. Beside him stood Pallas his son, his noblest men-at-arms,
146and frugal senators, who at the shrines burnt incense, while warm blood of victims flowed. But when they saw the tall ships in the shade of that dark forest plying noiseless oars, the sudden sight alarmed, and all the throng
151sprang to its feet and left the feast divine. But dauntless Pallas bade them give not o'er the sacred festival, and spear in hand flew forward to a bit of rising ground, and cried from far: “Hail, warriors! what cause
156drives you to lands unknown, and whither bound? Your kin, your country? Bring ye peace or war?” Father Aeneas then held forth a bough of peaceful olive from the lofty ship, thus answering : “Men Trojan-born are we,
161foes of the Latins, who have driven us forth with insolent assault. We fain would see Evander. Pray, deliver this, and say that chosen princes of Dardania sue for his help in arms.” So wonder fell
166on Pallas, awestruck at such mighty name. O, come, whoe'er thou art,” he said, “and speak in presence of my father. Enter here, guest of our hearth and altar.” He put forth his right hand in true welcome, and they stood
171with lingering clasp; then hand in hand advanced up the steep woodland, leaving Tiber's wave. Aeneas to Evander speaking fair, these words essayed: “O best of Grecian-born! whom Fortune's power now bids me seek and sue,
176lifting this olive-branch with fillets bound, I have not feared thee, though I know thou art a Greek, and an Arcadian king, allied to the two sons of Atreus. For behold, my conscious worth, great oracles from Heaven,
181the kinship of our sires, thy own renown spread through the world—all knit my cause with thine, all make me glad my fates have so decreed. The sire and builder of the Trojan town was Dardanus; but he, Electra's child,
186came over sea to Teucria; the sire of fair Electra was great Atlas, he whose shoulder carries the vast orb of heaven. But thy progenitor was Mercury, and him conceiving, Maia, that white maid,
191on hoar Cyllene's frosty summit bore. But Maia's sire, if aught of truth be told, was Atlas also, Atlas who sustains the weight of starry skies. Thus both our tribes are one divided stem. Secure in this,
196no envoys have I sent, nor tried thy mind with artful first approaches, but myself, risking my person and my life, have come a suppliant here. For both on me and thee the house of Daunus hurls insulting war.
201If us they quell, they doubt not to obtain lordship of all Hesperia, and subdue alike the northern and the southern sea. Accept good faith, and give! Behold, our hearts quail not in battle; souls of fire are we,
206and warriors proved in many an action brave.” Aeneas ceased. The other long had scanned the hero's face, his eyes, and wondering viewed his form and mien divine; in answer now he briefly spoke: “With hospitable heart,
211O bravest warrior of all Trojan-born, I know and welcome thee. I well recall thy sire Anchises, how he looked and spake. For I remember Priam, when he came to greet his sister, Queen Hesione,
216in Salamis, and thence pursued his way to our cool uplands of Arcadia. The bloom of tender boyhood then was mine, and with a wide-eyed wonder I did view those Teucrian lords, Laomedon's great heir,
221and, towering highest in their goodly throng, Anchises, whom my warm young heart desired to speak with and to clasp his hand in mine. So I approached, and joyful led him home to Pheneus' olden wall. He gave me gifts
226the day he bade adieu; a quiver rare filled with good Lycian arrows, a rich cloak inwove with thread of gold, and bridle reins all golden, now to youthful Pallas given. Therefore thy plea is granted, and my hand
231here clasps in loyal amity with thine. To-morrow at the sunrise thou shalt have my tribute for the war, and go thy way my glad ally. But now this festival, whose solemn rite 't were impious to delay,
236I pray thee celebrate, and bring with thee well-omened looks and words. Allies we are! Use this our sacred feast as if your own.” So saying, he bade his followers renew th' abandoned feast and wine; and placed each guest
241on turf-built couch of green, most honoring Aeneas by a throne of maple fair decked with a lion's pelt and flowing mane. Then high-born pages, with the altar's priest, bring on the roasted beeves and load the board
246with baskets of fine bread; and wine they bring — of Ceres and of Bacchus gift and toil. While good Aeneas and his Trojans share the long whole ox and meats of sacrifice. When hunger and its eager edge were gone,
251Evander spoke: “This votive holiday, yon tables spread and altar so divine, are not some superstition dark and vain, that knows not the old gods, O Trojan King! But as men saved from danger and great fear
256this thankful sacrifice we pay. Behold, yon huge rock, beetling from the mountain wall, hung from the cliff above. How lone and bare the hollowed mountain looks! How crag on crag tumbled and tossed in huge confusion lie!
261A cavern once it was, which ran deep down into the darkness. There th' half-human shape of Cacus made its hideous den, concealed from sunlight and the day. The ground was wet at all times with fresh gore; the portal grim
266was hung about with heads of slaughtered men, bloody and pale—a fearsome sight to see. Vulcan begat this monster, which spewed forth dark-fuming flames from his infernal throat, and vast his stature seemed. But time and tide
271brought to our prayers the advent of a god to help us at our need. For Hercules, divine avenger, came from laying low three-bodied Geryon, whose spoils he wore exultant, and with hands victorious drove
276the herd of monster bulls, which pastured free along our river-valley. Cacus gazed in a brute frenzy, and left not untried aught of bold crime or stratagem, but stole four fine bulls as they fed, and heifers four,
281all matchless; but, lest hoof-tracks point his way, he dragged them cave-wards by the tails, confusing the natural trail, and hid the stolen herd in his dark den; and not a mark or sign could guide the herdsmen to that cavern-door.
286But after, when Amphitryon's famous son, preparing to depart, would from the meads goad forth the full-fed herd, his lingering bulls roared loud, and by their lamentable cry filled grove and hills with clamor of farewell:
291one heifer from the mountain-cave lowed back in answer, so from her close-guarded stall foiling the monster's will. Then hadst thou seen the wrath of Hercules in frenzy blaze from his exasperate heart. His arms he seized,
296his club of knotted oak, and climbed full-speed the wind-swept hill. Now first our people saw Cacus in fear, with panic in his eyes. Swift to the black cave like a gale he flew, his feet by terror winged. Scarce had he passed
301the cavern door, and broken the big chains, and dropped the huge rock which was pendent there by Vulcan's well-wrought steel; scarce blocked and barred the guarded gate: when there Tirynthius stood, with heart aflame, surveying each approach,
306rolling this way and that his wrathful eyes, gnashing his teeth. Three times his ire surveyed the slope of Aventine; three times he stormed the rock-built gate in vain; and thrice withdrew to rest him in the vale. But high above
311a pointed peak arose, sheer face of rock on every side, which towered into view from the long ridge above the vaulted cave, fit haunt for birds of evil-boding wing. This peak, which leftward toward the river leaned,
316he smote upon its right—his utmost blow — breaking its bases Ioose; then suddenly thrust at it: as he thrust, the thunder-sound filled all the arching sky, the river's banks asunder leaped, and Tiber in alarm
321reversed his flowing wave. So Cacus' lair lay shelterless, and naked to the day the gloomy caverns of his vast abode stood open, deeply yawning, just as if the riven earth should crack, and open wide
326th' infernal world and fearful kingdoms pale, which gods abhor; and to the realms on high the measureless abyss should be laid bare, and pale ghosts shrink before the entering sun. Now upon Cacus, startled by the glare,
331caged in the rocks and howling horribly, Alcides hurled his weapons, raining down all sorts of deadly missiles—trunks of trees, and monstrous boulders from the mountain torn. But when the giant from his mortal strait
336no refuge knew, he blew from his foul jaws a storm of smoke—incredible to tell — and with thick darkness blinding every eye, concealed his cave, uprolling from below one pitch-black night of mingled gloom and fire.
341This would Alcides not endure, but leaped headlong across the flames, where densest hung the rolling smoke, and through the cavern surged a drifting and impenetrable cloud. With Cacus, who breathed unavailing flame,
346he grappled in the dark, locked limb with limb, and strangled him, till o'er the bloodless throat the starting eyeballs stared.Then Hercules burst wide the doorway of the sooty den, and unto Heaven and all the people showed
351the stolen cattle and the robber's crimes, and dragged forth by the feet the shapeless corpse of the foul monster slain. The people gazed insatiate on the grewsome eyes, the breast of bristling shag, the face both beast and man,
356and that fire-blasted throat whence breathed no more the extinguished flame. 'T is since that famous day we celebrate this feast, and glad of heart each generation keeps the holy time. Potitius began the worship due,
361and our Pinarian house is vowed to guard the rites of Hercules. An altar fair within this wood they raised; 't is called ‘the Great,’ and Ara Maxima its name shall be. Come now, my warriors, and bind your brows
366with garlands worthy of the gift of Heaven. Lift high the cup in every thankful hand, and praise our people's god with plenteous wine.” He spoke; and of the poplar's changeful sheen, sacred to Hercules, wove him a wreath
371to shade his silvered brow. The sacred cup he raised in his right hand, while all the rest called on the gods and pure libation poured. Soon from the travelling heavens the western star glowed nearer, and Potitius led forth
376the priest-procession, girt in ancient guise with skins of beasts and carrying burning brands. new feasts are spread, and altars heaped anew with gifts and laden chargers. Then with song the Salian choir surrounds the blazing shrine,
381their foreheads wreathed with poplar. Here the youth, the elders yonder, in proud anthem sing the glory and the deeds of Hercules: how first he strangled with strong infant hand two serpents, Juno's plague; what cities proud,
386Troy and Oechalia, his famous war in pieces broke; what labors numberless as King Eurystheus' bondman he endured, by cruel Juno's will. “Thou, unsubdued, didst strike the twy-formed, cloud-bred centaurs down,
391Pholus and tall Hylaeus. Thou hast slain the Cretan horror, and the lion huge beneath the Nemean crag. At sight of thee the Stygian region quailed, and Cerberus, crouching o'er half-picked bones in gory cave.
396Nothing could bid thee fear. Typhoeus towered in his colossal Titan-panoply o'er thee in vain; nor did thy cunning fail when Lema's wonder-serpent round thee drew its multudinous head. Hail, Jove's true son!
401New glory to the gods above, come down, and these thine altars and thy people bless!” Such hymns they chanted, telling oft the tale of Cacus' cave and blasting breath of fire: while hills and sacred grove the note prolong.
406Such worship o'er, all take the homeward way back to the town. The hospitable King, though bowed with weight of years, kept at his side Aeneas and his son, and as they fared, with various discourse beguiled the way.
411Aeneas scanned with quick-admiring eyes the region wide, and lingered with delight now here, now there, inquiring eagerly of each proud monument of heroes gone. Then King Evander, he who builded first
416On Palatine, spoke thus: “These groves erewhile their native nymphs and fauns enjoyed, with men from trees engendered and stout heart of oak. Nor laws nor arts they knew; nor how to tame burls to the yoke, nor fill great barns with store
421and hoard the gathered grain; but rudely fared on wild fruits and such food as hunters find. Then Saturn from Olympian realms came down, in flight from Jove's dread arms, his sceptre lost, and he an exiled King. That savage race
426he gathered from the mountain slopes; and gave wise laws and statutes; so that latent land was Latium, ‘hid land’, where he hid so long. The golden centuries by legends told were under that good King, whose equal sway
431untroubled peace to all his peoples gave. But after slow decline arrived an age degenerate and of a darker hue, prone to insensate war and greed of gain. Then came Sicanian and Ausonian tribes,
436and oft the land of Saturn lost its name. New chieftains rose, and Thybris, giant King and violent, from whom th' Italians named the flooding Tiber, which was called no more the Albula, its true and ancient style.
441Myself, in exile from my fatherland sailing uncharted seas, was guided here by all-disposing Chance and iron laws of Destiny. With prophecy severe Carmentis, my nymph-mother, thrust me on,
446warned by Apollo's word.” He scarce had said, when near their path he showed an altar fair and the Carmental gate, where Romans see memorial of Carmentis, nymph divine, the prophetess of fate, who first foretold
451what honors on Aeneas' sons should fall and lordly Pallanteum, where they dwell. Next the vast grove was seen, where Romulus ordained inviolable sanctuary; then the Lupercal under its cold crag,
456Wolf-hill, where old Arcadians revered their wolf-god, the Lycaean Pan. Here too the grove of Argiletum, sacred name, where good Evander told the crime and death of Argus, his false guest. From this they climbed
461the steep Tarpeian hill, the Capitol, all gold to-day, but then a tangled wild of thorny woodland. Even then the place woke in the rustics a religious awe, and bade them fear and tremble at the view
466of that dread rock and grove. “This leafy wood, which crowns the hill-top, is the favored seat of some great god,” said he, “but of his name we know not surely. The Arcadians say jove's dread right hand here visibly appears
471to shake his aegis in the darkening storm, the clouds compelling. Yonder rise in view two strongholds with dismantled walls, which now are but a memory of great heroes gone: one father Janus built, and Saturn one;
476their names, Saturnia and Janiculum.” 'Mid such good parley to the house they came of King Evander, unadorned and plain, whence herds of browsing cattle could be seen ranging the Forum, and loud-bellowing
481in proud Carinae. As they entered there, “Behold,” said he, “the threshold that received Alcides in his triumph! This abode he made his own. Dare, O illustrious guest, to scorn the pomp of power. Shape thy soul
486to be a god's fit follower. Enter here, and free from pride our frugal welcome share.” So saying, 'neath his roof-tree scant and low he led the great Aeneas, offering him a couch of leaves with Libyan bear-skin spread.
491Now night drew near, enfolding the wide world in shadowy wings. But Venus, sore disturbed, vexed not unwisely her maternal breast, fearing Laurentum's menace and wild stir of obstinate revolt, and made her plea
496to Vulcan in their nuptial bower of gold, outbreathing in the music of her words celestial love: “When warring Argive kings brought ruin on Troy's sacred citadel and ramparts soon to sink in hostile flames,
501I asked not thee to help that hopeless woe, nor craved thy craft and power. For, dearest lord, I would not tax in vain shine arduous toil, though much to Priam's children I was bound, and oft to see Aeneas burdened sore
506I could but weep. But now by will of Jove he has found foothold in Rutulian lands. Therefore I come at last with lowly suit before a godhead I adore, and pray for gift of arms,—a mother for her son.
511Thou wert not unrelenting to the tears of Nereus' daughter or Tithonus' bride. Behold what tribes conspire, what cities strong behind barred gates now make the falchion keen to ruin and blot out both me and mine!”
516So spake the goddess, as her arms of snow around her hesitating spouse she threw in tender, close embrace. He suddenly knew the familiar fire, and o'er his frame its wonted ardor unresisted ran,
521swift as the glittering shaft of thunder cleaves the darkened air and on from cloud to cloud the rift of lightning runs. She, joyful wife; felt what her beauty and her guile could do; as, thralled by love unquenchable, her spouse
526thus answered fair: “Why wilt thou labor so with far-fetched pleas? my goddess, hast thou lost thy faith in me? Had such a prayer been shine, I could have armed the Teucrians. Neither Jove nor Destiny had grudged ten added years
531of life to Troy and Priam. If to-day thou hast a war in hand, and if thy heart determine so, I willingly engage to lend thee all my cunning; whatsoever molten alloy or welded iron can,
536whate'er my roaring forge and flames achieve, I offer thee. No more in anxious prayer distrust thy beauty's power.” So saying, he gave embrace of mutual desire, and found deep, peaceful sleep, on her fond heart reclined.
541Night's course half run, soon as the first repose had banished sleep,—what time some careful wife whose distaff and Minerva's humble toil must earn her bread, rekindling her warm hearth, adds a night-burden to her laboring day,
546and by the torch-light cheers her maidens on to their long tasks; that so her husband's bed she may in honor keep, and train to power her dear men-children—at such prime of morn, with not less eager mind the Lord of Fire
551fled his soft couch and to his forges tried. An island near Aeolian Lipara not far from a Sicilian headland lies, where smoking rocks precipitously tower above a vast vault, which the Cyclops' skill
556outhollowed large as Aetna's thunderous caves. There ring the smitten anvils, and the roof re-echoes, roaring loud. Chalybian ores hiss in the gloom, and from the furnace mouths puff the hot-panting fires. 'T is Vulcan's seat,
561and all that island is Vulcania. Thither descended now the god of fire from height of heaven. At their task were found the Cyclops in vast cavern forging steel, naked Pyracmon and gigantic-limbed
566Brontes and Steropes; beneath their blows a lightning-shaft, half-shaped, half-burnished lay, such as the Thunderer is wont to fling in numbers from the sky, but formless still. Three strands of whirling storm they wove with three
571of bursting cloud, and three did interfuse of ruddy-gleaming fires and winged winds; then fearful lightnings on the skilful forge they welded with loud horror, and with flames that bear swift wrath from Jove. Elsewhere a crew
576toiled at the chariot and winged wheel wherewith the war-god wakens from repose heroes and peopled cities. Others wrought the awful Aegis, herald of dismay, by angry Pallas worn; they burnished bright
581the golden serpent-scales and wreathing snakes, till from the corselet of the goddess glared the Gorgon's severed head and rolling eyes. “Cyclops of Aetna,” Vulcan cried, “have done! Leave ev'ry task unfinished, and receive
586my new command! Good armor must be forged for warrior brave. For this I need to use your utmost sinew and your swiftest hand, with all your master skill. No lingering now!” Swift the command, and swiftly they divide
591to each his portion, and united urge the common task. Forth fow the molten streams of brass and gold, and, melted in fierce fiame, the deeply-wounding steel like liquid flows. A mighty shield took shape, its single orb
596sufficient to withstand the gathered shock of all the Latin arms; for seven times they welded ring with ring. Some deftly ply the windy bellows, which receive and give the roaring blasts; some plunge in cooling pond
601the hissing metal, while the smithy floor groans with the anvil's weight, as side by side they lift their giant arms in numbered blows and roll with gripe of tongs the ponderous bars. While thus the Lemnian god his labor sped
606in far Aeolian isle, the cheerful morn with voice of swallows round his lowly eaves summoned Evander. From his couch arose the royal sire, and o'er his aged frame a tunic threw, tying beneath his feet
611the Tuscan sandals: an Arcadian sword, girt at his left, was over one shoulder slung, his cloak of panther trailing from behind. A pair of watch-dogs from the lofty door ran close, their lord attending, as he sought
616his guest Aeneas; for his princely soul remembered faithfully his former word, and promised gift. Aeneas with like mind was stirring early. King Evander's son Pallas was at his side; Achates too
621accompanied his friend. All these conjoin in hand-clasp and good-morrow, taking seats in midcourt of the house, and give the hour to converse unrestrained. First spoke the King: “Great leader of the Teucrians, while thy life
626in safety stands, I call not Trojan power vanquished or fallen. But to help thy war my small means match not thy redoubled name. Yon Tuscan river is my bound. That way Rutulia thrusts us hard and chafes our wall
631with loud, besieging arms. But I propose to league with thee a numerous array of kings and mighty tribes, which fortune strange now brings to thy defence. Thou comest here because the Fates intend. Not far from ours
636a city on an ancient rock is seen, Agylla, which a warlike Lydian clan built on the Tuscan hills. It prospered well for many a year, then under the proud yoke of King Mezentius it came and bore
641his cruel sway. Why tell the loathsome deeds and crimes unspeakable the despot wrought? May Heaven requite them on his impious head and on his children! For he used to chain dead men to living, hand on hand was laid
646and face on face,—torment incredible! Till, locked in blood-stained, horrible embrace, a lingering death they found. But at the last his people rose in furious despair, and while he blasphemously raged, assailed
651his life and throne, cut down his guards and fired his regal dwellings; he, the while, escaped immediate death and fied away to the Rutulian land, to find defence in Turnus hospitality. To-day
656Etruria, to righteous anger stirred, demands with urgent arms her guilty King. To their large host, Aeneas, I will give an added strength, thyself. For yonder shores re-echo with the tumult and the cry
661of ships in close array; their eager lords are clamoring for battle. But the song of the gray omen-giver thus declares their destiny: ‘O goodly princes born of old Maeonian lineage! Ye that are
666the bloom and glory of an ancient race, whom just occasions now and noble rage enflame against Mezentius your foe, it is decreed that yonder nation proud shall never submit to chiefs Italian-born.
671Seek ye a king from far!’ So in the field inert and fearful lies Etruria's force, disarmed by oracles. Their Tarchon sent envoys who bore a sceptre and a crown even to me, and prayed I should assume
676the sacred emblems of Etruria's king, and lead their host to war. But unto me cold, sluggish age, now barren and outworn, denies new kingdoms, and my slow-paced powers run to brave deeds no more. Nor could I urge
681my son, who by his Sabine mother's line is half Italian-born. Thyself art he, whose birth illustrious and manly prime fate favors and celestial powers approve. Therefore go forth, O bravest chief and King
686of Troy and Italy! To thee I give the hope and consolation of our throne, pallas, my son, and bid him find in thee a master and example, while he learns the soldier's arduous toil. With thy brave deeds
691let him familiar grow, and reverence thee with youthful love and honor. In his train two hundred horsemen of Arcadia, our choicest men-at-arms, shall ride; and he in his own name an equal band shall bring
696to follow only thee.” Such the discourse. With meditative brows and downcast eyes Aeneas and Achates, sad at heart, mused on unnumbered perils yet to come. But out of cloudless sky Cythera's Queen
701gave sudden signal: from th' ethereal dome a thunder-peal and flash of quivering fire tumultuous broke, as if the world would fall, and bellowing Tuscan trumpets shook the air. All eyes look up. Again and yet again
706crashed the terrible din, and where the sky looked clearest hung a visionary cloud, whence through the brightness blazed resounding arms. All hearts stood still. But Troy's heroic son knew that his mother in the skies redeemed
711her pledge in sound of thunder: so he cried, “Seek not, my friend, seek not thyself to read the meaning of the omen. 'T is to me Olympus calls. My goddess-mother gave long since her promise of a heavenly sign
716if war should burst; and that her power would bring a panoply from Vulcan through the air, to help us at our need. Alas, what deaths over Laurentum's ill-starred host impend! O Turnus, what a reckoning thou shalt pay
721to me in arms! O Tiber, in thy wave what helms and shields and mighty soldiers slain shall in confusion roll! Yea, let them lead their lines to battle, and our league abjure!” He said: and from the lofty throne uprose.
726Straightway he roused anew the slumbering fire sacred to Hercules, and glad at heart adored, as yesterday, the household gods revered by good Evander, at whose side the Trojan company made sacrifice
731of chosen lambs, with fitting rites and true. Then to his ships he tried him, and rejoined his trusty followers, of whom he took the best for valor known, to lend him aid in deeds of war. Others he bade return
736down stream in easy course, and tidings bear to young Ascanius of the new event, and of his father. Horses then were brought for all the Teucrians to Etruria bound; and for Aeneas one of rarest breed,
741o'er whom a tawny robe descended low, of lion-skin, with claws of gleaming gold. Noised swiftly through the little town it flies that to the precinct of the Tuscan King armed horsemen speed. Pale mothers in great fear
746unceasing pray; for panic closely runs in danger's steps; the war-god drawing nigh looms larger; and good sire Evander now clings to the hand of his departing son and, weeping without stay, makes sad farewell:
751“O, that great Jove would give me once again my vanished years! O, if such man I were, as when beneath Praeneste's wall I slew the front ranks of her sons, and burned for spoil their gathered shields on my triumph day;
756or when this right hand hurled king Erulus to shades below, though—terrible to tell — Feronia bore him with three lives, that thrice he might arise from deadly strife o'erthrown, and thrice be slain—yet all these lives took I,
761and of his arms despoiled him o'er and o'er: not now, sweet son (if such lost might were mine), should I from thy beloved embrace be torn; nor could Mezentius with insulting sword do murder in my sight and make my land
766depopulate and forlorn. O gods in Heaven, and chiefly thou whom all the gods obey, have pity, Jove, upon Arcadia's King, and hear a father's prayer: if your intent be for my Pallas a defence secure,
771if it be writ that long as I shall live, my eyes may see him, and my arms enfold, I pray for life, and all its ills I bear. But if some curse, too dark to tell, impend from thee, O Fortune blind! I pray thee break
776my thread of miserable life to-day; to-day, while fear still doubts and hope still smiles on the unknown to-morrow, as I hold thee to my bosom, dearest child, who art my last and only joy; to-day, before
781th' intolerable tidings smite my ears.” Such grief the royal father's heart outpoured at this last parting; the strong arms of slaves lifted him, fallen in swoon, and bore him home. Now forth beneath the wide-swung city-gates
786the mounted squadron poured; Aeneas rode, companioned of Achates, in the van; then other lords of Troy. There Pallas shone conspicuous in the midmost line, with cloak and blazoned arms, as when the Morning-star
791(To Venus dearest of all orbs that burn), out of his lucent bath in ocean wave lifts to the skies his countenance divine, and melts the shadows of the night away. Upon the ramparts trembling matrons stand
796and follow with dimmed eyes the dusty cloud whence gleam the brazen arms. The warriors ride straight on through brake and fell, the nearest way; loud ring the war-cries, and in martial line the pounding hoof-beats shake the crumbling ground.
801By Caere's cold flood lies an ample grove revered from age to age. The hollowing hills enclasp it in wide circles of dark fir, and the Pelasgians, so the legends tell, primaeval settlers of the Latin plains,
806called it the haunt of Silvan, kindly god of flocks and fields, and honoring the grove gave it a festal day. Hard by this spot had Tarchon with the Tuscans fortified his bivouac, and from the heights afar
811his legions could be seen in wide array outstretching through the plain. To meet them there Aeneas and his veteran chivalry made sure advance, and found repose at eve for warrior travel-worn and fainting steed.
816But now athwart the darkening air of heaven came Venus gleaming bright, to bring her son the gifts divine. In deep, sequestered vale she found him by a cooling rill retired, and hailed him thus: “Behold the promised gift,
821by craft and power of my Olympian spouse made perfect, that my son need never fear Laurentum's haughty host, nor to provoke fierce Turnus to the fray.” Cythera's Queen so saying, embraced her son, and hung the arms,
826all glittering, on an oak that stood thereby. The hero, with exultant heart and proud, gazing unwearied at his mother's gift, surveys them close, and poises in his hands the helmet's dreadful crest and glancing flame,
831the sword death-dealing, and the corselet strong, impenetrable brass, blood-red and large, like some dark-lowering, purple cloud that gleams beneath the smiting sun and flashes far its answering ray; and burnished greaves were there,
836fine gold and amber; then the spear and shield — the shield—of which the blazonry divine exceeds all power to tell. Thereon were seen Italia's story and triumphant Rome, wrought by the Lord of Fire, who was not blind
841to lore inspired and prophesying song, fore-reading things to come. He pictured there Iulus' destined line of glorious sons marshalled for many a war. In cavern green, haunt of the war-god, lay the mother-wolf;
846the twin boy-sucklings at her udders played, nor feared such nurse; with long neck backward thrown she fondled each, and shaped with busy tongue their bodies fair. Near these were pictured well the walls of Rome and ravished Sabine wives
851in the thronged theatre violently seized, when the great games were done; then, sudden war of Romulus against the Cures grim and hoary Tatius; next, the end of strife between the rival kings, who stood in arms
856before Jove's sacred altar, cup in hand, and swore a compact o'er the slaughtered swine. Hard by, behold, the whirling chariots tore Mettus asunder (would thou hadst been true, false Alban, to thy vow!); and Tullus trailed
861the traitor's mangled corse along the hills, the wild thorn dripping gore. Porsenna, next, sent to revolted Rome his proud command to take her Tarquin back, and with strong siege assailed the city's wall; while unsubdued
866Aeneas' sons took arms in freedom's name. there too the semblance of the frustrate King, a semblance of his wrath and menace vain, when Cocles broke the bridge, and Cloelia burst her captive bonds and swam the Tiber's wave.
871Lo, on the steep Tarpeian citadel stood Manlius at the sacred doors of Jove, holding the capitol, whereon was seen the fresh-thatched house of Romulus the King. There, too, all silver, through arcade of gold
876fluttered the goose, whose monitory call revealed the foeman at the gate: outside besieging Gauls the thorny pathway climbed, ambushed in shadow and the friendly dark of night without a star; their flowing hair
881was golden, and their every vesture gold; their cloaks were glittering plaid; each milk-white neck bore circlet of bright gold; in each man's hand two Alpine javelins gleamed, and for defence long shields the wild northern warriors bore.
886There, graven cunningly, the Salian choir went leaping, and in Lupercalian feast the naked striplings ran; while others, crowned with peaked cap, bore shields that fell from heaven; and, bearing into Rome their emblems old,
891chaste priestesses on soft-strewn litters passed. But far from these th' artificer divine had wrought a Tartarus, the dreadful doors of Pluto, and the chastisements of sin; swung o'er a threatening precipice, was seen
896thy trembling form, O Catiline, in fear of fury-faces nigh: and distant far th' assemblies of the righteous, in whose midst was Cato, giving judgment and decree. Encircled by these pictures ran the waves
901of vast, unrestful seas in flowing gold, where seemed along the azure crests to fly the hoary foam, and in a silver ring the tails of swift, emerging dolphins lashed the waters bright, and clove the tumbling brine.
906For the shield's central glory could be seen great fleets of brazen galleys, and the fight at Actium; where, ablaze with war's array, Leucate's peak glowed o'er the golden tide. Caesar Augustus led Italia's sons
911to battle: at his side concordant moved Senate and Roman People, with their gods of hearth and home, and all Olympian Powers. Uplifted on his ship he stands; his brows beneath a double glory smile, and bright
916over his forehead beams the Julian star. in neighboring region great Agrippa leads, by favor of fair winds and friendly Heaven, his squadron forth: upon his brows he wears the peerless emblem of his rostral crown.
921Opposing, in barbaric splendor shine the arms of Antony: in victor's garb from nations in the land of morn he rides, and from the Red Sea, bringing in his train Egypt and Syria, utmost Bactria's horde,
926and last—O shameless!—his Egyptian spouse. All to the fight make haste; the slanted oars and triple beaks of brass uptear the waves to angry foam, as to the deep they speed like hills on hill-tops hurled, or Cyclades
931drifting and clashing in the sea: so vast that shock of castled ships and mighty men! Swift, arrowy steel and balls of blazing tow rain o'er the waters, till the sea-god's world flows red with slaughter. In the midst, the Queen,
936sounding her native timbrel, wildly calls her minions to the fight, nor yet can see two fatal asps behind. Her monster-gods, barking Anubis, and his mongrel crew, on Neptune, Venus, and Minerva fling
941their impious arms; the face of angry Mars, carved out of iron, in the centre frowns, grim Furies fill the air; Discordia strides in rent robe, mad with joy; and at her side, bellona waves her sanguinary scourge.
946There Actian Apollo watched the war, and o'er it stretched his bow; which when they knew, Egyptian, Arab, and swart Indian slave, and all the sons of Saba fled away in terror of his arm. The vanquished Queen
951made prayer to all the winds, and more and more flung out the swelling sail: on wind-swept wave she fled through dead and dying; her white brow the Lord of Fire had cunningly portrayed blanched with approaching doom. Beyond her lay
956the large-limbed picture of the mournful Nile, who from his bosom spread his garments wide, and offered refuge in his sheltering streams and broad, blue breast, to all her fallen power. But Caesar in his triple triumph passed
961the gates of Rome, and gave Italia's gods, for grateful offering and immortal praise, three hundred temples; all the city streets with game and revel and applauding song rang loud; in all the temples altars burned
966and Roman matrons prayed; the slaughtered herds strewed well the sacred ground. The hero, throned at snow-white marble threshold of the fane to radiant Phoebus, views the gift and spoil the nations bring, and on the portals proud
971hangs a perpetual garland: in long file the vanquished peoples pass, of alien tongues, of arms and vesture strange. Here Vulcan showed ungirdled Afric chiefs and Nomads bold, Gelonian bowmen, men of Caria,
976and Leleges. Euphrates seemed to flow with humbler wave; the world's remotest men, Morini came, with double-horned Rhine, and Dahae, little wont to bend the knee, and swift Araxes, for a bridge too proud.
981Such was the blazoned shield his mother gave from Vulcan's forge; which with astonished eyes Aeneas viewed, and scanned with joyful mind such shadows of an unknown age to be; then on his shoulder for a burden bore
986the destined mighty deeds of all his sons.
Book 9
1Atque ea diversa penitus dum parte geruntur, Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno audacem ad Turnum. Luco tum forte parentis Pilumni Turnus sacrata valle sedebat. Ad quem sic roseo Thaumantias ore locuta est:
6Turne, quod optanti divom promittere nemo auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultro. Aeneas urbe et sociis et classe relicta sceptra Palatini sedemque petit Euandri. Nec satis: extremas Corythi penetravit ad urbes
11Lydorumque manum collectos armat agrestis. Quid dubitas? Nunc tempus equos, nunc poscere currus. Rumpe moras omnis et turbata arripe castra. Dixit et in caelum paribus se sustulit alis ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum.
16Adgnovit iuvenis duplicisque ad sidera palmas sustulit ac tali fugientem est voce secutus: Iri, decus caeli, quis te mihi nubibus actam detulit in terras? Unde haec tam clara repente tempestas? Medium video discedere caelum
21palantisque polo stellas. Sequor omina tanta, quisquis in arma vocas. Et sic effatus ad undam processit summoque hausit de gurgite lymphas, multa deos orans, oneravitque aethera votis. Iamque omnis campis exercitus ibat apertis,
26dives equum, dives pictaï vestis et auri; Messapus primas acies, postrema coercent Tyrrhidae iuvenes, medio dux agmine Turnus, Ceu septem surgens sedatis amnibus altus per tacitum Ganges aut pingui flumine Nilus
32cum refluit campis et iam se condidit alveo. Hic subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem prospiciunt Teucri ac tenebras insurgere campis. Primus ab adversa conclamat mole Caicus: Quis globus, o cives, caligine volvitur atra?
37Ferte citi ferrum, date tela, ascendite muros, hostis adest, heia! Ingenti clamore per omnis condunt se Teucri portas et moenia complent. Namque ita discedens praeceperat optumus armis Aeneas: siqua interea fortuna fuisset,
42neu struere auderent aciem neu credere campo; castra modo et tutos servarent aggere muros. Ergo etsi conferre manum pudor iraque monstrat, obiciunt portas tamen et praecepta facessunt armatique cavis expectant turribus hostem.
47Turnus ut ante volans tardum praecesserat agmen viginti lectis equitum comitatus, et urbi improvisus adest; maculis quem Thracius albis portat equus cristaque tegit galea aurea rubra. Ecquis erit, mecum, iuvenes, qui primus in hostem?
52En, ait et iaculum attorquens emittit in auras, principium pugnae, et campo sese arduus infert. Clamore excipiunt socii fremituque sequuntur horrisono: Teucrum mirantur inertia corda, non aequo dare se campo, non obvia ferre
57arma viros, sed castra fovere. Huc turbidus atque huc lustrat equo muros aditumque per avia quaerit. Ac veluti pleno lupus insidiatus ovili cum fremit ad caulas, ventos perpessus et imbris, nocte super media; tuti sub matribus agni
62balatum exercent, ille asper et improbus ira saevit in absentis, collecta fatigat edendi ex longo rabies et siccae sanguine fauces: haud aliter Rutulo muros et castra tuenti ignescunt irae, duris dolor ossibus ardet.
67Qua temptet ratione aditus et quae via clausos excutiat Teucros vallo atque effundat in aequum? Classem, quae lateri castrorum adiuncta latebat, aggeribus saeptam circum et fluvialibus undis, invadit sociosque incendia poscit ovantis
72atque manum pinu flagranti fervidus implet. Tum vero incumbunt, urget praesentia Turni, atque omnis facibus pubes accingitur atris. Diripuere focos; piceum fert fumida lumen taeda et commixtam Volcanus ad astra favillam.
77Quis deus, o musae, tam saeva incendia Teucris avertit? Tantos ratibus quis depulit ignes? Dicite. Prisca fides facto, sed fama perennis. Tempore quo primum Phrygia formabat in Ida Aeneas classem et pelagi petere alta parabat,
82ipsa deum fertur genetrix Berecyntia magnum vocibus his adfata Iovem: Da, nate, petenti, quod tua cara parens domito te poscit Olympo. lucus in arce fuit summa, quo sacra ferebant, nigranti picea trabibusque obscurus acernis:
88has ego Dardanio iuveni, cum classis egeret, laeta dedi; nunc sollicitam timor anxius angit. Solve metus atque hoc precibus sine posse parentem: ne cursu quassatae ullo neu turbine venti vincantur, prosit nostris in montibus ortas.
93Filius huic contra, torquet qui sidera mundi: O genetrix, quo fata vocas, aut quid petis istis? Mortaline manu factae immortale carinae fas habeant certusque incerta pericula lustret Aeneas? Cui tanta deo permissa potestas?
98Immo ubi defunctae finem portusque tenebunt Ausonios olim, quaecumque evaserit undis Dardaniumque ducem Laurentia vexerit arva, mortalem eripiam formam magnique iubebo aequoris esse deas, qualis Nereia Doto
103et Galatea secant spumantem pectore pontum. Dixerat idque ratum Stygii per flumina fratris, per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum. Ergo aderat promissa dies et tempora Parcae
108debita complerant, cum Turni iniuria Matrem admonuit ratibus sacris depellere taedas. Hic primum nova lux oculis offulsit et ingens visus ab Aurora caelum transcurrere nimbus Idaeique chori; tum vox horrenda per auras
113excidit et Troum Rutulorumque agmina complet: Ne trepidate meas, Teucri, defendere navis neve armate manus: maria ante exurere Turno quam sacras dabitur pinus. Vos ite solutae, ite deae pelagi: genetrix iubet. Et sua quaeque
118continuo puppes abrumpunt vincula ripis delphinumque modo demersis aequora rostris ima petunt. Hinc virgineae (mirabile monstrum) quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae reddunt se totidem facies pontoque feruntur.
123Obstipuere animis Rutuli, conterritus ipse turbatis Messapus equis, cunctatur et amnis rauca sonans revocatque pedem Tiberinus ab alto. At non audaci Turno fiducia cessit; ultro animos tollit dictis atque increpat ultro:
128Troianos haec monstra petunt, his Iuppiter ipse auxilium solitum eripuit, non tela neque ignes exspectans Rutulos. Ergo maria invia Teucris nec spes ulla fugae: rerum pars altera adempta est. Terra autem in nostris manibus, tot milia gentes
133arma ferunt Italae. Nil me fatalia terrent, siqua Phryges prae se iactant, responsa deorum: sat fatis Venerique datum, tetigere quod arva fertilis Ausoniae Troes. Sunt et mea contra fata mihi, ferro sceleratam exscindere gentem,
138coniuge praerepta: nec solos tangit Atridas iste dolor solisque licet capere arma Mycenis. Sed periisse semel satis est: peccare fuisset ante satis penitus modo non genus omne perosos femineum. Quibus haec medii fiducia valli
143fossarumque morae, leti discrimina parva, dant animos. At non viderunt moenia Troiae Neptuni fabricata manu considere in ignis? Sed vos, o lecti, ferro qui scindere vallum apparat et mecum invadit trepidantia castra.
148Non armis mihi Volcani, non mille carinis est opus in Teucros; addant se protinus omnes Etrusci socios, tenebras et inertia furta Palladii caesis summae custodibus arcis ne timeant, nec equi caeca condemur in alvo:
153luce palam certum est igni circumdare muros. Haud sibi cum Danais rem faxo et pube Pelasga esse ferant, decumum quos distulit Hector in annum. Nunc adeo, melior quoniam pars acta diei, quod superest, laeti bene gestis corpora rebus
158procurate, viri, et pugnam sperate parari. Interea vigilum excubiis obsidere portas cura datur Messapo et moenia cingere flammis. Bis septem Rutuli, muros qui milite servent, delecti; ast illos centeni quemque sequuntur
163purpurei cristis iuvenes auroque corusci. Discurrunt variantque vices fusique per herbam indulgent vino et vertunt crateras aenos. Conlucent ignes, noctem custodia ducit insomnem ludo.
168Haec super e vallo prospectant Troes et armis alta tenent, nec non trepidi formidine portas explorant pontisque et propugnacula iungunt, tela gerunt. Instat Mnestheus acerque Serestus, quos pater Aeneas, siquando adversa vocarent,
173rectores iuvenum et rerum dedit esse magistros. Omnis per muros legio, sortita periclum, excubat exercetque vices, quod cuique tuendum est. Nisus erat portae custos, acerrimus armis, Hyrtacides, comitem Aeneae quem miserat Ida
178venatrix iaculo celerem levibusque sagittis; it iuxta comes Euryalus, quo pulchrior alter non fuit Aeneadum Troiana neque induit arma, ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa. His amor unus erat, pariterque in bella ruebant:
183tum quoque communi portam statione tenebant. Nisus ait: Dine hunc ardorem mentibus addunt, Euryale, an sua cuique deus fit dira cupido? Aut pugnam aut aliquid iamdudum invadere magnum mens agitat mihi nec placida contenta quietest.
188Cernis, quae Rutulos habeat fiducia rerum. Lumina rara micant; somno vinoque soluti procubuere; silent late loca: percipe porro, quid dubitem et quae nunc animo sententia surgat. Aenean acciri omnes, populusque patresque,
193exposcunt mittique viros, qui certa reportent. Si tibi quae posco promittunt (nam mihi facti fama sat est), tumulo videor reperire sub illo posse viam ad muros et moenia Pallantea. Obstipuit magno laudum percussus amore
198Euryalus; simul his ardentem adfatur amicum: Mene igitur socium summis adiungere rebus, Nise, fugis? Solum te in tanta pericula mittam? Non ita me genitor, bellis adsuetus Opheltes, Argolicum terrorem inter Troiaeque labores
203sublatum erudiit, nec tecum talia gessi, magnanimum Aenean et fata extrema secutus: est hic, est animus lucis contemptor et istum qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis, honorem. Nisus ad haec: Equidem de te nil tale verebar
208nec fas, non, ita me referat tibi magnus ovantem Iuppiter aut quicumque oculis haec aspicit aequis. Sed siquis, quae multa vides discrimine tali, siquis in adversum rapiat casusve deusve, te superesse velim; tua vita dignior aetas.
213Sit qui me raptum pugna pretiove redemptum mandet humo solita aut siqua id Fortuna vetabit, absenti ferat inferias decoretque sepulchro. Neu matri miserae tanti sim causa doloris, quae te sola, puer, multis e matribus ausa
218persequitur magni nec moenia curat Acestae, Ille autem: Causas nequiquam nectis inanis, nec mea iam mutata loco sententia cedit: adceleremus, ait. Vigiles simul excitat, illi succedunt servantque vices: statione relicta
223ipse comes Niso graditur, regemque requirunt. Cetera per terras omnis animalia somno laxabant curas et corda oblita laborum: ductores Teucrum primi et delecta iuventus consilium summis regni de rebus habebant,
228quid facerent quisve Aeneae iam nuntius esset. Stant longis adnixi hastis, et scuta tenentes, castrorum et campi medio. Tum Nisus et una Euryalus confestim alacres admittier orant: rem magnam, pretiumque morae fore. Primus Iulus
233accepit trepidos ac Nisum dicere iussit. Tum sic Hyrtacides: Audite O mentibus aequis, Aeneadae, neve haec nostris spectentur ab annis, quae ferimus. Rutuli somno vinoque soluti conticuere; locum insidiis conspeximus ipsi,
238qui patet in bivio portae, quae proxuma ponto; interrupti ignes, aterque ad sidera fumus erigitur: si fortuna permittitis uti quaesitum Aenean et moenia Pallantea, mox hic cum spoliis ingenti caede peracta
243adfore cernetis. Nec nos via fallit euntis: vidimus obscuris primam sub vallibus urbem venatu adsiduo et totum cognovimus amnem. Hic annis gravis atque animi maturus Aletes: Di patrii, quorum semper sub numine Troia est,
248non tamen omnino Teucros delere paratis, cum talis animos iuvenum et tam certa tulistis pectora. Sic memorans umeros dextrasque tenebat amborum et voltum lacrimis atque ora rigabat. Quae vobis, quae digna, viri, pro laudibus istis
253praemia posse rear solvi? Pulcherrima primum di moresque dabunt vestri; tum cetera reddet actutum pius Aeneas atque integer aevi Ascanius, meriti tanti non immemor umquam. Immo ego vos, cui sola salus genitore reducto,
258excipit Ascanius, per magnos, Nise, penatis Assaracique larem et canae penetralia Vestae obtestor; quaecumque mihi fortuna fidesque est, in vestris pono gremiis: revocate parentem, reddite conspectum; nihil illo triste recepto.
263Bina dabo argento perfecta atque aspera signis pocula, devicta genitor quae cepit Arisba, et tripodas geminos, auri duo magna talenta, cratera antiquum, quem dat Sidonia Dido. Si vero capere Italiam sceptrisque potiri
268contigerit victori et praedae dicere sortem, vidisti quo Turnus equo, quibus ibat in armis aureus: ipsum illum, clipeum cristasque rubentis excipiam sorti, iam nunc tua praemia, Nise. Praeterea bis sex genitor lectissima matrum
273corpora captivosque dabit suaque omnibus arma, insuper his campi quod rex habet ipse Latinus. Te vero, mea quem spatiis propioribus aetas insequitur, venerande puer, iam pectore toto accipio et comitem casus complector in omnis.
278Nulla meis sine te quaeretur gloria rebus; seu pacem seu bella geram, tibi maxima rerum verborumque fides. Contra quem talia fatur Euryalus: Me nulla dies tam fortibus ausis dissimilem arguerit; tantum, fortuna secunda
283aut adversa cadat. Sed te super omnia dona unum oro, genetrix Priami de gente vetusta est mihi, quam miseram tenuit non Ilia tellus mecum excedentem, non moenia regis Acestae. Hanc ego nunc ignaram huius quodcumque pericli est
288inque salutatam linquo: nox et tua testis dextera, quod nequeam lacrumas perferre parentis at tu, oro, solare inopem et succurre relictae. Hanc sine me spem ferre tui: audentior ibo in casus omnis. Percussa mente dedere
293Dardanidae lacrimas; ante omnis pulcher Iulus, atque animum patriae strinxit pietatis imago. Tum sic effatur: Sponde digna tuis ingentibus omnia coeptis. Namque erit ista mihi genetrix nomenque Creusae
298solum defuerit, nec partum gratia talem parva manet. Casus factum quicumque sequentur, per caput hoc iuro, per quod pater ante solebat: quae tibi polliceor reduci rebusque secundis, haec eadem matrique tuae generique manebunt.
303Sic ait inlacrimans; umero simul exuit ensem auratum, mira quem fecerat arte Lycaon Gnosius atque habilem vagina aptarat eburna. Dat Niso Mnestheus pellem horrentisque leonis exuvias; galeam fidus permutat Aletes.
308Protinus armati incedunt; quos omnis euntis primorum manus ad portas iuvenumque senumque prosequitur votis. Nec non et pulcher Iulus, ante annos animumque gerens curamque virilem, multa patri mandata dabat portanda: sed aurae
313omnia discerpunt et nubibus inrita donant. Egressi superant fossas noctisque per umbram castra inimica petunt, multis tamen ante futuri exitio. Passim somno vinoque per herbam corpora fusa vident, arrectos litore currus,
318inter lora rotasque viros, simul arma iacere, vina simul. Prior Hyrtacides sic ore locutus: Euryale, audendum dextra; nunc ipsa vocat res. Hac iter est. Tu, ne qua manus se attollere nobis a tergo possit, custodi et consule longe;
323haec ego vasta dabo et lato te limite ducam. Sic memorat vocemque premit; simul ense superbum Rhamnetem adgreditur, qui forte tapetibus altis exstructus toto proflabat pectore somnum. Rex idem et regi Turno gratissimus augur,
328sed non augurio potuit depellere pestem. Tris iuxta famulos temere inter tela iacentis armigerumque Remi premit aurigamque sub ipsis nanctus equis ferroque secat pendentia colla; tum caput ipsi aufert domino truncumque relinquit
333sanguine singultantem; atro tepefacta cruore terra torique madent. Nec non Lamyrumque Lamumque et iuvenem Serranum, illa qui plurima nocte luserat, insignis facie, multoque iacebat membra deo victus: felix, si protinus illum
338aequasset nocti ludum in lucemque tulisset. Impastus ceu plena leo per ovilia turbans (suadet enim vesana fames) manditque trahitque molle pecus mutumque metu, fremit ore cruento: nec minor Euryali caedes; incensus et ipse
343perfurit ac multam in medio sine nomine plebem, Fadumque Herbesumque subit Rhoetumque Abarimque, ignaros, Rhoetum vigilantem et cuncta videntem, sed magnum metuens se post cratera tegebat; pectore in adverso totum cui comminus ensem
348condidit adsurgenti et multa morte recepit. Purpuream vomit ille animam et cum sanguine mixta vina refert moriens; hic furto fervidus instat. Iamque ad Messapi socios tendebat; ibi ignem deficere extremum et religatos rite videbat
353carpere gramen equos: breviter cum talia Nisus. sensit enim nimia caede atque cupidine ferri: Absistamus, ait, nam lux inimica propinquat. Poenarum exhaustum satis est, via facta per hostis. Multa virum solido argento perfecta relinquunt
358armaque craterasque simul pulchrosque tapetas. Euryalus phaleras Rhamnetis et aurea bullis cingula, Tiburti Remulo ditissimus olim quae mittit dona hospitio cum iungeret absens Caedicus, ille suo moriens dat habere nepoti,
364haec rapit atque umeris nequiquam fortibus aptat. Tum galeam Messapi habilem cristisque decoram induit. Excedunt castris et tuta capessunt. Interea praemissi equites ex urbe Latina, cetera dum legio campis instructa moratur,
369ibant et Turno regi responsa ferebant, tercentum, scutati omnes, Volcente magistro. Iamque propinquabant castris murosque subibant, cum procul hos laevo flectentis limite cernunt et galea Euryalum sublustri noctis in umbra
374prodidit immemorem radiisque adversa refulsit. Haud temere est visum. Conclamat ab agmine Volcens State, viri. Quae causa viae? Quive estis in armis? Quove tenetis iter? Nihil illi tendere contra, sed celerare fugam in silvas et fidere nocti.
379Obiciunt equites sese ad divortia nota hinc atque hinc omnemque abitum custode coronant. Silva fuit late dumis atque ilice nigra horrida, quam densi complerant undique sentes; rara per occultos lucebat semita calles.
384Euryalum tenebrae ramorum onerosaque praeda impediunt fallitque timor regione viarum; Nisus abit, iamque imprudens evaserat hostis atque locos, qui post Albae de nomine dicti Albani, tum rex stabula alta Latinus habebat,
389ut stetit et frustra absentem respexit amicum. Euryale infelix, qua te regione reliqui? Quave sequar, rursus perplexum iter omne revolvens fallacis silvae? Simul et vestigia retro observata legit dumisque silentibus errat.
394Audit equos, audit strepitus et signa sequentum. Nec longum in medio tempus, cum clamor ad auris pervenit ac videt Euryalum, quem iam manus omnis fraude loci et noctis, subito turbante tumultu, oppressum rapit et conantem plurima frustra.
399Quid faciat? Qua vi iuvenem, quibus audeat armis eripere? An sese medios moriturus in enses inferat et pulchram properet per volnera mortem? Ocius adducto torquens hastile lacerto, suspiciens altam Lunam sic voce precatur:
404Tu, dea, tu praesens nostro succurre labori, astrorum decus et nemorum Latonia custos. Siqua tuis umquam pro me pater Hyrtacus aris dona tulit, siqua ipse meis venatibus auxi suspendive tholo aut sacra ad fastigia fixi:
409hunc sine me turbare globum et rege tela per auras. Dixerat, et toto conixus corpore ferrum conicit: hasta volans noctis diverberat umbras et venit aversi in tergum Sulmonis ibique frangitur ac fisso transit praecordia ligno.
414Volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen frigidus et longis singultibus ilia pulsat. Diversi circumspiciunt. Hoc acrior idem ecce aliud summa telum librabat ab aure. Dum trepidant, it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque
419stridens traiectoque haesit tepefacta cerebro. Saevit atrox Volcens nec teli conspicit usquam auctorem nec quo se ardens inmittere possit. Tu tamen interea calido mihi sanguine poenas persolves amborum, inquit; simul ense recluso
424ibat in Euryalum. Tum vero exterritus, amens conclamat Nisus, nec se celare tenebris amplius aut tantum potuit perferre dolorem. Me me, adsum qui feci, in me convertite ferrum, O Rutuli, mea fraus omnis; nihil iste nec ausus
429nec potuit, caelum hoc et conscia sidera testor, tantum infelicem nimium dilexit amicum. Talia dicta dabat; sed viribus ensis adactus transabiit costas et candida pectora rumpit. Volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus
434it cruor, inque umeros cervix conlapsa recumbit: purpureus veluti cum flos succisus aratro languescit moriens lassove papavera collo demisere caput, pluvia cum forte gravantur. At Nisus ruit in medios solumque per omnis
439Volcentem petit in solo Volcente moratur. Quem circum glomerati hostes hinc comminus atque hinc proturbant. Instat non setius ac rotat ensem fulmineum, donec Rutuli clamantis in ore condidit adverso et moriens animam abstulit hosti.
444Tum super exanimum sese proiecit amicum confossus placidaque ibi demum morte quievit. Fortunati ambo! Siquid mea carmina possunt, nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo, dum domus Aeneae Capitoli immobile saxum
449accolet imperiumque pater Romanus habebit. Victores praeda Rutuli spoliisque potiti Volcentem exanimum flentes in castra ferebant. Nec minor in castris luctus Rhamnete reperto exsangui et primis una tot caede peremptis,
454Serranoque Numaque. Ingens concursus ad ipsa corpora seminecisque viros tepidaque recentem caede locum et plenos spumanti sanguine rivos. Agnoscunt spolia inter se galeamque nitentem Messapi et multo phaleras sudore receptas.
459Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile: iam sole infuso, iam rebus luce retectis Turnus in arma viros, armis circumdatus ipse, suscitat, aeratasque acies in proelia cogit
464quisque suas variisque acuunt rumoribus iras. Quin ipsa arrectis (visu miserabile) in hastis praefigunt capita et multo clamore sequuntur Euryali et Nisi. Aeneadae duri murorum in parte sinistra
469opposuere aciem, nam dextera cingitur amni, ingentisque tenent fossas et turribus altis stant maesti; simul ora virum praefixa movebant, nota nimis miseris atroque fluentia tabo. Interea pavidam volitans pennata per urbem
474nuntia Fama ruit matrisque adlabitur auris Euryali. At subitus miserae calor ossa reliquit, excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa. Evolat infelix et femineo ululatu, scissa comam, muros amens atque agmina cursu
479prima petit, non illa virum, non illa pericli telorumque memor; caelum dehinc questibus implet: Hunc ego te, Euryale, aspicio? Tune illa senectae sera meae requies, potuisti linquere solam, crudelis? Nec te, sub tanta pericula missum,
484adfari extremum miserae data copia matri? Heu, terra ignota canibus data praeda Latinis alitibusque iaces, nec te, tua funera mater produxi pressive oculos aut volnera lavi, veste tegens, tibi quam noctes festina diesque
489urgebam et tela curas solabar anilis. Quo sequar, aut quae nunc artus avolsaque membra et funus lacerum tellus habet? Hoc mihi de te, nate, refers? Hoc sum terraque marique secuta? Figite me, siqua est pietas, in me omnia tela
494conicite, o Rutuli, me primam absumite ferro: aut tu, magne pater divom, miserere tuoque invisum hoc detrude caput sub Tartara telo, quando aliter nequeo crudelem abrumpere vitam. Hoc fletu concussi animi, maestusque per omnis
499it gemitus: torpent infractae ad proelia vires. Illam incendentem luctus Idaeus et Actor Illionei monitu et multum lacrimantis Iuli corripiunt interque manus sub tecta reponunt. At tuba terribilem sonitum procul aere canoro
504increpuit; sequitur clamor caelumque remugit. Adcelerant acta pariter testudine Volsci et fossas implere parant ac vellere vallum. Quaerunt pars aditum et scalis ascendere muros, qua rara est acies interlucetque corona
509non tam spissa viris. Telorum effundere contra omne genus Teucri ac duris detrudere contis, adsueti longo muros defendere bello. Saxa quoque infesto volvebant pondere, siqua possent tectam aciem perrumpere: cum tamen omnis
514ferre iuvat subter densa testudine casus; nec iam sufficiunt. Nam qua globus imminet ingens, immanem Teucri molem volvuntque ruuntque, quae stravit Rutulos late armorumque resolvit tegmina. Nec curant caeco contendere Marte
519amplius audaces Rutuli, sed pellere vallo missilibus certant. Parte alia horrendus visu quassabat Etruscam pinum et fumiferos infert Mezentius ignis; at Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles,
524rescindit vallum et scalas in moenia poscit. Vos, o Calliope, precor, adspirate canenti, quas ibi tum ferro strages, quae funera Turnus ediderit, quem quisque virum demiserit Orco; et mecum ingentis oras evolvite belli,
530Turris erat vasto suspectu et pontibus altis, opportuna loco, summis quam viribus omnes expugnare Itali summaque evertere opum vi certabant, Troes contra defendere saxis perque cavas densi tela intorquere fenestras.
535Princeps ardentem coniecit lampada Turnus et flammam adfixit lateri, quae plurima vento corripuit tabulas et postibus haesit adesis. Turbati trepidare intus frustraque malorum velle fugam. Dum se glomerant retroque residunt
540in partem, quae peste caret, tum pondere turris procubuit subito et caelum tonat omne fragore. Semineces ad terram, immani mole secuta, confixique suis telis et pectora duro transfossi ligno veniunt. Vix unus Helenor
545et Lycus elapsi. Quorum primaevus Helenor, Maeonio regi quem serva Licymnia furtim sustulerat vetitisque ad Troiam miserat armis, ense levis nudo parmaque inglorius alba; isque ubi se Turni media inter milia vidit,
550hinc acies atque hinc acies adstare Latinas: ut fera, quae densa venantum saepta corona contra tela furit seseque haud nescia morti inicit et saltu supra venabula fertur, haud aliter iuvenis medios moriturus in hostis
555inruit et, qua tela videt densissima, tendit. At pedibus longe melior Lycus inter et hostis inter et arma fuga muros tenet altaque certat prendere tecta manu sociumque attingere dextras. Quem Turnus, pariter cursu teloque secutus,
560increpat his victor: Nostrasne evadere, demens, sperasti te posse manus? Simul adripit ipsum pendentem et magna muri cum parte revellit. Qualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpore cycnum sustulit alta petens pedibus Iovis armiger uncis
565quaesitum aut matri multis balatibus agnum Martius a stabulis rapuit lupus. Undique clamor tollitur: invadunt et fossas agere complent; ardentis taedas alii ad fastigia iactant. Ilioneus saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis
570Lucetium portae subeuntem ignisque ferentem, Emathiona Liger, Corynaeum sternit Asilas, hic iaculo bonus, hic longe fallente sagitta, Ortygium Caeneus, victorem Caenea Turnus, Turnus Ityn Cloniumque, Dioxippum Promolumque
575et Sagarim et summis stantem pro turribus Idan, Privernum Capys. Hunc primo levis hasta Themillae strinxerat: ille manum proiecto tegmine demens ad volnus tulit; ergo alis adlapsa sagitta et laevo infixa est lateri manus abditaque intus
580spiramenta animae letali volnere rupit. Stabat in egregiis Arcentis filius armis, pictus acu chlamydem et ferrugine clarus Hibera, insignis facie, genitor quem miserat Arcens, eductum Matris luco Symaethia circum
585flumina, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Palici: stridentem fundam positis Mezentius hastis ipse ter adducta circum caput egit habena et media adversi liquefacto tempora plumbo diffidit ac multa porrectum extendit harena.
590Tum primum bello celerem intendisse sagittam dicitur ante feras solitus terrere fugaces Ascanius fortemque manu fudisse Numanum, cui Remulo cognomen erat, Turnique minorem germanam nuper thalamo sociatus habebat.
595Is primam ante aciem digna atque indigna relatu vociferans tumidusque novo praecordia regno ibat et ingentem sese clamore ferebat: Non pudet obsidione iterum valloque teneri, bis capti Phryges, et morti praetendere muros?
600En qui nostra sibi bello conubia poscunt! Quis deus Italiam, quae vos dementia adegit Non hic Atridae nec fandi fictor Ulixes: durum a stirpe genus natos ad flumina primum deferimus saevoque gelu duramus et undis,
605venatu invigilant pueri silvasque fatigant, flectere ludus equos et spicula tendere cornu. At patiens operum parvoque adsueta iuventus aut rastris terram domat aut quatit oppida bello. Omne aevum ferro teritur, versaque iuvencum
610terga fatigamus hasta; nec tarda senectus debilitat vires animi mutatque vigorem: canitiem galea premimus, semperque recentis comportare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto. Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis,
615desidiae cordi, iuvat indulgere choreis, et tunicae manicas et habent redimicula mitrae. O vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges, ite per alta Dindyma ubi adsuetis biforem dat tibia cantum! Tympana vos buxusque vocat Berecyntia Matris
620Idaeae sinite arma viris et cedite ferro. Talia iactantem dictis ac dira canentem non tulit Ascanius nervoque obversus equino contendit telum diversaque bracchia ducens constitit, ante Iovem supplex per vota precatus:
625Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus adnue coeptis. Ipse tibi ad tua templa feram sollemnia dona et statuam ante aras aurata fronte iuvencum candentem pariterque caput cum matre ferentem, iam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat harenam.
630Audiit et caeli Genitor de parte serena intonuit laevum, sonat una fatifer arcus: effugit horrendum stridens adducta sagitta perque caput Remuli venit et cava tempora ferro traicit. I, verbis virtutem inlude superbis!
635His capti Phryges haec Rutulis responsa remittunt. Hoc tantum Ascanius. Teucri clamore sequuntur laetitiaque fremunt animosque ad sidera tollunt. Aetheria tum forte plaga crinitus Apollo desuper Ausonias acies urbemque videbat,
640nube sedens, atque his victorem adfatur Iulum: Macte nova virtute, puer: sic itur ad astra, dis genite et geniture deos. Iure omnia bella gente sub Assaraci fato ventura resident, nec te Troia capit. Simul haec effatus ab alto
645aethere se misit, spirantis dimovet auras Ascaniumque petit. Forma tum vertitur oris antiquum in Buten; hic Dardanio Anchisae armiger ante fuit fidusque ad limina custos, tum comitem Ascanio pater addidit. Ibat Apollo
650omnia longaevo similis, vocemque coloremque et crinis albos et saeva sonoribus arma, atque his ardentem dictis adfatur Iulum: Sit satis, Aenide, telis impune Numanum oppetiisse tuis; primam hanc tibi magnus, Apollo
655concedit laudem et paribus non invidet armis: cetera parce, puer, bello. Sic orsus Apollo mortalis medio aspectus sermone reliquit et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram. Agnovere deum proceres divinaque tela
660Dardanidae pharetramque fuga sensere sonantem. Ergo avidum pugnae dictis ac numine Phoebi Ascanium prohibent, ipsi in certamina rursus succedunt animasque in aperta pericula mittunt. It clamor totis per propugnacula muris,
665intendunt acris arcus amentaque torquent. Sternitur omne solum telis, tum scuta cavaeque dant sonitum flictu galeae, pugna aspera surgit: quantus ab occasu veniens pluvialibus Haedis verberat imber humum, quam multa grandine nimbi
670in vada praecipitant, cum Iuppiter horridus austris torquet aquosam hiemem et caelo cava nubila rumpit. Pandarus et Bitias, Idaeo Alcanore creti, quos Iovis eduxit luco silvestris Iaera abietibus iuvenes patriis et montibus aequos,
675portam, quae ducis imperio commissa, recludunt, freti animis, ultroque invitant moenibus hostem. Ipsi intus dextra ac laeva pro turribus adstant, armati ferro et cristis capita alta corusci: quales aëriae liquentia flumina circum,
680sive Padi ripis Athesim seu propter amoenum, consurgunt geminae quercus intonsaque caelo attollunt capita et sublimi vertice nutant. inrumpunt aditus Rutuli ut videre patentis continuo Quercens et pulcher Aquiculus armis
685et praeceps animi Tmarus et Mavortius Haemon agminibus totis: at versi terga dedere aut ipso portae posuere in limine vitam. Tum magis increscunt animis discordibus irae; et iam collecti Troes glomerantur eodem
690et conferre manum et procurrere longius audent. Ductori Turno diversa in parte furenti turbantique viros perfertur nuntius, hostem fervere caede nova et portas praebere patentis. Deserit inceptum atque immani concitus ira
695Dardaniam ruit ad portam fratresque superbos. Et primum Antiphaten, is enim se primus agebat, Thebana de matre nothum Sarpedonis alti, coniecto sternit iaculo; volat Itala cornus aëra per tenerum stomachoque infixa sub altum
700pectus abit: reddit specus atri volneris undam spumantem, et fixo ferrum in pulmone tepescit. Tum Meropem atque Erymanta manu, tum sternit Aphidnum, tum Bitian ardentem oculis animisque frementem non iaculo, neque enim iaculo vitam ille dedisset,
705sed magnum stridens contorta phalarica venit, fulminis acta modo, quam nec duo taurea terga nec duplici squama lorica fidelis et auro sustinuit: conlapsa ruunt immania membra. Dat tellus gemitum, et clipeum super intonat ingens.
710Talis in Euboico Baiarum litore quondam saxea pila cadit, magnis quam molibus ante constructam ponto iaciunt; sic illa ruinam prona trahit penitusque vadis inlisa recumbit: miscent se maria, et nigrae attolluntur harenae;
715tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit durumque cubile Inarime Iovis imperiis imposta Typhoeo. Hic Mars armipotens animum viresque Latinis addidit et stimulos acris sub pectore vertit immisitque Fugam Teucris atrumque Timorem.
720Undique conveniunt, quoniam data copia pugnae bellatorque animo deus incidit. Pandarus ut fuso germanum corpore cernit et quo sit fortuna loco, qui casus agat res, portam vi magna converso cardine torquet,
725obnixus latis umeris, multosque suorum moenibus exclusos duro in certamine linquit; ast alios secum includit recipitque ruentis, demens, qui Rutulum in medio non agmine regem viderit inrumpentem ultroque incluserit urbi,
730immanem veluti pecora inter inertia tigrim. Continuo nova lux oculis effulsit, et arma horrendum sonuere; tremunt in vertice cristae sanguineae, clipeoque micantia fulmina mittit: agnoscunt faciem invisam atque immania membra
735turbati subito Aeneadae. Tum Pandarus ingens emicat et mortis fraternae fervidus ira effatur: Non haec dotalis regia Amatae, nec muris cohibet patriis media Ardea Turnum. Castra inimica vides; nulla hinc exire potestas.
740Olli subridens sedato pectore Turnus: Incipe, siqua animo virtus, et consere dextram: hic etiam inventum Priamo narrabis Achillem. Dixerat. Ille rudem nodis et cortice crudo intorquet summis adnixus viribus hastam:
745excepere aurae volnus; Saturnia Iuno detorsit veniens, portaeque infigitur hasta. At non hoc telum, mea quod vi dextera versat, effugies; neque enim is teli nec volneris auctor. Sic ait et sublatum alte consurgit in ensem
750et mediam ferro gemina inter tempora frontem dividit inpubesque immani volnere malas. Fit sonus, ingenti concussa est pondere tellus: conlapsos artus atque arma cruenta cerebro sternit humi moriens, atque illi partibus aequis
755huc caput atque illuc umero ex utroque pependit. Diffugiunt versi trepida formidine Troes: et si continuo victorem ea cura subisset, rumpere claustra manu sociosque immittere portis, ultimus ille dies bello gentique fuisset;
760sed furor ardentem caedisque insana cupido egit in adversos. Principio Phalerim et succiso poplite Gygen excipit; hinc raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas in tergum, Iuno vires animumque ministrat;
765addit Halym comitem et confixa Phegea parma, ignaros deinde in muris Martemque cientis Alcandrumque Haliumque Noemonaque Prytanimque. Lyncea tendentem contra sociosque vocantem vibranti gladio conixus ab aggere dexter
770occupat; huic uno desectum comminus ictu cum galea longe iacuit caput. Inde ferarum vastatorem Amycum, quo non felicior alter ungere tela manu ferrumque armare veneno, et Clytium Aeoliden et amicum Crethea Musis,
775Crethea Musarum comitem, cui carmina semper et citharae cordi numerosque intendere nervis. Tandem ductores audita caede suorum conveniunt Teucri, Mnestheus acerque Serestus, palantisque vident socios hostemque receptum.
781Et Mnestheus: Quo deinde fugam, quo tenditis? inquit. Quos alios muros, quae iam ultra moenia habetis? Unus homo et vestris, o cives, undique saeptus aggeribus tantas strages inpune per urbem ediderit, iuvenum primos tot miserit Orco?
786Non infelicis patriae veterumque deorum et magni Aeneae, segnes, miseretque pudetque? Talibus accensi firmantur et agmine denso consistunt. Turnus paulatim excedere pugna et fluvium petere ac partem, quae cingitur unda;
791acrius hoc Teucri clamore incumbere magno et glomerare manum. Ceu saevum turba leonem cum telis premit infensis, at territus ille, asper, acerba tuens, retro redit, et neque terga ira dare aut virtus patitur, nec tendere contra
796ille quidem hoc cupiens potis est per tela virosque: haud aliter retro dubius vestigia Turnus improperata refert, et mens exaestuat ira. Quin etiam bis tum medios invaserat hostis, bis confusa fuga per muros agmina vertit;
801sed manus e castris propere coit omnis in unum, nec contra vires audet Saturnia Iuno sufficere, aëriam caelo nam Iuppiter Irim demisit germanae haud mollia iussa ferentem, ni Turnus cedat Teucrorum moenibus altis.
806Ergo nec clipeo iuvenis subsistere tantum nec dextra valet: iniectis sic undique telis obruitur. Strepit adsiduo cava tempora circum tinnitu galea, et saxis solida aera fatiscunt, discussaeque iubae capiti, nec sufficit umbo
811ictibus: ingeminant hastis et Troes et ipse fulmineus Mnestheus. Tum toto corpore sudor liquitur et piceum, nec respirare potestas, flumen agit; fessos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. Tum demum praeceps saltu sese omnibus armis
816in fluvium dedit: ille suo cum gurgite flavo accepit venientem ac mollibus extulit undis et laetum sociis abluta caede remisit.
Book 9
1While thus in distant region moves the war, down to bold Turnus Saturn's daughter sends celestial Iris. In a sacred vale, the seat of worship at his grandsire's tomb, Pilumnus, Faunus' son, the hero mused.
6And thus the wonder-child of Thaumas called with lips of rose: “O Turnus, what no god dared give for reward of thy fondest vow, has come unbidden on its destined day. Behold, Aeneas, who has left behind
11the city with his fleet and followers, is gone to kingly Palatine, the home of good Evander. Yea, his march invades the far Etrurian towns, where now he arms the Lydian rustics. Wilt thou longer muse?
16Call for thy chariot and steeds! Away! Take yonder tents by terror and surprise!” She spoke; and heavenward on poising wings soared, cleaving as she fled from cloud to cloud a vast, resplendent bow. The warrior saw,
21and, lifting both his hands, pursued with prayer the fading glory: “Beauteous Iris, hail! Proud ornament of heaven! who sent thee here across yon cloud to earth, and unto me? Whence may this sudden brightness fall? I see
26the middle welkin lift, and many a star, far-wandering in the sky. Such solemn sign I shall obey, and thee, O god unknown!” So saying, he turned him to a sacred stream, took water from its brim, and offered Heaven
31much prayer, with many an importuning vow. Soon o'er the spreading fields in proud array the gathered legions poured; no lack was there of steeds all fire, and broidered pomp and gold. Messapus led the van; in rearguard rode
36the sons of Tyrrheus; kingly Turnus towered from the mid-column eminent: the host moved as great Ganges lifting silently his seven peaceful streams, or when the flood of fructifying Nile from many a field
41back to his channel flows. A swift-blown cloud of black, uprolling dust the Teucrians see o'ershadowing the plain; Calcus calls from lofty outpost: “O my countrymen, I see a huge, black ball of rolling smoke.
46Your swords and lances! Man the walls! To arms! The foe is here! What ho!” With clamors loud the Teucrians through the city-gates retire, and muster on the walls. For, wise in war, Aeneas, ere he went, had left command
51they should not range in battle-line, nor dare, whate'er might hap, to risk in open plain the bold sortie, but keep them safe entrenched in mounded walls. So now, though rage and shame prick to a close fight, they defensive bar
56each portal strong, and, patient of control, from hollow towers expect th' encircling foe. Turnus, at full speed, had outridden far his laggard host, and, leading in his train a score of chosen knights, dashed into view
61hard by the walls. A barb of Thracian breed dappled with white he rode; a crimson plume flamed over his golden helmet. “Who,” he cries, “Is foremost at the foe? Who follows me? Behold!” And, with the word, he hurled in air
66a javelin, provoking instant war: and, towering from his horse, charged o'er the field. With answering shout his men-at-arms pursue, and war-cries terrible. They laugh to scorn “the craven hearts of Troy, that cannot give
71fair, equal vantage, matching man to man, but cuddle into camp.” This way and that Turnus careers, and stormily surveys the frowning rampart, and where way is none some entering breach would find: so prowls a wolf
76nigh the full sheepfold, and through wind and rain stands howling at the postern all night long; beneath the ewes their bleating lambs lie safe; but he, with undesisting fury, more rages from far, made frantic for his prey
81by hunger of long hours, his foaming jaws athirst for blood: not less the envy burned of the Rutulian, as he scanned in vain the stronghold of his foe. Indignant scorn thrilled all his iron frame. But how contrive
86to storm the fortress or by force expel the Trojans from the rampart, and disperse along the plain? Straightway he spied the ships, in hiding near the camp, defended well by mounded river-bank and fleeting wave.
91On these he fell; while his exultant crew brought firebrands, and he with heart aflame grasped with a vengeful hand the blazing pine. To the wild work his followers sped; for who could prove him craven under Turnus' eye?
96The whole troop for the weapon of their rage seized smoking coals, of many a hearth the spoil; red glare of fuming torches burned abroad, and Vulcan starward flung a sparkling cloud. What god, O Muses, saved the Trojans then
101from wrathful flame? Who shielded then the fleet, I pray you tell, from bursting storm of fire? From hoary eld the tale, but its renown sings on forever. When Aeneas first on Phrygian Ida hewed the sacred wood
106for rib and spar, and soon would put to sea, that mighty mother of the gods, they say, the Berecynthian goddess, thus to Jove addressed her plea: “Grant, O my son, a boon, which thy dear mother asks, who aided thee
111to quell Olympian war. A grove I have of sacred pine, long-loved from year to year. On lofty hill it grew, and thither came my worshippers with gifts, in secret gloom of pine-trees dark and shadowing maple-boughs.;
116these on the Dardan warrior at his need I, not unwilling, for his fleet bestowed. But I have fears. O, Iet a parent's prayer in this prevail, and bid my care begone! Let not rude voyages nor the shock of storm
121my ships subdue, but let their sacred birth on my charmed hills their strength and safety be!” Then spake her son, who guides the wheeling spheres: “Wouldst thou, my mother, strive to oversway the course of Fate? What means this prayer of thine?
126Can it be granted ships of mortal mould to wear immortal being? Wouldst thou see Aeneas pass undoubting and secure through doubtful strait and peril? On what god was e'er such power bestowed? Yet will I grant
131a different boon. Whatever ships shall find a safe Ausonian haven, and convey safe through the seas to yon Laurentian plain the Dardan King, from such I will remove their perishable shapes, and bid them be
136sea-nymphs divine, like Nereus' daughters fair, Doto and Galatea, whose white breasts divide the foaming wave.” He said, and swore by his Tartarean brother's mournful stream, the pitch-black floods and dark engulfing shore
141of Styx; then great Jove bowed his head, and all Olympus quaked at his consenting brow. Now was the promised day at hand (for Fate had woven the web so far) when Turnus' rage stirred the divine progenitress to save
146her sacred ships from fire. Then sudden shone a strange effulgence in the eastern air; and in a storm-cloud wafted o'er the sky were Corybantic choirs, whose dreadful song smote both on Teucrian and Rutulian ear:
151“O Teucrians, fear not for the sure defence of all the ships, nor arm your mortal hands. Yon impious Turnus shall burn up the seas before my pine-trees blest. Arise! Be free, ye goddesses of ocean, and obey
156your mother's mighty word.” Then instant broke the hawsers of the sterns; the beaked prows went plunging like great dolphins from the shore down to the deeps, and, wonderful to tell, the forms of virgin goddesses uprose,
161one for each ship, and seaward sped away. The hearts of the Rutulian host stood still in panic, and Messapus terrified his trembling horses reined; the sacred stream of Father Tiber, harshly murmuring,
166held back his flood and checked his seaward way. But Turnus' courage failed not; he alone his followers roused, and with reproachful words alone spoke forth: “These signs and prodigies threaten the Trojan only. Jove himself
171has stripped them of their wonted strength: no more can they abide our deadly sword and fire. The Trojan path to sea is shut. What hope of flight is left them now? The half their cause is fallen. The possession of this land
176is ours already; thousands of sharp swords Italia's nations bring. Small fear have I of Phrygia's boasted omens. What to me their oracles from heaven? The will of Fate and Venus have achieved their uttermost
181in casting on Ausonia's fruitful shore yon sons of Troy. I too have destinies: and mine, good match for theirs, with this true blade will spill the blood of all the baneful brood, in vengeance for my stolen wife. Such wrongs
186move not on Atreus' sons alone, nor rouse only Mycenae to a righteous war. Say you, ‘Troy falls but once?’ One crime, say I, should have contented them; and now their souls should little less than loathe all womankind.
191These are the sort of soldiers that be brave behind entrenchment, where the moated walls may stem the foe and make a little room betwixt themselves and death. Did they not see how Troy's vast bulwark built by Neptune's hand
196crumbled in flame? Forward, my chosen brave! Who follows me to cleave his deadly way through yonder battlement, and leap like storm upon its craven guard? I have no need of arms from Vulcan's smithy; nor of ships
201a thousand strong against our Teucrian foes, though all Etruria's league enlarge their power. Let them not fear dark nights, nor coward theft of Pallas' shrine, nor murdered sentinels on their acropolis. We shall not hide
206in blinding belly of a horse. But I in public eye and open day intend to compass their weak wall with siege and fire. I'll prove them we be no Pelasgic band, no Danaan warriors, such as Hector's arm
211ten years withstood. But look! this day hath spent its better part. In what remains, rejoice in noble deeds well done; let weary flesh have rest and food. My warriors, husband well your strength against to-morrow's hopeful war.”
216Meanwhile to block their gates with wakeful guard is made Messapus' work, and to gird round their camp with watchfires. Then a chosen band, twice seven Rutulian chieftains, man the walls with soldiery; each leads a hundred men
221crested with crimson, armed with glittering gold. Some post to separate sentries, and prepare alternate vigil; others, couched on grass, laugh round the wine and lift the brazen bowls. The camp-fires cheerly burn; the jovial guard
226spend the long, sleepless night in sport and game. The Trojans peering from the lofty walls survey the foe, and arm for sure defence of every point exposed. They prove the gates with fearful care, bind bridge with tower, and bring
231good store of javelins. Serestus bold and Mnestheus to their labors promptly fly, whom Sire Aeneas bade in time of stress to have authority and free command over his warriars. Along the walls
236the legions, by the cast of lots, divide the pain and peril, giving each his due of alternating vigil and repose. Nisus kept sentry at the gate: a youth of eager heart for noble deeds, the son
241of Hyrtacus, whom in Aeneas' train Ida the huntress sent; swift could he speed the spear or light-winged arrow to its aim. Beside him was Euryalus, his friend: of all th' Aeneadae no youth more fair
246wore Trojan arms; upon his cheek unshorn the tender bloom of boyhood lingered still. Their loving hearts were one, and oft in war they battled side by side, as in that hour a common sentry at the gate they shared.
251Said Nisus: “Is it gods above that breathe this fever in my soul, Euryalus? or is the tyrant passion of each breast the god it serves? Me now my urgent mind to battles or some mighty deed impels,
256and will not give me rest. Look yonder, where the Rutuli in dull security the siege maintain. Yet are their lights but few. They are asleep or drunk, and in their line is many a silent space. O, hear my thought,
261and what my heart is pondering. To recall Aeneas is the dearest wish to-night of all, both high and low. They need true men to find him and bring tidings. If our chiefs but grant me leave to do the thing I ask
266(Claiming no reward save what honor gives), methinks I could search out by yonder hill a path to Pallanteum.” The amazed Euryalus, flushed warm with eager love for deeds of glory, instantly replied
271to his high-hearted friend: “Dost thou refuse, my Nisus, to go with me hand in hand when mighty deeds are done? Could I behold thee venturing alone on danger? Nay! Not thus my sire Opheltes, schooled in war,
276taught me his true child, 'mid the woes of Troy and Argive terrors reared; not thus with thee have I proved craven, since we twain were leal to great Aeneas, sharing all his doom. In this breast also is a heart which knows
281contempt of life, and deems such deeds, such praise, well worth a glorious death.” Nisus to him: “I have not doubted thee, nor e'er could have one thought disloyal. May almighty Jove, or whatsoe'er good power my purpose sees,
286bring me triumphant to thy arms once more! But if, as oft in doubtful deeds befalls, some stroke of chance, or will divine, should turn to adverse, 't is my fondest prayer that thou shouldst live the longer of us twain. Thy years
291suit better with more life. Oh! let there be one mourner true to carry to its grave my corpse, recaptured in the desperate fray, or ransomed for a price. Or if this boon should be—'t is Fortune's common way—refused,
296then pay the debt of grief and loyal woe unto my far-off dust, and garlands leave upon an empty tomb. No grief I give to any sorrowing mother; one alone, of many Trojan mothers, had the heart
301to follow thee, her child, and would not stay in great Acestes' land.” His friend replied: “Thou weavest but a web of empty words and reasons vain, nor dost thou shake at all my heart's resolve. Come, let us haste away!”
306He answered so, and summoned to the gate a neighboring watch, who, bringing prompt relief, the sentry-station took; then quitted he his post assigned; at Nisus' side he strode, and both impatient sped them to the King.
311Now in all lands all creatures that have breath lulled care in slumber, and each heart forgot its load of toil and pain. But they who led the Teucrian cause, with all their chosen brave, took counsel in the kingdom's hour of need
316what action to command or whom dispatch with tidings to Aeneas. In mid-camp on long spears leaning and with ready shield to leftward slung, th' assembled warriors stood. Thither in haste arrived the noble pair,
321brave Nisus with Euryalus his friend, and craved a hearing, for their suit, they said, was urgent and well-worth a patient ear. Iulus to the anxious striplings gave a friendly welcome, bidding Nisus speak.
326The son of Hyrtacus obeyed: “O, hear, Princes of Teucria, with impartial mind, nor judge by our unseasoned youth the worth of what we bring. Yon Rutule watch is now in drunken sleep, and all is silent there.
331With our own eyes we picked out a good place to steal a march, that cross-road by the gate close-fronting on the bridge. Their lines of fire are broken, and a murky, rolling smoke fills all the region. If ye grant us leave
336by this good luck to profit, we will find Aeneas and the walls of Palatine, and after mighty slaughter and huge spoil ye soon shall see us back. Nor need ye fear we wander from the way. Oft have we seen
341that city's crest loom o'er the shadowy vales, where we have hunted all day long and know each winding of yon river.” Then uprose aged Aletes, crowned with wisdom's years: “Gods of our fathers, who forevermore
346watch over Troy, ye surely had no mind to blot out Teucria's name, when ye bestowed such courage on young hearts, and bade them be so steadfast and so leal.” Joyful he clasped their hands in his, and on their shoulders leaned,
351his aged cheek and visage wet with tears. “What reward worthy of such actions fair, dear heroes, could be given? Your brightest prize will come from Heaven and your own hearts. The rest Aeneas will right soon bestow; nor will
356Ascanius, now in youth's unblemished prime, ever forget your praise.” Forthwith replied Aeneas' son, “By all our household gods, by great Assaracus, and every shrine of venerable Vesta, I confide
361my hopes, my fortunes, and all future weal to your heroic hearts. O, bring me back my father! Set him in these eyes once more! That day will tears be dry; and I will give two silver wine-cups graven and o'erlaid
366with clear-cut figures, which my father chose out of despoiled Arisbe; also two full talents of pure gold, and tripods twain, and ancient wine-bowl, Tyrian Dido's token. But if indeed our destiny shall be
371to vanquish Italy in prosperous war, to seize the sceptre and divide the spoil, — saw you that steed of Turnus and the arms in which he rode, all golden? That same steed, that glittering shield and haughty crimson crest
376I will reserve thee, e'er the lots are cast, and, Nisus, they are thine. Hereto my sire will add twelve captive maids of beauty rare, and slaves in armor; last, thou hast the fields which now Latinus holds. But as for thee,
381to whom my youth but binds me closer still, thee, kingly boy, my whole heart makes my own, and through all changeful fortune we shall be inseparable peers: nor will I seek renown and glory, or in peace or war,
386forgetting thee: but trust thee from this day in deed and word.” To him in answer spoke euryalus, “O, may no future show this heart unworthy thy heroic call! And may our fortune ever prosperous prove,
391not adverse. But I now implore of thee a single boon worth all beside. I have a mother, from the venerated line of Priam sprung, whom not the Trojan shore nor King Acestes' city could detain,
396alas! from following me. I leave her now without farewell; nor is her love aware of my supposed peril. For I swear by darkness of this night and thy right hand, that all my courage fails me if I see
401a mother's tears. O, therefore, I implore, be thou her sorrow's comfort and sustain her solitary day. Such grace from thee equip me for my war, and I shall face with braver heart whatever fortune brings.”
406With sudden sorrow thrilled, the veteran lords of Teucria showed their tears. But most of all such likeness of his own heart's filial love on fair Iulus moved, and thus he spoke: “Promise thyself what fits thy generous deeds.
411Thy mother shall be mine, Creusa's name alone not hers; nor is the womb unblest that bore a child like thee. Whate'er success may follow, I make oath immutable by my own head, on which my father swore,
416that all I promise thee of gift or praise if home thou comest triumphing, shall be the glory of thy mother and thy kin.” Weeping he spoke, and from his shoulder drew the golden sword, well-wrought and wonderful,
421which once in Crete Lycaon's cunning made and sheathed in ivory. On Nisus then Mnestheus bestowed a shaggy mantle torn from a slain lion; good Aletes gave exchange of crested helms. In such array
426they hastened forth; and all the princely throng, young men and old, ran with them to the gates, praying all gods to bless. Iulus then, a fair youth, but of grave, heroic soul beyond his years, gave them in solemn charge
431full many a message for his sire, but these the hazard of wild winds soon scattered far, and flung them fruitless on the darkening storm. Forth through the moat they climb, and steal away through midnight shades, to where their foemen lie
436encamped in arms; of whom, before these fall, a host shall die. Along the turf were seen, laid low in heavy slumber and much wine, a prostrate troop; the horseless chariots stood tilted on the shore, 'twixt rein and wheel
441the drivers dozed, wine-cups and idle swords strewn round them without heed. The first to speak was Nisus. “Look, Euryalus,” he cried, “Now boldly strike. The hour to do the deed is here, the path this way. Keep wide-eyed watch
446that no man smite behind us. I myself will mow the mighty fieid, and lead thee on in a wide swath of slaughter.” With this word he shut his lips; and hurled him with his sword on haughty Rhamnes, who lay propped at ease
451on pillows huge, and from his heaving breast poured slumber loud: of royal stem was he and honored of King Turnus for his skill in augury; yet could no augur's charm that bloody stroke forefend. And Nisus slew
456three slaves near by, that lay in reckless sleep upon their spears; then him that bore the shield of Remus, then the driver of his car close to the horses caught; his sword cut through their prostrate necks; then their great master's head
461he lifted high, and left decapitate the huge corpse spilling forth its crimson gore o'er couch and ground. Like stroke on Lamus fell and Lamyrus, with young Serranus, who had gamed the midnight through and sleeping lay,
466his fair young body to the wine-god given; but happier now had that long-revelling night been merry till the dawn! Thus round full folds of sheep a famished lion fiercely prowls; mad hunger moves him; he devours and rends
471with bloody, roaring mouth, the feeble flock that trembles and is dumb. Nor was the sword of fair Euryalus less fatal found; but fiercely raging on his path of death, he pressed on through a base and nameless throng,
476Rhoetus, Herbesus, Fadus, Abaris; surprising all save Rhoetus, who awake saw every stroke, and crouched in craven fear behind a mighty wine-bowl; but not less clean through his bare breast as he started forth
481the youth thrust home his sword, then drew it back death-dripping, while the bursting purple stream of life outflowed, with mingling blood and wine. Then, flushed with stealthy slaughter, he crept near the followers of Messapus, where he saw
486their camp-fire dying down, and tethered steeds upon the meadow feeding. Nisus then knew the hot lust of slaughter had swept on too far, and cried, “Hold off! For, lo, the monitory dawn is nigh. Revenge
491has fed us to the full. We have achieved clean passage through the foe.” Full many a prize was left untaken: princely suits of mail enwrought with silver pure, huge drinking-bowls, and broideries fair. Yet grasped Euryalus
496the blazonry at Rhamnes' corselet hung, and belt adorned with gold: which were a gift to Remulus of Tibur from the store of opulent Caedicus, who sued from far to be a friend; and these in death he gave
501to his son's son, who slain in battle fell, and proud Rutulians seized them with the spoil. Euryalus about his shoulder strong this booty slung—unprofitable gain! — and fitted on a gorgeous, crested helm
506which once Messapus wore. So from the camp, escaping danger, the two champions ran. But horsemen from the Latin city sent to join the serried legions of the plain had come at Turnus' call, three hundred strong
511all bearing shields, and under the command of Volscens. Nigh the camp and walls they drew; and soon they spied upon the leftward path th' heroic pair, where in dim shades of night the helmet of Euryalus betrayed
516the heedless boy, and with a glancing beam flashed on the foe. Nor was it seen in vain. Loud from the line the voice of Volscens called: “Stand, gentlemen! What business brings you here? Whose your allegiance? Whither speed so fast?”
521No answer gave they save to fly in haste to cover of the forest and deep gloom of the defensive night. The horsemen then blocked every crossway known, and, scattering wide, kept sentry at the entrance. The great wood
526was all of tangled brush and blinding shade of flex-boughs. Impenetrable thorns had thickly overgrown, and seldom showed a pathway through the maze. Euryalus, by the black branches and his ponderous spoil
531impeded, groped along in fearful doubt, deceived and quite astray. Nisus his friend had quit him, and incautiously had forced a sally through the close-encircling foe, into that region which should after bear
536the name of Alba—a rude shelter then for King Latinus' herds. He stayed him there and looked, but vainly, for the comrade gone. “Euryalus, ill-fated boy!” he cried, “Where have I lost thee in the pathless wild?
541How find thee? How retrace the blinding maze of yonder treacherous wood?” Yet ere he said, on his own path he turns him back, and scans his own light footprints through the tangled thorn, so dark and still. But suddenly he hears
546the tread of horses, with confusing din and tumult of pursuit. Nor was it long he tarried ere upon his anguished ear smote a great cry: and, lo! Euryalus, trapped by the dark night, the deceptive ground,
551faced the whole onset, and fell back o'erwhelmed by a loud mob of foes, while his sole sword tried many a thrust in vain. O, what defence may Nisus bring? With what audacious arms his chosen comrade save? Shall he make bare
556his dying breast to all their swords, and run to honorable death that bloody way? he swung his spear with lifted arm, then looked to the still moon, in heaven, and thus implored: “O goddess, aid me in my evil case.
561O glory of the stars, Latona's child! O guardian of groves, if in my name my father Hyrtacus made offerings on burning altars, if my own right hand, successful in the chase, ere hung its gift
566beneath thy dome or on thy sacred wall, grant me yon troop to scatter. Guide my spear along its path in air.” He spoke, and hurled with all his gathered strength the shaft of steel. the swift spear clove the shades of night, and struck
571full in the back of Sulmo, where it split, but tore through to his very heart. The breast poured forth life's glowing stream, and he, o'erthrown lay cold in death, while his huge, heaving sides gave lingering throes. The men about him stared
576this way and that. But Nisus, fiercer still, poised level with his ear a second shaft, and, while the foeman paused, the whizzing spear straight through the brows of Tagus drove, and clung deep in the cloven brain. In frenzy rose
581Volscens, but nowhere could espy what hand the shaft had hurled, nor whither his wild rage could make reply. “But thou,” he cried, “shalt feed with thy hot blood my honor and revenge for both the slain.” Then with a sword unsheathed
586upon Euryalus he fell. Loud shrieked Nisus, of reason reft, who could not bear such horror, nor in sheltering gloom of night longer abide: “'T is I, 't is I!” he said. look on the man who slew them! Draw on me
591your swords, Rutulians! The whole stratagem was mine, mine only, and the lad ye slay dared not, and could not. O, by Heaven above and by the all-beholding stars I swear, he did but love his hapless friend too well.”
596But while he spoke, the furious-thrusting sword had pierced the tender body, and run through the bosom white as snow. Euryalus sank prone in death; upon his goodly limbs the life-blood ran unstopped, and low inclined
601the drooping head; as when some purpled flower, cut by the ploughshare, dies, or poppies proud with stem forlorn their ruined beauty bow before the pelting storm. Then Nisus flew straight at his foes; but in their throng would find
606Volscens alone, for none but Volscens stayed: they gathered thickly round and grappled him in shock of steel with steel. But on he plunged, swinging in ceaseless circles round his head his lightning-sword, and thrust it through the face
611of shrieking Volscens, with his own last breath striking his foeman down; then cast himself upon his fallen comrade's breast; and there, stabbed through, found tranquil death and sure repose. Heroic pair and blest! If aught I sing
616have lasting music, no remotest age shall blot your names from honor's storied scroll: not while the altars of Aeneas' line shall crown the Capitol's unshaken hill, nor while the Roman Father's hand sustains
621its empire o'er the world. The Rutules seized the spoils of victory, and slowly to their camp, with wail and cry, bore Volscens' corse; and in the eamp they made like wailing over Rhamnes lifeless found,
626o'er Numa and Serranus, and a throng of princes dead. The gazing people pressed around the slain, the dying, where the earth ran red with slaughter and full many a stream of trickling gore; nor did they fail to know
631Messapus' glittering helm, his baldric fair, recaptured now with lavish sweat and pain. Now, from Tithonus' saffron couch set free, Aurora over many a land outpoured the rising morn; the sun's advancing beam
636unveiled the world; and Turnus to his host gave signal to stand forth, while he arrayed himself in glorious arms. Then every chief awoke his mail-clad company, and stirred their slumbering wrath with tidings from the foe.
641Tumultuously shouting, they impaled on lifted spears—O pitiable sight! — the heads of Nisus and Euryalus. Th' undaunted Trojans stood in battle-line along the wall to leftward (for the right
646the river-front defended) keeping guard on the broad moat; upon the ramparts high sad-eyed they stood, and shuddered as they saw the hero-faces thrust aloft; too well their loyal grief the blood-stained features knew.
651On restless pinions to the trembling town had voiceful Rumor hied, and to the ears of that lone mother of Euryalus relentless flown. Through all her feeble frame the chilling sorrow sped. From both her hands
656dropped web and shuttle; she flew shrieking forth, ill-fated mother! and with tresses torn, to the wide ramparts and the battle-line ran frantic, heeding naught of men-at-arms, nor peril nor the rain of falling spears;
661and thus with loud and lamentable cry filled all the air: “Is it in yonder guise, Euryalus, thou comest? Art thou he, last comfort of my life? O cruel one! Couldst thou desert me? When they thrust thee forth
666to death and danger, did they dare refuse a wretched mother's last embrace? But now — O woe is me!—upon this alien shore thou liest for a feast to Latin dogs and carrion birds. Nor did thy mother lead
671the mourners to thy grave, nor shut those eyes, nor wash the dreadful wounds, nor cover thee with the fair shroud, which many a night and day I swiftly wove, and at my web and loom forgot my years and sorrows. Whither now
676to seek and follow thee? What spot of earth holds the torn body and the mangled limbs? Is all the gift thou bringest home, dear child, this? O, was this the prize for which I came o'er land and sea? O, stab me very deep,
681if ye have any pity; hurl on me your every spear, Rutulians; make of me your swords' first work. Or, Father of the gods! Show mercy, thou! and with thy lightning touch this head accurst, and let it fall by thee
686down to the dark. For else what power is mine my tortured life to end?” Her agony smote on their listening souls; a wail of woe along the concourse ran. Stern men-at-arms felt valor for a moment sleep, and all
691their rage of battle fail. But while she stirred the passion of her grief, Ilioneus and young Iulus, weeping filial tears, bade Actor and Idaeus, lifting her in both their reverent arms, to bear her home.
696But now the brazen trumpet's fearsome song blares loud, and startled shouts of soldiery spread through the roaring sky. The Volscian band press to the siege, and, locking shield with shield, fill the great trenches, tear the palisades,
701or seek approach by ladders up the walls, where'er the line of the defenders thins, and light through their black circle shines. The Trojans pour promiscuous missiles down, and push out hard with heavy poles—so well have they been schooled
706to fight against long sieges. They fling down a crushing weight of rocks, in hope to break th' assailing line, where roofed in serried shields the foe each charge repels. But not for long the siegers stand; along their dense array
711the crafty Teucrians down the rampart roll a boulder like a hill-top, laying low the Rutule troop and crashing through their shields. Nor may the bold Rutulian longer hope to keep in cover, but essays to storm
716only with far-flung shafts the bastion strong. Here grim Mezentius, terrible to see, waved an Etrurian pine, and made his war with smoking firebrands; there, in equal rage, Messapus, the steed-tamer, Neptune's son,
721ripped down the palisade, and at the breach strung a steep path of ladders up the wall. Aid, O Calliope, the martial song! Tell me what carnage and how many deaths the sword of Turnus wrought: what peer in arms
726each hero to the world of ghosts sent down. Unroll the war's great book before these eyes. A tower was there, well-placed and looming large, with many a lofty bridge, which desperately th' Italians strove to storm, and strangely plied
731besieging enginery to cast it down: the Trojans hurled back stones, or, standing close, flung through the loopholes a swift shower of spears. But Turnus launched a firebrand, and pierced the wooden wall with flame, which in the wind
736leaped larger, and devoured from floor to floor, burning each beam away. The trembling guards sought flight in vain; and while they crowded close into the side unkindled yet, the tower bowed its whole weight and fell, with sudden crash
741that thundered through the sky. Along the ground half dead the warriors fell (the crushing mass piled over them) by their own pointed spears pierced to the heart, or wounded mortally by cruel splinters of the wreck. Two men,
746Helenor one, and Lyeus at his side, alone get free. Helenor of the twain was a mere youth; the slave Lycymnia bore him in secret to the Lydian King, and, arming him by stealth, had sent away
751to serve the Trojan cause. One naked sword for arms had he, and on his virgin shield no blazon of renown; but when he saw the hosts of Turnus front him, and the lines this way and that of Latins closing round, —
756as a fierce, forest-creature, brought to bay in circling pack of huntsmen, shows its teeth against the naked spears, and scorning death leaps upward on the javelins,—even so, not loth to die, the youthful soldier flew
761straight at the centre of his foes, and where the shining swords looked thickest, there he sprung. But Lyeus, swifter-footed, forced his way past the opposing spears and made escape far as the ciity-wall, where he would fain
766clutch at the coping and climb up to clasp some friend above: but Turnus, spear in hand, had hotly followed, and exulting loud thus taunted him, “Hadst thou the hope, rash fool, beyond this grasp to fly?” So, as he clung,
771he tore him down; and with him broke and fell a huge piece of the wall: not otherwise a frail hare, or a swan of snow-white wing, is clutched in eagle-talons, when the bird of Jove soars skyward with his prey; or tender lamb
776from bleating mother and the broken fold is stolen by the wolf of Mars. Wild shouts on every side resound. In closer siege the foe press on, and heap the trenches full, or hurl hot-flaming torches at the towers.
781Ilioneus with mountain-mass of stone struck down Lucetius, as he crept with fire too near the city-gate. Emathion fell by Liger's hand, and Corynteus' death Asilas dealt: one threw the javelin well;
786th' insidious arrow was Asilas' skill. Ortygius was slain by Caeneus, then victorious Geneus fell by Turnus' ire. Then smote he Dioxippus, and laid low Itys and Promolus and Sagaris
791and Clonius, and from the lofty tower shot Idas down. The shaft of Capys pierced Privernus, whom Themilla's javelin but now had lightly grazed, and he, too bold, casting his shield far from him, had outspread
796his left hand on the wound: then sudden flew the feathered arrow, and the hand lay pinned against his left side, while the fatal barb was buried in his breathing life. The son of Arcens now stood forth in glittering arms.
801His broidered cloak was red Iberian stain, and beautiful was he. Arcens his sire had sent him to the war; but he was bred in a Sicilian forest by a stream to his nymph-mother dear, where rose the shrine
806of merciful Palicus, blest and fair. But, lo! Mezentius his spear laid by, and whirled three times about his head the thong of his loud sling: the leaden bullet clove the youth's mid-forehead, and his towering form
811fell prostrate its full length along the ground. 'T was then Ascanius first shot forth in war the arrow swift from which all creatures wild were wont to fly in fear: and he struck down with artful aim Numanus, sturdy foe,
816called Remulus, who lately was espoused to Turnus' younger sister. He had stalked before the van, and made vociferous noise of truths and falsehoods foul and base, his heart puffed up with new-found greatness. Up and down
821he strode, and swelled his folly with loud words: “No shame have ye this second time to stay cooped close within a rampart's craven siege, O Phrygians twice-vanquished? Is a wall your sole defence from death? Are such the men
826who ask our maids in marriage? Say what god, what doting madness, rather, drove ye here to Italy? This way ye will not find the sons of Atreus nor the trickster tongue of voluble Ulysses. Sturdy stock
831are we; our softest new-born babes we dip in chilling rivers, till they bear right well the current's bitter cold. Our slender lads hunt night and day and rove the woods at large, or for their merriment break stubborn steeds,
836or bend the horn-tipped bow. Our manly prime in willing labor lives, and is inured to poverty and scantness; we subdue our lands with rake and mattock, or in war bid strong-walled cities tremble. Our whole life
841is spent in use of iron; and we goad the flanks of bullocks with a javelin's end. Nor doth old age, arriving late, impair our brawny vigor, nor corrupt the soul to frail decay. But over silvered brows
846we bind the helmet. Our unfailing joy is rapine, and to pile the plunder high. But ye! your gowns-are saffron needlework or Tyrian purple; ye love shameful ease, or dancing revelry. Your tunics fiow
851long-sleeved, and ye have soft caps ribbon-bound. Aye, Phrygian girls are ye, not Phrygian men! Hence to your hill of Dindymus! Go hear the twy-mouthed piping ye have loved so long. The timbrel, hark! the Berecynthian flute
856calls you away, and Ida's goddess calls. Leave arms to men, true men! and quit the sword!” Of such loud insolence and words of shame Ascanius brooked no more, but laid a shaft athwart his bowstring, and with arms stretched wide
861took aim, first offering suppliant vow to Jove: “Almighty Jupiter, thy favor show to my bold deed! So to thy shrine I bear gifts year by year, and to thine altars lead a bull with gilded brows, snow-white, and tall
866as his own dam, what time his youth begins to lower his horns and fling the sand in air.” The Father heard, and from a cloudless sky thundered to leftward, while the deadly bow resounded and the arrow's fearful song
871hissed from the string; it struck unswervingly the head of Remulus and clove its way deep in the hollows of his brow. “Begone! Proud mocker at the brave! Lo, this reply twice-vanquished Phrygians to Rutulia send.”
876Ascanius said no more. The Teucrians with deep-voiced shout of joy applaud, and lift their exultation starward. Then from heaven the flowing-haired Apollo bent his gaze upon Ausonia's host, and cloud-enthroned
881looked downward o'er the city, speaking thus to fair Iulus in his victory: “Hail to thy maiden prowess, boy! This way the starward path to dwelling-place divine. O sired of gods and sire of gods to come,
886all future storms of war by Fate ordained shall into peace and lawful calm subside beneath the offspring of Assaracus. No Trojan destinies thy glory bound.” So saying, from his far, ethereal seat
891he hied him down, and, cleaving the quick winds drew near Ascanius. He wore the guise of aged Butes, who erewhile had borne Anchises, armor and kept trusty guard before his threshold, but attended now
896Ascanius, by commandment of his sire. Clad in this graybeard's every aspect, moved apollo forth,—his very voice and hue, his hoary locks and grimly sounding shield, — and to the flushed Iulus spoke this word:
901“Child of Aeneas, be content that now Numanus unavenged thine arrows feels. Such dawn of glory great Apollo's will concedes, nor envies thee the fatal shaft so like his own. But, tender youth, refrain
906hereafter from this war!” So said divine Apollo, who, while yet he spoke, put by his mortal aspect, and before their eyes melted to viewless air. The Teucrians knew the vocal god with armament divine
911of arrows; for his rattling quiver smote their senses as he fled. Obedient to Phoebus' voice they held back from the fray Iulus' fury, and their eager souls faced the fresh fight and danger's darkest frown.
916From tower to tower along the bastioned wall their war-cry flew: they bend with busy hand the cruel bow, or swing the whirling thong of javelins. The earth on every side is strewn with spent shafts, the reverberant shield
921and hollow helmet ring with blows; the fight more fiercely swells; not less the bursting storm from watery Kid-stars in the western sky lashes the plain, or multitudinous hail beats upon shallow seas, when angry Jove
926flings forth tempestuous and-boundless rain, and splits the bellied clouds in darkened air. The brothers Pandarus and Bitias, of whom Alcanor was the famous sire, on Ida born, and whom Iaera bred
931in sacred wood of Jove, an oread she, twin warriors, like their native hills and trees of stature proud, now burst those portals wide to them in ward consigned, and sword in hand challenge the foe to enter. Side by side,
936steel-clad, their tall heads in bright crested helms, to left and right, like towers, the champions stand as when to skyward, by the gliding waves of gentle Athesis or Padus wide, a pair of oaks uprise, and lift in air
941their shaggy brows and nodding crests sublime. In burst the Rutules where the onward way seemed open wide; Quercens no tarrying knows, nor proud Aquiculus in well-wrought arms; Tmarus sweeps on impetuous, and the host
946of Haemon, child of Mars. Some routed fly; some lay their lives-down at the gate. Wild rage o'erflows each martial breast, and gathered fast the Trojans rally to one point, and dare close conflict, or long sallies o'er the plain.
951To Turnus, who upon a distant field was storming with huge havoc, came the news that now his foe, before a gate thrown wide, was red with slaughter. His own fight he stays, and speeds him, by enormous rage thrust on,
956to those proud brethren at the Dardan wall. There first Antiphates, who made his war far in the van (a Theban captive's child to great Sarpedon out of wedlock born), he felled to earth with whirling javelin:
961th' Italic shaft of cornel lightly flew along the yielding air, and through his throat pierced deep into the breast; a gaping wound gushed blood; the hot shaft to his bosom clung. Then Erymas and Merops his strong hand
966laid low: Aphidnus next, then came the turn of Bitias, fiery-hearted, furious-eyed: but not by javelin,—such cannot fall by flying javelin,—the ponderous beam of a phalaric spear, with mighty roar,
971like thunderbolt upon him fell; such shock neither the bull's-hides of his double shield nor twofold corselet's golden scales could stay but all his towering frame in ruin fell. Earth groaned, and o'er him rang his ample shield.
976so crashes down from Baiae's storied shore a rock-built mole, whose mighty masonry, piled up with care, men cast into the sea; it trails its wreckage far, and fathoms down lies broken in the shallows, while the waves
981whirl every way, and showers of black sand are scattered on the air: with thunder-sound steep Prochyta is shaken, and that bed of cruel stone, Inarime, which lies heaped o'er Typhoeus by revenge of Jove.
986Now to the Latins Mars, the lord of war, gave might and valor, and to their wild hearts his spur applied, but on the Teucrians breathed dark fear and flight. From every quarter came auxiliar hosts, where'er the conflict called,
991and in each bosom pulsed the god of war. When Pandarus now saw his brother's corse low Iying, and which way the chance and tide of battle ran, he violently moved the swinging hinges of the gate, and strained
996with both his shoulders broad. He shut outside not few of his own people, left exposed in fiercest fight but others with himself he barred inside and saved them as they fled; nor noted, madman, how the Rutule King
1001had burst in midmost of the line, and now stood prisoned in their wall, as if he were some monstrous tiger among helpless kine. His eyeballs strangely glared; his armor rang terrific, his tall crest shook o'er his brows
1006blood-red, and lightnings glittered from his shield familiar loomed that countenance abhorred and frame gigantic on the shrinking eyes of the Aeneadae. Then Pandarus sprang towering forth, all fever to revenge
1011his brother's slaughter. “Not this way,” he cried “Amata's marriage-gift! No Ardea here mews Turnus in his fathers' halls. Behold thy foeman's castle! Thou art not allowed to take thy leave.” But Turnus looked his way,
1016and smiled with heart unmoved. “Begin! if thou hast manhood in thee, and meet steel with steel! Go tell dead Priam thou discoverest here Achilles!” For reply, the champion tall hurled with his might and main along the air
1021his spear of knotted wood and bark untrimmed. But all it wounded was the passing wind, for Saturn's daughter turned its course awry, and deep in the great gate the spear-point drove. “Now from the stroke this right arm means for thee
1026thou shalt not fly. Not such the sender of this weapon and this wound.” He said, and towered aloft to his full height; the lifted sword clove temples, brows, and beardless cheeks clean through with loudly ringing blow; the ground beneath
1031shook with the giant's ponderous fall, and, lo, with nerveless limbs, and brains spilt o'er his shield, dead on the earth he lay! in equal halves the sundered head from either shoulder swung. In horror and amaze the Trojans all
1036dispersed and fled; had but the conqueror thought to break the barriers of the gates and call his followers through, that fatal day had seen an ending of the Teucrians and their war. But frenzied joy of slaughter urged him on,
1041infuriate, to smite the scattering foe. First Phaleris he caught; then cut the knees of Gyges; both their spears he snatched away and hurled them at the rout; 't was Juno roused his utmost might of rage. Now Halys fell,
1046and Phegeus, whom he pierced right through the shield: next, at the walls and urging reckless war, Alcander, Halius, and Noemon gave their lives, and Prytanis went down. In vain Lynceus made stand and called his comrades brave:
1051for Turnus from the right with waving sword caught at him and lopped off with one swift blow the head, which with its helmet rolled away. Next Amycus, destroyer of wild beasts, who knew full well to smear a crafty barb
1056with venomed oil; young Clytius he slew, son of the wind-god; then on Cretheus fell, a follower of the muses and their friend: Cretheus, whose every joy it was to sing, and fit his numbers to the chorded Iyre;
1061steeds, wars, armed men were his perpetual song. At last the Teucrian chiefs had heard the tale of so much slaughter; and in council met are Mnestheus and Serestus bold, who see their comrades routed and the conquering foe
1066within the gates. Cries Mnestheus, “Whither fly? What open way is yonder or what wall? Beyond these ramparts lost what stronger lie? Shall one lone man here in your walls confined, make havoc unavenged and feed the grave
1071with your best warriors? 0 cowards vile! For your sad country and her ancient gods and for renowned Aeneas, can ye feel no pity and no shame?” Enflamed to fight by words like these, they close the line, and stand
1076in strong array. So Turnus for a space out of the battle step by step withdrew to make the river-bank his rearguard strong; whereat the Teucrians, shouting loud, swept on the fiercer, and in solid mass pressed round.
1081as when a troop of hunters with keen spears encircle a wild lion, who in fear, but glaring grim and furious, backward falls, valor and rage constrain him ne'er to cease fronting the foe; yet not for all his ire
1086can he against such serried steel make way: so Turnus backward with a lingering step unwilling drew, and wrath his heart oterflowed. for twice already had he cloven a path into the foe's mid-press, and twice had driven
1091their flying lines in panic through the town. But now the whole throng from the camp he sees massed to the onset. Nor will Juno now dare give him vigor to withstand, for Jove had sent aerial Iris out of heaven
1096with stern commandment to his sister-queen that Turnus from the Teucrian walls retire. Therefore the warrior's shield avails no more, nor his strong arm; but he is overthrown by general assault. Around his brows
1101his smitten helmet rings; the ponderous mail cracks under falling stones; the haughty plumes are scattered from his head, nor can the boss of his stout shield endure; the Trojans hurl redoubled rain of spears; and with them speeds
1106Mnestheus like thunderbolt. The hero's flesh dissolves in sweat; no room to breathe has he; his limbs are spent and weary; his whole frame shakes with his gasping breath: then bounding fort with all his harness on, headlong he plunged
1111into the flowing stream; its yellow tide embraced him as he fell, and gentle waves restored him smiling to his friends in arms, with all the gore and carnage washed away.
Book 10
1Panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi, conciliumque vocat divom pater atque hominum rex sideream in sedem, terras unde arduus omnis castraque Dardanidum adspectat populosque Latinos. Considunt tectis bipatentibus, incipit ipse:
6Caelicolae magni, quianam sententia vobis versa retro tantumque animis certatis iniquis? Abnueram bello Italiam concurrere Teucris. Quae contra vetitum discordia? Quis metus aut hos aut hos arma sequi ferrumque lacessere suasit?
11Adveniet iustum pugnae, ne arcessite, tempus, cum fera Karthago Romanis arcibus olim exitium magnum atque Alpes immittet apertas: tum certare odiis, tum res rapuisse licebit. Nunc sinite et placitum laeti componite foedus.
16Iuppiter haec paucis; at non Venus aurea contra pauca refert: O pater, O hominum rerumque aeterna potestas! Namque aliud quid sit, quod iam implorare queamus? Cernis ut insultent Rutulli Turnusque
21secundo Marte ruat? Non clausa tegunt iam moenia Teucros: quin intra portas atque ipsis proelia miscent aggeribus moerorum et inundant sanguine fossas. Aeneas ignarus abest. Numquamne levari
26obsidione sines? Muris iterum imminet hostis nascentis Troiae atque iterum in Teucros Aetolis surgit ab Arpis Tydides. Equidem credo, mea volnera restant et tua progenies mortalia demoror arma.
31Si sine pace tua atque invito numine Troes Italiam petiere, luant peccata neque illos iuveris auxilio; sin tot responsa secuti, quae superi manesque dabant: cur nunc tua quisquam vertere iussa potest aut cur nova condere fata?
36Quid repetem exustas Erycino in litore classes, quid tempestatum regem ventosque furentis Aeolia excitos aut actam nubibus Irim? Nunc etiam manis, haec intemptata manebat sors rerum, movet et superis immissa repente
41Allecto, medias Italum bacchata per urbes. Nil super imperio moveor: speravimus ista, dum fortuna fuit; vincant quos vincere mavis. Si nulla est regio, Teucris quam det tua coniunx dura, per eversae, genitor, fumantia Troiae
46exscidia obtestor, liceat dimittere ab armis incolumem Ascanium, liceat superesse nepotem. Aeneas sane ignotis iactetur in undis et, quamcumque viam dederit Fortuna, sequatur: hunc tegere et dirae valeam subducere pugnae.
51Est Amathus, est celsa mihi Paphus atque Cythera Idaliaeque domus: positis inglorius armis exigat hic aevum. Magna dicione iubeto Karthago premat Ausoniam: nihil urbibus inde obstabit Tyriis. Quid pestem evadere belli
56iuvit et Argolicos medium fugisse per ignes totque maris vastaeque exhausta pericula terrae, dum Latium Teucri recidivaque Pergama quaerunt? Non satius cineres patriae insedisse supremos atque solum, quo Troia fuit? Xanthum et Simoenta
61redde, oro, miseris iterumque revolvere casus da, pater, Iliacos Teucris. Tum regia Iuno acta furore gravi: Quid me alta silentia cogis rumpere et obductum verbis volgare dolorem?
65Aenean hominum quisquam divomque subegit bella sequi aut hostem regi se inferre Latino? Italiam petiit fatis auctoribus, esto, Cassandrae inpulsus furiis: num linquere castra hortati sumus aut vitam committere ventis?
70Num puero summam belli, num credere muros Tyrrhenamque fidem, aut gentis agitare quietas? Quis deus in fraudem, quae dura potentia nostra egit? Ubi hic Iuno demissave nubibus Iris? Indignum est Italos Troiam circumdare flammis
75nascentem et patria Turnum consistere terra, cui Pilumnus avus, cui diva Venilia mater: quid face Troianos atra vim ferre Latinis, arva aliena iugo premere atque avertere praedas? Quid soceros legere et gremiis abducere pactas,
80pacem orare manu, praefigere puppibus arma? Tu potes Aenean manibus subducere Graium proque viro nebulam et ventos obtendere inanis, tu potes in totidem classem convertere nymphas: nos aliquid Rutulos contra iuvisse nefandum est?
85Aeneas ignarus abest: ignarus et absit. Est Paphus Idaliumque tibi, sunt alta Cythera: quid gravidam bellis urbem et corda aspera temptas? Nosne tibi fluxas Phrygiae res vertere fundo conamur, nos, an miseros qui Troas Achivis
90obiecit? Quae causa fuit, consurgere in arma Europamque Asiamque et foedera solvere furto? Me duce Dardanius Spartam expugnavit adulter, aut ego tela dedi fovive cupidine bella? Tum decuit metuisse tuis: nunc sera querelis
95haud iustis adsurgis et inrita iurgia iactas. Talibus orabat Iuno, cunctique fremebant caelicolae adsensu vario, ceu flamina prima cum deprensa fremunt silvis et caeca volutant murmura, venturos nautis prodentia ventos.
100Tum pater omnipotens, rerum cui prima potestas, infit; eo dicente deum domus alta silescit et tremefacta solo tellus, silet arduus aether, tum Zephyri posuere, premit placida aequora pontus: Accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta.
105Quandoquidem Ausonios coniungi foedere Teucris haud licitum, nec vestra capit discordia finem: quae cuique est fortuna hodie, quam quisque secat spem, Tros Rutulusne fuat nullo discrimine habebo. Seu fatis Italum castra obsidione tenentur
110sive errore malo Troiae monitisque sinistris. Nec Rutulos solvo: sua cuique exorsa laborem fortunamque ferent. Rex Iuppiter omnibus idem. Fata viam invenient. Stygii per flumina fratris, per pice torrentis atraque voragine ripas
115adnuit et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum. Hic finis fandi. Solio tum Iuppiter aureo surgit, caelicolae medium quem ad limina ducunt. Interea Rutuli portis circum omnibus instant sternere caede viros et moenia cingere flammis.
120At legio Aeneadum vallis obsessa tenetur, nec spes ulla fugae. Miseri stant turribus altis nequiquam et rara muros cinxere corona Asius Imbrasides Hicetaoniusque Thymoetes Assaracique duo et senior cum Castore Thymbris,
125prima acies; hos germani Sarpedonis ambo et Clarus et Thaemon Lycia comitantur ab alta. Fert ingens toto conixus corpore saxum, haud partem exiguam montis, Lyrnesius Acmon, nec Clytio genitore minor nec fratre Menestheo.
130Hi iaculis, illi certant defendere saxis molirique ignem nervoque aptare sagittas. Ipse inter medios, Veneris iustissima cura, Dardanius caput ecce puer detectus honestum, qualis gemma micat, fulvum quae dividit aurum,
135aut collo decus aut capiti; vel quale per artem inclusum buxo aut Oricia terebintho lucet ebur; fusos cervix cui lactea crinis accipit et molli subnectens circulus auro. Te quoque magnanimae viderunt, Ismare, gentes
140volnera dirigere et calamos armare veneno, Maeonia generose domo, ubi pinguia culta exercentque viri Pactolusque inrigat auro. Adfuit et Mnestheus, quem pulsi pristina Turni aggere moerorum sublimem gloria tollit,
145et Capys: hinc nomen Campanae ducitur urbi. Illi inter sese duri certamina belli contulerant: media Aeneas freta nocte secabat. Namque ut ab Euandro castris ingressus Etruscis regem adit et regi memorat nomenque genusque,
150quidve petat quidve ipse ferat, Mezentius arma quae sibi conciliet, violentaque pectora Turni edocet, humanis quae sit fiducia rebus admonet immiscetque preces: haud fit mora, Tarchon iungit opes foedusque ferit; tum libera fati
155classem conscendit iussis gens Lydia divom, externo commissa duci. Aeneia puppis prima tenet, rostro Phrygios subiuncta leones, imminet Ida super, profugis gratissima Teucris. Hic magnus sedet Aeneas secumque volutat
160eventus belli varios, Pallasque sinistro adfixus lateri iam quaerit sidera, opacae noctis iter, iam quae passus terraque marique. Pandite nunc Helicona, deae, cantusque movete, quae manus interea Tuscis comitetur ab oris
165Aenean armetque rates pelagoque vehatur. Massicus aerata princeps secat aequora tigri: sub quo mille manus iuvenum, qui moenia Clusi quique urbem liquere Cosas, quis tela sagittae gorytique leves umeris et letifer arcus.
170Una torvus Abas: huic totum insignibus armis agmen et aurato fulgebat Apolline puppis. Sescentos illi dederat Populonia mater expertos belli iuvenes, ast Ilva trecentos insula inexhaustis Chalybum generosa metallis.
175Tertius ille hominum divomque interpres Asilas, cui pecudum fibrae, caeli cui sidera parent et linguae volucrum et praesagi fulminis ignes, mille rapit densos acie atque horrentibus hastis. Hos parere iubent Alpheae ab origine Pisae,
180urbs Etrusca solo. Sequitur pulcherrimus Astur, Astur equo fidens et versicoloribus armis. Tercentum adiciunt (mens omnibus una sequendi) qui Caerete domo, qui sunt Minionis in arvis, et Pyrgi veteres intempestaeque Graviscae.
185Non ego te, Ligurum ductor fortissime bello, transierim, Cinyre, et paucis comitate Cupavo, cuius olorinae surgunt de vertice pennae, crimen, Amor, vestrum formaeque insigne paternae. Namque ferunt luctu Cycnum Phaethontis amati,
190populeas inter frondes umbramque sororum dum canit et maestum Musa solatur amorem, canentem molli pluma duxisse senectam, linquentem terras et sidera voce sequentem. Filius, aequalis comitatus classe catervas,
195ingentem remis Centaurum promovet: ille instat aquae saxumque undis immane minatur arduus et longa sulcat maria alta carina. Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris, fatidicae Mantus et Tusci filius amnis,
200qui muros matrisque dedit tibi, Mantua, nomen, Mantua, dives avis; sed non genus omnibus unum: gens illi triplex, populi sub gente quaterni, ipsa caput populis, Tusco de sanguine vires. Hinc quoque quingentos in se Mezentius armat,
205quos patre Benaco velatus harundine glauca Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu. It gravis Aulestes centenaque arbore fluctum verberat adsurgens, spumant vada marmore verso. Hunc vehit immanis Triton et caerula concha
210exterrens freta, cui laterum tenus hispida nanti frons hominem praefert, in pristim desinit alvus: spumea semifero sub pectore murmurat unda. Tot lecti proceres ter denis navibus ibant subsidio Troiae et campos salis aera secabant.
215Iamque dies caelo concesserat almaque curru noctivago Phoebe medium pulsabat Olympum: Aeneas (neque enim membris dat cura quietem) ipse sedens clavumque regit velisque ministrat. Atque illi medio in spatio chorus ecce suarum
220occurrit comitum: nymphae, quas alma Cybebe numen habere maris nymphasque e navibus esse iusserat, innabant pariter fluctusque secabant, quot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae. Agnoscunt longe regem lustrantque choreis,
225quarum quae fandi doctissima Cymodocea pone sequens dextra puppim tenet ipsaque dorso eminet ac laeva tacitis subremigat undis, tum sic ignarum adloquitur: Vigilasne, deum gens, Aenea? Vigila et velis immitte rudentis.
230Nos sumus, Idaeae sacro de vertice pinus, nunc pelagi nymphae, classis tua. Perfidus ut nos praecipitis ferro Rutulus flammaque premebat, rupimus invitae tua vincula teque per aequor quaerimus. Hanc Genetrix faciem miserata refecit
235et dedit esse deas aevumque agitare sub undis. At puer Ascanius muro fossisque tenetur tela inter media atque horrentis Marte Latinos. Iam loca iussa tenent forti permixtus Etrusco Arcas eques: medias illis opponere turmas,
240ne castris iungant, certast sententia Turno. Surge age et Aurora socios veniente vocari primus in arma iube et clipeum cape, quem dedit ipse invictum Ignipotens atque oras ambiit auro. Crastina lux, mea si non inrita dicta putaris,
245ingentis Rutulae spectabit caedis acervos. Dixerat, et dextra discedens impulit altam haud ignara modi puppim: fugit illa per undas ocior et iaculo et ventos aequante sagitta. Inde aliae celerant cursus. Stupet inscius ipse
250Tros Anchisiades; animos tamen omine tollit. Tum breviter super adspectans convexa precatur: Alma parens Idaea deum, cui Dindyma cordi turrigeraeque urbis biiugique ad frena leones, tu mihi nunc pugnae princeps, tu rite propinques
255augurium Phrygibusque adsis pede, diva, secundo. Tantum effatus. Et interea revoluta rubebat matura iam luce dies noctemque fugarat: principio sociis edicit, signa sequantur atque animos aptent armis pugnaeque parent se.
260Iamque in conspectu Teucros habet et sua castra, stans celsa in puppi; clipeum cum deinde sinistra extulit ardentem. Clamorem ad sidera tollunt Dardanidae e muris, spes addita suscitat iras, tela manu iaciunt: quales sub nubibus atris
265Strymoniae dant signa grues atque aethera tranant cum sonitu fugiuntque notos clamore secundo. At Rutulo regi ducibusque ea mira videri Ausoniis, donec versas ad litora puppes respiciunt totumque adlabi classibus aequor.
270Ardet apex capiti cristisque a vertice flamma funditur et vastos umbo vomit aureus ignes: non secus ac liquida siquando nocte cometae sanguinei lugubre rubent aut Sirius ardor, ille sitim morbosque ferens mortalibus aegris,
275nascitur et laevo contristat lumine caelum. Haud tamen audaci Turno fiducia cessit litora praecipere et venientis pellere terra. Quod votis optastis, adest, perfringere dextra; in manibus Mars ipse viris. Nunc coniugis esto
281quisque suae tectique memor, nunc magna referto facta, patrum laudes. Ultro occurramus ad undam, dum trepidi egressisque labant vestigia prima. Audentis Fortuna iuvat, haec ait et secum versat, quos ducere contra
286vel quibus obsessos possit concredere muros. Interea Aeneas socios de puppibus altis pontibus exponit. Multi servare recursus languentis pelagi et brevibus se credere saltu, per remos alii. Speculatus litora Tarchon,
291qua vada non sperat nec fracta remurmurat unda, sed mare inoffensum crescenti adlabitur aestu, advertit subito proram sociosque precatur: Nunc, o lecta manus, validis incumbite remis; tollite, ferte rates; inimicam findite rostris
296hanc terram, sulcumque sibi premat ipsa carina. Frangere nec tali puppim statione recuso arrepta tellure semel. Quae talia postquam effatus Tarchon, socii consurgere tonsis spumantisque rates arvis inferre Latinis,
301donec rostra tenent siccum et sedere carinae omnes innocuae, sed non puppis tua, Tarchon. Namque inflicta vadis dorso dum pendet iniquo, anceps sustentata diu fluctusque fatigat, solvitur atque viros mediis exponit in undis
306fragmina remorum quos et fluitantia transtra impediunt, retrahitque pedem simul unda relabens. Nec Turnum segnis retinet mora, sed rapit acer totam aciem in Teucros et contra in litore sistit. Signa canunt. Primus turmas invasit agrestis
311Aeneas, omen pugnae, stravitque Latinos occiso Therone, virum qui maximus ultro Aenean petit: huic gladio perque aerea suta, per tunicam squalentem auro latus haurit apertum. Inde Lichan ferit, exsectum iam matre perempta
316et tibi, Phoebe, sacrum: casus evadere ferri quo licuit parvo? Nec longe Cissea durum immanemque Gyan, sternentis agmina clava, deiecit Leto: nihil illos Herculis arma nec validae iuvere manus genitorque Melampus,
321Alcidae comes usque gravis dum terra labores praebuit. Ecce Pharo, voces dum iactat inertis, intorquens iaculum clamanti sistit in ore. Tu quoque, flaventem prima lanugine malas dum sequeris Clytium infelix, nova gaudia, Cydon,
326Dardania stratus dextra, securus amorum, qui iuvenum tibi semper erant, miserande iaceres, ni fratrum stipata cohors foret obvia, Phorci progenies, septem numero, septenaque tela coniciunt; partim galea clipeoque resultant
331inrita, deflexit partim stringentia corpus alma Venus. Fidum Aeneas adfatur Achaten: Suggere tela mihi: non ullum dextera frustra torserit in Rutulos, steterunt quae in corpore Graium Iliacis campis. Tum magnam corripit hastam
336et iacit: illa volans clipei transverberat aera Maeonis et thoraca simul cum pectore rumpit. Huic frater subit Alcanor fratremque ruentem sustentat dextra: traiecto missa lacerto protinus hasta fugit servatque cruenta tenorem,
341dexteraque ex umero nervis moribunda pependit. Tum Numitor iaculo fratris de corpore rapto Aenean petiit; sed non et figere contra est licitum, magnique femur perstrinxit Achatae. Hic Curibus fidens primaevo corpore Clausus
346advenit et rigida Dryopem ferit eminus hasta sub mentum graviter pressa pariterque loquentis vocem animamque rapit traiecto gutture; at ille fronte ferit terram et crassum vomit ore cruorem. Tres quoque Threicios Boreae de gente suprema
351et tris, quos Idas pater et patria Ismara mittit, per varios sternit casus. Accurrit Halaesus Auruncaeque manus, subit et Neptunia proles, insignis Messapus equis. Expellere tendunt nunc hi, nunc illi; certatur limine in ipso
356Ausoniae. Magno discordes aethere venti proelia ceu tollunt animis et viribus aequis; non ipsi inter se, non nubila, non mare cedit; anceps pugna diu, stant obnixa omnia contra: haud aliter Troianae acies aciesque Latinae
361concurrunt; haeret pede pes densusque viro vir. At parte ex alia, qua saxa rotantia late impulerat torrens arbustaque diruta ripis, Arcadas insuetos acies inferre pedestris ut vidit Pallas Latio dare terga sequaci
366(aspera quis natura loci dimittere quando suasit equos), unum quod rebus restat egenis, nunc prece, nunc dictis virtutem accendit amaris: Quo fugitis, socii? Per vos et fortia facta, per ducis Evandri nomen devictaque bella
371Opemque meam, patriae quae nunc subit aemula laudi, fidite ne pedibus. Ferro rumpenda per hostis est via. Qua globus ille virum densissimus urget, hac vos et Pallanta ducem patria alta reposcit. Numina nulla premunt, mortali urgemur ab hoste
376mortales, totidem nobis animaeque manusque. Ecce, maris magna claudit nos obice pontus, deest iam terra fugae: pelagus Troiamne petemus? Haec ait et medius densos prorumpit in hostis. Obvius huic primum, fatis adductus iniquis,
381fit Lagus. Hunc, magno vellit dum pondere saxum, intorto figit telo, discrimina costis per medium qua spina dabat, hastamque receptat ossibus haerentem. Quem non super occupat Hisbo, ille quidem hoc sperans: nam Pallas ante ruentem,
386dum furit, incautum crudeli morte sodalis excipit atque ensem tumido in pulmone recondit. Hinc Sthenium petit et Rhoeti de gente vetusta Anchemolum, thalamos ausum incestare novercae. Vos etiam, gemini, Rutulis cecidistis in agris,
391Daucia, Laride Thymberque, simillima proles, indiscreta suis gratusque parentibus error; at nunc dura dedit vobis discrimina Pallas: nam tibi, Thymbre, caput Evandrius abstulit ensis; te decisa suum, Laride, dextera quaerit
396semianimesque micant digiti ferrumque retractant. Arcadas accensos monitu et praeclara tuentis facta viri mixtus dolor et pudor armat in hostis. Tum Pallas biiugis fugientem Rhoetea praeter traicit. Hoc spatium tantumque morae fuit Ilo;
401Ilo namque procul validam direxerat hastam, quam medius Rhoeteus intercipit, optime Teuthra, te fugiens fratremque Tyren, curruque volutus caedit semianimis Rutulorum calcibus arva. Ac velut optato ventis aestate coortis
406dispersa immittit silvis incendia pastor, correptis subito mediis extenditur una horrida per latos acies Volcania campos; ille sedens victor flammas despectat ovantis: non aliter socium virtus coit omnis in unum
411teque iuvat, Palla. Sed bellis acer Halaesus tendit in adversos seque in sua conligit arma. Hic mactat Ladona Pheretaque Demodocumque, Strymonio dextram fulgenti deripit ense elatam in iugulum, saxo ferit ora Thoantis
416ossaque dispersit cerebro permixta cruento. Fata canens silvis genitor celarat Halaesum: ut senior leto canentia lumina solvit, iniecere manum Parcae telisque sacrarunt Evandri. Quem sic Pallas petit ante precatus:
421Da nunc, Thybri pater, ferro, quod missile libro, fortunam atque viam duri per pectus Halaesi. Haec arma exuviasque viri tua quercus habebit. Audiit illa deus: dum texit Imaona Halaesus, Arcadio infelix telo dat pectus inermum.
426At non caede viri tanta perterrita Lausus, pars ingens belli, sinit agmina: primus Abantem oppositum interimit, pugnae nodumque moramque. Sternitur Arcadiae proles, sternuntur Etrusci et vos, O Grais imperdita corpora, Teucri.
431Agmina concurrunt ducibusque et viribus aequis. Extremi addensent acies nec turba moveri tela manusque sinit. Hinc Pallas instat et urget, hinc contra Lausus, nec multum discrepat aetas: egregii forma, sed quis Fortuna negarat
436in patriam reditus. Ipsos concurrere passus haud tamen inter se magni regnator Olympi: mox illos sua fata manent maiore sub hoste. Interea soror alma monet succedere Lauso Turnum, qui volucri curru medium secat agmen.
441Ut vidit socios: Tempus desistere pugnae; solus ego in Pallanta feror, soli mihi Pallas debetur; cuperem ipse parens spectator adesset. Haec ait, et socii cesserunt aequore iusso. At Rutulum abscessu iuvenis tum iussa superba
446miratus stupet in Turno corpusque per ingens lumina volvit obitque truci procul omnia visu talibus et dictis it contra dicta tyranni: Aut spoliis ego iam raptis laudabor opimis aut leto insigni: sorti pater aequus utrique est.
451Tolle minas. Fatus medium procedit in aequor. Frigidus Arcadibus coit in praecordia sanguis. Desiluit Turnus biiugis, pedes apparat ire comminus; utque leo, specula cum vidit ab alta stare procul campis meditantem in proelia taurum,
456advolat: haud alia est Turni venientis imago. Hunc ubi contiguum missae fore credidit hastae, ire prior Pallas, siqua fors adiuvet ausum viribus imparibus, magnumque ita ad aethera fatur: Per patris hospitium et mensas, quas advena adisti,
461te precor, Alcide, coeptis ingentibus adsis. Cernat semineci sibi me rapere arma cruenta victoremque ferant morientia lumina Turni. Audiit Alcides iuvenem magnumque sub imo corde premit gemitum lacrimasque effundit inanis.
466Tum Genitor natum dictis adfatur amicis: Stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus omnibus est vitae: sed famam extendere factis, hoc virtutis opus. Troiae sub moenibus altis tot nati cecidere deum; quin occidit una
471Sarpedon, mea progenies. Etiam sua Turnum fata vocant, metasque dati pervenit ad aevi. Sic ait atque oculos Rutulorum reicit arvis. At Pallas magnis emittit viribus hastam vaginaque cava fulgentem deripit ensem.
476Illa volans umeri surgunt qua tegmina summa incidit atque viam clipei molita per oras tandem etiam magno strinxit de corpore Turni. Hic Turnus ferro praefixum robur acuto in Pallanta diu librans iacit atque ita fatur:
481Adspice, num mage sit nostrum penetrabile telum. Dixerat; at clipeum, tot ferri terga, tot aeris, quem pellis totiens obeat circumdata tauri, vibranti cuspis medium transverberat ictu loricaeque moras et pectus perforat ingens.
486Ille rapit calidum frustra de volnere telum: una eademque via sanguis animusque sequuntur. Corruit in volnus, sonitum super arma dedere et terram hostilem moriens petit ore cruento. Quem Turnus super adsistens,
491Arcades, haec, inquit, memores mea dicta referte Euandro; qualem meruit, Pallanta remitto. Quisquis honos tumuli, quidquid solamen humandi est, largior. Haud illi stabunt Aeneia parvo hospitia. Et laevo pressit pede talia fatus
496exanimem, rapiens immania pondera baltei impressumque nefas, una sub nocte iugali caesa manus iuvenum foede thalamique cruenti, quae Clonus Eurytides multo caelaverat auro; quo nunc Turnus ovat spolio gaudetque potitus.
501Nescia mens hominum fati sortisque futurae et servare modum, rebus sublata secundis! Turno tempus erit, magno cum optaverit emptum intactum Pallanta et cum spolia ista diemque oderit. At socii multo gemitu lacrimisque
506impositum scuto referunt Pallanta frequentes. O dolor atque decus magnum rediture parenti haec te prima dies bello dedit, haec eadem aufert, cum tamen ingentis Rutulorum linquis acervos. Nec iam fama mali tanti, sed certior auctor
511advolat Aeneae, tenui discrimine leti esse suos, versis tempus succurrere Teucris. Proxima quaeque metit gladio latumque per agmen ardens limitem agit ferro, te, Turne, superbum caede nova quaerens. Pallas, Euander, in ipsis
516omnia sunt oculis, mensae, quas advena primas tunc adiit, dextraeque datae. Sulmone creatos quattuor hic iuvenes, totidem, quos educat Ufens, viventis rapit, inferias quos immolet umbris captivoque rogi perfundat sanguine flammas.
521Inde Mago procul infensam contenderat hastam. Ille astu subit ac tremibunda supervolat hasta, et genua amplectens effatur talia supplex: Per patrios manis et spes surgentis Iuli te precor, hanc animam serves natoque patrique.
526Est domus alta, iacent penitus defossa talenta caelati argenti, sunt auri pondera facti infectique mihi. Non hic victoria Teucrum vertitur aut anima una dabit discrimina tanta. Dixerat. Aeneas contra cui talia reddit:
531Argenti atque auri memoras quae multa talenta, natis parce tuis. Belli commercia Turnus sustulit ista prior iam tum Pallante perempto. Hoc patris Anchisae manes, hoc sentit Iulus. Sic fatus galeam laeva tenet atque reflexa
536cervice orantis capulo tenus applicat ensem. Nec procul Haemonides, Phoebi Triviaeque sacerdos, infula cui sacra redimibat tempora vitta, totus conlucens veste atque insignibus armis. Quem congressus agit campo lapsumque superstans
541immolat ingentique umbra tegit; arma Serestus lecta refert umeris, tibi, rex Gradive, tropaeum. Instaurant acies Volcani stirpe creatus Caeculus et veniens Marsorum montibus Umbro: Dardanides contra furit. Anxuris ense sinistram
546et totum clipei ferro deiecerat orbem; dixerat ille aliquid magnum vimque adfore verbo crediderat caeloque animum fortasse ferebat canitiemque sibi et longos promiserat annos: Tarquitus exultans contra fulgentibus armis,
551silvicolae Fauno Dryope quem nympha crearat, obvius ardenti sese obtulit. Ille reducta loricam clipeique ingens onus impedit hasta; tum caput orantis nequiquam et multa parantis dicere deturbat terrae truncumque tepentem
556provolvens super haec inimico pectore fatur: Istic nunc, metuende, iace. Non te optima mater condet humi patrioque onerabit membra sepulchro: alitibus linquere feris aut gurgite mersum unda feret piscesque impasti volnera lambent.
561Protinus Antaeum et Lucam, prima agmina Turni, persequitur fortemque Numam fulvumque Camertem, magnanimo Volcente satum, ditissimus agri qui fuit Ausonidum et tacitis regnavit Amyclis. Aegaeon qualis, centum cui bracchia dicunt
566centenasque manus, quinquaginta oribus ignem pectoribusque arsisse, Iovis cum fulmina contra tot paribus streperet clipeis, tot stringeret enses: sic toto Aeneas desaevit in aequore victor, ut semel intepuit mucro. Quin ecce Niphaei
571quadriiugis in equos adversaque pectora tendit. Atque illi longe gradientem et dira frementem ut videre, metu versi retroque ruentes effunduntque ducem rapiuntque ad litora currus. Interea biiugis infert se Lucagus albis
576in medios fraterque Liger; sed frater habenis flectit equos, strictum rotat acer Lucagus ensem. Haud tulit Aeneas tanto fervore furentis: inruit adversaque ingens apparuit hasta. Cui Liger:
581Non Diomedis equos nec currum cernis Achillis aut Phrygiae campos: nunc belli finis et aevi his dabitur terris. Vesano talia late dicta volant Ligeri. Sed non et Troïus heros dicta parat contra: iaculum nam torquet in hostem.
586Lucagus ut pronus pendens in verbera telo admonuit biiugos, proiecto dum pede laevo aptet se pugnae, subit oras hasta per imas fulgentis clipei, tum laevum perforat inguen: excussus curru moribundus volvitur arvis.
591Quem pius Aeneas dictis adfatur amaris: Lucage, nulla tuos currus fuga segnis equorum prodidit aut vanae vertere ex hostibus umbrae: ipse rotis saliens iuga deseris. Haec ita fatus arripuit biiugos; frater tendebat inertis
596infelix palmas, curru delapsus eodem: Per te, per qui te talem genuere parentes, vir Troiane, sine hanc animam et miserere precantis. Pluribus oranti Aeneas: Haud talia dudum dicta dabas. Morere et fratrem ne desere frater.
601Tum latebras animae pectus mucrone recludit. Talia per campos edebat funera ductor Dardanius, torrentis aquae vel turbinis atri more furens. Tandem erumpunt et castra relinquunt Ascanius puer et nequiquam obsessa iuventus.
606Iunonem interea compellat Iuppiter ultro: O germana mihi atque eadem gratissima coniunx, ut rebare, Venus, nec te sententia fallit, Troianas sustentat opes, non vivida bello dextra viris animusque ferox patiensque pericli.
611Cui Iuno summissa Quid, o pulcherrime coniunx, sollicitas aegram et tua tristia dicta timentem? Si mihi, quae quondam fuerat quamque esse decebat, vis in amore foret, non hoc mihi namque negares, omnipotens, quin et pugnae subducere Turnum
616et Dauno possem incolumem servare parenti. Nunc pereat Teucrisque pio det sanguine poenas. Ille tamen nostra deducit origine nomen Pilumnusque illi quartus pater et tua larga saepe manu multisque oneravit limina donis.
621Cui rex aetherii breviter sic fatur Olympi: Si mora praesentis leti tempusque caduco oratur iuveni meque hoc ita ponere sentis, tolle fuga Turnum atque instantibus eripe fatis hactenus indulsisse vacat. Sin altior istis
626sub precibus venia ulla latet totumque moveri mutarive putas bellum, spes pascis inanis. Et Iuno adlacrimans: Quid si, quae voce gravaris, mente dares atque haec Turno rata vita maneret? Nunc manet insontem gravis exitus, aut ego veri
631vana feror. Quod ut O potius formidine falsa ludar et in melius tua, qui potes, orsa reflectas! Haec ubi dicta dedit, caelo se protinus alto misit, agens hiemem nimbo succincta per auras, Iliacamque aciem et Laurentia castra petivit.
636Tum dea nube cava tenuem sine viribus umbram in faciem Aeneae, visu mirabile monstrum, Dardaniis ornat telis clipeumque iubasque divini adsimulat capitis, dat inania verba, dat sine mente sonum gressusque effingit euntis,
641morte obita qualis fama est volitare figuras aut quae sopitos deludunt somnia sensus. At primas laeta ante acies exsultat imago inritatque virum telis et voce lacessit. Instat cui Turnus stridentemque eminus hastam
646conicit: illa dato vertit vestigia tergo. Tum vero Aenean aversum ut cedere Turnus credidit atque animo spem turbidus hausit inanem, Quo fugis, Aenea? Thalamos ne desere pactos; hac dabitur dextra tellus quaesita per undas.
651Talia vociferans sequitur strictumque coruscat mucronem nec ferre videt sua gaudia ventos. Forte ratis celsi coniuncta crepidine saxi expositis stabat scalis et ponte parato, qua rex Clusinis advectus Osinius oris.
656Huc sese trepida Aeneae fugientis imago conicit in latebras; nec Turnus segnior instat exsuperatque moras et pontis transilit altos. Vix proram attigerat: rumpit Saturnia funem avolsamque rapit revoluta per aequora navem.
661Illum autem Aeneas absentem in praelia poscit; obvia multa virum demittit corpora morti: tum levis haud ultra latebras iam quaerit imago, sed sublime volans nubi se immiscuit atrae. Cum Turnum medio interea fert aequore turbo.
666Respicit ignarus rerum ingratusque salutis et duplicis cum voce manus ad sidera tendit: Omnipotens genitor, tanton me crimine dignum duxisti et talis voluisti expendere poenas? Quo feror? Unde abii? Quae me fuga quemve reducit?
671Laurentisne iterum muros aut castra videbo? Quid manus illa virum, qui me meaque arma secuti? Quosne (nefas) omnis infanda in morte reliqui et nunc palantis video gemitumque cadentum accipio! Quid ago? Aut quae iam satis ima dehiscat
676terra mihi? Vos O potius miserescite venti: in rupes, in saxa, volens vos Turnus adoro ferte ratem saevisque vadis immittite Syrtis, quo neque me Rutuli nec conscia fama sequatur. Haec memorans animo nunc huc, nunc fluctuat illuc,
681an sese mucrone ob tantum dedecus amens induat et crudum per costas exigat ensem, fluctibus an iaciat mediis et litora nando curva petat Teucrumque iterum se reddat in arma. Ter conatus utramque viam, ter maxima Iuno
686continuit iuvenemque animi miserata repressit. Labitur alta secans fluctuque aestuque secundo et patris antiquam Dauni defertur ad urbem. At Iovis interea monitis Mezentius ardens succedit pugnae Teucrosque invadit ovantis.
691Concurrunt Tyrrhenae acies atque omnibus uni, uni odiisque viro telisque frequentibus instant. Ille velut rupes, vastum quae prodit in aequor, obvia ventorum furiis expostaque ponto, vim cunctam atque minas perfert caelique marisque,
696ipsa immota manens, prolem Dolichaonis Hebrum sternit humi, cum quo Latagum Palmumque fugacem, sed Latagum saxo atque ingenti fragmine montis occupat os faciemque adversam, poplite Palmum succiso volvi segnem sinit, armaque Lauso
701donat habere umeris et vertice figere cristas. Nec non Euanthen Phrygium Paridisque Mimanta aequalem comitemque, una quem nocte Theano in lucem genitori Amyco dedit et face praegnans Cisseis regina Parin creat: urbe paterna
706occubat, ignarum Laurens habet ora Mimanta. Ac velut ille canum morsu de montibus altis actus aper, multos Vesulus quem pinifer annos defendit multosve palus Laurentia, silva pastus harundinea, postquam inter retia ventum est,
711substitit infremuitque ferox et inhorruit armos, nec cuiquam irasci propiusque accedere virtus, sed iaculis tutisque procul clamoribus instant; ille autem impavidus partis cunctatur in omnis, dentibus infrendens, et tergo decutit hastas.
714haud aliter, iustae quibus est Mezentius irae, non ulli est animus stricto concurrere ferro; missilibus longe et vasto clamore lacessunt: Venerat antiquis Corythi de finibus Acron, Graius homo, infectos linquens profugus hymenaeos.
721Hunc ubi miscentem longe media agmina vidit, purpureum pennis et pactae coniugis ostro: impastus stabula alta leo ceu saepe peragrans, suadet enim vesana fames, si forte fugacem conspexit capream aut surgentem in cornua cervum,
726gaudet, hians immane, comasque arrexit et haeret visceribus super accumbens, lavit inproba taeter ora cruor, sic ruit in densos alacer Mezentius hostis. Sternitur infelix Acron et calcibus atram
731tundit humum expirans infractaque tela cruentat. Atque idem fugientem haud est dignatus Oroden sternere nec iacta caecum dare cuspide volnus: obvius adversoque occurrit seque viro vir contulit, haud furto melior, sed fortibus armis.
736Tum super abiectum posito pede nixus et hasta: Pars belli haud temnenda, viri, iacet altus Orodes. Conclamant socii laetum paeana secuti. Ille autem exspirans: Non me, quicumque es, inulto, victor, nec longum laetabere: te quoque fata
741prospectant paria atque eadem mox arva tenebis. Ad quae subridens mixta Mezentius ira: Nunc morere. Ast de me divom pater atque hominum rex viderit. Hoc dicens eduxit corpore telum: olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget
746somnus, in aeternam clauduntur lumina noctem. Caedicus Alcathoum obtruncat, Sacrator Hydaspen Partheniumque Rapo et praedurum viribus Orsen, Messapus Croniumque Lycaoniumque Erichaeten, illum infrenis equi lapsu tellure iacentem,
751hunc peditem. Pedes et Lycius processerat Agis, quem tamen haud expers Valerus virtutis avitae deicit; at Thronium Salius Saliumque Nealces insidiis, iaculo et longe fallente sagitta. Iam gravis aequabat luctus et mutua Mavors
756funera: caedebant pariter pariterque ruebant victores victique, neque his fuga nota neque illis. Di Iovis in tectis iram miserantur inanem amborum et tantos mortalibus esse labores: hinc Venus, hinc contra spectat Saturnia Iuno,
761pallida Tisiphone media inter milia saevit. At vero ingentem quatiens Mezentius hastam turbidus ingreditur campo. Quam magnus Orion, cum pedes incedit medii per maxima Nerei stagna viam scindens, umero supereminet undas
766aut summis referens annosam montibus ornum ingrediturque solo et caput inter nubila condit: talis se vastis infert Mezentius armis. Huic contra Aeneas, speculatus in agmine longo, obvius ire parat. Manet imperterritus ille,
771hostem magnanimum opperiens, et mole sua stat; atque oculis spatium emensus, quantum satis hastae: Dextra mihi deus et telum, quod missile libro, nunc adsint! Voveo praedonis corpore raptis indutum spoliis ipsum te, Lause, tropaeum
776Aeneae. Dixit stridentemque eminus hastam iecit; at illa volans clipeo est excussa proculque egregium Antoren latus inter et ilia figit, Herculis Antoren comitem, qui missus ab Argis haeserat Euandro atque Itala consederat urbe.
781Sternitur infelix alieno volnere caelumque aspicit et dulcis moriens reminiscitur Argos tum pius Aeneas hastam iacit: illa per orbem aere cavum triplici, per linea terga tribusque transit intextum tauris opus imaque sedit
786inguine, sed viris haud pertulit. Ocius ensem Aeneas, viso Tyrrheni sanguine laetus, eripit a femine et trepidanti fervidus instat. Ingemuit cari graviter genitoris amore, ut vidit, Lausus, lacrimaeque per ora volutae.
791Hic mortis durae casum tuaque optima facta, siqua fidem tanto est operi latura vetustas, non equidem nec te, iuvenis memorande, silebo. Ille pedem referens et inutilis inque ligatus cedebat clipeoque inimicum hastile trahebat:
796prorupit iuvenis seseque immiscuit armis iamque adsurgentis dextra plagamque ferentis Aeneae subiit mucronem ipsumque morando sustinuit. Socii magno clamore sequuntur, dum genitor nati parma protectus abiret,
801telaque coniciunt proturbantque eminus hostem missilibus. Furit Aeneas tectusque tenet se. Ac velut effusa siquando grandine nimbi praecipitant, omnis campis diffugit arator omnis et agricola et tuta latet arce viator,
806aut amnis ripis aut alti fornice saxi, dum pluit in terris, ut possint sole reducto exercere diem: sic obrutus undique telis Aeneas nubem belli, dum detonet omnis, sustinet et Lausum increpitat Lausoque minatur:
811Quo moriture ruis maioraque viribus audes? Fallit te incautum pietas tua. Nec minus ille exsultat demens; saevae iamque altius irae Dardanio surgunt ductori, extremaque Lauso Parcae fila legunt: validum namque exigit ensem
816per medium Aeneas iuvenem totumque recondit. Transiit et parmam mucro, levia arma minacis, et tunicam, molli mater quam neverat auro, implevitque sinum sanguis; tum vita per auras concessit maesta ad manis corpusque reliquit.
821At vero ut voltum vidit morientis et ora, ora modis Anchisiades pallentia miris, ingemuit miserans graviter dextramque tetendit, et mentem patriae subiit pietatis imago. Quid tibi nunc, miserande puer, pro laudibus istis,
826quid pius Aeneas tanta dabit indole dignum? Arma, quibus laetatus, habe tua, teque parentum manibus et cineri, siqua est ea cura, remitto. Hoc tamen infelix miseram solabere mortem: Aeneae magni dextra cadis. Increpat ultro
831cunctantis socios et terra sublevat ipsum, sanguine turpantem comptos de more capillos. Interea genitor Tiberini ad fluminis undam volnera siccabat lymphis corpusque levabat arboris adclinis trunco. Procul aerea ramis
836dependet galea et prato gravia arma quiescunt. Stant lecti circum iuvenes: ipse aeger anhelans colla fovet, fusus propexam in pectore barbam; multa super Lauso rogitat multumque remittit qui revocent maestique ferant mandata parentis.
841At Lausum socii exanimem super arma ferebant flentes, ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum. Agnovit longe gemitum praesaga mali mens: canitiem multo deformat pulvere et ambas ad caelum tendit palmas et corpore inhaeret.
846Tantane me tenuit vivendi, nate, voluptas, ut pro me hostili paterer succedere dextrae, quem genui? Tuane haec genitor per volnera servor, morte tua vivens? Heu, nunc misero mihi demum exitium infelix, nunc alte volnus adactum!
851Idem ego, nate, tuum maculavi crimine nomen, pulsus ob invidiam solio sceptrisque paternis. Debueram patriae poenas odiisque meorum: omnis per mortis animam sontem ipse dedissem! Nunc vivo neque adhuc homines lucemque relinquo.
856Sed linquam. Simul hoc dicens attollit in aegrum se femur et, quamvis dolor alto volnere tardet, haud deiectus equum duci iubet. Hoc decus illi, hoc solamen erat; bellis hoc victor abibat omnibus. Adloquitur maerentem et talibus infit:
861Rhaebe, diu, res siqua diu mortalibus ulla est, viximus. Aut hodie victor spolia illa cruenti et caput Aeneae referes Lausique dolorum ultor eris mecum aut, aperit si nulla viam vis, occumbes pariter; neque enim, fortissime, credo,
866iussa aliena pati et dominos dignabere Teucros. Dixit et exceptus tergo consueta locavit membra manusque ambas iaculis oneravit acutis, aere caput fulgens cristaque hirsutus equina. Sic cursum in medios rapidus dedit: aestuat ingens
871uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu, Atque hic Aenean magna ter voce vocavit. Aeneas agnovit enim laetusque precatur: Sic pater ille deum faciat, sic altus Apollo, incipias conferre manum.
877Tantum effatus et infesta subit obvius hasta. Ille autem: Quid me erepto, saevissime, nato terres? Haec via sola fuit, qua perdere posses. Nec mortem horremus nec divom parcimus ulli. Desine: nam venio moriturus et haec tibi porto
882dona prius. Dixit telumque intorsit in hostem; inde aliud super atque aliud figitque volatque ingenti gyro, sed sustinet aureus umbo. Ter circum adstantem laevos equitavit in orbes tela manu iaciens, ter secum Troïus heros
887immanem aerato circumfert tegmine silvam. Inde ubi tot traxisse moras, tot spicula taedet vellere et urgetur pugna congressus iniqua, multa movens animo iam tandem erumpit et inter bellatoris equi cava tempora conicit hastam.
892Tollit se arrectum quadrupes et calcibus auras verberat effusumque equitem super ipse secutus implicat eiectoque incumbit cernuus armo. Clamore incendunt caelum Troesque Latinique. Advolat Aeneas vaginaque eripit ensem
897et super haec: Ubi nunc Mezentius acer et illa effera vis animi? Contra Tyrrhenus, ut auras suspiciens hausit caelum mentemque recepit: Hostis amare, quid increpitas mortemque minaris? Nullum in caede nefas, nec sic ad proelia veni,
902nec tecum meus haec pepigit mihi foedera Lausus. Unum hoc per siqua est victis venia hostibus oro: corpus humo patiare tegi. Scio acerba meorum circumstare odia: hunc, oro, defende furorem et me consortem nati concede sepulchro.
907Haec loquitur iuguloque haud inscius accipit ensem undantique animam diffundit in arva cruore.
Book 10
1Meanwhile Olympus, seat of sovereign sway, threw wide its portals, and in conclave fair the Sire of gods and King of all mankind summoned th' immortals to his starry court, whence, high-enthroned, the spreading earth he views—
6and Teucria's camp and Latium's fierce array. Beneath the double-gated dome the gods were sitting; Jove himself the silence broke: “O people of Olympus, wherefore change your purpose and decree, with partial minds
11in mighty strife contending? I refused such clash of war 'twixt Italy and Troy. Whence this forbidden feud? What fears seduced to battles and injurious arms either this folk or that? Th' appointed hour
16for war shall be hereafter—speed it not!— When cruel Carthage to the towers of Rome shall bring vast ruin, streaming fiercely down the opened Alp. Then hate with hate shall vie, and havoc have no bound. Till then, give o'er,
21and smile upon the concord I decree!” Thus briefly, Jove. But golden Venus made less brief reply. “O Father, who dost hold o'er Man and all things an immortal sway! Of what high throne may gods the aid implore
26save thine? Behold of yonder Rutuli th' insulting scorn! Among them Turnus moves in chariot proud, and boasts triumphant war in mighty words. Nor do their walls defend my Teucrians now. But in their very gates,
31and on their mounded ramparts, in close fight they breast their foes and fill the moats with blood. Aeneas knows not, and is far away. Will ne'er the siege have done? A second time above Troy's rising walls the foe impends;
36another host is gathered, and once more from his Aetolian Arpi wrathful speeds a Diomed. I doubt not that for me wounds are preparing. Yea, thy daughter dear awaits a mortal sword! If by thy will
41unblest and unapproved the Trojans came to Italy, for such rebellious crime give them their due, nor lend them succor, thou, with thy strong hand! But if they have obeyed unnumbered oracles from gods above
46and sacred shades below, who now has power to thwart thy bidding, or to weave anew the web of Fate? Why speak of ships consumed along my hallowed Erycinian shore? Or of the Lord of Storms, whose furious blasts
51were summoned from Aeolia? Why tell of Iris sped from heaven? Now she moves the region of the shades (one kingdom yet from her attempt secure) and thence lets loose Alecto on the world above, who strides
56in frenzied wrath along th' Italian hills. No more my heart now cherishes its hope of domination, though in happier days such was thy promise. Let the victory fall to victors of thy choice! If nowhere lies
61the land thy cruel Queen would deign accord unto the Teucrian people,—O my sire, I pray thee by yon smouldering wreck of Troy to let Ascanius from the clash of arms escape unscathed. Let my own offspring live!
66Yea, let Aeneas, tossed on seas unknown, find some chance way; let my right hand avail to shelter him and from this fatal war in safety bring. For Amathus is mine, mine are Cythera and the Paphian hills
71and temples in Idalium. Let him drop the sword, and there live out inglorious days. By thy decree let Carthage overwhelm Ausonia's power; nor let defence be found to stay the Tyrian arms! What profits it
76that he escaped the wasting plague of war and fled Argolic fires? or that he knew so many perils of wide wilderness and waters rude? The Teucrians seek in vain new-born Troy in Latium. Better far
81crouched on their country's ashes to abide, and keep that spot of earth where once was Troy! Give back, O Father, I implore thee, give Xanthus and Simois back! Let Teucer's sons unfold once more the tale of Ilium's woe!”
86Then sovereign Juno, flushed with solemn scorn, made answer. “Dost thou bid me here profane the silence of my heart, and gossip forth of secret griefs? What will of god or man impelled Aeneas on his path of war,
91or made him foeman of the Latin King? Fate brought him to Italia? Be it so! Cassandra's frenzy he obeyed. What voice — say, was it mine?—urged him to quit his camp, risk life in storms, or trust his war, his walls,
96to a boy-captain, or stir up to strife Etruria's faithful, unoffending sons? What god, what pitiless behest of mine, impelled him to such harm? Who traces here the hand of Juno, or of Iris sped
101from heaven? Is it an ignoble stroke that Italy around the new-born Troy makes circling fire, and Turnus plants his heel on his hereditary earth, the son of old Pilumnus and the nymph divine,
106Venilia? For what offence would Troy bring sword and fire on Latium, or enslave lands of an alien name, and bear away plunder and spoil? Why seek they marriages, and snatch from arms of love the plighted maids?
111An olive-branch is in their hands; their ships make menace of grim steel. Thy power one day ravished Aeneas from his Argive foes, and gave them shape of cloud and fleeting air to strike at for a man. Thou hast transformed
116his ships to daughters of the sea. What wrong if I, not less, have lent the Rutuli something of strength in war? Aeneas, then, is far away and knows not! Far away let him remain, not knowing! If thou sway'st
121Cythera, Paphos, and Idalium, why rouse a city pregnant with loud wars, and fiery hearts provoke? That fading power of Phrygia, do I, forsooth, essay to ruin utterly? O, was it I
126exposed ill-fated Troy to Argive foe? For what offence in vast array of arms did Europe rise and Asia, for a rape their peace dissolving? Was it at my word th' adulterous Dardan shepherd came to storm
131the Spartan city? Did my hand supply his armament, or instigate a war for Cupid's sake? Then was thy decent hour to tremble for thy children; now too late the folly of thy long lament to Heaven,
136and objurgation vain.” Such Juno's plea; the throng of gods with voices loud or low gave various reply: as gathering winds sing through the tree-tops in dark syllables, and fling faint murmur on the far-off sea,
141to tell some pilot of to-morrow's storm. Then Jupiter omnipotent, whose hands have governance supreme, began reply; deep silence at his word Olympus knew, Earth's utmost cavern shook; the realms of light
146were silent; the mild zephyrs breathed no more, and perfect calm o'erspread the levelled sea. “Give ear, ye gods, and in your hearts record my mandate and decree. Fate yet allows no peace 'twixt Troy and Italy, nor bids
151your quarrel end. Therefore, what Chance this day to either foe shall bring, whatever hope either may cherish,—the Rutulian cause and Trojan have like favor in my eyes. The destinies of Italy constrain
156the siege; which for the fault of Troy fulfills an oracle of woe. Yon Rutule host I scatter not. But of his own attempt let each the triumph and the burden bear; for Jove is over all an equal King.
161The Fates will find the way.” The god confirmed his sentence by his Stygian brother's wave, the shadowy flood and black, abysmal shore. He nodded; at the bending of his brow Olympus shook. It is the council's end.
166Now from the golden throne uprises Jove; the train of gods attend him to the doors. Meanwhile at every gate the Rutule foe urges the slaughter on, and closes round the battlements with ring of flame. The host
171of Trojans, prisoned in the palisades, lies in strict siege and has no hope to fly. In wretched plight they man the turrets tall, to no avail, and with scant garrison the ramparts crown. In foremost line of guard
176are Asius Imbrasides, the twin Assaraci, and Hicetaon's son Thymoetes, and with Castor at his side the veteran Thymbris; then the brothers both of slain Sarpedon, and from Lycian steep
181Clarus and Themon. With full-straining thews lifting a rock, which was of some huge hill no fragment small, Lyrnesian Acmon stood; nor less than Clytius his sire he seemed, nor Mnestheus his great brother. Some defend
186the wall with javelins; some hurl down stones or firebrands, or to the sounding string fit arrows keen. But lo! amid the throng, well worth to Venus her protecting care, the Dardan boy, whose princely head shone forth
191without a helm, like radiant jewel set in burnished gold for necklace or for crown; or like immaculate ivory inclosed in boxwood or Orician terebinth; his tresses o'er his white neck rippled down,
196confined in circlet of soft twisted gold. Thee, too, the warrior nations gaze upon, high-nurtured Ismarus, inflicting wounds with shafts of venomed reed: Maeonia's vale thy cradle was, where o'er the fruitful fields
201well-tilled and rich, Pactolus pours his gold. Mnestheus was there, who, for his late repulse of Turnus from the rampart, towered forth in glory eminent; there Capys stood, whose name the Capuan citadel shall bear.
206While these in many a shock of grievous war hotly contend, Aeneas cleaves his way at midnight through the waters. He had fared from old Evander to th' Etruscan folk, addressed their King, and to him told the tale
211of his own race and name, his suit, his powers; of what allies Mezentius had embraced, and Turnus' lawless rage. He bids him know how mutable is man, and warning gives, with supplication joined. Without delay
216Tarchon made amity and sacred league, uniting with his cause. The Lydian tribe, now destined from its tyrant to be free, embarked, obedient to the gods, and gave allegiance to the foreign King. The ship
221Aeneas rode moved foremost in the line: its beak a pair of Phrygian lions bore; above them Ida rose, an emblem dear to exiled Trojans. On his Iofty seat was great Aeneas, pondering the events
226of changeful war; and clinging to his side the youthful Pallas fain would learn the lore of stars, the highway of dark night, and asks the story of his toils on land and sea. Now open Helicon and move my song,
231ye goddesses, to tell what host in arms followed Aeneas from the Tuscan shore, and manned his ships and traveiled o'er the sea! First Massicus his brazen Tigress rode, cleaving the brine; a thousand warriors
236were with him out of Clusium's walls, or from the citadel of Coste, who for arms had arrows, quivers from the shoulder slung, and deadly bows. Grim Abas near him sailed; his whole band wore well-blazoned mail; his ship
241displayed the form of Phoebus, all of gold: to him had Populonia consigned (His mother-city, she) six hundred youth well-proven in war; three hundred Elba gave, an island rich in unexhausted ores
246of iron, like the Chalybes. Next came Asilas, who betwixt the gods and men interprets messages and reads clear signs in victims' entrails, or the stars of heaven, or bird-talk, or the monitory flames
251of lightning: he commands a thousand men close lined, with bristling spears, of Pisa all, that Tuscan city of Alpheus sprung. Then Astur followed, a bold horseman he, Astur in gorgeous arms, himself most fair:
256three hundred are his men, one martial mind uniting all: in Caere they were bred and Minio's plain, and by the ancient towers of Pyrgo or Gravisca's storm-swept hill. Nor thy renown may I forget, brave chief
261of the Ligurians, Cinyrus; nor thine, Cupavo, with few followers, thy crest the tall swan-wings, of love unblest the sign and of a father fair: for legends tell that Cycnus, for his Phaethon so dear
266lamenting loud beneath the poplar shade of the changed sisters, made a mournful song to soothe his grief and passion: but erewhile, in his old age, there clothed him as he sang soft snow-white plumes, and spurning earth he soared
271on high, and sped in music through the stars. His son with bands of youthful peers urged on a galley with a Centaur for its prow, which loomed high o'er the waves, and seemed to hurl a huge stone at the water, as the keel
276ploughed through the deep. Next Ocnus summoned forth a war-host from his native shores, the son of Tiber, Tuscan river, and the nymph Manto, a prophetess: he gave good walls, O Mantua, and his mother's name, to thee,—
281to Mantua so rich in noble sires, but of a blood diverse, a triple breed, four stems in each; and over all enthroned she rules her tribes: her strength is Tuscan born. Hate of Mezentius armed against his name
286five hundred men: upon their hostile prow was Mincius in a cloak of silvery sedge,— Lake Benacus the river's source and sire. Last good Aulestes smites the depths below, with forest of a hundred oars: the flood
291like flowing marble foams; his Triton prow threatens the blue waves with a trumpet-shell; far as the hairy flanks its form is man, but ends in fish below—the parting waves beneath the half-brute bosom break in foam.
296Such chosen chiefs in thirty galleys ploughed the salt-wave, bringing help to Trojan arms. Day now had left the sky. The moon benign had driven her night-wandering chariot to the mid-arch of heaven. Aeneas sate,
301for thought and care allowed him no repose, holding the helm and tending his own sails. but, as he sped, behold, the beauteous train, lately his own, of nymphs, anon transformed by kind Cybebe to sea-ruling powers.
306In even ranks they swam the cloven wave,— nymphs now, but once as brazen galleys moored along the sandy shore. With joy they knew their King from far, and with attending train around him drew. Cymodocea then,
311best skilled in mortal speech, sped close behind, with her right hand upon the stern, uprose breast-high, and with her left hand deeply plied the silent stream, as to the wondering King she called: “So late on watch, O son of Heaven,
316Aeneas? Slack thy sail, but still watch on! We were the pine-trees on the holy top of Ida's mountain. Sea-nymphs now are we, and thine own fleet. When, as we fled, the flames rained o'er us from the false Rutulian's hand
321't was all unwillingly we cast away thy serviceable chains: and now once more we follow thee across the sea. These forms our pitying mother bade us take, with power to haunt immortally the moving sea.
326Lo, thy Ascanius lies close besieged in moated walls, assailed by threatening arms and Latium's front of war. Arcadia, her horsemen with the bold Etruscan joined, stands at the place appointed. Turnus means,
331with troop opposing, their advance to bar and hold them from the camp. Arouse thee, then, and with the rising beams of dawn call forth thy captains and their followers. Take that shield victorious, which for thee the Lord of Fire
336forged for a gift and rimmed about with gold. To-morrow's light—deem not my words be vain!— shall shine on huge heaps of Rutulia's dead.” So saying, she pushed with her right hand the stern with skilful thrust, and vanished. The ship sped
341swift as a spear, or as an arrow flies no whit behind the wind: and all the fleet quickened its course. Anchises' princely son, dumb and bewildered stood, but took good heart at such an omen fair. Then in few words
346with eyes upturned to heaven he made his prayer: “Mother of gods, O Ida's Queen benign, who Iovest Dindymus and towns with towers, and lion-yokes obedient to thy rein, be thou my guide in battle, and fulfil
351thine augury divine. In Phrygia's cause be present evermore with favoring power!” He spoke no more. For now the wheels of day had sped full circle into perfect light, the dark expelling. Then, for his first care,
356he bade his captains heed the signal given, equip their souls for war, and wait in arms the coming fray. Now holds he full in view his Trojans and their fortress, as he stands upon his towering ship. With his left hand
361he lifts his radiant shield; then from the wall the Dardan warriors send a battle-cry that echoes to the stars, as kindling hope their rage renews. A flight of spears they hurl: 't was like the cranes of Strymon, through dark clouds
366each other calling, when they cleave the skies vociferous, outwinging as they fly the swift south winds—Ioud music them pursues. Amazement on Ausonia's captains fell and Turnus, as they gazed. But soon they saw
371ships pointing shoreward and the watery plain all stirring with a fleet. Aeneas' helm uplifted its bright peak,—like streaming flame the crimson crest; his shield of orbed gold poured forth prodigious fire: it seemed as when
376in cloudless night a comet's blood-red beam makes mournful splendor, or the Dog-star glows, which rises to bring drought and pestilence to hapless men, and with ill-omened ray saddens the sky. But Turnus, undismayed,
381trusted not less to hurl th' invaders back and hold the shore against them. “Look!” he cried, your prayer is come to pass,—that sword in hand ye now may shatter them. The might of Mars is in a true man's blow. Remember well
386each man his home and wife! Now call to mind the glory and great deeds of all your sires! Charge to yon river-bank, while yet they take with weak and fearful steps their shoreward way! Fortune will help the brave.” With words like these,
391he chose, well-weighing, who should lead the charge, who at the leaguered walls the fight sustain. Aeneas straightway from his lofty ships lets down his troop by bridges. Some await the ebbing of slack seas, and boldly leap
396into the shallows; others ply the oar. Tarchon a beach discovers, where the sands sing not, nor waves with broken murmur fall, but full and silent swells the gentle sea. Steering in haste that way, he called his crews:
401“Now bend to your stout oars, my chosen brave. Lift each ship forward, till her beak shall cleave yon hostile shore; and let her keel's full weight the furrow drive. I care not if we break our ship's side in so sure an anchorage,
406if once we land.” While Tarchon urged them thus, the crews bent all together to their blades and sped their foaming barks to Latium's plain, till each beak gripped the sand and every keel lay on dry land unscathed:—all save thine own,
411O Tarchon! dashed upon a sand-bar, she! Long poised upon the cruel ridge she hung, tilted this way or that and beat the waves, then split, and emptied forth upon the tide her warriors; and now the drifting wreck
416of shattered oars and thwarts entangles them, or ebb of swirling waters sucks them down. Turnus no lingering knows, but fiercely hurls his whole line on the Teucrians, and makes stand along the shore. Now peals the trumpet's call.
421Aeneas in the van led on his troop against the rustic foe, bright augury for opening war, and laid the Latins low, slaughtering Theron, a huge chief who dared offer Aeneas battle; through the scales
426of brazen mail and corselet stiff with gold the sword drove deep, and gored the gaping side. Then smote he Lichas, from his mother's womb ripped in her dying hour, and unto thee, O Phoebus, vowed, because his infant days
431escaped the fatal steel. Hard by him fell stout Cisseus and gigantic Gyas; these to death were hurled, while with their knotted clubs they slew opposing hosts; but naught availed Herculean weapons, nor their mighty hands,
436or that Melampus was their sire, a peer of Hercules, what time in heavy toils through earth he roved. See next how Pharon boasts! But while he vainly raves, the whirling spear smites full on his loud mouth. And also thou,
441Cydon, wast by the Trojan stroke o'erthrown, while following in ill-omened haste the steps of Clytius, thy last joy, whose round cheek wore its youthful golden down: soon hadst thou lain in death, unheeding of thy fancies fond
446which ever turned to youth;—but now arose the troop of all thy brothers, Phorcus' sons, a close array of seven, and seven spears they hurled: some from Aeneas' helm or shield glanced off in vain; some Venus' kindly power,
451just as they touched his body, turned away. Aeneas then to true Achates cried: “Bring on my spears: not one shall fruitless fly against yon Rutules, even as they pierced the breasts of Greeks upon the Ilian plain.”
456Then one great shaft he seized and threw; it sped straight into Maeon's brazen shield, and clove his mail-clad heart. Impetuous to his aid brother Alcanor came, and lifted up with strong right hand his brother as he fell:
461but through his arm a second skilful shaft made bloody way, and by the sinews held the lifeless right hand from the shoulder swung. Then from his brother's body Numitor the weapon plucked and hurled it, furious,
466upon Aeneas; but it could not strike the hero's self, and grazed along the thigh of great Achates. Next into the fight Clausus of Cures came, in youthful bloom exulting, and with far-thrown javelin
471struck Dryops at the chin, and took away from the gashed, shrieking throat both life and voice; the warrior's fallen forehead smote the dust; his lips poured forth thick blood. There also fell three Thracians, odspring of the lordly stem
476of Boreas, and three of Idas' sons from Ismara, by various doom struck down. Halaesus here his wild Auruncans brings; and flying to the fight comes Neptune's son, Messapus, famous horseman. On both sides
481each charges on the foe. Ausonia's strand is one wide strife. As when o'er leagues of air the envious winds give battle to their peers, well-matched in rage and power; and neither they nor clouds above, nor plunging seas below
486will end the doubtful war, but each withstands the onset of the whole—in such wild way the line of Trojans on the Latian line hurls itself, limb on limb and man on man. But at a distance where the river's flood
491had scattered rolling boulders and torn trees uprooted from the shore, young Pallas spied th' Arcadian band, unused to fight on foot, in full retreat, the Latins following close— who also for the roughness of the ground
496were all unmounted: he (the last resource of men in straits) to wild entreaty turned and taunts, enkindling their faint hearts anew: “Whither, my men! O, by your own brave deeds, O, by our lord Evander's happy wars,
501the proud hopes I had to make my name a rival glory,—think not ye can fly! Your swords alone can carve ye the safe way straight through your foes. Where yonder warrior-throng is fiercest, thickest, there and only there
506your Country's honor calls for men like you, and for your captain Pallas. Nay, no gods against us fight; we are but mortal men pressed by a mortal foe. Not more than ours the number of their lives or swords. Behold,
511the barrier of yonder spreading sea emprisons us, and for a craven flight yon lands are all too small. Ha! Shall we steer across the sea to Troy?” He said, and sprang full in the centre of his gathered foes.
516First in his path was Lagus, thither led by evil stars; whom, as he tried to lift a heavy stone, the shaft of Pallas pierced where ribs and spine divide: backward he drew the clinging spear; But Hisbo from above
521surprised him not, though meaning it; for while (In anger blind for friend unpitying slain) at Pallas' face he flew:—he, standing firm, plunged deep into that swelling breast the sword. Then Sthenius he slew; and next Anchemolus
526of Rhoetus' ancient line, who dared defile his step-dame's bridal bed. And also ye, fair Thymber and Larides, Daucus' twins, fell on that Rutule field; so like were ye, your own kin scarce discerned, and parents proud
531smiled at the dear deceit; but now in death cruel unlikeness Pallas wrought; thy head fell, hapless Thymber, by Evander's sword; and thy right hand, Larides, shorn away, seemed feeling for its Iord; the fingers cold
536clutched, trembling, at the sword. Now all the troop of Arcady, their chief's great action seen, and by his warning roused, made at their foes, spurred on by grief and shame. Next Pallas pierced the flying Rhoetus in his car; this gained
541for Ilus respite and delay, for him the stout spear aimed at; but its flight was stopped by Rhoetus, as in swift retreat he rode, by the two high-born brothers close pursued, Teuthras and Tyres: from his car he rolled,
546making deep furrows with his lifeless heels along the Rutule plain. Oft when the winds of summer, long awaited, rise and blow, a shepherd fires the forest, and the blaze devours the dense grove, while o'er the fields,
551in that one moment, swift and sudden spread grim Vulcan's serried flames; from some high seat on distant hill, the shepherd peering down sees, glad at heart, his own victorious fires: so now fierce valor spreads, uniting all
556in one confederate rage, 'neath Pallas' eyes. But the fierce warrior Halaesus next led on the charge, behind his skilful shield close-crouching. Ladon and Demodocus and Pheres he struck down; his glittering blade
561cut Strymon's hand, which to his neck was raised, sheer off; with one great stone he crushed the brows of Thoas, scattering wide the broken skull, bones, brains, and gore. Halaesus' prophet-sire, foreseeing doom, had hid him in dark groves;
566but when the old man's fading eyes declined in death, the hand of Fate reached forth and doomed the young life to Evander's sword; him now Pallas assailed, first offering this prayer: “O Father Tiber, give my poising shaft
571through stout Halaesus' heart its lucky way! The spoil and trophy of the hero slain on thine own oak shall hang.” The god received the vow, and while Halaesus held his shield over Imaon, his ill-fated breast
576lay naked to th' Arcadian's hungry spear. But Lausus, seeing such a hero slain, bade his troop have no fear, for he himself was no small strength in war; and first he slew Abas, who fought hard, and had ever seemed
581himself the sticking-point and tug of war. Down went Arcadia's warriors, and slain etruscans fell, with many a Trojan brave the Greek had spared. Troop charges upon troop well-matched in might, with chiefs of like renown;
586the last rank crowds the first;—so fierce the press scarce hand or sword can stir. Here Pallas stands, and pushes back the foe; before him looms Lausus, his youthful peer, conspicuous both in beauty; but no star will them restore
591to home and native land. Yet would the King of high Olympus suffer not the pair to close in battle, but each hero found a later doom at hands of mightier foes. Now Turnus' goddess-sister bids him haste
596to Lausus' help. So he, in wheeling car, cut through the lines; and when his friends he saw, “Let the fight stop! “ he cried, “for none but I may strike at Pallas; unto me alone the prize of Pallas falls. I would his sire
601stood by to see.” He spake: his troop withdrew a fitting space. But as they made him room, the young prince, wondering at the scornful words, looked upon Turnus, glancing up and down that giant frame, and with fierce-frowning brows
606scanned him from far, hurling defiant words in answer to the King's. “My honor now shall have the royal trophy of this war, or glorious death. For either fortune fair my sire is ready. Threaten me no more!”
611So saying, to the midmost space he strode, and in Arcadian hearts the blood stood still. Swift from his chariot Turnus leaped, and ran to closer fight. As when some lion sees from his far mountain-lair a raging bull
616that sniffs the battle from the grassy field, and down the steep he flies—such picture showed grim Turnus as he came. But when he seemed within a spear's cast, Pallas opened fight, expecting Fortune's favor to the brave
621in such unequal match; and thus he prayed: “O, by my hospitable father's roof, where thou didst enter as a stranger-guest, hear me, Alcides, and give aid divine to this great deed. Let Turnus see these hands
626strip from his half-dead breast the bloody spoil! and let his eyes in death endure to see his conqueror!” Alcides heard the youth: but prisoned in his heart a deep-drawn sigh, and shed vain tears; for Jove, the King and Sire, .
631spoke with benignant accents to his son: “To each his day is given. Beyond recall man's little time runs by: but to prolong life's glory by great deeds is virtue's power. Beneath the lofty walls of fallen Troy
636fell many a son of Heaven. Yea, there was slain Sarpedon, my own offspring. Turnus too is summoned to his doom, and nears the bounds of his appointed span.” So speaking, Jove turned from Rutulia's war his eyes away.
641But Pallas hurled his lance with might and main, and from its hollow scabbard flashed his sword. The flying shaft touched where the plated steel over the shoulders rose, and worked its way through the shield's rim—then falling, glanced aside
646from Turnus' giant body. Turnus then poised, without haste, his iron-pointed spear, and, launching it on Pallas, cried, “Look now will not this shaft a good bit deeper drive?” He said: and through the mid-boss of the shield,
651steel scales and brass with bull's-hide folded round, the quivering spear-point crashed resistlessly, and through the corselet's broken barrier pierced Pallas' heart. The youth plucked out in vain the hot shaft from the wound; his life and blood
656together ebbed away, as sinking prone on his rent side he fell; above him rang his armor; and from lips with blood defiled he breathed his last upon his foeman's ground. Over him Turnus stood: “Arcadians all,”
661He cried, “take tidings of this feat of arms to King Evander. With a warrior's wage his Pallas I restore, and freely grant what glory in a hero's tomb may lie, or comfort in a grave. They dearly pay
666who bid Aeneas welcome at their board.” So saying, with his left foot he held down the lifeless form, and raised the heavy weight of graven belt, which pictured forth that crime of youthful company by treason slain,
671all on their wedding night, in bridal bowers to horrid murder given,—which Clonus, son of Eurytus, had wrought in lavish gold; this Turnus in his triumph bore away, exulting in the spoil. O heart of man,
676not knowing doom, nor of events to be! Nor, being lifted up, to keep thy bounds in prosperous days! To Turnus comes the hour when he would fain a prince's ransom give had Pallas passed unscathed, and will bewail
681cuch spoil of victory. With weeping now and lamentations Ioud his comrades lay young Pallas on his shield, and thronging close carry him homeward with a mournful song: alas! the sorrow and the glorious gain
686thy sire shall have in thee. For one brief day bore thee to battle and now bears away; yet leavest thou full tale of foemen slain. No doubtful rumor to Aeneas breaks the direful news, but a sure messenger
691tells him his followers' peril, and implores prompt help for routed Troy. His ready sword reaped down the nearest foes, and through their line clove furious path and broad; the valiant blade through oft-repeated bloodshed groped its way,
696proud Turnus, unto thee! His heart beholds Pallas and Sire Evander, their kind board in welcome spread, their friendly league of peace proffered and sealed with him, the stranger-guest. So Sulmo's sons, four warriors, and four
701of Ufens sprung, he took alive—to slay as victims to the shades, and pour a stream of captives' blood upon a flaming pyre. Next from afar his hostile shaft he threw at Mago, who with wary motion bowed
706beneath the quivering weapon, as it sped clean over him; then at Aeneas' knees he crouched and clung with supplicating cry: “O, by thy father's spirit, by thy hope in young Iulus, I implore thee, spare
711for son and father's sake this life of mine. A lofty house have I, where safely hid are stores of graven silver and good weight of wrought and unwrought gold. The fate of war hangs not on me; nor can one little life
716thy victory decide.” In answer spoke Aeneas: “Hoard the silver and the gold for thy own sons. Such bartering in war finished with Turnus, when fair Pallas fell. Thus bids Anchises' shade, Iulus—thus!”
721He spoke: and, grasping with his mighty left the helmet of the vainly suppliant foe, bent back the throat and drove hilt-deep his sword. A little space removed, Haemonides, priest of Phoebus and pale Trivia, stood,
726whose ribboned brows a sacred fillet bound: in shining vesture he, and glittering arms. Him too the Trojan met, repelled, and towered above the fallen form, o'ermantling it in mortal shade; Serestus bore away
731those famous arms a trophy vowed to thee, Gradivus, Iord of war! Soon to fresh fight came Caeculus, a child of Vulcan's line, and Umbro on the Marsic mountains bred: these met the Trojan's wrath. His sword shore off
736Anxur's left hand, and the whole orbed shield dropped earthward at the stroke: though Anxur's tongue had boasted mighty things, as if great words would make him strong, and lifting his proud heart as high as heaven, had hoped perchance to see
741gray hairs and length of days. Then Tarquitus strode forth, exulting in his burnished arms (Him Dryope, the nymph, to Faunus bore), and dared oppose Aeneas' rage. But he drew back his lance and, charging, crushed at once
746corselet and ponderous shield; then off he struck the supplicating head, which seemed in vain preparing speech; while o'er the reeking corpse the victor stood, and thrusting it away spoke thus with wrathful soul: “Now lie thou there,
751thou fearsome sight! No noble mother's hand shall hide thee in the ground, or give those limbs to their ancestral tomb. Thou shalt be left to birds of ravin; or go drifting far along yon river to engulfing seas,
756where starving fishes on those wounds shall feed.” Antceus next and Lucas he pursues, though all in Turnus' van; and Numa bold and Camers tawny-tressed, the son and heir of Volscens the stout-hearted, whose domain
761surpassed the richest of Ausonia's lords, when over hushed Amyclae he was king. Like old Aegaeon of the hundred arms, the hundred-handed, from whose mouths and breasts blazed fifty fiery blasts, as he made war
766with fifty sounding shields and fifty swords against Jove's thunder;—so Aeneas raged victorious o'er the field, when once his steel warmed to its work. But lo, he turns him now where come Niphaeus' bold-advancing wheels
771and coursers four, who, when at furious speed they faced his giant stride and dreadful cry, upreared in panic, and reversing spilled their captain to the ground, and bore away the chariot to the river's distant shore.
776Meanwhile, with two white coursers to their car, the brothers Lucagus and Liger drove into the heart of battle: Liger kept with skilful hand the manage of the steeds; bold Lucagus swung wide his naked sword.
781Aeneas, by their wrathful brows defied, brooked not the sight, but to the onset flew, huge-looming, with adverse and threatening spear. Cried Liger, “Not Achilles' chariot, ours! Nor team of Diomed on Phrygia's plain!
786The last of life and strife shall be thy meed upon this very ground.” Such raving word flowed loud from Liger's lip: not with a word the Trojan hero answered him, but flung his whirling spear; and even as Lucagus
791leaned o'er the horses, goading them with steel, and, left foot forward, gathered all his strength to strike—the spear crashed through the under rim of his resplendent shield and entered deep in the left groin; then from the chariot fallen,
796the youth rolled dying on the field, while thus pious Aeneas paid him taunting words: “O Lucagus, thy chariot did not yield because of horses slow to fly, or scared by shadows of a foe. It was thyself
801leaped o'er the wheel and fled.” So saying, he grasped the horses by the rein. The brother then, spilled also from the car, reached wildly forth his helpless hands: “O, by thy sacred head, and by the parents who such greatness gave,
806good Trojan, let me live! Some pity show to prostrate me!” But ere he longer sued, Aeneas cried, “Not so thy language ran a moment gone! Die thou! Nor let this day brother from brother part!” Then where the life
811hides in the bosom, he thrust deep his sword. Thus o'er the field of war the Dardan King moved on, death-dealing: like a breaking flood or cloudy whirlwind seemed his wrath. Straightway the boy Ascanius from the ramparts came,
816his warriors with him; for the siege had failed. Now Jupiter to Juno thus began: “O ever-cherished spouse and sister dear, surely 't is Venus—as thy mind misgave— whose favor props—O, what discernment thine!
821Yon Trojan power; not swift heroic hands, or souls of fury facing perilous war!” Juno made meek reply: “O noblest spouse! Why vex one sick at heart, who humbly fears thy stern command? If I could claim to-day
826what once I had, my proper right and due, love's induence, I should not plead in vain to thee, omnipotent, to give me power to lead off Turnus from the fight unscathed, and save him at his father Daunus' prayer.
831Aye, let him die! And with his loyal blood the Teucrians' vengeance feed! Yet he derives from our Saturnian stem, by fourth remove sprung from Pilumnus. Oft his liberal hands have heaped unstinted offering at thy shrine.”
836Thus in few words th' Olympian King replied: “If for the fated youth thy prayer implores delay and respite of impending doom, if but so far thou bidst me interpose,— go—favor Turnus' flight, and keep him safe
841in this imperilled hour; I may concede such boon. But if thy pleading words intend some larger grace, and fain would touch or change the issue of the war, then art thou fed on expectation vain.” With weeping eyes
846Juno made answer: “Can it be thy mind gives what thy words refuse, and Turnus' life, if rescued, may endure? Yet afterward some cruel close his guiltless day shall see— or far from truth I stray! O, that I were
851the dupe of empty fears! and O, that thou wouldst but refashion to some happier end the things by thee begun—for thou hast power!” She ceased; and swiftly from the peak of heaven moved earthward, trailing cloud-wrack through the air,
856and girdled with the storm. She took her way to where Troy's warriors faced Laurentum's line. There of a hollow cloud the goddess framed a shape of airy, unsubstantial shade, Aeneas' image, wonderful to see,
861and decked it with a Dardan lance and shield, a crested helmet on the godlike head; and windy words she gave of soulless sound, and motion like a stride—such shapes, they say, the hovering phantoms of the dead put on,
866or empty dreams which cheat our slumbering eyes. Forth to the front of battle this vain shade stalked insolent, and with its voice and spear challenged the warrior. At it Turnus flew, and hurled a hissing spear with distant aim;
871the thing wheeled round and fled. The foe forthwith, thinking Aeneas vanquished, with blind scorn flattered his own false hope: “Where wilt thou fly, Aeneas? Wilt thou break a bridegroom's word? This sword will give thee title to some land
876thou hast sailed far to find!” So clamoring loud he followed, flashing far his naked sword; nor saw the light winds waft his dream away. By chance in covert of a lofty crag a ship stood fastened and at rest; her sides
881showed ready bridge and stairway; she had brought Osinius, king of Clusium. Thither came Aeneas' counterfeit of flight and fear, and dropped to darkness. Turnus, nothing loth, gave close chase, overleaping every bar,
886and scaling the high bridge; but scarce he reached the vessel's prow, when Juno cut her loose, the cables breaking, and along swift waves pushed her to sea. Yet in that very hour Aeneas to the battle vainly called
891the vanished foe, and round his hard-fought path stretched many a hero dead. No longer now the mocking shadow sought to hide, but soared visibly upward and was Iost in cloud, while Turnus drifted o'er the waters wide
896before the wind. Bewildered and amazed he looked around him; little joy had he in his own safety, but upraised his hands in prayer to Heaven: “O Sire omnipotent! Didst thou condemn me to a shame like this?
901Such retribution dire? Whither now? Whence came I here? What panic wafts away this Turnus—if 't is he? Shall I behold Laurentum's towers once more? But what of those my heroes yonder, who took oath to me,
906and whom—O sin and shame!—I have betrayed to horrible destruction? Even now I see them routed, and my ears receive their dying groans. What is this thing I do? Where will the yawning earth crack wide enough
911beneath my feet? Ye tempests, pity me! On rocks and reef—'t is Turnus' faithful prayer, let this bark founder; fling it on the shoals of wreckful isles, where no Rutulian eye can follow me, or Rumor tell my shame.”
916With such wild words his soul tossed to and fro, not knowing if to hide his infamy with his own sword and madly drive its blade home to his heart, or cast him in the sea, and, swimming to the rounded shore, renew
921his battle with the Trojan foe. Three times each fatal course he tried; but Juno's power three times restrained, and with a pitying hand the warrior's purpose barred. So on he sped o'er yielding waters and propitious tides,
926far as his father Daunus' ancient town. At Jove's command Mezentius, breathing rage, now takes the field and leads a strong assault against victorious Troy. The Tuscan ranks meet round him, and press hard on him alone,
931on him alone with vengeance multiplied their host of swords they draw. As some tall cliff, projecting to the sea, receives the rage of winds and waters, and untrembling bears vast, frowning enmity of seas and skies,—
936so he. First Dolichaon's son he slew, Hebrus; then Latagus and Palmus, though they fled amain; he smote with mighty stone torn from the mountain, full upon the face of Latagus; and Palmus he let lie
941hamstrung and rolling helpless; he bestowed the arms on his son Lausus for a prize, another proud crest in his helm to wear; he laid the Phrygian Euanthus Iow; and Mimas, Paris' comrade, just his age,—
946born of Theano's womb to Amycus his sire, that night when royal Hecuba, teeming with firebrand, gave Paris birth: one in the city of his fathers sleeps; and one, inglorious, on Laurentian strand.
951As when a wild boar, harried from the hills by teeth of dogs (one who for many a year was safe in pine-clad Vesulus, or roamed the meres of Tiber, feeding in the reeds) falls in the toils at last, and stands at bay,
956raging and bristling, and no hunter dares defy him or come near, but darts are hurled from far away, with cries unperilous: not otherwise, though righteous is their wrath against Mezentius, not a man so bold
961as face him with drawn sword, but at long range they throw their shafts and with loud cries assail; he, all unterrified, makes frequent stand, gnashing his teeth, and shaking off their spears. From ancient Corythus had Acron come,
966a Greek, who left half-sung his wedding-song, and was an exile; him Mezentius saw among long lines of foes, with flaunting plumes and purple garments from his plighted spouse. Then as a starving lion when he prowls
971about high pasture-lands, urged on his way by maddening hunger (if perchance he see a flying she-goat or tall-antlered stag) lifts up his shaggy mane, and gaping wide his monstrous jaws, springs at the creature's side,
976feeding foul-lipped, insatiable of gore: so through his gathered foes Mezentius flew at his prey. He stretched along the ground ill-fated Acron, who breathed life away, beating the dark dust with his heels, and bathed
981his broken weapons in his blood. Nor deigned Mezentius to strike Orodes down as he took flight, nor deal a wound unseen with far-thrown spear; but ran before his face, fronting him man to man, nor would he win
986by sleight or trick, but by a mightier sword. Soon on the fallen foe he set his heel, and, pushing hard, with heel and spear, cried out: “Look ye, my men, where huge Orodes lies, himself a dangerous portion of this war!”
991With loyal, Ioud acclaim his peers reply; but thus the dying hero: “Victor mine, whoe'er thou art, I fall not unavenged! Thou shalt but triumph for a fleeting hour. Like doom for thee is written. Speedily
996thou shalt this dust inhabit, even as I!” Mezentius answered him with wrathful smile: “Now die! What comes on me concerns alone the Sire of gods and Sovereign of mankind.” So saying, from the wounded breast he plucked
1001his javelin: and on those eyes there fell inexorable rest and iron slumber, and in unending night their vision closed. Then Caedicus cut down Alcathous, Sacrator slew Hydaspes, Rapo smote
1006Parthenius and Orses stout and strong; Messapus, good blade cut down Clonius and Ericetes, fierce Lycaon's child; the one from an unbridled war-horse thrown, the other slain dismounted. Then rode forth
1011Agis the Lycian, but bold Valerus, true to his valiant breeding, hurled him down; having slain Thronius, Salius was slain by skilled Nealces, of illustrious name for spear well cast and far-surprising bow.
1016Thus Mars relentless holds in equal scale slaughters reciprocal and mutual woe; the victors and the vanquished kill or fall in equal measure; neither knows the way to yield or fly. Th' Olympians Iook down
1021out of Jove's house, and pity as they see the unavailing wrath of either foe, and burdens measureless on mortals laid. Lo! Venus here, Saturnian Juno yon, in anxious watch; while pale Tisiphone
1026moves on infuriate through the battling lines. On strode Mezentius o'er the gory plain, and swollen with rage waved wide-his awful spear. Like tall Orion when on foot he goes trough the deep sea and lifts his shoulders high
1031above the waves; or when he takes his path along the mountain-tops, and has for staff an aged ash-tree, as he fixes firm his feet in earth and hides his brows in cloud;— so Ioomed Mezentius with his ponderous arms.
1036To match him now, Aeneas, Iooking down the long array of war, came forth in arms to challenge and defy. But quailing not, a mass immovable, the other stood waiting his noble foe, and with a glance
1041measured to cast his spear the space between. “May this right hand“, he said, “and this swift spear which here I poise, be favoring gods for me! The spoils from yonder robber's carcase stripped I vow to hang on thee, my Lausus, thou
1046shalt stand for trophy of Aeneas slain.” He said, and hurled from far the roaring spear, which from the shield glanced off, and speeding still smote famed Antores 'twixt the loin and side— antores, friend of Hercules, who came
1051from Argos, and had joined Evander's cause, abiding in Italia. Lo, a wound meant for another pierced him, and he lay, ill-fated! Iooking upward to the light, and dreaming of dear Argos as he died.
1056Then good Aeneas hurled his spear; it passed through hollow orb of triple bronze, and through layers of flax and triple-twisted hides; then in the lower groin it lodged, but left its work undone. Aeneas, not ill-pleased
1061to see the Tuscan wounded, swiftly drew the falchion from his thigh, and hotly pressed his startled foe. But Lausus at the sight groaned loud, so much he loved his father dear, and tears his cheek bedewed. O storied youth!
1066If olden worth may win believing ear, let not my song now fail of thee to sing, thy noble deeds, thy doom of death and pain! Mezentius, now encumbered and undone, fell backward, trailing from the broken shield
1071his foeman's spear. His son leaped wildly forth to join the fray; and where Aeneas' hand lifted to strike, he faced the thrusting sword and gave the hero pause. His comrades raised applauding cries, as shielded by his son
1076the father made retreat; their darts they hurl, and vex with flying spears the distant foe: Aeneas, wrathful, stands beneath his shield. As when the storm-clouds break in pelting hail, the swains and ploughmen from the furrows fly,
1081and every traveller cowers in sure defence of river-bank or lofty shelving crag, while far and wide it pours; and by and by, each, when the sun returns, his task pursues: so great Aeneas, by assault o'erwhelmed,
1086endured the cloud of battle, till its rage thundered no more; then with a warning word to Lausus with upbraiding voice he called: “Why, O death-doomed, rush on to deeds too high for strength like thine. Thou art betrayed, rash boy,
1091by thine own loyal heart!” But none the less the youth made mad defence; while fiercer burned the Trojan's anger; and of Lausus' days the loom of Fate spun forth the last thin thread; for now Aeneas thrust his potent blade
1096deep through the stripling's breast and out of sight; through the light shield it passed—a frail defence to threaten with!—and through the tunic fine his mother's hand had wrought with softest gold: blood filled his bosom, and on path of air
1101down to the shades the mournful soul withdrew, its body quitting. As Anchises' son beheld the agonizing lips and brow so wondrous white in death, he groaned aloud in pity, and reached o'er him his right hand,
1106touched to the heart such likeness to behold of his own filial love. “Unhappy boy! What reward worthy of heroic deeds can I award thee now? Wear still those arms so proudly worn! And I will send thee home
1111(Perhaps thou carest!) to the kindred shades and ashes of thy sires. But let it be some solace in thy pitiable doom that none but great Aeneas wrought thy fall.” Then to the stripling's tardy followers
1116he sternly called, and lifted from the earth with his own hand the fallen foe: dark blood defiled those princely tresses braided fair. Meanwhile Mezentius by the Tiber's wave with water staunched his wound, and propped his weight
1121against a tree; upon its limbs above his brazen helmet hung, and on the sward his ponderous arms lay resting. Round him watched his chosen braves. He, gasping and in pain, clutched at his neck and let his flowing beard
1126loose on his bosom fall; he questions oft of Lausus, and sends many a messenger to bid him back, and bear him the command of his sore-grieving sire. But lo! his peers bore the dead Lausus back upon his shield,
1131and wept to see so strong a hero quelled by stroke so strong. From long way off the sire, with soul prophetic of its woe, perceived what meant their wail and cry. On his gray hairs the dust he flung, and, stretching both his hands
1136to heaven, he cast himself the corpse along. “O son,” he cried, “was life to me so sweet, that I to save myself surrendered o'er my own begotten to a foeman's steel? Saved by these gashes shall thy father be,
1141and living by thy death? O wretched me, how foul an end have I! Now is my wound deep! deep! 't was I, dear son, have stained thy name with infamy—to exile driven from sceptre and hereditary throne
1146by general curse. Would that myself had borne my country's vengeance and my nation's hate! Would my own guilty life my debt had paid— yea, by a thousand deaths! But, see, I live! Not yet from human kind and light of day
1151have I departed. But depart I will.” So saying, he raised him on his crippled thigh, and though by reason of the grievous wound his forces ebbed, yet with unshaken mien he bade them lead his war-horse forth, his pride,
1156his solace, which from every war victorious bore him home. The master then to the brave beast, which seemed to know his pain, spoke thus: “My Rhoebus, we have passed our days long time together, if long time there be
1161for mortal creatures. Either on this day thou shalt his bloody spoils in triumph bear and that Aeneas' head,—and so shalt be avenger of my Lausus' woe; or else, if I be vanquished, thou shalt sink and fall
1166beside me. For, my bravest, thou wouldst spurn a stranger's will, and Teucrian lords to bear.” He spoke and, mounting to his back, disposed his limbs the wonted way and filled both hands with pointed javelins; a helm of brass
1171with shaggy horse-hair crest gleamed o'er his brow. Swift to the front he rode: a mingled flood surged in his heart of sorrow, wrath, and shame; and thrice with loud voice on his foe he called. Aeneas heard and made exulting vow:
1176“Now may the Father of the gods on high, and great Apollo hear! Begin the fray!” He said, and moved forth with a threatening spear. The other cried: “Hast robbed me of my son, and now, implacable, wouldst fright me more?
1181That way, that only, was it in thy power to cast me down. No fear of death I feel. Nor from thy gods themselves would I refrain. Give o'er! For fated and resolved to die I come thy way: but; bring thee as I pass
1186these offerings.” With this he whirled a spear against his foe, and after it drove deep another and another, riding swift in wide gyration round him. But the shield, the golden boss, broke not. Three times he rode
1191in leftward circles, hurling spear on spear against th' unmoved Aeneas: and three times the Trojan hero in his brazen shield the sheaf of spears upbore. But such slow fight, such plucking of spent shafts from out his shield,
1196the Trojan liked not, vexed and sorely tried in duel so ill-matched. With wrathful soul at length he strode forth, and between the brows of the wild war-horse planted his Iong spear. Up reared the creature, beating at the air
1201with quivering feet, then o'er his fallen lord entangling dropped, and prone above him lay, pinning with ponderous shoulder to the ground. The Trojans and the Latins rouse the skies with clamor Ioud. Aeneas hastening forth
1206unsheathes his sword, and looming o'er him cries: “Where now is fierce Mezentius, and his soul's wild pulse of rage?” The Tuscan in reply with eyes uprolled, and gasping as he gave long looks at heaven, recalled his fading mind:
1211“Why frown at me and fume, O bitterest foe? Why threaten death? To slay me is no sin. Not to take quarter came I to this war, not truce with thee did my lost Lausus crave, yet this one boon I pray,—if mercy be
1216for fallen foes: O, suffer me when dead in covering earth to hide! Full well I know what curses of my people ring me round. Defend me from that rage! I pray to be my son's companion in our common tomb.”
1221He spoke: then offered with unshrinking eye his veined throat to the sword. O'er the bright mail his vital breath gushed forth in streaming gore.
Book 11
1Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit: Aeneas, quamquam et sociis dare tempus humandis praecipitant curae turbataque funere mens est, vota deum primo victor solvebat Eoo. Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
6constituit tumulo fulgentiaque induit arma, Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi, magne, tropaeum, bellipotens: aptat rorantis sanguine cristas telaque trunca viri et bis sex thoraca petitum perfossumque locis clipeumque ex aere sinistrae
11subligat atque ensem collo suspendit eburnum. Tum socios, namque omnis eum stipata tegebat turba ducum, sic incipiens hortatur ovantis: Maxima res effecta, viri; timor omnis abesto, quod superest: haec sunt spolia et de rege superbo
16primitiae, manibusque meis Mezentius hic est. Nunc iter ad regem nobis murosque Latinos. Arma parate animis et spe praesumite bellum, nequa mora ignaros, ubi primum vellere signa adnuerint superi pubemque educere castris,
21impediat segnisve metu sententia tardet. Interea socios inhumataque corpora terrae mandemus, qui solus honos Acheronte sub imo est. Ite, ait, egregias animas, quae sanguine nobis hanc patriam peperere suo, decorate supremis
26muneribus, maestamque Evandri primus ad urbem mittatur Pallas, quem non virtutis egentem abstulit atra dies et funere mersit acerbo. Sic ait inlacrimans recipitque ad limina gressum, corpus ubi exanimi positum Pallantis Acoetes
31servabat senior, qui Parrhasio Evandro armiger ante fuit, sed non felicibus aeque tum comes auspiciis caro datus ibat alumno. Circum omnis famulumque manus Troianaque turba et maestum Iliades crinem de more solutae.
36Ut vero Aeneas foribus sese intulit altis, ingentem gemitum tunsis ad sidera tollunt pectoribus, maestoque immugit regia luctu. Ipse caput nivei fultum Pallantis et ora ut vidit levique patens in pectore vulnus
41cuspidis Ausoniae, lacrimis ita fatur obortis. Tene, inquit, miserande puer, cum laeta veniret, invidit Fortuna mihi, ne regna videres nostra neque ad sedes victor veherere paternas? Non haec Evandro de te promissa parenti
46discedens dederam, cum me complexus euntem mitteret in magnum imperium metuensque moneret acris esse viros, cum dura proelia gente. Et nunc ille quidem spe multum captus inani fors et vota facit cumulatque altaria donis:
51nos iuvenem exanimum et nil iam caelestibus ullis debentem vano maesti comitamur honore. Infelix, nati funus crudele videbis! Hi nostri reditus expectatique triumphi! Haec mea magna fides! At non, Evandre, pudendis
56vulneribus pulsum adspicies nec sospite dirum optabis nato funus pater. Ei mihi, quantum praesidium Ausonia et quantum tu perdis, Iule! Haec ubi deflevit, tolli miserabile corpus imperat et toto lectos ex agmine mittit
61mille viros, qui supremum comitentur honorem intersintque patris lacrimis, solacia luctus exigua ingentis, misero sed debita patri. Haud segnes alii crates et molle feretrum arbuteis texunt virgis et vimine querno
66exstructosque toros obtentu frondis inumbrant. Hic iuvenem agresti sublimem stramine ponunt, qualem virgineo demessum pollice florem seu mollis violae seu languentis hyacinthi, cui neque fulgor adhuc necdum sua forma recessit:
71non iam mater alit tellus viresque ministrat. Tum geminas vestes auroque ostroque rigentis extulit Aeneas, quas illi laeta laborum ipsa suis quondam manibus Sidonia Dido fecerat et tenui telas discreverat auro.
76Harum unam iuveni supremum maestus honorem induit arsurasque comas obnubit amictu, multaque praeterea Laurentis praemia pugnae aggerat et longo praedam iubet ordine duci. Addit equos et tela, quibus spoliaverat hostem.
81Vinxerat et post terga manus, quos mitteret umbris inferias, caeso sparsuros sanguine flammas, indutosque iubet truncos hostilibus armis ipsos ferre duces inimicaque nomina figi. Ducitur infelix aevo confectus Acoetes:
86pectora nunc foedans pugnis, nunc unguibus ora sternitur et toto proiectus corpore terrae.~.~. Ducunt et Rutulo perfusos sanguine currus. Post bellator equus positis insignibus Aethon it lacrimans guttisque umectat grandibus ora.
91Hastam alii galeamque ferunt, nam cetera Turnus victor habet. Tum maesta phalanx Teucrique sequuntur Tyrrhenique omnes et versis Arcades armis. Postquam omnis longe comitum praecesserat ordo, substitit Aeneas gemituque haec addidit alto:
96Nos alias hinc ad lacrimas eadem horrida belli fata vocant: salve aeternum mihi, maxime Palla, aeternumque vale. Nec plura effatus ad altos tendebat muros gressumque in castra ferebat. Iamque oratores aderant ex urbe Latina,
101velati ramis oleae veniamque rogantes: corpora, per campos ferro quae fusa iacebant, redderet ac tumulo sineret succedere terrae; nullum cum victis certamen et aethere cassis; parceret hospitibus quondam socerisque vocatis.
106Quos bonus Aeneas haud aspernanda precantis prosequitur venia et verbis haec insuper addit: Quaenam vos tanto fortuna indigna, Latini, implicuit bello, qui nos fugiatis amicos? Pacem me exanimis et Martis sorte peremptis
111oratis? Equidem et vivis concedere vellem. Nec veni, nisi fata locum sedemque dedissent, nec bellum cum gente gero: rex nostra reliquit hospitia et Turni potius se credidit armis. Aequius huic Turnum fuerat se opponere morti.
116Si bellum finire manu, si pellere Teucros apparat, his mecum decuit concurrere telis: vixet, cui vitam deus aut sua dextra dedisset. Nunc ite et miseris supponite civibus ignem. Dixerat Aeneas. Illi obstipuere silentes
121conversique oculos inter se atque ora tenebant. Tum senior semperque odiis et crimine Drances infensus iuveni Turno sic ore vicissim orsa refert: O fama ingens, ingentior armis vir Troiane, quibus caelo te laudibus aequem?
126Iustitiaene prius mirer belline laborum? Nos vero haec patriam grati referemus ad urbem et te, siqua viam dederit fortuna, Latino iungemus regi: quaerat sibi foedera Turnus. Quin et fatalis murorum attollere moles
131saxaque subvectare umeris Troiana iuvabit. Dixerat haec, unoque omnes eadem ore fremebant. Bis senos pepigere dies et pace sequestra per silvas Teucri mixtique inpune Latini erravere iugis. Ferro sonat alta bipenni
136fraxinus, evertunt actas ad sidera pinus, robora nec cuneis et olentem scindere cedrum nec plaustris cessant vectare gementibus ornos. Et iam Fama volans, tanti praenuntia luctus, Evandrum Evandrique domos et moenia replet,
141quae modo victorem Latio Pallanta ferebat. Arcades ad portas ruere et de more vetusto funereas rapuere faces; lucet via longo ordine flammarum et late discriminat agros. Contra turba Phrygum veniens plangentia iungit
146agmina. Quae postquam matres succedere tectis viderunt, maestam incendunt clamoribus urbem. At non Evandrum potis est vis ulla tenere, sed venit in medios. Feretro Pallanta reposto procubuit super atque haeret lacrimansque gemensque,
151et via vix tandem vocis laxata dolore est. Non haec, O Palla, dederas promissa parenti, cautius ut saevo velles te credere Marti; haud ignarus eram, quantum nova gloria in armis et praedulce decus primo certamine posset.
156Primitiae iuvenis miserae bellique propinqui dura rudimenta et nulli exaudita deorum vota precesque meae! Tuque, O sanctissima coniunx, felix morte tua neque in hunc servata dolorem! Contra ego vivendo vici mea fata, superstes
161restarem ut genitor. Troum socia arma secutum obruerent Rutuli telis! Animam ipse dedissem atque haec pompa domum me, non Pallanta, referret, nec vos arguerim, Teucri, nec foedera nec quas iunximus hospitio dextras: sors ista senectae
166debita erat nostrae. Quod si immatura manebat mors natum, caesis Volscorum milibus ante ducentem in Latium Teucros cecidisse iuvabit. Quin ego non alio digner te funere, Palla, quam pius Aeneas
172Magna tropaea ferunt, quos dat tua dextera Leto: tu quoque nunc stares immanis truncus in armis, esset par aetas et idem si robur ab annis, Turne. Sed infelix Teucros quid demoror armis? Vadite et haec memores regi mandata referte:
177quod vitam moror invisam Pallante perempto, dextera causa tua est, Turnum natoque patrique quam debere vides. Meritis vacat hic tibi solus fortunaeque locus. Non vitae gaudia quaero, nec fas, sed nato Manis perferre sub imos.
182Aurora interea miseris mortalibus almam extulerat lucem, referens opera atque labores: iam pater Aeneas, iam curvo in litore Tarchon constituere pyras. Huc corpora quisque suorum more tulere patrum, subiectisque ignibus atris
187conditur in tenebras altum caligine caelum. Ter circum accensos cincti fulgentibus armis decurrere rogos, ter maestum funeris ignem lustravere in equis ululatusque ore dedere; spargitur et tellus lacrimis, sparguntur et arma:
192it caelo clamorque virum clangorque tubarum. Hic alii spolia occisis derepta Latinis coniciunt igni, galeas ensesque decoros frenaque ferventisque rotas; pars munera nota, ipsorum clipeos et non felicia tela.
197Multa boum circa mactantur corpora Morti, saetigerosque sues raptasque ex omnibus agris in flammam iugulant pecudes. Tum litore toto ardentis spectant socios semustaque servant busta neque avelli possunt, nox umida donec
202invertit caelum stellis ardentibus aptum. Nec minus et miseri diversa in parte Latini innumeras struxere pyras, et corpora partim multa virum terrae infodiunt avectaque partim finitimos tollunt in agros urbique remittunt,
207cetera confusaeque ingentem caedis acervum nec numero nec honore cremant: tunc undique vasti certatim crebris conlucent ignibus agri. Tertia lux gelidam caelo dimoverat umbram: maerentes altum cinerem et confusa ruebant
212ossa focis tepidoque onerabant aggere terrae. Iam vero in tectis, praedivitis urbe Latini, praecipuus fragor et longi pars maxima luctus. Hic matres miseraeque nurus, hic cara sororum pectora maerentum puerique parentibus orbi
217dirum exsecrantur bellum Turnique hymenaeos: ipsum armis ipsumque iubent decernere ferro, qui regnum Italiae et primos sibi poscat honores. ingravat haec saevus Drances solumque vocari testatur, solum posci in certamina Turnum.
222Multa simul contra variis sententia dictis pro Turno, et magnum reginae nomen obumbrat, multa virum meritis sustentat fama tropaeis. Hos inter motus, medio in flagrante tumultu, ecce super maesti magna Diomedis ab urbe
227legati responsa ferunt: nihil omnibus actum tantorum impensis operum, nil dona neque aurum nec magnas valuisse preces, alia arma Latinis quaerenda aut pacem Troiano ab rege petendum. Deficit ingenti luctu rex ipse Latinus.
232Fatalem Aenean manifesto numine ferri admonet ira deum tumulique ante ora recentes. Ergo concilium magnum primosque suorum imperio accitos alta intra limina cogit. olli convenere fluuntque ad regia plenis
237tecta viis. Sedet in mediis et maximus aevo et primus sceptris haud laeta fronte Latinus. Atque hic legatos Aetola ex urbe remissos, quae referant, fari iubet et responsa reposcit ordine cuncta suo. Tum facta silentia linguis,
242et Venulus dicto parens ita farier infit: Vidimus, o cives, Diomedem Argivaque castra atque iter emensi casus superavimus omnis contigimusque manum, qua concidit Ilia tellus. Ille urbem Argyripam patriae cognomine gentis
247victor Gargani condebat Iapygis agris. Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi, munera praeferimus, nomen patriamque docemus, qui bellum intulerint, quae causa attraxerit Arpos. Auditis ille haec placido sic reddidit ore:
252O fortunatae gentes, Saturnia regna, antiqui Ausonii, quae vos fortuna quietos sollicitat suadetque ignota lacessere bella? Quicumque Iliacos ferro violavimus agros, mitto ea, quae muris bellando exhausta sub altis,
257quos Simois premat ille viros, infanda per orbem supplicia et scelerum poenas expendimus omnes, vel Priamo miseranda manus: scit triste Minervae sidus et Euboicae cautes ultorque Caphareus. Militia ex illa diversum ad litus abacti
262Atrides Protei Menelaus adusque columnas exsulat, Aetnaeos vidit Cyclopas Ulixes. Regna Neoptolemi referam versosque penates Idomenei? Libycone habitantis litore Locros? Ipse Mycenaeus magnorum ductor Achivom
267coniugis infandae prima inter limina dextra oppetiit: devictam Asiam subsedit adulter. Invidisse deos, patriis ut redditus aris coniugium optatum et pulchram Calydona viderem? Nunc etiam horribili visu portenta sequuntur,
272et socii amissi petierunt aethera pennis fluminibusque vagantur aves, heu dira meorum supplicia, et scopulos lacrimosis vocibus implent. Haec adeo ex illo mihi iam speranda fuerunt tempore, cum ferro caelestia corpora demens
277adpetii et Veneris violavi volnere dextram. Ne vero, ne me ad talis impellite pugnas: nec mihi cum Teucris ullum post eruta bellum Pergama, nec veterum memini laetorve malorum. Munera, quae patriis ad me portatis ab oris,
282vertite ad Aenean. Stetimus tela aspera contra contulimusque manus: experto credite, quantus in clipeum adsurgat, quo turbine torqueat hastam. Si duo praeterea talis Idaea tulisset terra viros, ultro Inachias venisset ad urbes
287Dardanus, et versis lugeret Graecia fatis. Quidquid apud durae cessatum est moenia Troiae, Hectoris Aeneaeque manu victoria Graium haesit et in decimum vestigia rettulit annum. Ambo animis, ambo insignes praestantibus armis
292hic pietate prior. Coeant in foedera dextrae, qua datur; ast armis concurrant arma cavete. Et responsa simul quae sint, rex optime, regis audisti et quae sit magno sententia bello. Vix ea legati, variusque per ora cucurrit
297Ausonidum turbata fremor: ceu saxa morantur cum rapidos amnis, fit clauso gurgite murmur vicinaeque fremunt ripae crepitantibus undis. Ut primum placati animi et trepida ora quierunt, praefatus divos solio rex infit ab alto:
302Ante equidem summa de re statuisse, Latini, et vellem et fuerat melius, non tempore tali cogere concilium, cum muros adsidet hostis. Bellum importunum, cives, cum gente deorum invictisque viris gerimus, quos nulla fatigant
307proelia: nec victi possunt absistere ferro. Spem siquam adscitis Aetolum habuistis in armis, ponite. Spes sibi quisque, sed haec quam angusta videtis; cetera qua rerum iaceant perculsa ruina, ante oculos interque manus sunt omnia vestras.
312Nec quemquam incuso: potuit quae plurima virtus esse, fuit; toto certatum est corpore regni. Nunc adeo quae sit dubiae sententia menti expediam et paucis, animos adhibete, docebo. Est antiquus ager Tusco mihi proximus amni,
317longus in occasum, finis super usque Sicanos; Aurunci Rutulique serunt et vomere duros exercent colles atque horum asperrima pascunt. Haec omnis regio et celsi plaga pinea montis cedat amicitiae Teucrorum, et foederis aequas
322dicamus leges sociosque in regna vocemus. Considant, si tantus amor, et moenia condant. Sin alios finis aliamque capessere gentem est animus possuntque solo decedere nostro: bis denas Italo texamus robore navis
327seu pluris complere valent, iacet omnis ad undam materies, ipsi numerumque modumque carinis praecipiant, nos aera manus navalia demus. Praeterea qui dicta ferant et foedera firment centum oratores prima de gente Latinos
332ire placet pacisque manu praetendere ramos, munera portantis aurique eborisque talenta et sellam regni trabeamque insignia nostri. Consulite in medium et rebus succurrite fessis. Tum Drances idem infensus, quem gloria Turni
337obliqua invidia stimulisque agitabat amaris, largus opum et lingua melior, sed frigida bello dextera, consiliis habitus non futilis auctor, seditione potens (genus huic materna superbum nobilitas dabat, incertum de patre ferebat),
342surgit et his onerat dictis atque aggerat iras: Rem nulli obscuram nostrae nec vocis egentem consulis, O bone rex: cuncti se scire fatentur, quid fortuna ferat populi, sed dicere mussant. Det libertatem fandi flatusque remittat
347cuius ob auspicium infaustum moresque sinistros (dicam equidem, licet arma mihi mortemque minetur) lumina tot cecidisse ducum totamque videmus consedisse urbem luctu, dum Troia temptat castra fugae fidens et caelum territat armis.
352Unum etiam donis istis, quae plurima mitti Dardanidis dicique iubes, unum, optime regum, adicias nec te ullius violentia vincat, quin natam egregio genero dignisque hymenaeis des, pater, et pacem hanc aeterno foedere iungas.
357Quod si tantus habet mentes et pectora terror, ipsum obtestemur veniamque oremus ab ipso: cedat, ius proprium regi patriaeque remittat. Quid miseros totiens in aperta pericula cives proicis, O Latio caput horum et causa malorum?
362Nulla salus bello: pacem te poscimus omnes, Turne, simul pacis solum inviolabile pignus. Primus ego, invisum quem tu tibi fingis, et esse nil moror, en supplex venio. Miserere tuorum, pone animos et pulsus abi. Sat funera fusi
367vidimus ingentis et desolavimus agros. Aut si fama movet, si tantum pectore robur concipis et si adeo dotalis regia cordi est, aude atque adversum fidens fer pectus in hostem. Scilicet ut Turno contingat regia coniunx,
372nos animae viles, inhumata infletaque turba, sternamur campis. Etiam tu, siqua tibi vis, si patrii quid Martis habes, illum aspice contra, qui vocat. Talibus exarsit dictis violentia Turni;
377dat gemitum rumpitque has imo pectore voces Larga quidem, Drance, semper tibi copia fandi tum, cum bella manus poscunt, patribusque vocatis primus ades. Sed non replenda est curia verbis, quae tuto tibi magna volant, dum distinet hostem
382agger murorum nec inundant sanguine fossae. Proinde tona eloquio, solitum tibi, meque timoris argue tu, Drance, quando tot stragis acervos Teucrorum tua dextra dedit passimque tropaeis insignis agros. Possit quid vivida virtus,
387experiare licet; nec longe scilicet hostes quaerendi nobis: circumstant undique muros. Imus in adversos: quid cessas? An tibi Mavors ventosa in lingua pedibusque fugacibus istis semper erit?
392Pulsus ego? Aut quisquam merito, foedissime, pulsum arguet, Iliaco tumidum qui crescere Thybrim sanguine et Evandri totam cum stirpe videbit procubuisse domum atque exutos Arcadas armis? Haud ita me experti Bitias et Pandarus ingens
397et quos mille die victor sub Tartara misi, inclusus muris hostilique aggere saeptus. Nulla salus bello. Capiti cane talia, demens, Dardanio rebusque tuis. Proinde omnia magno ne cessa turbare metu atque extollere vires
402gentis bis victae, contra premere arma Latini. Nunc et Myrmidonum proceres Phrygia arma tremescunt, nunc et Tydides et Larissaeus Achilles, amnis et Hadriacas retro fugit Aufidus undas. Vel cum se pavidum contra mea iurgia fingit
407artificis scelus et formidine crimen acerbat. Numquam animam talem dextra hac, absiste moveri, amittes: habitet tecum et sit pectore in isto. Nunc ad te et tua magna, pater, consulta revertor. Si nullam nostris ultra spem ponis in armis,
412si tam deserti sumus et semel agmine verso funditus occidimus neque habet Fortuna regressum? oremus pacem et dextras tendamus inertis. Quamquam O, si solitae quicquam virtutis adesset! Ille mihi ante alios fortunatusque laborum
417egregiusque animi, qui, nequid tale videret, procubuit moriens et humum semel ore momordit. Sin et opes nobis et adhuc intacta iuventus auxilioque urbes Italae populique supersunt, sin et Troianis cum multo gloria venit
422sanguine, sunt illis sua funera parque per omnis tempestas: cur indecores in limine primo deficimus? Cur ante tubam tremor occupat artus? Multa dies variisque labor mutabilis aevi rettulit in melius, multos alterna revisens
427lusit et in solido rursus Fortuna locavit. Non erit auxilio nobis Aetolus et Arpi: at Messapus erit felixque Tolumnius et quos tot populi misere duces, nec parva sequetur gloria delectos Latio et Laurentibus agris.
432Est et Volscorum egregia de gente Camilla, agmen agens equitum et florentis aere catervas. Quod si me solum Teucri in certamina poscunt idque placet tantumque bonis communibus obsto, non adeo has exosa manus Victoria fugit,
437ut tanta quicquam pro spe temptare recusem. Ibo animis contra, vel magnum praestet Achillem factaque Vulcani manibus paria induat arma ille licet. Vobis animam hanc soceroque Latino Turnus ego, haud ulli veterum virtute secundus,
442devovi. Solum Aeneas vocat: et vocet oro, nec Drances potius, sive est haec ira deorum, morte luat, sive est virtus et gloria, tollat. Illi haec inter se dubiis de rebus agebant certantes; castra Aeneas aciemque movebat:
447nuntius ingenti per regia tecta tumultu ecce ruit magnisque urbem terroribus implet, instructos acie Tiberino a flumine Teucros Tyrrhenamque manum totis descendere campis. Extemplo turbati animi concussaque vulgi
452pectora et adrectae stimulis haud mollibus irae. Arma manu trepidi poscunt, fremit arma iuventus, flent maesti mussantque patres. Hic undique clamor dissensu vario magnus se tollit in auras haud secus atque alto in luco cum forte catervae
457consedere avium piscosove amne Padusae dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni. Immo, ait, O cives adrepto tempore, Turnus, cogite concilium et pacem laudate sedentes: illi armis in regna ruunt. Nec plura locutus
462corripuit sese et tectis citus extulit altis. Tu, Voluse, armari Volscorum edice maniplos, duc, ait, et Rutulos. Equitem Messapus in armis et cum fratre Coras latis diffundite campis. Pars aditus urbis firmet turrisque capessat,
467cetera, qua iusso, mecum manus inferat arma. Ilicet in muros tota discurritur urbe. Consilium ipse pater et magna incepta Latinus deserit ac tristi turbatus tempore differt multaque se incusat, qui non adceperit ultro
472Dardanium Aenean generumque adsciverit urbi. Praefodiunt alii portas aut saxa sudesque subvectant. Bello dat signum rauca cruentum bucina. Tum muros varia cinxere corona matronae puerique: vocat labor ultimus omnis.
477Nec non ad templum summasque ad Palladis arces subvehitur magna matrum regina caterva dona ferens, iuxtaque comes Lavinia virgo, causa mali tanti, oculos deiecta decoros. Succedunt matres et templum ture vaporant
482et maestas alto fundunt de limine voces: Armipotens, praeses belli, Tritonia virgo, frange manu telum Phrygii praedonis et ipsum pronum sterne solo portisque effunde sub altis. Cingitur ipse furens certatim in proelia Turnus.
487Iamque adeo rutilum thoraca indutus aenis horrebat squamis surasque incluserat auro, tempora nudus adhuc, laterique adcinxerat ensem fulgebatque alta decurrens aureus arce, exsultatque animis et spe iam praecipit hostem:
492qualis ubi abruptis fugit praesaepia vinclis tandem liber equus campoque potitus aperto aut ille in pastus armentaque tendit equarum aut adsuetus aquae perfundi flumine noto emicat adrectisque fremit cervicibus alte
497luxurians, luduntque iubae per colla, per armos. Obvia cui Volscorum acie comitante Camilla occurrit portisque ab equo regina sub ipsis desiluit, quam tota cohors imitata relictis ad terram defluxit equis; tum talia fatur:
502Turne, sui merito siqua est fiducia forti, audeo et Aeneadum promitto occurrere turmae solaque Tyrrhenos equites ire obvia contra. Me sine prima manu temptare pericula belli tu pedes ad muros subsiste et moenia serva.
507Turnus ad haec, oculos horrenda in virgine fixus: O decus Italiae virgo, quas dicere grates quasve referre parem? Sed nunc, est omnia quando iste animus supra, mecum partire laborem. Aeneas, ut fama fidem missique reportant
512exploratores, equitum levia improbus arma praemisit, quaterent campos; ipse ardua montis per deserta iugo superans adventat ad urbem. Furta paro belli convexo in tramite silvae, ut bivias armato obsidam milite fauces.
517Tu Tyrrhenum equitem conlatis excipe signis; tecum acer Messapus erit turmaeque Latinae Tiburtique manus, ducis et tu concipe curam. Sic ait, et paribus Messapum in proelia dictis hortatur sociosque duces et pergit in hostem.
522Est curvo anfractu valles, adcommoda fraudi armorumque dolis, quam densis frondibus atrum urget utrimque latus, tenuis quo semita ducit angustaeque ferunt fauces aditusque maligni. Hanc super in speculis summoque in vertice montis
527planities ignota iacet tutique receptus, seu dextra laevaque velis occurrere pugnae, sive instare iugis et grandia volvere saxa. Huc iuvenis nota fertur regione viarum arripuitque locum et silvis insedit iniquis.
532Velocem interea superis in sedibus Opim, unam ex virginibus sociis sacraque caterva, compellabat et has tristis Latonia voces ore dabat: Graditur bellum ad crudele Camilla, O virgo, et nostris nequiquam cingitur armis,
537cara mihi ante alias. Neque enim novus iste Dianae venit amor subitaque animum dulcedine movit. Pulsus ob invidiam regno viresque superbas Priverno antiqua Metabus cum excederet urbe, infantem fugiens media inter proelia belli
542sustulit exsilio comitem matrisque vocavit nomine Casmillae mutata parte Camillam. Ipse sinu prae se portans iuga longa petebat solorum nemorum: tela undique saeva premebant et circumfuso volitabant milite Volsci.
547Ecce fugae medio summis Amasenus abundans spumabat ripis: tantus se nubibus imber ruperat. Ille, innare parans, infantis amore tardatur caroque oneri timet. Omnia secum versanti subito vix haec sententia sedit.
552Telum immane manu valida quod forte gerebat bellator, solidum nodis et robore cocto, huic natam, libro et silvestri subere clausam, implicat atque habilem mediae circumligat hastae; quam dextra ingenti librans ita ad aethera fatur:
557Alma, tibi hanc, nemorum cultrix, Latonia virgo, ipse pater famulam voveo; tua prima per auras tela tenens supplex hostem fugit. Accipe, testor, diva tuam, quae nunc dubiis committitur auris. Dixit et adducto contortum hastile lacerto
562immittit: sonuere undae, rapidum super amnem infelix fugit in iaculo stridente Camilla. At Metabus, magna propius iam urgente caterva, dat sese fluvio atque hastam cum virgine victor gramineo donum Triviae de caespite vellit.
567Non illum tectis ullae, non moenibus urbes accepere neque ipse manus feritate dedisset: pastorum et solis exegit montibus aevom. Hic natam in dumis interque horrentia lustra armentalis equae mammis et lacte ferino
572nutribat, teneris immulgens ubera labris. Utque pedum primis infans vestigia plantis institerat, iaculo palmas armavit acuto spiculaque ex umero parvae suspendit et arcum. Pro crinali auro, pro longae tegmine pallae
577tigridis exuviae per dorsum a vertice pendent. Tela manu iam tum tenera puerilia torsit et fundam tereti circum caput egit habena Strymoniamque gruem aut album deiecit olorem. Multae illam frustra Tyrrhena per oppida matres
582optavere nurum: sola contenta Diana aeternum telorum et virginitatis amorem intemerata colit. Vellem haud correpta fuisset militia tali, conata lacessere Teucros: cara mihi comitumque foret nunc una mearum.
587Verum age, quandoquidem fatis urgetur acerbis, abere, nympha, polo finisque invise Latinos, tristis ubi infausto committitur omine pugna. Haec cape et ultricem pharetra deprome sagittam: hac quicumque sacrum violarit volnere corpus,
592Tros Italusque, mihi pariter det sanguine poenas. Post ego nube cava miserandae corpus et arma inspoliata feram tumulo patriaeque reponam. Dixit; at illa levis caeli delapsa per auras insonuit, nigro circumdata turbine corpus.
597At manus interea muris Troiana propinquat Etruscique duces equitumque exercitus omnis, compositi numero in turmas. Fremit aequore toto insultans sonipes et pressis pugnat habenis huc conversus et huc; tum late ferreus hastis
602horret ager campique armis sublimibus ardent. Nec non Messapus contra celeresque Latini et cum fratre Coras et virginis ala Camillae adversi campo apparent hastasque reductis protendunt longe dextris et spicula vibrant,
607adventusque virum fremitusque ardescit equorum. Iamque intra iactum teli progressus uterque substiterat: subito erumpunt clamore furentisque exhortantur equos; fundunt simul undique tela crebra nivis ritu caelumque obtexitur umbra.
612Continuo adversis Tyrrhenus et acer Aconteus conixi incurrunt hastis primique ruina dant sonitum ingenti perfractaque quadrupedantum pectora pectoribus rumpunt: excussus Aconteus fulminis in morem aut tormento ponderis acti
617praecipitat longe et vitam dispergit in auras. Extemplo turbatae acies, versique Latini reiciunt parmas et equos ad moenia vertunt. Troes agunt, princeps turmas inducit Asilas. Iamque propinquabant portis, rursusque Latini
622clamorem tollunt et mollia colla reflectunt: hi fugiunt penitusque datis referuntur habenis. Qualis ubi alterno procurrens gurgite pontus nunc ruit ad terram scopulusque superiacit unda spumeus extremamque sinu perfundit arenam,
627nunc rapidus retro atque aestu revoluta resorbens saxa fugit litusque vado labente relinquit: bis Tusci Rutulos egere ad moenia versos, bis reiecti armis respectant terga tegentes. Tertia sed postquam congressi in proelia totas
632implicuere inter se acies legitque virum vir: tum vero et gemitus morientum et sanguine in alto armaque corporaque et permixti caede virorum semianimes volvuntur equi, pugna aspera surgit. Orsilochus Remuli, quando ipsum horrebat adire,
637hastam intorsit equo ferrumque sub aure reliquit. Quo sonipes ictu furit arduus altaque iactat vulneris impatiens arrecto pectore crura: volvitur ille excussus humi. Catillus Iollan ingentemque animis, ingentem corpore et armis
642deicit Herminium, nudo cui vertice fulva caesaries nudique umeri, nec vulnera terrent: tantus in arma patet. Latos huic hasta per armos acta tremit duplicatque virum transfixa dolore. Funditur ater ubique cruor; dant funera ferro
647certantes pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. At medias inter caedes exsultat Amazon, unum exserta latus pugnae, pharetrata Camilla, et nunc lenta manu spargens hastilia denset, nunc validam dextra rapit indefessa bipennem;
652aureus ex umero sonat arcus et arma Dianae. Illa etiam in tergum, siquando pulsa recessit, spicula converso fugientia dirigit arcu. At circum lectae comites, Larinaque virgo Tullaque et aeratam quatiens Tarpeia securem,
657Italides, quas ipsa decus sibi dia Camilla delegit pacisque bonas bellique ministras: quales Threiciae cum flumina Thermodontis pulsant et pictis bellantur Amazones armis seu circum Hippolyten, seu cum se Martia curru
662Penthesilea refert, magnoque ululante tumultu feminea exsultant lunatis agmina peltis. Quem telo primum, quem postremum, aspera virgo, deicis? Aut quot humi morientia corpora fundis? Eunaeum Clitio primum patre, cuius apertum
667adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus: sanguinis ille vomens rivos cadit atque cruentam mandit humum moriensque suo se in volnere versat. Tum Lirim Pagasumque super; quorum alter habenas suffosso revolutus equo dum colligit, alter
672dum subit ac dextram labenti tendit inermem, praecipites pariterque ruunt. His addit Amastrum Hippotaden, sequiturque incumbens eminus hasta Tereaque Harpalycumque et Demophoonta Chrominque; quotque emissa manu contorsit spicula virgo,
677tot Phrygii cecidere viri. Procul Ornytus armis ignotis et equo venator Iapyge fertur, cui pellis latos umeros erepta iuvenco pugnatori operit, caput ingens oris hiatus et malae texere lupi cum dentibus albis,
682agrestisque manus armat sparus; ipse catervis vertitur in mediis et toto vertice supra est. Hunc illa exceptum, neque enim labor agmine verso, traicit et super haec inimico pectore fatur: Silvis te, Tyrrhene, feras agitare putasti?
687Advenit qui vestra dies muliebribus armis verba redarguerit. Nomen tamen haud leve patrum manibus hoc referes, telo cecidisse Camillae. Protinus Orsilochum et Buten, duo maxima Teucrum corpora, sed Buten aversum cuspide fixit
692loricam galeamque inter, qua colla sedentis lucent et laevo dependet parma lacerto, Orsilochum fugiens magnumque agitata per orbem eludit gyro interior sequiturque sequentem, tum validam perque arma viro perque ossa securim
697altior exsurgens oranti et multa precanti congeminat: vulnus calido rigat ora cerebro. Incidit huic subitoque aspectu territus haesit Appenninicolae bellator filius Auni, haud Ligurum extremus, dum fallere fata sinebant.
702Isque ubi se nullo iam cursu evadere pugnae posse neque instantem reginam avertere cernit, consilio versare dolos ingressus et astu incipit haec: Quid tam egregium, si femina forti fidis equo? Dimitte fugam et te comminus aequo
707mecum crede solo pugnaeque adcinge pedestri: iam nosces, ventosa ferat cui gloria fraudem. Dixit, at illa furens acrique adcensa dolore tradit equum comiti paribusque resistit in armis, ense pedes nudo puraque interrita parma.
712At iuvenis, vicisse dolo ratus, avolat ipse, haud mora, conversisque fugax aufertur habenis quadrupedemque citum ferrata calce fatigat. Vane Ligus frustraque animis elate superbis, nequiquam patrias temptasti lubricus artis,
717nec fraus te incolumem fallaci perferet Auno, haec fatur virgo et pernicibus ignea plantis transit equum cursu frenisque adversa prehensis congreditur poenasque inimico ex sanguine sumit: quam facile accipiter saxo sacer ales ab alto
722consequitur pennis sublimem in nube columbam comprensamque tenet pedibusque eviscerat uncis; tum cruor et vulsae labuntur ab aethere plumae. At non haec nullis hominum sator atque deorum observans oculis summo sedet altus Olympo:
727Tyrrhenum genitor Tarchonem in proelia saeva suscitat et stimulis haud mollibus incitat iras. Ergo inter caedes cedentiaque agmina Tarchon fertur equo variisque instigat vocibus alas, nomine quemque vocans, reficitque in proelia pulsos.
732Quis metus, O numquam dolituri, O semper inertes Tyrrheni, quae tanta animis ignavia venit? Femina palantis agit atque haec agmina vertit! Quo ferrum quidve haec gerimus tela inrita dextris? At non in Venerem segnes nocturnaque bella
737aut ubi curva choros indixit tibia Bacchi, exspectate dapes et plenae pocula mensae, hic amor, hoc studium, dum sacra secundus haruspex nuntiet ac lucos vocet hostia pinguis in altos! Haec effatus equum in medios, moriturus et ipse,
742concitat et Venulo adversum se turbidus infert dereptumque ab equo dextra complectitur hostem et gremium ante suum multa vi concitus aufert. Tollitur in caelum clamor, cunctique Latini convertere oculos. Volat igneus aequore Tarchon
747arma virumque ferens; tum summa ipsius ab hasta defringit ferrum et partis rimatur apertas, qua vulnus letale ferat; contra ille repugnans sustinet a iugulo dextram et vim viribus exit. Utque volans alte raptum cum fulva draconem
752fert aquila implicuitque pedes atque unguibus haesit, saucius at serpens sinuosa volumina versat adrectisque horret squamis et sibilat ore, arduus insurgens; illa haud minus urget obunco luctantem rostro, simul aethera verberat alis:
757haud aliter praedam Tiburtum ex agmine Tarchon portat ovans. Ducis exemplum eventumque secuti Maeonidae incurrunt. Tum fatis debitus Arruns velocem iaculo et multa prior arte Camillam circuit et quae sit fortuna facillima, temptat.
762Qua se cumque furens medio tulit agmine virgo, hac Arruns subit et tacitus vestigia lustrat; qua victrix redit illa pedemque ex hoste reportat, hac iuvenis furtim celeris detorquet habenas. Hos aditus iamque hos aditus omnemque pererrat
767undique circuitum et certam quatit improbus hastam. Forte sacer Cybelo Chloreus olimque sacerdos insignis longe Phrygiis fulgebat in armis spumantemque agitabat equum, quem pellis aënis in plumam squamis auro conserta tegebat.
772Ipse, peregrina ferrugine clarus et ostro, spicula torquebat Lycio Gortynia cornu; aureus ex umeris erat arcus et aurea vati cassida; tum croceam chlamydemque sinusque crepantis carbaseos fulvo in nodum collegerat auro
777pictus acu tunicas et barbara tegmina crurum. Hunc virgo, sive ut templis praefigeret arma Troïa, captivo sive ut se ferret in auro venatrix, unum ex omni certamine pugnae caeca sequebatur totumque incauta per agmen
782femineo praedae et spoliorum ardebat amore, telum ex insidiis cum tandem tempore capto concitat et superos Arruns sic voce precatur: Summe deum, sancti custos Soractis Apollo, quem primi colimus, cui pineus ardor acervo
787pascitur et medium freti pietate per ignem cultores multa premimus vestigia pruna, da, pater, hoc nostris aboleri dedecus armis, omnipotens. Non exuvias pulsaeve tropaeum virginis aut spolia ulla peto (mihi cetera laudem
792facta ferent): haec dira meo dum vulnere pestis pulsa cadat, patrias remeabo inglorius urbes. Audiit et voti Phoebus succedere partem mente dedit, partem volucris dispersit in auras: sterneret ut subita turbatam morte Camillam,
797adnuit oranti; reducem ut patria alta videret, non dedit, inque Notos vocem vertere procellae. Ergo ut missa manu sonitum dedit hasta per auras, convertere animos acris oculosque tulere cuncti ad reginam Volsci. Nihil ipsa nec aurae
802nec sonitus memor aut venientis ab aethere teli, hasta sub exsertam donec perlata papillam haesit virgineumque alte bibit acta cruorem. Concurrunt trepidae comites dominamque ruentem suscipiunt. Fugit ante omnis exterritus Arruns,
807laetitia mixtoque metu, nec iam amplius hastae credere nec telis occurrere virginis audet. Ac velut ille, prius quam tela inimica sequantur, continuo in montis sese avius abdidit altos occiso pastore lupus magnove iuvenco,
812conscius audacis facti, caudamque remulcens subiecit pavitantem utero silvasque petivit: haud secus ex oculis se turbidus abstulit Arruns contentusque fuga mediis se immiscuit armis. Illa manu moriens telum trahit, ossa sed inter
817ferreus ad costas alto stat vulnere mucro: labitur exsanguis, labuntur frigida leto lumina, purpureus quondam color ora reliquit. Tum sic exspirans Accam ex aequalibus unam adloquitur fidam ante alias, quae sola Camillae,
822quicum partiri curas; atque haec ita fatur: Hactenus, Acca soror, potui: nunc vulnus acerbum conficit, et tenebris nigrescunt omnia circum. Effuge et haec Turno mandata novissima perfer: succedat pugnae Troianosque arceat urbe.
827Iamque vale. Simul his dictis linquebat habenas, ad terram non sponte fluens. Tum frigida toto paulatim exsolvit se corpore lentaque colla et captum leto posuit caput, arma relinquunt, vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.
832Tum vero immensus surgens ferit aurea clamor sidera: deiecta crudescit pugna Camilla, incurrunt densi simul omnis copia Teucrum Tyrrhenique duces Evandrique Arcades alae. At Triviae custos iamdudum in montibus Opis
837alta sedet summis spectatque interrita pugnas. Utque procul medio iuvenum in clamore furentum prospexit tristi multatam morte Camillam, ingemuitque deditque has imo pectore voces: Heu nimium, virgo, nimium crudele luisti
842supplicium, Teucros conata lacessere bello! Nec tibi desertae in dumis coluisse Dianam profuit aut nostras umero gessisse sagittas. Non tamen indecorem tua te regina reliquit extrema iam in morte, neque hoc sine nomine letum
847per gentis erit aut famam patieris inultae. Nam quicumque tuum violavit vulnere corpus, morte luet merita. Fuit ingens monte sub alto regis Dercenni terreno ex aggere bustum antiqui Laurentis opacaque ilice tectum:
852hic dea se primum rapido pulcherrima nisu sistit et Arruntem tumulo speculatur ab alto. Ut vidit laetantem animis ac vana tumentem, Cur, inquit, diversus abis? Huc dirige gressum, huc periture veni, capias ut digna Camillae
857praemia. Tune etiam telis moriere Dianae? dixit, et aurata volucrem Threissa sagittam deprompsit pharetra cornuque infensa tetendit et duxit longe, donec curvata coirent inter se capita et manibus iam tangeret aequis,
862laeva aciem ferri, dextra nervoque papillam. Extemplo teli stridorem aurasque sonantis audiit una Arruns, haesitque in corpore ferrum. Illum exspirantem socii atque extrema gementem obliti ignoto camporum in pulvere linquunt,
867Opis ad aetherium pennis aufertur Olympum. Prima fugit domina amissa levis ala Camillae; turbati fugiunt Rutuli, fugit acer Atinas disiectique duces desolatique manipli tuta petunt et equis aversi ad moenia tendunt.
872Nec quisquam instantis Teucros letumque ferentis sustentare valet telis aut sistere contra, sed laxos referunt umeris languentibus arcus, quadrupedumque putrem cursu quatit ungula campum. Volvitur ad muros caligine turbidus atra
877pulvis, et e speculis percussae pectora matres femineum clamorem ad caeli sidera tollunt. Qui cursu portas primi inrupere patentis, hos inimica super mixto premit agmine turba; nec miseram effugiunt mortem, sed limine in ipso,
882moenibus in patriis atque inter tuta domorum confixi exspirant animas. Pars claudere portas: nec sociis aperire viam nec moenibus audent accipere orantis, oriturque miserrima caedes defendentum armis aditus inque arma ruentum.
887Exclusi ante oculos lacrumantumque ora parentum pars in praecipitis fossas urgente ruina volvitur, immissis pars caeca et concita frenis arietat in portas et duros obice postis. Ipsae de muris summo certamine matres,
892monstrat amor verus patriae, ut videre Camillam, tela manu trepidae iaciunt ac robore duro stipitibus ferrum sudibusque imitantur obustis praecipites primaeque mori pro moenibus ardent. Interea Turnum in silvis saevissimus implet
897nuntius, et iuveni ingentem fert Acca tumultum: deletas Volscorum acies, cecidisse Camillam, ingruere infensos hostis et Marte secundo omnia corripuisse, metum iam ad moenia ferri. Ille furens, et saeva Iovis sic numina pellunt,
902deserit obsessos collis, nemora aspera linquit. Vix e conspectu exierat campumque tenebat, cum pater Aeneas saltus ingressus apertos exsuperatque iugum silvaque evadit opaca. Sic ambo ad muros rapidi totoque feruntur
907agmine nec longis inter se passibus absunt; ac simul Aeneas fumantis pulvere campos prospexit longe Laurentiaque agmina vidit, et saevum Aenean adgnovit Turnus in armis adventumque pedum flatusque audivit equorum.
912Continuoque ineant pugnas et proelia temptent, ni roseus fessos iam gurgite Phoebus Hibero tinguat equos noctemque die labente reducat: considunt castris ante urbem et moenia vallant.
Book 11
1Up from the sea now soared the dawning day: Aeneas, though his sorrow bids him haste to burial of the slain, and his sad soul is clouded with the sight of death, fulfils, for reward to his gods, a conqueror's vow,
6at morning's earliest beam. A mighty oak shorn of its limbs he sets upon a hill and clothes it o'er with glittering arms, the spoil of King Mezentius, and a trophy proud to thee, great lord of war. The hero's plumes
11bedewed with blood are there, and splintered spears; there hangs the corselet, by the thrusting steel twelve times gored through; upon the left he binds the brazen shield, and from the neck suspends the ivory-hilted sword. Aeneas thus,
16as crowding close his train of captains throng, addressed his followers: “Ye warriors mine, our largest work is done. Bid fear begone of what is left to do. Behold the spoils! Yon haughty King was firstfruits of our war.
21See this Mezentius my hands have made! Now to the Latin town and King we go. Arm you in soul! With heart of perfect hope prepare the war! So when the gods give sign to open battle and lead forth our brave
26out of this stronghold, no bewilderment, nor tarrying, nor fearful, faltering mind shall slack our march. Meanwhile in earth we lay our comrades fallen; for no honor else in Acheron have they. Go forth,” said he,
31“bring gifts of honor and of last farewell to those high hearts by shedding of whose blood our country lives. To sad Evander's town bear Pallas first; who, though he did not fail of virtue's crown, was seized by doom unblest,
36and to the bitterness of death consigned.” Weeping he spoke, and slowly backward drew to the tent-door, where by the breathless clay of Pallas stood Acoetes, aged man, once bearer of Evander's arms, but now
41under less happy omens set to guard his darling child. Around him is a throng of slaves, with all the Trojan multitude, and Ilian women, who the wonted way let sorrow's tresses loosely flow. When now
46Aeneas to the lofty doors drew near, all these from smitten bosoms raised to heaven a mighty moaning, till the King's abode was loud with anguish. There Aeneas viewed the pillowed head of Pallas cold and pale,
51the smooth young breast that bore the gaping wound of that Ausonian spear, and weeping said: “Did Fortune's envy, smiling though she came, refuse me, hapless boy, that thou shouldst see my throne established, and victorious ride
56beside me to thy father's house? Not this my parting promise to thy King and sire, Evander, when with friendly, fond embrace to win imperial power he bade me go; yet warned me anxiously I must resist
61bold warriors and a stubborn breed of foes. And haply even now he cheats his heart with expectation vain, and offers vows, heaping with gifts the altars of his gods. But we with unavailing honors bring
66this lifeless youth, who owes the gods of heaven no more of gift and vow. O ill-starred King! Soon shalt thou see thy son's unpitying doom! What a home-coming! This is glory's day so Iong awaited; this the solemn pledge
71I proudly gave. But fond Evander's eyes will find no shameful wounding on the slain, nor for a son in coward safety kept wilt thou, the sire, crave death. But woe is me! How strong a bulwark in Ausonia falls!
76What loss is thine, Iulus!” Thus lamenting, he bids them lift the body to the bier, and sends a thousand heroes from his host to render the last tributes, and to share father's tears:—poor solace and too small
81for grief so great, but due that mournful sire. Some busy them to build of osiers fine the simple litter, twining sapling oaks with evergreen, till o'er death's Iofty bed the branching shade extends. Upon it lay,
86as if on shepherd's couch, the youthful dead, like fairest flower by virgin fingers culled, frail violet or hyacinth forlorn, of color still undimmed and leaf unmarred; but from the breast of mother-earth no more
91its life doth feed. Then good Aeneas brought two broidered robes of scarlet and fine gold, which with the gladsome labor of her hands Sidonian Dido wrought him long ago, the thin-spun gold inweaving. One of these
96the sad prince o'er the youthful body threw for parting gift; and with the other veiled those tresses from the fire; he heaped on high Laurentum's spoils of war, and bade to bring much tribute forth: horses and arms he gave,
101seized from the fallen enemy; with hands fettered behind them filed a captive train doomed to appease the shades, and with the flames to mix their flowing blood. He bade his chiefs set up the trunks of trees and clothe them well
106with captured arms, inscribing on each one some foeman's name. Then came Acoetes forth, a wretched, worn old man, who beat his breast with tight-clenched hands, and tore his wrinkled face with ruthless fingers; oft he cast him down
111full length along the ground. Then lead they forth the blood-stained Rutule chariots of war; Aethon, the war-horse, of his harness bare, walks mournful by; big teardrops wet his cheek. Some bear the lance and helm; for all the rest
116victorious Turnus seized. Then filed along a mournful Teucrian cohort; next the host Etrurian and the men of Arcady with trailing arms reversed. Aeneas now, when the long company had passed him by,
121spoke thus and groaned aloud: “Ourselves from hence are summoned by the same dread doom of war to other tears. Farewell forevermore! Heroic Pallas! be forever blest! I bid thee hail, farewell!” In silence then
126back to the stronghold's Iofty walls he moved. Now envoys from the Latin citadel came olive-crowned, to plead for clemency: would he not yield those bodies of the dead sword-scattered o'er the plain, and let them lie
131beneath an earth-built tomb? Who wages war upon the vanquished, the unbreathing slain? To people once his hosts and kindred called, would he not mercy show? To such a prayer, deemed not unworthy, good Aeneas gave
136the boon, and this benignant answer made: “Ye Latins, what misfortune undeserved has snared you in so vast a war, that now you shun our friendship? Have you here implored peace for your dead, by chance of battle fallen?
141Pain would I grant it for the living too. I sailed not hither save by Heaven's decree, which called me to this land. I wage no war with you, the people; 't was your King refused our proffered bond of peace, and gave his cause
146to Turnus' arms. More meet and just it were had Turnus met this death that makes you mourn. If he would end our quarrel sword in hand, thrusting us Teucrians forth, 't was honor's way to cross his blade with mine; that man to whom
151the gods, or his own valor, had decreed the longer life, had lived. But now depart! Beneath your lost friends light the funeral fires!” So spoke Aeneas; and with wonder mute all stood at gaze, each turning to behold
156his neighbor's face. Then Drances, full of years, and ever armed with spite and slanderous word against young Turnus, made this answering plea: “O prince of mighty name, whose feats of arms are even mightier! Trojan hero, how
161shall my poor praise exalt thee to the skies? Is it thy rectitude or strenuous war most bids me wonder? We will bear thy word right gladly to the city of our sires; and there, if Fortune favor it, contrive
166a compact with the Latin King. Henceforth let Turnus find his own allies! Ourselves will much rejoice to see thy destined walls, and our own shoulders will be proud to bear the stone for building Troy.” Such speech he made,
171and all the common voice consented loud. So twelve days' truce they swore, and safe from harm Latins and Teucrians unmolested roved together o'er the wooded hills. Now rang loud steel on ash-tree bole; enormous pines,
176once thrusting starward, to the earth they threw; and with industrious wedge asunder clove stout oak and odorous cedar, piling high harvest of ash-trees on the creaking wain. Now Rumor, herald of prodigious woe,
181to King Evander hied, Evander's house and city filling, where, but late, her word had told in Latium Pallas' victory. th' Arcadians thronging to the city-gates bear funeral torches, the accustomed way;
186in lines of flame the long street flashes far, lighting the fields beyond. To meet them moves a Phrygian company, to join with theirs its lamentation loud. The Latin wives, soon as they saw them entering, aroused
191the whole sad city with shrill songs of woe. No hand could stay Evander. Forth he flew into the midmost tumult, and fell prone on his dead Pallas, on the resting bier; he clung to the pale corse with tears, with groans,
196till anguish for a space his lips unsealed: “Not this thy promise, Pallas, to thy sire, to walk not rashly in the war-god's way. I knew too well how honor's morning-star, and sweet, foretasted glory tempt and woo
201in a first battle. O first-fruit forlorn of youth so fair! O prelude pitiless of war approaching! O my vows and prayers, which not one god would hear! My blessed wife, how happy was the death that spared thee not
206to taste this bitterness! But I, the while, by living longer lived to meet my doom,— a father sole-surviving. Would I myself had perished by the Rutule's cruel spear, the Trojan's cause espousing! This breath of life
211how gladly had I given! And O, that now yon black solemnity were bearing home myself, not Pallas, dead! Yet blame I not, O Teucrians, the hallowed pact we made, nor hospitable bond and clasp of hands.
216This doom ye bring me was writ long ago, for my old age. And though my child is fallen untimely, I take comfort that he fell where thousands of the Volscians slaughtered lie, and into Latium led the Teucrian arms.
221What brighter glory could I crave in death for thee, my Pallas, than Aeneas brings, and Phrygian princes, and Etrurian lords with all Etruria's legions? Lo, they bear yon glittering spoils of victims of thy sword!
226Thou, Turnus, too, wert now an effigy in giant armor clad, if but his years and strength full ripe had been fair match for thine! But now my woes detain the Trojan host from battle. I beseech ye haste away,
231and bear this faithful message to your King: since I but linger out a life I loathe, without my Pallas, nothing but thy sword can bid me live. Then let thy sword repay its debt to sire and son by Turnus slain!
236Such deed alone may with thy honor fit, and happier fortunes. But my life to me has no joy left to pray for, save to bring my son that solace in the shadowy land.” Meanwhile o'er sorrowing mortals the bright morn
241had lifted her mild beam, renewing so the burden of man's toil. Aeneas now built funeral pyres along the winding shore, King Tarchon at his side. Each thither brought the bodies of his kin, observing well
246all ancient ritual. The fuming fires burned from beneath, till highest heaven was hid in blackest, overmantling cloud. Three times the warriors, sheathed in proud, resplendent steel, paced round the kindling pyres; and three times
251fair companies of horsemen circled slow, with loud lamenting, round the doleful flame. The wail of warriors and the trumpets' blare the very welkin rend. Cast on the flames are spoils of slaughtered Latins,—helms and blades,
256bridles and chariot-wheels. Yet others bring gifts to the dead familiar, their own shields and unavailing spears. Around them slain great herds of kine give tribute unto death: swine, bristly-backed, from many a field are borne,
261and slaughtered sheep bleed o'er the sacred fire. So on the shore the wailing multitude behold their comrades burning, and keep guard o'er the consuming pyres, nor turn away till cooling night re-shifts the globe of heaven,
266thick-strewn with numberless far-flaming stars. Likewise the mournful Latins far away have built their myriad pyres. Yet of the slain not few in graves are laid, and borne with tears to neighboring country-side or native town;
271the rest—promiscuous mass of dead unknown— to nameless and unhonored ashes burn; with multitude of fires the far-spread fields blaze forth unweariedly. But when from heaven the third morn had dispelled the dark and cold,
276the mournful bands raked forth the mingled bones and plenteous ashes from the smouldering pyres, then heaped with earth the one sepulchral mound. Now from the hearth-stones of the opulent town of old Latinus a vast wail burst forth,
281for there was found the chief and bitterest share of all the woe. For mothers in their tears, lone brides, and stricken souls of sisters fond, and boys left fatherless, fling curses Ioud on Turnus' troth-plight and the direful war:
286“Let him, let Turnus, with his single sword decide the strife,”—they cry,—“and who shall claim Lordship of Italy and power supreme.” Fierce Drances whets their fury, urging all that Turnus singly must the challenge hear,
291and singly wage the war; but others plead in Turnus' favor; the Queen's noble name protects him, and his high renown in arms defends his cause with well-won trophies fair. Amid these tumults of the wrathful throng,
296lo, the ambassadors to Diomed arrive with cloudy forehead from their quest in his illustrious town; for naught availed their toilsome errand, nor the gifts and gold, nor strong entreaty. Other help in war
301the Latins now must find, or humbly sue peace from the Trojan. At such tidings dire even Latinus trembles: Heaven's decrees and influence of gods too visible sustain Aeneas; so the wrath divine
306and new-filled sepulchres conspicuous give warning clear. Therefore the King convenes a general council of his captains brave beneath the royal towers. They, gathering, throng the approaches thither, where their Iord,
311gray-haired Latinus, takes the central throne, wearing authority with mournful brow. He bids the envoys from Aetolia's King sent back, to speak and tell the royal words in order due. Forthwith on every tongue
316fell silence, while the princely Venulus, heeding his Iord's behest, began the parle: “My countrymen,” he said, “our eyes have seen strongholds of Greeks and Diomed the King. We braved all perils to our journey's end
321and clasped that hand whereof the dreadful stroke wrought Ilium's fall. The hero built a town, Argyripa, hereditary name, near mount Garganus in Apulian land: passing that city's portal and the King's,
326we found free audience, held forth thy gifts, and told our names and fatherland. We showed what condict was enkindled, and what cause brought us to Arpi's King. He, hearing all, with brow benign made answer to our plea:
331‘O happy tribes in Saturn's kingdom born, Ausonia's ancient stem! What fortune blind tempts ye from peace away, and now ensnares in wars unknown? Look how we men that dared lay Ilium waste (I speak not of what woes
336in battling neath her lofty walls we bore, nor of dead warriors sunk in Simois' wave) have paid the penalty in many a land with chastisement accurst and changeful woe, till Priam's self might pity. Let the star
341of Pallas tell its tale of fatal storm, off grim Caphereus and Eubcea's crags. Driven asunder from one field of war, Atrides unto farthest Egypt strayed, and wise Ulysses saw from Aetna's caves
346the Cyclops gathering. Why name the throne of Pyrrhus, or the violated hearth whence fled Idomeneus? Or Locri cast on Libya's distant shore? For even he, Lord of Mycenae by the Greeks obeyed,
351fell murdered on his threshold by the hand of that polluted wife, whose paramour trapped Asia's conqueror. The envious gods withheld me also from returning home to see once more the hearth-stone of my sires,
356the wife I yearn for, and my Calydon, the beauteous land. For wonders horrible pursue me still. My vanished followers through upper air take wing, or haunt and rove in forms of birds the island waters o'er:
361ah me, what misery my people feel! The tall rocks ring with their lament and cry. Naught else had I to hope for from that day when my infatuate sword on gods I drew, and outraged with abominable wound
366the hand of Venus. Urge me not, I pray, to conflicts in this wise. No more for me of war with Trojans after Ilium's fall! I take no joy in evils past, nor wish such memory to renew. Go, lay these gifts,
371brought to my honor from your ancient land, at great Aeneas' feet. We twain have stood confronting close with swords implacable in mortal fray. Believe me, I have known the stature of him when he lifts his shield,
376and swings the whirlwind of his spear. If Troy two more such sons had bred, the Dardan horde had stormed at Argos' gates, and Greece to-day were for her fallen fortunes grieving sore. Our lingering at Ilium's stubborn wall,
381our sluggard conquest halting ten years Iong, was his and Hector's work. Heroic pair! Each one for valor notable, and each famous in enterprise of arms,—but he was first in piety. Enclasp with his
386your hands in plighted peace as best ye may: but shock of steel on steel ye well may shun.’ now hast thou heard, good King, a king's reply, and how his wisdom sits in this vast war.” Soon as the envoys ceased, an answering sound
391of troubled voices through the council flowed of various note, as when its rocky bed impedes an arrowy stream, and murmurs break from the strait-channelled flood; the fringing shores repeat the tumult of the clamorous wave.
396But when their hearts and troublous tongues were still, the King, invoking first the gods in heaven, thus from a Iofty throne his sentence gave: “Less evil were our case, if long ago ye had provided for your country's weal,
401O Latins, as I urged. It is no time to hold dispute, while, compassing our walls, the foeman waits. Ill-omened war is ours against a race of gods, my countrymen, invincible, unwearied in the fray,
406and who, though lost and fallen, clutch the sword. If hope ye cherished of Aetolia's power, dismiss it! For what hope ye have is found in your own bosoms only. But ye know how slight it is and small. What ruin wide
411has fallen, is now palpable and clear. No blame I cast. What valor's uttermost may do was done; our kingdom in this war strained its last thews. Now therefore I will tell such project as my doubtful mind may frame,
416and briefly, if ye give good heed, unfold: an ancient tract have I, close-bordering the river Tiber; it runs westward far beyond Sicania's bound, and filth it bears to Rutule and Auruncan husbandmen,
421who furrow its hard hills or feed their flocks along the stonier slopes. Let this demesne, together with its pine-clad mountain tall, be given the Teucrian for our pledge of peace, confirmed by free and equitable league,
426and full alliance with our kingly power. Let them abide there, if it please them so, and build their city's wall. But if their hearts for other land or people yearn, and fate permits them hence to go, then let us build
431twice ten good galleys of Italian oak, or more, if they can man them. All the wood lies yonder on the shore. Let them but say how numerous and large the ships they crave, and we will give the brass, the artisans,
436and ship-supplies. Let us for envoys choose a hundred of the Latins noblest born to tell our message and arrange the peace, bearing mild olive-boughs and weighty gifts of ivory and gold, with chair of state
441and purple robe, our emblems as a king. But freely let this council speak; give aid to our exhausted cause.” Then Drances rose, that foe inveterate, whom Turnus' fame to stinging hate and envy double-tongued
446ever pricked on. Of liberal wealth was he and flowing speech, but slack of hand in war at council board accounted no weak voice, in quarrels stronger still; of lofty birth in the maternal line, but by his sire's
451uncertain and obscure. He, claiming place, thus multiplies with words the people's ire: “A course most clear, nor needing voice of mine, thy council is, good King; for all men see the way of public weal, but smother close
456the telling of it. Turnus must concede freedom to speak, and his own arrogance diminish! Under his ill-boding star and fatal conduct—yea, I speak it plain, though with his naked steel my death he swear—
461yon host of princes fell, and we behold the whole land bowed with grief; while he assails the Trojan camp (beating such bold retreats!) and troubles Heaven with war. One gift the more, among the many to the Trojans given,
466one chiefly, best of kings, thy choice should be. Let not wild violence thy will restrain from granting, sire, thy virgin daughter's hand to son-in-law illustrious, in a match worthy of both,—and thus the lasting bond
471of peace establish. But if verily our hearts and souls be weak with craven fear, let us on Turnus call, and grace implore even of him. Let him no more oppose; but to his country and his King concede
476their natural right. Why wilt thou o'er and o'er fling thy poor countrymen in danger's way, O chief and fountain of all Latium's pain? War will not save us. Not a voice but sues for peace, O Turnus! and, not less than peace,
481its one inviolable pledge. Behold, I lead in this petition! even I whom thou dost feign thy foe—(I waste no words denying)—look! I supplicate of thee, take pity on thy kindred; drop thy pride,
486and get thee home defeated. We have seen slaughter enough, enough of funeral flames, and many a wide field waste and desolate. If glory move thee, if thy martial breast so swell with strength, and if a royal dower
491be thy dear dream, go, pluck thy courage up, and front thy own brave bosom to the foe. for, lo, that Turnus on his wedding day may win a princess, our cheap, common lives— we the mere mob, unwept, unsepulchred—
496must be spilled forth in battle! Thou, I say, if there be mettle in thee and some drops of thy undaunted sires, Iook yonder where the Trojan chieftain waits thee in the field.” By such discourse he stirred the burning blood
501of Turnus, who groaned loud and from his heart this utterance hurled: “O Drances, thou art rich in large words, when the day of battle calls for actions. If our senators convene thou comest early. But the council hall
506is not for swollen talk, such as thy tongue in safety tosses forth; so long as walls hold back thy foes, and ere the trenches flow with blood of brave men slain. O, rattle on in fluent thunder—thy habitual style!
511Brand me a coward, Drances, when thy sword has heaped up Trojan slain, and on the field thy shining trophies rise. Now may we twain our martial prowess prove. Our foe, forsooth, is not so far to seek; around yon wall
516he lies in siege: to front him let us fly! Why art thou tarrying? Wilt thou linger here, a soldier only in thy windy tongue, and thy swift, coward heels? Defeated, I? Foul wretch, what tongue that honors truth can tell
521of my defeat, while Tiber overflows with Trojan blood? while King Evander's house in ruin dies, and his Arcadians lie stripped naked on the field? O, not like thee did Bitias or the giant Pandarus
526misprize my honor; nor those men of Troy whom this good sword to death and dark sent down, a thousand in a day,—though I was penned a prisoner in the ramparts of my foe. War will not save us? Fling that prophecy
531on the doomed Dardan's head, or on thy own, thou madman! Aye, with thy vile, craven soul disturb the general cause. Extol the power of a twice-vanquished people, and decry Latinus' rival arms. From this time forth
536let all the Myrmidonian princes cower before the might of Troy; let Diomed and let Achilles tremble; let the stream of Aufidus in panic backward flow from Hadria's wave. But hear me when I say
541that though his guilt and cunning feign to feel fear of my vengeance, much embittering so his taunts and insult—such a life as his my sword disdains. O Drances, be at ease! In thy vile bosom let thy breath abide!
546But now of thy grave counsel and thy cause, O royal sire, I speak. If from this hour thou castest hope of armed success away, if we be so unfriended that one rout o'erwhelms us utterly, if Fortune's feet
551never turn backward, let us, then, for peace offer petition, lifting to the foe our feeble, suppliant hands. Yet would I pray some spark of manhood such as once we knew were ours once more! I count him fortunate,
556and of illustrious soul beyond us all, who, rather than behold such things, has fallen face forward, dead, his teeth upon the dust. But if we still have power, and men-at-arms unwasted and unscathed, if there survive
561Italian tribes and towns for help in war, aye! if the Trojans have but won success at bloody cost,—for they dig graves, I ween, storm-smitten not less than we,—O, wherefore now stand faint and shameful on the battle's edge?
566Why quake our knees before the trumpet call? Time and the toil of shifting, changeful days restore lost causes; ebbing tides of chance deceive us oft, which after at their flood do lift us safe to shore. If aid come not
571from Diomed in Arpi, our allies shall be Mezentius and Tolumnius, auspicious name, and many a chieftain sent from many a tribe; not all inglorious are Latium's warriors from Laurentian land!
576Hither the noble Volscian stem sends down Camilla with her beauteous cavalry in glittering brass arrayed. But if, forsooth, the Trojans call me singly to the fight, if this be what ye will, and I so much
581the public weal impair—when from this sword has victory seemed to fly away in scorn? I should not hopeless tread in honor's way whate'er the venture. Dauntless will I go though equal match for great Achilles, he,
586and though he clothe him in celestial arms in Vulcan's smithy wrought. I, Turnus, now, not less than equal with great warriors gone, vow to Latinus, father of my bride, and to ye all, each drop of blood I owe.
591Me singly doth Aeneas call? I crave that challenge. Drances is not called to pay the debt of death, if wrath from Heaven impend; nor his a brave man's name and fame to share.” Thus in their doubtful cause the chieftains strove.
596Meanwhile Aeneas his assaulting line moved forward. The ill tidings wildly sped from royal hall to hall, and filled the town with rumors dark: for now the Trojan host o'er the wide plains from Tiber's wave was spread
601in close array of war. The people's soul was vexed and shaken, and its martial rage rose to the stern compulsion. Now for arms their terror calls; the youthful soldiery clamor for arms; the sires of riper days
606weep or repress their tears. On every side loud shouts and cries of dissonant acclaim trouble the air, as when in lofty grove legions of birds alight, or by the flood of Padus' fishy stream the shrieking swans
611far o'er the vocal marish fling their song. Then, seizing the swift moment, Turnus cried: “Once more, my countrymen,—ye sit in parle, lazily praising peace, while yonder foe speeds forth in arms our kingdom to obtain.”
616He spoke no more, but hied him in hot haste, and from the housetop called, “Volusus, go! Equip the Volscian companies! Lead forth my Rutules also! O'er the spreading plain, ye brothers Coras and Messapus range
621our host of cavalry! Let others guard the city's gates and hold the walls and towers: I and my followers elsewhere oppose the shock of arms.” Now to and fro they run to man the walls. Father Latinus quits—
626the place of council and his large design, vexed and bewildered by the hour's distress. He blames his own heart that he did not ask Trojan Aeneas for his daughter's Iord, and gain him for his kingdom's lasting friend.
631They dig them trenches at the gates, or lift burden of stakes and stones. The horn's harsh note sounds forth its murderous signal for the war; striplings and women, in a motley ring, defend the ramparts; the decisive hour
636lays tasks on all. Upon the citadel a train of matrons, with the doleful Queen, toward Pallas' temple moves, and in their hand are gifts and offerings. See, at their side the maid Lavinia, cause of all these tears,
641drops down her lovely eyes! The incense rolls in clouds above the altar; at the doors with wailing voice the women make this prayer: “Tritonian virgin, arbitress of war! Break of thyself yon Phrygian robber's spear!
646Hurl him down dying in the dust! Spill forth his evil blood beneath our lofty towers!” Fierce Turnus girds him, emulous to slay: a crimson coat of mail he wears, with scales of burnished bronze; beneath his knees are bound
651the golden greaves; upon his naked brow no helm he wears; but to his thigh is bound a glittering sword. Down from the citadel runs he, a golden glory, in his heart boldly exulting, while impatient hope
656fore-counts his fallen foes. He seemed as when, from pinfold bursting, breaking his strong chain, th' untrammelled stallion ranges the wide field, or tries him to a herd of feeding mares, or to some cooling river-bank he knows,
661most fierce and mettlesome; the streaming mane o'er neck and shoulder flies. Across his path Camilla with her Volscian escort came, and at the city-gate the royal maid down from her charger leaped; while all her band
666at her example glided to the ground, their horses leaving. Thus the virgin spoke: “Turnus, if confidence beseem the brave, I have no fear; but of myself do vow to meet yon squadrons of Aeneadae
671alone, and front me to the gathered charge of Tuscan cavalry. Let me alone the war's first venture-prove. Take station, thou, here at the walls, this rampart to defend.” With fixed eyes on the terror-striking maid,
676Turnus replied, “O boast of Italy, O virgin bold! What praise, what gratitude can words or deeds repay? But since thy soul so large of stature shows, I bid thee share my burden and my war. Our spies bring news
681that now Aeneas with pernicious mind sends light-armed horse before him, to alarm the plains below, while through the wilderness he climbs the steep hills, and approaches so our leaguered town. But I in sheltered grove
686a stratagem prepare, and bid my men in ambush at a mountain cross-road lie. Meet thou the charge of Tuscan cavalry with all thy banners. For auxiliar strength take bold Messapus with his Latin troop
691and King Tiburtus' men: but the command shall be thy task and care.” He spoke, and urged with like instruction for the coming fray Messapus and his captains; then advanced to meet the foe. There is a winding vale
696for armed deception and insidious war well fashioned, and by interlacing leaves screened darkly in; a small path thither leads, through strait defile-a passage boding ill. Above it, on a mountain's lofty brow,
701are points of outlook, level spaces fair, and many a safe, invisible retreat from whence on either hand to challenge war, or, standing on the ridges, to roll down huge mountain boulders. Thither Turnus fared,
706and, ranging the familiar tract, chose out his cunning ambush in the dangerous grove. But now in dwellings of the gods on high, Diana to fleet-footed Opis called, a virgin from her consecrated train,
711and thus in sorrow spoke: “O maiden mine! Camilla now to cruel conflict flies; with weapons like my own she girds her side, in vain, though dearest of all nymphs to me. Nor is it some new Iove that stirs to-day
716with sudden sweetness in Diana's breast: for long ago, when from his kingdom driven, for insolent and envied power, her sire King Metabus, from old Privernum's wall was taking flight amidst opposing foes,
721he bore a little daughter in his arms to share his exile; and he called the child (Changing Casmilla, her queen-mother's name) Camilla. Bearing on his breast the babe, he fled to solitary upland groves.
726But hovering round him with keen lances, pressed the Volscian soldiery. Across his path, lo, Amasenus with full-foaming wave o'erflowed its banks—so huge a rain had burst but lately from the clouds. There would he fain
731swim over, but the love of that sweet babe restrained him, trembling for his burden dear. In his perplexed heart suddenly arose firm resolve. It chanced the warrior bore huge spear in his brawny hand, strong shaft
736of knotted, seasoned oak; to this he lashed his little daughter with a withe of bark pulled from a cork-tree, and with skilful bonds fast bound her to the spear; then, poising it high in his right hand, thus he called on Heaven:
741‘Latona's daughter, whose benignant grace protects this grove, behold, her father now gives thee this babe for handmaid! Lo, thy spear her infant fingers hold, as from her foes she flies a suppliant to thee! Receive,
746O goddess, I implore, what now I cast upon the perilous air.’—He spoke, and hurled with lifted arm the whirling shaft. The waves roared loud, as on the whistling javelin hapless Camilla crossed th' impetuous flood.
751But Metabus, his foes in hot pursuit, dared plunge him in mid-stream, and, triumphing, soon plucked from grass-grown river-bank the spear, the child upon it,—now to Trivia vowed, a virgin offering. Him nevermore
756could cities hold, nor would his wild heart yield its sylvan freedom, but his days were passed with shepherds on the solitary hills. His daughter too in tangled woods he bred: a brood-mare from the milk of her fierce breast
761suckled the child, and to its tender lips .Her udders moved; and when the infant feet their first firm steps had taken, the small palms were armed with a keen javelin; her sire a bow and quiver from her shoulder slung.
766Instead of golden combs and flowing pall, she wore, from her girl-forehead backward thrown, the whole skin of a tigress; with soft hands she made her plaything of a whirling spear, or, swinging round her head the polished thong
771of her good sling, she fetched from distant sky Strymonian cranes or swans of spotless wing. From Tuscan towns proud matrons oft in vain sought her in marriage for their sons; but she to Dian only turned her stainless heart,
776her virgin freedom and her huntress' arms with faithful passion serving. Would that now this Iove of war had ne'er seduced her mind the Teucrians to provoke! So might she be one of our wood-nymphs still. But haste, I pray,
781for bitter is her now impending doom. Descend, dear nymph, from heaven, and explore the country of the Latins, where the fight with unpropitious omens now begins. These weapons take, and from this quiver draw
786a vengeful arrow, wherewith he who dares to wound her sacred body, though he be a Trojan or Italian, shall receive bloody and swift reward at my command. Then, in a cloud concealed, I will consign
791her corpse, ill-fated but inviolate unto the sepulchre, restoring so the virgin to her native land.” Thus spake the goddess; but her handmaid, gliding down, took her loud pathway on the moving winds,
796and mantled in dark storm her shape divine. Meanwhile the Teucrian legions to the wall draw near, with Tuscan lords and cavalry in numbered troops arrayed. Loud-footed steeds prance o'er the field, to manage of the rein
801rebellious, but turned deftly here or there. The iron harvest of keen spears spreads far, and all the plain burns bright with lifted steel. Messapus and swift Latin cavalry, Coras his brother, and th' attending train
806of the fair maid Camilla, form their lines in the opposing field. Their poised right hands point the long lances forward, and light shafts are brandished in the air; the warrior hosts on steeds of fire come kindling as they ride.
811One instant, at a spear-throw's space, each line its motion stays; then with one sudden cry they rush forth, spurring on each frenzied steed. From-every side the multitudinous spears pour down like snowflakes, mantling heaven in shade.
816Now with contending spears and straining thews, Tyrrhenus, and Aconteus, champion bold, ride forward; with the onset terrible loudly their armor rings; their chargers twain crash breast to breast, and like a thunderbolt
821Aconteus drops, or like a ponderous stone hurled from a catapult; full length he falls, surrend'ring to the winds his fleeting soul. Now all is panic: holding their light shields behind their backs, the Latin horse wheel round,
826retreating to the wall, the Trojan foe in close pursuit. Asilas, chieftain proud, led on th' assault. Hard by the city gates the Latins wheeled once more and pressed the rein strong on the yielding neck; the charging foe
831took flight and hurried far with loose-flung rein. 'T was like the shock and onset of the sea that landward hurls the alternating flood and hides high cliffs in foam,—the tawny sands upflinging as it rolls; then, suddenly
836whirled backward on the reingulfing waves, it quits the ledges, and with ebbing flow far from the shore retires. The Tuscans twice drive back the flying Rutules to the town; and twice repulsed, with shields to rearward thrown,
841glare back at the pursuer; but conjoined in the third battle-charge, both armies merge confusedly together in grim fight of man to man; then follow dying groans, armor blood-bathed and corpses, and strong steeds
846inextricably with their masters slain, so fierce the fray. Orsilochus—afraid to front the warrior's arms—launched forth a spear at Remulus' horse, and left the fatal steel clinging below its ear; the charger plunged
851madly, and tossed its trembling hoofs in air, sustaining not the wound; the rider fell, flung headlong to the ground. Catillus slew Iollas; and then struck Herminius down, great-bodied and great-hearted, who could wield
856a monster weapon, and whose yellow hair from naked head to naked shoulder flowed. By wounds unterrified he dared oppose his huge bulk to the foe: the quivering spear pierced to his broad back, and with throes of pain
861bowed the man double and clean clove him through. Wide o'er the field th' ensanguined horror flowed, where fatal swords were crossed and cut their way through many a wound to famous death and fair. Swift through the midmost slaughter proudly strides
866the quiver-girt Camilla, with one breast thrust naked to the fight, like Amazon. Oft from her hand her pliant shafts she rains, or whirls with indefatigable arm a doughty battle-axe; her shoulder bears
871Diana's sounding arms and golden bow. Sometimes retreating and to flight compelled, the maiden with a rearward-pointing bow shoots arrows as she flies. Around her move her chosen peers, Larina, virgin brave,
876Tarpeia, brandishing an axe of bronze, and Tulla, virgins out of Italy whom the divine Camilla chose to be her glory, each a faithful servitress in days of peace or war. The maids of Thrace
881ride thus along Thermodon's frozen flood, and fight with blazoned Amazonian arms around Hippolyta; or when returns Penthesilea in triumphal car 'mid acclamations shrill, and all her host
886of women clash in air the moon-shaped shield. What warrior first, whom last, did thy strong spear, fierce virgin, earthward fling? Or what thy tale of prostrate foes laid gasping on the ground? Eunaeus first, the child of Clytius' Ioins,
891whose bared breast, as he faced his foe, she pierced with fir-tree javelin; from his lips outpoured the blood-stream as he fell; and as he bit the gory dust, he clutched his mortal wound. Then Liris, and upon him Pagasus
896she slew: the one clung closer to the reins of his stabbed horse, and rolled off on the ground; the other, flying to his fallen friend, reached out a helpless hand; so both of these fell on swift death together. Next in line
901she smote Amastrus, son of Hippotas; then, swift-pursuing, pierced with far-flung spear Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoon, and Chromis; every shaft the virgin threw laid low its Phrygian warrior. From afar
906rode Ornytus on his Apulian steed, bearing a hunter's uncouth arms; for cloak he wore upon his shoulders broad a hide from some wild bull stripped off; his helmet was a wolf's great, gaping mouth, with either jaw
911full of white teeth; the weapon in his hand, a farmer's pole. He strode into the throng, head taller than them all. But him she seized and clove him through (his panic-stricken troop gave her advantage), and with wrathful heart
916she taunted thus the fallen: “Didst thou deem this was a merry hunting in the wood in chase of game? Behold, thy fatal day befalls thee at a woman's hand, and thus thy boasting answers. No small glory thou
921unto the ghosts of thy dead sires wilt tell, that 't was Camilla's javelin struck thee down.” The turn of Butes and Orsilochus came next, who were the Trojans, hugest twain: yet Butes with her javelin-point she clove
926from rearward, 'twixt the hauberk and the helm, just where the horseman's neck showed white, and where from shoulder leftward slung the light-weight shield. From swift Orsilochus she feigned to fly, through a wide circle sweeping, craftily
931taking the inside track, pursuing so her own pursuer; then she raised herself to her full height, and through the warrior's helm drove to his very skull with doubling blows of her strong battle-axe,—while he implored
936her mercy with loud prayers: his cloven brain spilt o'er his face. Next in her pathway came— but shrank in startled fear—the warrior son of Aunus, haunter of the Apennine, not least of the Ligurians ere his doom
941cut short a life of lies. He, knowing well no flight could save him from the shock of arms nor turn the royal maid's attack, began with words of cunning and insidious guile: “What glory is it if a girl be bold,
946on sturdy steed depending? Fly me not! But, venturing with me on this equal ground, gird thee to fight on foot. Soon shalt thou see which one of us by windy boast achieves a false renown.” He spoke; but she, to pangs
951of keenest fury stung, gave o'er her steed in charge of a companion, and opposed her foe at equal vantage, falchion drawn, on foot, and, though her shield no blazon bore, of fear incapable. But the warrior fled,
956thinking his trick victorious, and rode off full speed, with reins reversed,—his iron heel goading his charger's flight. Camilla cried: “Ligurian cheat! In vain thy boastful heart puffs thee so large; in vain thou hast essayed
961thy father's slippery ways; nor shall thy trick bring thee to guileful Aunus safely home.” Herewith on winged feet that virgin bold flew past the war-horse, seized the streaming rein, and, fronting him, took vengeance on her foe
966in bloody strokes: with not less ease a hawk, dark bird of omen, from his mountain crag pursues on pinions strong a soaring dove to distant cloud, and, clutching with hooked claws, holds tight and rips,—while through celestial air
971the torn, ensanguined plumage floats along. But now not blindly from Olympian throne the Sire of gods and men observant saw how sped the day. Then to the conflict dire the god thrust Tarchon forth, the Tyrrhene King,
976goading the warrior's rage. So Tarchon rode through slaughter wide and legions in retreat, and roused the ranks with many a wrathful cry: he called each man by name, and toward the foe drove back the routed lines. “What terrors now,
981Tuscan cowards, dead to noble rage, have seized ye? or what laggard sloth and vile unmans your hearts, that now a woman's arm pursues ye and this scattered host confounds? Why dressed in steel, or to what purpose wear
986your futile swords? Not slackly do ye join the ranks of Venus in a midnight war; or when fantastic pipes of Bacchus call your dancing feet, right venturesome ye fly to banquets and the flowing wine—what zeal,
991what ardor then! Or if your flattering priest begins the revel, and to Iofty groves fat flesh of victims bids ye haste away!” So saying, his steed he spurred, and scorning death dashed into the mid-fray, where, frenzy-driven,
996he sought out Venulus, and, grappling him with one hand, from the saddle snatched his foe, and, clasping strongly to his giant breast, exultant bore away. The shouting rose to heaven, and all the Latins gazed his way,
1001as o'er the plain the fiery Tarchon flew bearing the full-armed man; then, breaking off the point of his own spear, he pried a way through the seam'd armor for the mortal wound; the other, struggling, thrust back from his throat
1006the griping hand, full force to force opposing. As when a golden eagle high in air knits to a victim—snake his clinging feet and deeply-thrusting claws; but, coiling back, the wounded serpent roughens his stiff scales
1011and stretches high his hissing head; whereat the eagle with hooked beak the more doth rend her writhing foe, and with swift stroke of wing lashes the air: so Tarchon, from the ranks of Tibur's sons, triumphant snatched his prey.
1016The Tuscans rallied now, well pleased to view their king's example and successful war. Then Arruns, marked for doom, made circling line around Camilla's path, his crafty spear seeking its lucky chance. Where'er the maid
1021sped furious to the battle, Arruns there in silence dogged her footsteps and pursued; or where triumphant from her fallen foes she backward drew, the warrior stealthily turned his swift reins that way: from every side
1026he circled her, and scanned his vantage here or vantage there, his skilful javelin stubbornly shaking. But it soon befell that Chloreus, once a priest of Cybele, shone forth in far-resplendent Phrygian arms,
1031and urged a foaming steed, which wore a robe o'erwrought with feathery scales of bronze and gold; while he, in purples of fine foreign stain, bore light Gortynian shafts and Lycian bow; his bow was gold; a golden casque he wore
1036upon his priestly brow; the saffron cloak, all folds of rustling cambric, was enclasped in glittering gold; his skirts and tunics gay were broidered, and the oriental garb swathed his whole leg. Him when the maiden spied,
1041(Perchance she fain on temple walls would hang the Trojan prize, or in such captured gold her own fair shape array), she gave mad chase, and reckless through the ranks her prey pursued, desiring, woman-like, the splendid spoil.
1046Then from his ambush Arruns seized at last the fatal moment and let speed his shaft, thus uttering his vow to heavenly powers: “Chief of the gods, Apollo, who dost guard Soracte's hallowed steep, whom we revere
1051first of thy worshippers, for thee is fed the heap of burning pine; for thee we pass through the mid-blaze in sacred zeal secure, and deep in glowing embers plant our feet. O Sire Omnipotent, may this my spear
1056our foul disgrace put by. I do not ask for plunder, spoils, or trophies in my name, when yonder virgin falls; let honor's crown be mine for other deeds. But if my stroke that curse and plague destroy, may I unpraised
1061safe to the cities of my sires return.” Apollo heard and granted half the prayer, but half upon the passing breeze he threw: granting his votary he should confound Camilla by swift death; but 't was denied
1066the mountain-fatherland once more to see, or safe return,—that prayer th' impetuous winds swept stormfully away. Soon as the spear whizzed from his hand, straight-speeding on the air, the Volscians all turned eager thought and eyes
1071toward their Queen. She only did not heed that windy roar, nor weapon dropped from heaven, till in her bare, protruded breast the spear drank, deeply driven, of her virgin blood. Her terror-struck companians swiftly throng
1076around her, and uplift their sinking Queen. But Arruns, panic-stricken more than all, makes off, half terror and half joy, nor dares hazard his lance again, nor dares oppose a virgin's arms. As creeps back to the hills
1081in pathless covert ere his foes pursue, from shepherd slain or mighty bull laid low, some wolf, who, now of his bold trespass ware, curls close against his paunch a quivering tail and to the forest tries: so Arruns speeds
1086from sight of men in terror, glad to fly, and hides him in the crowd. But his keen spear dying Camilla from her bosom drew, though the fixed barb of deeply-wounding steel clung to the rib. She sank to earth undone,
1091her cold eyes closed in death, and from her cheeks the roses fled. With failing breath she called on Acca—who of all her maiden peers was chiefly dear and shared her heart's whole pain— and thus she spoke: “O Acca, sister mine,
1096I have been strong till now. The cruel wound consumes me, and my world is growing dark. Haste thee to Turnus! Tell my dying words! 'T is he must bear the battle and hold back the Trojan from our city wall. Farewell!”
1101So saying, her fingers from the bridle-rein unclasped, and helpless to the earth she fell; then, colder grown, she loosed her more and more out of the body's coil; she gave to death her neck, her drooping head, and ceased to heed
1106her war-array. So fled her spirit forth with wrath and moaning to the world below. Then clamor infinite uprose and smote the golden stars, as round Camilla slain the battle newly raged. To swifter charge
1111the gathered Trojans ran, with Tuscan lords and King Evander's troops of Arcady. Fair Opis, keeping guard for Trivia in patient sentry on a lofty hill, beheld unterrified the conflict's rage. Yet when,
1116amid the frenzied shouts of soldiery, she saw from far Camilla pay the doom of piteous death, with deep-drawn voice of sight she thus complained: “O virgin, woe is me! Too much, too much, this agony of thine,
1121to expiate that thou didst lift thy spear for wounding Troy. It was no shield in war, nor any vantage to have kept thy vow to chaste Diana in the thorny wild. Our maiden arrows at thy shoulder slung
1126availed thee not! Yet will our Queen divine not leave unhonored this thy dying day, nor shall thy people let thy death remain a thing forgot, nor thy bright name appear a glory unavenged. Whoe'er he be
1131that marred thy body with the mortal wound shall die as he deserves.” Beneath that hill an earth-built mound uprose, the tomb of King Dercennus, a Laurentine old, by sombre ilex shaded: thither hied
1136the fair nymph at full speed, and from the mound looked round for Arruns. When his shape she saw in glittering armor vainly insolent, “Whither so fast?” she cried. “This way, thy path! This fatal way approach, and here receive
1141thy reward for Camilla! Thou shalt fall, vile though thou art, by Dian's shaft divine.” She said; and one swift-coursing arrow took from golden quiver, like a maid of Thrace, and stretched it on her bow with hostile aim,
1146withdrawing far, till both the tips of horn together bent, and, both hands poising well, the left outreached to touch the barb of steel, the right to her soft breast the bowstring drew: the hissing of the shaft, the sounding air,
1151Arruns one moment heard, as to his flesh the iron point clung fast. But his last groan his comrades heeded not, and let him lie, scorned and forgotten, on the dusty field, while Opis soared to bright Olympian air.
1156Camilla's light-armed troop, its virgin chief now fallen, were the first to fly; in flight the panic-stricken Rutule host is seen and Acer bold; his captains in dismay with shattered legions from the peril fly,
1161and goad their horses to the city wall. Not one sustains the Trojan charge, or stands in arms against the swift approach of death. Their bows unstrung from drooping shoulder fall, and clatter of hoof-beats shakes the crumbling ground.
1166On to the city in a blinding cloud the dust uprolls. From watch-towers Iooking forth, the women smite their breasts and raise to heaven shrill shouts of fear. Those fliers who first passed the open gates were followed by the foe,
1171routed and overwhelmed. They could not fly a miserable death, but were struck down in their own ancient city, or expired before the peaceful shrines of hearth and home. Then some one barred the gates. They dared not now
1176give their own people entrance, and were deaf to all entreaty. Woeful deaths ensued, both of the armed defenders of the gate, and of the foe in arms. The desperate band, barred from the city in the face and eyes
1181of their own weeping parents, either dropped with headlong and inevitable plunge into the moat below; or, frantic, blind, battered with beams against the stubborn door and columns strong. Above in conflict wild
1186even the women (who for faithful love of home and country schooled them to be brave Camilla's way) rained weapons from the walls, and used oak-staves and truncheons shaped in flame, as if, well-armed in steel, each bosom bold
1191would fain in such defence be first to die. Meanwhile th' unpitying messenger had flown to Turnus in the wood; the warrior heard from Acca of the wide confusion spread, the Volscian troop destroyed, Camilla slain,
1196the furious foe increasing, and, with Mars to help him, grasping all, till in that hour far as the city-gates the panic reigned. Then he in desperate rage (Jove's cruel power decreed it) from the ambushed hills withdrew
1201and pathless wild. He scarce had passed beyond to the bare plain, when forth Aeneas marched along the wide ravine, climbed up the ridge, and from the dark, deceiving grove stood clear. Then swiftly each with following ranks of war
1206moved to the city-wall, nor wide the space that measured 'twixt the twain. Aeneas saw the plain with dust o'erclouded, and the lines of the Laurentian host extending far; Turnus, as clearly, saw the war array
1211of dread Aeneas, and his ear perceived loud tramp of mail-clad men and snorting steeds. Soon had they sped to dreadful shock of arms, hazard of war to try; but Phoebus now, glowing rose-red, had dipped his wearied wheel
1216deep in Iberian seas, and brought back night above the fading day. So near the town both pitch their camps and make their ramparts strong.
Book 12
1Turnus ut infractos adverso Marte Latinos defecisse videt, sua nunc promissa reposci, se signari oculis, ultro implacabilis ardet attollitque animos. Poenorum qualis in arvis saucius ille gravi venantum vulnere pectus
6tum demum movet arma leo gaudetque comantis excutiens cervice toros fixumque latronis inpavidus frangit telum et fremit ore cruento: haud secus adcenso gliscit violentia Turno. Tum sic adfatur regem atque ita turbidus infit:
11Nulla mora in Turno; nihil est quod dicta retractent ignavi Aeneadae, nec quae pepigere recusent. Congredior, fer sacra, pater, et concipe foedus. Aut hac Dardanium dextra sub Tartara mittam, desertorem Asiae (sedeant spectentque Latini),
16et solus ferro crimen commune refellam, aut habeat victos, cedat Lavinia coniunx. Olli sedato respondit corde Latinus: O praestans animi iuvenis, quantum ipse feroci virtute exsuperas, tanto me impensius aequum est
21consulere atque omnis metuentem expendere casus. Sunt tibi regna patris Dauni, sunt oppida capta multa manu, nec non aurumque animusque Latino est; sunt aliae innuptae Latio et Laurentibus arvis, nec genus indecores. Sine me haec haud mollia fatu
26sublatis aperire dolis, simul hoc animo hauri. Me natam nulli veterum sociare procorum fas erat, idque omnes divique hominesque canebant. Victus amore tui, cognato sanguine victus coniugis et maestae lacrumis, vincla omnia rupi:
31promissam eripui genero, arma impia sumpsi. Ex illo qui me casus, quae, Turne, sequantur bella, vides, quantos primus patiare labores. Bis magna victi pugna vix urbe tuemur spes Italas; recalent nostro Thybrina fluenta
36sanguine adhuc campique ingentes ossibus albent. Quo referor totiens? Quae mentem insania mutat? Si Turno exstincto socios sum adscire paratus, cur non incolumi potius certamina tollo? Quid consanguinei Rutuli, quid cetera dicet
41Italia, ad mortem si te—Fors dicta refutet!— prodiderim, natam et conubia nostra petentem? Respice res bello varias; miserere parentis longaevi, quem nunc maestum patria Ardea longe dividit. Haudquaquam dictis violentia Turni
46flectitur: exsuperat magis aegrescitque medendo. Ut primum fari potuit, sic institit ore: Quam pro me curam geris, hanc precor, optime, pro me deponas letumque sinas pro laude pacisci: et nos tela, pater, ferrumque haud debile dextra
51spargimus; et nostro sequitur de volnere sanguis. longe illi dea mater erit, quae nube fugacem feminea tegat et vanis sese occulat umbris. At regina, nova pugnae conterrita sorte, flebat et ardentem generum monitura tenebat:
56Turne, per has ego te lacrimas, per siquis Amatae tangit honos animum (spes tu nunc una, senectae tu requies miserae, decus imperiumque Latini te penes, in te omnis domus inclinata recumbit). unum oro: desiste manum committere Teucris.
61Qui te cumque manent isto certamine casus, et me, Turne, manent: simul haec invisa relinquam lumina nec generum Aenean captiva videbo. Accepit vocem lacrimis Lavinia matris flagrantis perfusa genas, quoi plurimus ignem
66subiecit rubor et calefacta per ora cucurrit. Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro siquis ebur, aut mixta rubent ubi lilia multa alba rosa: talis virgo dabat ore colores. Illum turbat amor, figitque in virgine voltus:
71ardet in arma magis paucisque adfatur Amatam. Ne, quaeso, ne me lacrimis neve omine tanto prosequere in duri certamina Martis euntem, O mater; neque enim Turno mora libera mortis. Nuntius haec Idmon Phrygio mea dicta tyranno
76haud placitura refer: cum primum crastina caelo puniceis invecta rotis Aurora rubebit, non Teucros agat in Rutulos, Teucrum arma quiescant et Rutuli; nostro dirimamus sanguine bellum, illo quaeratur coniunx Lavinia campo.
81Haec ubi dicta dedit rapidusque in tecta recessit. poscit equos gaudetque tuens ante ora frementis, Pilumno quos ipsa decus dedit Orithyia, qui candore nives anteirent, cursibus auras. Circumstant properi aurigae manibusque lacessunt
86pectora plausa cavis et colla comantia pectunt. Ipse dehinc auro squalentem alboque orichalco circumdat loricam umeris; simul aptat habendo ensemque clipeumque et rubrae cornua cristae. ensem, quem Dauno ignipotens deus ipse parenti
91fecerat et Stygia candentem tinxerat unda. Exin quae mediis ingenti adnixa columnae aedibus adstabat, validam vi corripit hastam, Actoris Aurunci spolium, quassatque trementem vociferans: Nunc, O numquam frustrata vocatus
96hasta meos, nunc tempus adest: te maximus Actor te Turni nunc dextra gerit. Da sternere corpus loricamque manu valida lacerare revulsam semiviri Phrygis et foedare in pulvere crinis vibratos calido ferro murraque madentis.
101His agitur furiis; totoque ardentis ab ore scintillae absistunt, oculis micat acribus ignis: mugitus veluti cum prima in proelia taurus terrificos ciet atque irasci in cornua temptat, arboris obnixus trunco, ventosque lacessit
106ictibus aut sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena. Nec minus interea maternis saevos in armis Aeneas acuit Martem et se suscitat ira, oblato gaudens componi foedere bellum, tum socios maestique metum solatur Iuli,
111fata docens, regique iubet responsa Latino certa referre viros et pacis dicere leges. Postera vix summos spargebat lumine montis orta dies, cum primum alto se gurgite tollunt solis equi lucemque elatis naribus efflant:
116campum ad certamen magnae sub moenibus urbis dimensi Rutulique viri Teucrique parabant in medioque focos et dis communibus aras gramineas. Alii fontemque ignemque ferebant, velati limo et verbena tempora vincti.
121Procedit legio Ausonidum, pilataque plenis agmina se fundunt portis. Hinc Troïus omnis Tyrrhenusque ruit variis exercitus armis, haud secus instructi ferro, quam si aspera Martis pugna vocet; nec non mediis in milibus ipsi
126ductores auro volitant ostroque decori, et genus Assaraci Mnestheus et fortis Asilas et Messapus equum domitor, Neptunia proles. Utque dato signo spatia in sua quisque recessit, defigunt tellure hastas et scuta reclinant.
131Tum studio effusae matres et volgus inermum invalidique senes turris ac tecta domorum obsedere, alii portis sublimibus adstant. At Iuno e summo, qui nunc Albanus habetur, tum neque nomen erat nec honos aut gloria monti,
136prospiciens tumulo campum aspectabat et ambas Laurentum Troumque acies urbemque Latini. Extemplo Turni sic est adfata sororem diva deam, stagnis quae fluminibusque sonoris praesidet (hunc illi rex aetheris altus honorem
141Iuppiter erepta pro virginitate sacravit): Nympha, decus fluviorum, animo gratissima nostro, scis ut te cunctis unam, quaecumque Latinae magnanimi Iovis ingratum ascendere cubile, praetulerim caelique lubens in parte locarim:
146disce tuum, ne me incuses, Iuturna, dolorem. Qua visa est Fortuna pati Parcaeque sinebant cedere res Latio, Turnum et tua moenia texi: nunc iuvenem imparibus video concurrere fatis, Parcarumque dies et vis inimica propinquat.
151Non pugnam aspicere hanc oculis, non foedera possum. Tu pro germano siquid praesentius audes, perge: decet. Forsan miseros meliora sequentur. Vix ea, cum lacrimas oculis Iuturna profudit terque quaterque manu pectus percussit honestum.
156Non lacrumis hoc tempus, ait Saturnia Iuno: Adcelera et fratrem, siquis modus, eripe morti, aut tu bella cie conceptumque excute foedus: auctor ego audendi. Sic exhortata reliquit incertam et tristi turbatam volnere mentis.
161Interea reges, ingenti mole Latinus quadriiugo vehitur curru, cui tempora circum aurati bis sex radii fulgentia cingunt, Solis avi specimen; bigis it Turnus in albis, bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro;
166hinc pater Aeneas, Romanae stirpis origo, sidereo flagrans clipeo et caelestibus armis, et iuxta Ascanius, magnae spes altera Romae, procedunt castris, puraque in veste sacerdos saetigeri fetum suis intonsamque bidentem
171adtulit admovitque pecus flagrantibus aris. Illi ad surgentem conversi lumina solem dant fruges manibus salsas et tempora ferro summa notant pecudum paterisque altaria libant. Tum pius Aeneas stricto sic ense precatur:
176Esto nunc Sol testis et haec mihi Terra vocanti, quam propter tantos potui perferre labores, et pater omnipotens et tu Saturnia coniunx, iam melior, iam, diva, precor, tuque inclute Mavors, cuncta tuo qui bella, pater, sub numine torques;
181fontisque fluviosque voco, quaeque aetheris alti religio et quae caeruleo sunt numina ponto: cesserit Ausonio si fors victoria Turno, convenit Evandri victos discedere ad urbem, cedet Iulus agris, nec post arma ulla rebelles
186Aeneadae referent ferrove haec regna lacessent, sin nostrum adnuerit nobis Victoria Martem (ut potius reor et potius di numine firment), non ego nec Teucris Italos parere iubebo nec mihi regna peto: paribus se legibus ambae
191invictae gentes aeterna in foedera mittant. Sacra deosque dabo; socer arma Latinus habeto, imperium sollemne socer; mihi moenia Teucri constituent, urbique dabit Lavinia nomen. Sic prior Aeneas; sequitur sic deinde Latinus
196suspiciens caelum tenditque ad sidera dextram: Haec eadem, Aenea, terram mare sidera iuro Latonaeque genus duplex Ianumque bifrontem vimque deum infernam et duri sacraria Ditis; audiat haec genitor, qui foedera fulmine sancit.
201Tango aras, medios ignis et numina testor: nulla dies pacem hanc Italis nec foedera rumpet, quo res cumque cadent; nec me vis ulla volentem avertet, non, si tellurem effundat in undas diluvio miscens caelumque in Tartara solvat;
206ut sceptrum hoc (dextra sceptrum nam forte gerebat) numquam fronde levi fundet virgulta nec umbras, cum semel in silvis imo de stirpe recisum matre caret posuitque comas et bracchia ferro, olim arbos, nunc artificis manus aere decoro
211inclusit patribusque dedit gesture gestare Latinis. Talibus inter se firmabant foedera dictis conspectu in medio procerum. Tum rite sacratas in flammam iugulant pecudes et viscera vivis eripiunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras.
216At vero Rutulis inpar ea pugna videri iamdudum et vario misceri pectora motu; tum magis, ut propius cernunt non viribus aequis. Adiuvat incessu tacito progressus et aram suppliciter venerans demisso lumine Turnus
221tabentesque genae et iuvenali in corpore pallor. Quem simul ac Iuturna soror crebrescere vidit sermonem et volgi variare labantia corda, in medias acies, formam adsimulata Camerti, cui genus a proavis ingens clarumque paternae
226nomen erat virtutis, et ipse acerrimus armis, in medias dat sese acies haud nescia rerum rumoresque serit varios ac talia fatur: Non pudet, O Rutuli, pro cunctis talibus unam obiectare animam? Numerone an viribus aequi
231non sumus? En omnes et Troes et Arcades hi sunt fatalesque manus, infensa Etruria Turno: vix hostem, alterni si congrediamur, habemus. Ille quidem ad superos, quorum se devovet aris, succedet fama vivusque per ora feretur:
236nos patria amissa dominis parere superbis cogemur, qui nunc lenti consedimus arvis. Talibus incensa est iuvenum sententia dictis iam magis atque magis, serpitque per agmina murmur; ipsi Laurentes mutati ipsique Latini.
241Qui sibi iam requiem pugnae rebusque salutem sperabant, nunc arma volunt foedusque precantur infectum et Turni sortem miserantur iniquam. His aliud maius Iuturna adiungit et alto dat signum caelo, quo non praesentius ullum
246turbavit mentes Italas monstroque fefellit. Namque volans rubra fulvus Iovis ales in aethra litoreas agitabat aves turbamque sonantem agminis aligeri, subito cum lapsus ad undas cycnum excellentem pedibus rapit improbus uncis.
251Adrexere animos Itali, cunctaeque volucres convertunt clamore fugam, mirabile visu, aetheraque obscurant pennis hostemque per auras facta nube premunt, donec vi victus et ipso pondere defecit, praedamque ex unguibus ales
256proiecit fluvio penitusque in nubila fugit. Tum vero augurium Rutuli clamore salutant expediuntque manus; primusque Tolumnius augur Hoc erat, hoc, votis, inquit, quod saepe petivi. Adcipio adgnoscoque deos; me, me duce ferrum
261corripite, O miseri, quos improbus advena bello territat invalidas ut aves et litora vestra vi populat: petet ille fugam penitusque profundo vela dabit. Vos unanimi densete catervas et regem vobis pugna defendite raptum.
266Dixit et adversos telum contorsit in hostis procurrens: sonitum dat stridula cornus et auras certa secat. Simul hoc, simul ingens clamor et omnes turbati cunei calefactaque corda tumultu. Hasta volans, ut forte novem pulcherrima fratrum
271corpora constiterant contra, quos fida crearat una tot Arcadio coniunx Tyrrhena Gylippo, horum unum ad medium, teritur qua sutilis alvo balteus et laterum iuncturas fibula mordet egregium forma iuvenem et fulgentibus armis
276transadigit costas fulvaque effundit harena. At fratres, animosa phalanx accensaque luctu, pars, gladios stringunt manibus, pars missile ferrum corripiunt caecique ruunt. Quos agmina contra procurrunt Laurentum, hinc densi rursus inundant
281Troes Agyllinique et pictis Arcades armis: sic omnis amor unus habet decernere ferro. Diripuere aras, it toto turbida caelo tempestas telorum ac ferreus ingruit imber, craterasque focosque ferunt. Fugit ipse Latinus
286pulsatos referens infecto foedere divos. Infrenant alii currus aut corpora saltu subiciunt in equos et strictis ensibus adsunt. Messapus regem regisque insigne gerentem, Tyrrhenum Aulesten, avidus confundere foedus,
291adverso proterret equo: ruit ille recedens et miser oppositis a tergo involvitur aris in caput inque umeros. At fervidus advolat hasta Messapus teloque orantem multa trabali desuper altus equo graviter ferit atque ita fatur:
296Hoc habet, haec melior magnis data victima divis. Concurrunt Itali spoliantque calentia membra. Obvius ambustum torrem Corynaeus ab ara corripit et venienti Ebuso plagamque ferenti occupat os flammis: olli ingens barba reluxit
301nidoremque ambusta dedit. Super ipse secutus caesariem laeva turbati corripit hostis inpressoque genu nitens terrae adplicat ipsum: sic rigido latus ense ferit. Podalirius Alsum pastorem primaque acie per tela ruentem,
306ense sequens nudo superimminet: ille securi adversi frontem mediam mentumque reducta disicit et sparso late rigat arma cruore. Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget somnus, in aeternam conduntur lumina noctem.
311At pius Aeneas dextram tendebat inermem nudato capite atque suos clamore vocabat: Quo ruitis? Quaeve ista repens discordia surgit? O cohibete iras! Ictum iam foedus et omnes compositae leges; mihi ius concurrere soli;
316me sinite atque auferte metus; ego foedera faxo firma manu; Turnum debent haec iam mihi sacra. Has inter voces, media inter talia verba ecce viro stridens alis adlapsa sagitta est incertum qua pulsa manu, quo turbine adacta,
321quis tantam Rutulis laudem, casusne deusne, adtulerit: pressa est insignis gloria facti. nec sese Aeneae iactavit vulnere quisquam. Turnus ut Aenean cedentem ex agmine vidit turbatosque duces, subita spe fervidus ardet:
326poscit equos atque arma simul saltuque superbus emicat in currum et manibus molitur habenas. Multa virum volitans dat fortia corpora Leto, semineces volvit multos aut agmina curru proterit aut raptas fugientibus ingerit hastas.
331Qualis apud gelidi cum flumina concitus Hebri sanguineus Mavors clipeo increpat atque furentis bella movens immittit equos; illi aequore aperto ante Notos Zephyrumque volant; gemit ultima pulsu Thraca pedum; circumque atrae Formidinis ora
336Iraeque Insidiaeque, dei comitatus, aguntur: talis equos alacer media inter proelia Turnus fumantis sudore quatit, miserabile caesis hostibus insultans; spargit rapida ungula rores sanguineos, mixtaque cruor calcatur harena.
341Iamque neci Sthenelumque dedit Thamyrumque Pholumque, hunc congressus et hunc, illum eminus; eminus ambo Imbrasidas, Glaucum atque Laden, quos Imbrasus ipse nutrierat Lycia paribusque ornaverat armis, vel conferre manum vel equo praevertere ventos.
346Parte alia media Eumedes in proelia fertur, antiqui proles bello praeclara Dolonis, nomine avum referens, animo manibusque parentem, qui quondam, castra ut Danaum speculator adiret, ausus Pelidae pretium sibi poscere currus;
351illum Tydides alio pro talibus ausis adfecit pretio, nec equis adspirat Achillis. Hunc procul ut campo Turnus prospexit aperto, ante levi iaculo longum per inane secutus sistit equos biiugis et curru desilit atque
356semianimi lapsoque supervenit et pede collo impresso dextrae mucronem extorquet et alto fulgentem tinguit iugulo atque haec insuper addit: En agros et quam bello, Troiane, petisti, Hesperiam metire iacens: haec praemia qui me
361ferro ausi temptare ferunt, sic moenia condunt. Huic comitem Asbyten coniecta cuspide mittit. Chloreaque Sybarimque Daretaque Thersilochumque et sternacis equi lapsum cervice Thymoeten. Ac velut Edoni Boreae cum spiritus alto
366insonat Aegaeo sequiturque ad litora fluctus, qua venti incubuere, fugam dant nubila caelo: sic Turno, quacumque viam secat, agmina cedunt conversaeque ruunt acies; fert impetus ipsum, et cristam adverso curru quatit aura volantem.
371Non tulit instantem Phegeus animisque frementem: obiecit sese ad currum et spumantia frenis ora citatorum dextra detorsit equorum. Dum trahitur pendetque iugis, hunc lata retectum lancea consequitur rumpitque infixa bilicem
376loricam et summum degustat volnere corpus. Ille tamen clipeo obiecto conversus in hostem ibat et auxilium ducto mucrone petebat: cum rota praecipitem et procursu concitus axis impulit effunditque solo, Turnusque secutus
381imam inter galeam summi thoracis et oras abstulit ense caput truncumque reliquit harenae. Atque ea dum campis victor dat funera Turnus, interea Aenean Mnestheus et fidus Achates Ascaniusque comes castris statuere cruentum,
386alternos longa nitentem cuspide gressus. Saevit et infracta luctatur arundine telum eripere auxilioque viam, quae proxima, poscit ense secent lato vulnus telique latebram rescindant penitus seseque in bella remittant.
391Iamque aderat Phoebo ante alios dilectus Iapyx Iasides, acri quondam cui captus amore ipse suas artes, sua munera, laetus Apollo augurium citharamque dabat celerisque sagittas. Ille ut depositi proferret fata parentis,
396scire potestates herbarum usumque medendi maluit et mutas agitare inglorius artes. Stabat acerba fremens, ingentem nixus in hastam Aeneas magno iuvenum et maerentis Iuli concursu, lacrimis immobilis. Ille retorto
401Paeonium in morem senior succinctus amictu multa manu medica Phoebique potentibus herbis nequiquam trepidat, nequiquam spicula dextra sollicitat prensatque tenaci forcipe ferrum. Nulla viam Fortuna regit, nihil auctor Apollo
406subvenit; et saevus campis magis ac magis horror crebrescit propiusque malum est. Iam pulvere caelum stare vident: subeunt equites, et spicula castris densa cadunt mediis. It tristis ad aethera clamor bellantum iuvenum et duro sub Marte cadentum.
411Hic Venus, indigno nati concussa dolore, dictamnum genetrix Cretaea carpit ab Ida, puberibus caulem foliis et flore comantem purpureo; non illa feris incognita capris gramina, cum tergo volucres haesere sagittae:
416hoc Venus, obscuro faciem circumdata nimbo, detulit; hoc fusum labris splendentibus amnem inficit occulte medicans spargitque salubris ambrosiae sucos et odoriferam panaceam. Fovit ea volnus lympha longaevus Iapyx
421ignorans, subitoque omnis de corpore fugit quippe dolor, omnis stetit imo volnere sanguis; iamque secuta manum nullo cogente sagitta excidit, atque novae rediere in pristina vires. Arma citi properate viro! Quid statis? Iapyx
426conclamat primusque animos adcendit in hostem. Non haec humanis opibus, non arte magistra proveniunt neque te, Aenea, mea dextera servat: maior agit deus atque opera ad maiora remittit. Ille avidus pugnae suras incluserat auro
431hinc atque hinc oditque moras hastamque coruscat. Postquam habilis lateri clipeus loricaque tergo est, Ascanium fusis circum complectitur armis summaque per galeam delibans oscula fatur: Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem,
436fortunam ex aliis. Nunc te mea dextera bello defensum dabit et magna inter praemia ducet. Tu facito, mox cum matura adoleverit aetas, sis memor, et te animo repetentem exempla tuorum et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitet Hector.
441Haec ubi dicta dedit, portis sese extulit ingens, telum immane manu quatiens; simul agmine denso Antheusque Mnestheusque ruunt omnisque relictis turba fluit castris: tum caeco pulvere campus miscetur pulsuque pedum tremit excita tellus.
446Vidit ab adverso venientis aggere Turnus, videre Ausonii, gelidusque per ima cucurrit ossa tremor: prima ante omnis Iuturna Latinos audiit adgnovitque sonum et tremefacta refugit. Ille volat campoque atrum rapit agmen aperto.
451Qualis ubi ad terras abrupto sidere nimbus it mare per medium; miseris heu praescia longe horrescunt corda agricolis, dabit ille ruinas arboribus stragemque satis, ruet omnia late; ante volant sonitumque ferunt ad litora venti:
456talis in adversos ductor Rhoeteius hostis agmen agit, densi cuneis se quisque coactis adglomerant. Ferit ense gravem Thymbraeus Osirim, Archetium Mnestheus, Epulonem obtruncat Achates Ufentemque Gyas; cadit ipse Tolumnius augur,
461primus in adversos telum qui torserat hostis. Tollitur in caelum clamor, versique vicissim pulverulenta fuga Rutuli dant terga per agros. Ipse neque aversos dignatur sternere Morti nec pede congressos aequo nec tela ferentis
466insequitur: solum densa in caligine Turnum vestigat lustrans, solum in certamina poscit. Hoc concussa metu mentem Iuturna virago aurigam Turni media inter lora Metiscum excutit et longe lapsum temone relinquit:
471ipsa subit manibusque undantis flectit habenas, cuncta gerens, vocemque et corpus et arma Metisci. Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis aedes pervolat et pennis alta atria lustrat hirundo, pabula parva legens nidisque loquacibus escas,
476et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc umida circum stagna sonat: similis medios Iuturna per hostis fertur equis rapidoque volans obit omnia curru iamque hic germanum iamque hic ostentat ovantem nec conferre manum patitur, volat avia longe.
481Haud minus Aeneas tortos legit obvius orbes vestigatque virum et disiecta per agmina magna voce vocat. Quotiens oculos coniecit in hostem alipedumque fugam cursu temptavit equorum, aversos totiens currus Iuturna retorsit.
486Heu quid agat? Vario nequiquam fluctuat aestu, diversaeque vocant animum in contraria curae. Huic Messapus, uti laeva duo forte gerebat lenta levis cursu praefixa hastilia ferro, horum unum certo contorquens dirigit ictu.
491Substitit Aeneas et se collegit in arma, poplite subsidens; apicem tamen incita summum hasta tulit summasque excussit vertice cristas. Tum vero adsurgunt irae; insidiisque subactus, diversos ubi sensit equos currumque referri,
496multa Iovem et laesi testatus foederis aras iam tandem invadit medios et Marte secundo terribilis saevam nullo discrimine caedem suscitat irarumque omnis effundit habenas. Quis mihi nunc tot acerba deus, quis carmine caedes
501diversas obitumque ducum, quos aequore toto inque vicem nunc Turnus agit, nunc Troius heros, expediat? Tanton placuit concurrere motu, Iuppiter, aeterna gentis in pace futuras? Aeneas Rutulum Sucronem, ea prima ruentis
506pugna loco statuit Teucros, haud multa morantem excipit in latus et, qua fata celerrima, crudum transadigit costas et cratis pectoris ensem. Turnus equo deiectum Amycum fratremque Dioren, congressus pedes, hunc venientem cuspide longa,
511hunc mucrone ferit curruque abscisa duorum suspendit capita et rorantia sanguine portat. Ille Talon Tanaimque neci fortemque Cethegum, tris uno congressu, et maestum mittit Oniten, nomen Echionium matrisque genus Peridiae,
516hic fratres Lycia missos et Apollinis agris et iuvenem exosum nequiquam bella Menoeten, Arcada, piscosae cui circum flumina Lernae ars fuerat pauperque domus nec nota potentum munera conductaque pater tellure serebat.
521Ac velut immissi diversis partibus ignes arentem in silvam et virgulta sonantia lauro, aut ubi decursu rapido de montibus altis dant sonitum spumosi amnes et in aequora currunt quisque suum populatus iter: non segnius ambo
526Aeneas Turnusque ruunt per proelia; nunc nunc fluctuat ira intus, rumpuntur nescia vinci pectora, nunc totis in volnera viribus itur. Murranum hic, atavos et avorum antiqua sonantem nomina per regesque actum genus omne Latinos,
531praecipitem scopulo atque ingentis turbine saxi excutit effunditque solo: hunc lora et iuga subter provolvere rotae, crebro super ungula pulsu incita nec domini memorum proculcat equorum. Ille ruenti Hyllo animisque immane frementi
536occurrit telumque aurata ad tempora torquet: olli per galeam fixo stetit hasta cerebro. Dextera nec tua te, Graium fortissime Cretheu eripuit Turno. Nec di texere Cupencum Aenea veniente sui: dedit obvia ferro
541pectora, nec misero clipei mora profuit aerei. Te quoque Laurentes viderunt, Aeole, campi oppetere et late terram consternere tergo. Occidis, Argivae quem non potuere phalanges sternere nec Priami regnorum eversor Achilles;
546hic tibi mortis erant metae: domus alta sub Ida, Lyrnesi domus alta, solo Laurente sepulchrum. Totae adeo conversae acies, omnesque Latini, omnes Dardanidae, Mnestheus acerque Serestus et Messapus equum domitor et fortis Asilas
551Tuscorumque phalanx Evandrique Arcades alae, pro se quisque viri summa nituntur opum vi: nec mora nec requies, vasto certamine tendunt. Hic mentem Aeneae genetrix pulcherrima misit, iret ut ad muros urbique adverteret agmen
556ocius et subita turbaret clade Latinos. Ille ut vestigans diversa per agmina Turnum huc atque huc acies circumtulit, aspicit urbem immunem tanti belli atque impune quietam. Continuo pugnae adcendit maioris imago:
561Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum ductores tumulumque capit, quo cetera Teucrum concurrit legio nec scuta aut spicula densi deponunt. Celso medius stans aggere fatur: Nequa meis esto dictis mora; Iuppiter hac stat,
566neu quis ob inceptum subitum mihi segnior ito. Urbem hodie, causam belli, regna ipsa Latini, ni frenum accipere et victi parere fatentur, eruam et aequa solo fumantia culmina ponam. Scilicet exspectem, libeat dum proelia Turno
571nostra pati rursusque velit concurrere victus? Hoc caput, O cives, haec belli summa nefandi: ferte faces propere foedusque reposcite flammis. Dixerat, atque animis pariter certantibus omnes dant cuneum densaque ad muros mole feruntur.
576Scalae improviso subitusque apparuit ignis. Discurrunt alii ad portas primosque trucidant, ferrum alii torquent et obumbrant aethera telis. Ipse inter primos dextram sub moenia tendit Aeneas magnaque incusat voce Latinum
581testaturque deos, iterum se ad proelia cogi, bis iam Italos hostis, haec altera foedera rumpi. Exoritur trepidos inter discordia civis: urbem alii reserare iubent et pandere portas Dardanidis ipsumque trahunt in moenia regem,
586arma ferunt alii et pergunt defendere muros. Inclusas ut cum latebroso in pumice pastor vestigavit apes fumoque implevit amaro: illae intus trepidae rerum per cerea castra discurrunt magnisque acuunt stridoribus iras;
591volvitur ater odor tectis, tum murmure caeco intus saxa sonant, vacuas it fumus ad auras. Accidit haec fessis etiam fortuna Latinis, quae totam luctu concussit funditus urbem. Regina ut tectis venientem prospicit hostem,
596incessi muros, ignis ad tecta volare, nusquam acies contra Rutulas, nulla agmina Turni: infelix pugnae iuvenem in certamine credit exstinctum et, subito mentem turbata dolore, se causam clamat crimenque caputque malorum,
601multaque per maestum demens effata furorem purpureos moritura manu discindit amictus et nodum informis leti trabe nectit ab alta. Quam cladem miserae postquam accepere Latinae, filia prima manu flavos Lavinia crinis
606et roseas laniata genas, tum cetera circum turba furit: resonant late plangoribus aedes. Hinc totam infelix volgatur fama per urbem. Demittunt mentes; it scissa veste Latinus, coniugis attonitus fatis urbisque ruina,
611canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans. Interea extremo bellator in aequore Turnus palantis sequitur paucos iam segnior atque iam minus atque minus successu laetus equorum attulit hunc illi caecis terroribus aura
618commixtum clamorem adrectasque impulit aures confusae sonus urbis et inlaetabile murmur. Ei mihi! Quid tanto turbantur moenia luctu? Quisve ruit tantus diversa clamor ab urbe? Sic ait adductisque amens subsistit habenis.
623Atque huic, in faciem soror ut conversa Metisci aurigae currumque et equos et lora regebat, talibus occurrit dictis: Hac, Turne, sequamur Troiugenas, qua prima viam victoria pandit; sunt alii, qui tecta manu defendere possint.
628Ingruit Aeneas Italis et proelia miscet: et nos saeva manu mittamus funera Teucris. Nec numero inferior pugnae nec honore recedes. Turnus ad haec: O soror, et dudum adgnovi, cum prima per artem
633foedera turbasti teque haec in bella dedisti, et nunc nequiquam fallis dea. Sed quis Olympo demissam tantos voluit te ferre labores? An fratris miseri letum ut crudele videres? Nam quid ago? Aut quae iam spondet Fortuna salutem?
638Vidi oculos ante ipse meos me voce vocantem Murranum, quo non superat mihi carior alter, oppetere ingentem atque ingenti volnere victum. Occidit infelix nostrum ne dedecus Ufens adspiceret; Teucri potiuntur corpore et armis.
643Exscindine domos (id rebus defuit unum) perpetiar, dextra nec Drancis dicta refellam? Terga dabo et Turnum fugientem haec terra videbit? Usque adeone mori miserum est? Vos O mihi Manes este boni, quoniam superis aversa voluntas!
648Sancta ad vos anima atque istius nescia culpae descendam, magnorum haud umquam indignus avorum. Vix ea fatus erat: medios volat ecce per hostis vectus equo spumante Saces, adversa sagitta saucius ora, ruitque implorans nomine Turnum:
653Turne, in te suprema salus: miserere tuorum. Fulminat Aeneas armis summasque minatur deiecturum arces Italum exscidioque daturum; iamque faces ad tecta volant. In te ora Latini, in te oculos referunt; mussat rex ipse Latinus,
658quos generos vocet aut quae sese ad foedera flectat. Praeterea regina, tui fidissima, dextra occidit ipsa sua lucemque exterrita fugit. Soli pro portis Messapus et acer Atinas sustentant aciem. Circum hos utrimque phalanges
663stant densae, strictisque seges mucronibus horret ferrea: tu currum deserto in gramine versas. Obstipuit varia confusus imagine rerum Turnus et obtutu tacito stetit. Aestuat ingens uno in corde pudor mixtoque insania luctu
668et furiis agitatus amor et conscia virtus. Ut primum discussae umbrae et lux reddita menti, ardentis oculorum orbes ad moenia torsit turbidus eque rotis magnam respexit ad urbem. Ecce autem flammis inter tabulata volutus
673ad caelum undabat vortex turrimque tenebat, turrim, compactis trabibus quam eduxerat ipse subdideratque rotas pontisque instraverat altos. Iam iam fata, soror, superant; absiste morari; quo deus et quo dura vocat Fortuna, sequamur.
678Stat conferre manum Aeneae, stat quidquid acerbi est morte pati; neque me indecorem, germana, videbis amplius. Hunc, oro, sine me furere ante furorem. Dixit et e curru saltum dedit ocius arvis perque hostis, per tela ruit maestamque sororem
683deserit ac rapido cursu media agmina rumpit. Ac veluti montis saxum de vertice praeceps cum ruit avulsum vento, seu turbidus imber proluit aut annis solvit sublapsa vetustas; fertur in abruptum magno mons improbus actu
688exsultatque solo, silvas armenta virosque involvens secum: disiecta per agmina Turnus sic urbis ruit ad muros, ubi plurima fuso sanguine terra madet striduntque hastilibus aurae, significatque manu et magno simul incipit ore:
693Parcite iam, Rutuli, et vos tela inhibete, Latini; quaecumque est Fortuna, mea est: me verius unum pro vobis foedus luere et decernere ferro. Discessere omnes medii spatiumque dedere. At pater Aeneas audito nomine Turni
698deserit et muros et summas deserit arces praecipitatque moras omnis, opera omnia rumpit, laetitia exsultans, horrendumque intonat armis; quantus Athos aut quantus Eryx aut ipse coruscis cum fremit ilicibus quantus gaudetque nivali
703vertice se attollens pater Appenninus ad auras. Iam vero et Rutuli certatim et Troes et omnes convertere oculos Itali, quique alta tenebant moenia quique imos pulsabant ariete muros, armaque deposuere umeris. Stupet ipse Latinus
708ingentis, genitos diversis partibus orbis, inter se coiisse viros et cernere ferro. Atque illi, ut vacuo patuerunt aequore campi, procursu rapido, coniectis eminus hastis, invadunt Martem clipeis atque aere sonoro.
713Dat gemitum tellus; tum crebros ensibus ictus congeminant: fors et virtus miscentur in unum. Ac velut ingenti Sila summove Taburno cum duo conversis inimica in proelia tauri frontibus incurrunt; pavidi cessere magistri,
718stat pecus omne metu mutum mussantque iuvencae, quis nemori imperitet, quem tota armenta sequantur; illi inter sese multa vi volnera miscent cornuaque obnixi infigunt et sanguine largo colla armosque lavant; gemitu nemus omne remugit:
723non alitur Tros Aeneas et Daunius heros concurrunt clipeis; ingens fragor aethera complet. Iuppiter ipse duas aequato examine lances sustinet et fata imponit diversa duorum, quem damnet labor et quo vergat pondere letum;
728Emicat hic, impune putans, et corpore toto alte sublatum consurgit Turnus in ensem et ferit: exclamant Troes trepidique Latini, arrectaeque amborum acies. At perfidus ensis frangitur in medioque ardentem deserit ictu [...]
733ni fuga subsidio subeat. Fugit ocior euro, ut capulum ignotum dextramque aspexit inermem. Fama est praecipitem, cum prima in proelia iunctos conscendebat equos, patrio mucrone relicto, dum trepidat, ferrum aurigae rapuisse Metisci.
738Idque diu, dum terga dabant palantia Teucri, suffecit: postquam arma dei ad Volcania ventumst, mortalis mucro glacies ceu futilis ictu dissiluit; fulva resplendent fragmina harena. Ergo amens diversa fuga petit aequora Turnus
743et nunc huc, inde huc incertos implicat orbes undique enim densa Teucri inclusere corona, atque hinc vasta palus, hinc ardua moenia cingunt. Nec minus Aeneas, quamquam tardata sagitta interdum genua impediunt cursumque recusant,
748insequitur trepidique pedem pede fervidus urget: inclusum veluti siquando flumine nanctus cervum aut puniceae saeptum formidine pinnae venator cursu canis et latratibus instat; ille autem, insidiis et ripa territus alta,
753mille fugit refugitque vias; at vividus Umber haeret hians, iam iamque tenet similisque tenenti increpuit malis morsuque elusus inani est. Tum vero exoritur clamor, ripaeque lacusque responsant circa et caelum tonat omne tumultu.
758Ille simul fugiens Rutulos simul increpat omnis, nomine quemque vocans, notumque efflagitat ensem. Aeneas mortem contra praesensque minatur exitium, si quisquam adeat, terretque trementis excisurum urbem minitans et saucius instat.
763Quinque orbis explent cursu totidemque retexunt huc illuc; neque enim levia aut ludicra petuntur praemia, sed Turni de vita et sanguine certant. Forte sacer Fauno foliis oleaster amaris hic steterat, nautis olim venerabile lignum,
768servati ex undis ubi figere dona solebant Laurenti divo et votas suspendere vestes, sed stirpem Teucri nullo discrimine sacrum sustulerant, puro ut possent concurrere campo. Hic hasta Aeneae stabat, huc impetus illam
773detulerat fixam et lenta in radice tenebat. Incubuit voluitque manu convellere ferrum Dardanides teloque sequi, quem prendere cursu non poterat. Tum vero amens formidine Turnus Faune, precor, miserere, inquit, tuque optima ferrum
778terra tene, colui vestros si semper honores, quos contra Aeneadae bello fecere profanos. Dixit opemque dei non cassa in vota vocavit. Namque diu luctans lentoque in stirpe moratus viribus haud ullis valuit discludere morsus
783roboris Aeneas. Dum nititur acer et instat, rursus in aurigae faciem mutata Metisci procurrit fratrique ensem dea Daunia reddit. Quod Venus audaci nymphae indignata licere adcessit telumque alta ab radice revellit.
788Olli sublimes armis animisque refecti, hic gladio fidens, hic acer et arduus hasta, adsistunt contra certamina Martis anheli. Iunonem interea rex omnipotentis Olympi adloquitur fulva pugnas de nube tuentem:
793Qua iam finis erit, coniunx? Quid denique restat? Indigetem Aenean scis ipsa et scire fateris deberi caelo fatisque ad sidera tolli. Quid struis, aut qua spe gelidis in nubibus haeres? Mortalin decuit violari volnere divom,
798aut ensem (quid enim sine te Iuturna valeret?) ereptum reddi Turno et vim crescere victis? Desine iam tandem precibusque inflectere nostris, ventum ad supremum est. Terris agitare vel undis Troianos potuisti, infandum adcendere bellum,
805deformare domum et luctu miscere hymenaeos: ulterius temptare veto. Sic Iuppiter orsus; sic dea submisso contra Saturnia voltu: Ista quidem quia nota mihi tua, magne, voluntas, Iuppiter, et Turnum et terras invita reliqui;
810nec tu me aeria solam nunc sede videres digna indigna pati, sed flammis cincta sub ipsa starem acie traheremque inimica in proelia Teucros. Iuturnam misero, fateor, succurrere fratri suasi et pro vita maiora audere probavi,
815non ut tela tamen, non ut contenderet arcum: adiuro Stygii caput implacabile fontis, una superstitio superis quae reddita divis. Et nunc cedo equidem pugnasque exosa relinquo. Illud te, nulla fati quod lege tenetur,
820pro Latio obtestor, pro maiestate tuorum: cum iam conubis pacem felicibus, esto, component, cum iam leges et foedera iungent, ne vetus indigenas nomen mutare Latinos neu Troas fieri iubeas Teucrosque vocari
825aut vocem mutare viros aut vertere vestem. Sit Latium, sint Albani per saecula reges, sit Romana potens Itala virtute propago: occidit, occideritque sinas cum nomine Troia. Olli subridens hominum rerumque repertor
830Es germana Iovis Saturnique altera proles: irarum tantos volvis sub pectore fluctus. Verum age et inceptum frustra submitte furorem do quod vis, et me victusque volensque remitto. Sermonem Ausonii patrium moresque tenebunt,
835utque est nomen erit; commixti corpore tantum subsident Teucri. Morem ritusque sacrorum adiciam faciamque omnis uno ore Latinos. Hinc genus Ausonio mixtum quod sanguine surget, supra homines, supra ire deos pietate videbis,
840nec gens ulla tuos aeque celebrabit honores. Adnuit his Iuno et mentem laetata retorsit. Interea excedit caelo nubemque relinquit. His actis aliud genitor secum ipse volutat Iuturnamque parat fratris dimittere ab armis.
845Dicuntur geminae pestes cognomine Dirae, quas et Tartaream Nox intempesta Megaeram uno eodemque tulit partu paribusque revinxit serpentum spiris ventosasque addidit alas. Hae Iovis ad solium saevique in limine regis
850adparent acuuntque metum mortalibus aegris, siquando letum horrificum morbosque deum rex molitur meritas aut bello territat urbes. Harum unam celerem demisit ab aethere summo Iuppiter inque omen Iuturnae occurrere iussit.
855Illa volat celerique ad terram turbine fertur. Non secus ac nervo per nubem impulsa sagitta, armatam saevi Parthus quam felle veneni, Parthus sive Cydon, telum immedicabile, torsit, stridens et celeris incognita transilit umbras:
860talis se sata Nocte tulit terrasque petivit. Postquam acies videt Iliacas atque agmina Turni, alitis in parvae subitam conlecta figuram, quae quondam in bustis aut culminibus desertis nocte sedens serum canit importuna per umbras,
865hanc versa in faciem Turni se pestis ob ora fertque refertque sonans clipeumque everberat alis. Olli membra novus solvit formidine torpor, adrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit. At procul ut Dirae stridorem adgnovit et alas,
870infelix crinis scindit Iuturna solutos, unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis: Quid nunc te tua, Turne, potest germana iuvare? Aut quid iam durae superat mihi? Qua tibi lucem arte morer? Talin possum me opponere monstro?
875Iam iam linquo acies. Ne me terrete timentem, obscenae volucres: alarum verbera nosco letalemque sonum, nec fallunt iussa superba magnanimi Iovis. Haec pro virginitate reponit? Quo vitam dedit aeternam? Cur mortis ademptast
880condicio? Possem tantos finire dolores nunc certe et misero fratri comes ire per umbras! Immortalis ego? Aut quicquam mihi dulce meorum te sine, frater, erit? O quae satis ima dehiscet terra mihi Manisque deam demittet ad imos?
885Tantum effata caput glauco contexit amictu multa gemens et se fluvio dea condidit alto. Aeneas instat contra telumque coruscat ingens arboreum et saevo sic pectore fatur: Quae nunc deinde mora est? Aut quid iam, Turne, retractas?
890Non cursu, saevis certandum est comminus armis. Verte omnis tete in facies et contrahe quidquid sive animis sive arte vales; opta ardua pennis astra sequi clausumve cava te condere terra. Ille caput quassans Non me tua fervida terrent
895dicta, ferox: di me terrent et Iuppiter hostis. Nec plura effatus saxum circumspicit ingens, saxum antiquum ingens, campo quod forte iacebat, limes agro positus, litem ut discerneret arvis. Vix illud lecti bis sex cervice subirent,
900qualia nunc hominum producit corpora tellus: ille manu raptum trepida torquebat in hostem altior insurgens et cursu concitus heros. Sed neque currentem se nec cognoscit euntem tollentemve manus saxumve immane moventem;
905genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis. Tum lapis ipse viri, vacuum per inane volutus, nec spatium evasit totum neque pertulit ictum. Ac velut in somnis, oculos ubi languida pressit nocte quies, nequiquam avidos extendere cursus
910velle videmur et in mediis conatibus aegri succidimus, non lingua valet, non corpore notae sufficiunt vires, nec vox aut verba sequuntur: sic Turno, quacumque viam virtute petivit, successum dea dira negat. Tum pectore sensus
915vertuntur varii. Rutulos aspectat et urbem cunctaturque metu letumque instare tremescit; nec quo se eripiat, nec qua vi tendat in hostem, nec currus usquam videt aurigamve sororem. Cunctanti telum Aeneas fatale coruscat,
920sortitus fortunam oculis, et corpore toto eminus intorquet. Murali concita numquam tormento sic saxa fremunt, nec fulmine tanti dissultant crepitus. Volat atri turbinis instar exitium dirum hasta ferens orasque recludit
925loricae et clipei extremos septemplicis orbes. Per medium stridens transit femur. Incidit ictus ingens ad terram duplicato poplite Turnus. Consurgunt gemitu Rutuli, totusque remugit mons circum, et vocem late nemora alta remittunt.
930Ille humilis supplexque oculos, dextramque precantem protendens, Equidem merui nec deprecor, inquit: utere sorte tua. Miseri te siqua parentis tangere cura potest, oro (fuit et tibi talis Anchises genitor), Dauni miserere senectae
935et me seu corpus spoliatum lumine mavis redde meis. Vicisti, et victum tendere palmas Ausonii videre; tua est Lavinia coniunx: ulterius ne tende odiis. Stetit acer in armis Aeneas, volvens oculos, dextramque repressit;
940et iam iamque magis cunctantem flectere sermo coeperat, infelix umero cum apparuit alto balteus et notis fulserunt cingula bullis Pallantis pueri, victum quem volnere Turnus straverat atque umeris inimicum insigne gerebat.
945Ille, oculis postquam saevi monimenta doloris exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus et ira terribilis, Tune hinc spoliis indute meorum eripiare mihi? Pallas te hoc volnere, Pallas immolat et poenam scelerato ex sanguine sumit,
950hoc dicens ferrum adverso sub pectore condit fervidus. Ast illi solvuntur frigore membra vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras.
Book 12
1When Turnus marks how much the Latins quail in adverse war, how on himself they call to keep his pledge, and with indignant eyes gaze all his way, fierce rage implacable swells his high heart. As when on Libyan plain
6a lion, gashed along his tawny breast by the huntsman's grievous thrust, awakens him unto his last grim fight, and gloriously shaking the great thews of his maned neck, shrinks not, but crushes the despoiler's spear
11with blood-sprent, roaring mouth,—not less than so burns the wild soul of Turnus and his ire. Thus to the King he spoke with stormful brow: “The war lags not for Turnus' sake. No cause constrains the Teucrian cowards and their King
16to eat their words and what they pledged refuse. On his own terms I come. Bring forward, sire, the sacrifice, and seal the pact I swear: either to deepest hell this hand shall fling yon Trojan runaway—the Latins all
21may sit at ease and see!—and my sole sword efface the general shame; or let him claim the conquest, and Lavinia be his bride.” To him Latinus with unruffled mind thus made reply: “O youth surpassing brave!
26The more thy sanguinary valor burns beyond its wont, the more with toilsome care I ponder with just fear what chance may fall, weighing it well. Thy father Daunus' throne, and many a city by thy sword subdued,
31are still thy own. Latinus also boasts much golden treasure and a liberal hand. Other unwedded maids of noble stem in Latium and Laurentine land are found. Permit me, then, to tell thee without guile
36things hard to utter; let them deeply fill thy listening soul. My sacred duty 'twas to plight my daughter's hand to nonesoe'er of all her earlier wooers—so declared the gods and oracles; but overcome
41by love of thee, by thy dear, kindred blood, and by the sad eyes of my mournful Queen, I shattered every bond; I snatched away the plighted maiden from her destined lord, and took up impious arms. What evil case
46upon that deed ensued, what hapless wars, thou knowest, since thyself dost chiefly bear the cruel burden. In wide-ranging fight twice-conquered, our own city scarce upholds the hope of Italy. Yon Tiber's wave
51still runs warm with my people's blood; the plains far round us glisten with their bleaching bones. Why tell it o'er and o'er? What maddening dream perverts my mind? If after Turnus slain I must for friendship of the Trojan sue,
56were it not better to suspend the fray while Turnus lives? For what will be the word of thy Rutulian kindred—yea, of all Italia, if to death I give thee o'er— (Which Heaven avert!) because thou fain wouldst win
61my daughter and be sworn my friend and son? Bethink thee what a dubious work is war; have pity on thy father's reverend years, who even now thy absence daily mourns in Ardea, his native land and thine.”
66But to this pleading Turnus' frenzied soul yields not at all, but rather blazes forth more wildly, and his fever fiercer burns beneath the healer's hand. In answer he, soon as his passion gathered voice, began:
71“This keen solicitude for love of me, I pray, good sire, for love of me put by! And let me traffic in the just exchange of death for glory. This right hand, O King, can scatter shafts not few, nor do I wield
76untempered steel. Whene'er I make a wound blood follows. For my foeman when we meet will find no goddess-mother near, with hand to hide him in her woman's skirt of cloud, herself in dim, deluding shade concealed.”
81But now the Queen, whose whole heart shrank in fear from these new terms of duel, wept aloud, and like one dying clasped her fiery son: “O Turnus, by these tears-if in thy heart thou honorest Amata still—O thou
86who art of our distressful, dark old age the only hope and peace, the kingly name and glory of Latinus rests in thee; thou art the mighty prop whereon is stayed our falling house. One favor I implore:
91give o'er this fight with Trojans. In such strife thy destined doom is destined to be mine by the same fatal stroke. For in that hour this hated life shall cease, nor will I look with slave's eyes on Aeneas as my son.”
96Lavinia heard her mother's voice, and tears o'erflowed her scarlet cheek, where blushes spread like flame along her warm, young face and brow: as when the Indian ivory must wear ensanguined crimson stain, or lilies pale
101mingled with roses seem to blush, such hues her virgin features bore; and love's desire disturbed his breast, as, gazing on the maid, his martial passion fiercer flamed; whereon in brief speech he addressed the Queen: “No tears!
106No evil omen, mother, I implore! Make me no sad farewells, as I depart to the grim war-god's game! Can Turnus' hand delay death's necessary coming? Go, Idmon, my herald, to the Phrygian King,
111and tell him this—a word not framed to please: soon as Aurora from her crimson car flushes to-morrow's sky, let him no more against the Rutule lead the Teucrian line; let Teucrian swords and Rutule take repose,
116while with our own spilt blood we twain will make an end of war; on yonder mortal field let each man woo Lavinia for his bride.” So saying, he hied him to his lordly halls, summoned his steeds, and with pleased eye surveyed
121their action proud: them Orithyia, bride of Boreas, to Sire Pilumnus gave, which in their whiteness did surpass the snow in speed the wind. The nimble charioteers stood by and smote with hollowed hand and palm
126the sounding chests, or combed the necks and manes. But he upon his kingly shoulders clasped his corselet, thick o'erlaid with blazoned gold and silvery orichalch; he fitted him with falchion, shield, and helm of purple plume,
131that falchion which the Lord of Fire had made for Daunus, tempering in the Stygian wave when white it glowed; next grasped he the good spear which leaned its weight against a column tall in the mid-court, Auruncan Actor's spoil,
136and waved it wide in air with mighty cry: “O spear, that ne'er did fail me when I called, the hour is come! Once mighty Actor's hand, but now the hand of Turnus is thy lord. Grant me to strike that carcase to the ground,
141and with strong hand the corselet rip and rend from off that Phrygian eunuch: let the dust befoul those tresses, tricked to curl so fine with singeing steel and sleeked with odorous oil.” Such frenzy goads him: his impassioned brow
146is all on flame, the wild eyes flash with fire. Thus, bellowing loud before the fearful fray, some huge bull proves the fury of his horns, pushing against a tree-trunk; his swift thrusts would tear the winds in pieces; while his hoofs
151toss up the turf and sand, rehearsing war. That self-same day with aspect terrible Aeneas girt him in the wondrous arms his mother gave; made sharp his martial steel, and roused his heart to ire; though glad was he
156to seal such truce and end the general war. Then he spoke comfort to his friends; and soothed Iulus' fear, unfolding Heaven's intent; but on Latinus bade his heralds lay unyielding terms and laws of peace impose.
161Soon as the breaking dawn its glory threw along the hills, and from the sea's profound leaped forth the horses of the sun-god's car, from lifted nostrils breathing light and fire, then Teucrian and Rutulian measured out
166a place for duel, underneath the walls of the proud city. In the midst were set altars of turf and hearth-stones burning bright in honor of their common gods. Some brought pure waters and the hallowed flame, their thighs
171in priestly skirt arrayed, and reverend brows with vervain bound. Th' Ausonians, spear in hand, out from the city's crowded portals moved in ordered column: next the Trojans all, with Tuscan host in various martial guise,
176equipped with arms of steel, as if they heard stern summons to the fight. Their captains, too, emerging from the multitude, in pride of gold and purple, hurried to and fro: Mnestheus of royal stem, Asilas brave;
181and Neptune's offspring, tamer of the steed, Messapus. Either host, at signal given, to its own ground retiring, fixed in earth the long shafts of the spears and stacked the shields. Then eagerly to tower and rampart fly
186the women, the infirm old men, the throng of the unarmed, and sit them there at gaze, or on the columned gates expectant stand. But Juno, peering from that summit proud which is to-day the Alban (though that time
191nor name nor fame the hallowed mountain knew), surveyed the plain below and fair array of Trojan and Laurentine, by the walls of King Latinus. Whereupon straightway with Turnus' sister she began converse,
196goddess with goddess; for that nymph divine o'er Alba's calm lakes and loud rivers reigns; Jove, the high monarch of th' ethereal sky, gave her such glory when he stole away her virgin zone. “O nymph“, she said, “who art
201the pride of flowing streams, and much beloved of our own heart! thou knowest thou alone hast been my favorite of those Latin maids that to proud Jove's unthankful bed have climbed; and willingly I found thee place and share
206in our Olympian realm. So blame not me, but hear, Juturna, what sore grief is thine: while chance and destiny conceded aught of strength to Latium's cause, I shielded well both Turnus and thy city's wall; but now
211I see our youthful champion make his war with fates adverse. The Parcae's day of doom implacably impends. My eyes refuse to Iook upon such fight, such fatal league. If for thy brother's life thou couldst be bold
216to venture some swift blow, go, strike it now! 'T is fit and fair! Some issue fortunate may tread on sorrow's heel.” She scarce had said, when rained the quick tears from Juturna's eyes. Three times and yet again her desperate hand
221smote on her comely breast. But Juno cried, “No tears to-day! But haste thee, haste and find what way, if way there be, from clutch of death to tear thy brother free; arouse the war; their plighted peace destroy. I grant thee leave
226such boldness to essay.” With this command she left the nymph dismayed and grieving sore. Meanwhile the kings ride forth: Latinus first, looming tall-statured from his four-horse car; twelve rays of gold encircle his bright brow,
231sign of the sun-god, his progenitor; next Turnus, driving snow-white steeds, is seen,— two bread-tipped javelins in his hand he bears; Aeneas, of Rome's blood the source and sire, with star-bright shield and panoply divine,
236far-shining comes; Ascanius by his side— of Roman greatness the next hope is he. To camp they rode, where, garbed in blameless white, with youngling swine and two-year sheep unshorn, the priest before the flaming altars drove
241his flock and offering: to the rising sun all eyes are lifted, as with careful hand the salted meal is scattered, while with knives they mark each victim's brow, outpouring wine from shallow bowls, the sacrifice to bless.
246Then good Aeneas, his sword drawn, put forth this votive prayer: “O Sun in heaven; and thou, Italia, for whom such toils I bear, be witness of my orison. On thee, Father omnipotent, I call; on thee,
251his Queen Saturnia,—now may she be more gracious to my prayer! O glorious Mars, beneath whose godhead and paternity all wars begin and end, on thee I call; hail, all ye river-gods and haunted springs;
256hail, whatsoever gods have seat of awe in yonder distant sky, and ye whose power is in the keeping of the deep, blue sea: if victory to Ausonian Turnus fall, then let my vanquished people take its way
261unto Evander's city! From these plains Iulus shall retire—so stands the bond; nor shall the Trojans with rebellious sword bring after-trouble on this land and King. But if on arms of ours success shall shine,
266as I doubt not it shall (may gods on high their will confirm!), I purpose not to chain Italian captive unto Teucrian lord, nor seek I kingly power. Let equal laws unite in federation without end
271the two unconquered nations; both shall share my worshipped gods. Latinus, as my sire, shall keep his sword, and as my sire receive inviolable power. The Teucrians shall build my stronghold, but our citadel
276shall bear forevermore Lavinia's name.” Aeneas thus: then with uplifted eyes Latinus swore, his right hand raised to heaven: “I too, Aeneas, take the sacred vow. By earth and sea and stars in heaven I swear,
281by fair Latona's radiant children twain, and two-browed Janus; by the shadowy powers of Hades and th' inexorable shrines of the Infernal King; and may Jove hear, who by his lightnings hallows what is sworn!
286I touch these altars, and my lips invoke the sacred altar-fires that 'twixt us burn: we men of Italy will make this peace inviolate, and its bond forever keep, let come what will; there is no power can change
291my purpose, not if ocean's waves o'erwhelm the world in billowy deluge and obscure the bounds of heaven and hell. We shall remain immutable as my smooth sceptre is“ (By chance a sceptre in his hand he bore),
296“which wears no more light leaf or branching shade; for long since in the grove 't was plucked away from parent stem, and yielded to sharp steel its leaves and limbs; erewhile 't was but a tree, till the wise craftsman with fair sheath of bronze
301encircled it and laid it in the hands of Latium's royal sires.” With words like these they swore the bond, in the beholding eyes of gathered princes. Then they slit the throats of hallowed victims o'er the altar's blaze,
306drew forth the quivering vitals, and with flesh on loaded chargers heaped the sacrifice. But to Rutulian eyes th' approaching joust seemed all ill-matched; and shifting hopes and fears disturbed their hearts the closer they surveyed
311th' unequal risks: still worse it was to see how Turnus, silent and with downcast eyes, dejectedly drew near the place of prayer, worn, pale, and wasted in his youthful bloom. The nymph Juturna, with a sister's fear,
316noted the growing murmur, and perceived how all the people's will did shift and change; she went from rank to rank, feigning the shape of Camers, scion of illustrious line, with heritage of valor, and himself
321dauntless in war; unceasingly she ran from rank to rank, spreading with skilful tongue opinions manifold, and thus she spoke: “Will ye not blush, Rutulians, so to stake one life for many heroes? Are we not
326their match in might and numbers? O, behold those Trojan sons of Heaven making league with exiled Arcady; see Tuscan hordes storming at Turnus. Yet we scarce could find one foe apiece, forsooth, if we should dare
331fight them with half our warriors. Of a truth your champion brave shall to those gods ascend before whose altars his great heart he vows; and lips of men while yet on earth he stays will spread his glory far. Ourselves, instead,
336must crouch to haughty masters, and resign this fatherland upon whose fruitful fields we dwell at ease.” So speaking, she inflamed the warriors' minds, and through the legions ran increasing whisper; the Laurentine host
341and even Latium wavered. Those who late prayed but for rest and safety, clamored loud for arms, desired annulment of the league, and pitied Turnus' miserable doom. Whereon Juturna tried a mightier stroke,
346a sign from heaven, which more than all beside confused the Latins and deceived their hearts with prodigy. For through the flaming skies Jove's golden eagle swooped, and scattered far a clamorous tribe of river-haunting birds;
351then, swiftly to the waters falling, seized one noble swan, which with keen, curving claws he ruthless bore away: th' Italians all watched eagerly, while the loud-screaming flock wheeled upward (wondrous sight!), with host of wings
356shadowed the sky, and in a legion-cloud chased through the air the foe; till, overborne by heavier odds, the eagle from his claws flung back his victim to the waves, and fled to the dim, distant heaven. The Rutules then
361hailed the good omen with consenting cry, and grasped the sword and shield. Tolumnius the augur spake first: “Lo, the sign I sought with many a prayer! I welcome and obey the powers divine. Take me for captain, me!
366And draw your swords, ye wretches, whom th' assault of yonder foreign scoundrel puts in fear like feeble birds, and with his violence lays waste your shore. He too shall fly away, spreading his ships' wings on the distant seas.
371Close up your ranks—one soul in all our breasts! Defend in open war your stolen King.” So saying, he hurled upon th' opposing foe his javelin, running forward. The strong shaft of corner whistled shrill, and clove the air
376unerring. Instantly vast clamor rose, and all th' onlookers at the spectacle leaped up amazed, and every heart beat high. The spear sped flying to the foeman's line, where stood nine goodly brethren, pledges all
381of one true Tuscan mother to her lord, Gylippus of Arcadia; it struck full on one of these at his gold-belted waist, and where the clasp clung, pierced the rib clean through. And stretched the fair youth in his glittering arms
386full length and lifeless on the yellow sand. His brothers then, bold band to wrath aroused by sorrow, seize the sword or snatch the spear and blindly charge. Opposing them, the host Laurentine makes advance, and close-arrayed
391the Trojans like a torrent pour, enforced by Tuscans and the gay-accoutred clans of Arcady. One passion moved in all to try the judgment of the sword. They tore the altars down: a very storm of spears
396rose angrily to heaven, in iron rain down-pouring: while the priests bore far away the sacrificial bowls and sacred fires. Even Latinus fled; his stricken gods far from his violated oath he bore.
401Some leaped to horse or chariot and rode with naked swords in air. Messapus, wild to break the truce, assailed the Tuscan King, Aulestes, dressed in kingly blazon fair, with fearful shock of steeds; the Tuscan dropped
406helplessly backward, striking as he fell his head and shoulders on the altar-stone that lay behind him. But Messapus flew, infuriate, a javelin in his hand, and, towering o'er the suppliant, smote him strong
411with the great beam-like spear, and loudly cried: “Down with him! Ah! no common victim he to give the mighty gods!” Italia's men despoiled the dead man ere his limbs were cold. Then Corynaeus snatched a burning brand
416out of the altar, and as Ebysus came toward him for to strike, he hurled the flame full in his face: the big beard quickly blazed with smell of singeing; while the warrior bold strode over him, and seized with firm left hand
421his quailing foe's Iong hair; then with one knee he pushed and strained, compelled him to the `ground— and struck straight at his heart with naked steel. The shepherd Alsus in the foremost line came leaping through the spears; when o'er him towered
426huge Podalirius with a flashing sword in close pursuit; the mighty battle-axe clove him with swinging stroke from brow to chin, and spilt along his mail the streaming gore: so stern repose and iron slumber fell
431upon that shepherd's eyes, and sealed their gaze in endless night. But good Aeneas now stretched forth his unarmed hand, and all unhelmed thus Ioudly to his people called: “What means this frantic stir, this quarrel rashly bold?
436Recall your martial rage! The pledge is given and all its terms agreed. 'T is only I do lawful battle here. So let me forth, and tremble not. My own hand shall confirm the solemn treaty. For these rites consign
441Turnus to none but me.” Yet while he spoke, behold, a winged arrow, hissing loud, the hero pierced; but what bold hand impelled its whirling speed, none knew; nor if it were chance or some power divine that brought this fame
446upon Rutulia; for the glorious deed was covered o'er with silence: none would boast an arrow guilty of Aeneas' wound. When Turnus saw Aeneas from the line retreating, and the captains in dismay,
451with sudden hope he burned: he called for steeds, for arms, and, leaping to his chariot, rode insolently forth, the reins in hand. Many strong heroes he dispatched to die, as on he flew, and many stretched half-dead,
456or from his chariot striking, or from far raining his javelins on the recreant foe. As Mars, forth-speeding by the wintry stream of Hebrus, smites his sanguinary shield and whips the swift steeds to the front of war,
461who, flying past the winds of eve and morn, scour the wide champaign; the bounds of Thrace beneath their hoof-beats thunder; the dark shapes of Terror, Wrath, and Treachery move on in escort of the god: in such grim guise
466bold Turnus lashed into the fiercest fray his streaming steeds, that pitiful to see trod down the slaughtered foe; each flying hoof scattered a bloody dew; their path was laid in mingled blood and sand. To death he flung
471Pholus and Sthenelus and Thamyris: two smitten in close fight and one from far: also from far he smote with fatal spear Glaucus and Lades, the Imbrasidae, whom Imbrasus himself in Lycia bred,
476and honored them with arms of equal skill when grappling with a foe, or o'er the field speeding a war-horse faster than the wind. Elsewhere Eumedes through a throng of foes to battle rode, the high-born Dolon's child,
481famous in war, who bore his grandsire's name, but seemed in might and courage like his sire: that prince, who reconnoitring crept so near the Argive camp, he dared to claim for spoil the chariot of Achilles; but that day
486great Diomed for such audacious deed paid wages otherwise,—and he no more dreamed to possess the steeds of Peleus' son. When Turnus recognized in open field this warrior, though far, he aimed and flung
491his javelin through the spacious air; then stayed his coursers twain, and, leaping from his car, found the wretch helpless fallen; so planted he his foot upon his neck, and from his hand wrested the sword and thrust it glittering
496deep in the throat, thus taunting as he slew: “There's land for thee, thou Trojan! Measure there th' Hesperian provinces thy sword would find. Such reward will I give to all who dare draw steel on me; such cities they shall build.”
501To bear him company his spear laid low Asbutes, Sybaris, Thersilochus, Chloreus and Dares, and Thymoetes thrown sheer off the shoulders of his balking steed. As when from Thrace the north wind thunders down
506the vast Aegean, flinging the swift flood against the shore, and where his blasts assail the cloudy cohorts vanish out of heaven: so before Turnus, where his path he clove, the lines fell back, the wheeling legions fled.
511The warrior's own wild impulse swept him on, and every wind that o'er his chariot blew shook out his plume in air. But such advance so bold, so furious, Phegeus could not brook, but, fronting the swift chariot's path, he seized
516the foam-flecked bridles of its coursers wild, while from the yoke his body trailed and swung; the broad lance found his naked side, and tore his double corselet, pricking lightly through the outer flesh; but he with lifted shield
521still fought his foe and thrust with falchion bare; but the fierce pace of whirling wheel and pole flung him down prone, and stretched him on the plain. Then Turnus, aiming with relentless sword between the corselet's edge and helmet's rim
526struck off his whole head, leaving on the sands the mutilated corpse. While thus afield victorious Turnus dealt out death and doom, Mnestheus, Achates true, and by their side Ascanius, have carried to the camp
531Aeneas, gashed and bleeding, whose long lance sustained his limping step. With fruitless rage he struggled with the spear-head's splintered barb, and bade them help him by the swiftest way to carve the wound out with a sword, to rip
536the clinging weapon forth, and send him back to meet the battle. Quickly to his side came Iapyx, dear favorite and friend of Phoebus, upon whom the god bestowed his own wise craft and power, Iove-impelled.
541The gifts of augury were given, and song, with arrows of swift wing: he when his sire was carried forth to die, deferred the doom for many a day, by herbs of virtue known to leechcraft; and without reward or praise
546his silent art he plied. Aeneas stood, bitterly grieving, propped upon his spear; a throng of warriors were near him, and Iulus, sorrowing. The aged man gathered his garments up as leeches do,
551and with skilled hand and Phoebus' herbs of power bustled in vain; in vain his surgery pried at the shaft, and with a forceps strong seized on the buried barb. But Fortune gave no remedy, nor did Apollo aid
556his votary. So more and more grim fear stalks o'er the field of war, and nearer hies the fatal hour; the very heavens are dust; the horsemen charge, and in the midmost camp a rain of javelins pours. The dismal cry
561of men in fierce fight, and of men who fall beneath relentless Mars, rends all the air. Then Venus, by her offspring's guiltless woe sore moved, did cull from Cretan Ida's crest some dittany, with downy leaf and stem
566and flowers of purple bloom—a simple known to mountain goats, when to their haunches clings an arrow gone astray. This Venus brought, mantling her shape in cloud; and this she steeped in bowls of glass, infusing secretly
571ambrosia's healing essence and sweet drops of fragrant panacea. Such a balm aged Iapyx poured upon the wound, though unaware; and sudden from the flesh all pain departed and the blood was staunched,
576while from the gash the arrow uncompelled followed the hand and dropped: his wonted strength flowed freshly through the hero's frame. “Make haste! Bring forth his arms! Why tarry any more?” Iapyx shouted, being first to fire
581their courage 'gainst the foe. “This thing is done not of man's knowledge, nor by sovereign skill; nor has my hand, Aeneas, set thee free. Some mighty god thy vigor gives again for mighty deeds.” Aeneas now put on,
586all fever for the fight, his golden greaves, and, brooking not delay, waved wide his spear. Soon as the corselet and the shield were bound on back and side, he clasped Ascanius to his mailed breast, and through his helmet grim
591tenderly kissed his son. “My boy", he cried, “What valor is and patient, genuine toil learn thou of me; let others guide thy feet to prosperous fortune. Let this hand and sword defend thee through the war and lead thee on
596to high rewards. Thou also play the man! And when thy riper vigor soon shall bloom, forget not in thy heart to ponder well the story of our line. Heed honor's call, like Sire Aeneas and Hector thy close kin.”
601After such farewell word, he from the gates in mighty stature strode, and swung on high his giant spear. With him in serried line Antheus and Mnestheus moved, and all the host from the forsaken fortress poured. The plain
606was darkened with their dust; the startled earth shook where their footing fell. From distant hill Turnus beheld them coming, and the eyes of all Ausonia saw: a chill of fear shot through each soldier's marrow; in their van
611Juturna knew full well the dreadful sound, and fled before it, shuddering. But he hurried his murky cohorts o'er the plain. As when a tempest from the riven sky drives landward o'er mid-ocean, and from far
616the hearts of husbandmen, foreboding woe, quake ruefully,—for this will come and rend their trees asunder, kill the harvests all, and sow destruction broadcast; in its path fly roaring winds, swift heralds of the storm:
621such dire approach the Trojan chieftain showed before his gathered foes. In close array they wedge their ranks about him. With a sword Thymbraeus cuts huge-limbed Osiris down; Mnestheus, Arcetius; from Epulo
626Achates shears the head; from Ufens, Gyas; Tolumnius the augur falls, the same who flung the first spear to the foeman's line. Uprose to heaven the cries. In panic now the Rutules in retreating clouds of dust
631scattered across the plain. Aeneas scorned either the recreant or resisting foe to slaughter, or the men who shoot from far: for through the war-cloud he but seeks the arms of Turnus, and to single combat calls.
636The warrior-maid Juturna, seeing this, distraught with terror, strikes down from his place Metiscus, Turnus' charioteer, who dropped forward among the reins and off the pole. Him leaving on the field, her own hand grasped
641the loosely waving reins, while she took on Metiscus' shape, his voice, and blazoned arms. As when through some rich master's spacious halls speeds the black swallow on her lightsome wing, exploring the high roof, or harvesting
646some scanty morsel for her twittering brood, round empty corridors or garden-pools noisily flitting: so Juturna roams among the hostile ranks, and wings her way behind the swift steeds of the whirling car.
651At divers points she lets the people see her brother's glory, but not yet allows the final tug of war; her pathless flight keeps far away. Aeneas too must take a course circuitous, and follows close
656his foeman's track; Ioud o'er the scattered lines he shouts his challenge. But whene'er his eyes discern the foe, and fain he would confront the flying-footed steeds, Juturna veers the chariot round and flies. What can he do?
661Aeneas' wrath storms vainly to and fro, and wavering purposes his heart divide. Against him lightly leaped Messapus forth, bearing two pliant javelins tipped with steel; and, whirling one in air, he aimed it well,
666with stroke unfailing. Great Aeneas paused in cover of his shield and crouched low down upon his haunches. But the driven spear battered his helmet's peak and plucked away the margin of his plume. Then burst his rage:
671his cunning foes had forced him; so at last, while steeds and chariot in the distance fly, he plunged him in the fray, and called on Jove the altars of that broken oath to see. Now by the war-god's favor he began
676grim, never-pitying slaughter, and flung free the bridle of his rage. What voice divine such horror can make known? What song declare the bloodshed manifold, the princes slain,
681or flying o'er the field from Turnus' blade, or from the Trojan King? Did Jove ordain so vast a shock of arms should interpose 'twixt nations destined to perpetual bond? Aeneas met the Rutule Sucro—thus
686staying the Trojan charge—and with swift blow struck at him sidewise, where the way of death is quickest, cleaving ribs and rounded side with reeking sword. Turnus met Amycus, unhorsed him, though himself afoot, and slew
691Diores, his fair brother (one was pierced fronting the spear, the other felled to earth by strike of sword), and both their severed heads he hung all dripping to his chariot's rim. But Talon, Tanais, and Cethegus brave,
696three in one onset, unto death went down at great Aeneas' hand; and he dispatched ill-starred Onites of Echion's line, fair Peridia's child. Then Turnus slew two Lycian brothers unto Phoebus dear,
701and young Menoetes, an Arcadian, who hated war (though vainly) when he plied his native fisher-craft in Lerna's streams, where from his mean abode he ne'er went forth to wait at great men's doors, but with his sire
706reaped the scant harvest of a rented glebe. as from two sides two conflagrations sweep dry woodlands or full copse of crackling bay, or as, swift-leaping from the mountain-vales, two flooded, foaming rivers seaward roar,
711each on its path of death, not less uproused, speed Turnus and Aeneas o'er the field; now storms their martial rage; now fiercely swells either indomitable heart; and now each hero's full strength to the slaughter moves.
716Behold Murranus, boasting his high birth from far-descended sires of storied name, the line of Latium's kings! Aeneas now with mountain-boulder lays him low in dust, smitten with whirlwind of the monster stone;
721and o'er him fallen under yoke and rein roll his own chariot wheels, while with swift tread the mad hoofs of his horses stamp him down, not knowing him their lord. But Turnus found proud Hyllus fronting him with frantic rage,
726and at his golden helmet launched the shaft that pierced it; in his cloven brain it clung. Nor could thy sword, O Cretheus, save thee then from Turnus, though of bravest Greeks the peer; nor did Cupencus' gods their priest defend
731against Aeneas, but his breast he gave unto the hostile blade; his brazen shield delayed no whit his miserable doom. Thee also, Aeolus, Laurentum saw spread thy huge body dying on the ground;
736yea, dying, thou whom Greeks in serried arms subdued not, nor Achilles' hand that hurled the throne of Priam down: here didst thou touch thy goal of death; one stately house was thine on Ida's mountain, at Lyrnessus, one;
741Laurentum's hallowed earth was but thy grave. Now the whole host contends; all Latium meets all Ilium; Mnestheus and Serestus bold; Messapus, the steed-breaker, and high-soured Asilas; Tuscans in a phalanx proud;
746Arcadian riders of Evander's train: each warrior lifts him to his height supreme of might and skill; no sloth nor lingering now, but in one far-spread conflict all contend. His goddess-mother in Aeneas' mind
751now stirred the purpose to make sudden way against the city-wall, in swift advance of all his line, confounding Latium so with slaughter and surprise. His roving glance, seeking for Turnus through the scattered lines
756this way and that, beholds in distant view the city yet unscathed and calmly free from the wide-raging fight. Then on his soul rushed the swift vision of a mightier war. Mnestheus, Sergestus, and Serestus brave,
761his chosen chiefs, he summons to his side, and stands upon a hillock, whither throng the Teucrian legions, each man holding fast his shield and spear. He, towering high, thus from the rampart to his people calls:
766“Perform my bidding swiftly: Jove's own hand sustains our power. Be ye not slack, because the thing I do is sudden. For this day I will pluck out th' offending root of war,— yon city where Latinus reigns. Unless
771it bear our yoke and heed a conqueror's will, will lay low in dust its blazing towers. Must I wait Turnus' pleasure, till he deign to meet my stroke, and have a mind once more, though vanquished, to show fight? My countrymen,
776see yonder stronghold of their impious war! Bring flames; avenge the broken oath with fire!” Scarce had he said, when with consenting souls, they speed them to the walls in dense array, forming a wedge. Ladders now leap in air,
781and sudden-blazing fires. In various war some troops run charging at the city-gates, and slay the guards; some fling the whirling spear and darken heaven with arrows. In their van, his right hand lifted to the wails and towers,
786Aeneas, calling on the gods to hear, loudly upbraids Latinus that once more conflict is thrust upon him; that once more Italians are his foes and violate their second pledge of peace. So blazes forth
791dissension 'twixt the frighted citizens: some would give o'er the city and fling wide its portals to the Trojan, or drag forth the King himself to parley; others fly to arms, and at the rampart make a stand.
796'T is thus some shepherd from a caverned crag stirs up the nested bees with plenteous fume of bitter smoke; they, posting to and fro, fly desperate round the waxen citadel, and whet their buzzing fury; through their halls
801the stench and blackness rolls; within the caves noise and confusion ring; the fatal cloud pours forth incessant on the vacant air. But now a new adversity befell the weary Latins, which with common woe
806shook the whole city to its heart. The Queen, when at her hearth she saw the close assault of enemies, the walls beset, and fire spreading from roof to roof, but no defence from the Rutulian arms, nor front of war
811with Turnus leading,—she, poor soul, believed her youthful champion in the conflict slain; and, mad with sudden sorrow, shrieked aloud against herself, the guilty chief and cause of all this ill; and, babbling her wild woe
816in endless words, she rent her purple pall, and with her own hand from the rafter swung a noose for her foul death. The tidings dire among the moaning wives of Latium spread, and young Lavinia's frantic fingers tore
821her rose-red cheek and hyacinthine hair. Then all her company of women shrieked in anguish, and the wailing echoed far along the royal seat; from whence the tale of sorrow through the peopled city flew;
826hearts sank; Latinus rent his robes, appalled to see his consort's doom, his falling throne; and heaped foul dust upon his hoary hair. Meanwhile the warrior Turnus far afield pursued a scattered few; but less his speed,
831for less and less his worn steeds worked his will; and now wind-wafted to his straining ear a nameless horror came, a dull, wild roar, the city's tumult and distressful cry. “Alack,” he cried, “what stirs in yonder walls
836such anguish? Or why rings from side to side such wailing through the city?” Asking so, he tightened frantic grasp upon the rein. To him his sister, counterfeiting still the charioteer Metiscus, while she swayed
841rein, steeds, and chariot, this answer made: “Hither, my Turnus, let our arms pursue the sons of Troy. Here lies the nearest way to speedy triumph. There be other swords to keep yon city safe. Aeneas now
846storms against Italy in active war; we also on this Trojan host may hurl grim havoc. Nor shalt thou the strife give o'er in glory second, nor in tale of slain.” Turnus replied, “O sister, Iong ago
851I knew thee what thou wert, when guilefully thou didst confound their treaty, and enlist thy whole heart in this war. No Ionger now thy craft divine deceives me. But what god compelled thee, from Olympus fallen so far,
856to bear these cruel burdens? Wouldst thou see thy wretched brother slaughtered? For what else is in my power? What flattering hazard still holds forth deliverance? My own eyes have seen Murranus (more than any now on earth
861my chosen friend) who, calling on my name, died like a hero by a hero's sword. Ill-fated Ufens fell, enduring not to Iook upon my shame; the Teucrians divide his arms for spoil and keep his bones.
866Shall I stand tamely, till my hearth and home are levelled with the ground? For this would be the only blow not fallen. Shall my sword not give the lie to Drances' insolence? Shall I take flight and let my country see
871her Turnus renegade? Is death a thing so much to weep for? O propitious dead, O spirits of the dark, receive and bless me whom yon gods of light have cast away! Sacred and guiltless shall my soul descend
876to join your company; I have not been unworthy offspring of my kingly sires.” Scarce had he said, when through the foeman's line Saces dashed forth upon a foaming steed, his face gashed by an arrow. He cried loud
881on Turnus' name: “O Turnus, but in thee our last hope lies. Have pity on the woe of all thy friends and kin! Aeneas hurls his thunderbolt of war, and menaces to crush the strongholds of all Italy,
886and lay them low; already where we dwell his firebrands are raining. Unto thee the Latins Iook, and for thy valor call. The King sits dumb and helpless, even he, in doubt which son-in-law, which cause to choose.
891Yea, and the Queen, thy truest friend, is fallen by her own hand; gone mad with grief and fear, she fled the light of day. At yonder gates Messapus only and Atinas bear the brunt of battle; round us closely draw
896the serried ranks; their naked blades of steel are thick as ripening corn; wilt thou the while speed in thy chariot o'er this empty plain?” Dazed and bewildered by such host of ills, Turnus stood dumb; in his pent bosom stirred
901shame, frenzy, sorrow, a despairing love goaded to fury, and a warrior's pride of valor proven. But when first the light of reason to his blinded soul returned,
906he strained his flaming eyeballs to behold the distant wall, and from his chariot gazed in wonder at the lordly citadel. For, lo, a pointed peak of flame uprolled from tier to tier, and surging skyward seized
911a tower—the very tower his own proud hands had built of firm-set beams and wheeled in place, and slung its Iofty bridges high in air. “Fate is too strong, my sister! Seek no more to stay the stroke. But let me hence pursue
916that path where Heaven and cruel Fortune call. Aeneas I must meet; and I must bear the bitterness of death, whate'er it be. O sister, thou shalt look upon my shame no longer. But first grant a madman's will!”
921He spoke; and leaping from his chariot, sped through foes and foemen's spears, not seeing now his sister's sorrow, as in swift career he burst from line to line. Thus headlong falls a mountain-boulder by a whirlwind flung
926from lofty peak, or loosened by much rain, or by insidious lapse of seasons gone; the huge, resistless crag goes plunging down by leaps and bounds, o'erwhelming as it flies tall forests, Bocks and herds, and mortal men:
931so through the scattered legions Turnus ran straight to the city walls, where all the ground was drenched with blood, and every passing air shrieked with the noise of spears. His lifted hand made sign of silence as he loudly called:
936“Refrain, Rutulians! O ye Latins all, your spears withhold! The issue of the fray is all my own. I only can repair our broken truce by judgment of the sword.” Back fell the hostile lines, and cleared the field.
941But Sire Aeneas, hearing Turnus' name, down the steep rampart from the citadel unlingering tried, all lesser task laid by, with joy exultant and dread-thundering arms. Like Athos' crest he loomed, or soaring top
946of Eryx, when the nodding oaks resound, or sovereign Apennine that lifts in air his forehead of triumphant snow. All eyes of Troy, Rutulia, and Italy were fixed his way; and all who kept a guard
951on lofty rampart, or in siege below were battering the foundations, now laid by their implements and arms. Latinus too stood awestruck to behold such champions, born in lands far-sundered, met upon one field
956for one decisive stroke of sword with sword. Swift striding forth where spread the vacant plain, they hurled their spears from far; then in close fight the brazen shields rang. Beneath their tread Earth groaned aloud, as with redoubling blows
961their falchions fell; nor could a mortal eye 'twixt chance and courage the dread work divide. As o'er Taburnus' top, or spacious hills of Sila, in relentless shock of war, two bulls rush brow to brow, while terror-pale
966the herdsmen fly; the herd is hushed with fear; the heifers dumbly marvel which shall be true monarch of the grove, whom all the kine obedient follow; but the rival twain, commingling mightily wound after wound,
971thrust with opposing horns, and bathe their necks in streams of blood; the forest far and wide repeats their bellowing rage: not otherwise Trojan Aeneas and King Daunus' son clashed shield on shield, till all the vaulted sky
976felt the tremendous sound. The hand of Jove held scales in equipoise, and threw thereon th' unequal fortunes of the heroes twain: one to vast labors doomed and one to die. Soon Turnus, reckless of the risk, leaped forth,
981upreached his whole height to his lifted sword, and struck: the Trojans and the Latins pale cried mightily, and all eyes turned one way expectant. But the weak, perfidious sword broke off, and as the blow descended, failed
986its furious master, whose sole succor now was flight; and swifter than the wind he flew. But, lo! a hilt of form and fashion strange lay in his helpless hand. For in his haste, when to the battle-field his team he drove,
991his father's sword forgotten (such the tale), he snatched Metiscus' weapon. This endured to strike at Trojan backs, as he pursued, but when on Vulcan's armory divine its earthly metal smote, the brittle blade
996broke off like ice, and o'er the yellow sands in flashing fragments scattered. Turnus now takes mad flight o'er the distant plain, and winds in wavering gyration round and round; for Troy's close ring confines him, and one way
1001a wide swamp lies, one way a frowning wall. But lo! Aeneas—though the arrow's wound still slackens him and oft his knees refuse their wonted step—pursues infuriate his quailing foe, and dogs him stride for stride.
1006As when a stag-hound drives the baffled roe to torrent's edge (or where the flaunting snare of crimson feathers fearfully confines) and with incessant barking swift pursues; while through the snared copse or embankment high
1011the frightened creature by a thousand ways doubles and turns; but that keen Umbrian hound with wide jaws, undesisting, grasps his prey, or, thinking that he grasps it, snaps his teeth cracking together, and deludes his rage,
1016devouring empty air: then peal on peal the cry of hunters bursts; the lake and shore reecho, and confusion fills the sky:— such was the flight of Turnus, who reviled the Rutules as he fled, and loudly sued
1021of each by name to fetch his own lost sword. Aeneas vowed destruction and swift death to all who dared come near, and terrified their trembling souls with menace that his power would raze their city to the ground. Straightway,
1026though wounded, he gave chase, and five times round in circles ran; then winding left and right coursed the swift circles o'er. For, lo! the prize is no light laurel or a youthful game: for Turnus' doom and death their race is run.
1031But haply in that place a sacred tree, a bitter-leaved wild-olive, once had grown, to Faunus dear, and venerated oft by mariners safe-rescued from the waves, who nailed their gifts thereon, or hung in air
1036their votive garments to Laurentum's god. But, heeding not, the Teucrians had shorn the stem away, to clear the field for war. 'T was here Aeneas' lance stuck fast; its speed had driven it firmly inward, and it clave
1041to the hard, clinging root. Anchises' son bent o'er it, and would wrench his weapon free, and follow with a far-flung javelin the swift out-speeding foe. But Turnus then, bewildered and in terror, cried aloud:
1046“O Faunus, pity me and heed my prayer! Hold fast his weapon, O benignant Earth! If ere these hands have rendered offering due, where yon polluting Teucrians fight and slay.” He spoke; invoking succor of the god,
1051with no Iost prayer. For tugging valiantly and laboring long against the stubborn stem, Aeneas with his whole strength could but fail to Ioose the clasping tree. While fiercely thus he strove and strained, Juturna once again,
1056wearing the charioteer Metiscus' shape, ran to her brother's aid, restoring him his own true sword. But Venus, wroth to see what license to the dauntless nymph was given, herself came near, and plucked from that deep root
1061the javelin forth. So both with lofty mien strode forth new-armed, new-hearted: one made bold by his good sword, the other, spear in hand, uptowered in wrath, and with confronting brows they set them to the war-god's breathless game.
1066Meanwhile th' Olympian sovereign supreme to Juno speaks, as from an amber cloud the strife she views: “My Queen, what end shall be? What yet remains? Thou seest Aeneas' name numbered with tutelary gods of power;
1071and well thou know'st what station in the sky his starward destiny intends. What scheme vexes thy bosom still? What stubborn hope, fostered in cloud and cold? O, was it well to desecrate a god with mortal wound;
1076or well (what were a nymph unhelped by thee?) to give back Turnus his lost sword, and lend strength unavailing to the fallen brave? Give o'er, and to our supplication yield; let not such grief thy voiceless heart devour;
1081nor from thy sweet lips let thy mournful care so oft assail my mind. For now is come the last decisive day. Thy power availed to vex the Trojans upon land and sea, to wake abominable war, bring shame
1086upon a royal house, and mix the songs of marriage and the grave: but further act I thee refuse.” Such was the word of Jove. Thus Saturn's daughter answered, drooping low her brows divine: “Because, great Jove, I knew
1091thy pleasure, I from yonder earth retired and Turnus' cause, tho, with unwilling mind. Else shouldst thou not behold me at this hour Upon my solitary throne of air enduring fair and foul; I should be found
1096flame-girded on the battle's deadly verge, tempting the Teucrians to a hated war. Yea, 't was my motion thrust Juturna forth to help her hapless brother. I approved— to save his life—that she should be too bold;
1101but bade no whirl of spear nor bending bow: I swear it by th' inexorable fount whence flow the Stygian rivers, the sole seat where gods of light bow down in awful prayer. I yield me now; heart-sick I quit the war.
1106But ask one boon, which in the book of fate is not denied; for Latium's good I sue, and high prerogatives of men that be thy kith and kin: when happy wedlock vows (aye, be it so!) shall join them by strong laws
1111of chartered peace, let not the Latins Iose their ancient, native name. Bid them not pass for Trojans, nor be hailed as Teucer's sons; no alien speech, no alien garb impose. Let it be Latium ever; let the lords
1116of Alba unto distant ages reign; let the strong, master blood of Rome receive the manhood and the might of Italy. Troy perished: let its name and glory die!” The Author of mankind and all that is,
1121smiling benignant, answered thus her plea: “Jove's sister true, and Saturn's second child, what seas of anger vex thy heart divine! But come, relinquish thy rash, fruitless rage: I give thee this desire, and yield to thee
1126free submission. The Ausonian tribes shall keep the speech and customs of their sires; the name remains as now; the Teucrian race, abiding in the land, shall but infuse the mixture of its blood. I will bestow
1131a league of worship, and to Latins give one language only. From the mingled breed a people shall come forth whom thou shalt see surpass all mortal men and even outvie the faithfulness of gods; for none that live
1136shall render to thy name an equal praise.” So Juno bowed consent, and let her will be changed, as with much comfort in her breast she left Olympus and her haunt of cloud. After these things Jove gave his kingly mind
1141to further action, that he might forthwith cut off Juturna from her brother's cause. Two plagues there be, called Furies, which were spawned at one birth from the womb of wrathful Night with dread Megaera, phantom out of hell;
1146and of their mother's gift, each Fury wears grim-coiling serpents and tempestuous wings. These at Jove's throne attend, and watch the doors of that stern King—to whet the edge of fear for wretched mortals, when the King of gods
1151hurls pestilence and death, or terrifies offending nations with the scourge of war. 'T was one of these which Jove sent speeding down from his ethereal seat, and bade her cross the pathway of Juturna for a sign.
1156Her wings she spread, and earthward seemed to ride upon a whirling storm. As when some shaft, with Parthian poison tipped or Cretan gall, a barb of death, shoots cloudward from the bow, and hissing through the dark hastes forth unseen:
1161so earthward flew that daughter of the night. Soon as she spied the Teucrians in array and Turnus' lines, she shrivelled to the shape of that small bird which on lone tombs and towers sits perching through the midnight, and prolongs
1166in shadow and deep gloom her troubling cry. In such disguise the Fury, screaming shrill, flitted in Turnus' face, and with her wings smote on his hollow shield. A strange affright palsied his every limb; each several hair
1171lifted with horror, and his gasping voice died on his lips. But when Juturna knew from far the shrieking fiend's infernal wing, she loosed her tresses, and their beauty tore, to tell a sister's woe; with clenching hands
1176she marred her cheeks and beat her naked breast. “What remedy or help, my Turnus, now is in a sister's power? What way remains for stubborn me? Or with what further guile thy life prolong? What can my strength oppose
1181to this foul thing? I quit the strife at last. Withdraw thy terror from my fearful eyes, thou bird accurst! The tumult of thy wings I know full well, and thy death-boding call. The harsh decrees of that large-minded Jove
1186I plainly see. Is this the price he pays for my lost maidenhood? Why flatter me with immortality, and snatch away my property of death? What boon it were to end this grief this hour, and hie away
1191to be my brother's helpmeet in his grave! I, an immortal? O, what dear delight is mine, sweet brother, living without thee? O, where will earth yawn deep enough and wide to hide a goddess with the ghosts below?”
1196She spoke; and veiled in glistening mantle gray her mournful brow; then in her stream divine the nymph sank sighing to its utmost cave. Aeneas now is near; and waving wide a spear like some tall tree, he called aloud
1201with unrelenting heart: “What stays thee now? Or wherefore, Turnus, backward fly? Our work is not a foot-race, but the wrathful strife of man with man. Aye, hasten to put on tricks and disguises; gather all thou hast
1206of skill or courage; wish thou wert a bird to fly to starry heaven, or hide thy head safe in the hollow ground!” The other then shook his head, saying: “It is not thy words, not thy hot words, affright me, savage man!
1211Only the gods I fear, and hostile Jove.” Silent he stood, and glancing round him saw a huge rock Iying by, huge rock and old, a landmark justly sundering field from field, which scarce six strong men's shoulders might upraise,
1216such men as mother-Earth brings forth to-day: this grasped he with impetuous hand and hurled, stretched at full height and roused to all his speed, against his foe. Yet scarcely could he feel it was himself that ran, himself that moved
1221with lifted hand to fling the monster stone; for his knees trembled, and his languid blood ran shuddering cold; nor could the stone he threw, tumbling in empty air, attain its goal nor strike the destined blow. But as in dreams,
1226when helpless slumber binds the darkened eyes, we seem with fond desire to tread in vain along a lengthening road, yet faint and fall when straining to the utmost, and the tongue is palsied, and the body's wonted power
1231obeys not, and we have no speech or cry: so unto Turnus, whatsoever way his valiant spirit moved, the direful Fiend stopped in the act his will. Swift-changing thoughts rush o'er his soul; on the Rutulian host,
1236then at the town he glares, shrinks back in fear, and trembles at th' impending lance; nor sees what path to fly, what way confront the foe:— no chariot now, nor sister-charioteer! Above his faltering terror gleams in air
1241Aeneas' fatal spear; whose eye perceived the moment of success, and all whose strength struck forth: the vast and ponderous rock outflung from engines which make breach in sieged walls not louder roars nor breaks in thunder-sound
1246more terrible; like some black whirlwind flew the death-delivering spear, and, rending wide the corselet's edges and the heavy rim of the last circles of the seven-fold shield, pierced, hissing, through the thigh. Huge Turnus sinks
1251o'erwhelmed upon the ground with doubling knee. Up spring the Rutules, groaning; the whole hill roars answering round them, and from far and wide the lofty groves give back an echoing cry. Lowly, with suppliant eyes, and holding forth
1256his hand in prayer: “I have my meed,” he cried, “Nor ask for mercy. Use what Fate has given! But if a father's grief upon thy heart have power at all,—for Sire Anchises once to thee was dear,—I pray thee to show grace
1261to Daunus in his desolate old age; and me, or, if thou wilt, my lifeless clay, to him and his restore. For, lo, thou art my conqueror! Ausonia's eyes have seen me suppliant, me fallen. Thou hast made
1266Lavinia thy bride. Why further urge our enmity?”With swift and dreadful arms Aeneas o'er him stood, with rolling eyes, but his bare sword restraining; for such words moved on him more and more: when suddenly,
1271over the mighty shoulder slung, he saw that fatal baldric studded with bright gold which youthful Pallas wore, what time he fell vanquished by Turnus' stroke, whose shoulders now carried such trophy of a foeman slain.
1276Aeneas' eyes took sure and slow survey of spoils that were the proof and memory of cruel sorrow; then with kindling rage and terrifying look, he cried, “Wouldst thou, clad in a prize stripped off my chosen friend,
1281escape this hand? In this thy mortal wound 't is Pallas has a victim; Pallas takes the lawful forfeit of thy guilty blood!” He said, and buried deep his furious blade in the opposer's heart. The failing limbs
1286sank cold and helpless; and the vital breath with moan of wrath to darkness fled away.
Georgics
Book 1
1What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star Maecenas, it is meet to turn the sod Or marry elm with vine; how tend the steer; What pains for cattle-keeping, or what proof Of patient trial serves for thrifty bees;—
6Such are my themes. O universal lights Most glorious! ye that lead the gliding year Along the sky, Liber and Ceres mild, If by your bounty holpen earth once changed Chaonian acorn for the plump wheat-ear,
11And mingled with the grape, your new-found gift, The draughts of Achelous; and ye Fauns To rustics ever kind, come foot it, Fauns And Dryad-maids together; your gifts I sing. And thou, for whose delight the war-horse first
16Sprang from earth's womb at thy great trident's stroke, Neptune; and haunter of the groves, for whom Three hundred snow-white heifers browse the brakes, The fertile brakes of Ceos; and clothed in power, Thy native forest and Lycean lawns,
21Pan, shepherd-god, forsaking, as the love Of thine own Maenalus constrains thee, hear And help, O lord of Tegea! And thou, too, Minerva, from whose hand the olive sprung; And boy-discoverer of the curved plough;
26And, bearing a young cypress root-uptorn, Silvanus, and Gods all and Goddesses, Who make the fields your care, both ye who nurse The tender unsown increase, and from heaven Shed on man's sowing the riches of your rain:
31And thou, even thou, of whom we know not yet What mansion of the skies shall hold thee soon, Whether to watch o'er cities be thy will, Great Caesar, and to take the earth in charge, That so the mighty world may welcome thee
36Lord of her increase, master of her times, Binding thy mother's myrtle round thy brow, Or as the boundless ocean's God thou come, Sole dread of seamen, till far Thule bow Before thee, and Tethys win thee to her son
41With all her waves for dower; or as a star Lend thy fresh beams our lagging months to cheer, Where 'twixt the Maid and those pursuing Claws A space is opening; see! red Scorpio's self His arms draws in, yea, and hath left thee more
46Than thy full meed of heaven: be what thou wilt— For neither Tartarus hopes to call thee king, Nor may so dire a lust of sovereignty E'er light upon thee, howso Greece admire Elysium's fields, and Proserpine not heed
51Her mother's voice entreating to return— Vouchsafe a prosperous voyage, and smile on this My bold endeavour, and pitying, even as I, These poor way-wildered swains, at once begin, Grow timely used unto the voice of prayer.
56In early spring-tide, when the icy drip Melts from the mountains hoar, and Zephyr's breath Unbinds the crumbling clod, even then 'tis time; Press deep your plough behind the groaning ox, And teach the furrow-burnished share to shine.
61That land the craving farmer's prayer fulfils, Which twice the sunshine, twice the frost has felt; Ay, that's the land whose boundless harvest-crops Burst, see! the barns. But ere our metal cleave An unknown surface, heed we to forelearn
66The winds and varying temper of the sky, The lineal tilth and habits of the spot, What every region yields, and what denies. Here blithelier springs the corn, and here the grape, There earth is green with tender growth of trees
71And grass unbidden. See how from Tmolus comes The saffron's fragrance, ivory from Ind, From Saba's weakling sons their frankincense, Iron from the naked Chalybs, castor rank From Pontus, from Epirus the prize-palms
76O' the mares of Elis. Such the eternal bond And such the laws by Nature's hand imposed On clime and clime, e'er since the primal dawn When old Deucalion on the unpeopled earth Cast stones, whence men, a flinty race, were reared.
81Up then! if fat the soil, let sturdy bulls Upturn it from the year's first opening months, And let the clods lie bare till baked to dust By the ripe suns of summer; but if the earth Less fruitful just ere Arcturus rise
86With shallower trench uptilt it—'twill suffice; There, lest weeds choke the crop's luxuriance, here, Lest the scant moisture fail the barren sand. Then thou shalt suffer in alternate years The new-reaped fields to rest, and on the plain
91A crust of sloth to harden; or, when stars Are changed in heaven, there sow the golden grain Where erst, luxuriant with its quivering pod, Pulse, or the slender vetch-crop, thou hast cleared, And lupin sour, whose brittle stalks arise,
96A hurtling forest. For the plain is parched By flax-crop, parched by oats, by poppies parched In Lethe-slumber drenched. Nathless by change The travailing earth is lightened, but stint not With refuse rich to soak the thirsty soil,
101And shower foul ashes o'er the exhausted fields. Thus by rotation like repose is gained, Nor earth meanwhile uneared and thankless left. Oft, too, 'twill boot to fire the naked fields, And the light stubble burn with crackling flames;
106Whether that earth therefrom some hidden strength And fattening food derives, or that the fire Bakes every blemish out, and sweats away Each useless humour, or that the heat unlocks New passages and secret pores, whereby
111Their life-juice to the tender blades may win; Or that it hardens more and helps to bind The gaping veins, lest penetrating showers, Or fierce sun's ravening might, or searching blast Of the keen north should sear them. Well, I wot,
116He serves the fields who with his harrow breaks The sluggish clods, and hurdles osier-twined Hales o'er them; from the far Olympian height Him golden Ceres not in vain regards; And he, who having ploughed the fallow plain
121And heaved its furrowy ridges, turns once more Cross-wise his shattering share, with stroke on stroke The earth assails, and makes the field his thrall. Pray for wet summers and for winters fine, Ye husbandmen; in winter's dust the crops
126Exceedingly rejoice, the field hath joy; No tilth makes Mysia lift her head so high, Nor Gargarus his own harvests so admire. Why tell of him, who, having launched his seed, Sets on for close encounter, and rakes smooth
131The dry dust hillocks, then on the tender corn Lets in the flood, whose waters follow fain; And when the parched field quivers, and all the blades Are dying, from the brow of its hill-bed, See! see! he lures the runnel; down it falls,
136Waking hoarse murmurs o'er the polished stones, And with its bubblings slakes the thirsty fields? Or why of him, who lest the heavy ears O'erweigh the stalk, while yet in tender blade Feeds down the crop's luxuriance, when its growth
141First tops the furrows? Why of him who drains The marsh-land's gathered ooze through soaking sand, Chiefly what time in treacherous moons a stream Goes out in spate, and with its coat of slime Holds all the country, whence the hollow dykes
146Sweat steaming vapour? But no whit the more For all expedients tried and travail borne By man and beast in turning oft the soil, Do greedy goose and Strymon-haunting cranes
151And succory's bitter fibres cease to harm, Or shade not injure. The great Sire himself No easy road to husbandry assigned, And first was he by human skill to rouse The slumbering glebe, whetting the minds of men
156With care on care, nor suffering realm of his In drowsy sloth to stagnate. Before Jove Fields knew no taming hand of husbandmen; To mark the plain or mete with boundary-line— Even this was impious; for the common stock
161They gathered, and the earth of her own will All things more freely, no man bidding, bore. He to black serpents gave their venom-bane, And bade the wolf go prowl, and ocean toss; Shooed from the leaves their honey, put fire away,
166And curbed the random rivers running wine, That use by gradual dint of thought on thought Might forge the various arts, with furrow's help The corn-blade win, and strike out hidden fire From the flint's heart. Then first the streams were ware
171Of hollowed alder-hulls: the sailor then Their names and numbers gave to star and star, Pleiads and Hyads, and Lycaon's child Bright Arctos; how with nooses then was found To catch wild beasts, and cozen them with lime,
176And hem with hounds the mighty forest-glades. Soon one with hand-net scourges the broad stream, Probing its depths, one drags his dripping toils Along the main; then iron's unbending might, And shrieking saw-blade,—for the men of old
181With wedges wont to cleave the splintering log;— Then divers arts arose; toil conquered all, Remorseless toil, and poverty's shrewd push In times of hardship. Ceres was the first Set mortals on with tools to turn the sod,
186When now the awful groves 'gan fail to bear Acorns and arbutes, and her wonted food Dodona gave no more. Soon, too, the corn Gat sorrow's increase, that an evil blight Ate up the stalks, and thistle reared his spines
191An idler in the fields; the crops die down; Upsprings instead a shaggy growth of burrs And caltrops; and amid the corn-fields trim Unfruitful darnel and wild oats have sway. Wherefore, unless thou shalt with ceaseless rake
196The weeds pursue, with shouting scare the birds, Prune with thy hook the dark field's matted shade, Pray down the showers, all vainly thou shalt eye, Alack! thy neighbour's heaped-up harvest-mow, And in the greenwood from a shaken oak
201Seek solace for thine hunger. Now to tell The sturdy rustics' weapons, what they are, Without which, neither can be sown nor reared The fruits of harvest; first the bent plough's share
206And heavy timber, and slow-lumbering wains Of the Eleusinian mother, threshing-sleighs And drags, and harrows with their crushing weight; Then the cheap wicker-ware of Celeus old, Hurdles of arbute, and thy mystic fan,
211Iacchus; which, full tale, long ere the time Thou must with heed lay by, if thee await Not all unearned the country's crown divine. While yet within the woods, the elm is tamed And bowed with mighty force to form the stock,
216And take the plough's curved shape, then nigh the root A pole eight feet projecting, earth-boards twain, And share-beam with its double back they fix. For yoke is early hewn a linden light, And a tall beech for handle, from behind
221To turn the car at lowest: then o'er the hearth The wood they hang till the smoke knows it well. Many the precepts of the men of old I can recount thee, so thou start not back, And such slight cares to learn not weary thee.
226And this among the first: thy threshing-floor With ponderous roller must be levelled smooth, And wrought by hand, and fixed with binding chalk, Lest weeds arise, or dust a passage win Splitting the surface, then a thousand plagues
231Make sport of it: oft builds the tiny mouse Her home, and plants her granary, underground, Or burrow for their bed the purblind moles, Or toad is found in hollows, and all the swarm Of earth's unsightly creatures; or a huge
236Corn-heap the weevil plunders, and the ant, Fearful of coming age and penury. Mark too, what time the walnut in the woods With ample bloom shall clothe her, and bow down Her odorous branches, if the fruit prevail,
241Like store of grain will follow, and there shall come A mighty winnowing-time with mighty heat; But if the shade with wealth of leaves abound, Vainly your threshing-floor will bruise the stalks Rich but in chaff. Many myself have seen
246Steep, as they sow, their pulse-seeds, drenching them With nitre and black oil-lees, that the fruit Might swell within the treacherous pods, and they Make speed to boil at howso small a fire. Yet, culled with caution, proved with patient toil,
251These have I seen degenerate, did not man Put forth his hand with power, and year by year Choose out the largest. So, by fate impelled, Speed all things to the worse, and backward borne Glide from us; even as who with struggling oars
256Up stream scarce pulls a shallop, if he chance His arms to slacken, lo! with headlong force The current sweeps him down the hurrying tide. Us too behoves Arcturus' sign observe, And the Kids' seasons and the shining Snake,
261No less than those who o'er the windy main Borne homeward tempt the Pontic, and the jaws Of oyster-rife Abydos. When the Scales Now poising fair the hours of sleep and day Give half the world to sunshine, half to shade,
266Then urge your bulls, my masters; sow the plain Even to the verge of tameless winter's showers With barley: then, too, time it is to hide Your flax in earth, and poppy, Ceres' joy, Aye, more than time to bend above the plough,
271While earth, yet dry, forbids not, and the clouds Are buoyant. With the spring comes bean-sowing; Thee, too, Lucerne, the crumbling furrows then Receive, and millet's annual care returns, What time the white bull with his gilded horns
276Opens the year, before whose threatening front, Routed the dog-star sinks. But if it be For wheaten harvest and the hardy spelt, Thou tax the soil, to corn-ears wholly given, Let Atlas' daughters hide them in the dawn,
281The Cretan star, a crown of fire, depart, Or e'er the furrow's claim of seed thou quit, Or haste thee to entrust the whole year's hope To earth that would not. Many have begun Ere Maia's star be setting; these, I trow,
286Their looked-for harvest fools with empty ears. But if the vetch and common kidney-bean Thou'rt fain to sow, nor scorn to make thy care Pelusiac lentil, no uncertain sign Bootes' fall will send thee; then begin,
291Pursue thy sowing till half the frosts be done. Therefore it is the golden sun, his course Into fixed parts dividing, rules his way Through the twelve constellations of the world. Five zones the heavens contain; whereof is one
296Aye red with flashing sunlight, fervent aye From fire; on either side to left and right Are traced the utmost twain, stiff with blue ice, And black with scowling storm-clouds, and betwixt These and the midmost, other twain there lie,
301By the Gods' grace to heart-sick mortals given, And a path cleft between them, where might wheel On sloping plane the system of the Signs. And as toward Scythia and Rhipaean heights The world mounts upward, likewise sinks it down
306Toward Libya and the south, this pole of ours Still towering high, that other, 'neath their feet, By dark Styx frowned on, and the abysmal shades. Here glides the huge Snake forth with sinuous coils 'Twixt the two Bears and round them river-wise—
311The Bears that fear 'neath Ocean's brim to dip. There either, say they, reigns the eternal hush Of night that knows no seasons, her black pall Thick-mantling fold on fold; or thitherward From us returning Dawn brings back the day;
316And when the first breath of his panting steeds On us the Orient flings, that hour with them Red Vesper 'gins to trim his 'lated fires. Hence under doubtful skies forebode we can The coming tempests, hence both harvest-day
321And seed-time, when to smite the treacherous main With driving oars, when launch the fair-rigged fleet, Or in ripe hour to fell the forest-pine. Hence, too, not idly do we watch the stars— Their rising and their setting-and the year,
326Four varying seasons to one law conformed. If chilly showers e'er shut the farmer's door, Much that had soon with sunshine cried for haste, He may forestall; the ploughman batters keen His blunted share's hard tooth, scoops from a tree
331His troughs, or on the cattle stamps a brand, Or numbers on the corn-heaps; some make sharp The stakes and two-pronged forks, and willow-bands Amerian for the bending vine prepare. Now let the pliant basket plaited be
336Of bramble-twigs; now set your corn to parch Before the fire; now bruise it with the stone. Nay even on holy days some tasks to ply Is right and lawful: this no ban forbids, To turn the runnel's course, fence corn-fields in,
341Make springes for the birds, burn up the briars, And plunge in wholesome stream the bleating flock. Oft too with oil or apples plenty-cheap The creeping ass's ribs his driver packs, And home from town returning brings instead
346A dented mill-stone or black lump of pitch. The moon herself in various rank assigns The days for labour lucky: fly the fifth; Then sprang pale Orcus and the Eumenides; Earth then in awful labour brought to light
351Coeus, Iapetus, and Typhoeus fell, And those sworn brethren banded to break down The gates of heaven; thrice, sooth to say, they strove Ossa on Pelion's top to heave and heap, Aye, and on Ossa to up-roll amain
356Leafy Olympus; thrice with thunderbolt Their mountain-stair the Sire asunder smote. Seventh after tenth is lucky both to set The vine in earth, and take and tame the steer, And fix the leashes to the warp; the ninth
361To runagates is kinder, cross to thieves. Many the tasks that lightlier lend themselves In chilly night, or when the sun is young, And Dawn bedews the world. By night 'tis best To reap light stubble, and parched fields by night;
366For nights the suppling moisture never fails. And one will sit the long late watches out By winter fire-light, shaping with keen blade The torches to a point; his wife the while, Her tedious labour soothing with a song,
371Speeds the shrill comb along the warp, or else With Vulcan's aid boils the sweet must-juice down, And skims with leaves the quivering cauldron's wave. But ruddy Ceres in mid heat is mown, And in mid heat the parched ears are bruised
376Upon the floor; to plough strip, strip to sow; Winter's the lazy time for husbandmen. In the cold season farmers wont to taste The increase of their toil, and yield themselves To mutual interchange of festal cheer.
381Boon winter bids them, and unbinds their cares, As laden keels, when now the port they touch, And happy sailors crown the sterns with flowers. Nathless then also time it is to strip Acorns from oaks, and berries from the bay,
386Olives, and bleeding myrtles, then to set Snares for the crane, and meshes for the stag, And hunt the long-eared hares, then pierce the doe With whirl of hempen-thonged Balearic sling, While snow lies deep, and streams are drifting ice.
391What need to tell of autumn's storms and stars, And wherefore men must watch, when now the day Grows shorter, and more soft the summer's heat? When Spring the rain-bringer comes rushing down, Or when the beards of harvest on the plain
396Bristle already, and the milky corn On its green stalk is swelling? Many a time, When now the farmer to his yellow fields The reaping-hind came bringing, even in act To lop the brittle barley stems, have I
401Seen all the windy legions clash in war Together, as to rend up far and wide The heavy corn-crop from its lowest roots, And toss it skyward: so might winter's flaw, Dark-eddying, whirl light stalks and flying straws.
406Oft too comes looming vast along the sky A march of waters; mustering from above, The clouds roll up the tempest, heaped and grim With angry showers: down falls the height of heaven, And with a great rain floods the smiling crops,
411The oxen's labour: now the dikes fill fast, And the void river-beds swell thunderously, And all the panting firths of Ocean boil. The Sire himself in midnight of the clouds Wields with red hand the levin; through all her bulk
416Earth at the hurly quakes; the beasts are fled, And mortal hearts of every kindred sunk In cowering terror; he with flaming brand Athos, or Rhodope, or Ceraunian crags Precipitates: then doubly raves the South
421With shower on blinding shower, and woods and coasts Wail fitfully beneath the mighty blast. This fearing, mark the months and Signs of heaven, Whither retires him Saturn's icy star, And through what heavenly cycles wandereth
426The glowing orb Cyllenian. Before all Worship the Gods, and to great Ceres pay Her yearly dues upon the happy sward With sacrifice, anigh the utmost end Of winter, and when Spring begins to smile.
431Then lambs are fat, and wines are mellowest then; Then sleep is sweet, and dark the shadows fall Upon the mountains. Let your rustic youth To Ceres do obeisance, one and all; And for her pleasure thou mix honeycombs
436With milk and the ripe wine-god; thrice for luck Around the young corn let the victim go, And all the choir, a joyful company, Attend it, and with shouts bid Ceres come To be their house-mate; and let no man dare
441Put sickle to the ripened ears until, With woven oak his temples chapleted, He foot the rugged dance and chant the lay. Aye, and that these things we might win to know By certain tokens, heats, and showers, and winds
446That bring the frost, the Sire of all himself Ordained what warnings in her monthly round The moon should give, what bodes the south wind's fall, What oft-repeated sights the herdsman seeing Should keep his cattle closer to their stalls.
451No sooner are the winds at point to rise, Than either Ocean's firths begin to toss And swell, and a dry crackling sound is heard Upon the heights, or one loud ferment booms The beach afar, and through the forest goes
456A murmur multitudinous. By this Scarce can the billow spare the curved keels, When swift the sea-gulls from the middle main Come winging, and their shrieks are shoreward borne, When ocean-loving cormorants on dry land
461Besport them, and the hern, her marshy haunts Forsaking, mounts above the soaring cloud. Oft, too, when wind is toward, the stars thou'lt see From heaven shoot headlong, and through murky night Long trails of fire white-glistening in their wake,
466Or light chaff flit in air with fallen leaves, Or feathers on the wave-top float and play. But when from regions of the furious North It lightens, and when thunder fills the halls Of Eurus and of Zephyr, all the fields
471With brimming dikes are flooded, and at sea No mariner but furls his dripping sails. Never at unawares did shower annoy: Or, as it rises, the high-soaring cranes Flee to the vales before it, with face
476Upturned to heaven, the heifer snuffs the gale Through gaping nostrils, or about the meres Shrill-twittering flits the swallow, and the frogs Crouch in the mud and chant their dirge of old. Oft, too, the ant from out her inmost cells,
481Fretting the narrow path, her eggs conveys; Or the huge bow sucks moisture; or a host Of rooks from food returning in long line Clamour with jostling wings. Now mayst thou see The various ocean-fowl and those that pry
486Round Asian meads within thy fresher-pools, Cayster, as in eager rivalry, About their shoulders dash the plenteous spray, Now duck their head beneath the wave, now run Into the billows, for sheer idle joy
491Of their mad bathing-revel. Then the crow With full voice, good-for-naught, inviting rain, Stalks on the dry sand mateless and alone. Nor e'en the maids, that card their nightly task, Know not the storm-sign, when in blazing crock
496They see the lamp-oil sputtering with a growth Of mouldy snuff-clots. So too, after rain, Sunshine and open skies thou mayst forecast, And learn by tokens sure, for then nor dimmed
501Appear the stars' keen edges, nor the moon As borrowing of her brother's beams to rise, Nor fleecy films to float along the sky. Not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore Do halcyons dear to Thetis ope their wings,
506Nor filthy swine take thought to toss on high With scattering snout the straw-wisps. But the clouds Seek more the vales, and rest upon the plain, And from the roof-top the night-owl for naught Watching the sunset plies her 'lated song.
511Distinct in clearest air is Nisus seen Towering, and Scylla for the purple lock Pays dear; for whereso, as she flies, her wings The light air winnow, lo! fierce, implacable, Nisus with mighty whirr through heaven pursues;
516Where Nisus heavenward soareth, there her wings Clutch as she flies, the light air winnowing still. Soft then the voice of rooks from indrawn throat Thrice, four times, o'er repeated, and full oft On their high cradles, by some hidden joy
521Gladdened beyond their wont, in bustling throngs Among the leaves they riot; so sweet it is, When showers are spent, their own loved nests again And tender brood to visit. Not, I deem, That heaven some native wit to these assigned,
526Or fate a larger prescience, but that when The storm and shifting moisture of the air Have changed their courses, and the sky-god now, Wet with the south-wind, thickens what was rare, And what was gross releases, then, too, change
531Their spirits' fleeting phases, and their breasts Feel other motions now, than when the wind Was driving up the cloud-rack. Hence proceeds That blending of the feathered choirs afield, The cattle's exultation, and the rooks'
536Deep-throated triumph. But if the headlong sun And moons in order following thou regard, Ne'er will to-morrow's hour deceive thee, ne'er Wilt thou be caught by guile of cloudless night.
541When first the moon recalls her rallying fires, If dark the air clipped by her crescent dim, For folks afield and on the open sea A mighty rain is brewing; but if her face With maiden blush she mantle, 'twill be wind,
546For wind turns Phoebe still to ruddier gold. But if at her fourth rising, for 'tis that Gives surest counsel, clear she ride thro' heaven With horns unblunted, then shall that whole day, And to the month's end those that spring from it,
551Rainless and windless be, while safe ashore Shall sailors pay their vows to Panope, Glaucus, and Melicertes, Ino's child. The sun too, both at rising, and when soon He dives beneath the waves, shall yield thee signs;
556For signs, none trustier, travel with the sun, Both those which in their course with dawn he brings, And those at star-rise. When his springing orb With spots he pranketh, muffled in a cloud, And shrinks mid-circle, then of showers beware;
561For then the South comes driving from the deep, To trees and crops and cattle bringing bane. Or when at day-break through dark clouds his rays Burst and are scattered, or when rising pale Aurora quits Tithonus' saffron bed,
566But sorry shelter then, alack I will yield Vine-leaf to ripening grapes; so thick a hail In spiky showers spins rattling on the roof. And this yet more 'twill boot thee bear in mind, When now, his course upon Olympus run,
571He draws to his decline: for oft we see Upon the sun's own face strange colours stray; Dark tells of rain, of east winds fiery-red; If spots with ruddy fire begin to mix, Then all the heavens convulsed in wrath thou'lt see—
576Storm-clouds and wind together. Me that night Let no man bid fare forth upon the deep, Nor rend the rope from shore. But if, when both He brings again and hides the day's return, Clear-orbed he shineth,idly wilt thou dread
581The storm-clouds, and beneath the lustral North See the woods waving. What late eve in fine Bears in her bosom, whence the wind that brings Fair-weather-clouds, or what the rain South Is meditating, tokens of all these
586The sun will give thee. Who dare charge the sun With leasing? He it is who warneth oft Of hidden broils at hand and treachery, And secret swelling of the waves of war. He too it was, when Caesar's light was quenched,
591For Rome had pity, when his bright head he veiled In iron-hued darkness, till a godless age Trembled for night eternal; at that time Howbeit earth also, and the ocean-plains, And dogs obscene, and birds of evil bode
596Gave tokens. Yea, how often have we seen Etna, her furnace-walls asunder riven, In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields, And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks! A clash of arms through all the heaven was heard
601By Germany; strange heavings shook the Alps. Yea, and by many through the breathless groves A voice was heard with power, and wondrous-pale Phantoms were seen upon the dusk of night, And cattle spake, portentous! streams stand still,
606And the earth yawns asunder, ivory weeps For sorrow in the shrines, and bronzes sweat. Up-twirling forests with his eddying tide, Madly he bears them down, that lord of floods, Eridanus, till through all the plain are swept
611Beasts and their stalls together. At that time In gloomy entrails ceased not to appear Dark-threatening fibres, springs to trickle blood, And high-built cities night-long to resound With the wolves' howling. Never more than then
616From skies all cloudless fell the thunderbolts, Nor blazed so oft the comet's fire of bale. Therefore a second time Philippi saw The Roman hosts with kindred weapons rush To battle, nor did the high gods deem it hard
621That twice Emathia and the wide champaign Of Haemus should be fattening with our blood. Ay, and the time will come when there anigh, Heaving the earth up with his curved plough, Some swain will light on javelins by foul rust
626Corroded, or with ponderous harrow strike On empty helmets, while he gapes to see Bones as of giants from the trench untombed. Gods of my country, heroes of the soil, And Romulus, and Mother Vesta, thou
631Who Tuscan Tiber and Rome's Palatine Preservest, this new champion at the least Our fallen generation to repair Forbid not. To the full and long ago Our blood thy Trojan perjuries hath paid,
636Laomedon. Long since the courts of heaven Begrudge us thee, our Caesar, and complain That thou regard'st the triumphs of mankind, Here where the wrong is right, the right is wrong, Where wars abound so many, and myriad-faced
641Is crime; where no meet honour hath the plough; The fields, their husbandmen led far away, Rot in neglect, and curved pruning-hooks Into the sword's stiff blade are fused and forged. Euphrates here, here Germany new strife
646Is stirring; neighbouring cities are in arms, The laws that bound them snapped; and godless war Rages through all the universe; as when The four-horse chariots from the barriers poured Still quicken o'er the course, and, idly now
651Grasping the reins, the driver by his team Is onward borne, nor heeds the car his curb.
Book 2
1Thus far the tilth of fields and stars of heaven; Now will I sing thee, Bacchus, and, with thee, The forest's young plantations and the fruit Of slow-maturing olive. Hither haste, O Father of the wine-press; all things here
6Teem with the bounties of thy hand; for thee With viny autumn laden blooms the field, And foams the vintage high with brimming vats; Hither, O Father of the wine-press, come, And stripped of buskin stain thy bared limbs
11In the new must with me. First, nature's law For generating trees is manifold; For some of their own force spontaneous spring, No hand of man compelling, and possess
16The plains and river-windings far and wide, As pliant osier and the bending broom, Poplar, and willows in wan companies With green leaf glimmering gray; and some there be From chance-dropped seed that rear them, as the tall
21Chestnuts, and, mightiest of the branching wood, Jove's Aesculus, and oaks, oracular Deemed by the Greeks of old. With some sprouts forth A forest of dense suckers from the root, As elms and cherries; so, too, a pigmy plant,
26Beneath its mother's mighty shade upshoots The bay-tree of Parnassus. Such the modes Nature imparted first; hence all the race Of forest-trees and shrubs and sacred groves Springs into verdure. Other means there are,
31Which use by method for itself acquired. One, sliving suckers from the tender frame Of the tree-mother, plants them in the trench; One buries the bare stumps within his field, Truncheons cleft four-wise, or sharp-pointed stakes;
36Some forest-trees the layer's bent arch await, And slips yet quick within the parent-soil; No root need others, nor doth the pruner's hand Shrink to restore the topmost shoot to earth That gave it being. Nay, marvellous to tell,
41Lopped of its limbs, the olive, a mere stock, Still thrusts its root out from the sapless wood, And oft the branches of one kind we see Change to another's with no loss to rue, Pear-tree transformed the ingrafted apple yield,
46And stony cornels on the plum-tree blush. Come then, and learn what tilth to each belongs According to their kinds, ye husbandmen, And tame with culture the wild fruits, lest earth Lie idle. O blithe to make all Ismarus
51One forest of the wine-god, and to clothe With olives huge Tabernus! And be thou At hand, and with me ply the voyage of toil I am bound on, O my glory, O thou that art Justly the chiefest portion of my fame,
56Maecenas, and on this wide ocean launched Spread sail like wings to waft thee. Not that I With my poor verse would comprehend the whole, Nay, though a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths Were mine, a voice of iron; be thou at hand,
61Skirt but the nearer coast-line; see the shore Is in our grasp; not now with feigned song Through winding bouts and tedious preludings Shall I detain thee. Those that lift their head
66Into the realms of light spontaneously, Fruitless indeed, but blithe and strenuous spring, Since Nature lurks within the soil. And yet Even these, should one engraft them, or transplant To well-drilled trenches, will anon put of
71Their woodland temper, and, by frequent tilth, To whatso craft thou summon them, make speed To follow. So likewise will the barren shaft That from the stock-root issueth, if it be Set out with clear space amid open fields:
76Now the tree-mother's towering leaves and boughs Darken, despoil of increase as it grows, And blast it in the bearing. Lastly, that Which from shed seed ariseth, upward wins But slowly, yielding promise of its shade
81To late-born generations; apples wane Forgetful of their former juice, the grape Bears sorry clusters, for the birds a prey. Soothly on all must toil be spent, and all Trained to the trench and at great cost subdued.
86But reared from truncheons olives answer best, As vines from layers, and from the solid wood The Paphian myrtles; while from suckers spring Both hardy hazels and huge ash, the tree That rims with shade the brows of Hercules,
91And acorns dear to the Chaonian sire: So springs the towering palm too, and the fir Destined to spy the dangers of the deep. But the rough arbutus with walnut-fruit Is grafted; so have barren planes ere now
96Stout apples borne, with chestnut-flower the beech, The mountain-ash with pear-bloom whitened o'er, And swine crunched acorns 'neath the boughs of elms. Nor is the method of inserting eyes And grafting one: for where the buds push forth
101Amidst the bark, and burst the membranes thin, Even on the knot a narrow rift is made, Wherein from some strange tree a germ they pen, And to the moist rind bid it cleave and grow. Or, otherwise, in knotless trunks is hewn
106A breach, and deep into the solid grain A path with wedges cloven; then fruitful slips Are set herein, and—no long time—behold! To heaven upshot with teeming boughs, the tree Strange leaves admires and fruitage not its own.
111Nor of one kind alone are sturdy elms, Willow and lotus, nor the cypress-trees Of Ida; nor of self-same fashion spring Fat olives, orchades, and radii And bitter-berried pausians, no, nor yet
116Apples and the forests of Alcinous; Nor from like cuttings are Crustumian pears And Syrian, and the heavy hand-fillers. Not the same vintage from our trees hangs down, Which Lesbos from Methymna's tendril plucks.
121Vines Thasian are there, Mareotids white, These apt for richer soils, for lighter those: Psithian for raisin-wine more useful, thin Lageos, that one day will try the feet And tie the tongue: purples and early-ripes,
126And how, O Rhaetian, shall I hymn thy praise? Yet cope not therefore with Falernian bins. Vines Aminaean too, best-bodied wine, To which the Tmolian bows him, ay, and king Phanaeus too, and, lesser of that name,
131Argitis, wherewith not a grape can vie For gush of wine-juice or for length of years. Nor thee must I pass over, vine of Rhodes, Welcomed by gods and at the second board, Nor thee, Bumastus, with plump clusters swollen.
136But lo! how many kinds, and what their names, There is no telling, nor doth it boot to tell; Who lists to know it, he too would list to learn How many sand-grains are by Zephyr tossed On Libya's plain, or wot, when Eurus falls
141With fury on the ships, how many waves Come rolling shoreward from the Ionian sea. Not that all soils can all things bear alike. Willows by water-courses have their birth, Alders in miry fens; on rocky heights
146The barren mountain-ashes; on the shore Myrtles throng gayest; Bacchus, lastly, loves The bare hillside, and yews the north wind's chill. Mark too the earth by outland tillers tamed, And Eastern homes of Arabs, and tattooed
151Geloni; to all trees their native lands Allotted are; no clime but India bears Black ebony; the branch of frankincense Is Saba's sons' alone; why tell to thee Of balsams oozing from the perfumed wood,
156Or berries of acanthus ever green? Of Aethiop forests hoar with downy wool, Or how the Seres comb from off the leaves Their silky fleece? Of groves which India bears, Ocean's near neighbour, earth's remotest nook,
161Where not an arrow-shot can cleave the air Above their tree-tops? yet no laggards they, When girded with the quiver! Media yields The bitter juices and slow-lingering taste Of the blest citron-fruit, than which no aid
166Comes timelier, when fierce step-dames drug the cup With simples mixed and spells of baneful power, To drive the deadly poison from the limbs. Large the tree's self in semblance like a bay, And, showered it not a different scent abroad,
171A bay it had been; for no wind of heaven Its foliage falls; the flower, none faster, clings; With it the Medes for sweetness lave the lips, And ease the panting breathlessness of age. But no, not Mede-land with its wealth of woods,
176Nor Ganges fair, and Hermus thick with gold, Can match the praise of Italy; nor Ind, Nor Bactria, nor Panchaia, one wide tract Of incense-teeming sand. Here never bulls With nostrils snorting fire upturned the sod
181Sown with the monstrous dragon's teeth, nor crop Of warriors bristled thick with lance and helm; But heavy harvests and the Massic juice Of Bacchus fill its borders, overspread With fruitful flocks and olives. Hence arose
186The war-horse stepping proudly o'er the plain; Hence thy white flocks, Clitumnus, and the bull, Of victims mightiest, which full oft have led, Bathed in thy sacred stream, the triumph-pomp Of Romans to the temples of the gods.
191Here blooms perpetual spring, and summer here In months that are not summer's; twice teem the flocks; Twice doth the tree yield service of her fruit. But ravening tigers come not nigh, nor breed Of savage lion, nor aconite betrays
196Its hapless gatherers, nor with sweep so vast Doth the scaled serpent trail his endless coils Along the ground, or wreathe him into spires. Mark too her cities, so many and so proud, Of mighty toil the achievement, town on town
201Up rugged precipices heaved and reared, And rivers undergliding ancient walls. Or should I celebrate the sea that laves Her upper shores and lower? or those broad lakes? Thee, Larius, greatest and, Benacus, thee
206With billowy uproar surging like the main? Or sing her harbours, and the barrier cast Athwart the Lucrine, and how ocean chafes With mighty bellowings, where the Julian wave Echoes the thunder of his rout, and through
211Avernian inlets pours the Tuscan tide? A land no less that in her veins displays Rivers of silver, mines of copper ore, Ay, and with gold hath flowed abundantly. A land that reared a valiant breed of men,
216The Marsi and Sabellian youth, and, schooled To hardship, the Ligurian, and with these The Volscian javelin-armed, the Decii too, The Marii and Camilli, names of might, The Scipios, stubborn warriors, ay, and thee,
221Great Caesar, who in Asia's utmost bounds With conquering arm e'en now art fending far The unwarlike Indian from the heights of Rome. Hail! land of Saturn, mighty mother thou Of fruits and heroes; 'tis for thee I dare
226Unseal the sacred fountains, and essay Themes of old art and glory, as I sing The song of Ascra through the towns of Rome. Now for the native gifts of various soils, What powers hath each, what hue, what natural bent
231For yielding increase. First your stubborn lands And churlish hill-sides, where are thorny fields Of meagre marl and gravel, these delight In long-lived olive-groves to Pallas dear. Take for a sign the plenteous growth hard by
236Of oleaster, and the fields strewn wide With woodland berries. But a soil that's rich, In moisture sweet exulting, and the plain That teems with grasses on its fruitful breast, Such as full oft in hollow mountain-dell
241We view beneath us—from the craggy heights Streams thither flow with fertilizing mud— A plain which southward rising feeds the fern By curved ploughs detested, this one day Shall yield thee store of vines full strong to gush
246In torrents of the wine-god; this shall be Fruitful of grapes and flowing juice like that We pour to heaven from bowls of gold, what time The sleek Etruscan at the altar blows His ivory pipe, and on the curved dish
251We lay the reeking entrails. If to rear Cattle delight thee rather, steers, or lambs, Or goats that kill the tender plants, then seek Full-fed Tarentum's glades and distant fields, Or such a plain as luckless Mantua lost
256Whose weedy water feeds the snow-white swan: There nor clear springs nor grass the flocks will fail, And all the day-long browsing of thy herds Shall the cool dews of one brief night repair. Land which the burrowing share shows dark and rich,
261With crumbling soil—for this we counterfeit In ploughing—for corn is goodliest; from no field More wains thou'lt see wend home with plodding steers; Or that from which the husbandman in spleen Has cleared the timber, and o'erthrown the copse
266That year on year lay idle, and from the roots Uptorn the immemorial haunt of birds; They banished from their nests have sought the skies; But the rude plain beneath the ploughshare's stroke Starts into sudden brightness. For indeed
271The starved hill-country gravel scarce serves the bees With lowly cassias and with rosemary; Rough tufa and chalk too, by black water-worms Gnawed through and through, proclaim no soils beside So rife with serpent-dainties, or that yield
276Such winding lairs to lurk in. That again, Which vapoury mist and flitting smoke exhales, Drinks moisture up and casts it forth at will, Which, ever in its own green grass arrayed, Mars not the metal with salt scurf of rust—
281That shall thine elms with merry vines enwreathe; That teems with olive; that shall thy tilth prove kind To cattle, and patient of the curved share. Such ploughs rich Capua, such the coast that skirts Thy ridge, Vesuvius, and the Clanian flood,
286Acerrae's desolation and her bane. How each to recognize now hear me tell. Dost ask if loose or passing firm it be— Since one for corn hath liking, one for wine, The firmer sort for Ceres, none too loose
291For thee, Lyaeus?—with scrutinizing eye First choose thy ground, and bid a pit be sunk Deep in the solid earth, then cast the mould All back again, and stamp the surface smooth. If it suffice not, loose will be the land,
296More meet for cattle and for kindly vines; But if, rebellious, to its proper bounds The soil returns not, but fills all the trench And overtops it, then the glebe is gross; Look for stiff ridges and reluctant clods,
301And with strong bullocks cleave the fallow crust. Salt ground again, and bitter, as 'tis called— Barren for fruits, by tilth untamable, Nor grape her kind, nor apples their good name Maintaining—will in this wise yield thee proof:
306Stout osier-baskets from the rafter-smoke, And strainers of the winepress pluck thee down; Hereinto let that evil land, with fresh Spring-water mixed, be trampled to the full; The moisture, mark you, will ooze all away,
311In big drops issuing through the osier-withes, But plainly will its taste the secret tell, And with a harsh twang ruefully distort The mouths of them that try it. Rich soil again We learn on this wise: tossed from hand to hand
316Yet cracks it never, but pitch-like, as we hold, Clings to the fingers. A land with moisture rife Breeds lustier herbage, and is more than meet Prolific. Ah I may never such for me O'er-fertile prove, or make too stout a show
321At the first earing! Heavy land or light The mute self-witness of its weight betrays. A glance will serve to warn thee which is black, Or what the hue of any. But hard it is To track the signs of that pernicious cold:
326Pines only, noxious yews, and ivies dark At times reveal its traces. All these rules Regarding, let your land, ay, long before, Scorch to the quick, and into trenches carve
331The mighty mountains, and their upturned clods Bare to the north wind, ere thou plant therein The vine's prolific kindred. Fields whose soil Is crumbling are the best: winds look to that, And bitter hoar-frosts, and the delver's toil
336Untiring, as he stirs the loosened glebe. But those, whose vigilance no care escapes, Search for a kindred site, where first to rear A nursery for the trees, and eke whereto Soon to translate them, lest the sudden shock
341From their new mother the young plants estrange. Nay, even the quarter of the sky they brand Upon the bark, that each may be restored, As erst it stood, here bore the southern heats, Here turned its shoulder to the northern pole;
346So strong is custom formed in early years. Whether on hill or plain 'tis best to plant Your vineyard first inquire. If on some plain You measure out rich acres, then plant thick; Thick planting makes no niggard of the vine;
351But if on rising mound or sloping bill, Then let the rows have room, so none the less Each line you draw, when all the trees are set, May tally to perfection. Even as oft In mighty war, whenas the legion's length
356Deploys its cohorts, and the column stands In open plain, the ranks of battle set, And far and near with rippling sheen of arms The wide earth flickers, nor yet in grisly strife Foe grapples foe, but dubious 'twixt the hosts
361The war-god wavers; so let all be ranged In equal rows symmetric, not alone To feed an idle fancy with the view, But since not otherwise will earth afford Vigour to all alike, nor yet the boughs
366Have power to stretch them into open space. Shouldst haply of the furrow's depth inquire, Even to a shallow trench I dare commit The vine; but deeper in the ground is fixed The tree that props it, aesculus in chief,
371Which howso far its summit soars toward heaven, So deep strikes root into the vaults of hell. It therefore neither storms, nor blasts, nor showers Wrench from its bed; unshaken it abides, Sees many a generation, many an age
376Of men roll onward, and survives them all, Stretching its titan arms and branches far, Sole central pillar of a world of shade. Nor toward the sunset let thy vineyards slope, Nor midst the vines plant hazel; neither take
381The topmost shoots for cuttings, nor from the top Of the supporting tree your suckers tear; So deep their love of earth; nor wound the plants With blunted blade; nor truncheons intersperse Of the wild olive: for oft from careless swains
386A spark hath fallen, that, 'neath the unctuous rind Hid thief-like first, now grips the tough tree-bole, And mounting to the leaves on high, sends forth A roar to heaven, then coursing through the boughs And airy summits reigns victoriously,
391Wraps all the grove in robes of fire, and gross With pitch-black vapour heaves the murky reek Skyward, but chiefly if a storm has swooped Down on the forest, and a driving wind Rolls up the conflagration. When 'tis so,
396Their root-force fails them, nor, when lopped away, Can they recover, and from the earth beneath Spring to like verdure; thus alone survives The bare wild olive with its bitter leaves. Let none persuade thee, howso weighty-wise,
401To stir the soil when stiff with Boreas' breath. Then ice-bound winter locks the fields, nor lets The young plant fix its frozen root to earth. Best sow your vineyards when in blushing Spring Comes the white bird long-bodied snakes abhor,
406Or on the eve of autumn's earliest frost, Ere the swift sun-steeds touch the wintry Signs, While summer is departing. Spring it is Blesses the fruit-plantation, Spring the groves; In Spring earth swells and claims the fruitful seed.
411Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down With quickening showers to his glad wife's embrace, And, might with might commingling, rears to life All germs that teem within her; then resound With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses,
416And in due time the herds their loves renew; Then the boon earth yields increase, and the fields Unlock their bosoms to the warm west winds; Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades Face the new suns, and safely trust them now;
421The vine-shoot, fearless of the rising south, Or mighty north winds driving rain from heaven, Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds. Even so, methinks, when Earth to being sprang, Dawned the first days, and such the course they held;
426'Twas Spring-tide then, ay, Spring, the mighty world Was keeping: Eurus spared his wintry blasts, When first the flocks drank sunlight, and a race Of men like iron from the hard glebe arose, And wild beasts thronged the woods, and stars the heaven.
431Nor could frail creatures bear this heavy strain, Did not so large a respite interpose 'Twixt frost and heat, and heaven's relenting arms Yield earth a welcome. For the rest, whate'er
436The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
441And so the plants their drooping spirits raise. Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone Or heavy potsherd press them from above; This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.
446The slips once planted, yet remains to cleave The earth about their roots persistently, And toss the cumbrous hoes, or task the soil With burrowing plough-share, and ply up and down Your labouring bullocks through the vineyard's midst,
451Then too smooth reeds and shafts of whittled wand, And ashen poles and sturdy forks to shape, Whereby supported they may learn to mount, Laugh at the gales, and through the elm-tops win From story up to story.
456Now while yet The leaves are in their first fresh infant growth, Forbear their frailty, and while yet the bough Shoots joyfully toward heaven, with loosened rein Launched on the void, assail it not as yet
461With keen-edged sickle, but let the leaves alone Be culled with clip of fingers here and there. But when they clasp the elms with sturdy trunks Erect, then strip the leaves off, prune the boughs; Sooner they shrink from steel, but then put forth
466The arm of power, and stem the branchy tide. Hedges too must be woven and all beasts Barred entrance, chiefly while the leaf is young And witless of disaster; for therewith, Beside harsh winters and o'erpowering sun,
471Wild buffaloes and pestering goats for ay Besport them, sheep and heifers glut their greed. Nor cold by hoar-frost curdled, nor the prone Dead weight of summer upon the parched crags, So scathe it, as the flocks with venom-bite
476Of their hard tooth, whose gnawing scars the stem. For no offence but this to Bacchus bleeds The goat at every altar, and old plays Upon the stage find entrance; therefore too The sons of Theseus through the country-side—
481Hamlet and crossway—set the prize of wit, And on the smooth sward over oiled skins Dance in their tipsy frolic. Furthermore The Ausonian swains, a race from Troy derived, Make merry with rough rhymes and boisterous mirth,
486Grim masks of hollowed bark assume, invoke Thee with glad hymns, O Bacchus, and to thee Hang puppet-faces on tall pines to swing. Hence every vineyard teems with mellowing fruit, Till hollow vale o'erflows, and gorge profound,
491Where'er the god hath turned his comely head. Therefore to Bacchus duly will we sing Meet honour with ancestral hymns, and cates And dishes bear him; and the doomed goat Led by the horn shall at the altar stand,
496Whose entrails rich on hazel-spits we'll roast. This further task again, to dress the vine, Hath needs beyond exhausting; the whole soil Thrice, four times, yearly must be cleft, the sod With hoes reversed be crushed continually,
501The whole plantation lightened of its leaves. Round on the labourer spins the wheel of toil, As on its own track rolls the circling year. Soon as the vine her lingering leaves hath shed, And the chill north wind from the forests shook
506Their coronal, even then the careful swain Looks keenly forward to the coming year, With Saturn's curved fang pursues and prunes The vine forlorn, and lops it into shape. Be first to dig the ground up, first to clear
511And burn the refuse-branches, first to house Again your vine-poles, last to gather fruit. Twice doth the thickening shade beset the vine, Twice weeds with stifling briers o'ergrow the crop; And each a toilsome labour. Do thou praise
516Broad acres, farm but few. Rough twigs beside Of butcher's broom among the woods are cut, And reeds upon the river-banks, and still The undressed willow claims thy fostering care. So now the vines are fettered, now the trees
521Let go the sickle, and the last dresser now Sings of his finished rows; but still the ground Must vexed be, the dust be stirred, and heaven Still set thee trembling for the ripened grapes. Not so with olives; small husbandry need they,
526Nor look for sickle bowed or biting rake, When once they have gripped the soil, and borne the breeze. Earth of herself, with hooked fang laid bare, Yields moisture for the plants, and heavy fruit, The ploughshare aiding; therewithal thou'lt rear
531The olive's fatness well-beloved of Peace. Apples, moreover, soon as first they feel Their stems wax lusty, and have found their strength, To heaven climb swiftly, self-impelled, nor crave Our succour. All the grove meanwhile no less
536With fruit is swelling, and the wild haunts of birds Blush with their blood-red berries. Cytisus Is good to browse on, the tall forest yields Pine-torches, and the nightly fires are fed And shoot forth radiance. And shall men be loath
541To plant, nor lavish of their pains? Why trace Things mightier? Willows even and lowly brooms To cattle their green leaves, to shepherds shade, Fences for crops, and food for honey yield. And blithe it is Cytorus to behold
546Waving with box, Narycian groves of pitch; Oh! blithe the sight of fields beholden not To rake or man's endeavour! the barren woods That crown the scalp of Caucasus, even these, Which furious blasts for ever rive and rend,
551Yield various wealth, pine-logs that serve for ships, Cedar and cypress for the homes of men; Hence, too, the farmers shave their wheel-spokes, hence Drums for their wains, and curved boat-keels fit; Willows bear twigs enow, the elm-tree leaves,
556Myrtle stout spear-shafts, war-tried cornel too; Yews into Ituraean bows are bent: Nor do smooth lindens or lathe-polished box Shrink from man's shaping and keen-furrowing steel; Light alder floats upon the boiling flood
561Sped down the Padus, and bees house their swarms In rotten holm-oak's hollow bark and bole. What of like praise can Bacchus' gifts afford? Nay, Bacchus even to crime hath prompted, he The wine-infuriate Centaurs quelled with death,
566Rhoetus and Pholus, and with mighty bowl Hylaeus threatening high the Lapithae. Oh! all too happy tillers of the soil, Could they but know their blessedness, for whom Far from the clash of arms all-equal earth
571Pours from the ground herself their easy fare! What though no lofty palace portal-proud From all its chambers vomits forth a tide Of morning courtiers, nor agape they gaze On pillars with fair tortoise-shell inwrought,
576Gold-purfled robes, and bronze from Ephyre; Nor is the whiteness of their wool distained With drugs Assyrian, nor clear olive's use With cassia tainted; yet untroubled calm, A life that knows no falsehood, rich enow
581With various treasures, yet broad-acred ease, Grottoes and living lakes, yet Tempes cool, Lowing of kine, and sylvan slumbers soft, They lack not; lawns and wild beasts' haunts are there, A youth of labour patient, need-inured,
586Worship, and reverend sires: with them from earth Departing justice her last footprints left. Me before all things may the Muses sweet, Whose rites I bear with mighty passion pierced, Receive, and show the paths and stars of heaven,
591The sun's eclipses and the labouring moons, From whence the earthquake, by what power the seas Swell from their depths, and, every barrier burst, Sink back upon themselves, why winter-suns So haste to dip 'neath ocean, or what check
596The lingering night retards. But if to these High realms of nature the cold curdling blood About my heart bar access, then be fields And stream-washed vales my solace, let me love Rivers and woods, inglorious. Oh for you
601Plains, and Spercheius, and Taygete, By Spartan maids o'er-revelled! Oh, for one, Would set me in deep dells of Haemus cool, And shield me with his boughs' o'ershadowing might! Happy, who had the skill to understand
606Nature's hid causes, and beneath his feet All terrors cast, and death's relentless doom, And the loud roar of greedy Acheron. Blest too is he who knows the rural gods, Pan, old Silvanus, and the sister-nymphs!
611Him nor the rods of public power can bend, Nor kingly purple, nor fierce feud that drives Brother to turn on brother, nor descent Of Dacian from the Danube's leagued flood, Nor Rome's great State, nor kingdoms like to die;
616Nor hath he grieved through pitying of the poor, Nor envied him that hath. What fruit the boughs, And what the fields, of their own bounteous will Have borne, he gathers; nor iron rule of laws, Nor maddened Forum have his eyes beheld,
621Nor archives of the people. Others vex The darksome gulfs of Ocean with their oars, Or rush on steel: they press within the courts And doors of princes; one with havoc falls Upon a city and its hapless hearths,
626From gems to drink, on Tyrian rugs to lie; This hoards his wealth and broods o'er buried gold; One at the rostra stares in blank amaze; One gaping sits transported by the cheers, The answering cheers of plebs and senate rolled
631Along the benches: bathed in brothers' blood Men revel, and, all delights of hearth and home For exile changing, a new country seek Beneath an alien sun. The husbandman With hooked ploughshare turns the soil; from hence
636Springs his year's labour; hence, too, he sustains Country and cottage homestead, and from hence His herds of cattle and deserving steers. No respite! still the year o'erflows with fruit, Or young of kine, or Ceres' wheaten sheaf,
641With crops the furrow loads, and bursts the barns. Winter is come: in olive-mills they bruise The Sicyonian berry; acorn-cheered The swine troop homeward; woods their arbutes yield; So, various fruit sheds Autumn, and high up
646On sunny rocks the mellowing vintage bakes. Meanwhile about his lips sweet children cling; His chaste house keeps its purity; his kine Drop milky udders, and on the lush green grass Fat kids are striving, horn to butting horn.
651Himself keeps holy days; stretched o'er the sward, Where round the fire his comrades crown the bowl, He pours libation, and thy name invokes, Lenaeus, and for the herdsmen on an elm Sets up a mark for the swift javelin; they
656Strip their tough bodies for the rustic sport. Such life of yore the ancient Sabines led, Such Remus and his brother: Etruria thus, Doubt not, to greatness grew, and Rome became The fair world's fairest, and with circling wall
661Clasped to her single breast the sevenfold hills. Ay, ere the reign of Dicte's king, ere men, Waxed godless, banqueted on slaughtered bulls, Such life on earth did golden Saturn lead. Nor ear of man had heard the war-trump's blast,
666Nor clang of sword on stubborn anvil set. But lo! a boundless space we have travelled o'er; 'Tis time our steaming horses to unyoke.
Book 3
1Thee too, great Pales, will I hymn, and thee, Amphrysian shepherd, worthy to be sung, You, woods and waves Lycaean. All themes beside, Which else had charmed the vacant mind with song, Are now waxed common. Of harsh Eurystheus who
6The story knows not, or that praiseless king Busiris, and his altars? or by whom Hath not the tale been told of Hylas young, Latonian Delos and Hippodame, And Pelops for his ivory shoulder famed,
11Keen charioteer? Needs must a path be tried, By which I too may lift me from the dust, And float triumphant through the mouths of men. Yea, I shall be the first, so life endure, To lead the Muses with me, as I pass
16To mine own country from the Aonian height; I, Mantua, first will bring thee back the palms Of Idumaea, and raise a marble shrine On thy green plain fast by the water-side, Where Mincius winds more vast in lazy coils,
21And rims his margent with the tender reed. Amid my shrine shall Caesar's godhead dwell. To him will I, as victor, bravely dight In Tyrian purple, drive along the bank A hundred four-horse cars. All Greece for me,
26Leaving Alpheus and Molorchus' grove, On foot shall strive, or with the raw-hide glove; Whilst I, my head with stripped green olive crowned, Will offer gifts. Even 'tis present joy To lead the high processions to the fane,
31And view the victims felled; or how the scene Sunders with shifted face, and Britain's sons Inwoven thereon with those proud curtains rise. Of gold and massive ivory on the doors I'll trace the battle of the Gangarides,
36And our Quirinus' conquering arms, and there Surging with war, and hugely flowing, the Nile, And columns heaped on high with naval brass. And Asia's vanquished cities I will add, And quelled Niphates, and the Parthian foe,
41Who trusts in flight and backward-volleying darts, And trophies torn with twice triumphant hand From empires twain on ocean's either shore. And breathing forms of Parian marble there Shall stand, the offspring of Assaracus,
46And great names of the Jove-descended folk, And father Tros, and Troy's first founder, lord Of Cynthus. And accursed Envy there Shall dread the Furies, and thy ruthless flood, Cocytus, and Ixion's twisted snakes,
51And that vast wheel and ever-baffling stone. Meanwhile the Dryad-haunted woods and lawns Unsullied seek we; 'tis thy hard behest, Maecenas. Without thee no lofty task My mind essays. Up! break the sluggish bonds
56Of tarriance; with loud din Cithaeron calls, Steed-taming Epidaurus, and thy hounds, Taygete; and hark! the assenting groves With peal on peal reverberate the roar. Yet must I gird me to rehearse ere long
61The fiery fights of Caesar, speed his name Through ages, countless as to Caesar's self From the first birth-dawn of Tithonus old. If eager for the prized Olympian palm One breed the horse, or bullock strong to plough,
66Be his prime care a shapely dam to choose. Of kine grim-faced is goodliest, with coarse head And burly neck, whose hanging dewlaps reach From chin to knee; of boundless length her flank; Large every way she is, large-footed even,
71With incurved horns and shaggy ears beneath. Nor let mislike me one with spots of white Conspicuous, or that spurns the yoke, whose horn At times hath vice in't: liker bull-faced she, And tall-limbed wholly, and with tip of tail
76Brushing her footsteps as she walks along. The age for Hymen's rites, Lucina's pangs, Ere ten years ended, after four begins; Their residue of days nor apt to teem, Nor strong for ploughing. Meantime, while youth's delight
81Survives within them, loose the males: be first To speed thy herds of cattle to their loves, Breed stock with stock, and keep the race supplied. Ah! life's best hours are ever first to fly From hapless mortals; in their place succeed
86Disease and dolorous eld; till travail sore And death unpitying sweep them from the scene. Still will be some, whose form thou fain wouldst change; Renew them still; with yearly choice of young Preventing losses, lest too late thou rue.
91Nor steeds crave less selection; but on those Thou think'st to rear, the promise of their line, From earliest youth thy chiefest pains bestow. See from the first yon high-bred colt afield, His lofty step, his limbs' elastic tread:
96Dauntless he leads the herd, still first to try The threatening flood, or brave the unknown bridge, By no vain noise affrighted; lofty-necked, With clean-cut head, short belly, and stout back; His sprightly breast exuberant with brawn.
101Chestnut and grey are good; the worst-hued white And sorrel. Then lo! if arms are clashed afar, Bide still he cannot: ears stiffen and limbs quake; His nostrils snort and roll out wreaths of fire. Dense is his mane, that when uplifted falls
106On his right shoulder; betwixt either loin The spine runs double; his earth-dinting hoof Rings with the ponderous beat of solid horn. Even such a horse was Cyllarus, reined and tamed By Pollux of Amyclae; such the pair
111In Grecian song renowned, those steeds of Mars, And famed Achilles' team: in such-like form Great Saturn's self with mane flung loose on neck Sped at his wife's approach, and flying filled The heights of Pelion with his piercing neigh.
116Even him, when sore disease or sluggish eld Now saps his strength, pen fast at home, and spare His not inglorious age. A horse grown old Slow kindling unto love in vain prolongs The fruitless task, and, to the encounter come,
121As fire in stubble blusters without strength, He rages idly. Therefore mark thou first Their age and mettle, other points anon, As breed and lineage, or what pain was theirs To lose the race, what pride the palm to win.
126Seest how the chariots in mad rivalry Poured from the barrier grip the course and go, When youthful hope is highest, and every heart Drained with each wild pulsation? How they ply The circling lash, and reaching forward let
131The reins hang free! Swift spins the glowing wheel; And now they stoop, and now erect in air Seem borne through space and towering to the sky: No stop, no stay; the dun sand whirls aloft; They reek with foam-flakes and pursuing breath;
136So sweet is fame, so prized the victor's palm. 'Twas Ericthonius first took heart to yoke Four horses to his car, and rode above The whirling wheels to victory: but the ring And bridle-reins, mounted on horses' backs,
141The Pelethronian Lapithae bequeathed, And taught the knight in arms to spurn the ground, And arch the upgathered footsteps of his pride. Each task alike is arduous, and for each A horse young, fiery, swift of foot, they seek;
146How oft so-e'er yon rival may have chased The flying foe, or boast his native plain Epirus, or Mycenae's stubborn hold, And trace his lineage back to Neptune's birth. These points regarded, as the time draws nigh,
151With instant zeal they lavish all their care To plump with solid fat the chosen chief And designated husband of the herd: And flowery herbs they cut, and serve him well With corn and running water, that his strength
156Not fail him for that labour of delight, Nor puny colts betray the feeble sire. The herd itself of purpose they reduce To leanness, and when love's sweet longing first Provokes them, they forbid the leafy food,
161And pen them from the springs, and oft beside With running shake, and tire them in the sun, What time the threshing-floor groans heavily With pounding of the corn-ears, and light chaff Is whirled on high to catch the rising west.
166This do they that the soil's prolific powers May not be dulled by surfeiting, nor choke The sluggish furrows, but eagerly absorb Their fill of love, and deeply entertain. To care of sire the mother's care succeeds.
171When great with young they wander nigh their time, Let no man suffer them to drag the yoke In heavy wains, nor leap across the way, Nor scour the meads, nor swim the rushing flood. In lonely lawns they feed them, by the course
176Of brimming streams, where moss is, and the banks With grass are greenest, where are sheltering caves, And far outstretched the rock-flung shadow lies. Round wooded Silarus and the ilex-bowers Of green Alburnus swarms a winged pest—
181Its Roman name Asilus, by the Greeks Termed Oestros—fierce it is, and harshly hums, Driving whole herds in terror through the groves, Till heaven is madded by their bellowing din, And Tanager's dry bed and forest-banks.
186With this same scourge did Juno wreak of old The terrors of her wrath, a plague devised Against the heifer sprung from Inachus. From this too thou, since in the noontide heats 'Tis most persistent, fend thy teeming herds,
191And feed them when the sun is newly risen, Or the first stars are ushering in the night. But, yeaning ended, all their tender care Is to the calves transferred; at once with marks They brand them, both to designate their race,
196And which to rear for breeding, or devote As altar-victims, or to cleave the ground And into ridges tear and turn the sod. The rest along the greensward graze at will. Those that to rustic uses thou wouldst mould,
201As calves encourage and take steps to tame, While pliant wills and plastic youth allow. And first of slender withies round the throat Loose collars hang, then when their free-born necks Are used to service, with the self-same bands
206Yoke them in pairs, and steer by steer compel Keep pace together. And time it is that oft Unfreighted wheels be drawn along the ground Behind them, as to dint the surface-dust; Then let the beechen axle strain and creak
211'Neath some stout burden, whilst a brazen pole Drags on the wheels made fast thereto. Meanwhile For their unbroken youth not grass alone, Nor meagre willow-leaves and marish-sedge, But corn-ears with thy hand pluck from the crops.
216Nor shall the brood-kine, as of yore, for thee Brim high the snowy milking-pail, but spend Their udders' fullness on their own sweet young. But if fierce squadrons and the ranks of war Delight thee rather, or on wheels to glide
221At Pisa, with Alpheus fleeting by, And in the grove of Jupiter urge on The flying chariot, be your steed's first task To face the warrior's armed rage, and brook The trumpet, and long roar of rumbling wheels,
226And clink of chiming bridles in the stall; Then more and more to love his master's voice Caressing, or loud hand that claps his neck. Ay, thus far let him learn to dare, when first Weaned from his mother, and his mouth at times
231Yield to the supple halter, even while yet Weak, tottering-limbed, and ignorant of life. But, three years ended, when the fourth arrives, Now let him tarry not to run the ring With rhythmic hoof-beat echoing, and now learn
236Alternately to curve each bending leg, And be like one that struggleth; then at last Challenge the winds to race him, and at speed Launched through the open, like a reinless thing, Scarce print his footsteps on the surface-sand.
241As when with power from Hyperborean climes The north wind stoops, and scatters from his path Dry clouds and storms of Scythia; the tall corn And rippling plains 'gin shiver with light gusts; A sound is heard among the forest-tops;
246Long waves come racing shoreward: fast he flies, With instant pinion sweeping earth and main. A steed like this or on the mighty course Of Elis at the goal will sweat, and shower Red foam-flakes from his mouth, or, kindlier task,
251With patient neck support the Belgian car. Then, broken at last, let swell their burly frame With fattening corn-mash, for, unbroke, they will With pride wax wanton, and, when caught, refuse Tough lash to brook or jagged curb obey.
256But no device so fortifies their power As love's blind stings of passion to forefend, Whether on steed or steer thy choice be set. Ay, therefore 'tis they banish bulls afar To solitary pastures, or behind
261Some mountain-barrier, or broad streams beyond, Or else in plenteous stalls pen fast at home. For, even through sight of her, the female wastes His strength with smouldering fire, till he forget Both grass and woodland. She indeed full oft
266With her sweet charms can lovers proud compel To battle for the conquest horn to horn. In Sila's forest feeds the heifer fair, While each on each the furious rivals run; Wound follows wound; the black blood laves their limbs;
271Horns push and strive against opposing horns, With mighty groaning; all the forest-side And far Olympus bellow back the roar. Nor wont the champions in one stall to couch; But he that's worsted hies him to strange climes
276Far off, an exile, moaning much the shame, The blows of that proud conqueror, then love's loss Avenged not; with one glance toward the byre, His ancient royalties behind him lie. So with all heed his strength he practiseth,
281And nightlong makes the hard bare stones his bed, And feeds on prickly leaf and pointed rush, And proves himself, and butting at a tree Learns to fling wrath into his horns, with blows Provokes the air, and scattering clouds of sand
286Makes prelude of the battle; afterward, With strength repaired and gathered might breaks camp, And hurls him headlong on the unthinking foe: As in mid ocean when a wave far of Begins to whiten, mustering from the main
291Its rounded breast, and, onward rolled to land Falls with prodigious roar among the rocks, Huge as a very mountain: but the depths Upseethe in swirling eddies, and disgorge The murky sand-lees from their sunken bed.
296Nay, every race on earth of men, and beasts, And ocean-folk, and flocks, and painted birds, Rush to the raging fire: love sways them all. Never than then more fiercely o'er the plain Prowls heedless of her whelps the lioness:
301Nor monstrous bears such wide-spread havoc-doom Deal through the forests; then the boar is fierce, Most deadly then the tigress: then, alack! Ill roaming is it on Libya's lonely plains. Mark you what shivering thrills the horse's frame,
306If but a waft the well-known gust conveys? Nor curb can check them then, nor lash severe, Nor rocks and caverned crags, nor barrier-floods, That rend and whirl and wash the hills away. Then speeds amain the great Sabellian boar,
311His tushes whets, with forefoot tears the ground, Rubs 'gainst a tree his flanks, and to and fro Hardens each wallowing shoulder to the wound. What of the youth, when love's relentless might Stirs the fierce fire within his veins? Behold!
316In blindest midnight how he swims the gulf Convulsed with bursting storm-clouds! Over him Heaven's huge gate thunders; the rock-shattered main Utters a warning cry; nor parents' tears Can backward call him, nor the maid he loves,
321Too soon to die on his untimely pyre. What of the spotted ounce to Bacchus dear, Or warlike wolf-kin or the breed of dogs? Why tell how timorous stags the battle join? O'er all conspicuous is the rage of mares,
326By Venus' self inspired of old, what time The Potnian four with rending jaws devoured The limbs of Glaucus. Love-constrained they roam Past Gargarus, past the loud Ascanian flood; They climb the mountains, and the torrents swim;
331And when their eager marrow first conceives The fire, in Spring-tide chiefly, for with Spring Warmth doth their frames revisit, then they stand All facing westward on the rocky heights, And of the gentle breezes take their fill;
336And oft unmated, marvellous to tell, But of the wind impregnate, far and wide O'er craggy height and lowly vale they scud, Not toward thy rising, Eurus, or the sun's, But westward and north-west, or whence up-springs
341Black Auster, that glooms heaven with rainy cold. Hence from their groin slow drips a poisonous juice, By shepherds truly named hippomanes, Hippomanes, fell stepdames oft have culled, And mixed with herbs and spells of baneful bode.
346Fast flies meanwhile the irreparable hour, As point to point our charmed round we trace. Enough of herds. This second task remains, The wool-clad flocks and shaggy goats to treat. Here lies a labour; hence for glory look,
351Brave husbandmen. Nor doubtfully know How hard it is for words to triumph here, And shed their lustre on a theme so slight: But I am caught by ravishing desire Above the lone Parnassian steep; I love
356To walk the heights, from whence no earlier track Slopes gently downward to Castalia's spring. Now, awful Pales, strike a louder tone. First, for the sheep soft pencotes I decree To browse in, till green summer's swift return;
361And that the hard earth under them with straw And handfuls of the fern be littered deep, Lest chill of ice such tender cattle harm With scab and loathly foot-rot. Passing thence I bid the goats with arbute-leaves be stored,
366And served with fresh spring-water, and their pens Turned southward from the blast, to face the suns Of winter, when Aquarius' icy beam Now sinks in showers upon the parting year. These too no lightlier our protection claim,
371Nor prove of poorer service, howsoe'er Milesian fleeces dipped in Tyrian reds Repay the barterer; these with offspring teem More numerous; these yield plenteous store of milk: The more each dry-wrung udder froths the pail,
376More copious soon the teat-pressed torrents flow. Ay, and on Cinyps' bank the he-goats too Their beards and grizzled chins and bristling hair Let clip for camp-use, or as rugs to wrap Seafaring wretches. But they browse the woods
381And summits of Lycaeus, and rough briers, And brakes that love the highland: of themselves Right heedfully the she-goats homeward troop Before their kids, and with plump udders clogged Scarce cross the threshold. Wherefore rather ye,
386The less they crave man's vigilance, be fain From ice to fend them and from snowy winds; Bring food and feast them with their branchy fare, Nor lock your hay-loft all the winter long. But when glad summer at the west wind's call
391Sends either flock to pasture in the glades, Soon as the day-star shineth, hie we then To the cool meadows, while the dawn is young, The grass yet hoary, and to browsing herds The dew tastes sweetest on the tender sward.
396When heaven's fourth hour draws on the thickening drought, And shrill cicalas pierce the brake with song, Then at the well-springs bid them, or deep pools, From troughs of holm-oak quaff the running wave: But at day's hottest seek a shadowy vale,
401Where some vast ancient-timbered oak of Jove Spreads his huge branches, or where huddling black Ilex on ilex cowers in awful shade. Then once more give them water sparingly, And feed once more, till sunset, when cool eve
406Allays the air, and dewy moonbeams slake The forest glades, with halcyon's song the shore, And every thicket with the goldfinch rings. Of Libya's shepherds why the tale pursue? Why sing their pastures and the scattered huts
411They house in? Oft their cattle day and night Graze the whole month together, and go forth Into far deserts where no shelter is, So flat the plain and boundless. All his goods The Afric swain bears with him, house and home,
416Arms, Cretan quiver, and Amyclaean dog; As some keen Roman in his country's arms Plies the swift march beneath a cruel load; Soon with tents pitched and at his post he stands, Ere looked for by the foe.
421Not thus the tribes Of Scythia by the far Maeotic wave, Where turbid Ister whirls his yellow sands, And Rhodope stretched out beneath the pole Comes trending backward. There the herds they keep
426Close-pent in byres, nor any grass is seen Upon the plain, nor leaves upon the tree: But with snow-ridges and deep frost afar Heaped seven ells high the earth lies featureless: Still winter? still the north wind's icy breath!
431Nay, never sun disparts the shadows pale, Or as he rides the steep of heaven, or dips In ocean's fiery bath his plunging car. Quick ice-crusts curdle on the running stream, And iron-hooped wheels the water's back now bears,
436To broad wains opened, as erewhile to ships; Brass vessels oft asunder burst, and clothes Stiffen upon the wearers; juicy wines They cleave with axes; to one frozen mass Whole pools are turned; and on their untrimmed beards
441Stiff clings the jagged icicle. Meanwhile All heaven no less is filled with falling snow; The cattle perish: oxen's mighty frames Stand island-like amid the frost, and stags In huddling herds, by that strange weight benumbed,
446Scarce top the surface with their antler-points. These with no hounds they hunt, nor net with toils, Nor scare with terror of the crimson plume; But, as in vain they breast the opposing block, Butcher them, knife in hand, and so dispatch
451Loud-bellowing, and with glad shouts hale them home. Themselves in deep-dug caverns underground Dwell free and careless; to their hearths they heave Oak-logs and elm-trees whole, and fire them there, There play the night out, and in festive glee
456With barm and service sour the wine-cup mock. So 'neath the seven-starred Hyperborean wain The folk live tameless, buffeted with blasts Of Eurus from Rhipaean hills, and wrap Their bodies in the tawny fells of beasts.
461If wool delight thee, first, be far removed All prickly boskage, burrs and caltrops; shun Luxuriant pastures; at the outset choose White flocks with downy fleeces. For the ram, How white soe'er himself, be but the tongue
466'Neath his moist palate black, reject him, lest He sully with dark spots his offspring's fleece, And seek some other o'er the teeming plain. Even with such snowy bribe of wool, if ear May trust the tale, Pan, God of Arcady,
471Snared and beguiled thee, Luna, calling thee To the deep woods; nor thou didst spurn his call. But who for milk hath longing, must himself Carry lucerne and lotus-leaves enow With salt herbs to the cote, whence more they love
476The streams, more stretch their udders, and give back A subtle taste of saltness in the milk. Many there be who from their mothers keep The new-born kids, and straightway bind their mouths With iron-tipped muzzles. What they milk at dawn,
481Or in the daylight hours, at night they press; What darkling or at sunset, this ere morn They bear away in baskets—for to town The shepherd hies him—or with dash of salt Just sprinkle, and lay by for winter use.
486Nor be thy dogs last cared for; but alike Swift Spartan hounds and fierce Molossian feed On fattening whey. Never, with these to watch, Dread nightly thief afold and ravening wolves, Or Spanish desperadoes in the rear.
491And oft the shy wild asses thou wilt chase, With hounds, too, hunt the hare, with hounds the doe; Oft from his woodland wallowing-den uprouse The boar, and scare him with their baying, and drive, And o'er the mountains urge into the toils
496Some antlered monster to their chiming cry. Learn also scented cedar-wood to burn Within the stalls, and snakes of noxious smell With fumes of galbanum to drive away. Oft under long-neglected cribs, or lurks
501A viper ill to handle, that hath fled The light in terror, or some snake, that wont 'Neath shade and sheltering roof to creep, and shower Its bane among the cattle, hugs the ground, Fell scourge of kine. Shepherd, seize stakes, seize stones!
506And as he rears defiance, and puffs out A hissing throat, down with him! see how low That cowering crest is vailed in flight, the while, His midmost coils and final sweep of tail Relaxing, the last fold drags lingering spires.
511Then that vile worm that in Calabrian glades Uprears his breast, and wreathes a scaly back, His length of belly pied with mighty spots— While from their founts gush any streams, while yet With showers of Spring and rainy south-winds earth
516Is moistened, lo! he haunts the pools, and here Housed in the banks, with fish and chattering frogs Crams the black void of his insatiate maw. Soon as the fens are parched, and earth with heat Is gaping, forth he darts into the dry,
521Rolls eyes of fire and rages through the fields, Furious from thirst and by the drought dismayed. Me list not then beneath the open heaven To snatch soft slumber, nor on forest-ridge Lie stretched along the grass, when, slipped his slough,
526To glittering youth transformed he winds his spires, And eggs or younglings leaving in his lair, Towers sunward, lightening with three-forked tongue. Of sickness, too, the causes and the signs I'll teach thee. Loathly scab assails the sheep,
531When chilly showers have probed them to the quick, And winter stark with hoar-frost, or when sweat Unpurged cleaves to them after shearing done, And rough thorns rend their bodies. Hence it is Shepherds their whole flock steep in running streams,
536While, plunged beneath the flood, with drenched fell, The ram, launched free, goes drifting down the tide. Else, having shorn, they smear their bodies o'er With acrid oil-lees, and mix silver-scum And native sulphur and Idaean pitch,
541Wax mollified with ointment, and therewith Sea-leek, strong hellebores, bitumen black. Yet ne'er doth kindlier fortune crown his toil, Than if with blade of iron a man dare lance The ulcer's mouth ope: for the taint is fed
546And quickened by confinement; while the swain His hand of healing from the wound withholds, Or sits for happier signs imploring heaven. Aye, and when inward to the bleater's bones The pain hath sunk and rages, and their limbs
551By thirsty fever are consumed, 'tis good To draw the enkindled heat therefrom, and pierce Within the hoof-clefts a blood-bounding vein. Of tribes Bisaltic such the wonted use, And keen Gelonian, when to Rhodope
556He flies, or Getic desert, and quaffs milk With horse-blood curdled. Seest one far afield Oft to the shade's mild covert win, or pull The grass tops listlessly, or hindmost lag, Or, browsing, cast her down amid the plain,
561At night retire belated and alone; With quick knife check the mischief, ere it creep With dire contagion through the unwary herd. Less thick and fast the whirlwind scours the main With tempest in its wake, than swarm the plagues
566Of cattle; nor seize they single lives alone, But sudden clear whole feeding grounds, the flock With all its promise, and extirpate the breed. Well would he trow it who, so long after, still High Alps and Noric hill-forts should behold,
571And Iapydian Timavus' fields, Ay, still behold the shepherds' realms a waste, And far and wide the lawns untenanted. Here from distempered heavens erewhile arose A piteous season, with the full fierce heat
576Of autumn glowed, and cattle-kindreds all And all wild creatures to destruction gave, Tainted the pools, the fodder charged with bane. Nor simple was the way of death, but when Hot thirst through every vein impelled had drawn
581Their wretched limbs together, anon o'erflowed A watery flux, and all their bones piecemeal Sapped by corruption to itself absorbed. Oft in mid sacrifice to heaven—the white Wool-woven fillet half wreathed about his brow—
586Some victim, standing by the altar, there Betwixt the loitering carles a-dying fell: Or, if betimes the slaughtering priest had struck, Nor with its heaped entrails blazed the pile, Nor seer to seeker thence could answer yield;
591Nay, scarce the up-stabbing knife with blood was stained, Scarce sullied with thin gore the surface-sand. Hence die the calves in many a pasture fair, Or at full cribs their lives' sweet breath resign; Hence on the fawning dog comes madness, hence
596Racks the sick swine a gasping cough that chokes With swelling at the jaws: the conquering steed, Uncrowned of effort and heedless of the sward, Faints, turns him from the springs, and paws the earth With ceaseless hoof: low droop his ears, wherefrom
601Bursts fitful sweat, a sweat that waxes cold Upon the dying beast; the skin is dry, And rigidly repels the handler's touch. These earlier signs they give that presage doom. But, if the advancing plague 'gin fiercer grow,
606Then are their eyes all fire, deep-drawn their breath, At times groan-laboured: with long sobbing heave Their lowest flanks; from either nostril streams Black blood; a rough tongue clogs the obstructed jaws. 'Twas helpful through inverted horn to pour
611Draughts of the wine-god down; sole way it seemed To save the dying: soon this too proved their bane, And, reinvigorate but with frenzy's fire, Even at death's pinch—the gods some happier fate Deal to the just, such madness to their foes—
616Each with bared teeth his own limbs mangling tore. See! as he smokes beneath the stubborn share, The bull drops, vomiting foam-dabbled gore, And heaves his latest groans. Sad goes the swain, Unhooks the steer that mourns his fellow's fate,
621And in mid labour leaves the plough-gear fast. Nor tall wood's shadow, nor soft sward may stir That heart's emotion, nor rock-channelled flood, More pure than amber speeding to the plain: But see! his flanks fail under him, his eyes
626Are dulled with deadly torpor, and his neck Sinks to the earth with drooping weight. What now Besteads him toil or service? to have turned The heavy sod with ploughshare? And yet these
631Ne'er knew the Massic wine-god's baneful boon, Nor twice replenished banquets: but on leaves They fare, and virgin grasses, and their cups Are crystal springs and streams with running tired, Their healthful slumbers never broke by care.
636Then only, say they, through that country side For Juno's rites were cattle far to seek, And ill-matched buffaloes the chariots drew To their high fanes. So, painfully with rakes They grub the soil, aye, with their very nails
641Dig in the corn-seeds, and with strained neck O'er the high uplands drag the creaking wains. No wolf for ambush pries about the pen, Nor round the flock prowls nightly; pain more sharp Subdues him: the shy deer and fleet-foot stags
646With hounds now wander by the haunts of men Vast ocean's offspring, and all tribes that swim, On the shore's confine the wave washes up, Like shipwrecked bodies: seals, unwonted there, Flee to the rivers. Now the viper dies,
651For all his den's close winding, and with scales Erect the astonied water-worms. The air Brooks not the very birds, that headlong fall, And leave their life beneath the soaring cloud. Moreover now nor change of fodder serves,
656And subtlest cures but injure; then were foiled The masters, Chiron sprung from Phillyron, And Amythaon's son Melampus. See! From Stygian darkness launched into the light Comes raging pale Tisiphone; she drives
661Disease and fear before her, day by day Still rearing higher that all-devouring head. With bleat of flocks and lowings thick resound Rivers and parched banks and sloping heights. At last in crowds she slaughters them, she chokes
666The very stalls with carrion-heaps that rot In hideous corruption, till men learn With earth to cover them, in pits to hide. For e'en the fells are useless; nor the flesh With water may they purge, or tame with fire,
671Nor shear the fleeces even, gnawed through and through With foul disease, nor touch the putrid webs; But, had one dared the loathly weeds to try, Red blisters and an unclean sweat o'erran His noisome limbs, till, no long tarriance made,
676The fiery curse his tainted frame devoured.
Book 4
1Of air-born honey, gift of heaven, I now Take up the tale. Upon this theme no less Look thou, Maecenas, with indulgent eye. A marvellous display of puny powers, High-hearted chiefs, a nation's history,
6Its traits, its bent, its battles and its clans, All, each, shall pass before you, while I sing. Slight though the poet's theme, not slight the praise, So frown not heaven, and Phoebus hear his call. First find your bees a settled sure abode,
11Where neither winds can enter (winds blow back The foragers with food returning home) Nor sheep and butting kids tread down the flowers, Nor heifer wandering wide upon the plain Dash off the dew, and bruise the springing blades.
16Let the gay lizard too keep far aloof His scale-clad body from their honied stalls, And the bee-eater, and what birds beside, And Procne smirched with blood upon the breast From her own murderous hands. For these roam wide
21Wasting all substance, or the bees themselves Strike flying, and in their beaks bear home, to glut Those savage nestlings with the dainty prey. But let clear springs and moss-green pools be near, And through the grass a streamlet hurrying run,
26Some palm-tree o'er the porch extend its shade, Or huge-grown oleaster, that in Spring, Their own sweet Spring-tide, when the new-made chiefs Lead forth the young swarms, and, escaped their comb, The colony comes forth to sport and play,
31The neighbouring bank may lure them from the heat, Or bough befriend with hospitable shade. O'er the mid-waters, whether swift or still, Cast willow-branches and big stones enow, Bridge after bridge, where they may footing find
36And spread their wide wings to the summer sun, If haply Eurus, swooping as they pause, Have dashed with spray or plunged them in the deep. And let green cassias and far-scented thymes, And savory with its heavy-laden breath
41Bloom round about, and violet-beds hard by Sip sweetness from the fertilizing springs. For the hive's self, or stitched of hollow bark, Or from tough osier woven, let the doors Be strait of entrance; for stiff winter's cold
46Congeals the honey, and heat resolves and thaws, To bees alike disastrous; not for naught So haste they to cement the tiny pores That pierce their walls, and fill the crevices With pollen from the flowers, and glean and keep
51To this same end the glue, that binds more fast Than bird-lime or the pitch from Ida's pines. Oft too in burrowed holes, if fame be true, They make their cosy subterranean home, And deeply lodged in hollow rocks are found,
56Or in the cavern of an age-hewn tree. Thou not the less smear round their crannied cribs With warm smooth mud-coat, and strew leaves above; But near their home let neither yew-tree grow, Nor reddening crabs be roasted, and mistrust
61Deep marish-ground and mire with noisome smell, Or where the hollow rocks sonorous ring, And the word spoken buffets and rebounds. What more? When now the golden sun has put Winter to headlong flight beneath the world,
66And oped the doors of heaven with summer ray, Forthwith they roam the glades and forests o'er, Rifle the painted flowers, or sip the streams, Light-hovering on the surface. Hence it is With some sweet rapture, that we know not of,
71Their little ones they foster, hence with skill Work out new wax or clinging honey mould. So when the cage-escaped hosts you see Float heavenward through the hot clear air, until You marvel at yon dusky cloud that spreads
76And lengthens on the wind, then mark them well; For then 'tis ever the fresh springs they seek And bowery shelter: hither must you bring The savoury sweets I bid, and sprinkle them, Bruised balsam and the wax-flower's lowly weed,
81And wake and shake the tinkling cymbals heard By the great Mother: on the anointed spots Themselves will settle, and in wonted wise Seek of themselves the cradle's inmost depth. But if to battle they have hied them forth—
86For oft 'twixt king and king with uproar dire Fierce feud arises, and at once from far You may discern what passion sways the mob, And how their hearts are throbbing for the strife; Hark! the hoarse brazen note that warriors know
91Chides on the loiterers, and the ear may catch A sound that mocks the war-trump's broken blasts; Then in hot haste they muster, then flash wings, Sharpen their pointed beaks and knit their thews, And round the king, even to his royal tent,
96Throng rallying, and with shouts defy the foe. So, when a dry Spring and clear space is given, Forth from the gates they burst, they clash on high; A din arises; they are heaped and rolled Into one mighty mass, and headlong fall,
101Not denselier hail through heaven, nor pelting so Rains from the shaken oak its acorn-shower. Conspicuous by their wings the chiefs themselves Press through the heart of battle, and display A giant's spirit in each pigmy frame,
106Steadfast no inch to yield till these or those The victor's ponderous arm has turned to flight. Such fiery passions and such fierce assaults A little sprinkled dust controls and quells. And now, both leaders from the field recalled,
111Who hath the worser seeming, do to death, Lest royal waste wax burdensome, but let His better lord it on the empty throne. One with gold-burnished flakes will shine like fire, For twofold are their kinds, the nobler he,
116Of peerless front and lit with flashing scales; That other, from neglect and squalor foul, Drags slow a cumbrous belly. As with kings, So too with people, diverse is their mould, Some rough and loathly, as when the wayfarer
121Scapes from a whirl of dust, and scorched with heat Spits forth the dry grit from his parched mouth: The others shine forth and flash with lightning-gleam, Their backs all blazoned with bright drops of gold Symmetric: this the likelier breed; from these,
126When heaven brings round the season, thou shalt strain Sweet honey, nor yet so sweet as passing clear, And mellowing on the tongue the wine-god's fire. But when the swarms fly aimlessly abroad, Disport themselves in heaven and spurn their cells,
131Leaving the hive unwarmed, from such vain play Must you refrain their volatile desires, Nor hard the task: tear off the monarchs' wings; While these prove loiterers, none beside will dare Mount heaven, or pluck the standards from the camp.
136Let gardens with the breath of saffron flowers Allure them, and the lord of Hellespont, Priapus, wielder of the willow-scythe, Safe in his keeping hold from birds and thieves. And let the man to whom such cares are dear
141Himself bring thyme and pine-trees from the heights, And strew them in broad belts about their home; No hand but his the blistering task should ply, Plant the young slips, or shed the genial showers. And I myself, were I not even now
146Furling my sails, and, nigh the journey's end, Eager to turn my vessel's prow to shore, Perchance would sing what careful husbandry Makes the trim garden smile; of Paestum too, Whose roses bloom and fade and bloom again;
151How endives glory in the streams they drink, And green banks in their parsley, and how the gourd Twists through the grass and rounds him to paunch; Nor of Narcissus had my lips been dumb, That loiterer of the flowers, nor supple-stemmed
156Acanthus, with the praise of ivies pale, And myrtles clinging to the shores they love. For 'neath the shade of tall Oebalia's towers, Where dark Galaesus laves the yellowing fields, An old man once I mind me to have seen—
161From Corycus he came—to whom had fallen Some few poor acres of neglected land, And they nor fruitful' neath the plodding steer, Meet for the grazing herd, nor good for vines. Yet he, the while his meagre garden-herbs
166Among the thorns he planted, and all round White lilies, vervains, and lean poppy set, In pride of spirit matched the wealth of kings, And home returning not till night was late, With unbought plenty heaped his board on high.
171He was the first to cull the rose in spring, He the ripe fruits in autumn; and ere yet Winter had ceased in sullen ire to rive The rocks with frost, and with her icy bit Curb in the running waters, there was he
176Plucking the rathe faint hyacinth, while he chid Summer's slow footsteps and the lagging West. Therefore he too with earliest brooding bees And their full swarms o'erflowed, and first was he To press the bubbling honey from the comb;
181Lime-trees were his, and many a branching pine; And all the fruits wherewith in early bloom The orchard-tree had clothed her, in full tale Hung there, by mellowing autumn perfected. He too transplanted tall-grown elms a-row,
186Time-toughened pear, thorns bursting with the plum And plane now yielding serviceable shade For dry lips to drink under: but these things, Shut off by rigorous limits, I pass by, And leave for others to sing after me.
191Come, then, I will unfold the natural powers Great Jove himself upon the bees bestowed, The boon for which, led by the shrill sweet strains Of the Curetes and their clashing brass, They fed the King of heaven in Dicte's cave.
196Alone of all things they receive and hold Community of offspring, and they house Together in one city, and beneath The shelter of majestic laws they live; And they alone fixed home and country know,
201And in the summer, warned of coming cold, Make proof of toil, and for the general store Hoard up their gathered harvesting. For some Watch o'er the victualling of the hive, and these By settled order ply their tasks afield;
206And some within the confines of their home Plant firm the comb's first layer, Narcissus' tear, And sticky gum oozed from the bark of trees, Then set the clinging wax to hang therefrom. Others the while lead forth the full-grown young,
211Their country's hope, and others press and pack The thrice repured honey, and stretch their cells To bursting with the clear-strained nectar sweet. Some, too, the wardship of the gates befalls, Who watch in turn for showers and cloudy skies,
216Or ease returning labourers of their load, Or form a band and from their precincts drive The drones, a lazy herd. How glows the work! How sweet the honey smells of perfumed thyme Like the Cyclopes, when in haste they forge
221From the slow-yielding ore the thunderbolts, Some from the bull's-hide bellows in and out Let the blasts drive, some dip i' the water-trough The sputtering metal: with the anvil's weight Groans Etna: they alternately in time
226With giant strength uplift their sinewy arms, Or twist the iron with the forceps' grip— Not otherwise, to measure small with great, The love of getting planted in their breasts Goads on the bees, that haunt old Cecrops' heights,
231Each in his sphere to labour. The old have charge To keep the town, and build the walled combs, And mould the cunning chambers; but the youth, Their tired legs packed with thyme, come labouring home Belated, for afar they range to feed
236On arbutes and the grey-green willow-leaves, And cassia and the crocus blushing red, Glue-yielding limes, and hyacinths dusky-eyed. One hour for rest have all, and one for toil: With dawn they hurry from the gates—no room
241For loiterers there: and once again, when even Now bids them quit their pasturing on the plain, Then homeward make they, then refresh their strength: A hum arises: hark! they buzz and buzz About the doors and threshold; till at length
246Safe laid to rest they hush them for the night, And welcome slumber laps their weary limbs. But from the homestead not too far they fare, When showers hang like to fall, nor, east winds nigh, Confide in heaven, but 'neath the city walls
251Safe-circling fetch them water, or essay Brief out-goings, and oft weigh-up tiny stones, As light craft ballast in the tossing tide, Wherewith they poise them through the cloudy vast. This law of life, too, by the bees obeyed,
256Will move thy wonder, that nor sex with sex Yoke they in marriage, nor yield their limbs to love, Nor know the pangs of labour, but alone From leaves and honied herbs, the mothers, each, Gather their offspring in their mouths, alone
261Supply new kings and pigmy commonwealth, And their old court and waxen realm repair. Oft, too, while wandering, against jagged stones Their wings they fray, and 'neath the burden yield Their liberal lives: so deep their love of flowers,
266So glorious deem they honey's proud acquist. Therefore, though each a life of narrow span, Ne'er stretched to summers more than seven, befalls, Yet deathless doth the race endure, and still Perennial stands the fortune of their line,
271From grandsire unto grandsire backward told. Moreover, not Aegyptus, nor the realm Of boundless Lydia, no, nor Parthia's hordes, Nor Median Hydaspes, to their king Do such obeisance: lives the king unscathed,
276One will inspires the million: is he dead, Snapt is the bond of fealty; they themselves Ravage their toil-wrought honey, and rend amain Their own comb's waxen trellis. He is the lord Of all their labour; him with awful eye
281They reverence, and with murmuring throngs surround, In crowds attend, oft shoulder him on high, Or with their bodies shield him in the fight, And seek through showering wounds a glorious death. Led by these tokens, and with such traits to guide,
286Some say that unto bees a share is given Of the Divine Intelligence, and to drink Pure draughts of ether; for God permeates all— Earth, and wide ocean, and the vault of heaven— From whom flocks, herds, men, beasts of every kind,
291Draw each at birth the fine essential flame; Yea, and that all things hence to Him return, Brought back by dissolution, nor can death Find place: but, each into his starry rank, Alive they soar, and mount the heights of heaven.
296If now their narrow home thou wouldst unseal, And broach the treasures of the honey-house, With draught of water first toment thy lips, And spread before thee fumes of trailing smoke. Twice is the teeming produce gathered in,
301Twofold their time of harvest year by year, Once when Taygete the Pleiad uplifts Her comely forehead for the earth to see, With foot of scorn spurning the ocean-streams, Once when in gloom she flies the watery Fish,
306And dips from heaven into the wintry wave. Unbounded then their wrath; if hurt, they breathe Venom into their bite, cleave to the veins And let the sting lie buried, and leave their lives Behind them in the wound. But if you dread
311Too rigorous a winter, and would fain Temper the coming time, and their bruised hearts And broken estate to pity move thy soul, Yet who would fear to fumigate with thyme, Or cut the empty wax away? for oft
316Into their comb the newt has gnawed unseen, And the light-loathing beetles crammed their bed, And he that sits at others' board to feast, The do-naught drone; or 'gainst the unequal foe Swoops the fierce hornet, or the moth's fell tribe;
321Or spider, victim of Minerva's spite, Athwart the doorway hangs her swaying net. The more impoverished they, the keenlier all To mend the fallen fortunes of their race Will nerve them, fill the cells up, tier on tier,
326And weave their granaries from the rifled flowers. Now, seeing that life doth even to bee-folk bring Our human chances, if in dire disease Their bodies' strength should languish—which anon By no uncertain tokens may be told—
331Forthwith the sick change hue; grim leanness mars Their visage; then from out the cells they bear Forms reft of light, and lead the mournful pomp; Or foot to foot about the porch they hang, Or within closed doors loiter, listless all
336From famine, and benumbed with shrivelling cold. Then is a deep note heard, a long-drawn hum, As when the chill South through the forests sighs, As when the troubled ocean hoarsely booms With back-swung billow, as ravening tide of fire
341Surges, shut fast within the furnace-walls. Then do I bid burn scented galbanum, And, honey-streams through reeden troughs instilled, Challenge and cheer their flagging appetite To taste the well-known food; and it shall boot
346To mix therewith the savour bruised from gall, And rose-leaves dried, or must to thickness boiled By a fierce fire, or juice of raisin-grapes From Psithian vine, and with its bitter smell Centaury, and the famed Cecropian thyme.
351There is a meadow-flower by country folk Hight star-wort; 'tis a plant not far to seek; For from one sod an ample growth it rears, Itself all golden, but girt with plenteous leaves, Where glory of purple shines through violet gloom.
356With chaplets woven hereof full oft are decked Heaven's altars: harsh its taste upon the tongue; Shepherds in vales smooth-shorn of nibbling flocks By Mella's winding waters gather it. The roots of this, well seethed in fragrant wine,
361Set in brimmed baskets at their doors for food. But if one's whole stock fail him at a stroke, Nor hath he whence to breed the race anew, 'Tis time the wondrous secret to disclose Taught by the swain of Arcady, even how
366The blood of slaughtered bullocks oft has borne Bees from corruption. I will trace me back To its prime source the story's tangled thread, And thence unravel. For where thy happy folk, Canopus, city of Pellaean fame,
371Dwell by the Nile's lagoon-like overflow, And high o'er furrows they have called their own Skim in their painted wherries; where, hard by, The quivered Persian presses, and that flood Which from the swart-skinned Aethiop bears him down,
376Swift-parted into sevenfold branching mouths With black mud fattens and makes Aegypt green, That whole domain its welfare's hope secure Rests on this art alone. And first is chosen A strait recess, cramped closer to this end,
381Which next with narrow roof of tiles atop 'Twixt prisoning walls they pinch, and add hereto From the four winds four slanting window-slits. Then seek they from the herd a steer, whose horns With two years' growth are curling, and stop fast,
386Plunge madly as he may, the panting mouth And nostrils twain, and done with blows to death, Batter his flesh to pulp i' the hide yet whole, And shut the doors, and leave him there to lie. But 'neath his ribs they scatter broken boughs,
391With thyme and fresh-pulled cassias: this is done When first the west winds bid the waters flow, Ere flush the meadows with new tints, and ere The twittering swallow buildeth from the beams. Meanwhile the juice within his softened bones
396Heats and ferments, and things of wondrous birth, Footless at first, anon with feet and wings, Swarm there and buzz, a marvel to behold; And more and more the fleeting breeze they take, Till, like a shower that pours from summer-clouds,
401Forth burst they, or like shafts from quivering string When Parthia's flying hosts provoke the fray. Say what was he, what God, that fashioned forth This art for us, O Muses? of man's skill Whence came the new adventure? From thy vale,
406Peneian Tempe, turning, bee-bereft, So runs the tale, by famine and disease, Mournful the shepherd Aristaeus stood Fast by the haunted river-head, and thus With many a plaint to her that bare him cried:
411“Mother, Cyrene, mother, who hast thy home Beneath this whirling flood, if he thou sayest, Apollo, lord of Thymbra, be my sire, Sprung from the Gods' high line, why barest thou me With fortune's ban for birthright? Where is now
416Thy love to me-ward banished from thy breast? O! wherefore didst thou bid me hope for heaven? Lo! even the crown of this poor mortal life, Which all my skilful care by field and fold, No art neglected, scarce had fashioned forth,
421Even this falls from me, yet thou call'st me son. Nay, then, arise! With thine own hands pluck up My fruit-plantations: on the homestead fling Pitiless fire; make havoc of my crops; Burn the young plants, and wield the stubborn axe
426Against my vines, if there hath taken the Such loathing of my greatness.” But that cry, Even from her chamber in the river-deeps, His mother heard: around her spun the nymphs
431Milesian wool stained through with hyaline dye, Drymo, Xantho, Ligea, Phyllodoce, Their glossy locks o'er snowy shoulders shed, Cydippe and Lycorias yellow-haired, A maiden one, one newly learned even then
436To bear Lucina's birth-pang. Clio, too, And Beroe, sisters, ocean-children both, Both zoned with gold and girt with dappled fell, Ephyre and Opis, and from Asian meads Deiopea, and, bow at length laid by,
441Fleet-footed Arethusa. But in their midst Fair Clymene was telling o'er the tale Of Vulcan's idle vigilance and the stealth Of Mars' sweet rapine, and from Chaos old Counted the jostling love-joys of the Gods.
446Charmed by whose lay, the while their woolly tasks With spindles down they drew, yet once again Smote on his mother's ears the mournful plaint Of Aristaeus; on their glassy thrones Amazement held them all; but Arethuse
451Before the rest put forth her auburn head, Peering above the wave-top, and from far Exclaimed, “Cyrene, sister, not for naught Scared by a groan so deep, behold! 'tis he, Even Aristaeus, thy heart's fondest care,
456Here by the brink of the Peneian sire Stands woebegone and weeping, and by name Cries out upon thee for thy cruelty.” To whom, strange terror knocking at her heart, “Bring, bring him to our sight,” the mother cried;
461“His feet may tread the threshold even of Gods.” So saying, she bids the flood yawn wide and yield A pathway for his footsteps; but the wave Arched mountain-wise closed round him, and within Its mighty bosom welcomed, and let speed
466To the deep river-bed. And now, with eyes Of wonder gazing on his mother's hall And watery kingdom and cave-prisoned pools And echoing groves, he went, and, stunned by that Stupendous whirl of waters, separate saw
471All streams beneath the mighty earth that glide, Phasis and Lycus, and that fountain-head Whence first the deep Enipeus leaps to light, Whence father Tiber, and whence Anio's flood, And Hypanis that roars amid his rocks,
476And Mysian Caicus, and, bull-browed 'Twixt either gilded horn, Eridanus, Than whom none other through the laughing plains More furious pours into the purple sea. Soon as the chamber's hanging roof of stone
481Was gained, and now Cyrene from her son Had heard his idle weeping, in due course Clear water for his hands the sisters bring, With napkins of shorn pile, while others heap The board with dainties, and set on afresh
486The brimming goblets; with Panchaian fires Upleap the altars; then the mother spake, “Take beakers of Maconian wine,” she said, “Pour we to Ocean.” Ocean, sire of all, She worships, and the sister-nymphs who guard
491The hundred forests and the hundred streams; Thrice Vesta's fire with nectar clear she dashed, Thrice to the roof-top shot the flame and shone: Armed with which omen she essayed to speak: “In Neptune's gulf Carpathian dwells a seer,
496Caerulean Proteus, he who metes the main With fish-drawn chariot of two-footed steeds; Now visits he his native home once more, Pallene and the Emathian ports; to him We nymphs do reverence, ay, and Nereus old;
501For all things knows the seer, both those which are And have been, or which time hath yet to bring; So willed it Neptune, whose portentous flocks, And loathly sea-calves 'neath the surge he feeds. Him first, my son, behoves thee seize and bind
506That he may all the cause of sickness show, And grant a prosperous end. For save by force No rede will he vouchsafe, nor shalt thou bend His soul by praying; whom once made captive, ply With rigorous force and fetters; against these
511His wiles will break and spend themselves in vain. I, when the sun has lit his noontide fires, When the blades thirst, and cattle love the shade, Myself will guide thee to the old man's haunt, Whither he hies him weary from the waves,
516That thou mayst safelier steal upon his sleep. But when thou hast gripped him fast with hand and gyve, Then divers forms and bestial semblances Shall mock thy grasp; for sudden he will change To bristly boar, fell tigress, dragon scaled,
521And tawny-tufted lioness, or send forth A crackling sound of fire, and so shake of The fetters, or in showery drops anon Dissolve and vanish. But the more he shifts His endless transformations, thou, my son,
526More straitlier clench the clinging bands, until His body's shape return to that thou sawest, When with closed eyelids first he sank to sleep.” So saying, an odour of ambrosial dew She sheds around, and all his frame therewith
531Steeps throughly; forth from his trim-combed locks Breathed effluence sweet, and a lithe vigour leapt Into his limbs. There is a cavern vast Scooped in the mountain-side, where wave on wave By the wind's stress is driven, and breaks far up
536Its inmost creeks—safe anchorage from of old For tempest-taken mariners: therewithin, Behind a rock's huge barrier, Proteus hides. Here in close covert out of the sun's eye The youth she places, and herself the while
541Swathed in a shadowy mist stands far aloof. And now the ravening dog-star that burns up The thirsty Indians blazed in heaven; his course The fiery sun had half devoured: the blades Were parched, and the void streams with droughty jaws
546Baked to their mud-beds by the scorching ray, When Proteus seeking his accustomed cave Strode from the billows: round him frolicking The watery folk that people the waste sea Sprinkled the bitter brine-dew far and wide.
551Along the shore in scattered groups to feed The sea-calves stretch them: while the seer himself, Like herdsman on the hills when evening bids The steers from pasture to their stall repair, And the lambs' bleating whets the listening wolves,
556Sits midmost on the rock and tells his tale. But Aristaeus, the foe within his clutch, Scarce suffering him compose his aged limbs, With a great cry leapt on him, and ere he rose Forestalled him with the fetters; he nathless,
561All unforgetful of his ancient craft, Transforms himself to every wondrous thing, Fire and a fearful beast, and flowing stream. But when no trickery found a path for flight, Baffled at length, to his own shape returned,
566With human lips he spake, “Who bade thee, then, So reckless in youth's hardihood, affront Our portals? or what wouldst thou hence?”—But he, “Proteus, thou knowest, of thine own heart thou knowest; For thee there is no cheating, but cease thou
571To practise upon me: at heaven's behest I for my fainting fortunes hither come An oracle to ask thee.” There he ceased. Whereat the seer, by stubborn force constrained, Shot forth the grey light of his gleaming eyes
576Upon him, and with fiercely gnashing teeth Unlocks his lips to spell the fates of heaven: “Doubt not 'tis wrath divine that plagues thee thus, Nor light the debt thou payest; 'tis Orpheus' self, Orpheus unhappy by no fault of his,
581So fates prevent not, fans thy penal fires, Yet madly raging for his ravished bride. She in her haste to shun thy hot pursuit Along the stream, saw not the coming death, Where at her feet kept ward upon the bank
586In the tall grass a monstrous water-snake. But with their cries the Dryad-band her peers Filled up the mountains to their proudest peaks: Wailed for her fate the heights of Rhodope, And tall Pangaea, and, beloved of Mars,
591The land that bowed to Rhesus, Thrace no less With Hebrus' stream; and Orithyia wept, Daughter of Acte old. But Orpheus' self, Soothing his love-pain with the hollow shell, Thee his sweet wife on the lone shore alone,
596Thee when day dawned and when it died he sang. Nay to the jaws of Taenarus too he came, Of Dis the infernal palace, and the grove Grim with a horror of great darkness—came, Entered, and faced the Manes and the King
601Of terrors, the stone heart no prayer can tame. Then from the deepest deeps of Erebus, Wrung by his minstrelsy, the hollow shades Came trooping, ghostly semblances of forms Lost to the light, as birds by myriads hie
606To greenwood boughs for cover, when twilight-hour Or storms of winter chase them from the hills; Matrons and men, and great heroic frames Done with life's service, boys, unwedded girls, Youths placed on pyre before their fathers' eyes.
611Round them, with black slime choked and hideous weed, Cocytus winds; there lies the unlovely swamp Of dull dead water, and, to pen them fast, Styx with her ninefold barrier poured between. Nay, even the deep Tartarean Halls of death
616Stood lost in wonderment, and the Eumenides, Their brows with livid locks of serpents twined; Even Cerberus held his triple jaws agape, And, the wind hushed, Ixion's wheel stood still. And now with homeward footstep he had passed
621All perils scathless, and, at length restored, Eurydice to realms of upper air Had well-nigh won, behind him following— So Proserpine had ruled it—when his heart A sudden mad desire surprised and seized—
626Meet fault to be forgiven, might Hell forgive. For at the very threshold of the day, Heedless, alas! and vanquished of resolve, He stopped, turned, looked upon Eurydice His own once more. But even with the look,
631Poured out was all his labour, broken the bond Of that fell tyrant, and a crash was heard Three times like thunder in the meres of hell. ‘Orpheus! what ruin hath thy frenzy wrought On me, alas! and thee? Lo! once again
636The unpitying fates recall me, and dark sleep Closes my swimming eyes. And now farewell: Girt with enormous night I am borne away, Outstretching toward thee, thine, alas! no more, These helpless hands.’ She spake, and suddenly,
641Like smoke dissolving into empty air, Passed and was sundered from his sight; nor him Clutching vain shadows, yearning sore to speak, Thenceforth beheld she, nor no second time Hell's boatman brooks he pass the watery bar.
646What should he do? fly whither, twice bereaved? Move with what tears the Manes, with what voice The Powers of darkness? She indeed even now Death-cold was floating on the Stygian barge! For seven whole months unceasingly, men say,
651Beneath a skyey crag, by thy lone wave, Strymon, he wept, and in the caverns chill Unrolled his story, melting tigers' hearts, And leading with his lay the oaks along. As in the poplar-shade a nightingale
656Mourns her lost young, which some relentless swain, Spying, from the nest has torn unfledged, but she Wails the long night, and perched upon a spray With sad insistence pipes her dolorous strain, Till all the region with her wrongs o'erflows.
661No love, no new desire, constrained his soul: By snow-bound Tanais and the icy north, Far steppes to frost Rhipaean forever wed, Alone he wandered, lost Eurydice Lamenting, and the gifts of Dis ungiven.
666Scorned by which tribute the Ciconian dames, Amid their awful Bacchanalian rites And midnight revellings, tore him limb from limb, And strewed his fragments over the wide fields. Then too, even then, what time the Hebrus stream,
671Oeagrian Hebrus, down mid-current rolled, Rent from the marble neck, his drifting head, The death-chilled tongue found yet a voice to cry ‘Eurydice! ah! poor Eurydice!’ With parting breath he called her, and the banks
676From the broad stream caught up ‘Eurydice!’” So Proteus ending plunged into the deep, And, where he plunged, beneath the eddying whirl Churned into foam the water, and was gone; But not Cyrene, who unquestioned thus
681Bespake the trembling listener: “Nay, my son, From that sad bosom thou mayst banish care: Hence came that plague of sickness, hence the nymphs, With whom in the tall woods the dance she wove, Wrought on thy bees, alas! this deadly bane.
686Bend thou before the Dell-nymphs, gracious powers: Bring gifts, and sue for pardon: they will grant Peace to thine asking, and an end of wrath. But how to approach them will I first unfold— Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,
691That browse to-day the green Lycaean heights, Pick from thy herds, as many kine to match, Whose necks the yoke pressed never: then for these Build up four altars by the lofty fanes, And from their throats let gush the victims' blood,
696And in the greenwood leave their bodies lone. Then, when the ninth dawn hath displayed its beams, To Orpheus shalt thou send his funeral dues, Poppies of Lethe, and let slay a sheep Coal-black, then seek the grove again, and soon
701For pardon found adore Eurydice With a slain calf for victim.” No delay: The self-same hour he hies him forth to do His mother's bidding: to the shrine he came,
706The appointed altars reared, and thither led Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk, With kine to match, that never yoke had known; Then, when the ninth dawn had led in the day, To Orpheus sent his funeral dues, and sought
711The grove once more. But sudden, strange to tell A portent they espy: through the oxen's flesh, Waxed soft in dissolution, hark! there hum Bees from the belly; the rent ribs overboil In endless clouds they spread them, till at last
716On yon tree-top together fused they cling, And drop their cluster from the bending boughs. So sang I of the tilth of furrowed fields, Of flocks and trees, while Caesar's majesty Launched forth the levin-bolts of war by deep
721Euphrates, and bare rule o'er willing folk Though vanquished, and essayed the heights of heaven. I Virgil then, of sweet Parthenope The nursling, wooed the flowery walks of peace Inglorious, who erst trilled for shepherd-wights
726The wanton ditty, and sang in saucy youth Thee, Tityrus, 'neath the spreading beech tree's shade.
Book 1
1Quid faciat laetas segetes, quo sidere terram vertere, Maecenas, ulmisque adiungere vitis conveniat, quae cura boum, qui cultus habendo sit pecori, apibus quanta experientia parcis, hinc canere incipiam. Vos, o clarissima mundi
6lumina, labentem caelo quae ducitis annum, Liber et alma Ceres, vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista, poculaque inventis Acheloia miscuit uvis; et vos, agrestum praesentia numina, Fauni,
11ferte simul Faunique pedem Dryadesque puellae: Munera vestra cano. Tuque o, cui prima frementem fudit equum magno tellus percussa tridenti, Neptune; et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia Ceae ter centum nivei tondent dumeta iuvenci;
16ipse nemus linquens patrium saltusque Lycaei, Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Maenala curae, adsis, o Tegeaee, favens, oleaeque Minerva inventrix, uncique puer monstrator aratri, et teneram ab radice ferens, Silvane, cupressum,
21dique deaeque omnes, studium quibus arva tueri, quique novas alitis non ullo semine fruges, quique satis largum caelo demittitis imbrem; tuque adeo, quem mox quae sint habitura deorum concilia, incertum est, urbisne invisere, Caesar,
26terrarumque velis curam et te maximus orbis auctorem frugum tempestatumque potentem accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto, an deus inmensi venias maris ac tua nautae numina sola colant, tibi serviat ultima Thule
31teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis, anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas, qua locus Erigonen inter Chelasque sequentis panditur—ipse tibi iam bracchia contrahit ardens Scorpius et caeli iusta plus parte reliquit—
36quidquid eris,—nam te nec sperant Tartara regem nec tibi regnandi veniat tam dira cupido, quamvis Elysios miretur Graecia campos nec repetita sequi curet Proserpina matrem— da facilem cursum atque audacibus adnue coeptis
41ignarosque viae mecum miseratus agrestis ingredere et votis iam nunc adsuesce vocari. Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus humor liquitur et Zephyro putris se glaeba resolvit, depresso incipiat iam tum mihi taurus aratro
46ingemere et sulco attritus splendescere vomer. Illa seges demum votis respondet avari agricolae, bis quae solem, bis frigora sensit; illius inmensae ruperunt horrea messes. At prius ignotum ferro quam scindimus aequor,
51ventos et varium caeli praediscere morem cura sit ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum et quid quaeque ferat regio et quid quaeque recuset. Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae, arborei fetus alibi, atque iniussa virescunt
56gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, India mittit ebur, molles sua tura Sabaei, at Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus castorea, Eliadum palmas Epiros equarum. Continuo has leges aeternaque foedera certis
61inposuit natura locis, quo tempore primum Deucalion vacuum lapides iactavit in orbem, unde homines nati, durum genus. Ergo age, terrae pingue solum primis extemplo a mensibus anni fortes invertant tauri glaebasque iacentis
66pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus aestas; at si non fuerit tellus fecunda, sub ipsum Arcturum tenui sat erit suspendere sulco: illic, officiant laetis ne frugibus herbae, hic, sterilem exiguus ne deserat humor harenam.
71Alternis idem tonsas cessare novalis et segnem patiere situ durescere campum; aut ibi flava seres mutato sidere farra, unde prius laetum siliqua quassante legumen aut tenuis fetus viciae tristisque lupini
76sustuleris fragilis calamos silvamque sonantem. Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenae, urunt Lethaeo perfusa papavera somno: sed tamen alternis facilis labor, arida tantum ne saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola neve
81effetos cinerem inmundum iactare per agros. Sic quoque mutatis requiescunt fetibus arva; nec nulla interea est inaratae gratia terrae. Saepe etiam sterilis incendere profuit agros atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis:
86sive inde occultas viris et pabula terrae pinguia concipiunt, sive illis omne per ignem excoquitur vitium atque exsudat inutilis humor, seu pluris calor ille vias et caeca relaxat spiramenta, novas veniat qua sucus in herbas,
91seu durat magis et venas adstringit hiantis, ne tenues pluviae rapidive potentia solis acrior aut Boreae penetrabile frigus adurat. Multum adeo, rastris glaebas qui frangit inertis vimineasque trahit cratis, iuvat arva, neque illum
96flava Ceres alto nequiquam spectat Olympo; et qui, proscisso quae suscitat aequore terga, rursus in obliquum verso perrumpit aratro, exercetque frequens tellurem atque imperat arvis. Humida solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas,
101agricolae; hiberno laetissima pulvere farra, laetus ager: nullo tantum se Mysia cultu iactat et ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messis. Quid dicam, iacto qui semine comminus arva insequitur cumulosque ruit male pinguis harenae
106deinde satis fluvium inducit rivosque sequentis et, cum exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis, ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam elicit. illa cadens raucum per levia murmur saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva.
111Quid qui, ne gravidis procumbat culmus aristis, luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba, cum primum sulcos aequant sata. quique paludis collectum humorem bibula deducit harena. Praesertim incertis si mensibus amnis abundans
116exit et obducto late tenet omnia limo, unde cavae tepido sudant humore lacunae. Nec tamen, haec cum sint hominumque boumque labores versando terram experti, nihil inprobus anser Strymoniaeque grues et amaris intiba fibris
121officiunt aut umbra nocet. Pater ipse colendi haud facilem esse viam voluit, primusque per artem movit agros curis acuens mortalia corda nec torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno. Ante Iovem nulli subigebant arva coloni;
126ne signare quidem aut partiri limite campum fas erat: in medium quaerebant ipsaque tellus omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat. Ille malum virus serpentibus addidit atris praedarique lupos iussit pontumque moveri,
131mellaque decussit foliis ignemque removit et passim rivis currentia vina repressit, ut varias usus meditando extunderet artis paulatim et sulcis frumenti quaereret herbam. Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas;
137navita tum stellis numeros et nomina fecit, Pleiadas, Hyadas, claramque Lycaonis Arcton; tum laqueis captare feras et fallere visco inventum et magnos canibus circumdare saltus; atque alius latum funda iam verberat amnem
142alta petens, pelagoque alius trahit humida lina; tum ferri rigor atque argutae lamina serrae,— nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum tum variae venere artes. Labor omnia vicit inprobus et duris urgens in rebus egestas.
147Prima Ceres ferro mortalis vertere terram instituit, cum iam glandes atque arbuta sacrae deficerent silvae et victum Dodona negaret. Mox et frumentis labor additus, ut mala culmos esset robigo segnisque horreret in arvis
152carduus; intereunt segetes, subit aspera silva, lappaeque tribolique, interque nitentia culta infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenae. Quod nisi et adsiduis herbam insectabere rastris, et sonitu terrebis aves, et ruris opaci
157falce premes umbras votisque vocaveris imbrem, heu magnum alterius frustra spectabis acervum, concussaque famem in silvis solabere quercu. Dicendum et, quae sint duris agrestibus arma, quis sine nec potuere seri nec surgere messes:
162vomis et inflexi primum grave robur aratri tardaque Eleusinae matris volventia plaustra tribulaque traheaeque et iniquo pondere rastri; virgea praeterea Celei vilisque supellex, arbuteae crates et mystica vannus Iacchi.
167Omnia quae multo ante memor provisa repones, si te digna manet divini gloria ruris. Continuo in silvis magna vi flexa domatur in burim et curvi formam accipit ulmus aratri. Huic a stirpe pedes temo protentus in octo,
172binae aures, duplici aptantur dentalia dorso caeditur et tilia ante iugo levis altaque fagus, stivaque, quae currus a tergo torqueat imos, et suspensa focis explorat robora fumus. Possum multa tibi veterum praecepta referre,
177ni refugis tenuisque piget cognoscere curas. Area cum primis ingenti aequanda cylindro et vertenda manu et creta solidanda tenaci, ne subeant herbae neu pulvere victa fatiscat, tum variae inludant pestes: saepe exiguus mus
182sub terris posuitque domos atque horrea fecit, aut oculis capti fodere cubilia talpae, inventusque cavis bufo et quae plurima terrae monstra ferunt, populatque ingentem farris acervum curculio atque inopi metuens formica senectae.
187Contemplator item, cum se nux plurima silvis induet in florem et ramos curvabit olentis. Si superant fetus, pariter frumenta sequentur magnaque cum magno veniet tritura calore; at si luxuria foliorum exuberat umbra,
192nequiquam pinguis palea teret area culmos. Semina vidi equidem multos medicare serentis et nitro prius et nigra perfundere amurca, grandior ut fetus siliquis fallacibus esset, et, quamvis igni exiguo, properata maderent.
197Vidi lecta diu et multo spectata labore degenerare tamen, ni vis humana quot annis maxima quaeque manu legeret. Sic omnia fatis in peius ruere ac retro sublapsa referri, non aliter, quam qui adverso vix flumine lembum
202remigiis subigit, si bracchia forte remisit, atque illum in praeceps prono rapit alveus amni. Praeterea tam sunt Arcturi sidera nobis Haedorumque dies servandi et lucidus Anguis, quam quibus in patriam ventosa per aequora vectis
207pontus et ostriferi fauces temptantur Abydi. Libra die somnique pares ubi fecerit horas et medium luci atque umbris iam dividit orbem, exercete, viri, tauros, serite hordea campis usque sub extremum brumae intractabilis imbrem;
212nec non et lini segetem et Cereale papaver tempus humo tegere et iamdudum incumbere aratris, dum sicca tellure licet, dum nubila pendent. Vere fabis satio; tum te quoque, Medica, putres accipiunt sulci et milio venit annua cura,
217candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum Taurus et averso cedens Canis occidit astro. At si triticeam in messem robustaque farra exercebis humum solisque instabis aristis, ante tibi Eoae Atlantides abscondantur
222Gnosiaque ardentis decedat stella Coronae, debita quam sulcis committas semina quamque invitae properes anni spem credere terrae. Multi ante occasum Maiae coepere; sed illos exspectata seges vanis elusit avenis.
227Si vero viciamque seres vilemque phaselum nec Pelusiacae curam aspernabere lentis, haud obscura cadens mittet tibi signa Bootes: incipe et ad medias sementem extende pruinas. Idcirco certis dimensum partibus orbem
232per duodena regit mundi Sol aureus astra. Quinque tenent caelum zonae; quarum una corusco semper sole rubens et torrida semper ab igni; quam circum extremae dextra laevaque trahuntur caeruleae, glacie concretae atque imbribus atris;
237has inter mediamque duae mortalibus aegris munere concessae divom, et via secta per ambas, obliquus qua se signorum verteret ordo. Mundus, ut ad Scythiam Rhipaeasque arduus arces consurgit, premitur Libyae devexus in austros.
242Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis; at illum sub pedibus Styx atra videt Manesque profundi. Maximus hic flexu sinuoso elabitur Anguis circum perque duas in morem fluminis Arctos, Arctos Oceani metuentis aequore tingui.
247Illic, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox, semper et obtenta densentur nocte tenebrae, aut redit a nobis Aurora diemque reducit; nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis, illic, sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper.
252Hinc tempestates dubio praediscere caelo possumus, hinc messisque diem tempusque serendi, et quando infidum remis inpellere marmor conveniat, quando armatas deducere classis, aut tempestivam silvis evertere pinum.
257Nec frustra signorum obitus speculamur et ortus, temporibusque parem diversis quattuor annum. Frigidus agricolam si quando continet imber, multa, forent quae mox caelo properanda sereno, maturare datur: durum procudit arator
262vomeris obtunsi dentem, cavat arbore lintres, aut pecori signum aut numeros inpressit acervis. Exacuunt alii vallos furcasque bicornis atque Amerina parant lentae retinacula viti. Nunc facilis rubea texatur fiscina virga,
267nunc torrete igni fruges, nunc frangite saxo. Quippe etiam festis quaedam exercere diebus fas et iura sinunt; rivos deducere nulla religio vetuit, segeti praetendere saepem, insidias avibus moliri, incendere vepres,
272balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri. Saepe oleo tardi costas agitator aselli vilibus aut onerat pomis, lapidemque revertens incusum aut atrae massam picis urbe reportat. Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna
277felicis operum. Quintam fuge: pallidus Orcus Eumenidesque satae; tum partu Terra nefando Coeumque Iapetumque creat saevumque Typhoea et coniuratos caelum rescindere fratres. Ter sunt conati inponere Pelio Ossam
282scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum; ter pater exstructos disiecit fulmine montis. Septima post decimam felix et ponere vitem et prensos domitare boves et licia telae addere: nona fugae melior, contraria furtis.
287Multa adeo gelida melius se nocte dedere, aut cum sole novo terras inrorat Eous. Nocte leves melius stipulae, nocte arida prata tondentur, noctes lentus non deficit humor. Et quidam seros hiberni ad luminis ignis
292pervigilat ferroque faces inspicat acuto; interea longum cantu solata laborem arguto coniunx percurrit pectine telas, aut dulcis musti Volcano decoquit humorem et foliis undam trepidi despumat aeni.
297At rubicunda Ceres medio succiditur aestu et medio tostas aestu terit area fruges. Nudus ara, sere nudus; hiems ignava colono. Frigoribus parto agricolae plerumque fruuntur mutuaque inter se laeti convivia curant.
302Invitat genialis hiems curasque resolvit, ceu pressae cum iam portum tetigere carinae, puppibus et laeti nautae inposuere coronas. Sed tamen et quernas glandes tum stringere tempus et lauri bacas oleamque cruentaque myrta,
307tum gruibus pedicas et retia ponere cervis auritosque sequi lepores, tum figere dammas, stuppea torquentem Balearis verbera fundae, cum nix alta iacet, glaciem cum flumina trudunt. Quid tempestates autumni et sidera dicam,
312atque, ubi iam breviorque dies et mollior aestas, quae vigilanda viris. vel cum ruit imbriferum ver, spicea iam campis cum messis inhorruit et cum frumenta in viridi stipula lactentia turgent. Saepe ego, cum flavis messorem induceret arvis
317agricola et fragili iam stringeret hordea culmo, omnia ventorum concurrere proelia vidi, quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus imis sublimem expulsam eruerent; ita turbine nigro ferret hiems culmumque levem stipulasque volantis.
322Saepe etiam inmensum caelo venit agmen aquarum et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris collectae ex alto nubes; ruit arduus aether et pluvia ingenti sata laeta boumque labores diluit; inplentur fossae et cava flumina crescunt
327cum sonitu fervetque fretis spirantibus aequor. Ipse pater media nimborum in nocte corusca fulmina molitur dextra; quo maxuma motu terra tremit; fugere ferae et mortalia corda per gentis humilis stravit pavor; ille flagranti
332aut Athon aut Rhodopen aut alta Ceraunia telo deicit; ingeminant austri et densissimus imber; nunc nemora ingenti vento, nunc litora plangunt. Hoc metuens caeli menses et sidera serva, frigida Saturni sese quo stella receptet,
337quos ignis caelo Cyllenius erret in orbis. In primis venerare deos atque annua magnae sacra refer Cereri laetis operatus in herbis extremae sub casum hiemis, iam vere sereno. Tum pingues agni et tum mollissima vina,
342tum somni dulces densaeque in montibus umbrae. Cuncta tibi Cererem pubes agrestis adoret; cui tu lacte favos et miti dilue Baccho, terque novas circum felix eat hostia fruges, omnis quam chorus et socii comitentur ovantes,
347et Cererem clamore vocent in tecta; neque ante falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, quam Cereri torta redimitus tempora quercu det motus incompositos et carmina dicat. Atque haec ut certis possemus discere signis,
352aestusque pluviasque et agentis frigora ventos, ipse Pater statuit, quid menstrua Luna moneret, quo signo caderent austri, quid saepe videntes agricolae propius stabulis armenta tenerent. Continuo ventis surgentibus aut freta ponti
357incipiunt agitata tumescere et aridus altis montibus audiri fragor aut resonantia longe litora misceri et nemorum increbrescere murmur. Iam sibi tum a curvis male temperat unda carinis, cum medio celeres revolant ex aequore mergi
362clamoremque ferunt ad litora, cumque marinae in sicco ludunt fulicae notasque paludes deserit atque altam supra volat ardea nubem. Saepe etiam stellas vento inpendente videbis praecipitis caelo labi noctisque per umbram
367flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus; saepe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas aut summa nantis in aqua colludere plumas. At Boreae de parte trucis cum fulminat et cum Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus: omnia plenis
372rura natant fossis atque omnis navita ponto humida vela legit. Numquam inprudentibus imber obfuit: aut illum surgentem vallibus imis aëriae fugere grues, aut bucula caelum suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras,
377aut arguta lacus circumvolitavit hirundo et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. Saepius et tectis penetralibus extulit ova angustum formica terens iter et bibit ingens arcus et e pastu decedens agmine magno
382corvorum increpuit densis exercitus alis. Iam variae pelagi volucres et quae Asia circum dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri, certatim largos umeris infundere rores: nunc caput obiectare fretis, nunc currere in undas
387et studio incassum videas gestire lavandi. Tum cornix plena pluviam vocat inproba voce et sola in sicca secum spatiatur harena. Ne nocturna quidem carpentes pensa puellae nescivere hiemem, testa cum ardente viderent
392scintillare oleum et putris concrescere fungos. Nec minus ex imbri soles et aperta serena prospicere et certis poteris cognoscere signis: nam neque tum stellis acies obtunsa videtur, nec fratris radiis obnoxia surgere Luna,
397tenuia nec lanae per caelum vellera ferri; non tepidum ad solem pinnas in litore pandunt dilectae Thetidi alcyones, non ore solutos inmundi meminere sues iactare maniplos. At nebulae magis ima petunt campoque recumbunt,
402solis et occasum servans de culmine summo nequiquam seros exercet noctua cantus. Adparet liquido sublimis in aëre Nisus et pro purpureo poenas dat Scylla capillo: quacumque illa levem fugiens secat aethera pinnis,
407ecce inimicus, atrox, magno stridore per auras insequitur Nisus; qua se fert Nisus ad auras, illa levem fugiens raptim secat aethera pinnis Tum liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces aut quater ingeminant, et saepe cubilibus altis
412nescio qua praeter solitum dulcedine laeti inter se in foliis strepitant; iuvat imbribus actis progeniem parvam dulcisque revisere nidos; haud equidem credo, quia sit divinitus illis ingenium aut rerum fato prudentia maior;
417verum ubi tempestas et caeli mobilis humor mutavere vias et Iuppiter uvidus austris denset, erant quae rara modo, et, quae densa, relaxat, vertuntur species animorum et pectora motus nunc alios, alios, dum nubila ventus agebat,
422concipiunt: hinc ille avium concentus in agris et laetae pecudes et ovantes gutture corvi. Si vero solem ad rapidum lunasque sequentis ordine respicies, numquam te crastina fallet hora neque insidiis noctis capiere serenae.
427Luna, revertentis cum primum colligit ignis, si nigrum obscuro conprenderit aera cornu, maxumus agricolis pelagoque parabitur imber; at si virgineum suffuderit ore ruborem, ventus erit; vento semper rubet aurea Phoebe.
432Sin ortu quarto, namque is certissimus auctor, pura neque obtunsis per caelum cornibus ibit, totus et ille dies et qui nascentur ab illo exactum ad mensem pluvia ventisque carebunt, votaque servati solvent in litore nautae
437Glauco et Panopeae et Inoo Melicertae. Sol quoque et exoriens et cum se condet in undas signa dabit; solem certissima signa sequuntur, et quae mane refert et quae surgentibus astris. Ille ubi nascentem maculis variaverit ortum
442conditus in nubem medioque refugerit orbe, suspecti tibi sint imbres; namque urget ab alto arboribusque satisque Notus pecorique sinister. Aut ubi sub lucem densa inter nubila sese diversi rumpent radii aut ubi pallida surget
447Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile, heu male tum mitis defendet pampinus uvas: tam multa in tectis crepitans salit horrida grando. Hoc etiam, emenso cum iam decedit Olympo, profuerit meminisse magis; nam saepe videmus
452ipsius in voltu varios errare colores: caeruleus pluviam denuntiat, igneus Euros; sin maculae incipient rutilo inmiscerier igni, omnia tum pariter vento nimbisque videbis fervere. Non illa quisquam me nocte per altum
457ire, neque a terra moneat convellere funem. At si, cum referetque diem condetque relatum, lucidus orbis erit, frustra terrebere nimbis et claro silvas cernes Aquilone moveri. Denique quid vesper serus vehat, unde serenas
462ventus agat nubes, quid cogitet humidus Auster, sol tibi signa dabit. Solem quis dicere falsum audeat. Ille etiam caecos instare tumultus saepe monet fraudemque et operta tumescere bella. Ille etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam,
467cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit inpiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem. Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque et aequora ponti obscenaeque canes inportunaeque volucres signa dabant. Quotiens Cyclopum effervere in agros
472vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam flammarumque globos liquefactaque volvere saxa! Armorum sonitum toto Germania caelo audiit, insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes. Vox quoque per lucos volgo exaudita silentis
477ingens et simulacra modis pallentia miris visa sub obscurum noctis, pecudesque locutae, infandum! sistunt amnes terraeque dehiscunt et maestum inlacrimat templis ebur aeraque sudant. Proluit insano contorquens vertice silvas
482fluviorum rex Eridanus camposque per omnis cum stabulis armenta tulit. Nec tempore eodem tristibus aut extis fibrae adparere minaces aut puteis manare cruor cessavit et altae per noctem resonare lupis ululantibus urbes.
487Non alias caelo ceciderunt plura sereno fulgura nec diri totiens arsere cometae. ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi; nec fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro
492Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos. Scilicet et tempus veniet, cum finibus illis agricola incurvo terram molitus aratro exesa inveniet scabra robigine pila aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanis
497grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. Di patrii, Indigetes, et Romule Vestaque mater, quae Tuscum Tiberim et Romana Palatia servas, hunc saltem everso iuvenem succurrere saeclo ne prohibete! Satis iam pridem sanguine nostro
502Laomedonteae luimus periuria Troiae; iam pridem nobis caeli te regia, Caesar, invidet atque hominum queritur curare triumphos; quippe ubi fas versum atque nefas: tot bella per orbem, tam multae scelerum facies; non ullus aratro
507dignus honos, squalent abductis arva colonis et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in ensem. Hinc movet Euphrates, illinc Germania bellum; vicinae ruptis inter se legibus urbes arma ferunt; saevit toto Mars inpius orbe;
512ut cum carceribus sese effudere quadrigae, addunt in spatia et frustra retinacula tendens fertur equis auriga neque audit currus habenas.
Book 2
1Hactenus arvorum cultus et sidera caeli, nunc te, Bacche, canam, nec non silvestria tecum virgulta et prolem tarde crescentis olivae. Huc, pater o Lenaee—tuis hic omnia plena muneribus, tibi pampineo gravidus autumno
6floret ager, spumat plenis vindemia labris— huc, pater o Lenaee, veni nudataque musto tingue novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis. Principio arboribus varia est natura creandis. namque aliae nullis hominum cogentibus ipsae
11sponte sua veniunt camposque et flumina late curva tenent, ut molle siler lentaeque genestae, populus et glauca canentia fronde salicta; pars autem posito surgunt de semine, ut altae castaneae nemorumque Iovi quae maxima frondet
16aesculus atque habitae Grais oracula quercus. Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima silva, ut cerasis ulmisque; etiam Parnasia laurus parva sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra. Hos natura modos primum dedit, his genus omne
21silvarum fruticumque viret nemorumque sacrorum. Sunt aliae, quas ipse via sibi repperit usus. Hic plantas tenero abscindens de corpore matrum deposuit sulcis, hic stirpes obruit arvo quadrifidasque sudes et acuto robore vallos;
26silvarumque aliae pressos propaginis arcus exspectant et viva sua plantaria terra; nil radicis egent aliae summumque putator haud dubitat terrae referens mandare cacumen. Quin et caudicibus sectis—mirabile dictu—
31truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno. Et saepe alterius ramos inpune videmus vertere in alterius mutatamque insita mala ferre pirum et prunis lapidosa rubescere corna. Quare agite o proprios generatim discite cultus,
36agricolae, fructusque feros mollite colendo, neu segnes iaceant terrae. Iuvat Ismara Baccho conserere atque olea magnum vestire Taburnum. Tuque ades inceptumque una decurre laborem, O decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae,
41Maecenas, pelagoque volans da vela patenti; non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto, non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, ferrea vox; ades et primi lege litoris oram. In manibus terrae; non hic te carmine ficto
46atque per ambages et longa exorsa tenebo. Sponte sua quae se tollunt in luminis oras, infecunda quidem, sed laeta et fortia surgunt; quippe solo natura subest. Tamen haec quoque, si quis inserat aut scrobibus mandet mutata subactis,
51exuerint silvestrem animum cultuque frequenti in quascumque voles artis haud tarda sequentur. Nec non et sterilis, quae stirpibus exit ab imis, hoc faciat, vacuos si sit digesta per agros; nunc altae frondes et rami matris opacant
56crescentique adimunt fetus uruntque ferentem. Iam quae seminibus iactis se sustulit arbos tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram, pomaque degenerant sucos oblita priores et turpis avibus praedam fert uva racemos.
61Scilicet omnibus est labor inpendendus et omnes cogendae in sulcum ac multa mercede domandae. Sed truncis oleae melius, propagine vites respondent, solido Paphiae de robore myrtus; plantis et durae coryli nascuntur et ingens
66fraxinus Herculeaeque arbos umbrosa coronae Chaoniique patris glandes, etiam ardua palma nascitur et casus abies visura marinos. Inseritur vero et fetu nucis arbutus horrida, et steriles platani malos gessere valentis;
71castaneae fagus, ornusque incanuit albo flore piri glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis. Nec modus inserere atque oculos inponere simplex. Nam qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmae et tenuis rumpunt tunicas, angustus in ipso
76fit nodo sinus: huc aliena ex arbore germen includunt udoque docent inolescere libro. Aut rursum enodes trunci resecantur et alte finditur in solidum cuneis via, deinde feraces plantae inmittuntur: nec longum tempus, et ingens
81exsilit ad caelum ramis felicibus arbos miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma. Praeterea genus haud unum nec fortibus ulmis nec salici lotoque neque Idaeis cyparissis, nec pingues unam in faciem nascuntur olivae,
86orchades et radii et amara pausia baca pomaque et Alcinoi silvae, nec surculus idem Crustumiis Syriisque piris gravibusque volemis. Non eadem arboribus pendet vindemia nostris, quam Methymnaeo carpit de palmite Lesbos;
91sunt Thasiae vites, sunt et Mareotides albae, pinguibus hae terris habiles, levioribus illae, et passo Psithia utilior tenuisque Lageos temptatura pedes olim vincturaque linguam, purpureae preciaeque, et quo te carmine dicam,
96Rhaetica? Nec cellis ideo contende Falernis. Sunt et Amineae vites, firmissima vina, Tmolius adsurgit quibus et rex ipse Phanaeus; Argitisque minor, cui non certaverit ulla aut tantum fluere aut totidem durare per annos.
101Non ego te, Dis et mensis accepta secundis, transierim, Rhodia, et tumidis, Bumaste, racemis. Sed neque quam multae species nec nomina quae sint, est numerus; neque enim numero conprendere refert; quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem
106discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur harenae, aut ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, nosse, quot Ionii veniant ad litora fluctus. Nec vero terrae ferre omnes omnia possunt. fluminibus salices crassisque paludibus alni
111nascuntur, steriles saxosis montibus orni; litora myrtetis laetissima; denique apertos Bacchus amat collis, aquilonem et frigora taxi. Aspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem Eoasque domos Arabum pictosque Gelonos:
116divisae arboribus patriae. Sola India nigrum fert ebenum, solis est turea virga Sabaeis. Quid tibi odorato referam sudantia ligno balsamaque et bacas semper frondentis acanthi? Quid nemora Aethiopum molli canentia lana,
121velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres; aut quos Oceano propior gerit India lucos, extremi sinus orbis, ubi aera vincere summum arboris haud ullae iactu potuere sagittae? Et gens illa quidem sumptis non tarda pharetris.
126Media fert tristis sucos tardumque saporem felicis mali, quo non praesentius ullum, pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba, auxilium venit ac membris agit atra venena.
131Ipsa ingens arbos faciemque simillima lauro; et, si non alium late iactaret odorem, laurus erat; folia haud ullis labentia ventis; flos ad prima tenax; animas et olentia Medi ora fovent illo et senibus medicantur anhelis.
136sed neque Medorum, silvae ditissima, terra, nec pulcher Ganges atque auro turbidus Hermus laudibus Italiae certent, non Bactra neque Indi totaque turiferis Panchaia pinguis harenis. Haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem
141invertere satis inmanis dentibus hydri nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit hastis; sed gravidae fruges et Bacchi Massicus humor inplevere; tenent oleae armentaque laeta. Hinc bellator equus campo sese arduus infert;
146hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxima taurus victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, Romanos ad templa deum duxere triumphos. Hic ver adsiduum atque alienis mensibus aestas bis gravidae pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbos.
151At rabidae tigres absunt et saeva leonum semina nec miseros fallunt aconita legentis nec rapit inmensos orbis per humum neque tanto squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis. Adde tot egregias urbes operumque laborem,
156tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis fluminaque antiquos subter labentia muros. An mare, quod supra, memorem, quodque adluit infra anne lacus tantos? Te, Lari maxume, teque, fluctibus et fremitu adsurgens Benace marino
161an memorem portus Lucrinoque addita claustra atque indignatum magnis stridoribus aequor Iulia qua ponto longe sonat unda refuso Tyrrhenusque fretis inmittitur aestus Avernis? Haec eadem argenti rivos aerisque metalla
166ostendit venis atque auro plurima fluxit. Haec genus acre virum, Marsos pubemque Sabellam adsuetumque malo Ligurem Volscosque verutos extulit, haec Decios, Marios, magnosque Camillos, Scipiadas duros bello et te, maxume Caesar,
171qui nunc extremis Asiae iam victor in oris inbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum. Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, magna virum; tibi res antiquae laudis et artem ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontis,
176Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen. Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis: quae robora cuique, quis color et quae sit rebus natura ferendis. Difficiles primum terrae collesque maligni, tenuis ubi argilla et dumosis calculus arvis,
181Palladia gaudent silva vivacis olivae. Indicio est tractu surgens oleaster eodem plurimus et strati bacis silvestribus agri. At quae pinguis humus dulcique uligine laeta, quique frequens herbis et fertilis ubere campus—
186qualem saepe cava montis convalle solemus despicere; huc summis liquuntur rupibus amnes felicemque trahunt limum—quique editus austro et filicem curvis invisam pascit aratris: hic tibi praevalidas olim multoque fluentis
191sufficiet Baccho vitis, hic fertilis uvae, hic laticis, qualem pateris libamus et auro, inflavit cum pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad aras, lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta. Sin armenta magis studium vitulosque tueri
196aut ovium fetum aut urentis culta capellas, saltus et saturi petito longinqua Tarenti et qualem infelix amisit Mantua campum, pascentem niveos herboso flumine cycnos; non liquidi gregibus fontes, non gramina deerunt;
201et, quantum longis carpent armenta diebus, exigua tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet. Nigra fere et presso pinguis sub vomere terra et cui putre solum,—namque hoc imitamur arando— optima frumentis; non ullo ex aequore cernes
206plura domum tardis decedere plaustra iuvencis; aut unde iratus silvam devexit arator et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos antiquasque domos avium cum stirpibus imis eruit; illae altum nidis petiere relictis,
211at rudis enituit inpulso vomere campus. Nam ieiuna quidem clivosi glarea ruris vix humilis apibus casias roremque ministrat; et tophus scaber et nigris exesa chelydris creta negant alios aeque serpentibus agros
216dulcem ferre cibum et curvas praebere latebras. Quae tenuem exhalat nebulam fumosque volucris et bibit humorem et, cum volt, ex se ipsa remittit quaeque suo semper viridi se gramine vestit nec scabie et salsa laedit robigine ferrum:
221illa tibi laetis intexet vitibus ulmos, illa ferax oleo est, illam experiere colendo et facilem pecori et patientem vomeris unci. Talem dives arat Capua et vicina Vesevo ora iugo et vacuis Clanius non aequus Acerris.
226Nunc, quo quamque modo possis cognoscere, dicam. Rara sit an supra morem si densa requires— altera frumentis quoniam favet, altera Baccho, densa magis Cereri, rarissima quaeque Lyaeo— ante locum capies oculis alteque iubebis
231in solido puteum demitti omnemque repones rursus humum et pedibus summas aequabis harenas. Si deerunt, rarum pecorique et vitibus almis aptius uber erit; sin in sua posse negabunt ire loca et scrobibus superabit terra repletis,
236spissus ager; glaebas cunctantis crassaque terga exspecta et validis terram proscinde iuvencis. Salsa autem tellus et quae perhibetur amara, frugibus infelix—ea nec mansuescit arando nec Baccho genus aut pomis sua nomina servat—
241tale dabit specimen: tu spisso vimine qualos colaque prelorum fumosis deripe tectis; huc ager ille malus dulcesque a fontibus undae ad plenum calcentur; aqua eluctabitur omnis scilicet, et grandes ibunt per vimina guttae;
246at sapor indicium faciet manifestus et ora tristia temptantum sensu torquebit amaro. Pinguis item quae sit tellus, hoc denique pacto discimus: haud umquam manibus iactata fatiscit, sed picis in morem ad digitos lentescit habendo.
251Humida maiores herbas alit, ipsaque iusto laetior. Ah nimium ne sit mihi fertilis illa nec se praevalidam primis ostendat aristis! Quae gravis est, ipso tacitam se pondere prodit, quaeque levis. Promptum est oculis praediscere nigram,
256et quis cui color. At sceleratum exquirere frigus difficile est: piceae tantum taxique nocentes interdum aut hederae pandunt vestigia nigrae. his animadversis terram multo ante memento excoquere et magnos scrobibus concidere montis,
261ante supinatas aquiloni ostendere glaebas, quam laetum infodias vitis genus. Optima putri arva solo: id venti curant gelidaeque pruinae et labefacta movens robustus iugera fossor. Ac si quos haud ulla viros vigilantia fugit,
266ante locum similem exquirunt, ubi prima paretur arboribus seges et quo mox digesta feratur, mutatam ignorent subito ne semina matrem. Quin etiam caeli regionem in cortice signant, ut, quo quaeque modo steterit, qua parte calores
271Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi, restituant: adeo in teneris consuescere multum est. Collibus an plano melius sit ponere vitem, quaere prius. Si pinguis agros metabere campi, densa sere; in denso non segnior ubere Bacchus;
276sin tumulis adclive solum collisque supinos, indulge ordinibus, nec setius omnis in unguem arboribus positis secto via limite quadret. Ut saepe ingenti bello cum longa cohortis explicuit legio et campo stetit agmen aperto,
281directaeque acies, ac late fluctuat omnis aere renidenti tellus, necdum horrida miscent proelia, sed dubius mediis Mars errat in armis: omnia sint paribus numeris dimensa viarum; non animum modo uti pascat prospectus inanem,
286sed quia non aliter viris dabit omnibus aequas terra neque in vacuum poterunt se extendere rami. Forsitan et scrobibus quae sint fastigia quaeras. ausim vel tenui vitem committere sulco. Altior ac penitus terrae defigitur arbos,
291aesculus in primis, quae quantum vertice ad auras aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. Ergo non hiemes illam, non flabra neque imbres convellunt; inmota manet, multosque nepotes, multa virum volvens durando saecula vincit.
296Tum fortis late ramos et bracchia pandens huc illuc, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram. Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta cadentem, Neve inter vitis corylum sere, neve flagella summa pete aut summa defringe ex arbore plantas
301tantus amor terrae—neu ferro laede retunso semina, neve oleae silvestris insere truncos: nam saepe incautis pastoribus excidit ignis, qui furtim pingui primum sub cortice tectus robora conprendit frondesque elapsus in altas
306ingentem caelo sonitum dedit; inde secutus per ramos victor perque alta cacumina regnat et totum involvit flammis nemus et ruit atram ad caelum picea crassus caligine nubem, praesertim si tempestas a vertice silvis
311incubuit glomeratque ferens incendia ventus. Hoc ubi, non a stirpe valent caesaeque reverti possunt atque ima similes revirescere terra; infelix superat foliis oleaster amaris. Nec tibi tam prudens quisquam persuadeat auctor
316tellurem Borea rigidam spirante movere. Rura gelu tum claudit hiems nec semine iacto concretam patitur radicem adfigere terrae. Optima vinetis satio, cum vere rubenti candida venit avis longis invisa colubris,
321prima vel autumni sub frigora, cum rapidus Sol nondum hiemem contingit equis, iam praeterit aestas. Ver adeo frondi nemorum, ver utile silvis; vere tument terrae et genitalia semina poscunt. Tum pater omnipotens fecundis imbribus Aether
326coniugis in gremium laetae descendit et omnis magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fetus. Avia tum resonant avibus virgulta canoris et Venerem certis repetunt armenta diebus; parturit almus ager Zephyrique tepentibus auris
331laxant arva sinus; superat tener omnibus humor; inque novos soles audent se germina tuto credere, nec metuit surgentis pampinus austros aut actum caelo magnis aquilonibus imbrem, sed trudit gemmas et frondes explicat omnis.
336Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi inluxisse dies aliumve habuisse tenorem crediderim: ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat orbis et hibernis parcebant flatibus Euri, cum primae lucem pecudes hausere virumque
341terrea progenies duris caput extulit arvis, inmissaeque ferae silvis et sidera caelo. Nec res hunc tenerae possent perferre laborem, si non tanta quies iret frigusque caloremque inter, et exciperet caeli indulgentia terras.
346Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros, sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra, aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas; inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
351qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris, hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva. Seminibus positis superest diducere terram saepius ad capita et duros iactare bidentis,
356aut presso exercere solum sub vomere et ipsa flectere luctantis inter vineta iuvencos; tum levis calamos et rasae hastilia virgae fraxineasque aptare sudes furcasque valentis, viribus eniti quarum et contemnere ventos
361adsuescant summasque sequi tabulata per ulmos. Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, parcendum teneris, et dum se laetus ad auras palmes agit laxis per purum inmissus habenis, ipsa acie nondum falcis temptanda, sed uncis
366carpendae manibus frondes interque legendae. Inde ubi iam validis amplexae stirpibus ulmos exierint, tum stringe comas, tum bracchia tonde— ante reformidant ferrum—tum denique dura exerce imperia et ramos conpesce fluentis.
371Texendae saepes etiam et pecus omne tenendum, praecipue dum frons tenera inprudensque laborum; cui super indignas hiemes solemque potentem silvestres uri adsidue capreaeque sequaces inludunt, pascuntur oves avidaeque iuvencae.
376Frigora nec tantum cana concreta pruina aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus aestas, quantum illi nocuere greges durique venenum dentis et admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix. Non aliam ob culpam Baccho caper omnibus aris
381caeditur et veteres ineunt proscaenia ludi praemiaque ingeniis pagos et compita circum thesidae posuere atque inter pocula laeti mollibus in pratis unctos saluere per utres. Nec non Ausonii, Troia gens missa, coloni
386versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta tibique oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu. Hinc omnis largo pubescit vinea fetu,
391conplentur vallesque cavae saltusque profundi, et quocumque deus circum caput egit honestum. Ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus honorem carminibus patriis lancesque et liba feremus et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram
396pinguiaque in veribus torrebimus exta colurnis. Est etiam ille labor curandis vitibus alter, cui numquam exhausti satis est: namque omne quot annis terque quaterque solum scindendum glebaque versis aeternum frangenda bidentibus, omne levandum
401fronde nemus. Redit agricolis labor actus in orbem atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus. Ac iam olim, seras posuit cum vinea frondes, frigidus et silvis aquilo decussit honorem, iam tum acer curas venientem extendit in annum
406rusticus et curvo Saturni dente relictam persequitur vitem attondens fingitque putando. Primus humum fodito, primus devecta cremato sarmenta et vallos primus sub tecta referto; postremus metito. Bis vitibus ingruit umbra,
411bis segetem densis obducunt sentibus herbae; durus uterque labor: laudato ingentia rura, exiguum colito. Nec non etiam aspera rusci vimina per silvam et ripis fluvialis arundo caeditur, incultique exercet cura salicti.
416Iam vinctae vites, iam falcem arbusta reponunt, iam canit effectos extremus vinitor antes: sollicitanda tamen tellus pulvisque movendus et iam maturis metuendus Iuppiter uvis. Contra non ulla est oleis cultura; neque illae
421procurvam exspectant falcem rastrosque tenacis, cum semel haeserunt arvis aurasque tulerunt; ipsa satis tellus, cum dente recluditur unco, sufficit humorem et gravidas, cum vomere, fruges. Hoc pinguem et placitam Paci nutritor olivam.
426Poma quoque, ut primum truncos sensere valentis et viris habuere suas, ad sidera raptim vi propria nituntur opisque haud indiga nostrae. Nec minus interea fetu nemus omne gravescit sanguineisque inculta rubent aviaria bacis.
431Tondentur cytisi, taedas silva alta ministrat, pascunturque ignes nocturni et lumina fundunt. Et dubitant homines serere atque inpendere curam quid maiora sequar?—salices humilesque genestae aut illae pecori frondem aut pastoribus umbram
436Sufficiunt saepemque satis et pabula melli— et iuvat undantem buxo spectare Cytorum naryciaeque picis lucos, iuvat arva videre non rastris, hominum non ulli obnoxia curae. Ipsae Caucasio steriles in vertice silvae,
441quas animosi Euri adsidue franguntque feruntque, dant alios aliae fetus, dant utile lignum navigiis pinus, domibus cedrumque cupressosque. Hinc radios trivere rotis, hinc tympana plaustris agricolae et pandas ratibus posuere carinas,
446viminibus salices fecundae, frondibus ulmi, at myrtus validis hastilibus et bona bello cornus, Ituraeos taxi torquentur in arcus. Nec tiliae leves aut torno rasile buxum non formam accipiunt ferroque cavantur acuto.
451Nec non et torrentem undam levis innatat alnus, missa Pado; nec non et apes examina condunt corticibusque cavis vitiosaeque ilicis alvo. Quid memorandum aeque Baccheia dona tulerunt Bacchus et ad culpam causas dedit; ille furentis
456centauros leto domuit, Rhoetumque Pholumque et magno Hylaeum Lapithis cratere minantem. O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, agricolas! quibus ipsa procul discordibus armis fundit humo facilem victum iustissima tellus.
461Si non ingentem foribus domus alta superbis mane salutantum totis vomit aedibus undam, nec varios inhiant pulchra testudine postis inlusasque auro vestes Ephyreiaque aera, alba neque Assyrio fucatur lana veneno
466nec casia liquidi corrumpitur usus olivi: at secura quies et nescia fallere vita, dives opum variarum, at latis otia fundis— speluncae vivique lacus et frigida Tempe mugitusque boum mollesque sub arbore somni—
471non absunt; illic saltus ac lustra ferarum et patiens operum exiguoque adsueta iuventus, sacra deum sanctique patres; extrema per illos iustitia excedens terris vestigia fecit. Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae,
476quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore, accipiant caelique vias et sidera monstrent, defectus solis varios lunaeque labores; unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant obicibus ruptis rursusque in se ipsa residant,
481quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet. Sin, has ne possim naturae accedere partis, frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis: rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes,
486flumina amem silvasque inglorius. O ubi campi Spercheosque et virginibus bacchata Lacaenis Taygeta! O, qui me gelidis convallibus Haemi sistat et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
491atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari. Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestis, panaque Silvanumque senem Nymphasque sorores: illum non populi fasces, non purpura regum
496flexit et infidos agitans discordia fratres aut coniurato descendens Dacus ab Histro, non res Romanae perituraque regna; neque ille aut doluit miserans inopem aut invidit habenti quos rami fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura
501sponte tulere sua, carpsit; nec ferrea iura insanumque forum aut populi tabularia vidit. sollicitant alii remis freta caeca ruuntque in ferrum, penetrant aulas et limina regum; hic petit excidiis urbem miserosque Penatis,
506ut gemma bibat et Sarrano dormiat ostro; condit opes alius defossoque incubat auro; hic stupet attonitus rostris; hunc plausus hiantem per cuneos—geminatus enim plebisque patrumque— corripuit; gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum,
511exsilioque domos et dulcia limina mutant atque alio patriam quaerunt sub sole iacentem. Agricola incurvo terram dimovit aratro: hinc anni labor, hinc patriam parvosque nepotes sustinet, hinc armenta boum meritosque iuvencos.
516Nec requies, quin aut pomis exuberet annus aut fetu pecorum aut cerealis mergite culmi, proventuque oneret sulcos atque horrea vincat. Venit hiems: teritur Sicyonia baca trapetis, glande sues laeti redeunt, dant arbuta silvae;
521et varios ponit fetus autumnus et alte mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis. Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati, casta pudicitiam servat domus, ubera vaccae lactea demittunt pinguesque in gramine laeto
526inter se adversis luctantur cornibus haedi. Ipse dies agitat festos fususque per herbam, ignis ubi in medio et socii cratera coronant, te libans, Lenaee, vocat pecorisque magistris velocis iaculi certamina ponit in ulmo,
531corporaque agresti nudant praedura palaestrae. Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini, hanc Remus et frater, sic fortis Etruria crevit scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma, septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces.
536Ante etiam sceptrum Dictaei regis et ante inpia quam caesis gens est epulata iuvencis, aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat; necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum inpositos duris crepitare incudibus enses.
541Sed nos inmensum spatiis confecimus aequor, et iam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla.
Book 3
1Te quoque, magna Pales, et te memorande canemus pastor ab Amphryso, vos, silvae amnesque Lycaei. Cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, omnia iam volgata: quis aut Eurysthea durum aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras?
6Cui non dictus Hylas puer et Latonia Delos Hippodameque umeroque Pelops insignis eburno, acer equis? Temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora. Primus ego in patriam mecum, modo vita supersit,
11Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas; primus Idumaeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas, et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponam propter aquam. Tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius et tenera praetexit arundine ripas.
16In medio mihi Caesar erit templumque tenebit: illi victor ego et Tyrio conspectus in ostro centum quadriiugos agitabo ad flumina currus. Cuncta mihi Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi cursibus et crudo decernet Graecia caestu.
21Ipse caput tonsae foliis ornatus olivae dona feram. Iam nunc sollemnis ducere pompas ad delubra iuvat caesosque videre iuvencos, vel scaena ut versis discedat frontibus utque purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni.
26In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto Gangaridum faciam victorisque arma Quirini, atque hic undantem bello magnumque fluentem Nilum ac navali surgentis aere columnas. Addam urbes Asiae domitas pulsumque Niphaten
31fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis, et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste tropaea bisque triumphatas utroque ab litore gentes. Stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa, Assaraci proles demissaeque ab Iove gentis
36nomina, Trosque parens et Troiae Cynthius auctor. Invidia infelix Furias amnemque severum Cocyti metuet tortosque Ixionis anguis immanemque rotam et non exsuperabile saxum. Interea Dryadum silvas saltusque sequamur
41intactos, tua, Maecenas, haud mollia iussa. Te sine nil altum mens incohat; en age segnis rumpe moras; vocat ingenti clamore Cithaeron Taygetique canes domitrixque Epidaurus equorum et vox adsensu nemorum ingeminata remugit.
46Mox tamen ardentis accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris et nomen fama tot ferre per annos, Tithoni prima quot abest ab origine Caesar. Seu quis Olympiacae miratus praemia palmae pascit equos seu quis fortis ad aratra iuvencos,
51corpora praecipue matrum legat. Optuma torvae forma bovis, cui turpe caput, cui plurima cervix, et crurum tenus a mento palearia pendent; tum longo nullus lateri modus; omnia magna, pes etiam; et camuris hirtae sub cornibus aures.
56Nec mihi displiceat maculis insignis et albo, aut iuga detractans interdumque aspera cornu et faciem tauro propior, quaeque ardua tota, et gradiens ima verrit vestigia cauda, Aetas Lucinam iustosque pati hymenaeos
61desinit ante decem, post quattuor incipit annos; cetera nec feturae habilis nec fortis aratris. Interea, superat gregibus dum laeta iuventas, solve mares; mitte in Venerem pecuaria primus, atque aliam ex alia generando suffice prolem.
66Optuma quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis. Semper erunt, quarum mutari corpora malis: semper enim refice ac, ne post amissa requiras,
71ante veni et subolem armento sortire quotannis. Nec non et pecori est idem dilectus equino. Tu modo, quos in spem statues submittere gentis, praecipuum iam inde a teneris impende laborem. Continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis
76altius ingreditur et mollia crura reponit; primus et ire viam et fluvios temptare minaces audet et ignoto sese committere ponti nec vanos horret strepitus. Illi ardua cervix argutumque caput, brevis alvus obesaque terga,
81luxuriatque toris animosum pectus. Honesti spadices glaucique, color deterrimus albis et gilvo. Tum, si qua sonum procul arma dedere stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.
86Densa iuba, et dextro iactata recumbit in armo; at duplex agitur per lumbos spina, cavatque tellurem et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. Talis Amyclaei domitus Pollucis habenis Cyllarus et, quorum Grai meminere poetae,
91Martis equi biiuges et magni currus Achilli. Talis et ipse iubam cervice effundit equina coniugis adventu pernix Saturnus et altum Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto. Hunc quoque, ubi aut morbo gravis aut iam segnior annis
96deficit, abde domo nec turpi ignosce senectae. frigidus in Venerem senior, frustraque laborem ingratum trahit, et, si quando ad proelia ventum est, ut quondam in stipulis magnus sine viribus ignis, incassum furit. Ergo animos aevumque notabis
101praecipue; hinc alias artis prolemque parentum et quis cuique dolor victo, quae gloria palmae. Nonne vides, cum praecipiti certamine campum corripuere ruuntque effusi carcere currus, cum spes arrectae iuvenum, exsultantiaque haurit
106corda pavor pulsans? Illi instant verbere torto et proni dant lora, volat vi fervidus axis; iamque humiles, iamque elati sublime videntur aera per vacuum ferri atque adsurgere in auras; nec mora nec requies; at fulvae nimbus harenae
111tollitur, umescunt spumis flatuque sequentum: tantus amor laudum, tantae est victoria curae. Primus Erichthonius currus et quattuor ausus iungere equos rapidusque rotis insistere victor Frena Pelethronii Lapithae gyrosque dedere
116impositi dorso atque equitem docuere sub armis insultare solo et gressus glomerare superbos. Aequus uterque labor, aeque iuvenemque magistri exquirunt calidumque animis et cursibus acrem, quamvis saepe fuga versos ille egerit hostis
121et patriam Epirum referat fortisque Mycenas Neptunique ipsa deducat origine gentem. His animadversis instant sub tempus et omnis impendunt curas denso distendere pingui, quem legere ducem et pecori dixere maritum;
126florentisque secant herbas fluviosque ministrant farraque, ne blando nequeat superesse labori invalidique patrum referant ieiunia nati. Ipsa autem macie tenuant armenta volentes, atque, ubi concubitus primos iam nota voluptas
131sollicitat, frondesque negant et fontibus arcent. Saepe etiam cursu quatiunt et sole fatigant, cum graviter tunsis gemit area frugibus et cum surgentem ad Zephyrum paleae iactantur inanes. Hoc faciunt, nimio ne luxu obtunsior usus
136sit genitali arvo et sulcos oblimet inertis, sed rapiat sitiens Venerem interiusque recondat. Rursus cura patrum cadere et succedere matrum incipit. Exactis gravidae cum mensibus errant, non illas gravibus quisquam iuga ducere plaustris,
141non saltu superare viam sit passus et acri carpere prata fuga fluviosque innare rapacis. Saltibus in vacuis pascunt et plena secundum flumina, muscus ubi et viridissima gramine ripa, speluncaeque tegant et saxea procubet umbra.
146Est lucos Silari circa ilicibusque; virentem plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo Romanum est, oestrum Grai vertere vocantes, asper, acerba sonans, quo tota exterrita silvis diffugiunt armenta; furit mugitibus aether
151concussus silvaeque et sicci ripa Tanagri. Hoc quondam monstro horribilis exercuit iras Inachiae Iuno pestem meditata iuvencae. Hunc quoque, nam mediis fervoribus acrior instat, arcebis gravido pecori, armentaque pasces
156sole recens orto aut noctem ducentibus astris. Post partum cura in vitulos traducitur omnis, continuoque notas et nomina gentis inurunt et quos aut pecori malint submittere habendo aut aris servare sacros aut scindere terram
161et campum horrentem fractis invertere glaebis. Cetera pascuntur viridis armenta per herbas: Tu quos ad studium atque usum formabis agrestem, iam vitulos hortare viamque insiste domandi, dum faciles animi iuvenum, dum mobilis aetas.
166Ac primum laxos tenui de vimine circlos cervici subnecte; dehinc, ubi libera colla servitio adsuerint, ipsis e torquibus aptos iunge pares et coge gradum conferre iuvencos; atque illis iam saepe rotae ducantur inanes
171per terram et summo vestigia pulvere signent; post valido nitens sub pondere faginus axis instrepat et iunctos temo trahat aereus orbes. Interea pubi indomitae non gramina tantum nec vescas salicum frondes ulvamque palustrem,
176sed frumenta manu carpes sata; nec tibi fetae more patrum nivea implebunt mulctraria vaccae, sed tota in dulcis consument ubera natos. Sin ad bella magis studium turmasque ferocis, aut Alphea rotis praelabi flumina Pisae
181et Iovis in luco currus agitare volantis: primus equi labor est, animos atque arma videre bellantum lituosque pati tractuque gementem ferre rotam et stabulo frenos audire sonantis; tum magis atque magis blandis gaudere magistri
186laudibus et plausae sonitum cervicis amare. Atque haec iam primo depulsus ab ubere matris audeat, inque vicem det mollibus ora capistris invalidus etiamque tremens, etiam inscius aevi. At tribus exactis ubi quarta accesserit aestas,
191carpere mox gyrum incipiat gradibusque sonare compositis sinuetque alterna volumina crurum sitque laboranti similis; tum cursibus auras, tum vocet, ac per aperta volans ceu liber habenis aequora vix summa vestigia ponat harena;
196qualis Hyperboreis Aquilo cum densus ab oris incubuit, Scythiaeque hiemes atque arida differt nubila: tum segetes altae campique natantes lenibus horrescunt flabris summaeque sonorem dant silvae longique urgent ad litora fluctus;
201ille volat simul arva fuga, simul aequora verrens Hinc vel ad Elei metas et maxuma campi sudabit spatia et spumas aget ore cruentas, Belgica vel molli melius feret esseda collo. Tum demum crassa magnum farragine corpus
206crescere iam domitis sinito: namque ante domandum ingentis tollent animos prensique negabunt verbera lenta pati et duris parere lupatis. Sed non ulla magis viris industria firmat, quam Venerem et caeci stimulos avertere amoris,
211sive boum sive est cui gratior usus equorum. Atque ideo tauros procul atque in sola relegant pascua post montem oppositum et trans flumina lata, aut intus clausos satura ad praesepia servant. Carpit enim viris paulatim uritque videndo
216femina nec nemorum patitur meminisse nec herbae dulcibus illa quidem inlecebris, et saepe superbos cornibus inter se subigit decernere amantis. Pascitur in magna Sila formosa iuvenca: illi alternantes multa vi proelia miscent
221volneribus crebris, lavit ater corpora sanguis, versaque in obnixos urguentur cornua vasto cum gemitu, reboant silvaeque et longus Olympus Nec mos bellantis una stabulare, sed alter victus abit longeque ignotis exulat oris,
226multa gemens ignominiam plagasque superbi victoris, tum, quos amisit inultus, amores; et stabula aspectans regnis excessit avitis. Ergo omni cura viris exercet et inter dura iacet pernix instrato saxa cubili
231frondibus hirsutis et carice pastus acuta, et temptat sese atque irasci in cornua discit arboris obnixus trunco ventosque lacessit ictibus et sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena. Post ubi collectum robur viresque refectae
236signa movet praecepsque oblitum fertur in hostem: fluctus uti medio coepit cum albescere ponto longius ex altoque sinum trahit, utque volutus ad terras immane sonat per saxa neque ipso monte minor procumbit, at ima exaestuat unda
241verticibus nigramque alte subiectat harenam. Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque, et genus aequoreum, pecudes pictaeque volucres, in furias. ignemque ruunt. Amor omnibus idem. Tempore non alio catulorum oblita leaena
246saevior erravit campis, nec funera volgo tam multa informes ursi stragemque dedere per silvas; tum saevus aper, tum pessima tigris; heu male tum Libyae solis erratur in agris. Nonne vides, ut tota tremor pertemptet equorum
251corpora, si tantum notas odor attulit auras? Ac neque eos iam frena virum neque verbera saeva non scopuli rupesque cavae atque obiecta retardant flumina correptosque unda torquentia montis. Ipse ruit dentesque Sabellicus exacuit sus
256et pede prosubigit terram, fricat arbore costas atque hinc atque illinc umeros ad volnera durat. Quid iuvenis, magnum cui versat in ossibus ignem durus amor? Nempe abruptis turbata procellis nocte natat caeca serus freta; quem super ingens
261porta tonat caeli et scopulis inlisa reclamant aequora; nec miseri possunt revocare parentes nec moritura super crudeli funere virgo. Quid lynces Bacchi variae et genus acre luporum atque canum? Quid, quae imbelles dant proelia cervi?
266Scilicet ante omnis furor est insignis equarum; et mentem Venus ipsa dedit, quo tempore Glauci Potniades malis membra absumpsere quadrigae. Illas ducit amor trans Gargara transque sonantem Ascanium; superant montis et flumina tranant.
271Continuoque avidis ubi subdita flamma medullis, vere magis, quia vere calor redit ossibus: illae ore omnes versae in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis, exceptantque levis auras et saepe sine ullis coniugiis vento gravidae, mirabile dictu,
276saxa per et scopulos et depressas convallis diffugiunt, non, Eure, tuos, neque solis ad ortus, in Borean caurumque, aut unde nigerrimus auster nascitur et pluvio contristat frigore caelum. Hic demum, hippomanes vero quod nomine dicunt
281pastores, lentum destillat ab inguine virus, hippomanes, quod saepe malae legere novercae miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba. Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus, singula dum capti circumvectamur amore.
286Hoc satis armentis: superat pars altera curae, lanigeros agitare greges hirtasque capellas. Hic labor, hinc laudem fortes sperate coloni. Nec sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere magnum quam sit, et angustis hunc addere rebus honorem;
291sed me Parnasi deserta per ardua dulcis raptat amor; iuvat ire iugis, qua nulla priorum Castaliam molli devertitur orbita clivo. Nunc, veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore sonandum Incipiens stabulis edico in mollibus herbam
296carpere ovis, dum mox frondosa reducitur aestas, et multa duram stipula filicumque maniplis sternere subter humum, glacies ne frigida laedat molle pecus scabiemque ferat turpisque podagras. Post hinc digressus iubeo frondentia capris
301arbuta sufficere et fluvios praebere recentis et stabula a ventis hiberno opponere soli ad medium conversa diem, cum frigidus olim iam cadit extremoque inrorat Aquarius anno. Haec quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae,
306nec minor usus erit, quamvis Milesia magno vellera mutentur Tyrios incocta rubores: densior hinc suboles, hinc largi copia lactis; quam magis exhausto spumaverit ubere mulctra, laeta magis pressis manabunt flumina mammis.
311Nec minus interea barbas incanaque menta Cinyphii tondent hirci saetasque comantis usum in castrorum et miseris velamina nautis. Pascuntur vero silvas et summa Lycaei horrentisque rubos et amantis ardua dumos:
316atque ipsae memores redeunt in tecta suosque ducunt et gravido superant vix ubere limen. Ergo omni studio glaciem ventosque nivalis quo minor est illis curae mortalis egestas, avertes victumque feres et virgea laetus
321pabula, nec tota claudes faenilia bruma. At vero Zephyris cum laeta vocantibus aestas in saltus utrumque gregem atque in pascua mittet, Luciferi primo cum sidere frigida rura carpamus, dum mane novum, dum gramina canent,
326et ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba. Inde ubi quarta sitim caeli collegerit hora et cantu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadae, ad puteos aut alta greges ad stagna iubebo currentem ilignis potare canalibus undam;
331aestibus at mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem, sicubi magna Iovis antiquo robore quercus ingentis tendat ramos, aut sicubi nigrum ilicibus crebris sacra nemus accubet umbra; tum tenuis dare rursus aquas et pascere rursus
336solis ad occasum, cum frigidus aera vesper temperat et saltus reficit iam roscida luna litoraque alcyonem resonant, acalanthida dumi. Quid tibi pastores Libyae, quid pascua versu prosequar et raris habitata mapalia tectis?
341Saepe diem noctemque et totum ex ordine mensem pascitur itque pecus longa in deserta sine ullis hospitiis: tantum campi iacet. Omnia secum armentarius Afer agit, tectumque laremque armaque Amyclaeumque canem Cressamque pharetram;
346non secus ac patriis acer Romanus in armis iniusto sub fasce viam cum carpit et hosti ante expectatum positis stat in agmine castris. At non, qua Scythiae gentes Maeotiaque unda, turbidus et torquens flaventis Hister harenas,
351quaque redit medium Rhodope porrecta sub axem. Illic clausa tenent stabulis armenta, neque ullae aut herbae campo apparent aut arbore frondes; sed iacet aggeribus niveis informis et alto terra gelu late septemque adsurgit in ulnas.
356Semper hiemps, semper spirantes frigora cauri. Tum Sol pallentis haud umquam discutit umbras, nec cum invectus equis altum petit aethera, nec cum praecipitem Oceani rubro lavit aequore currum. Concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae
361undaque iam tergo ferratos sustinet orbis, puppibus illa prius, patulis nunc hospita plaustris; aeraque dissiliunt vulgo vestesque rigescunt indutae caeduntque securibus umida vina et totae solidam in glaciem vertere lacunae
366stiriaque impexis induruit horrida barbis. Interea toto non setius aere ninguit: intereunt pecudes, stant circumfusa pruinis corpora magna boum, confertoque agmine cervi torpent mole nova et summis vix cornibus extant.
371Hos non immissis canibus, non cassibus ullis puniceaeve agitant pavidos formidine pennae, sed frustra oppositum trudentis pectore montem comminus obtruncant ferro graviterque rudentis caedunt et magno laeti clamore reportant.
376Ipsi in defossis specubus secura sub alta otia agunt terra congestaque robora totasque advolvere focis ulmos ignique dedere. Hic noctem ludo ducunt et pocula laeti fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis.
381Talis Hyperboreo septem subiecta trioni gens effrena virum Rhiphaeo tunditur euro et pecudum fulvis velatur corpora saetis. Si tibi lanitium curae, primum aspera silva, lappaeque tribolique, absint; fuge pabula laeta;
386Continuoque greges villis lege mollibus albos. Illum autem, quamvis aries sit candidus ipse, nigra subest udo tantum cui lingua palato, reice, ne maculis infuscet vellera pullis nascentum, plenoque alium circumspice campo.
391Munere sic niveo lanae, si credere dignum est, Pan deus Arcadiae captam te, Luna, fefellit in nemora alta vocans; nec tu aspernata vocantem. At cui lactis amor, cytisum lotosque frequentis ipse manu salsasque ferat praesepibus herbas.
396Hinc et amant fluvios magis et magis ubera tendunt et salis occultum referunt in lacte saporem. Multi iam excretos prohibent a matribus haedos primaque ferratis praefigunt ora capistris. Quod surgente die mulsere horisque diurnis,
401nocte premunt; quod iam tenebris et sole cadente, sub lucem exportant calathis adit oppida pastor; aut parco sale contingunt hiemique reponunt. Nec tibi cura canum fuerit postrema, sed una velocis Spartae catulos acremque Molossum
406pasce sero pingui. Numquam custodibus illis nocturnum stabulis furem incursusque luporum aut impacatos a tergo horrebis Hiberos. Saepe etiam cursu timidos agitabis onagros et canibus leporem, canibus venabere dammas,
411saepe volutabris pulsos silvestribus apros latratu turbabis agens montisque per altos ingentem clamore premes ad retia cervum. Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum galbaneoque agitare gravis nidore chelydros.
416saepe sub immotis praesepibus aut mala tactu vipera delituit caelumque exterrita fugit, aut tecto adsuetus coluber succedere et umbrae, pestis acerba boum, pecorique aspergere virus, fovit humum. Cape saxa manu, cape robora, pastor,
421tollentemque minas et sibila colla tumentem deice. Iamque fuga timidum caput abdidit alte, cum medii nexus extremaeque agmina caudae solvuntur, tardosque trahit sinus ultimus orbis. Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus anguis,
426squamea convolvens sublato pectore terga atque notis longam maculosus grandibus alvum qui, dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus et dum vere madent udo terrae ac pluvialibus austris stagna colit, ripisque habitans hic piscibus atram
431improbus ingluviem ranisque loquacibus explet; postquam exusta palus, terraeque ardore dehiscunt, exsilit in siccum et flammantia lumina torquens saevit agris asperque siti atque exterritus aestu. Ne mihi tum mollis sub divo carpere somnos
436neu dorso nemoris libeat iacuisse per herbas, cum positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa volvitur, aut catulos tectis aut ova relinquens arduus ad solem et linguis micat ore trisulcis. Morborum quoque te causas et signa docebo.
441Turpis ovis temptat scabies, ubi frigidus imber altius ad vivum persedit et horrida cano bruma gelu, vel cum tonsis inlotus adhaesit sudor et hirsuti secuerunt corpora vepres. Dulcibus idcirco fluviis pecus omne magistri
446perfundunt, udisque aries in gurgite villis mersatur missusque secundo defluit amni; aut tonsum tristi contingunt corpus amurca et spumas miscent argenti et sulfura viva Idaeasque pices et pinguis unguine ceras
451scillamque elleborosque gravis nigrumque bitumen. Non tamen ulla magis praesens fortuna laborum est, quam si quis ferro potuit rescindere summum ulceris os: alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, dum medicas adhibere manus ad volnera pastor
456abnegat et meliora deos sedet omnia poscens. Quin etiam, ima dolor balantum lapsus ad ossa cum furit atque artus depascitur arida febris, profuit incensos aestus avertere et inter ima ferire pedis salientem sanguine venam,
461Bisaltae quo more solent acerque Gelonus; cum fugit in Rhodopen atque in deserta Getarum et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino. Quam procul aut molli succedere saepius umbrae videris aut summas carpentem ignavius herbas
466extremamque sequi aut medio procumbere campo pascentem et serae solam decedere nocti: continuo culpam ferro compesce, prius quam dira per incautum serpant contagia volgus. Non tam creber agens hiemem ruit aequore turbo,
471quam multae pecudum pestes. Nec singula morbi corpora corripiunt, sed tota aestiva repente, spemque gregemque simul cunctamque ab origine gentem. Tum sciat, aerias Alpis et Norica si quis castella in tumulis et Iapydis arva Timavi
476nunc quoque post tanto videat desertaque regna pastorum et longe saltus lateque vacantis. Hic quondam morbo caeli miseranda coorta est tempestas totoque autumni incanduit aestu et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum,
481corrupitque lacus, infecit pabula tabo. Nec via mortis erat simplex, sed ubi ignea venis omnibus acta sitis miseros adduxerat artus, rursus abundabat fluidus liquor omniaque in se ossa minutatim morbo collapsa trahebat.
486Saepe in honore deum medio stans hostia ad aram lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta, inter cunctantis cecidit moribunda ministros. Aut si quam ferro mactaverat ante sacerdos inde neque impositis ardent altaria fibris
491nec responsa potest consultus reddere vates, ac vix suppositi tinguntur sanguine cultri summaque ieiuna sanie infuscatur harena. Hinc laetis vituli volgo moriuntur in herbis et dulcis animas plena ad praesepia reddunt;
496hinc canibus blandis rabies venit et quatit aegros tussis anhela sues ac faucibus angit obesis. Labitur infelix studiorum atque immemor herbae victor equus fontisque avertitur et pede terram crebra ferit; demissae aures, incertus ibidem
501sudor et ille quidem morituris frigidus, aret pellis et ad tactum tractanti dura resistit. Haec ante exitium primis dant signa diebus; sin in processu coepit crudescere morbus, tum vero ardentes oculi atque attractus ab alto
506spiritus, interdum gemitu gravis, imaque longo ilia singultu tendunt, it naribus ater sanguis et obsessas fauces premit aspera lingua. Profuit inserto latices infundere cornu Lenaeos; ea visa salus morientibus una;
511mox erat hoc ipsum exitio, furiisque refecti ardebant ipsique suos iam morte sub aegra, di meliora piis erroremque hostibus illum, discissos nudis laniabant dentibus artus. Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus
516concidit et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem extremosque ciet gemitus. It tristis arator maerentem abiungens fraterna morte iuvencum, atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra. Non umbrae altorum nemorum, non mollia possunt
521prata movere animum, non qui per saxa volutus purior electro campum petit amnis; at ima solvuntur latera atque oculos stupor urguet inertis ad terramque fluit devexo pondere cervix. Quid labor aut benefacta iuvant? Quid vomere terras
526invertisse gravis? Atqui non Massica Bacchi munera, non illis epulae nocuere repostae: frondibus et victu pascuntur simplicis herbae, pocula sunt fontes liquidi atque exercita cursu flumina, nec somnos abrumpit cura salubris.
531Tempore non alio dicunt regionibus illis quaesitas ad sacra boves Iunonis et uris imparibus ductos alta ad donaria currus. Ergo aegre rastris terram rimantur et ipsis unguibus infodiunt fruges montisque per altos
536contenta cervice trahunt stridentia plaustra. Non lupus insidias explorat ovilia circum nec gregibus nocturnus obambulat; acrior illum cura domat; timidi dammae cervique fugaces nunc interque canes et circum tecta vagantur.
541Iam maris immensi prolem et genus omne natantum litore in extremo, ceu naufraga corpora, fluctus proluit; insolitae fugiunt in flumina phocae. Interit et curvis frustra defensa latebris vipera et attoniti squamis adstantibus hydri.
546Ipsis est aer avibus non aequus et illae praecipites alta vitam sub nube relinquunt. Praeterea iam nec mutari pabula refert artes nocent quaesitaeque; cessere magistri Phillyrides Chiron Amythaoniusque Melampus.
551Saevit et in lucem Stygiis emissa tenebris pallida Tisiphone Morbos agit ante Metumque, inque dies avidum surgens caput altius effert: Balatu pecorum et crebris mugitibus amnes arentesque sonant ripae collesque supini:
556Iamque catervatim dat stragem atque aggerat ipsis in stabulis turpi dilapsa cadavera tabo donec humo tegere ac foveis abscondere discunt. Nam neque erat coriis usus nec viscera quisquam aut undis abolere potest aut vincere flamma;
561ne tondere quidem morbo inluvieque peresa vellera nec telas possunt attingere putris; verum etiam invisos si quis temptarat amictus, ardentes papulae atque immundus olentia sudor membra sequebatur nec longo deinde moranti
566tempore contactos artus sacer ignis edebat.
Book 4
1Protinus aerii mellis caelestia dona exsequar: hanc etiam, Maecenas, adspice partem. Admiranda tibi levium spectacula rerum magnanimosque duces totiusque ordine gentis mores et studia et populos et proelia dicam.
6In tenui labor; at tenuis non gloria, si quem numina laeva sinunt auditque vocatus Apollo. Principio sedes apibus statioque petenda, quo neque sit ventis aditus—nam pabula venti ferre domum prohibent—neque oves haedique petulci
11floribus insultent aut errans bucula campo decutiat rorem et surgentes atterat herbas. Absint et picti squalentia terga lacerti pinguibus a stabulis meropesque aliaeque volucres et manibus Procne pectus signata cruentis;
16omnia nam late vastant ipsasque volantes ore ferunt dulcem nidis immitibus escam. At liquidi fontes et stagna virentia musco adsint et tenuis fugiens per gramina rivus, palmaque vestibulum aut ingens oleaster inumbret,
21ut, cum prima novi ducent examina reges vere suo ludetque favis emissa iuventus, vicina invitet decedere ripa calori, obviaque hospitiis teneat frondentibus arbos. In medium, seu stabit iners seu profluet umor,
26transversas salices et grandia conice saxa, pontibus ut crebris possint consistere et alas pandere ad aestivum solem, si forte morantes sparserit aut praeceps Neptuno immerserit Eurus. Haec circum casiae virides et olentia late
31serpylla et graviter spirantis copia thymbrae floreat inriguumque bibant violaria fontem. Ipsa autem, seu corticibus tibi suta cavatis, seu lento fuerint alvaria vimine texta, angustos habeant aditus: nam frigore mella
36cogit hiems, eademque calor liquefacta remittit. Utraque vis apibus pariter metuenda; neque illae nequiquam in tectis certatim tenuia cera spiramenta linunt fucoque et floribus oras explent collectumque haec ipsa ad munera gluten
41et visco et Phrygiae servant pice lentius Idae. Saepe etiam effossis, si vera est fama, latebris sub terra fovere larem, penitusque repertae pumicibusque cavis exesaeque arboris antro. Tu tamen et levi rimosa cubilia limo
46ungue fovens circum et raras superinice frondes. Neu propius tectis taxum sine, neve rubentes ure foco cancros, altae neu crede paludi, aut ubi odor caeni gravis aut ubi concava pulsu saxa sonant vocisque offensa resultat imago.
51Quod superest, ubi pulsam hiemem sol aureus egit sub terras caelumque aestiva luce reclusit, illae continuo saltus silvasque peragrant purpureosque metunt flores et flumina libant summa leves. Hinc nescio qua dulcedine laetae
56progeniem nidosque fovent, hinc arte recentes excudunt ceras et mella tenacia fingunt. Hinc ubi iam emissum caveis ad sidera caeli nare per aestatem liquidam suspexeris agmen obscuramque trahi vento mirabere nubem,
61contemplator: aquas dulces et frondea semper tecta petunt. Huc tu iussos adsperge sapores, trita melisphylla et cerinthae ignobile gramen, tinnitusque cie et Matris quate cymbala circum. ipsae consident medicatis sedibus, ipsae
66intima more suo sese in cunabula condent. Sin autem ad pugnam exierint, nam saepe duobus regibus incessit magno discordia motu, continuoque animos vulgi et trepidantia bello corda licet longe praesciscere; namque morantes
71Martius ille aeris rauci canor increpat et vox auditur fractos sonitus imitata tubarum; tum trepidae inter se coeunt pennisque coruscant spiculaque exacuunt rostris aptantque lacertos et circa regem atque ipsa ad praetoria densae
76miscentur magnisque vocant clamoribus hostem. Ergo ubi ver nactae sudum camposque patentes, erumpunt portis; concurritur, aethere in alto fit sonitus, magnum mixtae glomerantur in orbem praecipitesque cadunt; non densior aere grando,
81nec de concussa tantum pluit ilice glandis. ipsi per medias acies insignibus alis ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant, usque adeo obnixi non cedere, dum gravis aut hos aut hos versa fuga victor dare terga subegit.
86Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui iactu compressa quiescent. Verum ubi ductores acie revocaveris ambo, deterior qui visus, eum, ne prodigus obsit, dede neci; melior vacua sine regnet in aula.
91Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens; nam duo sunt genera: hic melior, insignis et ore et rutilis clarus squamis, ille horridus alter desidia latamque trahens inglorius alvum. Ut binae regum facies, ita corpora plebis.
96Namque aliae turpes horrent, ceu pulvere ab alto cum venit et sicco terram spuit ore viator aridus; elucent aliae et fulgore coruscant ardentes auro et paribus lita corpora guttis. Haec potior suboles, hinc caeli tempore certo
101dulcia mella premes, nec tantum dulcia, quantum et liquida et durum Bacchi domitura saporem. At cum incerta volant caeloque examina ludunt contemnuntque favos et frigida tecta relinquunt, instabiles animos ludo prohibebis inani.
106Nec magnus prohibere labor: tu regibus alas eripe; non illis quisquam cunctantibus altum ire iter aut castris audebit vellere signa. Invitent croceis halantes floribus horti et custos furum atque avium cum falce saligna
111Hellespontiaci servet tutela Priapi. Ipse thymum pinosque ferens de montibus altis tecta serat late circum, cui talia curae; ipse labore manum duro terat, ipse feraces figat humo plantas et amicos inriget imbres.
116Atque equidem, extremo ni iam sub fine laborum vela traham et terris festinem advertere proram, forsitan et, pingues hortos quae cura colendi ornaret, canerem, biferique rosaria Paesti, quoque modo potis gauderent intiba rivis
121et virides apio ripae, tortusque per herbam cresceret in ventrem cucumis; nec sera comantem narcissum aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi pallentesque hederas et amantes litora myrtos. Namque sub Oebaliae memini me turribus arcis,
126qua niger umectat flaventia culta Galaesus, Corycium vidisse senem, cui pauca relicti iugera ruris erant, nec fertilis illa iuvencis nec pecori opportuna seges nec commoda Baccho. Hic rarum tamen in dumis olus albaque circum
131lilia verbenasque premens vescumque papaver regum aequabat opes animis seraque revertens nocte domum dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis. Primus vere rosam atque autumno carpere poma, et cum tristis hiems etiamnum frigore saxa
136rumperet et glacie cursus frenaret aquarum, ille comam mollis iam tondebat hyacinthi aestatem increpitans seram Zephyrosque morantes. Ergo apibus fetis idem atque examine multo primus abundare et spumantia cogere pressis
141mella favis; illi tiliae atque uberrima pinus, quotque in flore novo pomis se fertilis arbos induerat, totidem autumno matura tenebat. Ille etiam seras in versum distulit ulmos eduramque pirum et spinos iam pruna ferentes
146iamque ministrantem platanum potantibus umbras. Verum haec ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis praetereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo. Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Iuppiter ipse addidit, expediam, pro qua mercede canoros
151Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque aera secutae Dictaeo caeli regem pavere sub antro. Solae communes natos, consortia tecta urbis habent magnisque agitant sub legibus aevum, et patriam solae et certos novere penates,
156venturaeque hiemis memores aestate laborem experiuntur et in medium quaesita reponunt. Namque aliae victu invigilant et foedere pacto exercentur agris; pars intra saepta domorum Narcissi lacrimam et lentum de cortice gluten
161prima favis ponunt fundamina, deinde tenaces suspendunt ceras: aliae spem gentis adultos educunt fetus, aliae purissima mella stipant et liquido distendunt nectare cellas. Sunt quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti,
166inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila caeli aut onera accipiunt venientum aut agmine facto ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent. Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. ac veluti lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis
171cum properant, alii taurinis follibus auras accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt aera lacu; gemit impositis incudibus Aetna; illi inter sese magna vi bracchia tollunt in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe ferrum:
176non aliter, si parva licet componere magnis, Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi, munere quamque suo. Grandaevis oppida curae et munire favos et daedala fingere tecta. At fessae multa referunt se nocte minores,
181crura thymo plenae; pascuntur et arbuta passim et glaucas salices casiamque crocumque rubentem et pinguem tiliam et ferrugineos hyacinthos. Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus: mane ruunt portis; nusquam mora; rursus easdem
186vesper ubi e pastu tandem decedere campis admonuit, tum tecta petunt, tum corpora curant; fit sonitus, mussantque oras et limina circum. Post, ubi iam thalamis se composuere, siletur in noctem fessosque sopor suus occupat artus.
191Nec vero a stabulis pluvia impendente recedunt longius aut credunt caelo adventantibus Euris, sed circum tutae sub moenibus urbis aquantur, excursusque breves temptant et saepe lapillos, ut cumbae instabiles fluctu iactante saburram,
196tollunt, his sese per inania nubila librant. Illum adeo placuisse apibus mirabere morem, quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora segnes in Venerem solvunt aut fetus nixibus edunt: verum ipsae e foliis natos, e suavibus herbis
201ore legunt, ipsae regem parvosque Quirites sufficiunt aulasque et cerea regna refigunt. saepe etiam duris errando in cotibus alas attrivere ultroque animam sub fasce dedere: tantus amor florum et generandi gloria mellis.
206Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi excipiat, neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas, at genus immortale manet multosque per annos stat fortuna domus et avi numerantur avorum. Praeterea regem non sic Aegyptus et ingens
211Lydia nec populi Parthorum aut Medus Hydaspes observant. Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est; amisso rupere fidem constructaque mella diripuere ipsae et crates solvere favorum. Ille operum custos, illum admiruntur et omnes
216circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes et saepe attollunt umeris et corpora bello obiectant pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. His quidam signis atque haec exempla secuti esse apibus partem divinae mentis et haustus
221aetherios dixere; deum namque ire per omnes terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum. Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum, quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas; scilicet huc reddi deinde ac resoluta referri
226omnia nec morti esse locum, sed viva volare sideris in numerum atque alto succedere caelo. Si quando sedem angustam servataque mella thesauris relines, prius haustu sparsus aquarum ora fove fumosque manu praetende sequaces.
231Bis gravidos cogunt fetus, duo tempora messis, Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum Pleas et Oceani spretos pede reppulit amnes, aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi Piscis aquosi tristior hibernas caelo descendit in undas.
236Illis ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum morsibus inspirant et spicula caeca relinquunt adfixae venis animasque in vulnere ponunt. Sin duram metues hiemem parcesque futuro contunsosque animos et res miserabere fractas,
241at suffire thymo cerasque recidere inanes quis dubitet? nam saepe favos ignotus adedit stellio et lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus aut asper crabro imparibus se immiscuit armis,
246aut dirum tiniae genus, aut invisa Minervae laxos in foribus suspendit aranea casses. Quo magis exhaustae fuerint, hoc acrius omnes incumbent generis lapsi sarcire ruinas complebuntque foros et floribus horrea texent.
251Si vero, quoniam casus apibus quoque nostros vita tulit, tristi languebunt corpora morbo— quod iam non dubiis poteris cognoscere signis: continuo est aegris alius color, horrida vultum deformat macies, tum corpora luce carentum
256exportant tectis et tristia funera ducunt; aut illae pedibus conexae ad limina pendent, aut intus clausis cunctantur in aedibus, omnes ignavaeque fame et contracto frigore pigrae. Tum sonus auditur gravior, tractimque susurrant,
261frigidus ut quondam silvis immurmurat Auster, ut mare sollicitum stridit refluentibus undis, aestuat ut clausis rapidus fornacibus ignis: hic iam galbaneos suadebo incendere odores mellaque harundineis inferre canalibus, ultro
266hortantem et fessas ad pabula nota vocantem. Proderit et tunsum gallae admiscere saporem Arentesque rosas aut igni pinguia multo defruta vel psithia passos de vite racemos Cecropiumque thymum et grave olentia centaurea.
271Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello fecere agricolae, facilis quaerentibus herba; namque uno ingentem tollit de caespite silvam, aureus ipse, sed in foliis, quae plurima circum funduntur, violae sublucet purpura nigrae;
277asper in ore sapor; tonsis in vallibus illum pastores et curva legunt prope flumina Mellae. Huius odorato radices incoque Baccho pabulaque in foribus plenis adpone canistris. Sed siquem proles subito defecerit omnis,
282nec genus unde novae stirpis revocetur habebit, tempus et Arcadii memoranda inventa magistri pandere, quoque modo caesis iam saepe iuvencis insincerus apes tulerit cruor. Altius omnem expediam prima repetens ab origine famam.
287Nam qua Pellaei gens fortunata Canopi accolit effuso stagnantem flumine Nilum et circum pictis vehitur sua rura phaselis, quaque pharetratae vicinia Persidis urget, omnis in hac certam regio iacit arte salutem.
295Exiguus primum atque ipsos contractus in usus eligitur locus; hunc angustique imbrice tecti parietibusque premunt artis et quattuor addunt, quattuor a ventis obliqua luce fenestras. Tum vitulus bima curvans iam cornua fronte
300quaeritur; huic geminae nares et spiritus oris multa reluctanti obstruitur, plagisque perempto tunsa per integram solvuntur viscera pellem. Sic positum in clauso linquunt et ramea costis subiciunt fragmenta, thymum casiasque recentes.
305Hoc geritur Zephyris primum impellentibus undas, ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribus, ante garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo. Interea teneris tepefactus in ossibus umor aestuat et visenda modis animalia miris,
310trunca pedum primo, mox et stridentia pennis, miscentur tenuemque magis magis aera carpunt, donec, ut aestivis effusus nubibus imber, erupere aut ut nervo pulsante sagittae, prima leves ineunt si quando proelia Parthi.
315Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit artem? Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit? Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe, amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque, tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis
320multa querens atque hac adfatus voce parentem: “Mater, Cyrene mater, quae gurgitis huius ima tenes, quid me praeclara stirpe deorum, si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus Apollo, invisum fatis genuisti? aut quo tibi nostri
325pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas? En etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem, quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia sollers omnia temptanti extuderat, te matre relinquo. Quin age et ipsa manu felices erue silvas,
330fer stabulis inimicum ignem atque interfice messes, ure sata et validam in vites molire bipennem, tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis.” At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti sensit. Eam circum Milesia vellera Nymphae
335carpebant hyali saturo fucata colore, drymoque Xanthoque Ligeaque Phyllodoceque, caesariem effusae nitidam per candida colla, Nesaee Spioque Thaliaque Cymodoceque, Cydippeque et flava Lycorias, altera virgo,
340altera tum primos Lucinae experta labores, Clioque et Beroe soror, Oceanitides ambae, ambae auro, pictis incinctae pellibus ambae, atque Ephyre atque Opis et Asia Deiopea et tandem positis velox Arethusa sagittis.
345Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem Vulcani Martisque dolos et dulcia furta, aque Chao densos divum numerabat amores carmine quo captae dum fusis mollia pensa devolvunt, iterum maternas impulit aures
350luctus Aristaei, vitreisque sedilibus omnes obstipuere; sed ante alias Arethusa sorores prospiciens summa flavum caput extulit unda et procul: “O gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto, Cyrene soror, ipse tibi, tua maxima cura,
355tristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam stat lacrimans et te crudelem nomine dicit.” Huic percussa nova mentem formidine mater, “duc, age, duc ad nos; fas illi limina divum tangere,” ait. Simul alta iubet discedere late
360flumina, qua iuvenis gressus inferret. At illum curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda accepitque sinu vasto misitque sub amnem. Iamque domum mirans genetricis et umida regna speluncisque lacus clausos lucosque sonantes
365ibat et ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra spectabat diversa locis, Phasimque Lycumque et caput, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus unde pater Tiberinus et unde Aniena fluenta
370saxosusque sonans Hypanis Mysusque Caicus, et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta in mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis. Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta
375perventum et nati fletus cognovit inanes Cyrene, manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes germanae tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis; pars epulis onerant mensas et plena reponunt pocula, Panchaeis adolescunt ignibus arae;
380et mater, “Cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi: Oceano libemus,” ait. Simul ipsa precatur Oceanumque patrem rerum Nymphasque sorores centum quae silvas, centum quae flumina servant. Ter liquido ardentem perfundit nectare Vestam,
385ter flamma ad summum tecti subiecta reluxit. Omine quo firmans animum sic incipit ipsa: “Est in Carphatio Neptuni gurgite vates caeruleus Proteus, magnum qui piscibus aequor et iuncto bipedum curru metitur equorum.
390Hic nunc Emathiae portus patriamque revisit Pallenen, hunc et Nymphae veneramur et ipse grandaevus Nereus; novit namque omnia vates, quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur; quippe ita Neptuno visum est, immania cuius
395armenta et turpes pascit sub gurgite phocas. Hic tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus, ut omnem expediat morbi causam eventusque secundet. Nam sine vi non ulla dabit praecepta, neque illum orando flectes; vim duram et vincula capto
400tende; doli circum haec demum frangentur inanes. Ipsa ego, te, medios cum sol accenderit aestus, cum sitiunt herbae et pecori iam gratior umbra est, in secreta senis ducam, quo fessus ab undis se recipit, facile ut somno adgrediare iacentem.
405Verum ubi correptum manibus vinclisque tenebis, tum variae eludent species atque ora ferarum Fiet enim subito sus horridus atraque tigris squamosusque draco et fulva cervice leaena, aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit atque ita vinclis
410excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit. Sed quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes, tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla, donec talis erit mutato corpore, qualem videris, incepto tegeret cum lumina somno.”
415Haec ait et liquidum ambrosiae defundit odorem, quo totum nati corpus perduxit; at illi dulcis compositis spiravit crinibus aura atque habilis membris venit vigor. Est specus ingens exesi latere in montis, quo plurima vento
420cogitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos, deprensis olim statio tutissima nautis; intus se vasti Proteus tegit obice saxi. Hic iuvenem in latebris aversum a lumine Nympha collocat; ipsa procul nebulis obscura resistit.
425Iam rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos ardebat, caelo et medium sol igneus orbem hauserat; arebant herbae et cava flumina siccis faucibus ad limum radii tepefacta coquebant: cum Proteus consueta petens e fluctibus antra
430ibat; eum vasti circum gens umida ponti exsultans rorem late dispergit amarum. Sternunt se somno diversae in litore phocae. Ipse, velut stabuli custos in montibus olim, vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta reducit,
435auditisque lupos acuunt balatibus agni, considit scopulo medius numerumque recenset. Cuius Aristaeo quoniam est oblata facultas, vix defessa senem passus componere membra cum clamore ruit magno manicisque iacentem
440occupat. Ille suae contra non immemor artis omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum, ignemque horribilemque feram fluviumque liquentem. Verum ubi nulla fugam reperit fallacia, victus in sese redit atque hominis tandem ore locutus:
445“Nam quis te, iuvenum confidentissime, nostras iussit adire domos? Quidve hinc petis?” inquit. At ille: “Scis, Proteu, scis ipse; neque est te fallere quicquam sed tu desine velle. Deum praecepta secuti venimus hinc lapsis quaesitum oracula rebus.”
450Tantum effatus. Ad haec vates vi denique multa ardentes oculos intorsit lumine glauco et graviter frendens sic fatis ora resolvit. “Non te nullius exercent numinis irae; magna luis commissa: tibi has miserabilis Orpheus
455haudquaquam ob meritum poenas, ni fata resistant, suscitat et rapta graviter pro coniuge saevit. Illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps, immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba.
460At chorus aequalis Dryadum clamore supremos implerunt montes; flerunt Rhodopeiae arces altaque Pangaea et Rhesi mavortia tellus atque Getae atque Hebrus et Actias Orithyia. Ipse cava solans aegrum testudine amorem
465te, dulcis coniunx, te solo in litore secum, te veniente die, te decedente canebat. Taenarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis, et caligantem nigra formidine lucum ingressus manesque adiit regemque tremendum
470nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda. At cantu commotae Erebi de sedibus imis umbrae ibant tenues simulacraque luce carentum, quam multa in foliis avium se milia condunt vesper ubi aut hibernus agit de montibus imber,
475matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae, impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum, quos circum limus niger et deformis harundo Cocyti tardaque palus inamabilis unda
480alligat et noviens Styx interfusa coercet. Quin ipsae stupuere domus atque intima Leti tartara caeruleosque implexae crinibus angues Eumenides, tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis.
485Iamque pedem referens casus evaserat omnes; redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras, pone sequens, namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem, cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem, ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere manes.
490Restitit Eurydicenque suam iam luce sub ipsa immemor heu! victusque animi respexit. Ibi omnis effusus labor atque immitis rupta tyranni foedera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis. Illa, “Quis et me,” inquit, “miseram et te perdidit, Orpheu,
495quis tantus furor? En iterum crudelia retro Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus. Iamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte invalidasque tibi tendens, heu non tua, palmas!” dixit et ex oculis subito, ceu fumus in auras
500commixtus tenues, fugit diversa, neque illum, prensantem nequiquam umbras et multa volentem dicere, praeterea vidit, nec portitor Orci amplius obiectam passus transire paludem. Quid faceret? Quo se rapta bis coniuge ferret?
505Quo fletu Manis, quae numina voce moveret? Illa quidem Stygia nabat iam frigida cumba. Septem illum totos perhibent ex ordine menses rupe sub aeria deserti ad Strymonis undam flesse sibi et gelidis haec evolvisse sub antris
510mulcentem tigres et agentem carmine quercus; qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra amissos queritur fetus, quos durus arator observans nido implumes detraxit; at illa flet noctem ramoque sedens miserabile carmen
515integrat et maestis late loca questibus implet. Nulla Venus, non ulli animum flexere hymenaei. Solus Hyperboreas glacies Tanaimque nivalem arvaque Rhipaeis numquam viduata pruinis lustrabat raptam Eurydicen atque inrita Ditis
520dona querens; spretae Ciconum quo munere matres inter sacra deum nocturnique orgia Bacchi discerptum latos iuvenem sparsere per agros. Tum quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum gurgite cum medio portans Oeagrius Hebrus
525volveret, Eurydicen vox ipsa et frigida lingua “ah miseram Eurydicen!” anima fugiente vocabat: “Eurydicen” toto referebant flumine ripae.” Haec Proteus, et se iactu dedit aequor in altum, quaque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice torsit.
530At non Cyrene; namque ultro adfata timentem: “Nate, licet tristes animo deponere curas. Haec omnis morbi causa; hinc miserabile Nymphae, cum quibus illa choros lucis agitabat in altis, exitium misere apibus. Tu munera supplex
535tende petens pacem et faciles venerare Napaeas; namque dabunt veniam votis irasque remittent. Sed modus orandi qui sit, prius ordine dicam. Quattuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros, qui tibi nunc viridis depascunt summa Lycaei,
540delige et intacta totidem cervice iuvencas. Quattuor his aras alta ad delubra dearum constitue et sacrum iugulis demitte cruorem, corporaque ipsa boum frondoso desere luco. Post, ubi nona suos Aurora ostenderit ortus,
545inferias Orphei Lethaea papavera mittes et nigram mactabis ovem lucumque revises: placatam Eurydicen vitula venerabere caesa.” Haud mora; continuo matris praecepta facessit; ad delubra venit, monstratas excitat aras,
550quattuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros ducit et intacta totidem cervice iuvencas. Post, ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus, inferias Orphei mittit lucumque revisit. Hic vero subitum ac dictu mirabile monstrum
555adspiciunt, liquefacta boum per viscera toto stridere apes utero et ruptis effervere costis, immensasque trahi nubes, iamque arbore summa confluere et lentis uvam demittere ramis. Haec super arvorum cultu pecorumque canebam
560et super arboribus, Caesar dum magnus ad altum fulminat Euphraten bello victorque volentes per populos dat iura viamque adfectat Olympo. Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti,
565carmina qui lusi pastorum audaxque iuventa, Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi.
Book 1
1Quid faciat laetas segetes, quo sidere terram vertere, Maecenas, ulmisque adiungere vitis conveniat, quae cura boum, qui cultus habendo sit pecori, apibus quanta experientia parcis, hinc canere incipiam. Vos, o clarissima mundi
6lumina, labentem caelo quae ducitis annum, Liber et alma Ceres, vestro si munere tellus Chaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista, poculaque inventis Acheloia miscuit uvis; et vos, agrestum praesentia numina, Fauni,
11ferte simul Faunique pedem Dryadesque puellae: Munera vestra cano. Tuque o, cui prima frementem fudit equum magno tellus percussa tridenti, Neptune; et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia Ceae ter centum nivei tondent dumeta iuvenci;
16ipse nemus linquens patrium saltusque Lycaei, Pan, ovium custos, tua si tibi Maenala curae, adsis, o Tegeaee, favens, oleaeque Minerva inventrix, uncique puer monstrator aratri, et teneram ab radice ferens, Silvane, cupressum,
21dique deaeque omnes, studium quibus arva tueri, quique novas alitis non ullo semine fruges, quique satis largum caelo demittitis imbrem; tuque adeo, quem mox quae sint habitura deorum concilia, incertum est, urbisne invisere, Caesar,
26terrarumque velis curam et te maximus orbis auctorem frugum tempestatumque potentem accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto, an deus inmensi venias maris ac tua nautae numina sola colant, tibi serviat ultima Thule
31teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis, anne novum tardis sidus te mensibus addas, qua locus Erigonen inter Chelasque sequentis panditur—ipse tibi iam bracchia contrahit ardens Scorpius et caeli iusta plus parte reliquit—
36quidquid eris,—nam te nec sperant Tartara regem nec tibi regnandi veniat tam dira cupido, quamvis Elysios miretur Graecia campos nec repetita sequi curet Proserpina matrem— da facilem cursum atque audacibus adnue coeptis
41ignarosque viae mecum miseratus agrestis ingredere et votis iam nunc adsuesce vocari. Vere novo, gelidus canis cum montibus humor liquitur et Zephyro putris se glaeba resolvit, depresso incipiat iam tum mihi taurus aratro
46ingemere et sulco attritus splendescere vomer. Illa seges demum votis respondet avari agricolae, bis quae solem, bis frigora sensit; illius inmensae ruperunt horrea messes. At prius ignotum ferro quam scindimus aequor,
51ventos et varium caeli praediscere morem cura sit ac patrios cultusque habitusque locorum et quid quaeque ferat regio et quid quaeque recuset. Hic segetes, illic veniunt felicius uvae, arborei fetus alibi, atque iniussa virescunt
56gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores, India mittit ebur, molles sua tura Sabaei, at Chalybes nudi ferrum, virosaque Pontus castorea, Eliadum palmas Epiros equarum. Continuo has leges aeternaque foedera certis
61inposuit natura locis, quo tempore primum Deucalion vacuum lapides iactavit in orbem, unde homines nati, durum genus. Ergo age, terrae pingue solum primis extemplo a mensibus anni fortes invertant tauri glaebasque iacentis
66pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus aestas; at si non fuerit tellus fecunda, sub ipsum Arcturum tenui sat erit suspendere sulco: illic, officiant laetis ne frugibus herbae, hic, sterilem exiguus ne deserat humor harenam.
71Alternis idem tonsas cessare novalis et segnem patiere situ durescere campum; aut ibi flava seres mutato sidere farra, unde prius laetum siliqua quassante legumen aut tenuis fetus viciae tristisque lupini
76sustuleris fragilis calamos silvamque sonantem. Urit enim lini campum seges, urit avenae, urunt Lethaeo perfusa papavera somno: sed tamen alternis facilis labor, arida tantum ne saturare fimo pingui pudeat sola neve
81effetos cinerem inmundum iactare per agros. Sic quoque mutatis requiescunt fetibus arva; nec nulla interea est inaratae gratia terrae. Saepe etiam sterilis incendere profuit agros atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis:
86sive inde occultas viris et pabula terrae pinguia concipiunt, sive illis omne per ignem excoquitur vitium atque exsudat inutilis humor, seu pluris calor ille vias et caeca relaxat spiramenta, novas veniat qua sucus in herbas,
91seu durat magis et venas adstringit hiantis, ne tenues pluviae rapidive potentia solis acrior aut Boreae penetrabile frigus adurat. Multum adeo, rastris glaebas qui frangit inertis vimineasque trahit cratis, iuvat arva, neque illum
96flava Ceres alto nequiquam spectat Olympo; et qui, proscisso quae suscitat aequore terga, rursus in obliquum verso perrumpit aratro, exercetque frequens tellurem atque imperat arvis. Humida solstitia atque hiemes orate serenas,
101agricolae; hiberno laetissima pulvere farra, laetus ager: nullo tantum se Mysia cultu iactat et ipsa suas mirantur Gargara messis. Quid dicam, iacto qui semine comminus arva insequitur cumulosque ruit male pinguis harenae
106deinde satis fluvium inducit rivosque sequentis et, cum exustus ager morientibus aestuat herbis, ecce supercilio clivosi tramitis undam elicit. illa cadens raucum per levia murmur saxa ciet, scatebrisque arentia temperat arva.
111Quid qui, ne gravidis procumbat culmus aristis, luxuriem segetum tenera depascit in herba, cum primum sulcos aequant sata. quique paludis collectum humorem bibula deducit harena. Praesertim incertis si mensibus amnis abundans
116exit et obducto late tenet omnia limo, unde cavae tepido sudant humore lacunae. Nec tamen, haec cum sint hominumque boumque labores versando terram experti, nihil inprobus anser Strymoniaeque grues et amaris intiba fibris
121officiunt aut umbra nocet. Pater ipse colendi haud facilem esse viam voluit, primusque per artem movit agros curis acuens mortalia corda nec torpere gravi passus sua regna veterno. Ante Iovem nulli subigebant arva coloni;
126ne signare quidem aut partiri limite campum fas erat: in medium quaerebant ipsaque tellus omnia liberius nullo poscente ferebat. Ille malum virus serpentibus addidit atris praedarique lupos iussit pontumque moveri,
131mellaque decussit foliis ignemque removit et passim rivis currentia vina repressit, ut varias usus meditando extunderet artis paulatim et sulcis frumenti quaereret herbam. Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas;
137navita tum stellis numeros et nomina fecit, Pleiadas, Hyadas, claramque Lycaonis Arcton; tum laqueis captare feras et fallere visco inventum et magnos canibus circumdare saltus; atque alius latum funda iam verberat amnem
142alta petens, pelagoque alius trahit humida lina; tum ferri rigor atque argutae lamina serrae,— nam primi cuneis scindebant fissile lignum tum variae venere artes. Labor omnia vicit inprobus et duris urgens in rebus egestas.
147Prima Ceres ferro mortalis vertere terram instituit, cum iam glandes atque arbuta sacrae deficerent silvae et victum Dodona negaret. Mox et frumentis labor additus, ut mala culmos esset robigo segnisque horreret in arvis
152carduus; intereunt segetes, subit aspera silva, lappaeque tribolique, interque nitentia culta infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenae. Quod nisi et adsiduis herbam insectabere rastris, et sonitu terrebis aves, et ruris opaci
157falce premes umbras votisque vocaveris imbrem, heu magnum alterius frustra spectabis acervum, concussaque famem in silvis solabere quercu. Dicendum et, quae sint duris agrestibus arma, quis sine nec potuere seri nec surgere messes:
162vomis et inflexi primum grave robur aratri tardaque Eleusinae matris volventia plaustra tribulaque traheaeque et iniquo pondere rastri; virgea praeterea Celei vilisque supellex, arbuteae crates et mystica vannus Iacchi.
167Omnia quae multo ante memor provisa repones, si te digna manet divini gloria ruris. Continuo in silvis magna vi flexa domatur in burim et curvi formam accipit ulmus aratri. Huic a stirpe pedes temo protentus in octo,
172binae aures, duplici aptantur dentalia dorso caeditur et tilia ante iugo levis altaque fagus, stivaque, quae currus a tergo torqueat imos, et suspensa focis explorat robora fumus. Possum multa tibi veterum praecepta referre,
177ni refugis tenuisque piget cognoscere curas. Area cum primis ingenti aequanda cylindro et vertenda manu et creta solidanda tenaci, ne subeant herbae neu pulvere victa fatiscat, tum variae inludant pestes: saepe exiguus mus
182sub terris posuitque domos atque horrea fecit, aut oculis capti fodere cubilia talpae, inventusque cavis bufo et quae plurima terrae monstra ferunt, populatque ingentem farris acervum curculio atque inopi metuens formica senectae.
187Contemplator item, cum se nux plurima silvis induet in florem et ramos curvabit olentis. Si superant fetus, pariter frumenta sequentur magnaque cum magno veniet tritura calore; at si luxuria foliorum exuberat umbra,
192nequiquam pinguis palea teret area culmos. Semina vidi equidem multos medicare serentis et nitro prius et nigra perfundere amurca, grandior ut fetus siliquis fallacibus esset, et, quamvis igni exiguo, properata maderent.
197Vidi lecta diu et multo spectata labore degenerare tamen, ni vis humana quot annis maxima quaeque manu legeret. Sic omnia fatis in peius ruere ac retro sublapsa referri, non aliter, quam qui adverso vix flumine lembum
202remigiis subigit, si bracchia forte remisit, atque illum in praeceps prono rapit alveus amni. Praeterea tam sunt Arcturi sidera nobis Haedorumque dies servandi et lucidus Anguis, quam quibus in patriam ventosa per aequora vectis
207pontus et ostriferi fauces temptantur Abydi. Libra die somnique pares ubi fecerit horas et medium luci atque umbris iam dividit orbem, exercete, viri, tauros, serite hordea campis usque sub extremum brumae intractabilis imbrem;
212nec non et lini segetem et Cereale papaver tempus humo tegere et iamdudum incumbere aratris, dum sicca tellure licet, dum nubila pendent. Vere fabis satio; tum te quoque, Medica, putres accipiunt sulci et milio venit annua cura,
217candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum Taurus et averso cedens Canis occidit astro. At si triticeam in messem robustaque farra exercebis humum solisque instabis aristis, ante tibi Eoae Atlantides abscondantur
222Gnosiaque ardentis decedat stella Coronae, debita quam sulcis committas semina quamque invitae properes anni spem credere terrae. Multi ante occasum Maiae coepere; sed illos exspectata seges vanis elusit avenis.
227Si vero viciamque seres vilemque phaselum nec Pelusiacae curam aspernabere lentis, haud obscura cadens mittet tibi signa Bootes: incipe et ad medias sementem extende pruinas. Idcirco certis dimensum partibus orbem
232per duodena regit mundi Sol aureus astra. Quinque tenent caelum zonae; quarum una corusco semper sole rubens et torrida semper ab igni; quam circum extremae dextra laevaque trahuntur caeruleae, glacie concretae atque imbribus atris;
237has inter mediamque duae mortalibus aegris munere concessae divom, et via secta per ambas, obliquus qua se signorum verteret ordo. Mundus, ut ad Scythiam Rhipaeasque arduus arces consurgit, premitur Libyae devexus in austros.
242Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis; at illum sub pedibus Styx atra videt Manesque profundi. Maximus hic flexu sinuoso elabitur Anguis circum perque duas in morem fluminis Arctos, Arctos Oceani metuentis aequore tingui.
247Illic, ut perhibent, aut intempesta silet nox, semper et obtenta densentur nocte tenebrae, aut redit a nobis Aurora diemque reducit; nosque ubi primus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis, illic, sera rubens accendit lumina Vesper.
252Hinc tempestates dubio praediscere caelo possumus, hinc messisque diem tempusque serendi, et quando infidum remis inpellere marmor conveniat, quando armatas deducere classis, aut tempestivam silvis evertere pinum.
257Nec frustra signorum obitus speculamur et ortus, temporibusque parem diversis quattuor annum. Frigidus agricolam si quando continet imber, multa, forent quae mox caelo properanda sereno, maturare datur: durum procudit arator
262vomeris obtunsi dentem, cavat arbore lintres, aut pecori signum aut numeros inpressit acervis. Exacuunt alii vallos furcasque bicornis atque Amerina parant lentae retinacula viti. Nunc facilis rubea texatur fiscina virga,
267nunc torrete igni fruges, nunc frangite saxo. Quippe etiam festis quaedam exercere diebus fas et iura sinunt; rivos deducere nulla religio vetuit, segeti praetendere saepem, insidias avibus moliri, incendere vepres,
272balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri. Saepe oleo tardi costas agitator aselli vilibus aut onerat pomis, lapidemque revertens incusum aut atrae massam picis urbe reportat. Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna
277felicis operum. Quintam fuge: pallidus Orcus Eumenidesque satae; tum partu Terra nefando Coeumque Iapetumque creat saevumque Typhoea et coniuratos caelum rescindere fratres. Ter sunt conati inponere Pelio Ossam
282scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum; ter pater exstructos disiecit fulmine montis. Septima post decimam felix et ponere vitem et prensos domitare boves et licia telae addere: nona fugae melior, contraria furtis.
287Multa adeo gelida melius se nocte dedere, aut cum sole novo terras inrorat Eous. Nocte leves melius stipulae, nocte arida prata tondentur, noctes lentus non deficit humor. Et quidam seros hiberni ad luminis ignis
292pervigilat ferroque faces inspicat acuto; interea longum cantu solata laborem arguto coniunx percurrit pectine telas, aut dulcis musti Volcano decoquit humorem et foliis undam trepidi despumat aeni.
297At rubicunda Ceres medio succiditur aestu et medio tostas aestu terit area fruges. Nudus ara, sere nudus; hiems ignava colono. Frigoribus parto agricolae plerumque fruuntur mutuaque inter se laeti convivia curant.
302Invitat genialis hiems curasque resolvit, ceu pressae cum iam portum tetigere carinae, puppibus et laeti nautae inposuere coronas. Sed tamen et quernas glandes tum stringere tempus et lauri bacas oleamque cruentaque myrta,
307tum gruibus pedicas et retia ponere cervis auritosque sequi lepores, tum figere dammas, stuppea torquentem Balearis verbera fundae, cum nix alta iacet, glaciem cum flumina trudunt. Quid tempestates autumni et sidera dicam,
312atque, ubi iam breviorque dies et mollior aestas, quae vigilanda viris. vel cum ruit imbriferum ver, spicea iam campis cum messis inhorruit et cum frumenta in viridi stipula lactentia turgent. Saepe ego, cum flavis messorem induceret arvis
317agricola et fragili iam stringeret hordea culmo, omnia ventorum concurrere proelia vidi, quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus imis sublimem expulsam eruerent; ita turbine nigro ferret hiems culmumque levem stipulasque volantis.
322Saepe etiam inmensum caelo venit agmen aquarum et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris collectae ex alto nubes; ruit arduus aether et pluvia ingenti sata laeta boumque labores diluit; inplentur fossae et cava flumina crescunt
327cum sonitu fervetque fretis spirantibus aequor. Ipse pater media nimborum in nocte corusca fulmina molitur dextra; quo maxuma motu terra tremit; fugere ferae et mortalia corda per gentis humilis stravit pavor; ille flagranti
332aut Athon aut Rhodopen aut alta Ceraunia telo deicit; ingeminant austri et densissimus imber; nunc nemora ingenti vento, nunc litora plangunt. Hoc metuens caeli menses et sidera serva, frigida Saturni sese quo stella receptet,
337quos ignis caelo Cyllenius erret in orbis. In primis venerare deos atque annua magnae sacra refer Cereri laetis operatus in herbis extremae sub casum hiemis, iam vere sereno. Tum pingues agni et tum mollissima vina,
342tum somni dulces densaeque in montibus umbrae. Cuncta tibi Cererem pubes agrestis adoret; cui tu lacte favos et miti dilue Baccho, terque novas circum felix eat hostia fruges, omnis quam chorus et socii comitentur ovantes,
347et Cererem clamore vocent in tecta; neque ante falcem maturis quisquam supponat aristis, quam Cereri torta redimitus tempora quercu det motus incompositos et carmina dicat. Atque haec ut certis possemus discere signis,
352aestusque pluviasque et agentis frigora ventos, ipse Pater statuit, quid menstrua Luna moneret, quo signo caderent austri, quid saepe videntes agricolae propius stabulis armenta tenerent. Continuo ventis surgentibus aut freta ponti
357incipiunt agitata tumescere et aridus altis montibus audiri fragor aut resonantia longe litora misceri et nemorum increbrescere murmur. Iam sibi tum a curvis male temperat unda carinis, cum medio celeres revolant ex aequore mergi
362clamoremque ferunt ad litora, cumque marinae in sicco ludunt fulicae notasque paludes deserit atque altam supra volat ardea nubem. Saepe etiam stellas vento inpendente videbis praecipitis caelo labi noctisque per umbram
367flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus; saepe levem paleam et frondes volitare caducas aut summa nantis in aqua colludere plumas. At Boreae de parte trucis cum fulminat et cum Eurique Zephyrique tonat domus: omnia plenis
372rura natant fossis atque omnis navita ponto humida vela legit. Numquam inprudentibus imber obfuit: aut illum surgentem vallibus imis aëriae fugere grues, aut bucula caelum suspiciens patulis captavit naribus auras,
377aut arguta lacus circumvolitavit hirundo et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querelam. Saepius et tectis penetralibus extulit ova angustum formica terens iter et bibit ingens arcus et e pastu decedens agmine magno
382corvorum increpuit densis exercitus alis. Iam variae pelagi volucres et quae Asia circum dulcibus in stagnis rimantur prata Caystri, certatim largos umeris infundere rores: nunc caput obiectare fretis, nunc currere in undas
387et studio incassum videas gestire lavandi. Tum cornix plena pluviam vocat inproba voce et sola in sicca secum spatiatur harena. Ne nocturna quidem carpentes pensa puellae nescivere hiemem, testa cum ardente viderent
392scintillare oleum et putris concrescere fungos. Nec minus ex imbri soles et aperta serena prospicere et certis poteris cognoscere signis: nam neque tum stellis acies obtunsa videtur, nec fratris radiis obnoxia surgere Luna,
397tenuia nec lanae per caelum vellera ferri; non tepidum ad solem pinnas in litore pandunt dilectae Thetidi alcyones, non ore solutos inmundi meminere sues iactare maniplos. At nebulae magis ima petunt campoque recumbunt,
402solis et occasum servans de culmine summo nequiquam seros exercet noctua cantus. Adparet liquido sublimis in aëre Nisus et pro purpureo poenas dat Scylla capillo: quacumque illa levem fugiens secat aethera pinnis,
407ecce inimicus, atrox, magno stridore per auras insequitur Nisus; qua se fert Nisus ad auras, illa levem fugiens raptim secat aethera pinnis Tum liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces aut quater ingeminant, et saepe cubilibus altis
412nescio qua praeter solitum dulcedine laeti inter se in foliis strepitant; iuvat imbribus actis progeniem parvam dulcisque revisere nidos; haud equidem credo, quia sit divinitus illis ingenium aut rerum fato prudentia maior;
417verum ubi tempestas et caeli mobilis humor mutavere vias et Iuppiter uvidus austris denset, erant quae rara modo, et, quae densa, relaxat, vertuntur species animorum et pectora motus nunc alios, alios, dum nubila ventus agebat,
422concipiunt: hinc ille avium concentus in agris et laetae pecudes et ovantes gutture corvi. Si vero solem ad rapidum lunasque sequentis ordine respicies, numquam te crastina fallet hora neque insidiis noctis capiere serenae.
427Luna, revertentis cum primum colligit ignis, si nigrum obscuro conprenderit aera cornu, maxumus agricolis pelagoque parabitur imber; at si virgineum suffuderit ore ruborem, ventus erit; vento semper rubet aurea Phoebe.
432Sin ortu quarto, namque is certissimus auctor, pura neque obtunsis per caelum cornibus ibit, totus et ille dies et qui nascentur ab illo exactum ad mensem pluvia ventisque carebunt, votaque servati solvent in litore nautae
437Glauco et Panopeae et Inoo Melicertae. Sol quoque et exoriens et cum se condet in undas signa dabit; solem certissima signa sequuntur, et quae mane refert et quae surgentibus astris. Ille ubi nascentem maculis variaverit ortum
442conditus in nubem medioque refugerit orbe, suspecti tibi sint imbres; namque urget ab alto arboribusque satisque Notus pecorique sinister. Aut ubi sub lucem densa inter nubila sese diversi rumpent radii aut ubi pallida surget
447Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile, heu male tum mitis defendet pampinus uvas: tam multa in tectis crepitans salit horrida grando. Hoc etiam, emenso cum iam decedit Olympo, profuerit meminisse magis; nam saepe videmus
452ipsius in voltu varios errare colores: caeruleus pluviam denuntiat, igneus Euros; sin maculae incipient rutilo inmiscerier igni, omnia tum pariter vento nimbisque videbis fervere. Non illa quisquam me nocte per altum
457ire, neque a terra moneat convellere funem. At si, cum referetque diem condetque relatum, lucidus orbis erit, frustra terrebere nimbis et claro silvas cernes Aquilone moveri. Denique quid vesper serus vehat, unde serenas
462ventus agat nubes, quid cogitet humidus Auster, sol tibi signa dabit. Solem quis dicere falsum audeat. Ille etiam caecos instare tumultus saepe monet fraudemque et operta tumescere bella. Ille etiam exstincto miseratus Caesare Romam,
467cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit inpiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem. Tempore quamquam illo tellus quoque et aequora ponti obscenaeque canes inportunaeque volucres signa dabant. Quotiens Cyclopum effervere in agros
472vidimus undantem ruptis fornacibus Aetnam flammarumque globos liquefactaque volvere saxa! Armorum sonitum toto Germania caelo audiit, insolitis tremuerunt motibus Alpes. Vox quoque per lucos volgo exaudita silentis
477ingens et simulacra modis pallentia miris visa sub obscurum noctis, pecudesque locutae, infandum! sistunt amnes terraeque dehiscunt et maestum inlacrimat templis ebur aeraque sudant. Proluit insano contorquens vertice silvas
482fluviorum rex Eridanus camposque per omnis cum stabulis armenta tulit. Nec tempore eodem tristibus aut extis fibrae adparere minaces aut puteis manare cruor cessavit et altae per noctem resonare lupis ululantibus urbes.
487Non alias caelo ceciderunt plura sereno fulgura nec diri totiens arsere cometae. ergo inter sese paribus concurrere telis Romanas acies iterum videre Philippi; nec fuit indignum superis, bis sanguine nostro
492Emathiam et latos Haemi pinguescere campos. Scilicet et tempus veniet, cum finibus illis agricola incurvo terram molitus aratro exesa inveniet scabra robigine pila aut gravibus rastris galeas pulsabit inanis
497grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. Di patrii, Indigetes, et Romule Vestaque mater, quae Tuscum Tiberim et Romana Palatia servas, hunc saltem everso iuvenem succurrere saeclo ne prohibete! Satis iam pridem sanguine nostro
502Laomedonteae luimus periuria Troiae; iam pridem nobis caeli te regia, Caesar, invidet atque hominum queritur curare triumphos; quippe ubi fas versum atque nefas: tot bella per orbem, tam multae scelerum facies; non ullus aratro
507dignus honos, squalent abductis arva colonis et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in ensem. Hinc movet Euphrates, illinc Germania bellum; vicinae ruptis inter se legibus urbes arma ferunt; saevit toto Mars inpius orbe;
512ut cum carceribus sese effudere quadrigae, addunt in spatia et frustra retinacula tendens fertur equis auriga neque audit currus habenas.
Book 1
1What makes the cornfield smile; beneath what star Maecenas, it is meet to turn the sod Or marry elm with vine; how tend the steer; What pains for cattle-keeping, or what proof Of patient trial serves for thrifty bees;—
6Such are my themes. O universal lights Most glorious! ye that lead the gliding year Along the sky, Liber and Ceres mild, If by your bounty holpen earth once changed Chaonian acorn for the plump wheat-ear,
11And mingled with the grape, your new-found gift, The draughts of Achelous; and ye Fauns To rustics ever kind, come foot it, Fauns And Dryad-maids together; your gifts I sing. And thou, for whose delight the war-horse first
16Sprang from earth's womb at thy great trident's stroke, Neptune; and haunter of the groves, for whom Three hundred snow-white heifers browse the brakes, The fertile brakes of Ceos; and clothed in power, Thy native forest and Lycean lawns,
21Pan, shepherd-god, forsaking, as the love Of thine own Maenalus constrains thee, hear And help, O lord of Tegea! And thou, too, Minerva, from whose hand the olive sprung; And boy-discoverer of the curved plough;
26And, bearing a young cypress root-uptorn, Silvanus, and Gods all and Goddesses, Who make the fields your care, both ye who nurse The tender unsown increase, and from heaven Shed on man's sowing the riches of your rain:
31And thou, even thou, of whom we know not yet What mansion of the skies shall hold thee soon, Whether to watch o'er cities be thy will, Great Caesar, and to take the earth in charge, That so the mighty world may welcome thee
36Lord of her increase, master of her times, Binding thy mother's myrtle round thy brow, Or as the boundless ocean's God thou come, Sole dread of seamen, till far Thule bow Before thee, and Tethys win thee to her son
41With all her waves for dower; or as a star Lend thy fresh beams our lagging months to cheer, Where 'twixt the Maid and those pursuing Claws A space is opening; see! red Scorpio's self His arms draws in, yea, and hath left thee more
46Than thy full meed of heaven: be what thou wilt— For neither Tartarus hopes to call thee king, Nor may so dire a lust of sovereignty E'er light upon thee, howso Greece admire Elysium's fields, and Proserpine not heed
51Her mother's voice entreating to return— Vouchsafe a prosperous voyage, and smile on this My bold endeavour, and pitying, even as I, These poor way-wildered swains, at once begin, Grow timely used unto the voice of prayer.
56In early spring-tide, when the icy drip Melts from the mountains hoar, and Zephyr's breath Unbinds the crumbling clod, even then 'tis time; Press deep your plough behind the groaning ox, And teach the furrow-burnished share to shine.
61That land the craving farmer's prayer fulfils, Which twice the sunshine, twice the frost has felt; Ay, that's the land whose boundless harvest-crops Burst, see! the barns. But ere our metal cleave An unknown surface, heed we to forelearn
66The winds and varying temper of the sky, The lineal tilth and habits of the spot, What every region yields, and what denies. Here blithelier springs the corn, and here the grape, There earth is green with tender growth of trees
71And grass unbidden. See how from Tmolus comes The saffron's fragrance, ivory from Ind, From Saba's weakling sons their frankincense, Iron from the naked Chalybs, castor rank From Pontus, from Epirus the prize-palms
76O' the mares of Elis. Such the eternal bond And such the laws by Nature's hand imposed On clime and clime, e'er since the primal dawn When old Deucalion on the unpeopled earth Cast stones, whence men, a flinty race, were reared.
81Up then! if fat the soil, let sturdy bulls Upturn it from the year's first opening months, And let the clods lie bare till baked to dust By the ripe suns of summer; but if the earth Less fruitful just ere Arcturus rise
86With shallower trench uptilt it—'twill suffice; There, lest weeds choke the crop's luxuriance, here, Lest the scant moisture fail the barren sand. Then thou shalt suffer in alternate years The new-reaped fields to rest, and on the plain
91A crust of sloth to harden; or, when stars Are changed in heaven, there sow the golden grain Where erst, luxuriant with its quivering pod, Pulse, or the slender vetch-crop, thou hast cleared, And lupin sour, whose brittle stalks arise,
96A hurtling forest. For the plain is parched By flax-crop, parched by oats, by poppies parched In Lethe-slumber drenched. Nathless by change The travailing earth is lightened, but stint not With refuse rich to soak the thirsty soil,
101And shower foul ashes o'er the exhausted fields. Thus by rotation like repose is gained, Nor earth meanwhile uneared and thankless left. Oft, too, 'twill boot to fire the naked fields, And the light stubble burn with crackling flames;
106Whether that earth therefrom some hidden strength And fattening food derives, or that the fire Bakes every blemish out, and sweats away Each useless humour, or that the heat unlocks New passages and secret pores, whereby
111Their life-juice to the tender blades may win; Or that it hardens more and helps to bind The gaping veins, lest penetrating showers, Or fierce sun's ravening might, or searching blast Of the keen north should sear them. Well, I wot,
116He serves the fields who with his harrow breaks The sluggish clods, and hurdles osier-twined Hales o'er them; from the far Olympian height Him golden Ceres not in vain regards; And he, who having ploughed the fallow plain
121And heaved its furrowy ridges, turns once more Cross-wise his shattering share, with stroke on stroke The earth assails, and makes the field his thrall. Pray for wet summers and for winters fine, Ye husbandmen; in winter's dust the crops
126Exceedingly rejoice, the field hath joy; No tilth makes Mysia lift her head so high, Nor Gargarus his own harvests so admire. Why tell of him, who, having launched his seed, Sets on for close encounter, and rakes smooth
131The dry dust hillocks, then on the tender corn Lets in the flood, whose waters follow fain; And when the parched field quivers, and all the blades Are dying, from the brow of its hill-bed, See! see! he lures the runnel; down it falls,
136Waking hoarse murmurs o'er the polished stones, And with its bubblings slakes the thirsty fields? Or why of him, who lest the heavy ears O'erweigh the stalk, while yet in tender blade Feeds down the crop's luxuriance, when its growth
141First tops the furrows? Why of him who drains The marsh-land's gathered ooze through soaking sand, Chiefly what time in treacherous moons a stream Goes out in spate, and with its coat of slime Holds all the country, whence the hollow dykes
146Sweat steaming vapour? But no whit the more For all expedients tried and travail borne By man and beast in turning oft the soil, Do greedy goose and Strymon-haunting cranes
151And succory's bitter fibres cease to harm, Or shade not injure. The great Sire himself No easy road to husbandry assigned, And first was he by human skill to rouse The slumbering glebe, whetting the minds of men
156With care on care, nor suffering realm of his In drowsy sloth to stagnate. Before Jove Fields knew no taming hand of husbandmen; To mark the plain or mete with boundary-line— Even this was impious; for the common stock
161They gathered, and the earth of her own will All things more freely, no man bidding, bore. He to black serpents gave their venom-bane, And bade the wolf go prowl, and ocean toss; Shooed from the leaves their honey, put fire away,
166And curbed the random rivers running wine, That use by gradual dint of thought on thought Might forge the various arts, with furrow's help The corn-blade win, and strike out hidden fire From the flint's heart. Then first the streams were ware
171Of hollowed alder-hulls: the sailor then Their names and numbers gave to star and star, Pleiads and Hyads, and Lycaon's child Bright Arctos; how with nooses then was found To catch wild beasts, and cozen them with lime,
176And hem with hounds the mighty forest-glades. Soon one with hand-net scourges the broad stream, Probing its depths, one drags his dripping toils Along the main; then iron's unbending might, And shrieking saw-blade,—for the men of old
181With wedges wont to cleave the splintering log;— Then divers arts arose; toil conquered all, Remorseless toil, and poverty's shrewd push In times of hardship. Ceres was the first Set mortals on with tools to turn the sod,
186When now the awful groves 'gan fail to bear Acorns and arbutes, and her wonted food Dodona gave no more. Soon, too, the corn Gat sorrow's increase, that an evil blight Ate up the stalks, and thistle reared his spines
191An idler in the fields; the crops die down; Upsprings instead a shaggy growth of burrs And caltrops; and amid the corn-fields trim Unfruitful darnel and wild oats have sway. Wherefore, unless thou shalt with ceaseless rake
196The weeds pursue, with shouting scare the birds, Prune with thy hook the dark field's matted shade, Pray down the showers, all vainly thou shalt eye, Alack! thy neighbour's heaped-up harvest-mow, And in the greenwood from a shaken oak
201Seek solace for thine hunger. Now to tell The sturdy rustics' weapons, what they are, Without which, neither can be sown nor reared The fruits of harvest; first the bent plough's share
206And heavy timber, and slow-lumbering wains Of the Eleusinian mother, threshing-sleighs And drags, and harrows with their crushing weight; Then the cheap wicker-ware of Celeus old, Hurdles of arbute, and thy mystic fan,
211Iacchus; which, full tale, long ere the time Thou must with heed lay by, if thee await Not all unearned the country's crown divine. While yet within the woods, the elm is tamed And bowed with mighty force to form the stock,
216And take the plough's curved shape, then nigh the root A pole eight feet projecting, earth-boards twain, And share-beam with its double back they fix. For yoke is early hewn a linden light, And a tall beech for handle, from behind
221To turn the car at lowest: then o'er the hearth The wood they hang till the smoke knows it well. Many the precepts of the men of old I can recount thee, so thou start not back, And such slight cares to learn not weary thee.
226And this among the first: thy threshing-floor With ponderous roller must be levelled smooth, And wrought by hand, and fixed with binding chalk, Lest weeds arise, or dust a passage win Splitting the surface, then a thousand plagues
231Make sport of it: oft builds the tiny mouse Her home, and plants her granary, underground, Or burrow for their bed the purblind moles, Or toad is found in hollows, and all the swarm Of earth's unsightly creatures; or a huge
236Corn-heap the weevil plunders, and the ant, Fearful of coming age and penury. Mark too, what time the walnut in the woods With ample bloom shall clothe her, and bow down Her odorous branches, if the fruit prevail,
241Like store of grain will follow, and there shall come A mighty winnowing-time with mighty heat; But if the shade with wealth of leaves abound, Vainly your threshing-floor will bruise the stalks Rich but in chaff. Many myself have seen
246Steep, as they sow, their pulse-seeds, drenching them With nitre and black oil-lees, that the fruit Might swell within the treacherous pods, and they Make speed to boil at howso small a fire. Yet, culled with caution, proved with patient toil,
251These have I seen degenerate, did not man Put forth his hand with power, and year by year Choose out the largest. So, by fate impelled, Speed all things to the worse, and backward borne Glide from us; even as who with struggling oars
256Up stream scarce pulls a shallop, if he chance His arms to slacken, lo! with headlong force The current sweeps him down the hurrying tide. Us too behoves Arcturus' sign observe, And the Kids' seasons and the shining Snake,
261No less than those who o'er the windy main Borne homeward tempt the Pontic, and the jaws Of oyster-rife Abydos. When the Scales Now poising fair the hours of sleep and day Give half the world to sunshine, half to shade,
266Then urge your bulls, my masters; sow the plain Even to the verge of tameless winter's showers With barley: then, too, time it is to hide Your flax in earth, and poppy, Ceres' joy, Aye, more than time to bend above the plough,
271While earth, yet dry, forbids not, and the clouds Are buoyant. With the spring comes bean-sowing; Thee, too, Lucerne, the crumbling furrows then Receive, and millet's annual care returns, What time the white bull with his gilded horns
276Opens the year, before whose threatening front, Routed the dog-star sinks. But if it be For wheaten harvest and the hardy spelt, Thou tax the soil, to corn-ears wholly given, Let Atlas' daughters hide them in the dawn,
281The Cretan star, a crown of fire, depart, Or e'er the furrow's claim of seed thou quit, Or haste thee to entrust the whole year's hope To earth that would not. Many have begun Ere Maia's star be setting; these, I trow,
286Their looked-for harvest fools with empty ears. But if the vetch and common kidney-bean Thou'rt fain to sow, nor scorn to make thy care Pelusiac lentil, no uncertain sign Bootes' fall will send thee; then begin,
291Pursue thy sowing till half the frosts be done. Therefore it is the golden sun, his course Into fixed parts dividing, rules his way Through the twelve constellations of the world. Five zones the heavens contain; whereof is one
296Aye red with flashing sunlight, fervent aye From fire; on either side to left and right Are traced the utmost twain, stiff with blue ice, And black with scowling storm-clouds, and betwixt These and the midmost, other twain there lie,
301By the Gods' grace to heart-sick mortals given, And a path cleft between them, where might wheel On sloping plane the system of the Signs. And as toward Scythia and Rhipaean heights The world mounts upward, likewise sinks it down
306Toward Libya and the south, this pole of ours Still towering high, that other, 'neath their feet, By dark Styx frowned on, and the abysmal shades. Here glides the huge Snake forth with sinuous coils 'Twixt the two Bears and round them river-wise—
311The Bears that fear 'neath Ocean's brim to dip. There either, say they, reigns the eternal hush Of night that knows no seasons, her black pall Thick-mantling fold on fold; or thitherward From us returning Dawn brings back the day;
316And when the first breath of his panting steeds On us the Orient flings, that hour with them Red Vesper 'gins to trim his 'lated fires. Hence under doubtful skies forebode we can The coming tempests, hence both harvest-day
321And seed-time, when to smite the treacherous main With driving oars, when launch the fair-rigged fleet, Or in ripe hour to fell the forest-pine. Hence, too, not idly do we watch the stars— Their rising and their setting-and the year,
326Four varying seasons to one law conformed. If chilly showers e'er shut the farmer's door, Much that had soon with sunshine cried for haste, He may forestall; the ploughman batters keen His blunted share's hard tooth, scoops from a tree
331His troughs, or on the cattle stamps a brand, Or numbers on the corn-heaps; some make sharp The stakes and two-pronged forks, and willow-bands Amerian for the bending vine prepare. Now let the pliant basket plaited be
336Of bramble-twigs; now set your corn to parch Before the fire; now bruise it with the stone. Nay even on holy days some tasks to ply Is right and lawful: this no ban forbids, To turn the runnel's course, fence corn-fields in,
341Make springes for the birds, burn up the briars, And plunge in wholesome stream the bleating flock. Oft too with oil or apples plenty-cheap The creeping ass's ribs his driver packs, And home from town returning brings instead
346A dented mill-stone or black lump of pitch. The moon herself in various rank assigns The days for labour lucky: fly the fifth; Then sprang pale Orcus and the Eumenides; Earth then in awful labour brought to light
351Coeus, Iapetus, and Typhoeus fell, And those sworn brethren banded to break down The gates of heaven; thrice, sooth to say, they strove Ossa on Pelion's top to heave and heap, Aye, and on Ossa to up-roll amain
356Leafy Olympus; thrice with thunderbolt Their mountain-stair the Sire asunder smote. Seventh after tenth is lucky both to set The vine in earth, and take and tame the steer, And fix the leashes to the warp; the ninth
361To runagates is kinder, cross to thieves. Many the tasks that lightlier lend themselves In chilly night, or when the sun is young, And Dawn bedews the world. By night 'tis best To reap light stubble, and parched fields by night;
366For nights the suppling moisture never fails. And one will sit the long late watches out By winter fire-light, shaping with keen blade The torches to a point; his wife the while, Her tedious labour soothing with a song,
371Speeds the shrill comb along the warp, or else With Vulcan's aid boils the sweet must-juice down, And skims with leaves the quivering cauldron's wave. But ruddy Ceres in mid heat is mown, And in mid heat the parched ears are bruised
376Upon the floor; to plough strip, strip to sow; Winter's the lazy time for husbandmen. In the cold season farmers wont to taste The increase of their toil, and yield themselves To mutual interchange of festal cheer.
381Boon winter bids them, and unbinds their cares, As laden keels, when now the port they touch, And happy sailors crown the sterns with flowers. Nathless then also time it is to strip Acorns from oaks, and berries from the bay,
386Olives, and bleeding myrtles, then to set Snares for the crane, and meshes for the stag, And hunt the long-eared hares, then pierce the doe With whirl of hempen-thonged Balearic sling, While snow lies deep, and streams are drifting ice.
391What need to tell of autumn's storms and stars, And wherefore men must watch, when now the day Grows shorter, and more soft the summer's heat? When Spring the rain-bringer comes rushing down, Or when the beards of harvest on the plain
396Bristle already, and the milky corn On its green stalk is swelling? Many a time, When now the farmer to his yellow fields The reaping-hind came bringing, even in act To lop the brittle barley stems, have I
401Seen all the windy legions clash in war Together, as to rend up far and wide The heavy corn-crop from its lowest roots, And toss it skyward: so might winter's flaw, Dark-eddying, whirl light stalks and flying straws.
406Oft too comes looming vast along the sky A march of waters; mustering from above, The clouds roll up the tempest, heaped and grim With angry showers: down falls the height of heaven, And with a great rain floods the smiling crops,
411The oxen's labour: now the dikes fill fast, And the void river-beds swell thunderously, And all the panting firths of Ocean boil. The Sire himself in midnight of the clouds Wields with red hand the levin; through all her bulk
416Earth at the hurly quakes; the beasts are fled, And mortal hearts of every kindred sunk In cowering terror; he with flaming brand Athos, or Rhodope, or Ceraunian crags Precipitates: then doubly raves the South
421With shower on blinding shower, and woods and coasts Wail fitfully beneath the mighty blast. This fearing, mark the months and Signs of heaven, Whither retires him Saturn's icy star, And through what heavenly cycles wandereth
426The glowing orb Cyllenian. Before all Worship the Gods, and to great Ceres pay Her yearly dues upon the happy sward With sacrifice, anigh the utmost end Of winter, and when Spring begins to smile.
431Then lambs are fat, and wines are mellowest then; Then sleep is sweet, and dark the shadows fall Upon the mountains. Let your rustic youth To Ceres do obeisance, one and all; And for her pleasure thou mix honeycombs
436With milk and the ripe wine-god; thrice for luck Around the young corn let the victim go, And all the choir, a joyful company, Attend it, and with shouts bid Ceres come To be their house-mate; and let no man dare
441Put sickle to the ripened ears until, With woven oak his temples chapleted, He foot the rugged dance and chant the lay. Aye, and that these things we might win to know By certain tokens, heats, and showers, and winds
446That bring the frost, the Sire of all himself Ordained what warnings in her monthly round The moon should give, what bodes the south wind's fall, What oft-repeated sights the herdsman seeing Should keep his cattle closer to their stalls.
451No sooner are the winds at point to rise, Than either Ocean's firths begin to toss And swell, and a dry crackling sound is heard Upon the heights, or one loud ferment booms The beach afar, and through the forest goes
456A murmur multitudinous. By this Scarce can the billow spare the curved keels, When swift the sea-gulls from the middle main Come winging, and their shrieks are shoreward borne, When ocean-loving cormorants on dry land
461Besport them, and the hern, her marshy haunts Forsaking, mounts above the soaring cloud. Oft, too, when wind is toward, the stars thou'lt see From heaven shoot headlong, and through murky night Long trails of fire white-glistening in their wake,
466Or light chaff flit in air with fallen leaves, Or feathers on the wave-top float and play. But when from regions of the furious North It lightens, and when thunder fills the halls Of Eurus and of Zephyr, all the fields
471With brimming dikes are flooded, and at sea No mariner but furls his dripping sails. Never at unawares did shower annoy: Or, as it rises, the high-soaring cranes Flee to the vales before it, with face
476Upturned to heaven, the heifer snuffs the gale Through gaping nostrils, or about the meres Shrill-twittering flits the swallow, and the frogs Crouch in the mud and chant their dirge of old. Oft, too, the ant from out her inmost cells,
481Fretting the narrow path, her eggs conveys; Or the huge bow sucks moisture; or a host Of rooks from food returning in long line Clamour with jostling wings. Now mayst thou see The various ocean-fowl and those that pry
486Round Asian meads within thy fresher-pools, Cayster, as in eager rivalry, About their shoulders dash the plenteous spray, Now duck their head beneath the wave, now run Into the billows, for sheer idle joy
491Of their mad bathing-revel. Then the crow With full voice, good-for-naught, inviting rain, Stalks on the dry sand mateless and alone. Nor e'en the maids, that card their nightly task, Know not the storm-sign, when in blazing crock
496They see the lamp-oil sputtering with a growth Of mouldy snuff-clots. So too, after rain, Sunshine and open skies thou mayst forecast, And learn by tokens sure, for then nor dimmed
501Appear the stars' keen edges, nor the moon As borrowing of her brother's beams to rise, Nor fleecy films to float along the sky. Not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore Do halcyons dear to Thetis ope their wings,
506Nor filthy swine take thought to toss on high With scattering snout the straw-wisps. But the clouds Seek more the vales, and rest upon the plain, And from the roof-top the night-owl for naught Watching the sunset plies her 'lated song.
511Distinct in clearest air is Nisus seen Towering, and Scylla for the purple lock Pays dear; for whereso, as she flies, her wings The light air winnow, lo! fierce, implacable, Nisus with mighty whirr through heaven pursues;
516Where Nisus heavenward soareth, there her wings Clutch as she flies, the light air winnowing still. Soft then the voice of rooks from indrawn throat Thrice, four times, o'er repeated, and full oft On their high cradles, by some hidden joy
521Gladdened beyond their wont, in bustling throngs Among the leaves they riot; so sweet it is, When showers are spent, their own loved nests again And tender brood to visit. Not, I deem, That heaven some native wit to these assigned,
526Or fate a larger prescience, but that when The storm and shifting moisture of the air Have changed their courses, and the sky-god now, Wet with the south-wind, thickens what was rare, And what was gross releases, then, too, change
531Their spirits' fleeting phases, and their breasts Feel other motions now, than when the wind Was driving up the cloud-rack. Hence proceeds That blending of the feathered choirs afield, The cattle's exultation, and the rooks'
536Deep-throated triumph. But if the headlong sun And moons in order following thou regard, Ne'er will to-morrow's hour deceive thee, ne'er Wilt thou be caught by guile of cloudless night.
541When first the moon recalls her rallying fires, If dark the air clipped by her crescent dim, For folks afield and on the open sea A mighty rain is brewing; but if her face With maiden blush she mantle, 'twill be wind,
546For wind turns Phoebe still to ruddier gold. But if at her fourth rising, for 'tis that Gives surest counsel, clear she ride thro' heaven With horns unblunted, then shall that whole day, And to the month's end those that spring from it,
551Rainless and windless be, while safe ashore Shall sailors pay their vows to Panope, Glaucus, and Melicertes, Ino's child. The sun too, both at rising, and when soon He dives beneath the waves, shall yield thee signs;
556For signs, none trustier, travel with the sun, Both those which in their course with dawn he brings, And those at star-rise. When his springing orb With spots he pranketh, muffled in a cloud, And shrinks mid-circle, then of showers beware;
561For then the South comes driving from the deep, To trees and crops and cattle bringing bane. Or when at day-break through dark clouds his rays Burst and are scattered, or when rising pale Aurora quits Tithonus' saffron bed,
566But sorry shelter then, alack I will yield Vine-leaf to ripening grapes; so thick a hail In spiky showers spins rattling on the roof. And this yet more 'twill boot thee bear in mind, When now, his course upon Olympus run,
571He draws to his decline: for oft we see Upon the sun's own face strange colours stray; Dark tells of rain, of east winds fiery-red; If spots with ruddy fire begin to mix, Then all the heavens convulsed in wrath thou'lt see—
576Storm-clouds and wind together. Me that night Let no man bid fare forth upon the deep, Nor rend the rope from shore. But if, when both He brings again and hides the day's return, Clear-orbed he shineth,idly wilt thou dread
581The storm-clouds, and beneath the lustral North See the woods waving. What late eve in fine Bears in her bosom, whence the wind that brings Fair-weather-clouds, or what the rain South Is meditating, tokens of all these
586The sun will give thee. Who dare charge the sun With leasing? He it is who warneth oft Of hidden broils at hand and treachery, And secret swelling of the waves of war. He too it was, when Caesar's light was quenched,
591For Rome had pity, when his bright head he veiled In iron-hued darkness, till a godless age Trembled for night eternal; at that time Howbeit earth also, and the ocean-plains, And dogs obscene, and birds of evil bode
596Gave tokens. Yea, how often have we seen Etna, her furnace-walls asunder riven, In billowy floods boil o'er the Cyclops' fields, And roll down globes of fire and molten rocks! A clash of arms through all the heaven was heard
601By Germany; strange heavings shook the Alps. Yea, and by many through the breathless groves A voice was heard with power, and wondrous-pale Phantoms were seen upon the dusk of night, And cattle spake, portentous! streams stand still,
606And the earth yawns asunder, ivory weeps For sorrow in the shrines, and bronzes sweat. Up-twirling forests with his eddying tide, Madly he bears them down, that lord of floods, Eridanus, till through all the plain are swept
611Beasts and their stalls together. At that time In gloomy entrails ceased not to appear Dark-threatening fibres, springs to trickle blood, And high-built cities night-long to resound With the wolves' howling. Never more than then
616From skies all cloudless fell the thunderbolts, Nor blazed so oft the comet's fire of bale. Therefore a second time Philippi saw The Roman hosts with kindred weapons rush To battle, nor did the high gods deem it hard
621That twice Emathia and the wide champaign Of Haemus should be fattening with our blood. Ay, and the time will come when there anigh, Heaving the earth up with his curved plough, Some swain will light on javelins by foul rust
626Corroded, or with ponderous harrow strike On empty helmets, while he gapes to see Bones as of giants from the trench untombed. Gods of my country, heroes of the soil, And Romulus, and Mother Vesta, thou
631Who Tuscan Tiber and Rome's Palatine Preservest, this new champion at the least Our fallen generation to repair Forbid not. To the full and long ago Our blood thy Trojan perjuries hath paid,
636Laomedon. Long since the courts of heaven Begrudge us thee, our Caesar, and complain That thou regard'st the triumphs of mankind, Here where the wrong is right, the right is wrong, Where wars abound so many, and myriad-faced
641Is crime; where no meet honour hath the plough; The fields, their husbandmen led far away, Rot in neglect, and curved pruning-hooks Into the sword's stiff blade are fused and forged. Euphrates here, here Germany new strife
646Is stirring; neighbouring cities are in arms, The laws that bound them snapped; and godless war Rages through all the universe; as when The four-horse chariots from the barriers poured Still quicken o'er the course, and, idly now
651Grasping the reins, the driver by his team Is onward borne, nor heeds the car his curb.
Book 2
1Hactenus arvorum cultus et sidera caeli, nunc te, Bacche, canam, nec non silvestria tecum virgulta et prolem tarde crescentis olivae. Huc, pater o Lenaee—tuis hic omnia plena muneribus, tibi pampineo gravidus autumno
6floret ager, spumat plenis vindemia labris— huc, pater o Lenaee, veni nudataque musto tingue novo mecum direptis crura cothurnis. Principio arboribus varia est natura creandis. namque aliae nullis hominum cogentibus ipsae
11sponte sua veniunt camposque et flumina late curva tenent, ut molle siler lentaeque genestae, populus et glauca canentia fronde salicta; pars autem posito surgunt de semine, ut altae castaneae nemorumque Iovi quae maxima frondet
16aesculus atque habitae Grais oracula quercus. Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima silva, ut cerasis ulmisque; etiam Parnasia laurus parva sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra. Hos natura modos primum dedit, his genus omne
21silvarum fruticumque viret nemorumque sacrorum. Sunt aliae, quas ipse via sibi repperit usus. Hic plantas tenero abscindens de corpore matrum deposuit sulcis, hic stirpes obruit arvo quadrifidasque sudes et acuto robore vallos;
26silvarumque aliae pressos propaginis arcus exspectant et viva sua plantaria terra; nil radicis egent aliae summumque putator haud dubitat terrae referens mandare cacumen. Quin et caudicibus sectis—mirabile dictu—
31truditur e sicco radix oleagina ligno. Et saepe alterius ramos inpune videmus vertere in alterius mutatamque insita mala ferre pirum et prunis lapidosa rubescere corna. Quare agite o proprios generatim discite cultus,
36agricolae, fructusque feros mollite colendo, neu segnes iaceant terrae. Iuvat Ismara Baccho conserere atque olea magnum vestire Taburnum. Tuque ades inceptumque una decurre laborem, O decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae,
41Maecenas, pelagoque volans da vela patenti; non ego cuncta meis amplecti versibus opto, non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, ferrea vox; ades et primi lege litoris oram. In manibus terrae; non hic te carmine ficto
46atque per ambages et longa exorsa tenebo. Sponte sua quae se tollunt in luminis oras, infecunda quidem, sed laeta et fortia surgunt; quippe solo natura subest. Tamen haec quoque, si quis inserat aut scrobibus mandet mutata subactis,
51exuerint silvestrem animum cultuque frequenti in quascumque voles artis haud tarda sequentur. Nec non et sterilis, quae stirpibus exit ab imis, hoc faciat, vacuos si sit digesta per agros; nunc altae frondes et rami matris opacant
56crescentique adimunt fetus uruntque ferentem. Iam quae seminibus iactis se sustulit arbos tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram, pomaque degenerant sucos oblita priores et turpis avibus praedam fert uva racemos.
61Scilicet omnibus est labor inpendendus et omnes cogendae in sulcum ac multa mercede domandae. Sed truncis oleae melius, propagine vites respondent, solido Paphiae de robore myrtus; plantis et durae coryli nascuntur et ingens
66fraxinus Herculeaeque arbos umbrosa coronae Chaoniique patris glandes, etiam ardua palma nascitur et casus abies visura marinos. Inseritur vero et fetu nucis arbutus horrida, et steriles platani malos gessere valentis;
71castaneae fagus, ornusque incanuit albo flore piri glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis. Nec modus inserere atque oculos inponere simplex. Nam qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmae et tenuis rumpunt tunicas, angustus in ipso
76fit nodo sinus: huc aliena ex arbore germen includunt udoque docent inolescere libro. Aut rursum enodes trunci resecantur et alte finditur in solidum cuneis via, deinde feraces plantae inmittuntur: nec longum tempus, et ingens
81exsilit ad caelum ramis felicibus arbos miraturque novas frondes et non sua poma. Praeterea genus haud unum nec fortibus ulmis nec salici lotoque neque Idaeis cyparissis, nec pingues unam in faciem nascuntur olivae,
86orchades et radii et amara pausia baca pomaque et Alcinoi silvae, nec surculus idem Crustumiis Syriisque piris gravibusque volemis. Non eadem arboribus pendet vindemia nostris, quam Methymnaeo carpit de palmite Lesbos;
91sunt Thasiae vites, sunt et Mareotides albae, pinguibus hae terris habiles, levioribus illae, et passo Psithia utilior tenuisque Lageos temptatura pedes olim vincturaque linguam, purpureae preciaeque, et quo te carmine dicam,
96Rhaetica? Nec cellis ideo contende Falernis. Sunt et Amineae vites, firmissima vina, Tmolius adsurgit quibus et rex ipse Phanaeus; Argitisque minor, cui non certaverit ulla aut tantum fluere aut totidem durare per annos.
101Non ego te, Dis et mensis accepta secundis, transierim, Rhodia, et tumidis, Bumaste, racemis. Sed neque quam multae species nec nomina quae sint, est numerus; neque enim numero conprendere refert; quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem
106discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur harenae, aut ubi navigiis violentior incidit Eurus, nosse, quot Ionii veniant ad litora fluctus. Nec vero terrae ferre omnes omnia possunt. fluminibus salices crassisque paludibus alni
111nascuntur, steriles saxosis montibus orni; litora myrtetis laetissima; denique apertos Bacchus amat collis, aquilonem et frigora taxi. Aspice et extremis domitum cultoribus orbem Eoasque domos Arabum pictosque Gelonos:
116divisae arboribus patriae. Sola India nigrum fert ebenum, solis est turea virga Sabaeis. Quid tibi odorato referam sudantia ligno balsamaque et bacas semper frondentis acanthi? Quid nemora Aethiopum molli canentia lana,
121velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres; aut quos Oceano propior gerit India lucos, extremi sinus orbis, ubi aera vincere summum arboris haud ullae iactu potuere sagittae? Et gens illa quidem sumptis non tarda pharetris.
126Media fert tristis sucos tardumque saporem felicis mali, quo non praesentius ullum, pocula si quando saevae infecere novercae, miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba, auxilium venit ac membris agit atra venena.
131Ipsa ingens arbos faciemque simillima lauro; et, si non alium late iactaret odorem, laurus erat; folia haud ullis labentia ventis; flos ad prima tenax; animas et olentia Medi ora fovent illo et senibus medicantur anhelis.
136sed neque Medorum, silvae ditissima, terra, nec pulcher Ganges atque auro turbidus Hermus laudibus Italiae certent, non Bactra neque Indi totaque turiferis Panchaia pinguis harenis. Haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem
141invertere satis inmanis dentibus hydri nec galeis densisque virum seges horruit hastis; sed gravidae fruges et Bacchi Massicus humor inplevere; tenent oleae armentaque laeta. Hinc bellator equus campo sese arduus infert;
146hinc albi, Clitumne, greges et maxima taurus victima, saepe tuo perfusi flumine sacro, Romanos ad templa deum duxere triumphos. Hic ver adsiduum atque alienis mensibus aestas bis gravidae pecudes, bis pomis utilis arbos.
151At rabidae tigres absunt et saeva leonum semina nec miseros fallunt aconita legentis nec rapit inmensos orbis per humum neque tanto squameus in spiram tractu se colligit anguis. Adde tot egregias urbes operumque laborem,
156tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis fluminaque antiquos subter labentia muros. An mare, quod supra, memorem, quodque adluit infra anne lacus tantos? Te, Lari maxume, teque, fluctibus et fremitu adsurgens Benace marino
161an memorem portus Lucrinoque addita claustra atque indignatum magnis stridoribus aequor Iulia qua ponto longe sonat unda refuso Tyrrhenusque fretis inmittitur aestus Avernis? Haec eadem argenti rivos aerisque metalla
166ostendit venis atque auro plurima fluxit. Haec genus acre virum, Marsos pubemque Sabellam adsuetumque malo Ligurem Volscosque verutos extulit, haec Decios, Marios, magnosque Camillos, Scipiadas duros bello et te, maxume Caesar,
171qui nunc extremis Asiae iam victor in oris inbellem avertis Romanis arcibus Indum. Salve, magna parens frugum, Saturnia tellus, magna virum; tibi res antiquae laudis et artem ingredior, sanctos ausus recludere fontis,
176Ascraeumque cano Romana per oppida carmen. Nunc locus arvorum ingeniis: quae robora cuique, quis color et quae sit rebus natura ferendis. Difficiles primum terrae collesque maligni, tenuis ubi argilla et dumosis calculus arvis,
181Palladia gaudent silva vivacis olivae. Indicio est tractu surgens oleaster eodem plurimus et strati bacis silvestribus agri. At quae pinguis humus dulcique uligine laeta, quique frequens herbis et fertilis ubere campus—
186qualem saepe cava montis convalle solemus despicere; huc summis liquuntur rupibus amnes felicemque trahunt limum—quique editus austro et filicem curvis invisam pascit aratris: hic tibi praevalidas olim multoque fluentis
191sufficiet Baccho vitis, hic fertilis uvae, hic laticis, qualem pateris libamus et auro, inflavit cum pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad aras, lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta. Sin armenta magis studium vitulosque tueri
196aut ovium fetum aut urentis culta capellas, saltus et saturi petito longinqua Tarenti et qualem infelix amisit Mantua campum, pascentem niveos herboso flumine cycnos; non liquidi gregibus fontes, non gramina deerunt;
201et, quantum longis carpent armenta diebus, exigua tantum gelidus ros nocte reponet. Nigra fere et presso pinguis sub vomere terra et cui putre solum,—namque hoc imitamur arando— optima frumentis; non ullo ex aequore cernes
206plura domum tardis decedere plaustra iuvencis; aut unde iratus silvam devexit arator et nemora evertit multos ignava per annos antiquasque domos avium cum stirpibus imis eruit; illae altum nidis petiere relictis,
211at rudis enituit inpulso vomere campus. Nam ieiuna quidem clivosi glarea ruris vix humilis apibus casias roremque ministrat; et tophus scaber et nigris exesa chelydris creta negant alios aeque serpentibus agros
216dulcem ferre cibum et curvas praebere latebras. Quae tenuem exhalat nebulam fumosque volucris et bibit humorem et, cum volt, ex se ipsa remittit quaeque suo semper viridi se gramine vestit nec scabie et salsa laedit robigine ferrum:
221illa tibi laetis intexet vitibus ulmos, illa ferax oleo est, illam experiere colendo et facilem pecori et patientem vomeris unci. Talem dives arat Capua et vicina Vesevo ora iugo et vacuis Clanius non aequus Acerris.
226Nunc, quo quamque modo possis cognoscere, dicam. Rara sit an supra morem si densa requires— altera frumentis quoniam favet, altera Baccho, densa magis Cereri, rarissima quaeque Lyaeo— ante locum capies oculis alteque iubebis
231in solido puteum demitti omnemque repones rursus humum et pedibus summas aequabis harenas. Si deerunt, rarum pecorique et vitibus almis aptius uber erit; sin in sua posse negabunt ire loca et scrobibus superabit terra repletis,
236spissus ager; glaebas cunctantis crassaque terga exspecta et validis terram proscinde iuvencis. Salsa autem tellus et quae perhibetur amara, frugibus infelix—ea nec mansuescit arando nec Baccho genus aut pomis sua nomina servat—
241tale dabit specimen: tu spisso vimine qualos colaque prelorum fumosis deripe tectis; huc ager ille malus dulcesque a fontibus undae ad plenum calcentur; aqua eluctabitur omnis scilicet, et grandes ibunt per vimina guttae;
246at sapor indicium faciet manifestus et ora tristia temptantum sensu torquebit amaro. Pinguis item quae sit tellus, hoc denique pacto discimus: haud umquam manibus iactata fatiscit, sed picis in morem ad digitos lentescit habendo.
251Humida maiores herbas alit, ipsaque iusto laetior. Ah nimium ne sit mihi fertilis illa nec se praevalidam primis ostendat aristis! Quae gravis est, ipso tacitam se pondere prodit, quaeque levis. Promptum est oculis praediscere nigram,
256et quis cui color. At sceleratum exquirere frigus difficile est: piceae tantum taxique nocentes interdum aut hederae pandunt vestigia nigrae. his animadversis terram multo ante memento excoquere et magnos scrobibus concidere montis,
261ante supinatas aquiloni ostendere glaebas, quam laetum infodias vitis genus. Optima putri arva solo: id venti curant gelidaeque pruinae et labefacta movens robustus iugera fossor. Ac si quos haud ulla viros vigilantia fugit,
266ante locum similem exquirunt, ubi prima paretur arboribus seges et quo mox digesta feratur, mutatam ignorent subito ne semina matrem. Quin etiam caeli regionem in cortice signant, ut, quo quaeque modo steterit, qua parte calores
271Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi, restituant: adeo in teneris consuescere multum est. Collibus an plano melius sit ponere vitem, quaere prius. Si pinguis agros metabere campi, densa sere; in denso non segnior ubere Bacchus;
276sin tumulis adclive solum collisque supinos, indulge ordinibus, nec setius omnis in unguem arboribus positis secto via limite quadret. Ut saepe ingenti bello cum longa cohortis explicuit legio et campo stetit agmen aperto,
281directaeque acies, ac late fluctuat omnis aere renidenti tellus, necdum horrida miscent proelia, sed dubius mediis Mars errat in armis: omnia sint paribus numeris dimensa viarum; non animum modo uti pascat prospectus inanem,
286sed quia non aliter viris dabit omnibus aequas terra neque in vacuum poterunt se extendere rami. Forsitan et scrobibus quae sint fastigia quaeras. ausim vel tenui vitem committere sulco. Altior ac penitus terrae defigitur arbos,
291aesculus in primis, quae quantum vertice ad auras aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. Ergo non hiemes illam, non flabra neque imbres convellunt; inmota manet, multosque nepotes, multa virum volvens durando saecula vincit.
296Tum fortis late ramos et bracchia pandens huc illuc, media ipsa ingentem sustinet umbram. Neve tibi ad solem vergant vineta cadentem, Neve inter vitis corylum sere, neve flagella summa pete aut summa defringe ex arbore plantas
301tantus amor terrae—neu ferro laede retunso semina, neve oleae silvestris insere truncos: nam saepe incautis pastoribus excidit ignis, qui furtim pingui primum sub cortice tectus robora conprendit frondesque elapsus in altas
306ingentem caelo sonitum dedit; inde secutus per ramos victor perque alta cacumina regnat et totum involvit flammis nemus et ruit atram ad caelum picea crassus caligine nubem, praesertim si tempestas a vertice silvis
311incubuit glomeratque ferens incendia ventus. Hoc ubi, non a stirpe valent caesaeque reverti possunt atque ima similes revirescere terra; infelix superat foliis oleaster amaris. Nec tibi tam prudens quisquam persuadeat auctor
316tellurem Borea rigidam spirante movere. Rura gelu tum claudit hiems nec semine iacto concretam patitur radicem adfigere terrae. Optima vinetis satio, cum vere rubenti candida venit avis longis invisa colubris,
321prima vel autumni sub frigora, cum rapidus Sol nondum hiemem contingit equis, iam praeterit aestas. Ver adeo frondi nemorum, ver utile silvis; vere tument terrae et genitalia semina poscunt. Tum pater omnipotens fecundis imbribus Aether
326coniugis in gremium laetae descendit et omnis magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fetus. Avia tum resonant avibus virgulta canoris et Venerem certis repetunt armenta diebus; parturit almus ager Zephyrique tepentibus auris
331laxant arva sinus; superat tener omnibus humor; inque novos soles audent se germina tuto credere, nec metuit surgentis pampinus austros aut actum caelo magnis aquilonibus imbrem, sed trudit gemmas et frondes explicat omnis.
336Non alios prima crescentis origine mundi inluxisse dies aliumve habuisse tenorem crediderim: ver illud erat, ver magnus agebat orbis et hibernis parcebant flatibus Euri, cum primae lucem pecudes hausere virumque
341terrea progenies duris caput extulit arvis, inmissaeque ferae silvis et sidera caelo. Nec res hunc tenerae possent perferre laborem, si non tanta quies iret frigusque caloremque inter, et exciperet caeli indulgentia terras.
346Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros, sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra, aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas; inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
351qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris, hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva. Seminibus positis superest diducere terram saepius ad capita et duros iactare bidentis,
356aut presso exercere solum sub vomere et ipsa flectere luctantis inter vineta iuvencos; tum levis calamos et rasae hastilia virgae fraxineasque aptare sudes furcasque valentis, viribus eniti quarum et contemnere ventos
361adsuescant summasque sequi tabulata per ulmos. Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, parcendum teneris, et dum se laetus ad auras palmes agit laxis per purum inmissus habenis, ipsa acie nondum falcis temptanda, sed uncis
366carpendae manibus frondes interque legendae. Inde ubi iam validis amplexae stirpibus ulmos exierint, tum stringe comas, tum bracchia tonde— ante reformidant ferrum—tum denique dura exerce imperia et ramos conpesce fluentis.
371Texendae saepes etiam et pecus omne tenendum, praecipue dum frons tenera inprudensque laborum; cui super indignas hiemes solemque potentem silvestres uri adsidue capreaeque sequaces inludunt, pascuntur oves avidaeque iuvencae.
376Frigora nec tantum cana concreta pruina aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus aestas, quantum illi nocuere greges durique venenum dentis et admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix. Non aliam ob culpam Baccho caper omnibus aris
381caeditur et veteres ineunt proscaenia ludi praemiaque ingeniis pagos et compita circum thesidae posuere atque inter pocula laeti mollibus in pratis unctos saluere per utres. Nec non Ausonii, Troia gens missa, coloni
386versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis et te, Bacche, vocant per carmina laeta tibique oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu. Hinc omnis largo pubescit vinea fetu,
391conplentur vallesque cavae saltusque profundi, et quocumque deus circum caput egit honestum. Ergo rite suum Baccho dicemus honorem carminibus patriis lancesque et liba feremus et ductus cornu stabit sacer hircus ad aram
396pinguiaque in veribus torrebimus exta colurnis. Est etiam ille labor curandis vitibus alter, cui numquam exhausti satis est: namque omne quot annis terque quaterque solum scindendum glebaque versis aeternum frangenda bidentibus, omne levandum
401fronde nemus. Redit agricolis labor actus in orbem atque in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus. Ac iam olim, seras posuit cum vinea frondes, frigidus et silvis aquilo decussit honorem, iam tum acer curas venientem extendit in annum
406rusticus et curvo Saturni dente relictam persequitur vitem attondens fingitque putando. Primus humum fodito, primus devecta cremato sarmenta et vallos primus sub tecta referto; postremus metito. Bis vitibus ingruit umbra,
411bis segetem densis obducunt sentibus herbae; durus uterque labor: laudato ingentia rura, exiguum colito. Nec non etiam aspera rusci vimina per silvam et ripis fluvialis arundo caeditur, incultique exercet cura salicti.
416Iam vinctae vites, iam falcem arbusta reponunt, iam canit effectos extremus vinitor antes: sollicitanda tamen tellus pulvisque movendus et iam maturis metuendus Iuppiter uvis. Contra non ulla est oleis cultura; neque illae
421procurvam exspectant falcem rastrosque tenacis, cum semel haeserunt arvis aurasque tulerunt; ipsa satis tellus, cum dente recluditur unco, sufficit humorem et gravidas, cum vomere, fruges. Hoc pinguem et placitam Paci nutritor olivam.
426Poma quoque, ut primum truncos sensere valentis et viris habuere suas, ad sidera raptim vi propria nituntur opisque haud indiga nostrae. Nec minus interea fetu nemus omne gravescit sanguineisque inculta rubent aviaria bacis.
431Tondentur cytisi, taedas silva alta ministrat, pascunturque ignes nocturni et lumina fundunt. Et dubitant homines serere atque inpendere curam quid maiora sequar?—salices humilesque genestae aut illae pecori frondem aut pastoribus umbram
436Sufficiunt saepemque satis et pabula melli— et iuvat undantem buxo spectare Cytorum naryciaeque picis lucos, iuvat arva videre non rastris, hominum non ulli obnoxia curae. Ipsae Caucasio steriles in vertice silvae,
441quas animosi Euri adsidue franguntque feruntque, dant alios aliae fetus, dant utile lignum navigiis pinus, domibus cedrumque cupressosque. Hinc radios trivere rotis, hinc tympana plaustris agricolae et pandas ratibus posuere carinas,
446viminibus salices fecundae, frondibus ulmi, at myrtus validis hastilibus et bona bello cornus, Ituraeos taxi torquentur in arcus. Nec tiliae leves aut torno rasile buxum non formam accipiunt ferroque cavantur acuto.
451Nec non et torrentem undam levis innatat alnus, missa Pado; nec non et apes examina condunt corticibusque cavis vitiosaeque ilicis alvo. Quid memorandum aeque Baccheia dona tulerunt Bacchus et ad culpam causas dedit; ille furentis
456centauros leto domuit, Rhoetumque Pholumque et magno Hylaeum Lapithis cratere minantem. O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, agricolas! quibus ipsa procul discordibus armis fundit humo facilem victum iustissima tellus.
461Si non ingentem foribus domus alta superbis mane salutantum totis vomit aedibus undam, nec varios inhiant pulchra testudine postis inlusasque auro vestes Ephyreiaque aera, alba neque Assyrio fucatur lana veneno
466nec casia liquidi corrumpitur usus olivi: at secura quies et nescia fallere vita, dives opum variarum, at latis otia fundis— speluncae vivique lacus et frigida Tempe mugitusque boum mollesque sub arbore somni—
471non absunt; illic saltus ac lustra ferarum et patiens operum exiguoque adsueta iuventus, sacra deum sanctique patres; extrema per illos iustitia excedens terris vestigia fecit. Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae,
476quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore, accipiant caelique vias et sidera monstrent, defectus solis varios lunaeque labores; unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant obicibus ruptis rursusque in se ipsa residant,
481quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet. Sin, has ne possim naturae accedere partis, frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis: rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes,
486flumina amem silvasque inglorius. O ubi campi Spercheosque et virginibus bacchata Lacaenis Taygeta! O, qui me gelidis convallibus Haemi sistat et ingenti ramorum protegat umbra! Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
491atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari. Fortunatus et ille, deos qui novit agrestis, panaque Silvanumque senem Nymphasque sorores: illum non populi fasces, non purpura regum
496flexit et infidos agitans discordia fratres aut coniurato descendens Dacus ab Histro, non res Romanae perituraque regna; neque ille aut doluit miserans inopem aut invidit habenti quos rami fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura
501sponte tulere sua, carpsit; nec ferrea iura insanumque forum aut populi tabularia vidit. sollicitant alii remis freta caeca ruuntque in ferrum, penetrant aulas et limina regum; hic petit excidiis urbem miserosque Penatis,
506ut gemma bibat et Sarrano dormiat ostro; condit opes alius defossoque incubat auro; hic stupet attonitus rostris; hunc plausus hiantem per cuneos—geminatus enim plebisque patrumque— corripuit; gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum,
511exsilioque domos et dulcia limina mutant atque alio patriam quaerunt sub sole iacentem. Agricola incurvo terram dimovit aratro: hinc anni labor, hinc patriam parvosque nepotes sustinet, hinc armenta boum meritosque iuvencos.
516Nec requies, quin aut pomis exuberet annus aut fetu pecorum aut cerealis mergite culmi, proventuque oneret sulcos atque horrea vincat. Venit hiems: teritur Sicyonia baca trapetis, glande sues laeti redeunt, dant arbuta silvae;
521et varios ponit fetus autumnus et alte mitis in apricis coquitur vindemia saxis. Interea dulces pendent circum oscula nati, casta pudicitiam servat domus, ubera vaccae lactea demittunt pinguesque in gramine laeto
526inter se adversis luctantur cornibus haedi. Ipse dies agitat festos fususque per herbam, ignis ubi in medio et socii cratera coronant, te libans, Lenaee, vocat pecorisque magistris velocis iaculi certamina ponit in ulmo,
531corporaque agresti nudant praedura palaestrae. Hanc olim veteres vitam coluere Sabini, hanc Remus et frater, sic fortis Etruria crevit scilicet et rerum facta est pulcherrima Roma, septemque una sibi muro circumdedit arces.
536Ante etiam sceptrum Dictaei regis et ante inpia quam caesis gens est epulata iuvencis, aureus hanc vitam in terris Saturnus agebat; necdum etiam audierant inflari classica, necdum inpositos duris crepitare incudibus enses.
541Sed nos inmensum spatiis confecimus aequor, et iam tempus equum fumantia solvere colla.
Book 2
1Thus far the tilth of fields and stars of heaven; Now will I sing thee, Bacchus, and, with thee, The forest's young plantations and the fruit Of slow-maturing olive. Hither haste, O Father of the wine-press; all things here
6Teem with the bounties of thy hand; for thee With viny autumn laden blooms the field, And foams the vintage high with brimming vats; Hither, O Father of the wine-press, come, And stripped of buskin stain thy bared limbs
11In the new must with me. First, nature's law For generating trees is manifold; For some of their own force spontaneous spring, No hand of man compelling, and possess
16The plains and river-windings far and wide, As pliant osier and the bending broom, Poplar, and willows in wan companies With green leaf glimmering gray; and some there be From chance-dropped seed that rear them, as the tall
21Chestnuts, and, mightiest of the branching wood, Jove's Aesculus, and oaks, oracular Deemed by the Greeks of old. With some sprouts forth A forest of dense suckers from the root, As elms and cherries; so, too, a pigmy plant,
26Beneath its mother's mighty shade upshoots The bay-tree of Parnassus. Such the modes Nature imparted first; hence all the race Of forest-trees and shrubs and sacred groves Springs into verdure. Other means there are,
31Which use by method for itself acquired. One, sliving suckers from the tender frame Of the tree-mother, plants them in the trench; One buries the bare stumps within his field, Truncheons cleft four-wise, or sharp-pointed stakes;
36Some forest-trees the layer's bent arch await, And slips yet quick within the parent-soil; No root need others, nor doth the pruner's hand Shrink to restore the topmost shoot to earth That gave it being. Nay, marvellous to tell,
41Lopped of its limbs, the olive, a mere stock, Still thrusts its root out from the sapless wood, And oft the branches of one kind we see Change to another's with no loss to rue, Pear-tree transformed the ingrafted apple yield,
46And stony cornels on the plum-tree blush. Come then, and learn what tilth to each belongs According to their kinds, ye husbandmen, And tame with culture the wild fruits, lest earth Lie idle. O blithe to make all Ismarus
51One forest of the wine-god, and to clothe With olives huge Tabernus! And be thou At hand, and with me ply the voyage of toil I am bound on, O my glory, O thou that art Justly the chiefest portion of my fame,
56Maecenas, and on this wide ocean launched Spread sail like wings to waft thee. Not that I With my poor verse would comprehend the whole, Nay, though a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths Were mine, a voice of iron; be thou at hand,
61Skirt but the nearer coast-line; see the shore Is in our grasp; not now with feigned song Through winding bouts and tedious preludings Shall I detain thee. Those that lift their head
66Into the realms of light spontaneously, Fruitless indeed, but blithe and strenuous spring, Since Nature lurks within the soil. And yet Even these, should one engraft them, or transplant To well-drilled trenches, will anon put of
71Their woodland temper, and, by frequent tilth, To whatso craft thou summon them, make speed To follow. So likewise will the barren shaft That from the stock-root issueth, if it be Set out with clear space amid open fields:
76Now the tree-mother's towering leaves and boughs Darken, despoil of increase as it grows, And blast it in the bearing. Lastly, that Which from shed seed ariseth, upward wins But slowly, yielding promise of its shade
81To late-born generations; apples wane Forgetful of their former juice, the grape Bears sorry clusters, for the birds a prey. Soothly on all must toil be spent, and all Trained to the trench and at great cost subdued.
86But reared from truncheons olives answer best, As vines from layers, and from the solid wood The Paphian myrtles; while from suckers spring Both hardy hazels and huge ash, the tree That rims with shade the brows of Hercules,
91And acorns dear to the Chaonian sire: So springs the towering palm too, and the fir Destined to spy the dangers of the deep. But the rough arbutus with walnut-fruit Is grafted; so have barren planes ere now
96Stout apples borne, with chestnut-flower the beech, The mountain-ash with pear-bloom whitened o'er, And swine crunched acorns 'neath the boughs of elms. Nor is the method of inserting eyes And grafting one: for where the buds push forth
101Amidst the bark, and burst the membranes thin, Even on the knot a narrow rift is made, Wherein from some strange tree a germ they pen, And to the moist rind bid it cleave and grow. Or, otherwise, in knotless trunks is hewn
106A breach, and deep into the solid grain A path with wedges cloven; then fruitful slips Are set herein, and—no long time—behold! To heaven upshot with teeming boughs, the tree Strange leaves admires and fruitage not its own.
111Nor of one kind alone are sturdy elms, Willow and lotus, nor the cypress-trees Of Ida; nor of self-same fashion spring Fat olives, orchades, and radii And bitter-berried pausians, no, nor yet
116Apples and the forests of Alcinous; Nor from like cuttings are Crustumian pears And Syrian, and the heavy hand-fillers. Not the same vintage from our trees hangs down, Which Lesbos from Methymna's tendril plucks.
121Vines Thasian are there, Mareotids white, These apt for richer soils, for lighter those: Psithian for raisin-wine more useful, thin Lageos, that one day will try the feet And tie the tongue: purples and early-ripes,
126And how, O Rhaetian, shall I hymn thy praise? Yet cope not therefore with Falernian bins. Vines Aminaean too, best-bodied wine, To which the Tmolian bows him, ay, and king Phanaeus too, and, lesser of that name,
131Argitis, wherewith not a grape can vie For gush of wine-juice or for length of years. Nor thee must I pass over, vine of Rhodes, Welcomed by gods and at the second board, Nor thee, Bumastus, with plump clusters swollen.
136But lo! how many kinds, and what their names, There is no telling, nor doth it boot to tell; Who lists to know it, he too would list to learn How many sand-grains are by Zephyr tossed On Libya's plain, or wot, when Eurus falls
141With fury on the ships, how many waves Come rolling shoreward from the Ionian sea. Not that all soils can all things bear alike. Willows by water-courses have their birth, Alders in miry fens; on rocky heights
146The barren mountain-ashes; on the shore Myrtles throng gayest; Bacchus, lastly, loves The bare hillside, and yews the north wind's chill. Mark too the earth by outland tillers tamed, And Eastern homes of Arabs, and tattooed
151Geloni; to all trees their native lands Allotted are; no clime but India bears Black ebony; the branch of frankincense Is Saba's sons' alone; why tell to thee Of balsams oozing from the perfumed wood,
156Or berries of acanthus ever green? Of Aethiop forests hoar with downy wool, Or how the Seres comb from off the leaves Their silky fleece? Of groves which India bears, Ocean's near neighbour, earth's remotest nook,
161Where not an arrow-shot can cleave the air Above their tree-tops? yet no laggards they, When girded with the quiver! Media yields The bitter juices and slow-lingering taste Of the blest citron-fruit, than which no aid
166Comes timelier, when fierce step-dames drug the cup With simples mixed and spells of baneful power, To drive the deadly poison from the limbs. Large the tree's self in semblance like a bay, And, showered it not a different scent abroad,
171A bay it had been; for no wind of heaven Its foliage falls; the flower, none faster, clings; With it the Medes for sweetness lave the lips, And ease the panting breathlessness of age. But no, not Mede-land with its wealth of woods,
176Nor Ganges fair, and Hermus thick with gold, Can match the praise of Italy; nor Ind, Nor Bactria, nor Panchaia, one wide tract Of incense-teeming sand. Here never bulls With nostrils snorting fire upturned the sod
181Sown with the monstrous dragon's teeth, nor crop Of warriors bristled thick with lance and helm; But heavy harvests and the Massic juice Of Bacchus fill its borders, overspread With fruitful flocks and olives. Hence arose
186The war-horse stepping proudly o'er the plain; Hence thy white flocks, Clitumnus, and the bull, Of victims mightiest, which full oft have led, Bathed in thy sacred stream, the triumph-pomp Of Romans to the temples of the gods.
191Here blooms perpetual spring, and summer here In months that are not summer's; twice teem the flocks; Twice doth the tree yield service of her fruit. But ravening tigers come not nigh, nor breed Of savage lion, nor aconite betrays
196Its hapless gatherers, nor with sweep so vast Doth the scaled serpent trail his endless coils Along the ground, or wreathe him into spires. Mark too her cities, so many and so proud, Of mighty toil the achievement, town on town
201Up rugged precipices heaved and reared, And rivers undergliding ancient walls. Or should I celebrate the sea that laves Her upper shores and lower? or those broad lakes? Thee, Larius, greatest and, Benacus, thee
206With billowy uproar surging like the main? Or sing her harbours, and the barrier cast Athwart the Lucrine, and how ocean chafes With mighty bellowings, where the Julian wave Echoes the thunder of his rout, and through
211Avernian inlets pours the Tuscan tide? A land no less that in her veins displays Rivers of silver, mines of copper ore, Ay, and with gold hath flowed abundantly. A land that reared a valiant breed of men,
216The Marsi and Sabellian youth, and, schooled To hardship, the Ligurian, and with these The Volscian javelin-armed, the Decii too, The Marii and Camilli, names of might, The Scipios, stubborn warriors, ay, and thee,
221Great Caesar, who in Asia's utmost bounds With conquering arm e'en now art fending far The unwarlike Indian from the heights of Rome. Hail! land of Saturn, mighty mother thou Of fruits and heroes; 'tis for thee I dare
226Unseal the sacred fountains, and essay Themes of old art and glory, as I sing The song of Ascra through the towns of Rome. Now for the native gifts of various soils, What powers hath each, what hue, what natural bent
231For yielding increase. First your stubborn lands And churlish hill-sides, where are thorny fields Of meagre marl and gravel, these delight In long-lived olive-groves to Pallas dear. Take for a sign the plenteous growth hard by
236Of oleaster, and the fields strewn wide With woodland berries. But a soil that's rich, In moisture sweet exulting, and the plain That teems with grasses on its fruitful breast, Such as full oft in hollow mountain-dell
241We view beneath us—from the craggy heights Streams thither flow with fertilizing mud— A plain which southward rising feeds the fern By curved ploughs detested, this one day Shall yield thee store of vines full strong to gush
246In torrents of the wine-god; this shall be Fruitful of grapes and flowing juice like that We pour to heaven from bowls of gold, what time The sleek Etruscan at the altar blows His ivory pipe, and on the curved dish
251We lay the reeking entrails. If to rear Cattle delight thee rather, steers, or lambs, Or goats that kill the tender plants, then seek Full-fed Tarentum's glades and distant fields, Or such a plain as luckless Mantua lost
256Whose weedy water feeds the snow-white swan: There nor clear springs nor grass the flocks will fail, And all the day-long browsing of thy herds Shall the cool dews of one brief night repair. Land which the burrowing share shows dark and rich,
261With crumbling soil—for this we counterfeit In ploughing—for corn is goodliest; from no field More wains thou'lt see wend home with plodding steers; Or that from which the husbandman in spleen Has cleared the timber, and o'erthrown the copse
266That year on year lay idle, and from the roots Uptorn the immemorial haunt of birds; They banished from their nests have sought the skies; But the rude plain beneath the ploughshare's stroke Starts into sudden brightness. For indeed
271The starved hill-country gravel scarce serves the bees With lowly cassias and with rosemary; Rough tufa and chalk too, by black water-worms Gnawed through and through, proclaim no soils beside So rife with serpent-dainties, or that yield
276Such winding lairs to lurk in. That again, Which vapoury mist and flitting smoke exhales, Drinks moisture up and casts it forth at will, Which, ever in its own green grass arrayed, Mars not the metal with salt scurf of rust—
281That shall thine elms with merry vines enwreathe; That teems with olive; that shall thy tilth prove kind To cattle, and patient of the curved share. Such ploughs rich Capua, such the coast that skirts Thy ridge, Vesuvius, and the Clanian flood,
286Acerrae's desolation and her bane. How each to recognize now hear me tell. Dost ask if loose or passing firm it be— Since one for corn hath liking, one for wine, The firmer sort for Ceres, none too loose
291For thee, Lyaeus?—with scrutinizing eye First choose thy ground, and bid a pit be sunk Deep in the solid earth, then cast the mould All back again, and stamp the surface smooth. If it suffice not, loose will be the land,
296More meet for cattle and for kindly vines; But if, rebellious, to its proper bounds The soil returns not, but fills all the trench And overtops it, then the glebe is gross; Look for stiff ridges and reluctant clods,
301And with strong bullocks cleave the fallow crust. Salt ground again, and bitter, as 'tis called— Barren for fruits, by tilth untamable, Nor grape her kind, nor apples their good name Maintaining—will in this wise yield thee proof:
306Stout osier-baskets from the rafter-smoke, And strainers of the winepress pluck thee down; Hereinto let that evil land, with fresh Spring-water mixed, be trampled to the full; The moisture, mark you, will ooze all away,
311In big drops issuing through the osier-withes, But plainly will its taste the secret tell, And with a harsh twang ruefully distort The mouths of them that try it. Rich soil again We learn on this wise: tossed from hand to hand
316Yet cracks it never, but pitch-like, as we hold, Clings to the fingers. A land with moisture rife Breeds lustier herbage, and is more than meet Prolific. Ah I may never such for me O'er-fertile prove, or make too stout a show
321At the first earing! Heavy land or light The mute self-witness of its weight betrays. A glance will serve to warn thee which is black, Or what the hue of any. But hard it is To track the signs of that pernicious cold:
326Pines only, noxious yews, and ivies dark At times reveal its traces. All these rules Regarding, let your land, ay, long before, Scorch to the quick, and into trenches carve
331The mighty mountains, and their upturned clods Bare to the north wind, ere thou plant therein The vine's prolific kindred. Fields whose soil Is crumbling are the best: winds look to that, And bitter hoar-frosts, and the delver's toil
336Untiring, as he stirs the loosened glebe. But those, whose vigilance no care escapes, Search for a kindred site, where first to rear A nursery for the trees, and eke whereto Soon to translate them, lest the sudden shock
341From their new mother the young plants estrange. Nay, even the quarter of the sky they brand Upon the bark, that each may be restored, As erst it stood, here bore the southern heats, Here turned its shoulder to the northern pole;
346So strong is custom formed in early years. Whether on hill or plain 'tis best to plant Your vineyard first inquire. If on some plain You measure out rich acres, then plant thick; Thick planting makes no niggard of the vine;
351But if on rising mound or sloping bill, Then let the rows have room, so none the less Each line you draw, when all the trees are set, May tally to perfection. Even as oft In mighty war, whenas the legion's length
356Deploys its cohorts, and the column stands In open plain, the ranks of battle set, And far and near with rippling sheen of arms The wide earth flickers, nor yet in grisly strife Foe grapples foe, but dubious 'twixt the hosts
361The war-god wavers; so let all be ranged In equal rows symmetric, not alone To feed an idle fancy with the view, But since not otherwise will earth afford Vigour to all alike, nor yet the boughs
366Have power to stretch them into open space. Shouldst haply of the furrow's depth inquire, Even to a shallow trench I dare commit The vine; but deeper in the ground is fixed The tree that props it, aesculus in chief,
371Which howso far its summit soars toward heaven, So deep strikes root into the vaults of hell. It therefore neither storms, nor blasts, nor showers Wrench from its bed; unshaken it abides, Sees many a generation, many an age
376Of men roll onward, and survives them all, Stretching its titan arms and branches far, Sole central pillar of a world of shade. Nor toward the sunset let thy vineyards slope, Nor midst the vines plant hazel; neither take
381The topmost shoots for cuttings, nor from the top Of the supporting tree your suckers tear; So deep their love of earth; nor wound the plants With blunted blade; nor truncheons intersperse Of the wild olive: for oft from careless swains
386A spark hath fallen, that, 'neath the unctuous rind Hid thief-like first, now grips the tough tree-bole, And mounting to the leaves on high, sends forth A roar to heaven, then coursing through the boughs And airy summits reigns victoriously,
391Wraps all the grove in robes of fire, and gross With pitch-black vapour heaves the murky reek Skyward, but chiefly if a storm has swooped Down on the forest, and a driving wind Rolls up the conflagration. When 'tis so,
396Their root-force fails them, nor, when lopped away, Can they recover, and from the earth beneath Spring to like verdure; thus alone survives The bare wild olive with its bitter leaves. Let none persuade thee, howso weighty-wise,
401To stir the soil when stiff with Boreas' breath. Then ice-bound winter locks the fields, nor lets The young plant fix its frozen root to earth. Best sow your vineyards when in blushing Spring Comes the white bird long-bodied snakes abhor,
406Or on the eve of autumn's earliest frost, Ere the swift sun-steeds touch the wintry Signs, While summer is departing. Spring it is Blesses the fruit-plantation, Spring the groves; In Spring earth swells and claims the fruitful seed.
411Then Aether, sire omnipotent, leaps down With quickening showers to his glad wife's embrace, And, might with might commingling, rears to life All germs that teem within her; then resound With songs of birds the greenwood-wildernesses,
416And in due time the herds their loves renew; Then the boon earth yields increase, and the fields Unlock their bosoms to the warm west winds; Soft moisture spreads o'er all things, and the blades Face the new suns, and safely trust them now;
421The vine-shoot, fearless of the rising south, Or mighty north winds driving rain from heaven, Bursts into bud, and every leaf unfolds. Even so, methinks, when Earth to being sprang, Dawned the first days, and such the course they held;
426'Twas Spring-tide then, ay, Spring, the mighty world Was keeping: Eurus spared his wintry blasts, When first the flocks drank sunlight, and a race Of men like iron from the hard glebe arose, And wild beasts thronged the woods, and stars the heaven.
431Nor could frail creatures bear this heavy strain, Did not so large a respite interpose 'Twixt frost and heat, and heaven's relenting arms Yield earth a welcome. For the rest, whate'er
436The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
441And so the plants their drooping spirits raise. Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone Or heavy potsherd press them from above; This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.
446The slips once planted, yet remains to cleave The earth about their roots persistently, And toss the cumbrous hoes, or task the soil With burrowing plough-share, and ply up and down Your labouring bullocks through the vineyard's midst,
451Then too smooth reeds and shafts of whittled wand, And ashen poles and sturdy forks to shape, Whereby supported they may learn to mount, Laugh at the gales, and through the elm-tops win From story up to story.
456Now while yet The leaves are in their first fresh infant growth, Forbear their frailty, and while yet the bough Shoots joyfully toward heaven, with loosened rein Launched on the void, assail it not as yet
461With keen-edged sickle, but let the leaves alone Be culled with clip of fingers here and there. But when they clasp the elms with sturdy trunks Erect, then strip the leaves off, prune the boughs; Sooner they shrink from steel, but then put forth
466The arm of power, and stem the branchy tide. Hedges too must be woven and all beasts Barred entrance, chiefly while the leaf is young And witless of disaster; for therewith, Beside harsh winters and o'erpowering sun,
471Wild buffaloes and pestering goats for ay Besport them, sheep and heifers glut their greed. Nor cold by hoar-frost curdled, nor the prone Dead weight of summer upon the parched crags, So scathe it, as the flocks with venom-bite
476Of their hard tooth, whose gnawing scars the stem. For no offence but this to Bacchus bleeds The goat at every altar, and old plays Upon the stage find entrance; therefore too The sons of Theseus through the country-side—
481Hamlet and crossway—set the prize of wit, And on the smooth sward over oiled skins Dance in their tipsy frolic. Furthermore The Ausonian swains, a race from Troy derived, Make merry with rough rhymes and boisterous mirth,
486Grim masks of hollowed bark assume, invoke Thee with glad hymns, O Bacchus, and to thee Hang puppet-faces on tall pines to swing. Hence every vineyard teems with mellowing fruit, Till hollow vale o'erflows, and gorge profound,
491Where'er the god hath turned his comely head. Therefore to Bacchus duly will we sing Meet honour with ancestral hymns, and cates And dishes bear him; and the doomed goat Led by the horn shall at the altar stand,
496Whose entrails rich on hazel-spits we'll roast. This further task again, to dress the vine, Hath needs beyond exhausting; the whole soil Thrice, four times, yearly must be cleft, the sod With hoes reversed be crushed continually,
501The whole plantation lightened of its leaves. Round on the labourer spins the wheel of toil, As on its own track rolls the circling year. Soon as the vine her lingering leaves hath shed, And the chill north wind from the forests shook
506Their coronal, even then the careful swain Looks keenly forward to the coming year, With Saturn's curved fang pursues and prunes The vine forlorn, and lops it into shape. Be first to dig the ground up, first to clear
511And burn the refuse-branches, first to house Again your vine-poles, last to gather fruit. Twice doth the thickening shade beset the vine, Twice weeds with stifling briers o'ergrow the crop; And each a toilsome labour. Do thou praise
516Broad acres, farm but few. Rough twigs beside Of butcher's broom among the woods are cut, And reeds upon the river-banks, and still The undressed willow claims thy fostering care. So now the vines are fettered, now the trees
521Let go the sickle, and the last dresser now Sings of his finished rows; but still the ground Must vexed be, the dust be stirred, and heaven Still set thee trembling for the ripened grapes. Not so with olives; small husbandry need they,
526Nor look for sickle bowed or biting rake, When once they have gripped the soil, and borne the breeze. Earth of herself, with hooked fang laid bare, Yields moisture for the plants, and heavy fruit, The ploughshare aiding; therewithal thou'lt rear
531The olive's fatness well-beloved of Peace. Apples, moreover, soon as first they feel Their stems wax lusty, and have found their strength, To heaven climb swiftly, self-impelled, nor crave Our succour. All the grove meanwhile no less
536With fruit is swelling, and the wild haunts of birds Blush with their blood-red berries. Cytisus Is good to browse on, the tall forest yields Pine-torches, and the nightly fires are fed And shoot forth radiance. And shall men be loath
541To plant, nor lavish of their pains? Why trace Things mightier? Willows even and lowly brooms To cattle their green leaves, to shepherds shade, Fences for crops, and food for honey yield. And blithe it is Cytorus to behold
546Waving with box, Narycian groves of pitch; Oh! blithe the sight of fields beholden not To rake or man's endeavour! the barren woods That crown the scalp of Caucasus, even these, Which furious blasts for ever rive and rend,
551Yield various wealth, pine-logs that serve for ships, Cedar and cypress for the homes of men; Hence, too, the farmers shave their wheel-spokes, hence Drums for their wains, and curved boat-keels fit; Willows bear twigs enow, the elm-tree leaves,
556Myrtle stout spear-shafts, war-tried cornel too; Yews into Ituraean bows are bent: Nor do smooth lindens or lathe-polished box Shrink from man's shaping and keen-furrowing steel; Light alder floats upon the boiling flood
561Sped down the Padus, and bees house their swarms In rotten holm-oak's hollow bark and bole. What of like praise can Bacchus' gifts afford? Nay, Bacchus even to crime hath prompted, he The wine-infuriate Centaurs quelled with death,
566Rhoetus and Pholus, and with mighty bowl Hylaeus threatening high the Lapithae. Oh! all too happy tillers of the soil, Could they but know their blessedness, for whom Far from the clash of arms all-equal earth
571Pours from the ground herself their easy fare! What though no lofty palace portal-proud From all its chambers vomits forth a tide Of morning courtiers, nor agape they gaze On pillars with fair tortoise-shell inwrought,
576Gold-purfled robes, and bronze from Ephyre; Nor is the whiteness of their wool distained With drugs Assyrian, nor clear olive's use With cassia tainted; yet untroubled calm, A life that knows no falsehood, rich enow
581With various treasures, yet broad-acred ease, Grottoes and living lakes, yet Tempes cool, Lowing of kine, and sylvan slumbers soft, They lack not; lawns and wild beasts' haunts are there, A youth of labour patient, need-inured,
586Worship, and reverend sires: with them from earth Departing justice her last footprints left. Me before all things may the Muses sweet, Whose rites I bear with mighty passion pierced, Receive, and show the paths and stars of heaven,
591The sun's eclipses and the labouring moons, From whence the earthquake, by what power the seas Swell from their depths, and, every barrier burst, Sink back upon themselves, why winter-suns So haste to dip 'neath ocean, or what check
596The lingering night retards. But if to these High realms of nature the cold curdling blood About my heart bar access, then be fields And stream-washed vales my solace, let me love Rivers and woods, inglorious. Oh for you
601Plains, and Spercheius, and Taygete, By Spartan maids o'er-revelled! Oh, for one, Would set me in deep dells of Haemus cool, And shield me with his boughs' o'ershadowing might! Happy, who had the skill to understand
606Nature's hid causes, and beneath his feet All terrors cast, and death's relentless doom, And the loud roar of greedy Acheron. Blest too is he who knows the rural gods, Pan, old Silvanus, and the sister-nymphs!
611Him nor the rods of public power can bend, Nor kingly purple, nor fierce feud that drives Brother to turn on brother, nor descent Of Dacian from the Danube's leagued flood, Nor Rome's great State, nor kingdoms like to die;
616Nor hath he grieved through pitying of the poor, Nor envied him that hath. What fruit the boughs, And what the fields, of their own bounteous will Have borne, he gathers; nor iron rule of laws, Nor maddened Forum have his eyes beheld,
621Nor archives of the people. Others vex The darksome gulfs of Ocean with their oars, Or rush on steel: they press within the courts And doors of princes; one with havoc falls Upon a city and its hapless hearths,
626From gems to drink, on Tyrian rugs to lie; This hoards his wealth and broods o'er buried gold; One at the rostra stares in blank amaze; One gaping sits transported by the cheers, The answering cheers of plebs and senate rolled
631Along the benches: bathed in brothers' blood Men revel, and, all delights of hearth and home For exile changing, a new country seek Beneath an alien sun. The husbandman With hooked ploughshare turns the soil; from hence
636Springs his year's labour; hence, too, he sustains Country and cottage homestead, and from hence His herds of cattle and deserving steers. No respite! still the year o'erflows with fruit, Or young of kine, or Ceres' wheaten sheaf,
641With crops the furrow loads, and bursts the barns. Winter is come: in olive-mills they bruise The Sicyonian berry; acorn-cheered The swine troop homeward; woods their arbutes yield; So, various fruit sheds Autumn, and high up
646On sunny rocks the mellowing vintage bakes. Meanwhile about his lips sweet children cling; His chaste house keeps its purity; his kine Drop milky udders, and on the lush green grass Fat kids are striving, horn to butting horn.
651Himself keeps holy days; stretched o'er the sward, Where round the fire his comrades crown the bowl, He pours libation, and thy name invokes, Lenaeus, and for the herdsmen on an elm Sets up a mark for the swift javelin; they
656Strip their tough bodies for the rustic sport. Such life of yore the ancient Sabines led, Such Remus and his brother: Etruria thus, Doubt not, to greatness grew, and Rome became The fair world's fairest, and with circling wall
661Clasped to her single breast the sevenfold hills. Ay, ere the reign of Dicte's king, ere men, Waxed godless, banqueted on slaughtered bulls, Such life on earth did golden Saturn lead. Nor ear of man had heard the war-trump's blast,
666Nor clang of sword on stubborn anvil set. But lo! a boundless space we have travelled o'er; 'Tis time our steaming horses to unyoke.
Book 3
1Te quoque, magna Pales, et te memorande canemus pastor ab Amphryso, vos, silvae amnesque Lycaei. Cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, omnia iam volgata: quis aut Eurysthea durum aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras?
6Cui non dictus Hylas puer et Latonia Delos Hippodameque umeroque Pelops insignis eburno, acer equis? Temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora. Primus ego in patriam mecum, modo vita supersit,
11Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas; primus Idumaeas referam tibi, Mantua, palmas, et viridi in campo templum de marmore ponam propter aquam. Tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius et tenera praetexit arundine ripas.
16In medio mihi Caesar erit templumque tenebit: illi victor ego et Tyrio conspectus in ostro centum quadriiugos agitabo ad flumina currus. Cuncta mihi Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi cursibus et crudo decernet Graecia caestu.
21Ipse caput tonsae foliis ornatus olivae dona feram. Iam nunc sollemnis ducere pompas ad delubra iuvat caesosque videre iuvencos, vel scaena ut versis discedat frontibus utque purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni.
26In foribus pugnam ex auro solidoque elephanto Gangaridum faciam victorisque arma Quirini, atque hic undantem bello magnumque fluentem Nilum ac navali surgentis aere columnas. Addam urbes Asiae domitas pulsumque Niphaten
31fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis, et duo rapta manu diverso ex hoste tropaea bisque triumphatas utroque ab litore gentes. Stabunt et Parii lapides, spirantia signa, Assaraci proles demissaeque ab Iove gentis
36nomina, Trosque parens et Troiae Cynthius auctor. Invidia infelix Furias amnemque severum Cocyti metuet tortosque Ixionis anguis immanemque rotam et non exsuperabile saxum. Interea Dryadum silvas saltusque sequamur
41intactos, tua, Maecenas, haud mollia iussa. Te sine nil altum mens incohat; en age segnis rumpe moras; vocat ingenti clamore Cithaeron Taygetique canes domitrixque Epidaurus equorum et vox adsensu nemorum ingeminata remugit.
46Mox tamen ardentis accingar dicere pugnas Caesaris et nomen fama tot ferre per annos, Tithoni prima quot abest ab origine Caesar. Seu quis Olympiacae miratus praemia palmae pascit equos seu quis fortis ad aratra iuvencos,
51corpora praecipue matrum legat. Optuma torvae forma bovis, cui turpe caput, cui plurima cervix, et crurum tenus a mento palearia pendent; tum longo nullus lateri modus; omnia magna, pes etiam; et camuris hirtae sub cornibus aures.
56Nec mihi displiceat maculis insignis et albo, aut iuga detractans interdumque aspera cornu et faciem tauro propior, quaeque ardua tota, et gradiens ima verrit vestigia cauda, Aetas Lucinam iustosque pati hymenaeos
61desinit ante decem, post quattuor incipit annos; cetera nec feturae habilis nec fortis aratris. Interea, superat gregibus dum laeta iuventas, solve mares; mitte in Venerem pecuaria primus, atque aliam ex alia generando suffice prolem.
66Optuma quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aevi prima fugit; subeunt morbi tristisque senectus et labor, et durae rapit inclementia mortis. Semper erunt, quarum mutari corpora malis: semper enim refice ac, ne post amissa requiras,
71ante veni et subolem armento sortire quotannis. Nec non et pecori est idem dilectus equino. Tu modo, quos in spem statues submittere gentis, praecipuum iam inde a teneris impende laborem. Continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis
76altius ingreditur et mollia crura reponit; primus et ire viam et fluvios temptare minaces audet et ignoto sese committere ponti nec vanos horret strepitus. Illi ardua cervix argutumque caput, brevis alvus obesaque terga,
81luxuriatque toris animosum pectus. Honesti spadices glaucique, color deterrimus albis et gilvo. Tum, si qua sonum procul arma dedere stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem.
86Densa iuba, et dextro iactata recumbit in armo; at duplex agitur per lumbos spina, cavatque tellurem et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. Talis Amyclaei domitus Pollucis habenis Cyllarus et, quorum Grai meminere poetae,
91Martis equi biiuges et magni currus Achilli. Talis et ipse iubam cervice effundit equina coniugis adventu pernix Saturnus et altum Pelion hinnitu fugiens implevit acuto. Hunc quoque, ubi aut morbo gravis aut iam segnior annis
96deficit, abde domo nec turpi ignosce senectae. frigidus in Venerem senior, frustraque laborem ingratum trahit, et, si quando ad proelia ventum est, ut quondam in stipulis magnus sine viribus ignis, incassum furit. Ergo animos aevumque notabis
101praecipue; hinc alias artis prolemque parentum et quis cuique dolor victo, quae gloria palmae. Nonne vides, cum praecipiti certamine campum corripuere ruuntque effusi carcere currus, cum spes arrectae iuvenum, exsultantiaque haurit
106corda pavor pulsans? Illi instant verbere torto et proni dant lora, volat vi fervidus axis; iamque humiles, iamque elati sublime videntur aera per vacuum ferri atque adsurgere in auras; nec mora nec requies; at fulvae nimbus harenae
111tollitur, umescunt spumis flatuque sequentum: tantus amor laudum, tantae est victoria curae. Primus Erichthonius currus et quattuor ausus iungere equos rapidusque rotis insistere victor Frena Pelethronii Lapithae gyrosque dedere
116impositi dorso atque equitem docuere sub armis insultare solo et gressus glomerare superbos. Aequus uterque labor, aeque iuvenemque magistri exquirunt calidumque animis et cursibus acrem, quamvis saepe fuga versos ille egerit hostis
121et patriam Epirum referat fortisque Mycenas Neptunique ipsa deducat origine gentem. His animadversis instant sub tempus et omnis impendunt curas denso distendere pingui, quem legere ducem et pecori dixere maritum;
126florentisque secant herbas fluviosque ministrant farraque, ne blando nequeat superesse labori invalidique patrum referant ieiunia nati. Ipsa autem macie tenuant armenta volentes, atque, ubi concubitus primos iam nota voluptas
131sollicitat, frondesque negant et fontibus arcent. Saepe etiam cursu quatiunt et sole fatigant, cum graviter tunsis gemit area frugibus et cum surgentem ad Zephyrum paleae iactantur inanes. Hoc faciunt, nimio ne luxu obtunsior usus
136sit genitali arvo et sulcos oblimet inertis, sed rapiat sitiens Venerem interiusque recondat. Rursus cura patrum cadere et succedere matrum incipit. Exactis gravidae cum mensibus errant, non illas gravibus quisquam iuga ducere plaustris,
141non saltu superare viam sit passus et acri carpere prata fuga fluviosque innare rapacis. Saltibus in vacuis pascunt et plena secundum flumina, muscus ubi et viridissima gramine ripa, speluncaeque tegant et saxea procubet umbra.
146Est lucos Silari circa ilicibusque; virentem plurimus Alburnum volitans, cui nomen asilo Romanum est, oestrum Grai vertere vocantes, asper, acerba sonans, quo tota exterrita silvis diffugiunt armenta; furit mugitibus aether
151concussus silvaeque et sicci ripa Tanagri. Hoc quondam monstro horribilis exercuit iras Inachiae Iuno pestem meditata iuvencae. Hunc quoque, nam mediis fervoribus acrior instat, arcebis gravido pecori, armentaque pasces
156sole recens orto aut noctem ducentibus astris. Post partum cura in vitulos traducitur omnis, continuoque notas et nomina gentis inurunt et quos aut pecori malint submittere habendo aut aris servare sacros aut scindere terram
161et campum horrentem fractis invertere glaebis. Cetera pascuntur viridis armenta per herbas: Tu quos ad studium atque usum formabis agrestem, iam vitulos hortare viamque insiste domandi, dum faciles animi iuvenum, dum mobilis aetas.
166Ac primum laxos tenui de vimine circlos cervici subnecte; dehinc, ubi libera colla servitio adsuerint, ipsis e torquibus aptos iunge pares et coge gradum conferre iuvencos; atque illis iam saepe rotae ducantur inanes
171per terram et summo vestigia pulvere signent; post valido nitens sub pondere faginus axis instrepat et iunctos temo trahat aereus orbes. Interea pubi indomitae non gramina tantum nec vescas salicum frondes ulvamque palustrem,
176sed frumenta manu carpes sata; nec tibi fetae more patrum nivea implebunt mulctraria vaccae, sed tota in dulcis consument ubera natos. Sin ad bella magis studium turmasque ferocis, aut Alphea rotis praelabi flumina Pisae
181et Iovis in luco currus agitare volantis: primus equi labor est, animos atque arma videre bellantum lituosque pati tractuque gementem ferre rotam et stabulo frenos audire sonantis; tum magis atque magis blandis gaudere magistri
186laudibus et plausae sonitum cervicis amare. Atque haec iam primo depulsus ab ubere matris audeat, inque vicem det mollibus ora capistris invalidus etiamque tremens, etiam inscius aevi. At tribus exactis ubi quarta accesserit aestas,
191carpere mox gyrum incipiat gradibusque sonare compositis sinuetque alterna volumina crurum sitque laboranti similis; tum cursibus auras, tum vocet, ac per aperta volans ceu liber habenis aequora vix summa vestigia ponat harena;
196qualis Hyperboreis Aquilo cum densus ab oris incubuit, Scythiaeque hiemes atque arida differt nubila: tum segetes altae campique natantes lenibus horrescunt flabris summaeque sonorem dant silvae longique urgent ad litora fluctus;
201ille volat simul arva fuga, simul aequora verrens Hinc vel ad Elei metas et maxuma campi sudabit spatia et spumas aget ore cruentas, Belgica vel molli melius feret esseda collo. Tum demum crassa magnum farragine corpus
206crescere iam domitis sinito: namque ante domandum ingentis tollent animos prensique negabunt verbera lenta pati et duris parere lupatis. Sed non ulla magis viris industria firmat, quam Venerem et caeci stimulos avertere amoris,
211sive boum sive est cui gratior usus equorum. Atque ideo tauros procul atque in sola relegant pascua post montem oppositum et trans flumina lata, aut intus clausos satura ad praesepia servant. Carpit enim viris paulatim uritque videndo
216femina nec nemorum patitur meminisse nec herbae dulcibus illa quidem inlecebris, et saepe superbos cornibus inter se subigit decernere amantis. Pascitur in magna Sila formosa iuvenca: illi alternantes multa vi proelia miscent
221volneribus crebris, lavit ater corpora sanguis, versaque in obnixos urguentur cornua vasto cum gemitu, reboant silvaeque et longus Olympus Nec mos bellantis una stabulare, sed alter victus abit longeque ignotis exulat oris,
226multa gemens ignominiam plagasque superbi victoris, tum, quos amisit inultus, amores; et stabula aspectans regnis excessit avitis. Ergo omni cura viris exercet et inter dura iacet pernix instrato saxa cubili
231frondibus hirsutis et carice pastus acuta, et temptat sese atque irasci in cornua discit arboris obnixus trunco ventosque lacessit ictibus et sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena. Post ubi collectum robur viresque refectae
236signa movet praecepsque oblitum fertur in hostem: fluctus uti medio coepit cum albescere ponto longius ex altoque sinum trahit, utque volutus ad terras immane sonat per saxa neque ipso monte minor procumbit, at ima exaestuat unda
241verticibus nigramque alte subiectat harenam. Omne adeo genus in terris hominumque ferarumque, et genus aequoreum, pecudes pictaeque volucres, in furias. ignemque ruunt. Amor omnibus idem. Tempore non alio catulorum oblita leaena
246saevior erravit campis, nec funera volgo tam multa informes ursi stragemque dedere per silvas; tum saevus aper, tum pessima tigris; heu male tum Libyae solis erratur in agris. Nonne vides, ut tota tremor pertemptet equorum
251corpora, si tantum notas odor attulit auras? Ac neque eos iam frena virum neque verbera saeva non scopuli rupesque cavae atque obiecta retardant flumina correptosque unda torquentia montis. Ipse ruit dentesque Sabellicus exacuit sus
256et pede prosubigit terram, fricat arbore costas atque hinc atque illinc umeros ad volnera durat. Quid iuvenis, magnum cui versat in ossibus ignem durus amor? Nempe abruptis turbata procellis nocte natat caeca serus freta; quem super ingens
261porta tonat caeli et scopulis inlisa reclamant aequora; nec miseri possunt revocare parentes nec moritura super crudeli funere virgo. Quid lynces Bacchi variae et genus acre luporum atque canum? Quid, quae imbelles dant proelia cervi?
266Scilicet ante omnis furor est insignis equarum; et mentem Venus ipsa dedit, quo tempore Glauci Potniades malis membra absumpsere quadrigae. Illas ducit amor trans Gargara transque sonantem Ascanium; superant montis et flumina tranant.
271Continuoque avidis ubi subdita flamma medullis, vere magis, quia vere calor redit ossibus: illae ore omnes versae in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis, exceptantque levis auras et saepe sine ullis coniugiis vento gravidae, mirabile dictu,
276saxa per et scopulos et depressas convallis diffugiunt, non, Eure, tuos, neque solis ad ortus, in Borean caurumque, aut unde nigerrimus auster nascitur et pluvio contristat frigore caelum. Hic demum, hippomanes vero quod nomine dicunt
281pastores, lentum destillat ab inguine virus, hippomanes, quod saepe malae legere novercae miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba. Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus, singula dum capti circumvectamur amore.
286Hoc satis armentis: superat pars altera curae, lanigeros agitare greges hirtasque capellas. Hic labor, hinc laudem fortes sperate coloni. Nec sum animi dubius, verbis ea vincere magnum quam sit, et angustis hunc addere rebus honorem;
291sed me Parnasi deserta per ardua dulcis raptat amor; iuvat ire iugis, qua nulla priorum Castaliam molli devertitur orbita clivo. Nunc, veneranda Pales, magno nunc ore sonandum Incipiens stabulis edico in mollibus herbam
296carpere ovis, dum mox frondosa reducitur aestas, et multa duram stipula filicumque maniplis sternere subter humum, glacies ne frigida laedat molle pecus scabiemque ferat turpisque podagras. Post hinc digressus iubeo frondentia capris
301arbuta sufficere et fluvios praebere recentis et stabula a ventis hiberno opponere soli ad medium conversa diem, cum frigidus olim iam cadit extremoque inrorat Aquarius anno. Haec quoque non cura nobis leviore tuendae,
306nec minor usus erit, quamvis Milesia magno vellera mutentur Tyrios incocta rubores: densior hinc suboles, hinc largi copia lactis; quam magis exhausto spumaverit ubere mulctra, laeta magis pressis manabunt flumina mammis.
311Nec minus interea barbas incanaque menta Cinyphii tondent hirci saetasque comantis usum in castrorum et miseris velamina nautis. Pascuntur vero silvas et summa Lycaei horrentisque rubos et amantis ardua dumos:
316atque ipsae memores redeunt in tecta suosque ducunt et gravido superant vix ubere limen. Ergo omni studio glaciem ventosque nivalis quo minor est illis curae mortalis egestas, avertes victumque feres et virgea laetus
321pabula, nec tota claudes faenilia bruma. At vero Zephyris cum laeta vocantibus aestas in saltus utrumque gregem atque in pascua mittet, Luciferi primo cum sidere frigida rura carpamus, dum mane novum, dum gramina canent,
326et ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba. Inde ubi quarta sitim caeli collegerit hora et cantu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadae, ad puteos aut alta greges ad stagna iubebo currentem ilignis potare canalibus undam;
331aestibus at mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem, sicubi magna Iovis antiquo robore quercus ingentis tendat ramos, aut sicubi nigrum ilicibus crebris sacra nemus accubet umbra; tum tenuis dare rursus aquas et pascere rursus
336solis ad occasum, cum frigidus aera vesper temperat et saltus reficit iam roscida luna litoraque alcyonem resonant, acalanthida dumi. Quid tibi pastores Libyae, quid pascua versu prosequar et raris habitata mapalia tectis?
341Saepe diem noctemque et totum ex ordine mensem pascitur itque pecus longa in deserta sine ullis hospitiis: tantum campi iacet. Omnia secum armentarius Afer agit, tectumque laremque armaque Amyclaeumque canem Cressamque pharetram;
346non secus ac patriis acer Romanus in armis iniusto sub fasce viam cum carpit et hosti ante expectatum positis stat in agmine castris. At non, qua Scythiae gentes Maeotiaque unda, turbidus et torquens flaventis Hister harenas,
351quaque redit medium Rhodope porrecta sub axem. Illic clausa tenent stabulis armenta, neque ullae aut herbae campo apparent aut arbore frondes; sed iacet aggeribus niveis informis et alto terra gelu late septemque adsurgit in ulnas.
356Semper hiemps, semper spirantes frigora cauri. Tum Sol pallentis haud umquam discutit umbras, nec cum invectus equis altum petit aethera, nec cum praecipitem Oceani rubro lavit aequore currum. Concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae
361undaque iam tergo ferratos sustinet orbis, puppibus illa prius, patulis nunc hospita plaustris; aeraque dissiliunt vulgo vestesque rigescunt indutae caeduntque securibus umida vina et totae solidam in glaciem vertere lacunae
366stiriaque impexis induruit horrida barbis. Interea toto non setius aere ninguit: intereunt pecudes, stant circumfusa pruinis corpora magna boum, confertoque agmine cervi torpent mole nova et summis vix cornibus extant.
371Hos non immissis canibus, non cassibus ullis puniceaeve agitant pavidos formidine pennae, sed frustra oppositum trudentis pectore montem comminus obtruncant ferro graviterque rudentis caedunt et magno laeti clamore reportant.
376Ipsi in defossis specubus secura sub alta otia agunt terra congestaque robora totasque advolvere focis ulmos ignique dedere. Hic noctem ludo ducunt et pocula laeti fermento atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis.
381Talis Hyperboreo septem subiecta trioni gens effrena virum Rhiphaeo tunditur euro et pecudum fulvis velatur corpora saetis. Si tibi lanitium curae, primum aspera silva, lappaeque tribolique, absint; fuge pabula laeta;
386Continuoque greges villis lege mollibus albos. Illum autem, quamvis aries sit candidus ipse, nigra subest udo tantum cui lingua palato, reice, ne maculis infuscet vellera pullis nascentum, plenoque alium circumspice campo.
391Munere sic niveo lanae, si credere dignum est, Pan deus Arcadiae captam te, Luna, fefellit in nemora alta vocans; nec tu aspernata vocantem. At cui lactis amor, cytisum lotosque frequentis ipse manu salsasque ferat praesepibus herbas.
396Hinc et amant fluvios magis et magis ubera tendunt et salis occultum referunt in lacte saporem. Multi iam excretos prohibent a matribus haedos primaque ferratis praefigunt ora capistris. Quod surgente die mulsere horisque diurnis,
401nocte premunt; quod iam tenebris et sole cadente, sub lucem exportant calathis adit oppida pastor; aut parco sale contingunt hiemique reponunt. Nec tibi cura canum fuerit postrema, sed una velocis Spartae catulos acremque Molossum
406pasce sero pingui. Numquam custodibus illis nocturnum stabulis furem incursusque luporum aut impacatos a tergo horrebis Hiberos. Saepe etiam cursu timidos agitabis onagros et canibus leporem, canibus venabere dammas,
411saepe volutabris pulsos silvestribus apros latratu turbabis agens montisque per altos ingentem clamore premes ad retia cervum. Disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum galbaneoque agitare gravis nidore chelydros.
416saepe sub immotis praesepibus aut mala tactu vipera delituit caelumque exterrita fugit, aut tecto adsuetus coluber succedere et umbrae, pestis acerba boum, pecorique aspergere virus, fovit humum. Cape saxa manu, cape robora, pastor,
421tollentemque minas et sibila colla tumentem deice. Iamque fuga timidum caput abdidit alte, cum medii nexus extremaeque agmina caudae solvuntur, tardosque trahit sinus ultimus orbis. Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus anguis,
426squamea convolvens sublato pectore terga atque notis longam maculosus grandibus alvum qui, dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus et dum vere madent udo terrae ac pluvialibus austris stagna colit, ripisque habitans hic piscibus atram
431improbus ingluviem ranisque loquacibus explet; postquam exusta palus, terraeque ardore dehiscunt, exsilit in siccum et flammantia lumina torquens saevit agris asperque siti atque exterritus aestu. Ne mihi tum mollis sub divo carpere somnos
436neu dorso nemoris libeat iacuisse per herbas, cum positis novus exuviis nitidusque iuventa volvitur, aut catulos tectis aut ova relinquens arduus ad solem et linguis micat ore trisulcis. Morborum quoque te causas et signa docebo.
441Turpis ovis temptat scabies, ubi frigidus imber altius ad vivum persedit et horrida cano bruma gelu, vel cum tonsis inlotus adhaesit sudor et hirsuti secuerunt corpora vepres. Dulcibus idcirco fluviis pecus omne magistri
446perfundunt, udisque aries in gurgite villis mersatur missusque secundo defluit amni; aut tonsum tristi contingunt corpus amurca et spumas miscent argenti et sulfura viva Idaeasque pices et pinguis unguine ceras
451scillamque elleborosque gravis nigrumque bitumen. Non tamen ulla magis praesens fortuna laborum est, quam si quis ferro potuit rescindere summum ulceris os: alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, dum medicas adhibere manus ad volnera pastor
456abnegat et meliora deos sedet omnia poscens. Quin etiam, ima dolor balantum lapsus ad ossa cum furit atque artus depascitur arida febris, profuit incensos aestus avertere et inter ima ferire pedis salientem sanguine venam,
461Bisaltae quo more solent acerque Gelonus; cum fugit in Rhodopen atque in deserta Getarum et lac concretum cum sanguine potat equino. Quam procul aut molli succedere saepius umbrae videris aut summas carpentem ignavius herbas
466extremamque sequi aut medio procumbere campo pascentem et serae solam decedere nocti: continuo culpam ferro compesce, prius quam dira per incautum serpant contagia volgus. Non tam creber agens hiemem ruit aequore turbo,
471quam multae pecudum pestes. Nec singula morbi corpora corripiunt, sed tota aestiva repente, spemque gregemque simul cunctamque ab origine gentem. Tum sciat, aerias Alpis et Norica si quis castella in tumulis et Iapydis arva Timavi
476nunc quoque post tanto videat desertaque regna pastorum et longe saltus lateque vacantis. Hic quondam morbo caeli miseranda coorta est tempestas totoque autumni incanduit aestu et genus omne neci pecudum dedit, omne ferarum,
481corrupitque lacus, infecit pabula tabo. Nec via mortis erat simplex, sed ubi ignea venis omnibus acta sitis miseros adduxerat artus, rursus abundabat fluidus liquor omniaque in se ossa minutatim morbo collapsa trahebat.
486Saepe in honore deum medio stans hostia ad aram lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta, inter cunctantis cecidit moribunda ministros. Aut si quam ferro mactaverat ante sacerdos inde neque impositis ardent altaria fibris
491nec responsa potest consultus reddere vates, ac vix suppositi tinguntur sanguine cultri summaque ieiuna sanie infuscatur harena. Hinc laetis vituli volgo moriuntur in herbis et dulcis animas plena ad praesepia reddunt;
496hinc canibus blandis rabies venit et quatit aegros tussis anhela sues ac faucibus angit obesis. Labitur infelix studiorum atque immemor herbae victor equus fontisque avertitur et pede terram crebra ferit; demissae aures, incertus ibidem
501sudor et ille quidem morituris frigidus, aret pellis et ad tactum tractanti dura resistit. Haec ante exitium primis dant signa diebus; sin in processu coepit crudescere morbus, tum vero ardentes oculi atque attractus ab alto
506spiritus, interdum gemitu gravis, imaque longo ilia singultu tendunt, it naribus ater sanguis et obsessas fauces premit aspera lingua. Profuit inserto latices infundere cornu Lenaeos; ea visa salus morientibus una;
511mox erat hoc ipsum exitio, furiisque refecti ardebant ipsique suos iam morte sub aegra, di meliora piis erroremque hostibus illum, discissos nudis laniabant dentibus artus. Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus
516concidit et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem extremosque ciet gemitus. It tristis arator maerentem abiungens fraterna morte iuvencum, atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra. Non umbrae altorum nemorum, non mollia possunt
521prata movere animum, non qui per saxa volutus purior electro campum petit amnis; at ima solvuntur latera atque oculos stupor urguet inertis ad terramque fluit devexo pondere cervix. Quid labor aut benefacta iuvant? Quid vomere terras
526invertisse gravis? Atqui non Massica Bacchi munera, non illis epulae nocuere repostae: frondibus et victu pascuntur simplicis herbae, pocula sunt fontes liquidi atque exercita cursu flumina, nec somnos abrumpit cura salubris.
531Tempore non alio dicunt regionibus illis quaesitas ad sacra boves Iunonis et uris imparibus ductos alta ad donaria currus. Ergo aegre rastris terram rimantur et ipsis unguibus infodiunt fruges montisque per altos
536contenta cervice trahunt stridentia plaustra. Non lupus insidias explorat ovilia circum nec gregibus nocturnus obambulat; acrior illum cura domat; timidi dammae cervique fugaces nunc interque canes et circum tecta vagantur.
541Iam maris immensi prolem et genus omne natantum litore in extremo, ceu naufraga corpora, fluctus proluit; insolitae fugiunt in flumina phocae. Interit et curvis frustra defensa latebris vipera et attoniti squamis adstantibus hydri.
546Ipsis est aer avibus non aequus et illae praecipites alta vitam sub nube relinquunt. Praeterea iam nec mutari pabula refert artes nocent quaesitaeque; cessere magistri Phillyrides Chiron Amythaoniusque Melampus.
551Saevit et in lucem Stygiis emissa tenebris pallida Tisiphone Morbos agit ante Metumque, inque dies avidum surgens caput altius effert: Balatu pecorum et crebris mugitibus amnes arentesque sonant ripae collesque supini:
556Iamque catervatim dat stragem atque aggerat ipsis in stabulis turpi dilapsa cadavera tabo donec humo tegere ac foveis abscondere discunt. Nam neque erat coriis usus nec viscera quisquam aut undis abolere potest aut vincere flamma;
561ne tondere quidem morbo inluvieque peresa vellera nec telas possunt attingere putris; verum etiam invisos si quis temptarat amictus, ardentes papulae atque immundus olentia sudor membra sequebatur nec longo deinde moranti
566tempore contactos artus sacer ignis edebat.
Book 3
1Thee too, great Pales, will I hymn, and thee, Amphrysian shepherd, worthy to be sung, You, woods and waves Lycaean. All themes beside, Which else had charmed the vacant mind with song, Are now waxed common. Of harsh Eurystheus who
6The story knows not, or that praiseless king Busiris, and his altars? or by whom Hath not the tale been told of Hylas young, Latonian Delos and Hippodame, And Pelops for his ivory shoulder famed,
11Keen charioteer? Needs must a path be tried, By which I too may lift me from the dust, And float triumphant through the mouths of men. Yea, I shall be the first, so life endure, To lead the Muses with me, as I pass
16To mine own country from the Aonian height; I, Mantua, first will bring thee back the palms Of Idumaea, and raise a marble shrine On thy green plain fast by the water-side, Where Mincius winds more vast in lazy coils,
21And rims his margent with the tender reed. Amid my shrine shall Caesar's godhead dwell. To him will I, as victor, bravely dight In Tyrian purple, drive along the bank A hundred four-horse cars. All Greece for me,
26Leaving Alpheus and Molorchus' grove, On foot shall strive, or with the raw-hide glove; Whilst I, my head with stripped green olive crowned, Will offer gifts. Even 'tis present joy To lead the high processions to the fane,
31And view the victims felled; or how the scene Sunders with shifted face, and Britain's sons Inwoven thereon with those proud curtains rise. Of gold and massive ivory on the doors I'll trace the battle of the Gangarides,
36And our Quirinus' conquering arms, and there Surging with war, and hugely flowing, the Nile, And columns heaped on high with naval brass. And Asia's vanquished cities I will add, And quelled Niphates, and the Parthian foe,
41Who trusts in flight and backward-volleying darts, And trophies torn with twice triumphant hand From empires twain on ocean's either shore. And breathing forms of Parian marble there Shall stand, the offspring of Assaracus,
46And great names of the Jove-descended folk, And father Tros, and Troy's first founder, lord Of Cynthus. And accursed Envy there Shall dread the Furies, and thy ruthless flood, Cocytus, and Ixion's twisted snakes,
51And that vast wheel and ever-baffling stone. Meanwhile the Dryad-haunted woods and lawns Unsullied seek we; 'tis thy hard behest, Maecenas. Without thee no lofty task My mind essays. Up! break the sluggish bonds
56Of tarriance; with loud din Cithaeron calls, Steed-taming Epidaurus, and thy hounds, Taygete; and hark! the assenting groves With peal on peal reverberate the roar. Yet must I gird me to rehearse ere long
61The fiery fights of Caesar, speed his name Through ages, countless as to Caesar's self From the first birth-dawn of Tithonus old. If eager for the prized Olympian palm One breed the horse, or bullock strong to plough,
66Be his prime care a shapely dam to choose. Of kine grim-faced is goodliest, with coarse head And burly neck, whose hanging dewlaps reach From chin to knee; of boundless length her flank; Large every way she is, large-footed even,
71With incurved horns and shaggy ears beneath. Nor let mislike me one with spots of white Conspicuous, or that spurns the yoke, whose horn At times hath vice in't: liker bull-faced she, And tall-limbed wholly, and with tip of tail
76Brushing her footsteps as she walks along. The age for Hymen's rites, Lucina's pangs, Ere ten years ended, after four begins; Their residue of days nor apt to teem, Nor strong for ploughing. Meantime, while youth's delight
81Survives within them, loose the males: be first To speed thy herds of cattle to their loves, Breed stock with stock, and keep the race supplied. Ah! life's best hours are ever first to fly From hapless mortals; in their place succeed
86Disease and dolorous eld; till travail sore And death unpitying sweep them from the scene. Still will be some, whose form thou fain wouldst change; Renew them still; with yearly choice of young Preventing losses, lest too late thou rue.
91Nor steeds crave less selection; but on those Thou think'st to rear, the promise of their line, From earliest youth thy chiefest pains bestow. See from the first yon high-bred colt afield, His lofty step, his limbs' elastic tread:
96Dauntless he leads the herd, still first to try The threatening flood, or brave the unknown bridge, By no vain noise affrighted; lofty-necked, With clean-cut head, short belly, and stout back; His sprightly breast exuberant with brawn.
101Chestnut and grey are good; the worst-hued white And sorrel. Then lo! if arms are clashed afar, Bide still he cannot: ears stiffen and limbs quake; His nostrils snort and roll out wreaths of fire. Dense is his mane, that when uplifted falls
106On his right shoulder; betwixt either loin The spine runs double; his earth-dinting hoof Rings with the ponderous beat of solid horn. Even such a horse was Cyllarus, reined and tamed By Pollux of Amyclae; such the pair
111In Grecian song renowned, those steeds of Mars, And famed Achilles' team: in such-like form Great Saturn's self with mane flung loose on neck Sped at his wife's approach, and flying filled The heights of Pelion with his piercing neigh.
116Even him, when sore disease or sluggish eld Now saps his strength, pen fast at home, and spare His not inglorious age. A horse grown old Slow kindling unto love in vain prolongs The fruitless task, and, to the encounter come,
121As fire in stubble blusters without strength, He rages idly. Therefore mark thou first Their age and mettle, other points anon, As breed and lineage, or what pain was theirs To lose the race, what pride the palm to win.
126Seest how the chariots in mad rivalry Poured from the barrier grip the course and go, When youthful hope is highest, and every heart Drained with each wild pulsation? How they ply The circling lash, and reaching forward let
131The reins hang free! Swift spins the glowing wheel; And now they stoop, and now erect in air Seem borne through space and towering to the sky: No stop, no stay; the dun sand whirls aloft; They reek with foam-flakes and pursuing breath;
136So sweet is fame, so prized the victor's palm. 'Twas Ericthonius first took heart to yoke Four horses to his car, and rode above The whirling wheels to victory: but the ring And bridle-reins, mounted on horses' backs,
141The Pelethronian Lapithae bequeathed, And taught the knight in arms to spurn the ground, And arch the upgathered footsteps of his pride. Each task alike is arduous, and for each A horse young, fiery, swift of foot, they seek;
146How oft so-e'er yon rival may have chased The flying foe, or boast his native plain Epirus, or Mycenae's stubborn hold, And trace his lineage back to Neptune's birth. These points regarded, as the time draws nigh,
151With instant zeal they lavish all their care To plump with solid fat the chosen chief And designated husband of the herd: And flowery herbs they cut, and serve him well With corn and running water, that his strength
156Not fail him for that labour of delight, Nor puny colts betray the feeble sire. The herd itself of purpose they reduce To leanness, and when love's sweet longing first Provokes them, they forbid the leafy food,
161And pen them from the springs, and oft beside With running shake, and tire them in the sun, What time the threshing-floor groans heavily With pounding of the corn-ears, and light chaff Is whirled on high to catch the rising west.
166This do they that the soil's prolific powers May not be dulled by surfeiting, nor choke The sluggish furrows, but eagerly absorb Their fill of love, and deeply entertain. To care of sire the mother's care succeeds.
171When great with young they wander nigh their time, Let no man suffer them to drag the yoke In heavy wains, nor leap across the way, Nor scour the meads, nor swim the rushing flood. In lonely lawns they feed them, by the course
176Of brimming streams, where moss is, and the banks With grass are greenest, where are sheltering caves, And far outstretched the rock-flung shadow lies. Round wooded Silarus and the ilex-bowers Of green Alburnus swarms a winged pest—
181Its Roman name Asilus, by the Greeks Termed Oestros—fierce it is, and harshly hums, Driving whole herds in terror through the groves, Till heaven is madded by their bellowing din, And Tanager's dry bed and forest-banks.
186With this same scourge did Juno wreak of old The terrors of her wrath, a plague devised Against the heifer sprung from Inachus. From this too thou, since in the noontide heats 'Tis most persistent, fend thy teeming herds,
191And feed them when the sun is newly risen, Or the first stars are ushering in the night. But, yeaning ended, all their tender care Is to the calves transferred; at once with marks They brand them, both to designate their race,
196And which to rear for breeding, or devote As altar-victims, or to cleave the ground And into ridges tear and turn the sod. The rest along the greensward graze at will. Those that to rustic uses thou wouldst mould,
201As calves encourage and take steps to tame, While pliant wills and plastic youth allow. And first of slender withies round the throat Loose collars hang, then when their free-born necks Are used to service, with the self-same bands
206Yoke them in pairs, and steer by steer compel Keep pace together. And time it is that oft Unfreighted wheels be drawn along the ground Behind them, as to dint the surface-dust; Then let the beechen axle strain and creak
211'Neath some stout burden, whilst a brazen pole Drags on the wheels made fast thereto. Meanwhile For their unbroken youth not grass alone, Nor meagre willow-leaves and marish-sedge, But corn-ears with thy hand pluck from the crops.
216Nor shall the brood-kine, as of yore, for thee Brim high the snowy milking-pail, but spend Their udders' fullness on their own sweet young. But if fierce squadrons and the ranks of war Delight thee rather, or on wheels to glide
221At Pisa, with Alpheus fleeting by, And in the grove of Jupiter urge on The flying chariot, be your steed's first task To face the warrior's armed rage, and brook The trumpet, and long roar of rumbling wheels,
226And clink of chiming bridles in the stall; Then more and more to love his master's voice Caressing, or loud hand that claps his neck. Ay, thus far let him learn to dare, when first Weaned from his mother, and his mouth at times
231Yield to the supple halter, even while yet Weak, tottering-limbed, and ignorant of life. But, three years ended, when the fourth arrives, Now let him tarry not to run the ring With rhythmic hoof-beat echoing, and now learn
236Alternately to curve each bending leg, And be like one that struggleth; then at last Challenge the winds to race him, and at speed Launched through the open, like a reinless thing, Scarce print his footsteps on the surface-sand.
241As when with power from Hyperborean climes The north wind stoops, and scatters from his path Dry clouds and storms of Scythia; the tall corn And rippling plains 'gin shiver with light gusts; A sound is heard among the forest-tops;
246Long waves come racing shoreward: fast he flies, With instant pinion sweeping earth and main. A steed like this or on the mighty course Of Elis at the goal will sweat, and shower Red foam-flakes from his mouth, or, kindlier task,
251With patient neck support the Belgian car. Then, broken at last, let swell their burly frame With fattening corn-mash, for, unbroke, they will With pride wax wanton, and, when caught, refuse Tough lash to brook or jagged curb obey.
256But no device so fortifies their power As love's blind stings of passion to forefend, Whether on steed or steer thy choice be set. Ay, therefore 'tis they banish bulls afar To solitary pastures, or behind
261Some mountain-barrier, or broad streams beyond, Or else in plenteous stalls pen fast at home. For, even through sight of her, the female wastes His strength with smouldering fire, till he forget Both grass and woodland. She indeed full oft
266With her sweet charms can lovers proud compel To battle for the conquest horn to horn. In Sila's forest feeds the heifer fair, While each on each the furious rivals run; Wound follows wound; the black blood laves their limbs;
271Horns push and strive against opposing horns, With mighty groaning; all the forest-side And far Olympus bellow back the roar. Nor wont the champions in one stall to couch; But he that's worsted hies him to strange climes
276Far off, an exile, moaning much the shame, The blows of that proud conqueror, then love's loss Avenged not; with one glance toward the byre, His ancient royalties behind him lie. So with all heed his strength he practiseth,
281And nightlong makes the hard bare stones his bed, And feeds on prickly leaf and pointed rush, And proves himself, and butting at a tree Learns to fling wrath into his horns, with blows Provokes the air, and scattering clouds of sand
286Makes prelude of the battle; afterward, With strength repaired and gathered might breaks camp, And hurls him headlong on the unthinking foe: As in mid ocean when a wave far of Begins to whiten, mustering from the main
291Its rounded breast, and, onward rolled to land Falls with prodigious roar among the rocks, Huge as a very mountain: but the depths Upseethe in swirling eddies, and disgorge The murky sand-lees from their sunken bed.
296Nay, every race on earth of men, and beasts, And ocean-folk, and flocks, and painted birds, Rush to the raging fire: love sways them all. Never than then more fiercely o'er the plain Prowls heedless of her whelps the lioness:
301Nor monstrous bears such wide-spread havoc-doom Deal through the forests; then the boar is fierce, Most deadly then the tigress: then, alack! Ill roaming is it on Libya's lonely plains. Mark you what shivering thrills the horse's frame,
306If but a waft the well-known gust conveys? Nor curb can check them then, nor lash severe, Nor rocks and caverned crags, nor barrier-floods, That rend and whirl and wash the hills away. Then speeds amain the great Sabellian boar,
311His tushes whets, with forefoot tears the ground, Rubs 'gainst a tree his flanks, and to and fro Hardens each wallowing shoulder to the wound. What of the youth, when love's relentless might Stirs the fierce fire within his veins? Behold!
316In blindest midnight how he swims the gulf Convulsed with bursting storm-clouds! Over him Heaven's huge gate thunders; the rock-shattered main Utters a warning cry; nor parents' tears Can backward call him, nor the maid he loves,
321Too soon to die on his untimely pyre. What of the spotted ounce to Bacchus dear, Or warlike wolf-kin or the breed of dogs? Why tell how timorous stags the battle join? O'er all conspicuous is the rage of mares,
326By Venus' self inspired of old, what time The Potnian four with rending jaws devoured The limbs of Glaucus. Love-constrained they roam Past Gargarus, past the loud Ascanian flood; They climb the mountains, and the torrents swim;
331And when their eager marrow first conceives The fire, in Spring-tide chiefly, for with Spring Warmth doth their frames revisit, then they stand All facing westward on the rocky heights, And of the gentle breezes take their fill;
336And oft unmated, marvellous to tell, But of the wind impregnate, far and wide O'er craggy height and lowly vale they scud, Not toward thy rising, Eurus, or the sun's, But westward and north-west, or whence up-springs
341Black Auster, that glooms heaven with rainy cold. Hence from their groin slow drips a poisonous juice, By shepherds truly named hippomanes, Hippomanes, fell stepdames oft have culled, And mixed with herbs and spells of baneful bode.
346Fast flies meanwhile the irreparable hour, As point to point our charmed round we trace. Enough of herds. This second task remains, The wool-clad flocks and shaggy goats to treat. Here lies a labour; hence for glory look,
351Brave husbandmen. Nor doubtfully know How hard it is for words to triumph here, And shed their lustre on a theme so slight: But I am caught by ravishing desire Above the lone Parnassian steep; I love
356To walk the heights, from whence no earlier track Slopes gently downward to Castalia's spring. Now, awful Pales, strike a louder tone. First, for the sheep soft pencotes I decree To browse in, till green summer's swift return;
361And that the hard earth under them with straw And handfuls of the fern be littered deep, Lest chill of ice such tender cattle harm With scab and loathly foot-rot. Passing thence I bid the goats with arbute-leaves be stored,
366And served with fresh spring-water, and their pens Turned southward from the blast, to face the suns Of winter, when Aquarius' icy beam Now sinks in showers upon the parting year. These too no lightlier our protection claim,
371Nor prove of poorer service, howsoe'er Milesian fleeces dipped in Tyrian reds Repay the barterer; these with offspring teem More numerous; these yield plenteous store of milk: The more each dry-wrung udder froths the pail,
376More copious soon the teat-pressed torrents flow. Ay, and on Cinyps' bank the he-goats too Their beards and grizzled chins and bristling hair Let clip for camp-use, or as rugs to wrap Seafaring wretches. But they browse the woods
381And summits of Lycaeus, and rough briers, And brakes that love the highland: of themselves Right heedfully the she-goats homeward troop Before their kids, and with plump udders clogged Scarce cross the threshold. Wherefore rather ye,
386The less they crave man's vigilance, be fain From ice to fend them and from snowy winds; Bring food and feast them with their branchy fare, Nor lock your hay-loft all the winter long. But when glad summer at the west wind's call
391Sends either flock to pasture in the glades, Soon as the day-star shineth, hie we then To the cool meadows, while the dawn is young, The grass yet hoary, and to browsing herds The dew tastes sweetest on the tender sward.
396When heaven's fourth hour draws on the thickening drought, And shrill cicalas pierce the brake with song, Then at the well-springs bid them, or deep pools, From troughs of holm-oak quaff the running wave: But at day's hottest seek a shadowy vale,
401Where some vast ancient-timbered oak of Jove Spreads his huge branches, or where huddling black Ilex on ilex cowers in awful shade. Then once more give them water sparingly, And feed once more, till sunset, when cool eve
406Allays the air, and dewy moonbeams slake The forest glades, with halcyon's song the shore, And every thicket with the goldfinch rings. Of Libya's shepherds why the tale pursue? Why sing their pastures and the scattered huts
411They house in? Oft their cattle day and night Graze the whole month together, and go forth Into far deserts where no shelter is, So flat the plain and boundless. All his goods The Afric swain bears with him, house and home,
416Arms, Cretan quiver, and Amyclaean dog; As some keen Roman in his country's arms Plies the swift march beneath a cruel load; Soon with tents pitched and at his post he stands, Ere looked for by the foe.
421Not thus the tribes Of Scythia by the far Maeotic wave, Where turbid Ister whirls his yellow sands, And Rhodope stretched out beneath the pole Comes trending backward. There the herds they keep
426Close-pent in byres, nor any grass is seen Upon the plain, nor leaves upon the tree: But with snow-ridges and deep frost afar Heaped seven ells high the earth lies featureless: Still winter? still the north wind's icy breath!
431Nay, never sun disparts the shadows pale, Or as he rides the steep of heaven, or dips In ocean's fiery bath his plunging car. Quick ice-crusts curdle on the running stream, And iron-hooped wheels the water's back now bears,
436To broad wains opened, as erewhile to ships; Brass vessels oft asunder burst, and clothes Stiffen upon the wearers; juicy wines They cleave with axes; to one frozen mass Whole pools are turned; and on their untrimmed beards
441Stiff clings the jagged icicle. Meanwhile All heaven no less is filled with falling snow; The cattle perish: oxen's mighty frames Stand island-like amid the frost, and stags In huddling herds, by that strange weight benumbed,
446Scarce top the surface with their antler-points. These with no hounds they hunt, nor net with toils, Nor scare with terror of the crimson plume; But, as in vain they breast the opposing block, Butcher them, knife in hand, and so dispatch
451Loud-bellowing, and with glad shouts hale them home. Themselves in deep-dug caverns underground Dwell free and careless; to their hearths they heave Oak-logs and elm-trees whole, and fire them there, There play the night out, and in festive glee
456With barm and service sour the wine-cup mock. So 'neath the seven-starred Hyperborean wain The folk live tameless, buffeted with blasts Of Eurus from Rhipaean hills, and wrap Their bodies in the tawny fells of beasts.
461If wool delight thee, first, be far removed All prickly boskage, burrs and caltrops; shun Luxuriant pastures; at the outset choose White flocks with downy fleeces. For the ram, How white soe'er himself, be but the tongue
466'Neath his moist palate black, reject him, lest He sully with dark spots his offspring's fleece, And seek some other o'er the teeming plain. Even with such snowy bribe of wool, if ear May trust the tale, Pan, God of Arcady,
471Snared and beguiled thee, Luna, calling thee To the deep woods; nor thou didst spurn his call. But who for milk hath longing, must himself Carry lucerne and lotus-leaves enow With salt herbs to the cote, whence more they love
476The streams, more stretch their udders, and give back A subtle taste of saltness in the milk. Many there be who from their mothers keep The new-born kids, and straightway bind their mouths With iron-tipped muzzles. What they milk at dawn,
481Or in the daylight hours, at night they press; What darkling or at sunset, this ere morn They bear away in baskets—for to town The shepherd hies him—or with dash of salt Just sprinkle, and lay by for winter use.
486Nor be thy dogs last cared for; but alike Swift Spartan hounds and fierce Molossian feed On fattening whey. Never, with these to watch, Dread nightly thief afold and ravening wolves, Or Spanish desperadoes in the rear.
491And oft the shy wild asses thou wilt chase, With hounds, too, hunt the hare, with hounds the doe; Oft from his woodland wallowing-den uprouse The boar, and scare him with their baying, and drive, And o'er the mountains urge into the toils
496Some antlered monster to their chiming cry. Learn also scented cedar-wood to burn Within the stalls, and snakes of noxious smell With fumes of galbanum to drive away. Oft under long-neglected cribs, or lurks
501A viper ill to handle, that hath fled The light in terror, or some snake, that wont 'Neath shade and sheltering roof to creep, and shower Its bane among the cattle, hugs the ground, Fell scourge of kine. Shepherd, seize stakes, seize stones!
506And as he rears defiance, and puffs out A hissing throat, down with him! see how low That cowering crest is vailed in flight, the while, His midmost coils and final sweep of tail Relaxing, the last fold drags lingering spires.
511Then that vile worm that in Calabrian glades Uprears his breast, and wreathes a scaly back, His length of belly pied with mighty spots— While from their founts gush any streams, while yet With showers of Spring and rainy south-winds earth
516Is moistened, lo! he haunts the pools, and here Housed in the banks, with fish and chattering frogs Crams the black void of his insatiate maw. Soon as the fens are parched, and earth with heat Is gaping, forth he darts into the dry,
521Rolls eyes of fire and rages through the fields, Furious from thirst and by the drought dismayed. Me list not then beneath the open heaven To snatch soft slumber, nor on forest-ridge Lie stretched along the grass, when, slipped his slough,
526To glittering youth transformed he winds his spires, And eggs or younglings leaving in his lair, Towers sunward, lightening with three-forked tongue. Of sickness, too, the causes and the signs I'll teach thee. Loathly scab assails the sheep,
531When chilly showers have probed them to the quick, And winter stark with hoar-frost, or when sweat Unpurged cleaves to them after shearing done, And rough thorns rend their bodies. Hence it is Shepherds their whole flock steep in running streams,
536While, plunged beneath the flood, with drenched fell, The ram, launched free, goes drifting down the tide. Else, having shorn, they smear their bodies o'er With acrid oil-lees, and mix silver-scum And native sulphur and Idaean pitch,
541Wax mollified with ointment, and therewith Sea-leek, strong hellebores, bitumen black. Yet ne'er doth kindlier fortune crown his toil, Than if with blade of iron a man dare lance The ulcer's mouth ope: for the taint is fed
546And quickened by confinement; while the swain His hand of healing from the wound withholds, Or sits for happier signs imploring heaven. Aye, and when inward to the bleater's bones The pain hath sunk and rages, and their limbs
551By thirsty fever are consumed, 'tis good To draw the enkindled heat therefrom, and pierce Within the hoof-clefts a blood-bounding vein. Of tribes Bisaltic such the wonted use, And keen Gelonian, when to Rhodope
556He flies, or Getic desert, and quaffs milk With horse-blood curdled. Seest one far afield Oft to the shade's mild covert win, or pull The grass tops listlessly, or hindmost lag, Or, browsing, cast her down amid the plain,
561At night retire belated and alone; With quick knife check the mischief, ere it creep With dire contagion through the unwary herd. Less thick and fast the whirlwind scours the main With tempest in its wake, than swarm the plagues
566Of cattle; nor seize they single lives alone, But sudden clear whole feeding grounds, the flock With all its promise, and extirpate the breed. Well would he trow it who, so long after, still High Alps and Noric hill-forts should behold,
571And Iapydian Timavus' fields, Ay, still behold the shepherds' realms a waste, And far and wide the lawns untenanted. Here from distempered heavens erewhile arose A piteous season, with the full fierce heat
576Of autumn glowed, and cattle-kindreds all And all wild creatures to destruction gave, Tainted the pools, the fodder charged with bane. Nor simple was the way of death, but when Hot thirst through every vein impelled had drawn
581Their wretched limbs together, anon o'erflowed A watery flux, and all their bones piecemeal Sapped by corruption to itself absorbed. Oft in mid sacrifice to heaven—the white Wool-woven fillet half wreathed about his brow—
586Some victim, standing by the altar, there Betwixt the loitering carles a-dying fell: Or, if betimes the slaughtering priest had struck, Nor with its heaped entrails blazed the pile, Nor seer to seeker thence could answer yield;
591Nay, scarce the up-stabbing knife with blood was stained, Scarce sullied with thin gore the surface-sand. Hence die the calves in many a pasture fair, Or at full cribs their lives' sweet breath resign; Hence on the fawning dog comes madness, hence
596Racks the sick swine a gasping cough that chokes With swelling at the jaws: the conquering steed, Uncrowned of effort and heedless of the sward, Faints, turns him from the springs, and paws the earth With ceaseless hoof: low droop his ears, wherefrom
601Bursts fitful sweat, a sweat that waxes cold Upon the dying beast; the skin is dry, And rigidly repels the handler's touch. These earlier signs they give that presage doom. But, if the advancing plague 'gin fiercer grow,
606Then are their eyes all fire, deep-drawn their breath, At times groan-laboured: with long sobbing heave Their lowest flanks; from either nostril streams Black blood; a rough tongue clogs the obstructed jaws. 'Twas helpful through inverted horn to pour
611Draughts of the wine-god down; sole way it seemed To save the dying: soon this too proved their bane, And, reinvigorate but with frenzy's fire, Even at death's pinch—the gods some happier fate Deal to the just, such madness to their foes—
616Each with bared teeth his own limbs mangling tore. See! as he smokes beneath the stubborn share, The bull drops, vomiting foam-dabbled gore, And heaves his latest groans. Sad goes the swain, Unhooks the steer that mourns his fellow's fate,
621And in mid labour leaves the plough-gear fast. Nor tall wood's shadow, nor soft sward may stir That heart's emotion, nor rock-channelled flood, More pure than amber speeding to the plain: But see! his flanks fail under him, his eyes
626Are dulled with deadly torpor, and his neck Sinks to the earth with drooping weight. What now Besteads him toil or service? to have turned The heavy sod with ploughshare? And yet these
631Ne'er knew the Massic wine-god's baneful boon, Nor twice replenished banquets: but on leaves They fare, and virgin grasses, and their cups Are crystal springs and streams with running tired, Their healthful slumbers never broke by care.
636Then only, say they, through that country side For Juno's rites were cattle far to seek, And ill-matched buffaloes the chariots drew To their high fanes. So, painfully with rakes They grub the soil, aye, with their very nails
641Dig in the corn-seeds, and with strained neck O'er the high uplands drag the creaking wains. No wolf for ambush pries about the pen, Nor round the flock prowls nightly; pain more sharp Subdues him: the shy deer and fleet-foot stags
646With hounds now wander by the haunts of men Vast ocean's offspring, and all tribes that swim, On the shore's confine the wave washes up, Like shipwrecked bodies: seals, unwonted there, Flee to the rivers. Now the viper dies,
651For all his den's close winding, and with scales Erect the astonied water-worms. The air Brooks not the very birds, that headlong fall, And leave their life beneath the soaring cloud. Moreover now nor change of fodder serves,
656And subtlest cures but injure; then were foiled The masters, Chiron sprung from Phillyron, And Amythaon's son Melampus. See! From Stygian darkness launched into the light Comes raging pale Tisiphone; she drives
661Disease and fear before her, day by day Still rearing higher that all-devouring head. With bleat of flocks and lowings thick resound Rivers and parched banks and sloping heights. At last in crowds she slaughters them, she chokes
666The very stalls with carrion-heaps that rot In hideous corruption, till men learn With earth to cover them, in pits to hide. For e'en the fells are useless; nor the flesh With water may they purge, or tame with fire,
671Nor shear the fleeces even, gnawed through and through With foul disease, nor touch the putrid webs; But, had one dared the loathly weeds to try, Red blisters and an unclean sweat o'erran His noisome limbs, till, no long tarriance made,
676The fiery curse his tainted frame devoured.
Book 4
1Protinus aerii mellis caelestia dona exsequar: hanc etiam, Maecenas, adspice partem. Admiranda tibi levium spectacula rerum magnanimosque duces totiusque ordine gentis mores et studia et populos et proelia dicam.
6In tenui labor; at tenuis non gloria, si quem numina laeva sinunt auditque vocatus Apollo. Principio sedes apibus statioque petenda, quo neque sit ventis aditus—nam pabula venti ferre domum prohibent—neque oves haedique petulci
11floribus insultent aut errans bucula campo decutiat rorem et surgentes atterat herbas. Absint et picti squalentia terga lacerti pinguibus a stabulis meropesque aliaeque volucres et manibus Procne pectus signata cruentis;
16omnia nam late vastant ipsasque volantes ore ferunt dulcem nidis immitibus escam. At liquidi fontes et stagna virentia musco adsint et tenuis fugiens per gramina rivus, palmaque vestibulum aut ingens oleaster inumbret,
21ut, cum prima novi ducent examina reges vere suo ludetque favis emissa iuventus, vicina invitet decedere ripa calori, obviaque hospitiis teneat frondentibus arbos. In medium, seu stabit iners seu profluet umor,
26transversas salices et grandia conice saxa, pontibus ut crebris possint consistere et alas pandere ad aestivum solem, si forte morantes sparserit aut praeceps Neptuno immerserit Eurus. Haec circum casiae virides et olentia late
31serpylla et graviter spirantis copia thymbrae floreat inriguumque bibant violaria fontem. Ipsa autem, seu corticibus tibi suta cavatis, seu lento fuerint alvaria vimine texta, angustos habeant aditus: nam frigore mella
36cogit hiems, eademque calor liquefacta remittit. Utraque vis apibus pariter metuenda; neque illae nequiquam in tectis certatim tenuia cera spiramenta linunt fucoque et floribus oras explent collectumque haec ipsa ad munera gluten
41et visco et Phrygiae servant pice lentius Idae. Saepe etiam effossis, si vera est fama, latebris sub terra fovere larem, penitusque repertae pumicibusque cavis exesaeque arboris antro. Tu tamen et levi rimosa cubilia limo
46ungue fovens circum et raras superinice frondes. Neu propius tectis taxum sine, neve rubentes ure foco cancros, altae neu crede paludi, aut ubi odor caeni gravis aut ubi concava pulsu saxa sonant vocisque offensa resultat imago.
51Quod superest, ubi pulsam hiemem sol aureus egit sub terras caelumque aestiva luce reclusit, illae continuo saltus silvasque peragrant purpureosque metunt flores et flumina libant summa leves. Hinc nescio qua dulcedine laetae
56progeniem nidosque fovent, hinc arte recentes excudunt ceras et mella tenacia fingunt. Hinc ubi iam emissum caveis ad sidera caeli nare per aestatem liquidam suspexeris agmen obscuramque trahi vento mirabere nubem,
61contemplator: aquas dulces et frondea semper tecta petunt. Huc tu iussos adsperge sapores, trita melisphylla et cerinthae ignobile gramen, tinnitusque cie et Matris quate cymbala circum. ipsae consident medicatis sedibus, ipsae
66intima more suo sese in cunabula condent. Sin autem ad pugnam exierint, nam saepe duobus regibus incessit magno discordia motu, continuoque animos vulgi et trepidantia bello corda licet longe praesciscere; namque morantes
71Martius ille aeris rauci canor increpat et vox auditur fractos sonitus imitata tubarum; tum trepidae inter se coeunt pennisque coruscant spiculaque exacuunt rostris aptantque lacertos et circa regem atque ipsa ad praetoria densae
76miscentur magnisque vocant clamoribus hostem. Ergo ubi ver nactae sudum camposque patentes, erumpunt portis; concurritur, aethere in alto fit sonitus, magnum mixtae glomerantur in orbem praecipitesque cadunt; non densior aere grando,
81nec de concussa tantum pluit ilice glandis. ipsi per medias acies insignibus alis ingentes animos angusto in pectore versant, usque adeo obnixi non cedere, dum gravis aut hos aut hos versa fuga victor dare terga subegit.
86Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta pulveris exigui iactu compressa quiescent. Verum ubi ductores acie revocaveris ambo, deterior qui visus, eum, ne prodigus obsit, dede neci; melior vacua sine regnet in aula.
91Alter erit maculis auro squalentibus ardens; nam duo sunt genera: hic melior, insignis et ore et rutilis clarus squamis, ille horridus alter desidia latamque trahens inglorius alvum. Ut binae regum facies, ita corpora plebis.
96Namque aliae turpes horrent, ceu pulvere ab alto cum venit et sicco terram spuit ore viator aridus; elucent aliae et fulgore coruscant ardentes auro et paribus lita corpora guttis. Haec potior suboles, hinc caeli tempore certo
101dulcia mella premes, nec tantum dulcia, quantum et liquida et durum Bacchi domitura saporem. At cum incerta volant caeloque examina ludunt contemnuntque favos et frigida tecta relinquunt, instabiles animos ludo prohibebis inani.
106Nec magnus prohibere labor: tu regibus alas eripe; non illis quisquam cunctantibus altum ire iter aut castris audebit vellere signa. Invitent croceis halantes floribus horti et custos furum atque avium cum falce saligna
111Hellespontiaci servet tutela Priapi. Ipse thymum pinosque ferens de montibus altis tecta serat late circum, cui talia curae; ipse labore manum duro terat, ipse feraces figat humo plantas et amicos inriget imbres.
116Atque equidem, extremo ni iam sub fine laborum vela traham et terris festinem advertere proram, forsitan et, pingues hortos quae cura colendi ornaret, canerem, biferique rosaria Paesti, quoque modo potis gauderent intiba rivis
121et virides apio ripae, tortusque per herbam cresceret in ventrem cucumis; nec sera comantem narcissum aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi pallentesque hederas et amantes litora myrtos. Namque sub Oebaliae memini me turribus arcis,
126qua niger umectat flaventia culta Galaesus, Corycium vidisse senem, cui pauca relicti iugera ruris erant, nec fertilis illa iuvencis nec pecori opportuna seges nec commoda Baccho. Hic rarum tamen in dumis olus albaque circum
131lilia verbenasque premens vescumque papaver regum aequabat opes animis seraque revertens nocte domum dapibus mensas onerabat inemptis. Primus vere rosam atque autumno carpere poma, et cum tristis hiems etiamnum frigore saxa
136rumperet et glacie cursus frenaret aquarum, ille comam mollis iam tondebat hyacinthi aestatem increpitans seram Zephyrosque morantes. Ergo apibus fetis idem atque examine multo primus abundare et spumantia cogere pressis
141mella favis; illi tiliae atque uberrima pinus, quotque in flore novo pomis se fertilis arbos induerat, totidem autumno matura tenebat. Ille etiam seras in versum distulit ulmos eduramque pirum et spinos iam pruna ferentes
146iamque ministrantem platanum potantibus umbras. Verum haec ipse equidem spatiis exclusus iniquis praetereo atque aliis post me memoranda relinquo. Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Iuppiter ipse addidit, expediam, pro qua mercede canoros
151Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque aera secutae Dictaeo caeli regem pavere sub antro. Solae communes natos, consortia tecta urbis habent magnisque agitant sub legibus aevum, et patriam solae et certos novere penates,
156venturaeque hiemis memores aestate laborem experiuntur et in medium quaesita reponunt. Namque aliae victu invigilant et foedere pacto exercentur agris; pars intra saepta domorum Narcissi lacrimam et lentum de cortice gluten
161prima favis ponunt fundamina, deinde tenaces suspendunt ceras: aliae spem gentis adultos educunt fetus, aliae purissima mella stipant et liquido distendunt nectare cellas. Sunt quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti,
166inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila caeli aut onera accipiunt venientum aut agmine facto ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent. Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. ac veluti lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis
171cum properant, alii taurinis follibus auras accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt aera lacu; gemit impositis incudibus Aetna; illi inter sese magna vi bracchia tollunt in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe ferrum:
176non aliter, si parva licet componere magnis, Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi, munere quamque suo. Grandaevis oppida curae et munire favos et daedala fingere tecta. At fessae multa referunt se nocte minores,
181crura thymo plenae; pascuntur et arbuta passim et glaucas salices casiamque crocumque rubentem et pinguem tiliam et ferrugineos hyacinthos. Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus: mane ruunt portis; nusquam mora; rursus easdem
186vesper ubi e pastu tandem decedere campis admonuit, tum tecta petunt, tum corpora curant; fit sonitus, mussantque oras et limina circum. Post, ubi iam thalamis se composuere, siletur in noctem fessosque sopor suus occupat artus.
191Nec vero a stabulis pluvia impendente recedunt longius aut credunt caelo adventantibus Euris, sed circum tutae sub moenibus urbis aquantur, excursusque breves temptant et saepe lapillos, ut cumbae instabiles fluctu iactante saburram,
196tollunt, his sese per inania nubila librant. Illum adeo placuisse apibus mirabere morem, quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora segnes in Venerem solvunt aut fetus nixibus edunt: verum ipsae e foliis natos, e suavibus herbis
201ore legunt, ipsae regem parvosque Quirites sufficiunt aulasque et cerea regna refigunt. saepe etiam duris errando in cotibus alas attrivere ultroque animam sub fasce dedere: tantus amor florum et generandi gloria mellis.
206Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi excipiat, neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas, at genus immortale manet multosque per annos stat fortuna domus et avi numerantur avorum. Praeterea regem non sic Aegyptus et ingens
211Lydia nec populi Parthorum aut Medus Hydaspes observant. Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est; amisso rupere fidem constructaque mella diripuere ipsae et crates solvere favorum. Ille operum custos, illum admiruntur et omnes
216circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes et saepe attollunt umeris et corpora bello obiectant pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem. His quidam signis atque haec exempla secuti esse apibus partem divinae mentis et haustus
221aetherios dixere; deum namque ire per omnes terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum. Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum, quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas; scilicet huc reddi deinde ac resoluta referri
226omnia nec morti esse locum, sed viva volare sideris in numerum atque alto succedere caelo. Si quando sedem angustam servataque mella thesauris relines, prius haustu sparsus aquarum ora fove fumosque manu praetende sequaces.
231Bis gravidos cogunt fetus, duo tempora messis, Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum Pleas et Oceani spretos pede reppulit amnes, aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi Piscis aquosi tristior hibernas caelo descendit in undas.
236Illis ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum morsibus inspirant et spicula caeca relinquunt adfixae venis animasque in vulnere ponunt. Sin duram metues hiemem parcesque futuro contunsosque animos et res miserabere fractas,
241at suffire thymo cerasque recidere inanes quis dubitet? nam saepe favos ignotus adedit stellio et lucifugis congesta cubilia blattis immunisque sedens aliena ad pabula fucus aut asper crabro imparibus se immiscuit armis,
246aut dirum tiniae genus, aut invisa Minervae laxos in foribus suspendit aranea casses. Quo magis exhaustae fuerint, hoc acrius omnes incumbent generis lapsi sarcire ruinas complebuntque foros et floribus horrea texent.
251Si vero, quoniam casus apibus quoque nostros vita tulit, tristi languebunt corpora morbo— quod iam non dubiis poteris cognoscere signis: continuo est aegris alius color, horrida vultum deformat macies, tum corpora luce carentum
256exportant tectis et tristia funera ducunt; aut illae pedibus conexae ad limina pendent, aut intus clausis cunctantur in aedibus, omnes ignavaeque fame et contracto frigore pigrae. Tum sonus auditur gravior, tractimque susurrant,
261frigidus ut quondam silvis immurmurat Auster, ut mare sollicitum stridit refluentibus undis, aestuat ut clausis rapidus fornacibus ignis: hic iam galbaneos suadebo incendere odores mellaque harundineis inferre canalibus, ultro
266hortantem et fessas ad pabula nota vocantem. Proderit et tunsum gallae admiscere saporem Arentesque rosas aut igni pinguia multo defruta vel psithia passos de vite racemos Cecropiumque thymum et grave olentia centaurea.
271Est etiam flos in pratis, cui nomen amello fecere agricolae, facilis quaerentibus herba; namque uno ingentem tollit de caespite silvam, aureus ipse, sed in foliis, quae plurima circum funduntur, violae sublucet purpura nigrae;
277asper in ore sapor; tonsis in vallibus illum pastores et curva legunt prope flumina Mellae. Huius odorato radices incoque Baccho pabulaque in foribus plenis adpone canistris. Sed siquem proles subito defecerit omnis,
282nec genus unde novae stirpis revocetur habebit, tempus et Arcadii memoranda inventa magistri pandere, quoque modo caesis iam saepe iuvencis insincerus apes tulerit cruor. Altius omnem expediam prima repetens ab origine famam.
287Nam qua Pellaei gens fortunata Canopi accolit effuso stagnantem flumine Nilum et circum pictis vehitur sua rura phaselis, quaque pharetratae vicinia Persidis urget, omnis in hac certam regio iacit arte salutem.
295Exiguus primum atque ipsos contractus in usus eligitur locus; hunc angustique imbrice tecti parietibusque premunt artis et quattuor addunt, quattuor a ventis obliqua luce fenestras. Tum vitulus bima curvans iam cornua fronte
300quaeritur; huic geminae nares et spiritus oris multa reluctanti obstruitur, plagisque perempto tunsa per integram solvuntur viscera pellem. Sic positum in clauso linquunt et ramea costis subiciunt fragmenta, thymum casiasque recentes.
305Hoc geritur Zephyris primum impellentibus undas, ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribus, ante garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo. Interea teneris tepefactus in ossibus umor aestuat et visenda modis animalia miris,
310trunca pedum primo, mox et stridentia pennis, miscentur tenuemque magis magis aera carpunt, donec, ut aestivis effusus nubibus imber, erupere aut ut nervo pulsante sagittae, prima leves ineunt si quando proelia Parthi.
315Quis deus hanc, Musae, quis nobis extudit artem? Unde nova ingressus hominum experientia cepit? Pastor Aristaeus fugiens Peneia Tempe, amissis, ut fama, apibus morboque fameque, tristis ad extremi sacrum caput adstitit amnis
320multa querens atque hac adfatus voce parentem: “Mater, Cyrene mater, quae gurgitis huius ima tenes, quid me praeclara stirpe deorum, si modo, quem perhibes, pater est Thymbraeus Apollo, invisum fatis genuisti? aut quo tibi nostri
325pulsus amor? quid me caelum sperare iubebas? En etiam hunc ipsum vitae mortalis honorem, quem mihi vix frugum et pecudum custodia sollers omnia temptanti extuderat, te matre relinquo. Quin age et ipsa manu felices erue silvas,
330fer stabulis inimicum ignem atque interfice messes, ure sata et validam in vites molire bipennem, tanta meae si te ceperunt taedia laudis.” At mater sonitum thalamo sub fluminis alti sensit. Eam circum Milesia vellera Nymphae
335carpebant hyali saturo fucata colore, drymoque Xanthoque Ligeaque Phyllodoceque, caesariem effusae nitidam per candida colla, Nesaee Spioque Thaliaque Cymodoceque, Cydippeque et flava Lycorias, altera virgo,
340altera tum primos Lucinae experta labores, Clioque et Beroe soror, Oceanitides ambae, ambae auro, pictis incinctae pellibus ambae, atque Ephyre atque Opis et Asia Deiopea et tandem positis velox Arethusa sagittis.
345Inter quas curam Clymene narrabat inanem Vulcani Martisque dolos et dulcia furta, aque Chao densos divum numerabat amores carmine quo captae dum fusis mollia pensa devolvunt, iterum maternas impulit aures
350luctus Aristaei, vitreisque sedilibus omnes obstipuere; sed ante alias Arethusa sorores prospiciens summa flavum caput extulit unda et procul: “O gemitu non frustra exterrita tanto, Cyrene soror, ipse tibi, tua maxima cura,
355tristis Aristaeus Penei genitoris ad undam stat lacrimans et te crudelem nomine dicit.” Huic percussa nova mentem formidine mater, “duc, age, duc ad nos; fas illi limina divum tangere,” ait. Simul alta iubet discedere late
360flumina, qua iuvenis gressus inferret. At illum curvata in montis faciem circumstetit unda accepitque sinu vasto misitque sub amnem. Iamque domum mirans genetricis et umida regna speluncisque lacus clausos lucosque sonantes
365ibat et ingenti motu stupefactus aquarum omnia sub magna labentia flumina terra spectabat diversa locis, Phasimque Lycumque et caput, unde altus primum se erumpit Enipeus unde pater Tiberinus et unde Aniena fluenta
370saxosusque sonans Hypanis Mysusque Caicus, et gemina auratus taurino cornua vultu Eridanus, quo non alius per pinguia culta in mare purpureum violentior effluit amnis. Postquam est in thalami pendentia pumice tecta
375perventum et nati fletus cognovit inanes Cyrene, manibus liquidos dant ordine fontes germanae tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis; pars epulis onerant mensas et plena reponunt pocula, Panchaeis adolescunt ignibus arae;
380et mater, “Cape Maeonii carchesia Bacchi: Oceano libemus,” ait. Simul ipsa precatur Oceanumque patrem rerum Nymphasque sorores centum quae silvas, centum quae flumina servant. Ter liquido ardentem perfundit nectare Vestam,
385ter flamma ad summum tecti subiecta reluxit. Omine quo firmans animum sic incipit ipsa: “Est in Carphatio Neptuni gurgite vates caeruleus Proteus, magnum qui piscibus aequor et iuncto bipedum curru metitur equorum.
390Hic nunc Emathiae portus patriamque revisit Pallenen, hunc et Nymphae veneramur et ipse grandaevus Nereus; novit namque omnia vates, quae sint, quae fuerint, quae mox ventura trahantur; quippe ita Neptuno visum est, immania cuius
395armenta et turpes pascit sub gurgite phocas. Hic tibi, nate, prius vinclis capiendus, ut omnem expediat morbi causam eventusque secundet. Nam sine vi non ulla dabit praecepta, neque illum orando flectes; vim duram et vincula capto
400tende; doli circum haec demum frangentur inanes. Ipsa ego, te, medios cum sol accenderit aestus, cum sitiunt herbae et pecori iam gratior umbra est, in secreta senis ducam, quo fessus ab undis se recipit, facile ut somno adgrediare iacentem.
405Verum ubi correptum manibus vinclisque tenebis, tum variae eludent species atque ora ferarum Fiet enim subito sus horridus atraque tigris squamosusque draco et fulva cervice leaena, aut acrem flammae sonitum dabit atque ita vinclis
410excidet, aut in aquas tenues dilapsus abibit. Sed quanto ille magis formas se vertet in omnes, tanto, nate, magis contende tenacia vincla, donec talis erit mutato corpore, qualem videris, incepto tegeret cum lumina somno.”
415Haec ait et liquidum ambrosiae defundit odorem, quo totum nati corpus perduxit; at illi dulcis compositis spiravit crinibus aura atque habilis membris venit vigor. Est specus ingens exesi latere in montis, quo plurima vento
420cogitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos, deprensis olim statio tutissima nautis; intus se vasti Proteus tegit obice saxi. Hic iuvenem in latebris aversum a lumine Nympha collocat; ipsa procul nebulis obscura resistit.
425Iam rapidus torrens sitientes Sirius Indos ardebat, caelo et medium sol igneus orbem hauserat; arebant herbae et cava flumina siccis faucibus ad limum radii tepefacta coquebant: cum Proteus consueta petens e fluctibus antra
430ibat; eum vasti circum gens umida ponti exsultans rorem late dispergit amarum. Sternunt se somno diversae in litore phocae. Ipse, velut stabuli custos in montibus olim, vesper ubi e pastu vitulos ad tecta reducit,
435auditisque lupos acuunt balatibus agni, considit scopulo medius numerumque recenset. Cuius Aristaeo quoniam est oblata facultas, vix defessa senem passus componere membra cum clamore ruit magno manicisque iacentem
440occupat. Ille suae contra non immemor artis omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum, ignemque horribilemque feram fluviumque liquentem. Verum ubi nulla fugam reperit fallacia, victus in sese redit atque hominis tandem ore locutus:
445“Nam quis te, iuvenum confidentissime, nostras iussit adire domos? Quidve hinc petis?” inquit. At ille: “Scis, Proteu, scis ipse; neque est te fallere quicquam sed tu desine velle. Deum praecepta secuti venimus hinc lapsis quaesitum oracula rebus.”
450Tantum effatus. Ad haec vates vi denique multa ardentes oculos intorsit lumine glauco et graviter frendens sic fatis ora resolvit. “Non te nullius exercent numinis irae; magna luis commissa: tibi has miserabilis Orpheus
455haudquaquam ob meritum poenas, ni fata resistant, suscitat et rapta graviter pro coniuge saevit. Illa quidem, dum te fugeret per flumina praeceps, immanem ante pedes hydrum moritura puella servantem ripas alta non vidit in herba.
460At chorus aequalis Dryadum clamore supremos implerunt montes; flerunt Rhodopeiae arces altaque Pangaea et Rhesi mavortia tellus atque Getae atque Hebrus et Actias Orithyia. Ipse cava solans aegrum testudine amorem
465te, dulcis coniunx, te solo in litore secum, te veniente die, te decedente canebat. Taenarias etiam fauces, alta ostia Ditis, et caligantem nigra formidine lucum ingressus manesque adiit regemque tremendum
470nesciaque humanis precibus mansuescere corda. At cantu commotae Erebi de sedibus imis umbrae ibant tenues simulacraque luce carentum, quam multa in foliis avium se milia condunt vesper ubi aut hibernus agit de montibus imber,
475matres atque viri defunctaque corpora vita magnanimum heroum, pueri innuptaeque puellae, impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum, quos circum limus niger et deformis harundo Cocyti tardaque palus inamabilis unda
480alligat et noviens Styx interfusa coercet. Quin ipsae stupuere domus atque intima Leti tartara caeruleosque implexae crinibus angues Eumenides, tenuitque inhians tria Cerberus ora atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis.
485Iamque pedem referens casus evaserat omnes; redditaque Eurydice superas veniebat ad auras, pone sequens, namque hanc dederat Proserpina legem, cum subita incautum dementia cepit amantem, ignoscenda quidem, scirent si ignoscere manes.
490Restitit Eurydicenque suam iam luce sub ipsa immemor heu! victusque animi respexit. Ibi omnis effusus labor atque immitis rupta tyranni foedera, terque fragor stagnis auditus Avernis. Illa, “Quis et me,” inquit, “miseram et te perdidit, Orpheu,
495quis tantus furor? En iterum crudelia retro Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus. Iamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte invalidasque tibi tendens, heu non tua, palmas!” dixit et ex oculis subito, ceu fumus in auras
500commixtus tenues, fugit diversa, neque illum, prensantem nequiquam umbras et multa volentem dicere, praeterea vidit, nec portitor Orci amplius obiectam passus transire paludem. Quid faceret? Quo se rapta bis coniuge ferret?
505Quo fletu Manis, quae numina voce moveret? Illa quidem Stygia nabat iam frigida cumba. Septem illum totos perhibent ex ordine menses rupe sub aeria deserti ad Strymonis undam flesse sibi et gelidis haec evolvisse sub antris
510mulcentem tigres et agentem carmine quercus; qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra amissos queritur fetus, quos durus arator observans nido implumes detraxit; at illa flet noctem ramoque sedens miserabile carmen
515integrat et maestis late loca questibus implet. Nulla Venus, non ulli animum flexere hymenaei. Solus Hyperboreas glacies Tanaimque nivalem arvaque Rhipaeis numquam viduata pruinis lustrabat raptam Eurydicen atque inrita Ditis
520dona querens; spretae Ciconum quo munere matres inter sacra deum nocturnique orgia Bacchi discerptum latos iuvenem sparsere per agros. Tum quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum gurgite cum medio portans Oeagrius Hebrus
525volveret, Eurydicen vox ipsa et frigida lingua “ah miseram Eurydicen!” anima fugiente vocabat: “Eurydicen” toto referebant flumine ripae.” Haec Proteus, et se iactu dedit aequor in altum, quaque dedit, spumantem undam sub vertice torsit.
530At non Cyrene; namque ultro adfata timentem: “Nate, licet tristes animo deponere curas. Haec omnis morbi causa; hinc miserabile Nymphae, cum quibus illa choros lucis agitabat in altis, exitium misere apibus. Tu munera supplex
535tende petens pacem et faciles venerare Napaeas; namque dabunt veniam votis irasque remittent. Sed modus orandi qui sit, prius ordine dicam. Quattuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros, qui tibi nunc viridis depascunt summa Lycaei,
540delige et intacta totidem cervice iuvencas. Quattuor his aras alta ad delubra dearum constitue et sacrum iugulis demitte cruorem, corporaque ipsa boum frondoso desere luco. Post, ubi nona suos Aurora ostenderit ortus,
545inferias Orphei Lethaea papavera mittes et nigram mactabis ovem lucumque revises: placatam Eurydicen vitula venerabere caesa.” Haud mora; continuo matris praecepta facessit; ad delubra venit, monstratas excitat aras,
550quattuor eximios praestanti corpore tauros ducit et intacta totidem cervice iuvencas. Post, ubi nona suos Aurora induxerat ortus, inferias Orphei mittit lucumque revisit. Hic vero subitum ac dictu mirabile monstrum
555adspiciunt, liquefacta boum per viscera toto stridere apes utero et ruptis effervere costis, immensasque trahi nubes, iamque arbore summa confluere et lentis uvam demittere ramis. Haec super arvorum cultu pecorumque canebam
560et super arboribus, Caesar dum magnus ad altum fulminat Euphraten bello victorque volentes per populos dat iura viamque adfectat Olympo. Illo Vergilium me tempore dulcis alebat Parthenope studiis florentem ignobilis oti,
565carmina qui lusi pastorum audaxque iuventa, Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi.
Book 4
1Of air-born honey, gift of heaven, I now Take up the tale. Upon this theme no less Look thou, Maecenas, with indulgent eye. A marvellous display of puny powers, High-hearted chiefs, a nation's history,
6Its traits, its bent, its battles and its clans, All, each, shall pass before you, while I sing. Slight though the poet's theme, not slight the praise, So frown not heaven, and Phoebus hear his call. First find your bees a settled sure abode,
11Where neither winds can enter (winds blow back The foragers with food returning home) Nor sheep and butting kids tread down the flowers, Nor heifer wandering wide upon the plain Dash off the dew, and bruise the springing blades.
16Let the gay lizard too keep far aloof His scale-clad body from their honied stalls, And the bee-eater, and what birds beside, And Procne smirched with blood upon the breast From her own murderous hands. For these roam wide
21Wasting all substance, or the bees themselves Strike flying, and in their beaks bear home, to glut Those savage nestlings with the dainty prey. But let clear springs and moss-green pools be near, And through the grass a streamlet hurrying run,
26Some palm-tree o'er the porch extend its shade, Or huge-grown oleaster, that in Spring, Their own sweet Spring-tide, when the new-made chiefs Lead forth the young swarms, and, escaped their comb, The colony comes forth to sport and play,
31The neighbouring bank may lure them from the heat, Or bough befriend with hospitable shade. O'er the mid-waters, whether swift or still, Cast willow-branches and big stones enow, Bridge after bridge, where they may footing find
36And spread their wide wings to the summer sun, If haply Eurus, swooping as they pause, Have dashed with spray or plunged them in the deep. And let green cassias and far-scented thymes, And savory with its heavy-laden breath
41Bloom round about, and violet-beds hard by Sip sweetness from the fertilizing springs. For the hive's self, or stitched of hollow bark, Or from tough osier woven, let the doors Be strait of entrance; for stiff winter's cold
46Congeals the honey, and heat resolves and thaws, To bees alike disastrous; not for naught So haste they to cement the tiny pores That pierce their walls, and fill the crevices With pollen from the flowers, and glean and keep
51To this same end the glue, that binds more fast Than bird-lime or the pitch from Ida's pines. Oft too in burrowed holes, if fame be true, They make their cosy subterranean home, And deeply lodged in hollow rocks are found,
56Or in the cavern of an age-hewn tree. Thou not the less smear round their crannied cribs With warm smooth mud-coat, and strew leaves above; But near their home let neither yew-tree grow, Nor reddening crabs be roasted, and mistrust
61Deep marish-ground and mire with noisome smell, Or where the hollow rocks sonorous ring, And the word spoken buffets and rebounds. What more? When now the golden sun has put Winter to headlong flight beneath the world,
66And oped the doors of heaven with summer ray, Forthwith they roam the glades and forests o'er, Rifle the painted flowers, or sip the streams, Light-hovering on the surface. Hence it is With some sweet rapture, that we know not of,
71Their little ones they foster, hence with skill Work out new wax or clinging honey mould. So when the cage-escaped hosts you see Float heavenward through the hot clear air, until You marvel at yon dusky cloud that spreads
76And lengthens on the wind, then mark them well; For then 'tis ever the fresh springs they seek And bowery shelter: hither must you bring The savoury sweets I bid, and sprinkle them, Bruised balsam and the wax-flower's lowly weed,
81And wake and shake the tinkling cymbals heard By the great Mother: on the anointed spots Themselves will settle, and in wonted wise Seek of themselves the cradle's inmost depth. But if to battle they have hied them forth—
86For oft 'twixt king and king with uproar dire Fierce feud arises, and at once from far You may discern what passion sways the mob, And how their hearts are throbbing for the strife; Hark! the hoarse brazen note that warriors know
91Chides on the loiterers, and the ear may catch A sound that mocks the war-trump's broken blasts; Then in hot haste they muster, then flash wings, Sharpen their pointed beaks and knit their thews, And round the king, even to his royal tent,
96Throng rallying, and with shouts defy the foe. So, when a dry Spring and clear space is given, Forth from the gates they burst, they clash on high; A din arises; they are heaped and rolled Into one mighty mass, and headlong fall,
101Not denselier hail through heaven, nor pelting so Rains from the shaken oak its acorn-shower. Conspicuous by their wings the chiefs themselves Press through the heart of battle, and display A giant's spirit in each pigmy frame,
106Steadfast no inch to yield till these or those The victor's ponderous arm has turned to flight. Such fiery passions and such fierce assaults A little sprinkled dust controls and quells. And now, both leaders from the field recalled,
111Who hath the worser seeming, do to death, Lest royal waste wax burdensome, but let His better lord it on the empty throne. One with gold-burnished flakes will shine like fire, For twofold are their kinds, the nobler he,
116Of peerless front and lit with flashing scales; That other, from neglect and squalor foul, Drags slow a cumbrous belly. As with kings, So too with people, diverse is their mould, Some rough and loathly, as when the wayfarer
121Scapes from a whirl of dust, and scorched with heat Spits forth the dry grit from his parched mouth: The others shine forth and flash with lightning-gleam, Their backs all blazoned with bright drops of gold Symmetric: this the likelier breed; from these,
126When heaven brings round the season, thou shalt strain Sweet honey, nor yet so sweet as passing clear, And mellowing on the tongue the wine-god's fire. But when the swarms fly aimlessly abroad, Disport themselves in heaven and spurn their cells,
131Leaving the hive unwarmed, from such vain play Must you refrain their volatile desires, Nor hard the task: tear off the monarchs' wings; While these prove loiterers, none beside will dare Mount heaven, or pluck the standards from the camp.
136Let gardens with the breath of saffron flowers Allure them, and the lord of Hellespont, Priapus, wielder of the willow-scythe, Safe in his keeping hold from birds and thieves. And let the man to whom such cares are dear
141Himself bring thyme and pine-trees from the heights, And strew them in broad belts about their home; No hand but his the blistering task should ply, Plant the young slips, or shed the genial showers. And I myself, were I not even now
146Furling my sails, and, nigh the journey's end, Eager to turn my vessel's prow to shore, Perchance would sing what careful husbandry Makes the trim garden smile; of Paestum too, Whose roses bloom and fade and bloom again;
151How endives glory in the streams they drink, And green banks in their parsley, and how the gourd Twists through the grass and rounds him to paunch; Nor of Narcissus had my lips been dumb, That loiterer of the flowers, nor supple-stemmed
156Acanthus, with the praise of ivies pale, And myrtles clinging to the shores they love. For 'neath the shade of tall Oebalia's towers, Where dark Galaesus laves the yellowing fields, An old man once I mind me to have seen—
161From Corycus he came—to whom had fallen Some few poor acres of neglected land, And they nor fruitful' neath the plodding steer, Meet for the grazing herd, nor good for vines. Yet he, the while his meagre garden-herbs
166Among the thorns he planted, and all round White lilies, vervains, and lean poppy set, In pride of spirit matched the wealth of kings, And home returning not till night was late, With unbought plenty heaped his board on high.
171He was the first to cull the rose in spring, He the ripe fruits in autumn; and ere yet Winter had ceased in sullen ire to rive The rocks with frost, and with her icy bit Curb in the running waters, there was he
176Plucking the rathe faint hyacinth, while he chid Summer's slow footsteps and the lagging West. Therefore he too with earliest brooding bees And their full swarms o'erflowed, and first was he To press the bubbling honey from the comb;
181Lime-trees were his, and many a branching pine; And all the fruits wherewith in early bloom The orchard-tree had clothed her, in full tale Hung there, by mellowing autumn perfected. He too transplanted tall-grown elms a-row,
186Time-toughened pear, thorns bursting with the plum And plane now yielding serviceable shade For dry lips to drink under: but these things, Shut off by rigorous limits, I pass by, And leave for others to sing after me.
191Come, then, I will unfold the natural powers Great Jove himself upon the bees bestowed, The boon for which, led by the shrill sweet strains Of the Curetes and their clashing brass, They fed the King of heaven in Dicte's cave.
196Alone of all things they receive and hold Community of offspring, and they house Together in one city, and beneath The shelter of majestic laws they live; And they alone fixed home and country know,
201And in the summer, warned of coming cold, Make proof of toil, and for the general store Hoard up their gathered harvesting. For some Watch o'er the victualling of the hive, and these By settled order ply their tasks afield;
206And some within the confines of their home Plant firm the comb's first layer, Narcissus' tear, And sticky gum oozed from the bark of trees, Then set the clinging wax to hang therefrom. Others the while lead forth the full-grown young,
211Their country's hope, and others press and pack The thrice repured honey, and stretch their cells To bursting with the clear-strained nectar sweet. Some, too, the wardship of the gates befalls, Who watch in turn for showers and cloudy skies,
216Or ease returning labourers of their load, Or form a band and from their precincts drive The drones, a lazy herd. How glows the work! How sweet the honey smells of perfumed thyme Like the Cyclopes, when in haste they forge
221From the slow-yielding ore the thunderbolts, Some from the bull's-hide bellows in and out Let the blasts drive, some dip i' the water-trough The sputtering metal: with the anvil's weight Groans Etna: they alternately in time
226With giant strength uplift their sinewy arms, Or twist the iron with the forceps' grip— Not otherwise, to measure small with great, The love of getting planted in their breasts Goads on the bees, that haunt old Cecrops' heights,
231Each in his sphere to labour. The old have charge To keep the town, and build the walled combs, And mould the cunning chambers; but the youth, Their tired legs packed with thyme, come labouring home Belated, for afar they range to feed
236On arbutes and the grey-green willow-leaves, And cassia and the crocus blushing red, Glue-yielding limes, and hyacinths dusky-eyed. One hour for rest have all, and one for toil: With dawn they hurry from the gates—no room
241For loiterers there: and once again, when even Now bids them quit their pasturing on the plain, Then homeward make they, then refresh their strength: A hum arises: hark! they buzz and buzz About the doors and threshold; till at length
246Safe laid to rest they hush them for the night, And welcome slumber laps their weary limbs. But from the homestead not too far they fare, When showers hang like to fall, nor, east winds nigh, Confide in heaven, but 'neath the city walls
251Safe-circling fetch them water, or essay Brief out-goings, and oft weigh-up tiny stones, As light craft ballast in the tossing tide, Wherewith they poise them through the cloudy vast. This law of life, too, by the bees obeyed,
256Will move thy wonder, that nor sex with sex Yoke they in marriage, nor yield their limbs to love, Nor know the pangs of labour, but alone From leaves and honied herbs, the mothers, each, Gather their offspring in their mouths, alone
261Supply new kings and pigmy commonwealth, And their old court and waxen realm repair. Oft, too, while wandering, against jagged stones Their wings they fray, and 'neath the burden yield Their liberal lives: so deep their love of flowers,
266So glorious deem they honey's proud acquist. Therefore, though each a life of narrow span, Ne'er stretched to summers more than seven, befalls, Yet deathless doth the race endure, and still Perennial stands the fortune of their line,
271From grandsire unto grandsire backward told. Moreover, not Aegyptus, nor the realm Of boundless Lydia, no, nor Parthia's hordes, Nor Median Hydaspes, to their king Do such obeisance: lives the king unscathed,
276One will inspires the million: is he dead, Snapt is the bond of fealty; they themselves Ravage their toil-wrought honey, and rend amain Their own comb's waxen trellis. He is the lord Of all their labour; him with awful eye
281They reverence, and with murmuring throngs surround, In crowds attend, oft shoulder him on high, Or with their bodies shield him in the fight, And seek through showering wounds a glorious death. Led by these tokens, and with such traits to guide,
286Some say that unto bees a share is given Of the Divine Intelligence, and to drink Pure draughts of ether; for God permeates all— Earth, and wide ocean, and the vault of heaven— From whom flocks, herds, men, beasts of every kind,
291Draw each at birth the fine essential flame; Yea, and that all things hence to Him return, Brought back by dissolution, nor can death Find place: but, each into his starry rank, Alive they soar, and mount the heights of heaven.
296If now their narrow home thou wouldst unseal, And broach the treasures of the honey-house, With draught of water first toment thy lips, And spread before thee fumes of trailing smoke. Twice is the teeming produce gathered in,
301Twofold their time of harvest year by year, Once when Taygete the Pleiad uplifts Her comely forehead for the earth to see, With foot of scorn spurning the ocean-streams, Once when in gloom she flies the watery Fish,
306And dips from heaven into the wintry wave. Unbounded then their wrath; if hurt, they breathe Venom into their bite, cleave to the veins And let the sting lie buried, and leave their lives Behind them in the wound. But if you dread
311Too rigorous a winter, and would fain Temper the coming time, and their bruised hearts And broken estate to pity move thy soul, Yet who would fear to fumigate with thyme, Or cut the empty wax away? for oft
316Into their comb the newt has gnawed unseen, And the light-loathing beetles crammed their bed, And he that sits at others' board to feast, The do-naught drone; or 'gainst the unequal foe Swoops the fierce hornet, or the moth's fell tribe;
321Or spider, victim of Minerva's spite, Athwart the doorway hangs her swaying net. The more impoverished they, the keenlier all To mend the fallen fortunes of their race Will nerve them, fill the cells up, tier on tier,
326And weave their granaries from the rifled flowers. Now, seeing that life doth even to bee-folk bring Our human chances, if in dire disease Their bodies' strength should languish—which anon By no uncertain tokens may be told—
331Forthwith the sick change hue; grim leanness mars Their visage; then from out the cells they bear Forms reft of light, and lead the mournful pomp; Or foot to foot about the porch they hang, Or within closed doors loiter, listless all
336From famine, and benumbed with shrivelling cold. Then is a deep note heard, a long-drawn hum, As when the chill South through the forests sighs, As when the troubled ocean hoarsely booms With back-swung billow, as ravening tide of fire
341Surges, shut fast within the furnace-walls. Then do I bid burn scented galbanum, And, honey-streams through reeden troughs instilled, Challenge and cheer their flagging appetite To taste the well-known food; and it shall boot
346To mix therewith the savour bruised from gall, And rose-leaves dried, or must to thickness boiled By a fierce fire, or juice of raisin-grapes From Psithian vine, and with its bitter smell Centaury, and the famed Cecropian thyme.
351There is a meadow-flower by country folk Hight star-wort; 'tis a plant not far to seek; For from one sod an ample growth it rears, Itself all golden, but girt with plenteous leaves, Where glory of purple shines through violet gloom.
356With chaplets woven hereof full oft are decked Heaven's altars: harsh its taste upon the tongue; Shepherds in vales smooth-shorn of nibbling flocks By Mella's winding waters gather it. The roots of this, well seethed in fragrant wine,
361Set in brimmed baskets at their doors for food. But if one's whole stock fail him at a stroke, Nor hath he whence to breed the race anew, 'Tis time the wondrous secret to disclose Taught by the swain of Arcady, even how
366The blood of slaughtered bullocks oft has borne Bees from corruption. I will trace me back To its prime source the story's tangled thread, And thence unravel. For where thy happy folk, Canopus, city of Pellaean fame,
371Dwell by the Nile's lagoon-like overflow, And high o'er furrows they have called their own Skim in their painted wherries; where, hard by, The quivered Persian presses, and that flood Which from the swart-skinned Aethiop bears him down,
376Swift-parted into sevenfold branching mouths With black mud fattens and makes Aegypt green, That whole domain its welfare's hope secure Rests on this art alone. And first is chosen A strait recess, cramped closer to this end,
381Which next with narrow roof of tiles atop 'Twixt prisoning walls they pinch, and add hereto From the four winds four slanting window-slits. Then seek they from the herd a steer, whose horns With two years' growth are curling, and stop fast,
386Plunge madly as he may, the panting mouth And nostrils twain, and done with blows to death, Batter his flesh to pulp i' the hide yet whole, And shut the doors, and leave him there to lie. But 'neath his ribs they scatter broken boughs,
391With thyme and fresh-pulled cassias: this is done When first the west winds bid the waters flow, Ere flush the meadows with new tints, and ere The twittering swallow buildeth from the beams. Meanwhile the juice within his softened bones
396Heats and ferments, and things of wondrous birth, Footless at first, anon with feet and wings, Swarm there and buzz, a marvel to behold; And more and more the fleeting breeze they take, Till, like a shower that pours from summer-clouds,
401Forth burst they, or like shafts from quivering string When Parthia's flying hosts provoke the fray. Say what was he, what God, that fashioned forth This art for us, O Muses? of man's skill Whence came the new adventure? From thy vale,
406Peneian Tempe, turning, bee-bereft, So runs the tale, by famine and disease, Mournful the shepherd Aristaeus stood Fast by the haunted river-head, and thus With many a plaint to her that bare him cried:
411“Mother, Cyrene, mother, who hast thy home Beneath this whirling flood, if he thou sayest, Apollo, lord of Thymbra, be my sire, Sprung from the Gods' high line, why barest thou me With fortune's ban for birthright? Where is now
416Thy love to me-ward banished from thy breast? O! wherefore didst thou bid me hope for heaven? Lo! even the crown of this poor mortal life, Which all my skilful care by field and fold, No art neglected, scarce had fashioned forth,
421Even this falls from me, yet thou call'st me son. Nay, then, arise! With thine own hands pluck up My fruit-plantations: on the homestead fling Pitiless fire; make havoc of my crops; Burn the young plants, and wield the stubborn axe
426Against my vines, if there hath taken the Such loathing of my greatness.” But that cry, Even from her chamber in the river-deeps, His mother heard: around her spun the nymphs
431Milesian wool stained through with hyaline dye, Drymo, Xantho, Ligea, Phyllodoce, Their glossy locks o'er snowy shoulders shed, Cydippe and Lycorias yellow-haired, A maiden one, one newly learned even then
436To bear Lucina's birth-pang. Clio, too, And Beroe, sisters, ocean-children both, Both zoned with gold and girt with dappled fell, Ephyre and Opis, and from Asian meads Deiopea, and, bow at length laid by,
441Fleet-footed Arethusa. But in their midst Fair Clymene was telling o'er the tale Of Vulcan's idle vigilance and the stealth Of Mars' sweet rapine, and from Chaos old Counted the jostling love-joys of the Gods.
446Charmed by whose lay, the while their woolly tasks With spindles down they drew, yet once again Smote on his mother's ears the mournful plaint Of Aristaeus; on their glassy thrones Amazement held them all; but Arethuse
451Before the rest put forth her auburn head, Peering above the wave-top, and from far Exclaimed, “Cyrene, sister, not for naught Scared by a groan so deep, behold! 'tis he, Even Aristaeus, thy heart's fondest care,
456Here by the brink of the Peneian sire Stands woebegone and weeping, and by name Cries out upon thee for thy cruelty.” To whom, strange terror knocking at her heart, “Bring, bring him to our sight,” the mother cried;
461“His feet may tread the threshold even of Gods.” So saying, she bids the flood yawn wide and yield A pathway for his footsteps; but the wave Arched mountain-wise closed round him, and within Its mighty bosom welcomed, and let speed
466To the deep river-bed. And now, with eyes Of wonder gazing on his mother's hall And watery kingdom and cave-prisoned pools And echoing groves, he went, and, stunned by that Stupendous whirl of waters, separate saw
471All streams beneath the mighty earth that glide, Phasis and Lycus, and that fountain-head Whence first the deep Enipeus leaps to light, Whence father Tiber, and whence Anio's flood, And Hypanis that roars amid his rocks,
476And Mysian Caicus, and, bull-browed 'Twixt either gilded horn, Eridanus, Than whom none other through the laughing plains More furious pours into the purple sea. Soon as the chamber's hanging roof of stone
481Was gained, and now Cyrene from her son Had heard his idle weeping, in due course Clear water for his hands the sisters bring, With napkins of shorn pile, while others heap The board with dainties, and set on afresh
486The brimming goblets; with Panchaian fires Upleap the altars; then the mother spake, “Take beakers of Maconian wine,” she said, “Pour we to Ocean.” Ocean, sire of all, She worships, and the sister-nymphs who guard
491The hundred forests and the hundred streams; Thrice Vesta's fire with nectar clear she dashed, Thrice to the roof-top shot the flame and shone: Armed with which omen she essayed to speak: “In Neptune's gulf Carpathian dwells a seer,
496Caerulean Proteus, he who metes the main With fish-drawn chariot of two-footed steeds; Now visits he his native home once more, Pallene and the Emathian ports; to him We nymphs do reverence, ay, and Nereus old;
501For all things knows the seer, both those which are And have been, or which time hath yet to bring; So willed it Neptune, whose portentous flocks, And loathly sea-calves 'neath the surge he feeds. Him first, my son, behoves thee seize and bind
506That he may all the cause of sickness show, And grant a prosperous end. For save by force No rede will he vouchsafe, nor shalt thou bend His soul by praying; whom once made captive, ply With rigorous force and fetters; against these
511His wiles will break and spend themselves in vain. I, when the sun has lit his noontide fires, When the blades thirst, and cattle love the shade, Myself will guide thee to the old man's haunt, Whither he hies him weary from the waves,
516That thou mayst safelier steal upon his sleep. But when thou hast gripped him fast with hand and gyve, Then divers forms and bestial semblances Shall mock thy grasp; for sudden he will change To bristly boar, fell tigress, dragon scaled,
521And tawny-tufted lioness, or send forth A crackling sound of fire, and so shake of The fetters, or in showery drops anon Dissolve and vanish. But the more he shifts His endless transformations, thou, my son,
526More straitlier clench the clinging bands, until His body's shape return to that thou sawest, When with closed eyelids first he sank to sleep.” So saying, an odour of ambrosial dew She sheds around, and all his frame therewith
531Steeps throughly; forth from his trim-combed locks Breathed effluence sweet, and a lithe vigour leapt Into his limbs. There is a cavern vast Scooped in the mountain-side, where wave on wave By the wind's stress is driven, and breaks far up
536Its inmost creeks—safe anchorage from of old For tempest-taken mariners: therewithin, Behind a rock's huge barrier, Proteus hides. Here in close covert out of the sun's eye The youth she places, and herself the while
541Swathed in a shadowy mist stands far aloof. And now the ravening dog-star that burns up The thirsty Indians blazed in heaven; his course The fiery sun had half devoured: the blades Were parched, and the void streams with droughty jaws
546Baked to their mud-beds by the scorching ray, When Proteus seeking his accustomed cave Strode from the billows: round him frolicking The watery folk that people the waste sea Sprinkled the bitter brine-dew far and wide.
551Along the shore in scattered groups to feed The sea-calves stretch them: while the seer himself, Like herdsman on the hills when evening bids The steers from pasture to their stall repair, And the lambs' bleating whets the listening wolves,
556Sits midmost on the rock and tells his tale. But Aristaeus, the foe within his clutch, Scarce suffering him compose his aged limbs, With a great cry leapt on him, and ere he rose Forestalled him with the fetters; he nathless,
561All unforgetful of his ancient craft, Transforms himself to every wondrous thing, Fire and a fearful beast, and flowing stream. But when no trickery found a path for flight, Baffled at length, to his own shape returned,
566With human lips he spake, “Who bade thee, then, So reckless in youth's hardihood, affront Our portals? or what wouldst thou hence?”—But he, “Proteus, thou knowest, of thine own heart thou knowest; For thee there is no cheating, but cease thou
571To practise upon me: at heaven's behest I for my fainting fortunes hither come An oracle to ask thee.” There he ceased. Whereat the seer, by stubborn force constrained, Shot forth the grey light of his gleaming eyes
576Upon him, and with fiercely gnashing teeth Unlocks his lips to spell the fates of heaven: “Doubt not 'tis wrath divine that plagues thee thus, Nor light the debt thou payest; 'tis Orpheus' self, Orpheus unhappy by no fault of his,
581So fates prevent not, fans thy penal fires, Yet madly raging for his ravished bride. She in her haste to shun thy hot pursuit Along the stream, saw not the coming death, Where at her feet kept ward upon the bank
586In the tall grass a monstrous water-snake. But with their cries the Dryad-band her peers Filled up the mountains to their proudest peaks: Wailed for her fate the heights of Rhodope, And tall Pangaea, and, beloved of Mars,
591The land that bowed to Rhesus, Thrace no less With Hebrus' stream; and Orithyia wept, Daughter of Acte old. But Orpheus' self, Soothing his love-pain with the hollow shell, Thee his sweet wife on the lone shore alone,
596Thee when day dawned and when it died he sang. Nay to the jaws of Taenarus too he came, Of Dis the infernal palace, and the grove Grim with a horror of great darkness—came, Entered, and faced the Manes and the King
601Of terrors, the stone heart no prayer can tame. Then from the deepest deeps of Erebus, Wrung by his minstrelsy, the hollow shades Came trooping, ghostly semblances of forms Lost to the light, as birds by myriads hie
606To greenwood boughs for cover, when twilight-hour Or storms of winter chase them from the hills; Matrons and men, and great heroic frames Done with life's service, boys, unwedded girls, Youths placed on pyre before their fathers' eyes.
611Round them, with black slime choked and hideous weed, Cocytus winds; there lies the unlovely swamp Of dull dead water, and, to pen them fast, Styx with her ninefold barrier poured between. Nay, even the deep Tartarean Halls of death
616Stood lost in wonderment, and the Eumenides, Their brows with livid locks of serpents twined; Even Cerberus held his triple jaws agape, And, the wind hushed, Ixion's wheel stood still. And now with homeward footstep he had passed
621All perils scathless, and, at length restored, Eurydice to realms of upper air Had well-nigh won, behind him following— So Proserpine had ruled it—when his heart A sudden mad desire surprised and seized—
626Meet fault to be forgiven, might Hell forgive. For at the very threshold of the day, Heedless, alas! and vanquished of resolve, He stopped, turned, looked upon Eurydice His own once more. But even with the look,
631Poured out was all his labour, broken the bond Of that fell tyrant, and a crash was heard Three times like thunder in the meres of hell. ‘Orpheus! what ruin hath thy frenzy wrought On me, alas! and thee? Lo! once again
636The unpitying fates recall me, and dark sleep Closes my swimming eyes. And now farewell: Girt with enormous night I am borne away, Outstretching toward thee, thine, alas! no more, These helpless hands.’ She spake, and suddenly,
641Like smoke dissolving into empty air, Passed and was sundered from his sight; nor him Clutching vain shadows, yearning sore to speak, Thenceforth beheld she, nor no second time Hell's boatman brooks he pass the watery bar.
646What should he do? fly whither, twice bereaved? Move with what tears the Manes, with what voice The Powers of darkness? She indeed even now Death-cold was floating on the Stygian barge! For seven whole months unceasingly, men say,
651Beneath a skyey crag, by thy lone wave, Strymon, he wept, and in the caverns chill Unrolled his story, melting tigers' hearts, And leading with his lay the oaks along. As in the poplar-shade a nightingale
656Mourns her lost young, which some relentless swain, Spying, from the nest has torn unfledged, but she Wails the long night, and perched upon a spray With sad insistence pipes her dolorous strain, Till all the region with her wrongs o'erflows.
661No love, no new desire, constrained his soul: By snow-bound Tanais and the icy north, Far steppes to frost Rhipaean forever wed, Alone he wandered, lost Eurydice Lamenting, and the gifts of Dis ungiven.
666Scorned by which tribute the Ciconian dames, Amid their awful Bacchanalian rites And midnight revellings, tore him limb from limb, And strewed his fragments over the wide fields. Then too, even then, what time the Hebrus stream,
671Oeagrian Hebrus, down mid-current rolled, Rent from the marble neck, his drifting head, The death-chilled tongue found yet a voice to cry ‘Eurydice! ah! poor Eurydice!’ With parting breath he called her, and the banks
676From the broad stream caught up ‘Eurydice!’” So Proteus ending plunged into the deep, And, where he plunged, beneath the eddying whirl Churned into foam the water, and was gone; But not Cyrene, who unquestioned thus
681Bespake the trembling listener: “Nay, my son, From that sad bosom thou mayst banish care: Hence came that plague of sickness, hence the nymphs, With whom in the tall woods the dance she wove, Wrought on thy bees, alas! this deadly bane.
686Bend thou before the Dell-nymphs, gracious powers: Bring gifts, and sue for pardon: they will grant Peace to thine asking, and an end of wrath. But how to approach them will I first unfold— Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk,
691That browse to-day the green Lycaean heights, Pick from thy herds, as many kine to match, Whose necks the yoke pressed never: then for these Build up four altars by the lofty fanes, And from their throats let gush the victims' blood,
696And in the greenwood leave their bodies lone. Then, when the ninth dawn hath displayed its beams, To Orpheus shalt thou send his funeral dues, Poppies of Lethe, and let slay a sheep Coal-black, then seek the grove again, and soon
701For pardon found adore Eurydice With a slain calf for victim.” No delay: The self-same hour he hies him forth to do His mother's bidding: to the shrine he came,
706The appointed altars reared, and thither led Four chosen bulls of peerless form and bulk, With kine to match, that never yoke had known; Then, when the ninth dawn had led in the day, To Orpheus sent his funeral dues, and sought
711The grove once more. But sudden, strange to tell A portent they espy: through the oxen's flesh, Waxed soft in dissolution, hark! there hum Bees from the belly; the rent ribs overboil In endless clouds they spread them, till at last
716On yon tree-top together fused they cling, And drop their cluster from the bending boughs. So sang I of the tilth of furrowed fields, Of flocks and trees, while Caesar's majesty Launched forth the levin-bolts of war by deep
721Euphrates, and bare rule o'er willing folk Though vanquished, and essayed the heights of heaven. I Virgil then, of sweet Parthenope The nursling, wooed the flowery walks of peace Inglorious, who erst trilled for shepherd-wights
726The wanton ditty, and sang in saucy youth Thee, Tityrus, 'neath the spreading beech tree's shade.
Eclogues
Contents — 10 sections
Section 1
1You, Tityrus, 'neath a broad beech-canopy reclining, on the slender oat rehearse your silvan ditties: I from my sweet fields, and home's familiar bounds, even now depart. Exiled from home am I; while, Tityrus, you
6sit careless in the shade, and, at your call, “Fair Amaryllis” bid the woods resound. O Meliboeus, 'twas a god vouchsafed this ease to us, for him a god will I deem ever, and from my folds a tender lamb
11oft with its life-blood shall his altar stain. His gift it is that, as your eyes may see, my kine may roam at large, and I myself play on my shepherd's pipe what songs I will. I grudge you not the boon, but marvel more,
16such wide confusion fills the country-side. See, sick at heart I drive my she-goats on, and this one, O my Tityrus, scarce can lead: for 'mid the hazel-thicket here but now she dropped her new-yeaned twins on the bare flint,
21hope of the flock—an ill, I mind me well, which many a time, but for my blinded sense, the thunder-stricken oak foretold, oft too from hollow trunk the raven's ominous cry. But who this god of yours? Come, Tityrus, tell.
26The city, Meliboeus, they call Rome, I, simpleton, deemed like this town of ours, whereto we shepherds oft are wont to drive the younglings of the flock: so too I knew whelps to resemble dogs, and kids their dams,
31comparing small with great; but this as far above all other cities rears her head as cypress above pliant osier towers. And what so potent cause took you to Rome? Freedom, which, though belated, cast at length
36her eyes upon the sluggard, when my beard 'gan whiter fall beneath the barber's blade— cast eyes, I say, and, though long tarrying, came, now when, from Galatea's yoke released, I serve but Amaryllis: for I will own,
41while Galatea reigned over me, I had no hope of freedom, and no thought to save. Though many a victim from my folds went forth, or rich cheese pressed for the unthankful town, never with laden hands returned I home.
46I used to wonder, Amaryllis, why you cried to heaven so sadly, and for whom you left the apples hanging on the trees; 'twas Tityrus was away. Why, Tityrus, the very pines, the very water-springs,
51the very vineyards, cried aloud for you. What could I do? how else from bonds be freed, or otherwhere find gods so nigh to aid? There, Meliboeus, I saw that youth to whom yearly for twice six days my altars smoke.
56There instant answer gave he to my suit, “Feed, as before, your kine, boys, rear your bulls.” So in old age, you happy man, your fields will still be yours, and ample for your need! Though, with bare stones o'erspread, the pastures all
61be choked with rushy mire, your ewes with young by no strange fodder will be tried, nor hurt through taint contagious of a neighbouring flock. Happy old man, who 'mid familiar streams and hallowed springs, will court the cooling shade!
66Here, as of old, your neighbour's bordering hedge, that feasts with willow-flower the Hybla bees, shall oft with gentle murmur lull to sleep, while the leaf-dresser beneath some tall rock uplifts his song, nor cease their cooings hoarse
71the wood-pigeons that are your heart's delight, nor doves their moaning in the elm-tree top. Sooner shall light stags, therefore, feed in air, the seas their fish leave naked on the strand, germans and Parthians shift their natural bounds,
76and these the Arar, those the Tigris drink, than from my heart his face and memory fade. But we far hence, to burning Libya some, some to the Scythian steppes, or thy swift flood, cretan Oaxes, now must wend our way,
81or Britain, from the whole world sundered far. Ah! shall I ever in aftertime behold my native bounds—see many a harvest hence with ravished eyes the lowly turf-roofed cot where I was king? These fallows, trimmed so fair,
86some brutal soldier will possess these fields an alien master. Ah! to what a pass has civil discord brought our hapless folk! For such as these, then, were our furrows sown! Now, Meliboeus, graft your pears, now set
91your vines in order! Go, once happy flock, my she-goats, go. Never again shall I, stretched in green cave, behold you from afar hang from the bushy rock; my songs are sung; never again will you, with me to tend,
96on clover-flower, or bitter willows, browse. Yet here, this night, you might repose with me, on green leaves pillowed: apples ripe have I, soft chestnuts, and of curdled milk enow. And, see, the farm-roof chimneys smoke afar,
101and from the hills the shadows lengthening fall!
Section 2
1the shepherd Corydon with love was fired for fair Alexis, his own master's joy: no room for hope had he, yet, none the less, the thick-leaved shadowy-soaring beech-tree grove still would he haunt, and there alone, as thus,
6to woods and hills pour forth his artless strains. “Cruel Alexis, heed you naught my songs? Have you no pity? you'll drive me to my death. Now even the cattle court the cooling shade and the green lizard hides him in the thorn:
11now for tired mowers, with the fierce heat spent, pounds Thestilis her mess of savoury herbs, wild thyme and garlic. I, with none beside, save hoarse cicalas shrilling through the brake, still track your footprints 'neath the broiling sun.
16Better have borne the petulant proud disdain of Amaryllis, or Menalcas wooed, albeit he was so dark, and you so fair! Trust not too much to colour, beauteous boy; white privets fall, dark hyacinths are culled.
21You scorn me, Alexis, who or what I am care not to ask—how rich in flocks, or how in snow-white milk abounding: yet for me roam on Sicilian hills a thousand lambs; summer or winter, still my milk-pails brim.
26I sing as erst Amphion of Circe sang, what time he went to call his cattle home on Attic Aracynthus. Nor am I so ill to look on: lately on the beach I saw myself, when winds had stilled the sea,
31and, if that mirror lie not, would not fear daphnis to challenge, though yourself were judge. Ah! were you but content with me to dwell. Some lowly cot in the rough fields our home, shoot down the stags, or with green osier-wand
36round up the straggling flock! There you with me in silvan strains will learn to rival Pan. Pan first with wax taught reed with reed to join; for sheep alike and shepherd Pan hath care. Nor with the reed's edge fear you to make rough
41your dainty lip; such arts as these to learn what did Amyntas do?—what did he not? A pipe have I, of hemlock-stalks compact in lessening lengths, Damoetas' dying-gift: ‘Mine once,’ quoth he, ‘now yours, as heir to own.’
46Foolish Amyntas heard and envied me. Ay, and two fawns, I risked my neck to find in a steep glen, with coats white-dappled still, from a sheep's udders suckled twice a day— these still I keep for you; which Thestilis
51implores me oft to let her lead away; and she shall have them, since my gifts you spurn. Come hither, beauteous boy; for you the Nymphs bring baskets, see, with lilies brimmed; for you, plucking pale violets and poppy-heads,
56now the fair Naiad, of narcissus flower and fragrant fennel, doth one posy twine— with cassia then, and other scented herbs, blends them, and sets the tender hyacinth off with yellow marigold. I too will pick
61quinces all silvered-o'er with hoary down, chestnuts, which Amaryllis wont to love, and waxen plums withal: this fruit no less shall have its meed of honour; and I will pluck you too, ye laurels, and you, ye myrtles, near,
66for so your sweets ye mingle. Corydon, you are a boor, nor heeds a whit your gifts alexis; no, nor would Iollas yield, should gifts decide the day. Alack! alack! What misery have I brought upon my head!—
71loosed on the flowers Siroces to my bane, and the wild boar upon my crystal springs! Whom do you fly, infatuate? gods ere now, and Dardan Paris, have made the woods their home. Let Pallas keep the towers her hand hath built,
76us before all things let the woods delight. The grim-eyed lioness pursues the wolf, the wolf the she-goat, the she-goat herself in wanton sport the flowering cytisus, and Corydon Alexis, each led on
81by their own longing. See, the ox comes home with plough up-tilted, and the shadows grow to twice their length with the departing sun, yet me love burns, for who can limit love? Ah! Corydon, Corydon, what hath crazed your wit?
86Your vine half-pruned hangs on the leafy elm; why haste you not to weave what need requires of pliant rush or osier? Scorned by this, elsewhere some new Alexis you will find.”
Section 3
1Who owns the flock, Damoetas? Meliboeus? Nay, they are Aegon's sheep, of late by him committed to my care. O every way unhappy sheep, unhappy flock! while he
6still courts Neaera, fearing lest her choice should fall on me, this hireling shepherd here wrings hourly twice their udders, from the flock filching the life-juice, from the lambs their milk. Hold! not so ready with your jeers at men!
11We know who once, and in what shrine with you— the he-goats looked aside—the light nymphs laughed— Ay, then, I warrant, when they saw me slash micon's young vines and trees with spiteful hook. Or here by these old beeches, when you broke
16the bow and arrows of Damon; for you chafed when first you saw them given to the boy, cross-grained Menalcas, ay, and had you not done him some mischief, would have chafed to death. With thieves so daring, what can masters do?
21Did I not see you, rogue, in ambush lie for Damon's goat, while loud Lycisca barked? And when I cried, “Where is he off to now? Gather your flock together, Tityrus,” you hid behind the sedges.
26Well, was he whom I had conquered still to keep the goat. Which in the piping-match my pipe had won! You may not know it, but the goat was mine. You out-pipe him? when had you ever pipe
31wax-welded? in the cross-ways used you not on grating straw some miserable tune to mangle? Well, then, shall we try our skill each against each in turn? Lest you be loth,
36I pledge this heifer; every day she comes twice to the milking-pail, and feeds withal two young ones at her udder: say you now what you will stake upon the match with me. Naught from the flock I'll venture, for at home
41I have a father and a step-dame harsh, and twice a day both reckon up the flock, and one withal the kids. But I will stake, seeing you are so mad, what you yourself will own more priceless far—two beechen cups
46by the divine art of Alcimedon wrought and embossed, whereon a limber vine, wreathed round them by the graver's facile tool, twines over clustering ivy-berries pale. Two figures, one Conon, in the midst he set,
51and one—how call you him, who with his wand marked out for all men the whole round of heaven, that they who reap, or stoop behind the plough, might know their several seasons? Nor as yet have I set lip to them, but lay them by.
56For me too wrought the same Alcimedon a pair of cups, and round the handles wreathed pliant acanthus, Orpheus in the midst, the forests following in his wake; nor yet have I set lip to them, but lay them by.
61Matched with a heifer, who would prate of cups? You shall not balk me now; where'er you bid, I shall be with you; only let us have for auditor—or see, to serve our turn, yonder Palaemon comes! In singing-bouts
66i'll see you play the challenger no more. Out then with what you have; I shall not shrink, nor budge for any man: only do you, neighbour Palaemon, with your whole heart's skill— for it is no slight matter—play your part.
71Say on then, since on the greensward we sit, and now is burgeoning both field and tree; now is the forest green, and now the year at fairest. Do you first, Damoetas, sing, then you, Menalcas, in alternate strain:
76alternate strains are to the Muses dear. “From Jove the Muse began; Jove filleth all, makes the earth fruitful, for my songs hath care.” “Me Phoebus loves; for Phoebus his own gifts, bays and sweet-blushing hyacinths, I keep.”
81“Gay Galatea throws an apple at me, then hies to the willows, hoping to be seen.” “My dear Amyntas comes unasked to me; not Delia to my dogs is better known.” “Gifts for my love I've found; mine eyes have marked
86where the wood-pigeons build their airy nests.” “Ten golden apples have I sent my boy, all that I could, to-morrow as many more.” “What words to me, and uttered O how oft, hath Galatea spoke! waft some of them,
91ye winds, I pray you, for the gods to hear.” “It profiteth me naught, Amyntas mine, that in your very heart you spurn me not, if, while you hunt the boar, I guard the nets.” “Prithee, Iollas, for my birthday guest
96send me your Phyllis; when for the young crops I slay my heifer, you yourself shall come.” “I am all hers; she wept to see me go, and, lingering on the word, ‘farewell’ she said, ‘My beautiful Iollas, fare you well.’”
101“Fell as the wolf is to the folded flock, rain to ripe corn, Sirocco to the trees, the wrath of Amaryllis is to me.” “As moisture to the corn, to ewes with young lithe willow, as arbute to the yeanling kids,
106so sweet Amyntas, and none else, to me.” “My Muse, although she be but country-bred, is loved by Pollio: O Pierian Maids, pray you, a heifer for your reader feed!” “Pollio himself too doth new verses make:
111feed ye a bull now ripe to butt with horn, and scatter with his hooves the flying sand.” “Who loves thee, Pollio, may he thither come where thee he joys beholding; ay, for him let honey flow, the thorn-bush spices bear.”
116“Who hates not Bavius, let him also love thy songs, O Maevius, ay, and therewithal yoke foxes to his car, and he-goats milk.” “You, picking flowers and strawberries that grow so near the ground, fly hence, boys, get you gone!
121There's a cold adder lurking in the grass.” “Forbear, my sheep, to tread too near the brink; yon bank is ill to trust to; even now the ram himself, see, dries his dripping fleece!” “Back with the she-goats, Tityrus, grazing there
126so near the river! I, when time shall serve, will take them all, and wash them in the pool.” “Boys, get your sheep together; if the heat, as late it did, forestall us with the milk, vainly the dried-up udders shall we wring.”
131“How lean my bull amid the fattening vetch! Alack! alack! for herdsman and for herd! It is the self-same love that wastes us both.” “These truly—nor is even love the cause— scarce have the flesh to keep their bones together
136some evil eye my lambkins hath bewitched.” “Say in what clime—and you shall be withal my great Apollo—the whole breadth of heaven opens no wider than three ells to view.” “Say in what country grow such flowers as bear
141the names of kings upon their petals writ, and you shall have fair Phyllis for your own.” Not mine betwixt such rivals to decide: you well deserve the heifer, so does he, with all who either fear the sweets of love,
146or taste its bitterness. Now, boys, shut off the sluices, for the fields have drunk their fill.
Section 4
1muses of Sicily, essay we now a somewhat loftier task! Not all men love coppice or lowly tamarisk: sing we woods, woods worthy of a Consul let them be. Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
6has come and gone, and the majestic roll of circling centuries begins anew: justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign, with a new breed of men sent down from heaven. Only do thou, at the boy's birth in whom
11the iron shall cease, the golden race arise, befriend him, chaste Lucina; 'tis thine own apollo reigns. And in thy consulate, this glorious age, O Pollio, shall begin, and the months enter on their mighty march.
16Under thy guidance, whatso tracks remain of our old wickedness, once done away, shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear. He shall receive the life of gods, and see heroes with gods commingling, and himself
21be seen of them, and with his father's worth reign o'er a world at peace. For thee, O boy, first shall the earth, untilled, pour freely forth her childish gifts, the gadding ivy-spray with foxglove and Egyptian bean-flower mixed,
26and laughing-eyed acanthus. Of themselves, untended, will the she-goats then bring home their udders swollen with milk, while flocks afield shall of the monstrous lion have no fear. Thy very cradle shall pour forth for thee
31caressing flowers. The serpent too shall die, die shall the treacherous poison-plant, and far and wide Assyrian spices spring. But soon as thou hast skill to read of heroes' fame, and of thy father's deeds, and inly learn
36what virtue is, the plain by slow degrees with waving corn-crops shall to golden grow, from the wild briar shall hang the blushing grape, and stubborn oaks sweat honey-dew. Nathless yet shall there lurk within of ancient wrong
41some traces, bidding tempt the deep with ships, gird towns with walls, with furrows cleave the earth. Therewith a second Tiphys shall there be, her hero-freight a second Argo bear; new wars too shall arise, and once again
46some great Achilles to some Troy be sent. Then, when the mellowing years have made thee man, no more shall mariner sail, nor pine-tree bark ply traffic on the sea, but every land shall all things bear alike: the glebe no more
51shall feel the harrow's grip, nor vine the hook; the sturdy ploughman shall loose yoke from steer, nor wool with varying colours learn to lie; but in the meadows shall the ram himself, now with soft flush of purple, now with tint
56of yellow saffron, teach his fleece to shine. While clothed in natural scarlet graze the lambs. “Such still, such ages weave ye, as ye run,” sang to their spindles the consenting Fates by Destiny's unalterable decree.
61Assume thy greatness, for the time draws nigh, dear child of gods, great progeny of Jove! See how it totters—the world's orbed might, earth, and wide ocean, and the vault profound, all, see, enraptured of the coming time!
66Ah! might such length of days to me be given, and breath suffice me to rehearse thy deeds, nor Thracian Orpheus should out-sing me then, nor Linus, though his mother this, and that his sire should aid—Orpheus Calliope,
71and Linus fair Apollo. Nay, though Pan, with Arcady for judge, my claim contest, with Arcady for judge great Pan himself should own him foiled, and from the field retire. Begin to greet thy mother with a smile,
76o baby-boy! ten months of weariness for thee she bore: O baby-boy, begin! For him, on whom his parents have not smiled, gods deem not worthy of their board or bed.
Section 5
1Why, Mopsus, being both together met, you skilled to breathe upon the slender reeds, I to sing ditties, do we not sit down here where the elm-trees and the hazels blend? You are the elder, 'tis for me to bide
6your choice, Menalcas, whether now we seek yon shade that quivers to the changeful breeze, or the cave's shelter. Look you how the cave is with the wild vine's clusters over-laced! None but Amyntas on these hills of ours
11can vie with you. What if he also strive to out-sing Phoebus? Do you first begin, good Mopsus, whether minded to sing aught
16of Phyllis and her loves, or Alcon's praise, or to fling taunts at Codrus. Come, begin, while Tityrus watches o'er the grazing kids. Nay, then, I will essay what late I carved on a green beech-tree's rind, playing by turns,
21and marking down the notes; then afterward bid you Amyntas match them if he can. As limber willow to pale olive yields, as lowly Celtic nard to rose-buds bright, so, to my mind, Amyntas yields to you.
26But hold awhile, for to the cave we come. “For Daphnis cruelly slain wept all the Nymphs— ye hazels, bear them witness, and ye streams— when she, his mother, clasping in her arms the hapless body of the son she bare,
31to gods and stars unpitying, poured her plaint. Then, Daphnis, to the cooling streams were none that drove the pastured oxen, then no beast drank of the river, or would the grass-blade touch. Nay, the wild rocks and woods then voiced the roar
36of Afric lions mourning for thy death. Daphnis, 'twas thou bad'st yoke to Bacchus' car armenian tigresses, lead on the pomp of revellers, and with tender foliage wreathe the bending spear-wands. As to trees the vine
41is crown of glory, as to vines the grape, bulls to the herd, to fruitful fields the corn, so the one glory of thine own art thou. When the Fates took thee hence, then Pales' self, and even Apollo, left the country lone.
46Where the plump barley-grain so oft we sowed, there but wild oats and barren darnel spring; for tender violet and narcissus bright thistle and prickly thorn uprear their heads. Now, O ye shepherds, strew the ground with leaves,
51and o'er the fountains draw a shady veil— so Daphnis to his memory bids be done— and rear a tomb, and write thereon this verse: ‘I, Daphnis in the woods, from hence in fame am to the stars exalted, guardian once
56of a fair flock, myself more fair than they.’” So is thy song to me, poet divine, as slumber on the grass to weary limbs, or to slake thirst from some sweet-bubbling rill in summer's heat. Nor on the reeds alone,
61but with thy voice art thou, thrice happy boy, ranked with thy master, second but to him. Yet will I, too, in turn, as best I may, sing thee a song, and to the stars uplift thy Daphnis—Daphnis to the stars extol,
66for me too Daphnis loved. Than such a boon what dearer could I deem? the boy himself was worthy to be sung, and many a time hath Stimichon to me your singing praised.
71“In dazzling sheen with unaccustomed eyes daphnis stands rapt before Olympus' gate, and sees beneath his feet the clouds and stars. Wherefore the woods and fields, Pan, shepherd-folk, and Dryad-maidens, thrill with eager joy;
76nor wolf with treacherous wile assails the flock, nor nets the stag: kind Daphnis loveth peace. The unshorn mountains to the stars up-toss voices of gladness; ay, the very rocks, the very thickets, shout and sing, ‘A god,
81a god is he, Menalcas’ Be thou kind, propitious to thine own. Lo! altars four, twain to thee, Daphnis, and to Phoebus twain for sacrifice, we build; and I for thee two beakers yearly of fresh milk afoam,
86and of rich olive-oil two bowls, will set; and of the wine-god's bounty above all, if cold, before the hearth, or in the shade at harvest-time, to glad the festal hour, from flasks of Ariusian grape will pour
91sweet nectar. Therewithal at my behest shall Lyctian Aegon and Damoetas sing, and Alphesiboeus emulate in dance the dancing Satyrs. This, thy service due, shalt thou lack never, both when we pay the Nymphs
96our yearly vows, and when with lustral rites the fields we hallow. Long as the wild boar shall love the mountain-heights, and fish the streams, while bees on thyme and crickets feed on dew, thy name, thy praise, thine honour, shall endure.
101Even as to Bacchus and to Ceres, so to thee the swain his yearly vows shall make; and thou thereof, like them, shalt quittance claim.” How, how repay thee for a song so rare? For not the whispering south-wind on its way
106so much delights me, nor wave-smitten beach, nor streams that race adown their bouldered beds. First this frail hemlock-stalk to you I give, which taught me “Corydon with love was fired for fair Alexis,” ay, and this beside,
111“Who owns the flock?—Meliboeus?” But take you this shepherd's crook, which, howso hard he begged, antigenes, then worthy to be loved, prevailed not to obtain—with brass, you see,
116and equal knots, Menalcas, fashioned fair!
Section 6
1first my Thalia stooped in sportive mood to Syracusan strains, nor blushed within the woods to house her. When I sought to tell of battles and of kings, the Cynthian god plucked at mine ear and warned me: “Tityrus,
6beseems a shepherd-wight to feed fat sheep, but sing a slender song.” Now, Varus, I— for lack there will not who would laud thy deeds, and treat of dolorous wars—will rather tune to the slim oaten reed my silvan lay.
11I sing but as vouchsafed me; yet even this if, if but one with ravished eyes should read, of thee, O Varus, shall our tamarisks and all the woodland ring; nor can there be a page more dear to Phoebus, than the page
16where, foremost writ, the name of Varus stands. Speed ye, Pierian Maids! Within a cave young Chromis and Mnasyllos chanced to see silenus sleeping, flushed, as was his wont, with wine of yesterday. Not far aloof,
21slipped from his head, the garlands lay, and there by its worn handle hung a ponderous cup. Approaching—for the old man many a time had balked them both of a long hoped-for song— garlands to fetters turned, they bind him fast.
26Then Aegle, fairest of the Naiad-band, aegle came up to the half-frightened boys, came, and, as now with open eyes he lay, with juice of blood-red mulberries smeared him o'er, both brow and temples. Laughing at their guile,
31and crying, “Why tie the fetters? loose me, boys; enough for you to think you had the power; now list the songs you wish for—songs for you, another meed for her”—forthwith began. Then might you see the wild things of the wood,
36with Fauns in sportive frolic beat the time, and stubborn oaks their branchy summits bow. Not Phoebus doth the rude Parnassian crag so ravish, nor Orpheus so entrance the heights of Rhodope or Ismarus: for he sang
41how through the mighty void the seeds were driven of earth, air, ocean, and of liquid fire, how all that is from these beginnings grew, and the young world itself took solid shape, then 'gan its crust to harden, and in the deep
46shut Nereus off, and mould the forms of things little by little; and how the earth amazed beheld the new sun shining, and the showers fall, as the clouds soared higher, what time the woods 'gan first to rise, and living things to roam
51scattered among the hills that knew them not. Then sang he of the stones by Pyrrha cast, of Saturn's reign, and of Prometheus' theft, and the Caucasian birds, and told withal nigh to what fountain by his comrades left
56the mariners cried on Hylas till the shore then re-echoed “Hylas, Hylas!” soothed pasiphae with the love of her white bull— happy if cattle-kind had never been!— o ill-starred maid, what frenzy caught thy soul
61the daughters too of Proetus filled the fields with their feigned lowings, yet no one of them of such unhallowed union e'er was fain as with a beast to mate, though many a time on her smooth forehead she had sought for horns,
66and for her neck had feared the galling plough. O ill-starred maid! thou roamest now the hills, while on soft hyacinths he, his snowy side reposing, under some dark ilex now chews the pale herbage, or some heifer tracks
71amid the crowding herd. Now close, ye Nymphs, ye Nymphs of Dicte, close the forest-glades, if haply there may chance upon mine eyes the white bull's wandering foot-prints: him belike following the herd, or by green pasture lured,
76some kine may guide to the Gortynian stalls. Then sings he of the maid so wonder-struck with the apples of the Hesperids, and then with moss-bound, bitter bark rings round the forms of Phaethon's fair sisters, from the ground
81up-towering into poplars. Next he sings of Gallus wandering by Permessus' stream, and by a sister of the Muses led to the Aonian mountains, and how all the choir of Phoebus rose to greet him; how
86the shepherd Linus, singer of songs divine, brow-bound with flowers and bitter parsley, spake: “These reeds the Muses give thee, take them thou, erst to the aged bard of Ascra given, wherewith in singing he was wont to draw
91time-rooted ash-trees from the mountain heights. With these the birth of the Grynean grove be voiced by thee, that of no grove beside apollo more may boast him.” Wherefore speak of Scylla, child of Nisus, who, 'tis said,
96her fair white loins with barking monsters girt vexed the Dulichian ships, and, in the deep swift-eddying whirlpool, with her sea-dogs tore the trembling mariners? or how he told of the changed limbs of Tereus—what a feast,
101what gifts, to him by Philomel were given; how swift she sought the desert, with what wings hovered in anguish o'er her ancient home? All that, of old, Eurotas, happy stream, heard, as Apollo mused upon the lyre,
106and bade his laurels learn, Silenus sang; till from Olympus, loth at his approach, vesper, advancing, bade the shepherds tell their tale of sheep, and pen them in the fold.
Section 7
1daphnis beneath a rustling ilex-tree had sat him down; Thyrsis and Corydon had gathered in the flock, Thyrsis the sheep, and Corydon the she-goats swollen with milk— both in the flower of age, Arcadians both,
6ready to sing, and in like strain reply. Hither had strayed, while from the frost I fend my tender myrtles, the he-goat himself, lord of the flock; when Daphnis I espy! Soon as he saw me, “Hither haste,” he cried,
11“O Meliboeus! goat and kids are safe; and, if you have an idle hour to spare, rest here beneath the shade. Hither the steers will through the meadows, of their own free will, untended come to drink. Here Mincius hath
16with tender rushes rimmed his verdant banks, and from yon sacred oak with busy hum the bees are swarming.” What was I to do? No Phyllis or Alcippe left at home had I, to shelter my new-weaned lambs,
21and no slight matter was a singing-bout 'twixt Corydon and Thyrsis. Howsoe'er, I let my business wait upon their sport. So they began to sing, voice answering voice in strains alternate—for alternate strains
26the Muses then were minded to recall— first Corydon, then Thyrsis in reply. “Libethrian Nymphs, who are my heart's delight, grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to sing— next to Apollo he—or if to this
31we may not all attain, my tuneful pipe here on this sacred pine shall silent hang.” “Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray your budding poet, so that Codrus burst with envy: if he praise beyond my due,
36then bind my brow with foxglove, lest his tongue with evil omen blight the coming bard.” “This bristling boar's head, Delian Maid, to thee, with branching antlers of a sprightly stag, young Micon offers: if his luck but hold,
41full-length in polished marble, ankle-bound with purple buskin, shall thy statue stand.” “A bowl of milk, Priapus, and these cakes, yearly, it is enough for thee to claim; thou art the guardian of a poor man's plot.
46Wrought for a while in marble, if the flock at lambing time be filled,stand there in gold.” “Daughter of Nereus, Galatea mine, sweeter than Hybla-thyme, more white than swans, fairer than ivy pale, soon as the steers
51shall from their pasture to the stalls repair, if aught for Corydon thou carest, come.” “Now may I seem more bitter to your taste than herb Sardinian, rougher than the broom, more worthless than strewn sea-weed, if to-day
56hath not a year out-lasted! Fie for shame! Go home, my cattle, from your grazing go!” “Ye mossy springs, and grass more soft than sleep, and arbute green with thin shade sheltering you, ward off the solstice from my flock, for now
61comes on the burning summer, now the buds upon the limber vine-shoot 'gin to swell.” “Here is a hearth, and resinous logs, here fire unstinted, and doors black with ceaseless smoke. Here heed we Boreas' icy breath as much
66as the wolf heeds the number of the flock, or furious rivers their restraining banks.” “The junipers and prickly chestnuts stand, and 'neath each tree lie strewn their several fruits, now the whole world is smiling, but if fair
71alexis from these hill-slopes should away, even the rivers you would ; see run dry.” “The field is parched, the grass-blades thirst to death in the faint air; Liber hath grudged the hills his vine's o'er-shadowing: should my Phyllis come,
76green will be all the grove, and Jupiter descend in floods of fertilizing rain.” “The poplar doth Alcides hold most dear, the vine Iacchus, Phoebus his own bays, and Venus fair the myrtle: therewithal
81phyllis doth hazels love, and while she loves, myrtle nor bay the hazel shall out-vie.” “Ash in the forest is most beautiful, pine in the garden, poplar by the stream, fir on the mountain-height; but if more oft
86thou'ldst come to me, fair Lycidas, to thee both forest-ash, and garden-pine should bow.” These I remember, and how Thyrsis strove for victory in vain. From that time forth is Corydon still Corydon with us.
Section 8
1of Damon and Alphesiboeus now, those shepherd-singers at whose rival strains the heifer wondering forgot to graze, the lynx stood awe-struck, and the flowing streams, unwonted loiterers, stayed their course to hear—
6how Damon and Alphesiboeus sang their pastoral ditties, will I tell the tale. Thou, whether broad Timavus' rocky banks thou now art passing, or dost skirt the shore of the Illyrian main,—will ever dawn
11that day when I thy deeds may celebrate, ever that day when through the whole wide world I may renown thy verse—that verse alone of Sophoclean buskin worthy found? With thee began, to thee shall end, the strain.
16Take thou these songs that owe their birth to thee, and deign around thy temples to let creep this ivy-chaplet 'twixt the conquering bays. Scarce had night's chilly shade forsook the sky what time to nibbling sheep the dewy grass
21tastes sweetest, when, on his smooth shepherd-staff of olive leaning, Damon thus began. “Rise, Lucifer, and, heralding the light, bring in the genial day, while I make moan fooled by vain passion for a faithless bride,
26for Nysa, and with this my dying breath call on the gods, though little it bestead— the gods who heard her vows and heeded not. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Ever hath Maenalus his murmuring groves
31and whispering pines, and ever hears the songs of love-lorn shepherds, and of Pan, who first brooked not the tuneful reed should idle lie. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Nysa to Mopsus given! what may not then
36we lovers look for? soon shall we see mate griffins with mares, and in the coming age shy deer and hounds together come to drink. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Now, Mopsus, cut new torches, for they bring
41your bride along; now, bridegroom, scatter nuts: forsaking Oeta mounts the evening star! ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ O worthy of thy mate, while all men else thou scornest, and with loathing dost behold
46my shepherd's pipe, my goats, my shaggy brow, and untrimmed beard, nor deem'st that any god for mortal doings hath regard or care. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Once with your mother, in our orchard-garth,
51a little maid I saw you—I your guide— plucking the dewy apples. My twelfth year I scarce had entered, and could barely reach the brittle boughs. I looked, and I was lost; a sudden frenzy swept my wits away.
56‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Now know I what Love is: 'mid savage rocks tmaros or Rhodope brought forth the boy, or Garamantes in earth's utmost bounds— no kin of ours, nor of our blood begot.
61‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Fierce Love it was once steeled a mother's heart with her own offspring's blood her hands to imbrue: mother, thou too wert cruel; say wert thou more cruel, mother, or more ruthless he?
66Ruthless the boy, thou, mother, cruel too. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Now let the wolf turn tail and fly the sheep, tough oaks bear golden apples, alder-trees bloom with narcissus-flower, the tamarisk
71sweat with rich amber, and the screech-owl vie in singing with the swan: let Tityrus be Orpheus, Orpheus in the forest-glade, arion 'mid his dolphins on the deep. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’
76Yea, be the whole earth to mid-ocean turned! Farewell, ye woodlands I from the tall peak of yon aerial rock will headlong plunge into the billows: this my latest gift, from dying lips bequeathed thee, see thou keep.
81Cease now, my flute, now cease Maenalian lays.’” thus Damon: but do ye, Pierian Maids— we cannot all do all things—tell me how alphesiboeus to his strain replied. “Bring water, and with soft wool-fillet bind
86these altars round about, and burn thereon rich vervain and male frankincense, that I may strive with magic spells to turn astray my lover's saner senses, whereunto there lacketh nothing save the power of song.
91‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Songs can the very moon draw down from heaven circe with singing changed from human form the comrades of Ulysses, and by song is the cold meadow-snake, asunder burst.
96‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ These triple threads of threefold colour first I twine about thee, and three times withal around these altars do thine image bear: uneven numbers are the god's delight.
101‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Now, Amaryllis, ply in triple knots the threefold colours; ply them fast, and say this is the chain of Venus that I ply. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’
106As by the kindling of the self-same fire harder this clay, this wax the softer grows, so by my love may Daphnis; sprinkle meal, and with bitumen burn the brittle bays. Me Daphnis with his cruelty doth burn,
111I to melt cruel Daphnis burn this bay. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ As when some heifer, seeking for her steer through woodland and deep grove, sinks wearied out on the green sedge beside a stream, love-lorn,
116nor marks the gathering night that calls her home— as pines that heifer, with such love as hers may Daphnis pine, and I not care to heal. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ These relics once, dear pledges of himself,
121the traitor left me, which, O earth, to thee here on this very threshold I commit— pledges that bind him to redeem the debt. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ These herbs of bane to me did Moeris give,
126in Pontus culled, where baneful herbs abound. With these full oft have I seen Moeris change to a wolf's form, and hide him in the woods, oft summon spirits from the tomb's recess, and to new fields transport the standing corn.
131‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Take ashes, Amaryllis, fetch them forth, and o'er your head into the running brook fling them, nor look behind: with these will upon the heart of Daphnis make essay.
136Nothing for gods, nothing for songs cares he. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Look, look I the very embers of themselves have caught the altar with a flickering flame, while I delay to fetch them: may the sign
141prove lucky! something it must mean, for sure, and Hylax on the threshold 'gins to bark! May we believe it, or are lovers still by their own fancies fooled? Give o'er, my songs,
146daphnis is coming from the town, give o'er.”
Section 9
1Say whither, Moeris?—Make you for the town, or on what errand bent? O Lycidas, we have lived to see, what never yet we feared, an interloper own our little farm,
6and say, “Be off, you former husbandmen! These fields are mine.” Now, cowed and out of heart, since Fortune turns the whole world upside down, we are taking him—ill luck go with the same!— these kids you see.
11But surely I had heard that where the hills first draw from off the plain, and the high ridge with gentle slope descends, down to the brook-side and the broken crests of yonder veteran beeches, all the land
16was by the songs of your Menalcas saved. Heard it you had, and so the rumour ran, but 'mid the clash of arms, my Lycidas, our songs avail no more than, as 'tis said, doves of Dodona when an eagle comes.
21Nay, had I not, from hollow ilex-bole warned by a raven on the left, cut short the rising feud, nor I, your Moeris here, no, nor Menalcas, were alive to-day. Alack! could any of so foul a crime
26be guilty? Ah! how nearly, thyself, reft was the solace that we had in thee, Menalcas! Who then of the Nymphs had sung, or who with flowering herbs bestrewn the ground, and o'er the fountains drawn a leafy veil?—
31who sung the stave I filched from you that day to Amaryllis wending, our hearts' joy?— “While I am gone, 'tis but a little way, feed, Tityrus, my goats, and, having fed, drive to the drinking-pool, and, as you drive,
36beware the he-goat; with his horn he butts.“ Ay, or to Varus that half-finished lay, “Varus, thy name, so still our Mantua live— Mantua to poor Cremona all too near— shall singing swans bear upward to the stars.”
41So may your swarms Cyrnean yew-trees shun, your kine with cytisus their udders swell, begin, if aught you have. The Muses made me too a singer; I too have sung; the swains call me a poet, but I believe them not:
46for naught of mine, or worthy Varius yet or Cinna deem I, but account myself a cackling goose among melodious swans. 'Twas in my thought to do so, Lycidas; even now was I revolving silently
51if this I could recall—no paltry song: “Come, Galatea, what pleasure is 't to play amid the waves? Here glows the Spring, here earth beside the streams pours forth a thousand flowers; here the white poplar bends above the cave,
56and the lithe vine weaves shadowy covert: come, leave the mad waves to beat upon the shore.” What of the strain I heard you singing once on a clear night alone? the notes I still remember, could I but recall the words.
61“Why, Daphnis, upward gazing, do you mark the ancient risings of the Signs? for look where Dionean Caesar's star comes forth in heaven, to gladden all the fields with corn, and to the grape upon the sunny slopes
66her colour bring! Now, the pears; so shall your children's children pluck their fruit.” Time carries all things, even our wits, away. Oft, as a boy, I sang the sun to rest, but all those songs are from my memory fled,
71and even his voice is failing Moeris now; the wolves eyed Moeris first: but at your wish Menalcas will repeat them oft enow. Your pleas but linger out my heart's desire: now all the deep is into silence hushed,
76and all the murmuring breezes sunk to sleep. We are half-way thither, for Bianor's tomb begins to show: here, Moeris, where the hinds are lopping the thick leafage, let us sing. Set down the kids, yet shall we reach the town;
81or, if we fear the night may gather rain ere we arrive, then singing let us go, our way to lighten; and, that we may thus go singing, I will case you of this load. Cease, boy, and get we to the work in hand:
86we shall sing better when himself is come.
Section 10
1This now, the very latest of my toils, vouchsafe me, Arethusa! needs must I sing a brief song to Gallus—brief, but yet such as Lycoris' self may fitly read. Who would not sing for Gallus? So, when thou
6beneath Sicanian billows glidest on, may Doris blend no bitter wave with thine, begin! The love of Gallus be our theme, and the shrewd pangs he suffered, while, hard by, the flat-nosed she-goats browse the tender brush.
11We sing not to deaf ears; no word of ours but the woods echo it. What groves or lawns held you, ye Dryad-maidens, when for love— love all unworthy of a loss so dear— Gallus lay dying? for neither did the slopes
16of Pindus or Parnassus stay you then, no, nor Aonian Aganippe. Him even the laurels and the tamarisks wept; for him, outstretched beneath a lonely rock, wept pine-clad Maenalus, and the flinty crags
21of cold Lycaeus. The sheep too stood around— of us they feel no shame, poet divine; nor of the flock be thou ashamed: even fair Adonis by the rivers fed his sheep— came shepherd too, and swine-herd footing slow,
26and, from the winter-acorns dripping-wet Menalcas. All with one accord exclaim: “From whence this love of thine?” Apollo came; “Gallus, art mad?” he cried, “thy bosom's care another love is following.” Therewithal
31Silvanus came, with rural honours crowned; the flowering fennels and tall lilies shook before him. Yea, and our own eyes beheld pan, god of Arcady, with blood-red juice of the elder-berry, and with vermilion, dyed.
36“Wilt ever make an end?” quoth he, “behold love recks not aught of it: his heart no more with tears is sated than with streams the grass, bees with the cytisus, or goats with leaves.” “Yet will ye sing, Arcadians, of my woes
41upon your mountains,” sadly he replied— “Arcadians, that alone have skill to sing. O then how softly would my ashes rest, if of my love, one day, your flutes should tell! And would that I, of your own fellowship,
46or dresser of the ripening grape had been, or guardian of the flock! for surely then, let Phyllis, or Amyntas, or who else, bewitch me—what if swart Amyntas be? Dark is the violet, dark the hyacinth—
51among the willows, 'neath the limber vine, reclining would my love have lain with me, Phyllis plucked garlands, or Amyntas sung. Here are cool springs, soft mead and grove, Lycoris; here might our lives with time have worn away.
56But me mad love of the stern war-god holds armed amid weapons and opposing foes. Whilst thou—Ah! might I but believe it not!— alone without me, and from home afar, look'st upon Alpine snows and frozen Rhine.
61Ah! may the frost not hurt thee, may the sharp and jagged ice not wound thy tender feet! I will depart, re-tune the songs I framed in verse Chalcidian to the oaten reed of the Sicilian swain. Resolved am I
66in the woods, rather, with wild beasts to couch, and bear my doom, and character my love upon the tender tree-trunks: they will grow, and you, my love, grow with them. And meanwhile I with the Nymphs will haunt Mount Maenalus,
71or hunt the keen wild boar. No frost so cold but I will hem with hounds thy forest-glades, parthenius. Even now, methinks, I range o'er rocks, through echoing groves, and joy to launch Cydonian arrows from a Parthian bow.—
76as if my madness could find healing thus, or that god soften at a mortal's grief! Now neither Hamadryads, no, nor songs delight me more: ye woods, away with you! No pangs of ours can change him; not though we
81in the mid-frost should drink of Hebrus' stream, and in wet winters face Sithonian snows, or, when the bark of the tall elm-tree bole of drought is dying, should, under Cancer's Sign, in Aethiopian deserts drive our flocks.
86Love conquers all things; yield we too to love!” These songs, Pierian Maids, shall it suffice your poet to have sung, the while he sat, and of slim mallow wove a basket fine: to Gallus ye will magnify their worth,
91Gallus, for whom my love grows hour by hour, as the green alder shoots in early Spring. Come, let us rise: the shade is wont to be baneful to singers; baneful is the shade cast by the juniper, crops sicken too
96in shade. Now homeward, having fed your fill— eve's star is rising—go, my she-goats, go.
Contents — 10 sections
Section 1
1Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena; nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva: nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas.
6O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit: namque erit ille mihi semper deus; illius aram saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum ludere, quae vellem, calamo permisit agresti
11Non equidem invideo; miror magis: undique totis usque adeo turbatur agris. En, ipse capellas protinus aeger ago; hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco: hic inter densas corylos modo namque gemellos, spem gregis, ah, silice in nuda conixa reliquit.
16Saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset, de caelo tactas memini praedicere quercus:— Sed tamen, iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis. Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Meliboee, putavi stultus ego huic nostrae similem, quo saepe solemus
22pastores ovium teneros depellere fetus: sic canibus catulos similis, sic matribus haedos noram, sic parvis componere magna solebam: verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes, quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.
27Et quae tanta fuit Romam tibi causa videndi? Libertas; quae sera, tamen respexit inertem, candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat; respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit, postquam nos Amaryllis habet, Galatea reliquit:
32namque, fatebor enim, dum me Galatea tenebat, nec spes libertatis erat, nec cura peculi: quamvis multa meis exiret victima saeptis, pinguis et ingratae premeretur caseus urbi, non umquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redibat.
37Mirabar, quid maesta deos, Amarylli, vocares, cui pendere sua patereris in arbore poma: Tityrus hinc aberat. Ipsae te, Tityre, pinus, ipsi te fontes, ipsa haec arbusta vocabant. Quid facerem? Neque servitio me exire licebat,
42nec tam praesentis alibi cognoscere divos. hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quot annis bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant; hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti: “pascite, ut ante, boves, pueri, submittite tauros.”
47Fortunate senex, ergo tua rura manebunt, et tibi magna satis, quamvis lapis omnia nudus limosoque palus obducat pascua iunco! Non insueta gravis temptabunt pabula fetas, nec mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent.
52Fortunate senex, hic, inter flumina nota et fontis sacros, frigus captabis opacum! hinc tibi, quae semper, vicino ab limite, saepes Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro;
57hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras; nec tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes, nec gemere aëria cessabit turtur ab ulmo. Ante leves ergo pascentur in aequore cervi, et freta destituent nudos in litore pisces,
62ante pererratis amborum finibus exsul aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim, quam nostro illius labatur pectore voltus. At nos hinc alii sitientis ibimus Afros, pars Scythiam et rapidum Cretae veniemus Oaxen,
67et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. En umquam patrios longo post tempore finis, pauperis et tuguri congestum caespite culmen, post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas? Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit,
72barbarus has segetes? En, quo discordia civis produxit miseros! His nos consevimus agros! Insere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine vitis. Ite meae, felix quondam pecus, ite capellae. Non ego vos posthac, viridi proiectus in antro,
77dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbo; carmina nulla canam; non, me pascente, capellae, florentem cytisum et salices carpetis amaras. Hic tamen hanc mecum poteras requiescere noctem fronde super viridi: sunt nobis mitia poma,
82castaneae molles, et pressi copia lactis; et iam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, maioresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae.
Section 2
1Formosum pastor Corydon ardebat Alexim, delicias domini, nec quid speraret habebat; tantum inter densas, umbrosa cacumina, fagos adsidue veniebat. Ibi haec incondita solus montibus et silvis studio iactabat inani:
6O crudelis Alexi, nihil mea carmina curas? Nil nostri miserere? Mori me denique coges. nunc etiam pecudes umbras et frigora captant; nunc viridis etiam occultant spineta lacertos, Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestu
11alia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentis. at mecum raucis, tua dum vestigia lustro, sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis. Nonne fuit satius tristis Amaryllidis iras atque superba pati fastidia, nonne Menalcan,
16quam vis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses ? o formose puer, nimium ne crede colori! alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. Despectus tibi sum, nec qui sim quaeris, Alexi, quam dives pecoris, nivei quam lactis abundans.
21mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnae; lac mihi non aestate novum, non frigore defit; canto quae solitus, si quando armenta vocabat, Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracimtho. Nec sum adeo informis: nuper me in litore vidi,
26cum placidum ventis staret mare; non ego Daphnim iudice te metuam, si numquam fallit imago. O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura atque humilis habitare casas, et figere cervos, haedorumque gregem viridi compellere hibisco!
31Mecum una in silvis imitabere Pana canendo. Pan primus calamos cera coniungere pluris instituit; Pan curat ovis oviumque magistros. Nec te paeniteat calamo trivisse labellum: haec eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas?
36est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis fistula, Damoetas dono mihi quam dedit olim, et dixit moriens: “Te nunc habet ista secundum.” dixit Damoetas, invidit stultus Amyntas. Praeterea duo, nec tuta mihi valle reperti,
41capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo, bina die siccant ovis ubera; quos tibi servo: iam pridem a me illos abducere Thestylis orat; et faciet, quoniam sordent tibi munera nostra. Huc ades, O formose puer: tibi lilia plenis
46ecce ferunt Nymphae calathis; tibi candida Nais, pallentis violas et summa papavera carpens, narcissum et florem iungit bene olentis anethi; tum casia atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis, mollia luteola pingit vaccinia calta.
51Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala, castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat; addam cerea pruna: honos erit huic quoque pomo; et vos, O lauri, carpam, et te, proxima myrte, sic positae quoniam suavis miscetis odores.
56Rusticus es, Corydon: nec munera curat Alexis, nec, si muneribus certes, concedat Iollas. Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! Floribus austrum perditus et liquidis inmisi fontibus apros. Quem fugis, ah, demens? Habitarunt di quoque silvas,
61Dardaniusque Paris. Pallas, quas condidit arces, ipsa colat; nobis placeant ante omnia silvae. Torva leaena lupum sequitur; lupus ipse capellam; florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella; te Corydon, o Alexi: trahit sua quemque voluptas.
66Aspice, aratra iugo referunt suspensa iuvenci, et sol crescentis decedens duplicat umbras: me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori? Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quae te dementia cepit! Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est;
71quin tu aliquid saltem potius, quorum indiget usus, viminibus mollique paras detexere iunco? Invenies alium, si te hic fastidit, Alexim.
Section 3
1Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus, an Meliboei? Non, verum Aegonis; nuper mihi tradidit Aegon. Infelix o semper, ovis, pecus, ipse Neaeram dum fovet, ac ne me sibi praeferat illa veretur, hic alienus ovis custos bis mulget in hora,
6et sucus pecori et lac subducitur agnis. Parcius ista viris tamen obicienda memento: novimus et qui te, transversa tuentibus hircis, et quo—sed faciles Nymphae risere—sacello. Tum, credo, cum me arbustum videre Miconis
11atque mala vitis incidere falce novellas. Aut hic ad veteres fagos cum Daphnidis arcum fregisti et calamos quae tu, perverse Menalca, et cum vidisti puero donata, dolebas, et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses.
16Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures! non ego te vidi Damonis, pessime, caprum excipere insidiis, multum latrante Lycisca? et cum clamarem: “Quo nunc se proripit ille? Tityre, coge pecus,” tu post carecta latebas.
21An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille quem mea carminibus meruisset fistula caprum? Si nescis, meus ille caper fuit; et mihi Damon ipse fatebatur, sed reddere posse negabat. Cantando tu illum, aut umquam tibi fistula cera
26iuncta fuit? Non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen? Vis ergo inter nos quid possit uterque vicissim experiamur? Ego hanc vitulam—ne forte recuses, bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere fetus—
31depono: tu dic, mecum quo pignore certes. De grege non ausim quicquam deponere tecum. Est mihi namque domi pater, est iniusta noverca; bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et haedos. Verum, id quod multo tute ipse fatebere maius,
36insanire libet quoniam tibi, pocula ponam fagina, caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis; lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis diffusos hedera vestit pallente corymbos: in medio duo signa, Conon, et—quis fuit alter,
41descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem, tempora quae messor, quae curvus arator haberet? Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, et molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho,
46Orpheaque in medio posuit silvasque sequentis. Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo: si ad vitulam spectas, nihil est quod pocula laudes. Nunquam hodie effugies; veniam, quocumque vocari audiat haec tantum—vel qui venit ecce Palaemon
51efficiam posthac ne quemquam voce lacessas. Quin age, si quid habes, in me mora non erit ulla, nec quemquam fugio: tantum, vicine Palaemon, sensibus haec imis, res est non parva, reponas. Dicite, quandoquidem in molli consedimus herba:
56et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, nunc frondent silvae, nunc formosissimus annus. Incipe, Darmoeta; tu deinde sequere Menalca: alternis dicetis; amant alterna Camenae. Ab Iove principium, Musae; Iovis omnia plena:
61ille colit terras, illi mea carmina curae. Et me Phoebus amat; Phoebo sua semper apud me munera sunt, lauri et suave rubens hyacinthus. Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri.
66At mihi sese offert ultro, meus ignis, Amyntas, notior ut iam sit canibus non Delia nostris. Parta meae Veneri sunt munera: namque notavi ipse locum, aëriae quo congessere palumbes. Quod potui, puero silvestri ex arbore lecta
71aurea mala decem misi; cras altera mittam. O quotiens et quae nobis Galatea locuta est! partem aliquam, venti, divom referatis ad auris! Quid prodest, quod me ipse animo non spernis, Amynta. si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo?
76Phyllida mitte mihi: meus est natalis, Iolla; cum faciam vitula pro frugibus, ipse venito. Phyllida amo ante alias; nam me discedere flevit, et longum “formose, vale, vale,” inquit, “Iolla.” Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres.
81arboribus venti, nobis Amaryllidis irae. Dulce satis umor, depulsis arbutus haedis, lenta salix feto pecori, mihi solus Amyntas. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam: Pierides vitulam lectori pascite vestro.
86Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: pascite taurum, iam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat arenam. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat quo te quoque gaudet: mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi,
91atque idem iungat vulpes et mulgeat hircos. Qui legitis flores et humi nascentia fraga, frigidus, O pueri, fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba. Parcite, oves, nimium procedere; non bene ripae creditur; ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat.
96Tityre, pascentes a flumine reice capellas: ipse ubi tempus erit, omnis in fonte lavabo. Cogite ovis, pueri; si lac praeceperit aestus, ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis. Heu, heu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo!
101Idem amor exitium est pecori pecorisque magistro. His certe neque amor causa est; vix ossibus haerent. nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. Dic, quibus in terris—et eris mihi magnus Apollo— tris pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas.
106Dic, quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum nascantur flores, et Phyllida solus habeto. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. Et vitula tu dignus, et hic, et quisquis amores aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros.
111Claudite iam rivos, pueri, sat prata biberunt.
Section 4
1Sicelides Musae, paulo maiora canamus! Non omnis arbusta iuvant humilesque myricae; si canimus silvas, silvae sint consule dignae. Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas; magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo:
6iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna; iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto. Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum desinet ac toto surget gens aurea mundo, casta fave Lucina: tuus iam regnat Apollo.
11Teque adeo decus hoc aevi te consule inibit, Pollio, et incipient magni procedere menses. te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri, inrita perpetua solvent formidine terras. ille deum vitam accipiet, divisque videbit
16permixtos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis, pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem. At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu errantis hederas passim cum baccare tellus mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho.
21Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones; ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores, occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni occidet, Assyrium volgo nascetur amomum.
26at simul heroum laudes et facta parentis iam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus, molli paulatim flavescet campus arista, incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella
31Pauca tamen suberunt priscae vestigia fraudis, quae temptare Thetim ratibus, quae cingere muris oppida, quae iubeant telluri infindere sulcos: alter erit tum Tiphys, et altera quae vehat Argo delectos Heroas; erunt etiam altera bella,
36atque iterum ad Troiam magnus mittetur Achilles. Hinc, ubi iam firmata virum te fecerit aetas, cedet et ipse mari vector, nec nautica pinus mutabit merces: omnis feret omnia tellus: non rastros patietur humus, non vinea falcem;
41robustus quoque iam tauris iuga solvet arator; nec varios discet mentiri lana colores: ipse sed in pratis aries iam suave rubenti murice, iam croceo mutabit vellera luto; sponte sua sandyx pascentis vestiet agnos.
46Talia saecla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae. Adgredere o magnos—aderit iam tempus—honores, cara deum suboles, magnum Iovis incrementum! Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum,
51terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum! Aspice, venturo laetentur ut omnia saeclo! O mihi tam longae maneat pars ultima vitae, spiritus et quantum sat erit tua dicere facta! Non me carminibus vincet nec Thracius Orpheus,
56nec Linus, huic mater quamvis atque huic pater adsit, Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo, Pan etiam, Arcadia mecum si iudice certet, Pan etiam Arcadia dicat se iudice victum. Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem,
61matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia menses. Incipe, parve puer, cui non risere parentes, nec deus hunc mensa, dea nec dignata cubili est.
Section 5
1Cur non, Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus ambo, tu calamos inflare levis, ego dicere versus, hic corylis mixtas inter consedimus ulmos? Tu maior; tibi me est aequum parere, Menalca, sive sub incertas zephyris motantibus umbras,
6sive antro potius succedimus: aspice, ut antrum silvestris raris sparsit labrusca racemis. Montibus in nostris solus tibi certat Amyntas. Quid, si idem certet Phoebum superare canendo? Incipe, Mopse, prior, si quos aut Phyllidis ignes,
11aut Alconis habes laudes, aut iurgia Codri: incipe, pascentis servabit Tityrus haedos. Immo haec, in viridi nuper quae cortice fagi carmina descripsi et modulans alterna notavi, experiar, tu deinde iubeto ut certet Amyntas.
16Lenta salix quantum pallenti cedit olivae, puniceis humilis quantum saliunca rosetis, iudicio nostro tantum tibi cedit Amyntas. sed tu desine plura, puer; successimus antro. Extinctum nymphae crudeli funere Daphnim
21flebant; vos coryli testes et flumina nymphis; cum complexa sui corpus miserabile nati, atque deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater. Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla neque amnem
26libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam. Daphni, tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones interitum montesque feri silvaeque loquuntur. Daphnis et Armenias curru subiungere tigres instituit; Daphnis thiasos inducere Bacchi,
31et foliis lentas intexere mollibus hastas. Vitis ut arboribus decori est, ut vitibus uvae, ut gregibus tauri, segetes ut pinguibus arvis, tu decus omne tuis. Postquam te fata tulerunt, ipsa Pales agros atque ipse reliquit Apollo.
36Grandia saepe quibus mandavimus hordea sulcis, infelix lolium et steriles nascuntur avenae; pro molli viola, pro purpureo narcisso, carduus et spinis surgit paliurus acutis. Spargite humum foliis, inducite fontibus umbras,
41pastores, mandat fieri sibi talia Daphnis; et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen: DAPHNIS EGO IN SILVIS HINC VSQUE AD SIDERA NOTVS FORMONSI PECORIS CVSTOS FORMONSIOR IPSE. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta,
46quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per aestum dulcis aquae saliente sitim restinguere rivo: nec calamis solum aequiparas, sed voce magistrum. Nos tamen haec quocumque modo tibi nostra vicissim dicemus, Daphnimque tuum tollemus ad astra;
52Daphnin ad astra feremus: amavit nos quoque Daphnis. An quicquam nobis tali sit munere maius Et puer ipse fuit cantari dignus, et ista iam pridem Stimichon laudavit carmina nobis. Candidus insuetum miratur limen Olympi,
57sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis. ergo alacris silvas et cetera rura voluptas Panaque pastoresque tenet, Dryadasque puellas; nec lupus insidias pecori, nec retia cervis ulla dolum meditantur: amat bonus otia Daphnis.
62ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera iactant intonsi montes; ipsae iam carmina rupes, ipsa sonant arbusta: “Deus, deus ille, Menalca.” Sis bonus O felixque tuis! En quattuor aras: ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duas altaria Phoebo.
67pocula bina novo spumantia lacte quotannis, craterasque duo statuam tibi pinguis olivi, et multo in primis hilarans convivia Baccho,— ante focum, si frigus erit, si messis, in umbra,— vina novum fundam calathis Ariusia nectar.
72cantabunt mihi Damoetas et Lyctius Aegon; saltantis satyros imitabitur Alphesiboeus. Haec tibi semper erunt, et cum solemnia vota reddemus Nymphis, et cum lustrabimus agros. Dum iuga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,
77dumque thymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicadae, semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt; ut Baccho Cererique, tibi sic vota quotannis agricolae facient: damnabis tu quoque votis. Quae tibi, quae tali reddam pro carmine dona?
82Nam neque me tantum venientis sibilus austri, nec percussa iuvant fluctu tam litora, nec quae saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles. Hac te nos fragili donabimus ante cicuta: haec nos, “Formosum Corydon ardebat Alexim,”
87haec eadem docuit, “Cuium pecus, an Meliboei?” At tu sume pedum, quod, me cum saepe rogaret, non tulit Antigenes—et erat tum dignus amari— formosum paribus nodis atque aere, Menalca.
Section 6
1Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere versu, nostra nec erubuit silvas habitare Thalia. Cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem vellit, et admonuit: “Pastorem, Tityre, pinguis pascere oportet ovis, deductum dicere carmen.”
6Nunc ego—namque super tibi erunt, qui dicere laudes, Vare, tuas cupiant, et tristia condere bella— agrestem tenui meditabor arundine Musam. Non iniussa cano: si quis tamen haec quoque, si quis captus amore leget, te nostrae, Vare, myricae,
11te nemus omne canet; nec Phoebo gratior ulla est, quam sibi quae Vari praescripsit pagina nomen. Pergite, Pierides! Chromis et Mnasyllos in antro Silenum pueri somno videre iacentem, inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, Iaccho:
16serta procul tantum capiti delapsa iacebant, et gravis attrita pendebat cantharus ansa. Adgressi—nam saepe senex spe carminis ambo luserat—iniciunt ipsis ex vincula sertis: addit se sociam, timidisque supervenit Aegle,—
21Aegle, Naiadum pulcherrima,—iamque videnti sanguineis frontem moris et tempora pingit. Ille dolum ridens, “Quo vincula nectitis?” inquit; “solvite me, pueri; satis est potuisse videri: carmina, quae voltis, cognoscite; carmina vobis,
26huic aliud mercedis erit.” Simul incipit ipse. Tum vero in numerum Faunosque ferasque videres ludere, tum rigidas motare cacumina quercus; nec tantum Phoebo gaudet Parnasia rupes, nec tantum Rhodope miratur et Ismarus Orphea.
31Namque canebat, uti magnum per inane coacta semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent, et liquidi simul ignis; ut his exordia primis omnia et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis; tum durare solum et discludere Nerea ponto
36coeperit, et rerum paulatim sumere formas; iamque novum terrae stupeant lucescere solem, altius atque cadant submotis nubibus imbres; incipiant silvae cum primum surgere, cumque rara per ignaros errent animalia montis.
41Hinc lapides Pyrrhae iactos, Saturnia regna, Caucasiasque refert volucres, furtumque Promethei: his adiungit, Hylan nautae quo fonte relictum clamassent, ut litus “Hyla, Hyla!” omne sonaret. et fortunatam, si numquam armenta fuissent,
46Pasiphaen nivei solatur amore iuvenci. ah, virgo infelix, quae te dementia cepit! Proetides inplerunt falsis mugitibus agros: at non tam turpis pecudum tamen ulla secuta est concubitus, quamvis collo timuisset aratrum,
51et saepe in levi quaesisset cornua fronte. ah, virgo infelix, tu nunc in montibus erras: ille, latus niveum molli fultus hyacintho, ilice sub nigra pallentis ruminat herbas, aut aliquam in magno sequitur grege. “Claudite, nymphae,
56Dictaeae nymphae, nemorum iam claudite saltus, si qua forte ferant oculis sese obvia nostris errabunda bovis vestigia; forsitan illum, aut herba captum viridi, aut armenta secutum, perducant aliquae stabula ad Gortynia vaccae.”
61Tum canit Hesperidum miratam mala puellam; tum Phaethontiades musco circumdat amaro corticis, atque solo proceras erigit alnos. Tum canit, errantem Permessi ad flumina Gallum Aonas in montis ut duxerit una sororum,
66utque viro Phoebi chorus adsurrexerit omnis; ut Linus haec illi, divino carmine pastor, floribus atque apio crinis ornatus amaro, dixerit: “Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae, Ascraeo quos ante seni, quibus ille solebat
71cantando rigidas deducere montibus ornos: his tibi Grynei nemoris dicatur origo, ne quis sit lucus, quo se plus iactet Apollo.” Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nisi, quam fama secuta est candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris
76Dulichias vexasse rates, et gurgite in alto, ah, timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis, aut ut mutatos Terei narraverit artus; quas illi Philomela dapes, quae dona pararit, quo cursu deserta petiverit, et quibus ante
81infelix sua tecta supervolitaverit alis? Omnia, quae Phoebo quondam meditante, beatus audiit Eurotas, iussitque ediscere laurus, ille canit: pulsae referunt ad sidera valles; cogere donec ovis stabulis numerumque referri
86iussit, et invito processit Vesper Olympo.
Section 7
1Forte sub arguta consederat ilice Daphnis, compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis in unum, Trhyrsis ovis, Corydon distentas lacte capellas, ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo, et cantare pares, et respondere parati.
6Huc mihi, dum teneras defendo a frigore myrtos, vir gregis ipse caper deerraverat; atque ego Daphnim aspicio. Ille ubi me contra videt: “Ocius” inquit “huc ades, O Meliboee, caper tibi salvus et haedi; et, si quid cessare potes, requiesce sub umbra.
11huc ipsi potum venient per prata iuvenci, hic viridis tenera praetexit arundine ripas Mincius, eque sacra resonant examina quercu.” Quid facerem? Neque ego Alcippen, nec Phyllida habebam, depulsos a lacte domi quae clauderet agnos,
16et certamen erat, Corydon cum Thyrside, magnum. posthabui tamen illorum mea seria ludo: alternis igitur contendere versibus ambo coepere; alternos Musae meminisse volebant. hos Corydon, illos referebat in ordine Thyrsis.
21Nymphae, noster amor, Libethrides, aut mihi carmen, quale meo Codro, concedite: proxima Phoebi versibus ille facit; aut, si non possumus omnes, hic arguta sacra pendebit fistula pinu. Pastores, hedera crescentem ornate poetam,
26Arcades, invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro; aut si ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro. Saetosi caput hoc apri tibi, Delia, parvus et ramosa Micon vivacis cornua cervi.
31Si proprium hoc fuerit, levi de marmore tota puniceo stabis suras evincta coturno. Sinum lactis et haec te liba, Priape, quotannis exspectare sat est: custos es pauperis horti. Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus; at tu,
36si fetura gregem suppleverit, aureus esto. Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Hyblae, candidior cycnis, hedera formosior alba, cum primum pasti repetent praesepia tauri, si qua tui Corydonis habet te cura, venito.
41Immo ego Sardoniis videar tibi amarior herbis, horridior rusco, proiecta vilior alga, si mihi non haec lux toto iam longior anno est. Ite domum pasti, si quis pudor, ite iuvenci. Muscosi fontes et somno mollior herba,
46et quae vos rara viridis tegit arbutus umbra, solstitium pecori defendite; iam venit aestas torrida, iam lento turgent in palmite gemmae. Hic focus et taedae pingues, hic plurimus ignis semper, et adsidua postes fuligine nigri;
51hic tantum Boreae curamus frigora, quantum aut numerum lupus, aut torrentia flumina ripas. Stant et iuniperi, et castaneae hirsutae; strata iacent passim sua quaque sub arbore poma; omnia nunc rident: at si formosus Alexis
56montibus his abeat, videas et flumina sicca. Aret ager; vitio moriens sitit aeris herba; Liber pampineas invidit collibus umbras: Phyllidis adventu nostrae nemus omne virebit, Iuppiter et laeto descendet plurimus imbri.
61Populus Alcidae gratissima, vitis Iaccho, formosae myrtus Veneri, sua laurea Phoebo; Phyllis amat corylos: illas dum Phyllis amabit, nec myrtus vincet corylos, nec laurea Phoebi. Fraxinus in silvis pulcherrima, pinus in hortis,
66populus in fluviis, abies in montibus altis: saepius at si me, Lycida formose, revisas, fraxinus in silvis cedat tibi, pinus in hortis. Haec memini, et victum frustra contendere Thyrsim: ex illo Corydon Corydon est tempore nobis.
Section 8
1Pastorem Musam Damonis et Alphesiboei— immemor herbarum quos est mirata iuvenca certantis, quorum stupefactae carmine lynces, et mutata suos requierunt flumina cursus— Illonis Musam dicemus et Alphesiboei.
6Tu mihi seu magni superas iam saxa Timavi, sive oram Illyrici legis aequoris, en erit umquam ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta? en erit ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna coturno?
11A te principium, tibi desinam: accipe iussis carmina coepta tuis, atque hanc sine tempora circum inter victrices hederam tibi serpere laurus. Frigida vix caelo noctis decesserat umbra, cum ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba;
16incumbens tereti Damon sic coepit olivae. Nascere, praeque diem veniens age, Lucifer, almum, coniugis indigno Nisae deceptus amore dum queror, et divos, quamquam nil testibus illis profeci, extrema moriens tamen adloquor hora.
21Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Maenalus argutumque nemus pinosque loquentis semper habet; semper pastorum ille audit amores, Panaque, qui primus calamos non passus inertis. Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus.
26Mopso Nisa datur: quid non speremus amantes? Iungentur iam grypes equis, aevoque sequenti cum canibus timidi venient ad pocula dammae. Mopse, novas incide faces: tibi ducitur uxor; sparge, marite, nuces: tibi deserit Hesperus Oetam.
31Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. O digno coniuncta viro, dum despicis omnes, dumque tibi est odio mea fistula, dumque capellae, hirsutumque supercilium promissaque barba, nec curare deum credis mortalia quemquam!
36Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Saepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala— dux ego vester eram—vidi cum matre legentem. Alter ab undecimo tum me iam acceperat annus; iam fragilis poteram ab terra contingere ramos.
41Ut vidi, ut perii! Ut me malus abstulit error! Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Nunc scio, quid sit Amor: duris in cotibus illum aut Tmaros, aut Rhodope, aut extremm Garamantes, nec generis nostri puerum nec sanguinis edunt.
46Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. saevus Amor docuit natorum sanguine matrem commaculare manus; crudelis tu quoque, mater: crudelis mater magis, an puer improbus ille? improbus ille puer; crudelis tu quoque, mater.
51Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. nunc et ovis ultro fugiat lupus; aurea durae mala ferant quercus; narcisso floreat alnus; pinguia corticibus sudent electra myricae; certent et cycnis ululae; sit Tityrus Orpheus,
56Orpheus in silvis, inter delphinas Arion. Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Omnia vel medium fiant mare: vivite, silvae! praeceps aerii specula de montis in undas deferar; extremum hoc munus morientis habeto.
61desine Maenalios, iam desine, tibia, versus. Haec Damon: vos, quae responderit Alphesiboeus, dicite, Pierides; non omnia possumus omnes. Effer aquam, et molli cinge haec altaria vitta, verbenasque adole pinguis et mascula tura,
66coniugis ut magicis sanos avertere sacris experiar sensus nihil hic nisi carmina desunt. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere Lunam; carminibus Circe socios mutavit Ulixi;
71frigidus in pratia cantando rumpitur anguis. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore licia circumdo, terque haec altaria circum effigiem duco: numero deus impare gaudet.
76Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores, necte, Amarylli, modo, et “Veneris” dic “vincula necto.” Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Limus ut hic durescit et haec ut cera liquescit
81uno eodemque igni, sic nostro Daphnis amore. Sparge molam, et fragilis incende bitumine laurus. Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Talis amor Daphnim, qualis cum fessa iuvencum
86per nemora atque altos quaerendo bucula lucos propter aquae rivum viridi procumbit in ulva, perdita, nec serae meminit decedere nocti, talis amor teneat, nec sit mihi cura mederi. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
91Has olim exuvias mihi perfidus ille reliquit, pignora cara sui, quae nunc ego limine in ipso, terra, tibi mando; debent haec pignora Daphnim. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Has herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena
96ipse dedit Moeris; nascuntur plurima Ponto. His ego saepe lupum fieri et se condere silvis Moerim, saepe animas imis excire sepulcris, atque satas alio vidi traducere messis. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
101Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras, rivoque fluenti transque caput iace, nec respexeris: his ego Daphnim adgrediar, nihil ille deos, nil carmina curat. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Aspice, corripuit tremulis altaria flammis
106sponte sua, dum ferre moror, cinis ipse: bonum sit! Nescio quid certe est, et Hylas in limine latrat. Credimus, an, qui amant, ipsi sibi somnia fingunt? Parcite, ab urbe venit, iam carmina, parcite, Daphnis.
Section 9
1te, Moeri, pedes? an, quo via ducit, in urbem? O Lycida, vivi pervenimus, advena nostri (quod numquam veriti sumus) ut possessor agelli diceret: “Haec mea sunt; veteres migrate coloni!” nunc victi, tristes, quoniam Fors omnia versat,
6hos illi—quod nec vertat bene—mittimus haedos. Certe equidem audieram, qua se subducere colles incipiunt, mollique iugum demittere clivo, usque ad aquam et veteres (iam fracta cacumina) fagos omnia carminibus vestrum servasse Menalcan.
11Audieras, et fama fuit; sed carmina tantum nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter Martia, quantum Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas. quod nisi me quacumque novas incidere lites ante Sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix,
16nec tuus hic Moeris, nec viveret ipse Menalcas. Heu, cadit in quemquam tantum scelus? Heu, tua nobis paene simul tecum solatia rapta, Menalca? quis caneret nymphas; quis humum florentibus herbis spargeret, aut viridi fontes induceret umbra?
21vel quae sublegi tacitus tibi carmina nuper, cum te ad delicias ferres, Amaryllida, nostras? Tityre, dum redeo—brevis est via—pasce capellas, et potum pastas age, Tityre, et inter agendum occursare capro, cornu ferit ille, caveto.
26Immo haec, quae Varo necdum perfecta canebat: “Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis— Mantua, vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae— cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni.” Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos;
31sic cytiso pastae distendant ubera vaccae! Incipe, si quid habes: et me fecere poetam Pierides; sunt et mihi carmina; me quoque dicunt vatem pastores, sed non ego credulus illis. Nam neque adhuc Vario videor, nec dicere Cinna
36digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores. Id quidem ago et tacitus, Lycida, mecum ipse voluto, si valeam meminisse; neque est ignobile carmen: `huc ades, O Galatea; quis est nam ludus in undis hic ver purpureum; varios hic flumina circum
41fundit humus flores; hic candida populus antro imminet, et lentae texunt umbracula vites. huc ades: insani feriant sine litora fluctus. Quid, quae te pura solum sub nocte canentem audieram? Numeros memini, si verba tenerem.
46“Daphni, quid antiquos signorum suspicis ortus? Ecce Dionaei processit Caesaris astrum, astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus, et quo duceret apricis in collibus uva colorem. insere, Daphni, piros: carpent tua poma nepotes.”
51Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque: saepe ego longos cantando puerum memini me condere soles: nunc oblita mihi tot carmina; vox quoque Moerim iam fugit ipsa; lupi Moerim videre priores. Sed tamen ista satis referet tibi saepe Menalcas.
56Causando nostros in longum ducis amores: et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor, et omnes, aspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris aurae. hinc adeo media est nobis via; namque sepulcrum incipit adparere Bianoris: hic ubi densas
61agricolae stringunt frondes, hic, Moeri, canamus; hic haedos depone: tamen veniemus in urbem. aut si, nox pluviam ne colligat ante, veremur, cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus; cantantes ut eamus, ego hoc te fasce levabo.
66Desine plura, puer, et quod nunc instat agamus: carmina tum melius, cum venerit ipse, canemus.
Section 10
1Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem: pauca meo Gallo, sed quae legat ipsa Lycoris, carmina sunt dicenda. neget quis carmina Gallo? sic tibi, cum fluctus subterlabere Sicanos, Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam.
6incipe; sollicitos Galli dicamus amores, dum tenera attondent simae virgulta capellae. non canimus surdis; respondent omnia silvae. Quae nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae Naides, indigno cum Gallus amore peribat?
11nam neque Parnasi vobis iuga, nam neque Pindi ulla moram fecere, neque Aoniae Aganippe. Illum etiam lauri, etiam flevere myricae. Pinifer illum etiam sola sub rupe iacentem Maenalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycaei.
16Stant et oves circum;—nostri nec poenitet illas, nec te poeniteat pecoris, divine poeta;— et formosus ovis ad flumina pavit Adonis; venit et upilio; tardi venere subulci; uvidus hiberna venit de glande Menalcas.
21Omnes “Unde amor iste” rogant “tibi?” Venit Apollo: “Galle, quid insanis?” inquit; “tua cura Lycoris perque nives alium perque horrida castra secuta est.” Venit et agresti capitis Silvanus honore, florentis ferulas et grandia lilia quassans.
26Pan deus Arcadiae venit, quem vidimus ipsi sanguineis ebuli bacis minioque rubentem. “Ecquis erit modus?” inquit; “Amor non talia curat; nec lacrimis crudelis Amor, nec gramina rivis, nec cytiso saturantur apes, nec fronde capellae.”
31Tristis at ille: “Tamen cantabitis, Arcades,” inquit “montibus haec vestris: soli cantare periti Arcades. O mihi tum quam molliter ossa quiescant, vestra meos olim si fistula dicat amores! Atque utinam ex vobis unus, vestrique fuissem
36aut custos gregis, aut maturae vinitor uvae! Certe, sive mihi Phillis, sive esset Amyntas, seu quicumque furor—quid tum, si fuscus Amyntas; et nigrae violae sunt et vaccinia nigra— mecum inter salices lenta sub vite iaceret;
41serta mihi Phyllis legeret, cantaret Amyntas. Hic gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata, Lycori, hic nemus; hic ipso tecum consumerer aevo. Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes:
46tu procul a patria (nec sit mihi credere tantum!) Alpinas, ah dura, nives et frigora Rheni me sine sola vides: ah, te ne frigora laedant! ah, tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas! Ibo, et, Chalcidico quae sunt mihi condita versu
51carmina, pastoris Siculi modulabor avena. certum est in silvis, inter spelaea ferarum malle pati, tenerisque meos incidere amores arboribus; crescent illae, crescetis, amores. Interea mixtis lustrabo Maenala nymphis,
56aut acris venabor apros: non me ulla vetabunt frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare saltus. iam mihi per rupes videor lucosque sonantis ire; libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu spicula:—tamquam haec sit nostri medicina furoris,
61ut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat! Iam neque hamadryades rursus nec carmina nobis ipsa placent; ipsae rursus concedite silvae. non illum nostri possunt mutare labores, nec si frigoribus mediis Hebrumque bibamus,
66Sithoniasque nives hiemis subeamus aquosae, nec si, cum moriens alta liber aret in ulmo, Aethiopum versemus ovis sub sidere Cancri. omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori.” Haec sat erit, divae, vestrum cecinisse poetam,
71dum sedet et gracili fiscellam texit hibisco, Pierides; vos haec facietis maxima Gallo— Gallo, cuius amor tantum mihi crescit in horas, quantum vere novo viridis se subicit alnus. Surgamus; solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra;
76iuniperi gravis umbra; nocent et frugibus umbrae. Ite domum saturae, venit Hesperus, ite capellae.
Section 1
1Tityre, tu patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi silvestrem tenui Musam meditaris avena; nos patriae fines et dulcia linquimus arva: nos patriam fugimus; tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra formosam resonare doces Amaryllida silvas.
6O Meliboee, deus nobis haec otia fecit: namque erit ille mihi semper deus; illius aram saepe tener nostris ab ovilibus imbuet agnus. Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, et ipsum ludere, quae vellem, calamo permisit agresti
11Non equidem invideo; miror magis: undique totis usque adeo turbatur agris. En, ipse capellas protinus aeger ago; hanc etiam vix, Tityre, duco: hic inter densas corylos modo namque gemellos, spem gregis, ah, silice in nuda conixa reliquit.
16Saepe malum hoc nobis, si mens non laeva fuisset, de caelo tactas memini praedicere quercus:— Sed tamen, iste deus qui sit, da, Tityre, nobis. Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Meliboee, putavi stultus ego huic nostrae similem, quo saepe solemus
22pastores ovium teneros depellere fetus: sic canibus catulos similis, sic matribus haedos noram, sic parvis componere magna solebam: verum haec tantum alias inter caput extulit urbes, quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.
27Et quae tanta fuit Romam tibi causa videndi? Libertas; quae sera, tamen respexit inertem, candidior postquam tondenti barba cadebat; respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit, postquam nos Amaryllis habet, Galatea reliquit:
32namque, fatebor enim, dum me Galatea tenebat, nec spes libertatis erat, nec cura peculi: quamvis multa meis exiret victima saeptis, pinguis et ingratae premeretur caseus urbi, non umquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redibat.
37Mirabar, quid maesta deos, Amarylli, vocares, cui pendere sua patereris in arbore poma: Tityrus hinc aberat. Ipsae te, Tityre, pinus, ipsi te fontes, ipsa haec arbusta vocabant. Quid facerem? Neque servitio me exire licebat,
42nec tam praesentis alibi cognoscere divos. hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quot annis bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant; hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti: “pascite, ut ante, boves, pueri, submittite tauros.”
47Fortunate senex, ergo tua rura manebunt, et tibi magna satis, quamvis lapis omnia nudus limosoque palus obducat pascua iunco! Non insueta gravis temptabunt pabula fetas, nec mala vicini pecoris contagia laedent.
52Fortunate senex, hic, inter flumina nota et fontis sacros, frigus captabis opacum! hinc tibi, quae semper, vicino ab limite, saepes Hyblaeis apibus florem depasta salicti saepe levi somnum suadebit inire susurro;
57hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras; nec tamen interea raucae, tua cura, palumbes, nec gemere aëria cessabit turtur ab ulmo. Ante leves ergo pascentur in aequore cervi, et freta destituent nudos in litore pisces,
62ante pererratis amborum finibus exsul aut Ararim Parthus bibet, aut Germania Tigrim, quam nostro illius labatur pectore voltus. At nos hinc alii sitientis ibimus Afros, pars Scythiam et rapidum Cretae veniemus Oaxen,
67et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos. En umquam patrios longo post tempore finis, pauperis et tuguri congestum caespite culmen, post aliquot mea regna videns mirabor aristas? Impius haec tam culta novalia miles habebit,
72barbarus has segetes? En, quo discordia civis produxit miseros! His nos consevimus agros! Insere nunc, Meliboee, piros, pone ordine vitis. Ite meae, felix quondam pecus, ite capellae. Non ego vos posthac, viridi proiectus in antro,
77dumosa pendere procul de rupe videbo; carmina nulla canam; non, me pascente, capellae, florentem cytisum et salices carpetis amaras. Hic tamen hanc mecum poteras requiescere noctem fronde super viridi: sunt nobis mitia poma,
82castaneae molles, et pressi copia lactis; et iam summa procul villarum culmina fumant, maioresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae.
Section 1
1You, Tityrus, 'neath a broad beech-canopy reclining, on the slender oat rehearse your silvan ditties: I from my sweet fields, and home's familiar bounds, even now depart. Exiled from home am I; while, Tityrus, you
6sit careless in the shade, and, at your call, “Fair Amaryllis” bid the woods resound. O Meliboeus, 'twas a god vouchsafed this ease to us, for him a god will I deem ever, and from my folds a tender lamb
11oft with its life-blood shall his altar stain. His gift it is that, as your eyes may see, my kine may roam at large, and I myself play on my shepherd's pipe what songs I will. I grudge you not the boon, but marvel more,
16such wide confusion fills the country-side. See, sick at heart I drive my she-goats on, and this one, O my Tityrus, scarce can lead: for 'mid the hazel-thicket here but now she dropped her new-yeaned twins on the bare flint,
21hope of the flock—an ill, I mind me well, which many a time, but for my blinded sense, the thunder-stricken oak foretold, oft too from hollow trunk the raven's ominous cry. But who this god of yours? Come, Tityrus, tell.
26The city, Meliboeus, they call Rome, I, simpleton, deemed like this town of ours, whereto we shepherds oft are wont to drive the younglings of the flock: so too I knew whelps to resemble dogs, and kids their dams,
31comparing small with great; but this as far above all other cities rears her head as cypress above pliant osier towers. And what so potent cause took you to Rome? Freedom, which, though belated, cast at length
36her eyes upon the sluggard, when my beard 'gan whiter fall beneath the barber's blade— cast eyes, I say, and, though long tarrying, came, now when, from Galatea's yoke released, I serve but Amaryllis: for I will own,
41while Galatea reigned over me, I had no hope of freedom, and no thought to save. Though many a victim from my folds went forth, or rich cheese pressed for the unthankful town, never with laden hands returned I home.
46I used to wonder, Amaryllis, why you cried to heaven so sadly, and for whom you left the apples hanging on the trees; 'twas Tityrus was away. Why, Tityrus, the very pines, the very water-springs,
51the very vineyards, cried aloud for you. What could I do? how else from bonds be freed, or otherwhere find gods so nigh to aid? There, Meliboeus, I saw that youth to whom yearly for twice six days my altars smoke.
56There instant answer gave he to my suit, “Feed, as before, your kine, boys, rear your bulls.” So in old age, you happy man, your fields will still be yours, and ample for your need! Though, with bare stones o'erspread, the pastures all
61be choked with rushy mire, your ewes with young by no strange fodder will be tried, nor hurt through taint contagious of a neighbouring flock. Happy old man, who 'mid familiar streams and hallowed springs, will court the cooling shade!
66Here, as of old, your neighbour's bordering hedge, that feasts with willow-flower the Hybla bees, shall oft with gentle murmur lull to sleep, while the leaf-dresser beneath some tall rock uplifts his song, nor cease their cooings hoarse
71the wood-pigeons that are your heart's delight, nor doves their moaning in the elm-tree top. Sooner shall light stags, therefore, feed in air, the seas their fish leave naked on the strand, germans and Parthians shift their natural bounds,
76and these the Arar, those the Tigris drink, than from my heart his face and memory fade. But we far hence, to burning Libya some, some to the Scythian steppes, or thy swift flood, cretan Oaxes, now must wend our way,
81or Britain, from the whole world sundered far. Ah! shall I ever in aftertime behold my native bounds—see many a harvest hence with ravished eyes the lowly turf-roofed cot where I was king? These fallows, trimmed so fair,
86some brutal soldier will possess these fields an alien master. Ah! to what a pass has civil discord brought our hapless folk! For such as these, then, were our furrows sown! Now, Meliboeus, graft your pears, now set
91your vines in order! Go, once happy flock, my she-goats, go. Never again shall I, stretched in green cave, behold you from afar hang from the bushy rock; my songs are sung; never again will you, with me to tend,
96on clover-flower, or bitter willows, browse. Yet here, this night, you might repose with me, on green leaves pillowed: apples ripe have I, soft chestnuts, and of curdled milk enow. And, see, the farm-roof chimneys smoke afar,
101and from the hills the shadows lengthening fall!
Section 2
1Formosum pastor Corydon ardebat Alexim, delicias domini, nec quid speraret habebat; tantum inter densas, umbrosa cacumina, fagos adsidue veniebat. Ibi haec incondita solus montibus et silvis studio iactabat inani:
6O crudelis Alexi, nihil mea carmina curas? Nil nostri miserere? Mori me denique coges. nunc etiam pecudes umbras et frigora captant; nunc viridis etiam occultant spineta lacertos, Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus aestu
11alia serpyllumque herbas contundit olentis. at mecum raucis, tua dum vestigia lustro, sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta cicadis. Nonne fuit satius tristis Amaryllidis iras atque superba pati fastidia, nonne Menalcan,
16quam vis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus esses ? o formose puer, nimium ne crede colori! alba ligustra cadunt, vaccinia nigra leguntur. Despectus tibi sum, nec qui sim quaeris, Alexi, quam dives pecoris, nivei quam lactis abundans.
21mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnae; lac mihi non aestate novum, non frigore defit; canto quae solitus, si quando armenta vocabat, Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracimtho. Nec sum adeo informis: nuper me in litore vidi,
26cum placidum ventis staret mare; non ego Daphnim iudice te metuam, si numquam fallit imago. O tantum libeat mecum tibi sordida rura atque humilis habitare casas, et figere cervos, haedorumque gregem viridi compellere hibisco!
31Mecum una in silvis imitabere Pana canendo. Pan primus calamos cera coniungere pluris instituit; Pan curat ovis oviumque magistros. Nec te paeniteat calamo trivisse labellum: haec eadem ut sciret, quid non faciebat Amyntas?
36est mihi disparibus septem compacta cicutis fistula, Damoetas dono mihi quam dedit olim, et dixit moriens: “Te nunc habet ista secundum.” dixit Damoetas, invidit stultus Amyntas. Praeterea duo, nec tuta mihi valle reperti,
41capreoli, sparsis etiam nunc pellibus albo, bina die siccant ovis ubera; quos tibi servo: iam pridem a me illos abducere Thestylis orat; et faciet, quoniam sordent tibi munera nostra. Huc ades, O formose puer: tibi lilia plenis
46ecce ferunt Nymphae calathis; tibi candida Nais, pallentis violas et summa papavera carpens, narcissum et florem iungit bene olentis anethi; tum casia atque aliis intexens suavibus herbis, mollia luteola pingit vaccinia calta.
51Ipse ego cana legam tenera lanugine mala, castaneasque nuces, mea quas Amaryllis amabat; addam cerea pruna: honos erit huic quoque pomo; et vos, O lauri, carpam, et te, proxima myrte, sic positae quoniam suavis miscetis odores.
56Rusticus es, Corydon: nec munera curat Alexis, nec, si muneribus certes, concedat Iollas. Heu, heu, quid volui misero mihi! Floribus austrum perditus et liquidis inmisi fontibus apros. Quem fugis, ah, demens? Habitarunt di quoque silvas,
61Dardaniusque Paris. Pallas, quas condidit arces, ipsa colat; nobis placeant ante omnia silvae. Torva leaena lupum sequitur; lupus ipse capellam; florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella; te Corydon, o Alexi: trahit sua quemque voluptas.
66Aspice, aratra iugo referunt suspensa iuvenci, et sol crescentis decedens duplicat umbras: me tamen urit amor; quis enim modus adsit amori? Ah, Corydon, Corydon, quae te dementia cepit! Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est;
71quin tu aliquid saltem potius, quorum indiget usus, viminibus mollique paras detexere iunco? Invenies alium, si te hic fastidit, Alexim.
Section 2
1the shepherd Corydon with love was fired for fair Alexis, his own master's joy: no room for hope had he, yet, none the less, the thick-leaved shadowy-soaring beech-tree grove still would he haunt, and there alone, as thus,
6to woods and hills pour forth his artless strains. “Cruel Alexis, heed you naught my songs? Have you no pity? you'll drive me to my death. Now even the cattle court the cooling shade and the green lizard hides him in the thorn:
11now for tired mowers, with the fierce heat spent, pounds Thestilis her mess of savoury herbs, wild thyme and garlic. I, with none beside, save hoarse cicalas shrilling through the brake, still track your footprints 'neath the broiling sun.
16Better have borne the petulant proud disdain of Amaryllis, or Menalcas wooed, albeit he was so dark, and you so fair! Trust not too much to colour, beauteous boy; white privets fall, dark hyacinths are culled.
21You scorn me, Alexis, who or what I am care not to ask—how rich in flocks, or how in snow-white milk abounding: yet for me roam on Sicilian hills a thousand lambs; summer or winter, still my milk-pails brim.
26I sing as erst Amphion of Circe sang, what time he went to call his cattle home on Attic Aracynthus. Nor am I so ill to look on: lately on the beach I saw myself, when winds had stilled the sea,
31and, if that mirror lie not, would not fear daphnis to challenge, though yourself were judge. Ah! were you but content with me to dwell. Some lowly cot in the rough fields our home, shoot down the stags, or with green osier-wand
36round up the straggling flock! There you with me in silvan strains will learn to rival Pan. Pan first with wax taught reed with reed to join; for sheep alike and shepherd Pan hath care. Nor with the reed's edge fear you to make rough
41your dainty lip; such arts as these to learn what did Amyntas do?—what did he not? A pipe have I, of hemlock-stalks compact in lessening lengths, Damoetas' dying-gift: ‘Mine once,’ quoth he, ‘now yours, as heir to own.’
46Foolish Amyntas heard and envied me. Ay, and two fawns, I risked my neck to find in a steep glen, with coats white-dappled still, from a sheep's udders suckled twice a day— these still I keep for you; which Thestilis
51implores me oft to let her lead away; and she shall have them, since my gifts you spurn. Come hither, beauteous boy; for you the Nymphs bring baskets, see, with lilies brimmed; for you, plucking pale violets and poppy-heads,
56now the fair Naiad, of narcissus flower and fragrant fennel, doth one posy twine— with cassia then, and other scented herbs, blends them, and sets the tender hyacinth off with yellow marigold. I too will pick
61quinces all silvered-o'er with hoary down, chestnuts, which Amaryllis wont to love, and waxen plums withal: this fruit no less shall have its meed of honour; and I will pluck you too, ye laurels, and you, ye myrtles, near,
66for so your sweets ye mingle. Corydon, you are a boor, nor heeds a whit your gifts alexis; no, nor would Iollas yield, should gifts decide the day. Alack! alack! What misery have I brought upon my head!—
71loosed on the flowers Siroces to my bane, and the wild boar upon my crystal springs! Whom do you fly, infatuate? gods ere now, and Dardan Paris, have made the woods their home. Let Pallas keep the towers her hand hath built,
76us before all things let the woods delight. The grim-eyed lioness pursues the wolf, the wolf the she-goat, the she-goat herself in wanton sport the flowering cytisus, and Corydon Alexis, each led on
81by their own longing. See, the ox comes home with plough up-tilted, and the shadows grow to twice their length with the departing sun, yet me love burns, for who can limit love? Ah! Corydon, Corydon, what hath crazed your wit?
86Your vine half-pruned hangs on the leafy elm; why haste you not to weave what need requires of pliant rush or osier? Scorned by this, elsewhere some new Alexis you will find.”
Section 3
1Dic mihi, Damoeta, cuium pecus, an Meliboei? Non, verum Aegonis; nuper mihi tradidit Aegon. Infelix o semper, ovis, pecus, ipse Neaeram dum fovet, ac ne me sibi praeferat illa veretur, hic alienus ovis custos bis mulget in hora,
6et sucus pecori et lac subducitur agnis. Parcius ista viris tamen obicienda memento: novimus et qui te, transversa tuentibus hircis, et quo—sed faciles Nymphae risere—sacello. Tum, credo, cum me arbustum videre Miconis
11atque mala vitis incidere falce novellas. Aut hic ad veteres fagos cum Daphnidis arcum fregisti et calamos quae tu, perverse Menalca, et cum vidisti puero donata, dolebas, et si non aliqua nocuisses, mortuus esses.
16Quid domini faciant, audent cum talia fures! non ego te vidi Damonis, pessime, caprum excipere insidiis, multum latrante Lycisca? et cum clamarem: “Quo nunc se proripit ille? Tityre, coge pecus,” tu post carecta latebas.
21An mihi cantando victus non redderet ille quem mea carminibus meruisset fistula caprum? Si nescis, meus ille caper fuit; et mihi Damon ipse fatebatur, sed reddere posse negabat. Cantando tu illum, aut umquam tibi fistula cera
26iuncta fuit? Non tu in triviis, indocte, solebas stridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen? Vis ergo inter nos quid possit uterque vicissim experiamur? Ego hanc vitulam—ne forte recuses, bis venit ad mulctram, binos alit ubere fetus—
31depono: tu dic, mecum quo pignore certes. De grege non ausim quicquam deponere tecum. Est mihi namque domi pater, est iniusta noverca; bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et haedos. Verum, id quod multo tute ipse fatebere maius,
36insanire libet quoniam tibi, pocula ponam fagina, caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis; lenta quibus torno facili superaddita vitis diffusos hedera vestit pallente corymbos: in medio duo signa, Conon, et—quis fuit alter,
41descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem, tempora quae messor, quae curvus arator haberet? Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo. Et nobis idem Alcimedon duo pocula fecit, et molli circum est ansas amplexus acantho,
46Orpheaque in medio posuit silvasque sequentis. Necdum illis labra admovi, sed condita servo: si ad vitulam spectas, nihil est quod pocula laudes. Nunquam hodie effugies; veniam, quocumque vocari audiat haec tantum—vel qui venit ecce Palaemon
51efficiam posthac ne quemquam voce lacessas. Quin age, si quid habes, in me mora non erit ulla, nec quemquam fugio: tantum, vicine Palaemon, sensibus haec imis, res est non parva, reponas. Dicite, quandoquidem in molli consedimus herba:
56et nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos, nunc frondent silvae, nunc formosissimus annus. Incipe, Darmoeta; tu deinde sequere Menalca: alternis dicetis; amant alterna Camenae. Ab Iove principium, Musae; Iovis omnia plena:
61ille colit terras, illi mea carmina curae. Et me Phoebus amat; Phoebo sua semper apud me munera sunt, lauri et suave rubens hyacinthus. Malo me Galatea petit, lasciva puella, et fugit ad salices, et se cupit ante videri.
66At mihi sese offert ultro, meus ignis, Amyntas, notior ut iam sit canibus non Delia nostris. Parta meae Veneri sunt munera: namque notavi ipse locum, aëriae quo congessere palumbes. Quod potui, puero silvestri ex arbore lecta
71aurea mala decem misi; cras altera mittam. O quotiens et quae nobis Galatea locuta est! partem aliquam, venti, divom referatis ad auris! Quid prodest, quod me ipse animo non spernis, Amynta. si, dum tu sectaris apros, ego retia servo?
76Phyllida mitte mihi: meus est natalis, Iolla; cum faciam vitula pro frugibus, ipse venito. Phyllida amo ante alias; nam me discedere flevit, et longum “formose, vale, vale,” inquit, “Iolla.” Triste lupus stabulis, maturis frugibus imbres.
81arboribus venti, nobis Amaryllidis irae. Dulce satis umor, depulsis arbutus haedis, lenta salix feto pecori, mihi solus Amyntas. Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam: Pierides vitulam lectori pascite vestro.
86Pollio et ipse facit nova carmina: pascite taurum, iam cornu petat et pedibus qui spargat arenam. Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat quo te quoque gaudet: mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Maevi,
91atque idem iungat vulpes et mulgeat hircos. Qui legitis flores et humi nascentia fraga, frigidus, O pueri, fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba. Parcite, oves, nimium procedere; non bene ripae creditur; ipse aries etiam nunc vellera siccat.
96Tityre, pascentes a flumine reice capellas: ipse ubi tempus erit, omnis in fonte lavabo. Cogite ovis, pueri; si lac praeceperit aestus, ut nuper, frustra pressabimus ubera palmis. Heu, heu, quam pingui macer est mihi taurus in ervo!
101Idem amor exitium est pecori pecorisque magistro. His certe neque amor causa est; vix ossibus haerent. nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos. Dic, quibus in terris—et eris mihi magnus Apollo— tris pateat caeli spatium non amplius ulnas.
106Dic, quibus in terris inscripti nomina regum nascantur flores, et Phyllida solus habeto. Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites. Et vitula tu dignus, et hic, et quisquis amores aut metuet dulces, aut experietur amaros.
111Claudite iam rivos, pueri, sat prata biberunt.
Section 3
1Who owns the flock, Damoetas? Meliboeus? Nay, they are Aegon's sheep, of late by him committed to my care. O every way unhappy sheep, unhappy flock! while he
6still courts Neaera, fearing lest her choice should fall on me, this hireling shepherd here wrings hourly twice their udders, from the flock filching the life-juice, from the lambs their milk. Hold! not so ready with your jeers at men!
11We know who once, and in what shrine with you— the he-goats looked aside—the light nymphs laughed— Ay, then, I warrant, when they saw me slash micon's young vines and trees with spiteful hook. Or here by these old beeches, when you broke
16the bow and arrows of Damon; for you chafed when first you saw them given to the boy, cross-grained Menalcas, ay, and had you not done him some mischief, would have chafed to death. With thieves so daring, what can masters do?
21Did I not see you, rogue, in ambush lie for Damon's goat, while loud Lycisca barked? And when I cried, “Where is he off to now? Gather your flock together, Tityrus,” you hid behind the sedges.
26Well, was he whom I had conquered still to keep the goat. Which in the piping-match my pipe had won! You may not know it, but the goat was mine. You out-pipe him? when had you ever pipe
31wax-welded? in the cross-ways used you not on grating straw some miserable tune to mangle? Well, then, shall we try our skill each against each in turn? Lest you be loth,
36I pledge this heifer; every day she comes twice to the milking-pail, and feeds withal two young ones at her udder: say you now what you will stake upon the match with me. Naught from the flock I'll venture, for at home
41I have a father and a step-dame harsh, and twice a day both reckon up the flock, and one withal the kids. But I will stake, seeing you are so mad, what you yourself will own more priceless far—two beechen cups
46by the divine art of Alcimedon wrought and embossed, whereon a limber vine, wreathed round them by the graver's facile tool, twines over clustering ivy-berries pale. Two figures, one Conon, in the midst he set,
51and one—how call you him, who with his wand marked out for all men the whole round of heaven, that they who reap, or stoop behind the plough, might know their several seasons? Nor as yet have I set lip to them, but lay them by.
56For me too wrought the same Alcimedon a pair of cups, and round the handles wreathed pliant acanthus, Orpheus in the midst, the forests following in his wake; nor yet have I set lip to them, but lay them by.
61Matched with a heifer, who would prate of cups? You shall not balk me now; where'er you bid, I shall be with you; only let us have for auditor—or see, to serve our turn, yonder Palaemon comes! In singing-bouts
66i'll see you play the challenger no more. Out then with what you have; I shall not shrink, nor budge for any man: only do you, neighbour Palaemon, with your whole heart's skill— for it is no slight matter—play your part.
71Say on then, since on the greensward we sit, and now is burgeoning both field and tree; now is the forest green, and now the year at fairest. Do you first, Damoetas, sing, then you, Menalcas, in alternate strain:
76alternate strains are to the Muses dear. “From Jove the Muse began; Jove filleth all, makes the earth fruitful, for my songs hath care.” “Me Phoebus loves; for Phoebus his own gifts, bays and sweet-blushing hyacinths, I keep.”
81“Gay Galatea throws an apple at me, then hies to the willows, hoping to be seen.” “My dear Amyntas comes unasked to me; not Delia to my dogs is better known.” “Gifts for my love I've found; mine eyes have marked
86where the wood-pigeons build their airy nests.” “Ten golden apples have I sent my boy, all that I could, to-morrow as many more.” “What words to me, and uttered O how oft, hath Galatea spoke! waft some of them,
91ye winds, I pray you, for the gods to hear.” “It profiteth me naught, Amyntas mine, that in your very heart you spurn me not, if, while you hunt the boar, I guard the nets.” “Prithee, Iollas, for my birthday guest
96send me your Phyllis; when for the young crops I slay my heifer, you yourself shall come.” “I am all hers; she wept to see me go, and, lingering on the word, ‘farewell’ she said, ‘My beautiful Iollas, fare you well.’”
101“Fell as the wolf is to the folded flock, rain to ripe corn, Sirocco to the trees, the wrath of Amaryllis is to me.” “As moisture to the corn, to ewes with young lithe willow, as arbute to the yeanling kids,
106so sweet Amyntas, and none else, to me.” “My Muse, although she be but country-bred, is loved by Pollio: O Pierian Maids, pray you, a heifer for your reader feed!” “Pollio himself too doth new verses make:
111feed ye a bull now ripe to butt with horn, and scatter with his hooves the flying sand.” “Who loves thee, Pollio, may he thither come where thee he joys beholding; ay, for him let honey flow, the thorn-bush spices bear.”
116“Who hates not Bavius, let him also love thy songs, O Maevius, ay, and therewithal yoke foxes to his car, and he-goats milk.” “You, picking flowers and strawberries that grow so near the ground, fly hence, boys, get you gone!
121There's a cold adder lurking in the grass.” “Forbear, my sheep, to tread too near the brink; yon bank is ill to trust to; even now the ram himself, see, dries his dripping fleece!” “Back with the she-goats, Tityrus, grazing there
126so near the river! I, when time shall serve, will take them all, and wash them in the pool.” “Boys, get your sheep together; if the heat, as late it did, forestall us with the milk, vainly the dried-up udders shall we wring.”
131“How lean my bull amid the fattening vetch! Alack! alack! for herdsman and for herd! It is the self-same love that wastes us both.” “These truly—nor is even love the cause— scarce have the flesh to keep their bones together
136some evil eye my lambkins hath bewitched.” “Say in what clime—and you shall be withal my great Apollo—the whole breadth of heaven opens no wider than three ells to view.” “Say in what country grow such flowers as bear
141the names of kings upon their petals writ, and you shall have fair Phyllis for your own.” Not mine betwixt such rivals to decide: you well deserve the heifer, so does he, with all who either fear the sweets of love,
146or taste its bitterness. Now, boys, shut off the sluices, for the fields have drunk their fill.
Section 4
1Sicelides Musae, paulo maiora canamus! Non omnis arbusta iuvant humilesque myricae; si canimus silvas, silvae sint consule dignae. Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas; magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo:
6iam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna; iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto. Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum desinet ac toto surget gens aurea mundo, casta fave Lucina: tuus iam regnat Apollo.
11Teque adeo decus hoc aevi te consule inibit, Pollio, et incipient magni procedere menses. te duce, si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri, inrita perpetua solvent formidine terras. ille deum vitam accipiet, divisque videbit
16permixtos heroas, et ipse videbitur illis, pacatumque reget patriis virtutibus orbem. At tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu errantis hederas passim cum baccare tellus mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho.
21Ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae ubera, nec magnos metuent armenta leones; ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores, occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni occidet, Assyrium volgo nascetur amomum.
26at simul heroum laudes et facta parentis iam legere et quae sit poteris cognoscere virtus, molli paulatim flavescet campus arista, incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva, et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella
31Pauca tamen suberunt priscae vestigia fraudis, quae temptare Thetim ratibus, quae cingere muris oppida, quae iubeant telluri infindere sulcos: alter erit tum Tiphys, et altera quae vehat Argo delectos Heroas; erunt etiam altera bella,
36atque iterum ad Troiam magnus mittetur Achilles. Hinc, ubi iam firmata virum te fecerit aetas, cedet et ipse mari vector, nec nautica pinus mutabit merces: omnis feret omnia tellus: non rastros patietur humus, non vinea falcem;
41robustus quoque iam tauris iuga solvet arator; nec varios discet mentiri lana colores: ipse sed in pratis aries iam suave rubenti murice, iam croceo mutabit vellera luto; sponte sua sandyx pascentis vestiet agnos.
46Talia saecla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae. Adgredere o magnos—aderit iam tempus—honores, cara deum suboles, magnum Iovis incrementum! Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum,
51terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum! Aspice, venturo laetentur ut omnia saeclo! O mihi tam longae maneat pars ultima vitae, spiritus et quantum sat erit tua dicere facta! Non me carminibus vincet nec Thracius Orpheus,
56nec Linus, huic mater quamvis atque huic pater adsit, Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo, Pan etiam, Arcadia mecum si iudice certet, Pan etiam Arcadia dicat se iudice victum. Incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem,
61matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia menses. Incipe, parve puer, cui non risere parentes, nec deus hunc mensa, dea nec dignata cubili est.
Section 4
1muses of Sicily, essay we now a somewhat loftier task! Not all men love coppice or lowly tamarisk: sing we woods, woods worthy of a Consul let them be. Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung
6has come and gone, and the majestic roll of circling centuries begins anew: justice returns, returns old Saturn's reign, with a new breed of men sent down from heaven. Only do thou, at the boy's birth in whom
11the iron shall cease, the golden race arise, befriend him, chaste Lucina; 'tis thine own apollo reigns. And in thy consulate, this glorious age, O Pollio, shall begin, and the months enter on their mighty march.
16Under thy guidance, whatso tracks remain of our old wickedness, once done away, shall free the earth from never-ceasing fear. He shall receive the life of gods, and see heroes with gods commingling, and himself
21be seen of them, and with his father's worth reign o'er a world at peace. For thee, O boy, first shall the earth, untilled, pour freely forth her childish gifts, the gadding ivy-spray with foxglove and Egyptian bean-flower mixed,
26and laughing-eyed acanthus. Of themselves, untended, will the she-goats then bring home their udders swollen with milk, while flocks afield shall of the monstrous lion have no fear. Thy very cradle shall pour forth for thee
31caressing flowers. The serpent too shall die, die shall the treacherous poison-plant, and far and wide Assyrian spices spring. But soon as thou hast skill to read of heroes' fame, and of thy father's deeds, and inly learn
36what virtue is, the plain by slow degrees with waving corn-crops shall to golden grow, from the wild briar shall hang the blushing grape, and stubborn oaks sweat honey-dew. Nathless yet shall there lurk within of ancient wrong
41some traces, bidding tempt the deep with ships, gird towns with walls, with furrows cleave the earth. Therewith a second Tiphys shall there be, her hero-freight a second Argo bear; new wars too shall arise, and once again
46some great Achilles to some Troy be sent. Then, when the mellowing years have made thee man, no more shall mariner sail, nor pine-tree bark ply traffic on the sea, but every land shall all things bear alike: the glebe no more
51shall feel the harrow's grip, nor vine the hook; the sturdy ploughman shall loose yoke from steer, nor wool with varying colours learn to lie; but in the meadows shall the ram himself, now with soft flush of purple, now with tint
56of yellow saffron, teach his fleece to shine. While clothed in natural scarlet graze the lambs. “Such still, such ages weave ye, as ye run,” sang to their spindles the consenting Fates by Destiny's unalterable decree.
61Assume thy greatness, for the time draws nigh, dear child of gods, great progeny of Jove! See how it totters—the world's orbed might, earth, and wide ocean, and the vault profound, all, see, enraptured of the coming time!
66Ah! might such length of days to me be given, and breath suffice me to rehearse thy deeds, nor Thracian Orpheus should out-sing me then, nor Linus, though his mother this, and that his sire should aid—Orpheus Calliope,
71and Linus fair Apollo. Nay, though Pan, with Arcady for judge, my claim contest, with Arcady for judge great Pan himself should own him foiled, and from the field retire. Begin to greet thy mother with a smile,
76o baby-boy! ten months of weariness for thee she bore: O baby-boy, begin! For him, on whom his parents have not smiled, gods deem not worthy of their board or bed.
Section 5
1Cur non, Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus ambo, tu calamos inflare levis, ego dicere versus, hic corylis mixtas inter consedimus ulmos? Tu maior; tibi me est aequum parere, Menalca, sive sub incertas zephyris motantibus umbras,
6sive antro potius succedimus: aspice, ut antrum silvestris raris sparsit labrusca racemis. Montibus in nostris solus tibi certat Amyntas. Quid, si idem certet Phoebum superare canendo? Incipe, Mopse, prior, si quos aut Phyllidis ignes,
11aut Alconis habes laudes, aut iurgia Codri: incipe, pascentis servabit Tityrus haedos. Immo haec, in viridi nuper quae cortice fagi carmina descripsi et modulans alterna notavi, experiar, tu deinde iubeto ut certet Amyntas.
16Lenta salix quantum pallenti cedit olivae, puniceis humilis quantum saliunca rosetis, iudicio nostro tantum tibi cedit Amyntas. sed tu desine plura, puer; successimus antro. Extinctum nymphae crudeli funere Daphnim
21flebant; vos coryli testes et flumina nymphis; cum complexa sui corpus miserabile nati, atque deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater. Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla neque amnem
26libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam. Daphni, tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones interitum montesque feri silvaeque loquuntur. Daphnis et Armenias curru subiungere tigres instituit; Daphnis thiasos inducere Bacchi,
31et foliis lentas intexere mollibus hastas. Vitis ut arboribus decori est, ut vitibus uvae, ut gregibus tauri, segetes ut pinguibus arvis, tu decus omne tuis. Postquam te fata tulerunt, ipsa Pales agros atque ipse reliquit Apollo.
36Grandia saepe quibus mandavimus hordea sulcis, infelix lolium et steriles nascuntur avenae; pro molli viola, pro purpureo narcisso, carduus et spinis surgit paliurus acutis. Spargite humum foliis, inducite fontibus umbras,
41pastores, mandat fieri sibi talia Daphnis; et tumulum facite, et tumulo superaddite carmen: DAPHNIS EGO IN SILVIS HINC VSQUE AD SIDERA NOTVS FORMONSI PECORIS CVSTOS FORMONSIOR IPSE. Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta,
46quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per aestum dulcis aquae saliente sitim restinguere rivo: nec calamis solum aequiparas, sed voce magistrum. Nos tamen haec quocumque modo tibi nostra vicissim dicemus, Daphnimque tuum tollemus ad astra;
52Daphnin ad astra feremus: amavit nos quoque Daphnis. An quicquam nobis tali sit munere maius Et puer ipse fuit cantari dignus, et ista iam pridem Stimichon laudavit carmina nobis. Candidus insuetum miratur limen Olympi,
57sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis. ergo alacris silvas et cetera rura voluptas Panaque pastoresque tenet, Dryadasque puellas; nec lupus insidias pecori, nec retia cervis ulla dolum meditantur: amat bonus otia Daphnis.
62ipsi laetitia voces ad sidera iactant intonsi montes; ipsae iam carmina rupes, ipsa sonant arbusta: “Deus, deus ille, Menalca.” Sis bonus O felixque tuis! En quattuor aras: ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duas altaria Phoebo.
67pocula bina novo spumantia lacte quotannis, craterasque duo statuam tibi pinguis olivi, et multo in primis hilarans convivia Baccho,— ante focum, si frigus erit, si messis, in umbra,— vina novum fundam calathis Ariusia nectar.
72cantabunt mihi Damoetas et Lyctius Aegon; saltantis satyros imitabitur Alphesiboeus. Haec tibi semper erunt, et cum solemnia vota reddemus Nymphis, et cum lustrabimus agros. Dum iuga montis aper, fluvios dum piscis amabit,
77dumque thymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicadae, semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt; ut Baccho Cererique, tibi sic vota quotannis agricolae facient: damnabis tu quoque votis. Quae tibi, quae tali reddam pro carmine dona?
82Nam neque me tantum venientis sibilus austri, nec percussa iuvant fluctu tam litora, nec quae saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles. Hac te nos fragili donabimus ante cicuta: haec nos, “Formosum Corydon ardebat Alexim,”
87haec eadem docuit, “Cuium pecus, an Meliboei?” At tu sume pedum, quod, me cum saepe rogaret, non tulit Antigenes—et erat tum dignus amari— formosum paribus nodis atque aere, Menalca.
Section 5
1Why, Mopsus, being both together met, you skilled to breathe upon the slender reeds, I to sing ditties, do we not sit down here where the elm-trees and the hazels blend? You are the elder, 'tis for me to bide
6your choice, Menalcas, whether now we seek yon shade that quivers to the changeful breeze, or the cave's shelter. Look you how the cave is with the wild vine's clusters over-laced! None but Amyntas on these hills of ours
11can vie with you. What if he also strive to out-sing Phoebus? Do you first begin, good Mopsus, whether minded to sing aught
16of Phyllis and her loves, or Alcon's praise, or to fling taunts at Codrus. Come, begin, while Tityrus watches o'er the grazing kids. Nay, then, I will essay what late I carved on a green beech-tree's rind, playing by turns,
21and marking down the notes; then afterward bid you Amyntas match them if he can. As limber willow to pale olive yields, as lowly Celtic nard to rose-buds bright, so, to my mind, Amyntas yields to you.
26But hold awhile, for to the cave we come. “For Daphnis cruelly slain wept all the Nymphs— ye hazels, bear them witness, and ye streams— when she, his mother, clasping in her arms the hapless body of the son she bare,
31to gods and stars unpitying, poured her plaint. Then, Daphnis, to the cooling streams were none that drove the pastured oxen, then no beast drank of the river, or would the grass-blade touch. Nay, the wild rocks and woods then voiced the roar
36of Afric lions mourning for thy death. Daphnis, 'twas thou bad'st yoke to Bacchus' car armenian tigresses, lead on the pomp of revellers, and with tender foliage wreathe the bending spear-wands. As to trees the vine
41is crown of glory, as to vines the grape, bulls to the herd, to fruitful fields the corn, so the one glory of thine own art thou. When the Fates took thee hence, then Pales' self, and even Apollo, left the country lone.
46Where the plump barley-grain so oft we sowed, there but wild oats and barren darnel spring; for tender violet and narcissus bright thistle and prickly thorn uprear their heads. Now, O ye shepherds, strew the ground with leaves,
51and o'er the fountains draw a shady veil— so Daphnis to his memory bids be done— and rear a tomb, and write thereon this verse: ‘I, Daphnis in the woods, from hence in fame am to the stars exalted, guardian once
56of a fair flock, myself more fair than they.’” So is thy song to me, poet divine, as slumber on the grass to weary limbs, or to slake thirst from some sweet-bubbling rill in summer's heat. Nor on the reeds alone,
61but with thy voice art thou, thrice happy boy, ranked with thy master, second but to him. Yet will I, too, in turn, as best I may, sing thee a song, and to the stars uplift thy Daphnis—Daphnis to the stars extol,
66for me too Daphnis loved. Than such a boon what dearer could I deem? the boy himself was worthy to be sung, and many a time hath Stimichon to me your singing praised.
71“In dazzling sheen with unaccustomed eyes daphnis stands rapt before Olympus' gate, and sees beneath his feet the clouds and stars. Wherefore the woods and fields, Pan, shepherd-folk, and Dryad-maidens, thrill with eager joy;
76nor wolf with treacherous wile assails the flock, nor nets the stag: kind Daphnis loveth peace. The unshorn mountains to the stars up-toss voices of gladness; ay, the very rocks, the very thickets, shout and sing, ‘A god,
81a god is he, Menalcas’ Be thou kind, propitious to thine own. Lo! altars four, twain to thee, Daphnis, and to Phoebus twain for sacrifice, we build; and I for thee two beakers yearly of fresh milk afoam,
86and of rich olive-oil two bowls, will set; and of the wine-god's bounty above all, if cold, before the hearth, or in the shade at harvest-time, to glad the festal hour, from flasks of Ariusian grape will pour
91sweet nectar. Therewithal at my behest shall Lyctian Aegon and Damoetas sing, and Alphesiboeus emulate in dance the dancing Satyrs. This, thy service due, shalt thou lack never, both when we pay the Nymphs
96our yearly vows, and when with lustral rites the fields we hallow. Long as the wild boar shall love the mountain-heights, and fish the streams, while bees on thyme and crickets feed on dew, thy name, thy praise, thine honour, shall endure.
101Even as to Bacchus and to Ceres, so to thee the swain his yearly vows shall make; and thou thereof, like them, shalt quittance claim.” How, how repay thee for a song so rare? For not the whispering south-wind on its way
106so much delights me, nor wave-smitten beach, nor streams that race adown their bouldered beds. First this frail hemlock-stalk to you I give, which taught me “Corydon with love was fired for fair Alexis,” ay, and this beside,
111“Who owns the flock?—Meliboeus?” But take you this shepherd's crook, which, howso hard he begged, antigenes, then worthy to be loved, prevailed not to obtain—with brass, you see,
116and equal knots, Menalcas, fashioned fair!
Section 6
1Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere versu, nostra nec erubuit silvas habitare Thalia. Cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem vellit, et admonuit: “Pastorem, Tityre, pinguis pascere oportet ovis, deductum dicere carmen.”
6Nunc ego—namque super tibi erunt, qui dicere laudes, Vare, tuas cupiant, et tristia condere bella— agrestem tenui meditabor arundine Musam. Non iniussa cano: si quis tamen haec quoque, si quis captus amore leget, te nostrae, Vare, myricae,
11te nemus omne canet; nec Phoebo gratior ulla est, quam sibi quae Vari praescripsit pagina nomen. Pergite, Pierides! Chromis et Mnasyllos in antro Silenum pueri somno videre iacentem, inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, Iaccho:
16serta procul tantum capiti delapsa iacebant, et gravis attrita pendebat cantharus ansa. Adgressi—nam saepe senex spe carminis ambo luserat—iniciunt ipsis ex vincula sertis: addit se sociam, timidisque supervenit Aegle,—
21Aegle, Naiadum pulcherrima,—iamque videnti sanguineis frontem moris et tempora pingit. Ille dolum ridens, “Quo vincula nectitis?” inquit; “solvite me, pueri; satis est potuisse videri: carmina, quae voltis, cognoscite; carmina vobis,
26huic aliud mercedis erit.” Simul incipit ipse. Tum vero in numerum Faunosque ferasque videres ludere, tum rigidas motare cacumina quercus; nec tantum Phoebo gaudet Parnasia rupes, nec tantum Rhodope miratur et Ismarus Orphea.
31Namque canebat, uti magnum per inane coacta semina terrarumque animaeque marisque fuissent, et liquidi simul ignis; ut his exordia primis omnia et ipse tener mundi concreverit orbis; tum durare solum et discludere Nerea ponto
36coeperit, et rerum paulatim sumere formas; iamque novum terrae stupeant lucescere solem, altius atque cadant submotis nubibus imbres; incipiant silvae cum primum surgere, cumque rara per ignaros errent animalia montis.
41Hinc lapides Pyrrhae iactos, Saturnia regna, Caucasiasque refert volucres, furtumque Promethei: his adiungit, Hylan nautae quo fonte relictum clamassent, ut litus “Hyla, Hyla!” omne sonaret. et fortunatam, si numquam armenta fuissent,
46Pasiphaen nivei solatur amore iuvenci. ah, virgo infelix, quae te dementia cepit! Proetides inplerunt falsis mugitibus agros: at non tam turpis pecudum tamen ulla secuta est concubitus, quamvis collo timuisset aratrum,
51et saepe in levi quaesisset cornua fronte. ah, virgo infelix, tu nunc in montibus erras: ille, latus niveum molli fultus hyacintho, ilice sub nigra pallentis ruminat herbas, aut aliquam in magno sequitur grege. “Claudite, nymphae,
56Dictaeae nymphae, nemorum iam claudite saltus, si qua forte ferant oculis sese obvia nostris errabunda bovis vestigia; forsitan illum, aut herba captum viridi, aut armenta secutum, perducant aliquae stabula ad Gortynia vaccae.”
61Tum canit Hesperidum miratam mala puellam; tum Phaethontiades musco circumdat amaro corticis, atque solo proceras erigit alnos. Tum canit, errantem Permessi ad flumina Gallum Aonas in montis ut duxerit una sororum,
66utque viro Phoebi chorus adsurrexerit omnis; ut Linus haec illi, divino carmine pastor, floribus atque apio crinis ornatus amaro, dixerit: “Hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae, Ascraeo quos ante seni, quibus ille solebat
71cantando rigidas deducere montibus ornos: his tibi Grynei nemoris dicatur origo, ne quis sit lucus, quo se plus iactet Apollo.” Quid loquar aut Scyllam Nisi, quam fama secuta est candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris
76Dulichias vexasse rates, et gurgite in alto, ah, timidos nautas canibus lacerasse marinis, aut ut mutatos Terei narraverit artus; quas illi Philomela dapes, quae dona pararit, quo cursu deserta petiverit, et quibus ante
81infelix sua tecta supervolitaverit alis? Omnia, quae Phoebo quondam meditante, beatus audiit Eurotas, iussitque ediscere laurus, ille canit: pulsae referunt ad sidera valles; cogere donec ovis stabulis numerumque referri
86iussit, et invito processit Vesper Olympo.
Section 6
1first my Thalia stooped in sportive mood to Syracusan strains, nor blushed within the woods to house her. When I sought to tell of battles and of kings, the Cynthian god plucked at mine ear and warned me: “Tityrus,
6beseems a shepherd-wight to feed fat sheep, but sing a slender song.” Now, Varus, I— for lack there will not who would laud thy deeds, and treat of dolorous wars—will rather tune to the slim oaten reed my silvan lay.
11I sing but as vouchsafed me; yet even this if, if but one with ravished eyes should read, of thee, O Varus, shall our tamarisks and all the woodland ring; nor can there be a page more dear to Phoebus, than the page
16where, foremost writ, the name of Varus stands. Speed ye, Pierian Maids! Within a cave young Chromis and Mnasyllos chanced to see silenus sleeping, flushed, as was his wont, with wine of yesterday. Not far aloof,
21slipped from his head, the garlands lay, and there by its worn handle hung a ponderous cup. Approaching—for the old man many a time had balked them both of a long hoped-for song— garlands to fetters turned, they bind him fast.
26Then Aegle, fairest of the Naiad-band, aegle came up to the half-frightened boys, came, and, as now with open eyes he lay, with juice of blood-red mulberries smeared him o'er, both brow and temples. Laughing at their guile,
31and crying, “Why tie the fetters? loose me, boys; enough for you to think you had the power; now list the songs you wish for—songs for you, another meed for her”—forthwith began. Then might you see the wild things of the wood,
36with Fauns in sportive frolic beat the time, and stubborn oaks their branchy summits bow. Not Phoebus doth the rude Parnassian crag so ravish, nor Orpheus so entrance the heights of Rhodope or Ismarus: for he sang
41how through the mighty void the seeds were driven of earth, air, ocean, and of liquid fire, how all that is from these beginnings grew, and the young world itself took solid shape, then 'gan its crust to harden, and in the deep
46shut Nereus off, and mould the forms of things little by little; and how the earth amazed beheld the new sun shining, and the showers fall, as the clouds soared higher, what time the woods 'gan first to rise, and living things to roam
51scattered among the hills that knew them not. Then sang he of the stones by Pyrrha cast, of Saturn's reign, and of Prometheus' theft, and the Caucasian birds, and told withal nigh to what fountain by his comrades left
56the mariners cried on Hylas till the shore then re-echoed “Hylas, Hylas!” soothed pasiphae with the love of her white bull— happy if cattle-kind had never been!— o ill-starred maid, what frenzy caught thy soul
61the daughters too of Proetus filled the fields with their feigned lowings, yet no one of them of such unhallowed union e'er was fain as with a beast to mate, though many a time on her smooth forehead she had sought for horns,
66and for her neck had feared the galling plough. O ill-starred maid! thou roamest now the hills, while on soft hyacinths he, his snowy side reposing, under some dark ilex now chews the pale herbage, or some heifer tracks
71amid the crowding herd. Now close, ye Nymphs, ye Nymphs of Dicte, close the forest-glades, if haply there may chance upon mine eyes the white bull's wandering foot-prints: him belike following the herd, or by green pasture lured,
76some kine may guide to the Gortynian stalls. Then sings he of the maid so wonder-struck with the apples of the Hesperids, and then with moss-bound, bitter bark rings round the forms of Phaethon's fair sisters, from the ground
81up-towering into poplars. Next he sings of Gallus wandering by Permessus' stream, and by a sister of the Muses led to the Aonian mountains, and how all the choir of Phoebus rose to greet him; how
86the shepherd Linus, singer of songs divine, brow-bound with flowers and bitter parsley, spake: “These reeds the Muses give thee, take them thou, erst to the aged bard of Ascra given, wherewith in singing he was wont to draw
91time-rooted ash-trees from the mountain heights. With these the birth of the Grynean grove be voiced by thee, that of no grove beside apollo more may boast him.” Wherefore speak of Scylla, child of Nisus, who, 'tis said,
96her fair white loins with barking monsters girt vexed the Dulichian ships, and, in the deep swift-eddying whirlpool, with her sea-dogs tore the trembling mariners? or how he told of the changed limbs of Tereus—what a feast,
101what gifts, to him by Philomel were given; how swift she sought the desert, with what wings hovered in anguish o'er her ancient home? All that, of old, Eurotas, happy stream, heard, as Apollo mused upon the lyre,
106and bade his laurels learn, Silenus sang; till from Olympus, loth at his approach, vesper, advancing, bade the shepherds tell their tale of sheep, and pen them in the fold.
Section 7
1Forte sub arguta consederat ilice Daphnis, compulerantque greges Corydon et Thyrsis in unum, Trhyrsis ovis, Corydon distentas lacte capellas, ambo florentes aetatibus, Arcades ambo, et cantare pares, et respondere parati.
6Huc mihi, dum teneras defendo a frigore myrtos, vir gregis ipse caper deerraverat; atque ego Daphnim aspicio. Ille ubi me contra videt: “Ocius” inquit “huc ades, O Meliboee, caper tibi salvus et haedi; et, si quid cessare potes, requiesce sub umbra.
11huc ipsi potum venient per prata iuvenci, hic viridis tenera praetexit arundine ripas Mincius, eque sacra resonant examina quercu.” Quid facerem? Neque ego Alcippen, nec Phyllida habebam, depulsos a lacte domi quae clauderet agnos,
16et certamen erat, Corydon cum Thyrside, magnum. posthabui tamen illorum mea seria ludo: alternis igitur contendere versibus ambo coepere; alternos Musae meminisse volebant. hos Corydon, illos referebat in ordine Thyrsis.
21Nymphae, noster amor, Libethrides, aut mihi carmen, quale meo Codro, concedite: proxima Phoebi versibus ille facit; aut, si non possumus omnes, hic arguta sacra pendebit fistula pinu. Pastores, hedera crescentem ornate poetam,
26Arcades, invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro; aut si ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem cingite, ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro. Saetosi caput hoc apri tibi, Delia, parvus et ramosa Micon vivacis cornua cervi.
31Si proprium hoc fuerit, levi de marmore tota puniceo stabis suras evincta coturno. Sinum lactis et haec te liba, Priape, quotannis exspectare sat est: custos es pauperis horti. Nunc te marmoreum pro tempore fecimus; at tu,
36si fetura gregem suppleverit, aureus esto. Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Hyblae, candidior cycnis, hedera formosior alba, cum primum pasti repetent praesepia tauri, si qua tui Corydonis habet te cura, venito.
41Immo ego Sardoniis videar tibi amarior herbis, horridior rusco, proiecta vilior alga, si mihi non haec lux toto iam longior anno est. Ite domum pasti, si quis pudor, ite iuvenci. Muscosi fontes et somno mollior herba,
46et quae vos rara viridis tegit arbutus umbra, solstitium pecori defendite; iam venit aestas torrida, iam lento turgent in palmite gemmae. Hic focus et taedae pingues, hic plurimus ignis semper, et adsidua postes fuligine nigri;
51hic tantum Boreae curamus frigora, quantum aut numerum lupus, aut torrentia flumina ripas. Stant et iuniperi, et castaneae hirsutae; strata iacent passim sua quaque sub arbore poma; omnia nunc rident: at si formosus Alexis
56montibus his abeat, videas et flumina sicca. Aret ager; vitio moriens sitit aeris herba; Liber pampineas invidit collibus umbras: Phyllidis adventu nostrae nemus omne virebit, Iuppiter et laeto descendet plurimus imbri.
61Populus Alcidae gratissima, vitis Iaccho, formosae myrtus Veneri, sua laurea Phoebo; Phyllis amat corylos: illas dum Phyllis amabit, nec myrtus vincet corylos, nec laurea Phoebi. Fraxinus in silvis pulcherrima, pinus in hortis,
66populus in fluviis, abies in montibus altis: saepius at si me, Lycida formose, revisas, fraxinus in silvis cedat tibi, pinus in hortis. Haec memini, et victum frustra contendere Thyrsim: ex illo Corydon Corydon est tempore nobis.
Section 7
1daphnis beneath a rustling ilex-tree had sat him down; Thyrsis and Corydon had gathered in the flock, Thyrsis the sheep, and Corydon the she-goats swollen with milk— both in the flower of age, Arcadians both,
6ready to sing, and in like strain reply. Hither had strayed, while from the frost I fend my tender myrtles, the he-goat himself, lord of the flock; when Daphnis I espy! Soon as he saw me, “Hither haste,” he cried,
11“O Meliboeus! goat and kids are safe; and, if you have an idle hour to spare, rest here beneath the shade. Hither the steers will through the meadows, of their own free will, untended come to drink. Here Mincius hath
16with tender rushes rimmed his verdant banks, and from yon sacred oak with busy hum the bees are swarming.” What was I to do? No Phyllis or Alcippe left at home had I, to shelter my new-weaned lambs,
21and no slight matter was a singing-bout 'twixt Corydon and Thyrsis. Howsoe'er, I let my business wait upon their sport. So they began to sing, voice answering voice in strains alternate—for alternate strains
26the Muses then were minded to recall— first Corydon, then Thyrsis in reply. “Libethrian Nymphs, who are my heart's delight, grant me, as doth my Codrus, so to sing— next to Apollo he—or if to this
31we may not all attain, my tuneful pipe here on this sacred pine shall silent hang.” “Arcadian shepherds, wreathe with ivy-spray your budding poet, so that Codrus burst with envy: if he praise beyond my due,
36then bind my brow with foxglove, lest his tongue with evil omen blight the coming bard.” “This bristling boar's head, Delian Maid, to thee, with branching antlers of a sprightly stag, young Micon offers: if his luck but hold,
41full-length in polished marble, ankle-bound with purple buskin, shall thy statue stand.” “A bowl of milk, Priapus, and these cakes, yearly, it is enough for thee to claim; thou art the guardian of a poor man's plot.
46Wrought for a while in marble, if the flock at lambing time be filled,stand there in gold.” “Daughter of Nereus, Galatea mine, sweeter than Hybla-thyme, more white than swans, fairer than ivy pale, soon as the steers
51shall from their pasture to the stalls repair, if aught for Corydon thou carest, come.” “Now may I seem more bitter to your taste than herb Sardinian, rougher than the broom, more worthless than strewn sea-weed, if to-day
56hath not a year out-lasted! Fie for shame! Go home, my cattle, from your grazing go!” “Ye mossy springs, and grass more soft than sleep, and arbute green with thin shade sheltering you, ward off the solstice from my flock, for now
61comes on the burning summer, now the buds upon the limber vine-shoot 'gin to swell.” “Here is a hearth, and resinous logs, here fire unstinted, and doors black with ceaseless smoke. Here heed we Boreas' icy breath as much
66as the wolf heeds the number of the flock, or furious rivers their restraining banks.” “The junipers and prickly chestnuts stand, and 'neath each tree lie strewn their several fruits, now the whole world is smiling, but if fair
71alexis from these hill-slopes should away, even the rivers you would ; see run dry.” “The field is parched, the grass-blades thirst to death in the faint air; Liber hath grudged the hills his vine's o'er-shadowing: should my Phyllis come,
76green will be all the grove, and Jupiter descend in floods of fertilizing rain.” “The poplar doth Alcides hold most dear, the vine Iacchus, Phoebus his own bays, and Venus fair the myrtle: therewithal
81phyllis doth hazels love, and while she loves, myrtle nor bay the hazel shall out-vie.” “Ash in the forest is most beautiful, pine in the garden, poplar by the stream, fir on the mountain-height; but if more oft
86thou'ldst come to me, fair Lycidas, to thee both forest-ash, and garden-pine should bow.” These I remember, and how Thyrsis strove for victory in vain. From that time forth is Corydon still Corydon with us.
Section 8
1Pastorem Musam Damonis et Alphesiboei— immemor herbarum quos est mirata iuvenca certantis, quorum stupefactae carmine lynces, et mutata suos requierunt flumina cursus— Illonis Musam dicemus et Alphesiboei.
6Tu mihi seu magni superas iam saxa Timavi, sive oram Illyrici legis aequoris, en erit umquam ille dies, mihi cum liceat tua dicere facta? en erit ut liceat totum mihi ferre per orbem sola Sophocleo tua carmina digna coturno?
11A te principium, tibi desinam: accipe iussis carmina coepta tuis, atque hanc sine tempora circum inter victrices hederam tibi serpere laurus. Frigida vix caelo noctis decesserat umbra, cum ros in tenera pecori gratissimus herba;
16incumbens tereti Damon sic coepit olivae. Nascere, praeque diem veniens age, Lucifer, almum, coniugis indigno Nisae deceptus amore dum queror, et divos, quamquam nil testibus illis profeci, extrema moriens tamen adloquor hora.
21Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Maenalus argutumque nemus pinosque loquentis semper habet; semper pastorum ille audit amores, Panaque, qui primus calamos non passus inertis. Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus.
26Mopso Nisa datur: quid non speremus amantes? Iungentur iam grypes equis, aevoque sequenti cum canibus timidi venient ad pocula dammae. Mopse, novas incide faces: tibi ducitur uxor; sparge, marite, nuces: tibi deserit Hesperus Oetam.
31Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. O digno coniuncta viro, dum despicis omnes, dumque tibi est odio mea fistula, dumque capellae, hirsutumque supercilium promissaque barba, nec curare deum credis mortalia quemquam!
36Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Saepibus in nostris parvam te roscida mala— dux ego vester eram—vidi cum matre legentem. Alter ab undecimo tum me iam acceperat annus; iam fragilis poteram ab terra contingere ramos.
41Ut vidi, ut perii! Ut me malus abstulit error! Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Nunc scio, quid sit Amor: duris in cotibus illum aut Tmaros, aut Rhodope, aut extremm Garamantes, nec generis nostri puerum nec sanguinis edunt.
46Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. saevus Amor docuit natorum sanguine matrem commaculare manus; crudelis tu quoque, mater: crudelis mater magis, an puer improbus ille? improbus ille puer; crudelis tu quoque, mater.
51Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. nunc et ovis ultro fugiat lupus; aurea durae mala ferant quercus; narcisso floreat alnus; pinguia corticibus sudent electra myricae; certent et cycnis ululae; sit Tityrus Orpheus,
56Orpheus in silvis, inter delphinas Arion. Incipe Maenalios mecum, mea tibia, versus. Omnia vel medium fiant mare: vivite, silvae! praeceps aerii specula de montis in undas deferar; extremum hoc munus morientis habeto.
61desine Maenalios, iam desine, tibia, versus. Haec Damon: vos, quae responderit Alphesiboeus, dicite, Pierides; non omnia possumus omnes. Effer aquam, et molli cinge haec altaria vitta, verbenasque adole pinguis et mascula tura,
66coniugis ut magicis sanos avertere sacris experiar sensus nihil hic nisi carmina desunt. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Carmina vel caelo possunt deducere Lunam; carminibus Circe socios mutavit Ulixi;
71frigidus in pratia cantando rumpitur anguis. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. terna tibi haec primum triplici diversa colore licia circumdo, terque haec altaria circum effigiem duco: numero deus impare gaudet.
76Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Necte tribus nodis ternos, Amarylli, colores, necte, Amarylli, modo, et “Veneris” dic “vincula necto.” Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Limus ut hic durescit et haec ut cera liquescit
81uno eodemque igni, sic nostro Daphnis amore. Sparge molam, et fragilis incende bitumine laurus. Daphnis me malus urit, ego hanc in Daphnide laurum. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Talis amor Daphnim, qualis cum fessa iuvencum
86per nemora atque altos quaerendo bucula lucos propter aquae rivum viridi procumbit in ulva, perdita, nec serae meminit decedere nocti, talis amor teneat, nec sit mihi cura mederi. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
91Has olim exuvias mihi perfidus ille reliquit, pignora cara sui, quae nunc ego limine in ipso, terra, tibi mando; debent haec pignora Daphnim. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Has herbas atque haec Ponto mihi lecta venena
96ipse dedit Moeris; nascuntur plurima Ponto. His ego saepe lupum fieri et se condere silvis Moerim, saepe animas imis excire sepulcris, atque satas alio vidi traducere messis. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim.
101Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras, rivoque fluenti transque caput iace, nec respexeris: his ego Daphnim adgrediar, nihil ille deos, nil carmina curat. Ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim. Aspice, corripuit tremulis altaria flammis
106sponte sua, dum ferre moror, cinis ipse: bonum sit! Nescio quid certe est, et Hylas in limine latrat. Credimus, an, qui amant, ipsi sibi somnia fingunt? Parcite, ab urbe venit, iam carmina, parcite, Daphnis.
Section 8
1of Damon and Alphesiboeus now, those shepherd-singers at whose rival strains the heifer wondering forgot to graze, the lynx stood awe-struck, and the flowing streams, unwonted loiterers, stayed their course to hear—
6how Damon and Alphesiboeus sang their pastoral ditties, will I tell the tale. Thou, whether broad Timavus' rocky banks thou now art passing, or dost skirt the shore of the Illyrian main,—will ever dawn
11that day when I thy deeds may celebrate, ever that day when through the whole wide world I may renown thy verse—that verse alone of Sophoclean buskin worthy found? With thee began, to thee shall end, the strain.
16Take thou these songs that owe their birth to thee, and deign around thy temples to let creep this ivy-chaplet 'twixt the conquering bays. Scarce had night's chilly shade forsook the sky what time to nibbling sheep the dewy grass
21tastes sweetest, when, on his smooth shepherd-staff of olive leaning, Damon thus began. “Rise, Lucifer, and, heralding the light, bring in the genial day, while I make moan fooled by vain passion for a faithless bride,
26for Nysa, and with this my dying breath call on the gods, though little it bestead— the gods who heard her vows and heeded not. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Ever hath Maenalus his murmuring groves
31and whispering pines, and ever hears the songs of love-lorn shepherds, and of Pan, who first brooked not the tuneful reed should idle lie. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Nysa to Mopsus given! what may not then
36we lovers look for? soon shall we see mate griffins with mares, and in the coming age shy deer and hounds together come to drink. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Now, Mopsus, cut new torches, for they bring
41your bride along; now, bridegroom, scatter nuts: forsaking Oeta mounts the evening star! ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ O worthy of thy mate, while all men else thou scornest, and with loathing dost behold
46my shepherd's pipe, my goats, my shaggy brow, and untrimmed beard, nor deem'st that any god for mortal doings hath regard or care. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Once with your mother, in our orchard-garth,
51a little maid I saw you—I your guide— plucking the dewy apples. My twelfth year I scarce had entered, and could barely reach the brittle boughs. I looked, and I was lost; a sudden frenzy swept my wits away.
56‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Now know I what Love is: 'mid savage rocks tmaros or Rhodope brought forth the boy, or Garamantes in earth's utmost bounds— no kin of ours, nor of our blood begot.
61‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Fierce Love it was once steeled a mother's heart with her own offspring's blood her hands to imbrue: mother, thou too wert cruel; say wert thou more cruel, mother, or more ruthless he?
66Ruthless the boy, thou, mother, cruel too. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’ Now let the wolf turn tail and fly the sheep, tough oaks bear golden apples, alder-trees bloom with narcissus-flower, the tamarisk
71sweat with rich amber, and the screech-owl vie in singing with the swan: let Tityrus be Orpheus, Orpheus in the forest-glade, arion 'mid his dolphins on the deep. ‘Begin, my flute, with me Maenalian lays.’
76Yea, be the whole earth to mid-ocean turned! Farewell, ye woodlands I from the tall peak of yon aerial rock will headlong plunge into the billows: this my latest gift, from dying lips bequeathed thee, see thou keep.
81Cease now, my flute, now cease Maenalian lays.’” thus Damon: but do ye, Pierian Maids— we cannot all do all things—tell me how alphesiboeus to his strain replied. “Bring water, and with soft wool-fillet bind
86these altars round about, and burn thereon rich vervain and male frankincense, that I may strive with magic spells to turn astray my lover's saner senses, whereunto there lacketh nothing save the power of song.
91‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Songs can the very moon draw down from heaven circe with singing changed from human form the comrades of Ulysses, and by song is the cold meadow-snake, asunder burst.
96‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ These triple threads of threefold colour first I twine about thee, and three times withal around these altars do thine image bear: uneven numbers are the god's delight.
101‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Now, Amaryllis, ply in triple knots the threefold colours; ply them fast, and say this is the chain of Venus that I ply. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’
106As by the kindling of the self-same fire harder this clay, this wax the softer grows, so by my love may Daphnis; sprinkle meal, and with bitumen burn the brittle bays. Me Daphnis with his cruelty doth burn,
111I to melt cruel Daphnis burn this bay. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ As when some heifer, seeking for her steer through woodland and deep grove, sinks wearied out on the green sedge beside a stream, love-lorn,
116nor marks the gathering night that calls her home— as pines that heifer, with such love as hers may Daphnis pine, and I not care to heal. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ These relics once, dear pledges of himself,
121the traitor left me, which, O earth, to thee here on this very threshold I commit— pledges that bind him to redeem the debt. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ These herbs of bane to me did Moeris give,
126in Pontus culled, where baneful herbs abound. With these full oft have I seen Moeris change to a wolf's form, and hide him in the woods, oft summon spirits from the tomb's recess, and to new fields transport the standing corn.
131‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Take ashes, Amaryllis, fetch them forth, and o'er your head into the running brook fling them, nor look behind: with these will upon the heart of Daphnis make essay.
136Nothing for gods, nothing for songs cares he. ‘Draw from the town, my songs, draw Daphnis home.’ Look, look I the very embers of themselves have caught the altar with a flickering flame, while I delay to fetch them: may the sign
141prove lucky! something it must mean, for sure, and Hylax on the threshold 'gins to bark! May we believe it, or are lovers still by their own fancies fooled? Give o'er, my songs,
146daphnis is coming from the town, give o'er.”
Section 9
1te, Moeri, pedes? an, quo via ducit, in urbem? O Lycida, vivi pervenimus, advena nostri (quod numquam veriti sumus) ut possessor agelli diceret: “Haec mea sunt; veteres migrate coloni!” nunc victi, tristes, quoniam Fors omnia versat,
6hos illi—quod nec vertat bene—mittimus haedos. Certe equidem audieram, qua se subducere colles incipiunt, mollique iugum demittere clivo, usque ad aquam et veteres (iam fracta cacumina) fagos omnia carminibus vestrum servasse Menalcan.
11Audieras, et fama fuit; sed carmina tantum nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter Martia, quantum Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas. quod nisi me quacumque novas incidere lites ante Sinistra cava monuisset ab ilice cornix,
16nec tuus hic Moeris, nec viveret ipse Menalcas. Heu, cadit in quemquam tantum scelus? Heu, tua nobis paene simul tecum solatia rapta, Menalca? quis caneret nymphas; quis humum florentibus herbis spargeret, aut viridi fontes induceret umbra?
21vel quae sublegi tacitus tibi carmina nuper, cum te ad delicias ferres, Amaryllida, nostras? Tityre, dum redeo—brevis est via—pasce capellas, et potum pastas age, Tityre, et inter agendum occursare capro, cornu ferit ille, caveto.
26Immo haec, quae Varo necdum perfecta canebat: “Vare, tuum nomen, superet modo Mantua nobis— Mantua, vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae— cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni.” Sic tua Cyrneas fugiant examina taxos;
31sic cytiso pastae distendant ubera vaccae! Incipe, si quid habes: et me fecere poetam Pierides; sunt et mihi carmina; me quoque dicunt vatem pastores, sed non ego credulus illis. Nam neque adhuc Vario videor, nec dicere Cinna
36digna, sed argutos inter strepere anser olores. Id quidem ago et tacitus, Lycida, mecum ipse voluto, si valeam meminisse; neque est ignobile carmen: `huc ades, O Galatea; quis est nam ludus in undis hic ver purpureum; varios hic flumina circum
41fundit humus flores; hic candida populus antro imminet, et lentae texunt umbracula vites. huc ades: insani feriant sine litora fluctus. Quid, quae te pura solum sub nocte canentem audieram? Numeros memini, si verba tenerem.
46“Daphni, quid antiquos signorum suspicis ortus? Ecce Dionaei processit Caesaris astrum, astrum, quo segetes gauderent frugibus, et quo duceret apricis in collibus uva colorem. insere, Daphni, piros: carpent tua poma nepotes.”
51Omnia fert aetas, animum quoque: saepe ego longos cantando puerum memini me condere soles: nunc oblita mihi tot carmina; vox quoque Moerim iam fugit ipsa; lupi Moerim videre priores. Sed tamen ista satis referet tibi saepe Menalcas.
56Causando nostros in longum ducis amores: et nunc omne tibi stratum silet aequor, et omnes, aspice, ventosi ceciderunt murmuris aurae. hinc adeo media est nobis via; namque sepulcrum incipit adparere Bianoris: hic ubi densas
61agricolae stringunt frondes, hic, Moeri, canamus; hic haedos depone: tamen veniemus in urbem. aut si, nox pluviam ne colligat ante, veremur, cantantes licet usque (minus via laedit) eamus; cantantes ut eamus, ego hoc te fasce levabo.
66Desine plura, puer, et quod nunc instat agamus: carmina tum melius, cum venerit ipse, canemus.
Section 9
1Say whither, Moeris?—Make you for the town, or on what errand bent? O Lycidas, we have lived to see, what never yet we feared, an interloper own our little farm,
6and say, “Be off, you former husbandmen! These fields are mine.” Now, cowed and out of heart, since Fortune turns the whole world upside down, we are taking him—ill luck go with the same!— these kids you see.
11But surely I had heard that where the hills first draw from off the plain, and the high ridge with gentle slope descends, down to the brook-side and the broken crests of yonder veteran beeches, all the land
16was by the songs of your Menalcas saved. Heard it you had, and so the rumour ran, but 'mid the clash of arms, my Lycidas, our songs avail no more than, as 'tis said, doves of Dodona when an eagle comes.
21Nay, had I not, from hollow ilex-bole warned by a raven on the left, cut short the rising feud, nor I, your Moeris here, no, nor Menalcas, were alive to-day. Alack! could any of so foul a crime
26be guilty? Ah! how nearly, thyself, reft was the solace that we had in thee, Menalcas! Who then of the Nymphs had sung, or who with flowering herbs bestrewn the ground, and o'er the fountains drawn a leafy veil?—
31who sung the stave I filched from you that day to Amaryllis wending, our hearts' joy?— “While I am gone, 'tis but a little way, feed, Tityrus, my goats, and, having fed, drive to the drinking-pool, and, as you drive,
36beware the he-goat; with his horn he butts.“ Ay, or to Varus that half-finished lay, “Varus, thy name, so still our Mantua live— Mantua to poor Cremona all too near— shall singing swans bear upward to the stars.”
41So may your swarms Cyrnean yew-trees shun, your kine with cytisus their udders swell, begin, if aught you have. The Muses made me too a singer; I too have sung; the swains call me a poet, but I believe them not:
46for naught of mine, or worthy Varius yet or Cinna deem I, but account myself a cackling goose among melodious swans. 'Twas in my thought to do so, Lycidas; even now was I revolving silently
51if this I could recall—no paltry song: “Come, Galatea, what pleasure is 't to play amid the waves? Here glows the Spring, here earth beside the streams pours forth a thousand flowers; here the white poplar bends above the cave,
56and the lithe vine weaves shadowy covert: come, leave the mad waves to beat upon the shore.” What of the strain I heard you singing once on a clear night alone? the notes I still remember, could I but recall the words.
61“Why, Daphnis, upward gazing, do you mark the ancient risings of the Signs? for look where Dionean Caesar's star comes forth in heaven, to gladden all the fields with corn, and to the grape upon the sunny slopes
66her colour bring! Now, the pears; so shall your children's children pluck their fruit.” Time carries all things, even our wits, away. Oft, as a boy, I sang the sun to rest, but all those songs are from my memory fled,
71and even his voice is failing Moeris now; the wolves eyed Moeris first: but at your wish Menalcas will repeat them oft enow. Your pleas but linger out my heart's desire: now all the deep is into silence hushed,
76and all the murmuring breezes sunk to sleep. We are half-way thither, for Bianor's tomb begins to show: here, Moeris, where the hinds are lopping the thick leafage, let us sing. Set down the kids, yet shall we reach the town;
81or, if we fear the night may gather rain ere we arrive, then singing let us go, our way to lighten; and, that we may thus go singing, I will case you of this load. Cease, boy, and get we to the work in hand:
86we shall sing better when himself is come.
Section 10
1Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem: pauca meo Gallo, sed quae legat ipsa Lycoris, carmina sunt dicenda. neget quis carmina Gallo? sic tibi, cum fluctus subterlabere Sicanos, Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam.
6incipe; sollicitos Galli dicamus amores, dum tenera attondent simae virgulta capellae. non canimus surdis; respondent omnia silvae. Quae nemora, aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae Naides, indigno cum Gallus amore peribat?
11nam neque Parnasi vobis iuga, nam neque Pindi ulla moram fecere, neque Aoniae Aganippe. Illum etiam lauri, etiam flevere myricae. Pinifer illum etiam sola sub rupe iacentem Maenalus, et gelidi fleverunt saxa Lycaei.
16Stant et oves circum;—nostri nec poenitet illas, nec te poeniteat pecoris, divine poeta;— et formosus ovis ad flumina pavit Adonis; venit et upilio; tardi venere subulci; uvidus hiberna venit de glande Menalcas.
21Omnes “Unde amor iste” rogant “tibi?” Venit Apollo: “Galle, quid insanis?” inquit; “tua cura Lycoris perque nives alium perque horrida castra secuta est.” Venit et agresti capitis Silvanus honore, florentis ferulas et grandia lilia quassans.
26Pan deus Arcadiae venit, quem vidimus ipsi sanguineis ebuli bacis minioque rubentem. “Ecquis erit modus?” inquit; “Amor non talia curat; nec lacrimis crudelis Amor, nec gramina rivis, nec cytiso saturantur apes, nec fronde capellae.”
31Tristis at ille: “Tamen cantabitis, Arcades,” inquit “montibus haec vestris: soli cantare periti Arcades. O mihi tum quam molliter ossa quiescant, vestra meos olim si fistula dicat amores! Atque utinam ex vobis unus, vestrique fuissem
36aut custos gregis, aut maturae vinitor uvae! Certe, sive mihi Phillis, sive esset Amyntas, seu quicumque furor—quid tum, si fuscus Amyntas; et nigrae violae sunt et vaccinia nigra— mecum inter salices lenta sub vite iaceret;
41serta mihi Phyllis legeret, cantaret Amyntas. Hic gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata, Lycori, hic nemus; hic ipso tecum consumerer aevo. Nunc insanus amor duri me Martis in armis tela inter media atque adversos detinet hostes:
46tu procul a patria (nec sit mihi credere tantum!) Alpinas, ah dura, nives et frigora Rheni me sine sola vides: ah, te ne frigora laedant! ah, tibi ne teneras glacies secet aspera plantas! Ibo, et, Chalcidico quae sunt mihi condita versu
51carmina, pastoris Siculi modulabor avena. certum est in silvis, inter spelaea ferarum malle pati, tenerisque meos incidere amores arboribus; crescent illae, crescetis, amores. Interea mixtis lustrabo Maenala nymphis,
56aut acris venabor apros: non me ulla vetabunt frigora Parthenios canibus circumdare saltus. iam mihi per rupes videor lucosque sonantis ire; libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu spicula:—tamquam haec sit nostri medicina furoris,
61ut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat! Iam neque hamadryades rursus nec carmina nobis ipsa placent; ipsae rursus concedite silvae. non illum nostri possunt mutare labores, nec si frigoribus mediis Hebrumque bibamus,
66Sithoniasque nives hiemis subeamus aquosae, nec si, cum moriens alta liber aret in ulmo, Aethiopum versemus ovis sub sidere Cancri. omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori.” Haec sat erit, divae, vestrum cecinisse poetam,
71dum sedet et gracili fiscellam texit hibisco, Pierides; vos haec facietis maxima Gallo— Gallo, cuius amor tantum mihi crescit in horas, quantum vere novo viridis se subicit alnus. Surgamus; solet esse gravis cantantibus umbra;
76iuniperi gravis umbra; nocent et frugibus umbrae. Ite domum saturae, venit Hesperus, ite capellae.
Section 10
1This now, the very latest of my toils, vouchsafe me, Arethusa! needs must I sing a brief song to Gallus—brief, but yet such as Lycoris' self may fitly read. Who would not sing for Gallus? So, when thou
6beneath Sicanian billows glidest on, may Doris blend no bitter wave with thine, begin! The love of Gallus be our theme, and the shrewd pangs he suffered, while, hard by, the flat-nosed she-goats browse the tender brush.
11We sing not to deaf ears; no word of ours but the woods echo it. What groves or lawns held you, ye Dryad-maidens, when for love— love all unworthy of a loss so dear— Gallus lay dying? for neither did the slopes
16of Pindus or Parnassus stay you then, no, nor Aonian Aganippe. Him even the laurels and the tamarisks wept; for him, outstretched beneath a lonely rock, wept pine-clad Maenalus, and the flinty crags
21of cold Lycaeus. The sheep too stood around— of us they feel no shame, poet divine; nor of the flock be thou ashamed: even fair Adonis by the rivers fed his sheep— came shepherd too, and swine-herd footing slow,
26and, from the winter-acorns dripping-wet Menalcas. All with one accord exclaim: “From whence this love of thine?” Apollo came; “Gallus, art mad?” he cried, “thy bosom's care another love is following.” Therewithal
31Silvanus came, with rural honours crowned; the flowering fennels and tall lilies shook before him. Yea, and our own eyes beheld pan, god of Arcady, with blood-red juice of the elder-berry, and with vermilion, dyed.
36“Wilt ever make an end?” quoth he, “behold love recks not aught of it: his heart no more with tears is sated than with streams the grass, bees with the cytisus, or goats with leaves.” “Yet will ye sing, Arcadians, of my woes
41upon your mountains,” sadly he replied— “Arcadians, that alone have skill to sing. O then how softly would my ashes rest, if of my love, one day, your flutes should tell! And would that I, of your own fellowship,
46or dresser of the ripening grape had been, or guardian of the flock! for surely then, let Phyllis, or Amyntas, or who else, bewitch me—what if swart Amyntas be? Dark is the violet, dark the hyacinth—
51among the willows, 'neath the limber vine, reclining would my love have lain with me, Phyllis plucked garlands, or Amyntas sung. Here are cool springs, soft mead and grove, Lycoris; here might our lives with time have worn away.
56But me mad love of the stern war-god holds armed amid weapons and opposing foes. Whilst thou—Ah! might I but believe it not!— alone without me, and from home afar, look'st upon Alpine snows and frozen Rhine.
61Ah! may the frost not hurt thee, may the sharp and jagged ice not wound thy tender feet! I will depart, re-tune the songs I framed in verse Chalcidian to the oaten reed of the Sicilian swain. Resolved am I
66in the woods, rather, with wild beasts to couch, and bear my doom, and character my love upon the tender tree-trunks: they will grow, and you, my love, grow with them. And meanwhile I with the Nymphs will haunt Mount Maenalus,
71or hunt the keen wild boar. No frost so cold but I will hem with hounds thy forest-glades, parthenius. Even now, methinks, I range o'er rocks, through echoing groves, and joy to launch Cydonian arrows from a Parthian bow.—
76as if my madness could find healing thus, or that god soften at a mortal's grief! Now neither Hamadryads, no, nor songs delight me more: ye woods, away with you! No pangs of ours can change him; not though we
81in the mid-frost should drink of Hebrus' stream, and in wet winters face Sithonian snows, or, when the bark of the tall elm-tree bole of drought is dying, should, under Cancer's Sign, in Aethiopian deserts drive our flocks.
86Love conquers all things; yield we too to love!” These songs, Pierian Maids, shall it suffice your poet to have sung, the while he sat, and of slim mallow wove a basket fine: to Gallus ye will magnify their worth,
91Gallus, for whom my love grows hour by hour, as the green alder shoots in early Spring. Come, let us rise: the shade is wont to be baneful to singers; baneful is the shade cast by the juniper, crops sicken too
96in shade. Now homeward, having fed your fill— eve's star is rising—go, my she-goats, go.