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The Aeneid, Book 1, by Publius Vergilius Maro
Of Arms and of a Man, I sing— he who first from Trojan lands,
Banished by fate, came to Italy and to Lavinian shores.
Much was he tossed on both land and the deep,
By powers of the Gods, and by the savage rage of Juno;
Also much he suffered from war, until he could found a city,
and bring the gods to Latium— from whence rose the Latin race,
And the Albanian Lords, and the lofty walls of Rome.
O Muse! Tell me the reason: By what ill-nod,
or by what grief did the queen of the gods compel him
so-marked by piety to undergo so much misfortune, to undertake so many labors?
Is such anger truly in the wills of the Gods?
There was an ancient city, which Tyrian colonists held,
Carthage— Long-opposed to Italy and the mouths of the Tiber,
Rich-in-resources and most-fierce in the pursuits of war;
Whose lands Juno cherished first before all others,
With Samus having been esteemed less: Here were her arms,
Here was her chariot; that this city might be a seat of power,
If the fates would allow, the goddess now hoped for and favored it.
But indeed, that offspring led by one born of Trojan blood
She had heard would one-day overthrow the Tyrian castles;
That one-day a nation ruling far and wide, proud-in-war
There would come for the destruction of Libya: Thus the Fates unfurled.
Saturn’s Daughter, fearing this, and recalling the ancient war,
Which first she waged on Troy for her dearest Greeks—
Nor even yet had the cause for anger and cruel pain
Perished from her spirit: in her deep mind remains fixed
The judgment of Paris and the injury to her rejected beauty,
And for the hated race, of their honors at the *** of Ganymede.
Further inflamed by these things, she kept thrown-out on the vast waters the Trojans,
with the Greeks departed with fierce Achilles, summoned long from Latium, and for many years,
They wandered, driven by fate, around all the oceans.
So great was the burden to found the Roman people!
Scarcely out of sight of Sicilian lands, upon high
Happily they made sail, and cut through the air with bronze;
while Juno, serving the eternal wound beneath her chest, said to herself:
“Am I to cease from having begun, defeated?
“Nor be able to turn the king of the Trojans from Italy?
“Indeed the fates forbid me! But was not Athena herself
“once able to burn the Argive fleets and submerge them in the seas,
“on account of the crimes and madness of one Oilejan Ajax?
“Herself, having thrown the swift fires of Jove from the clouds
She scattered the ships and overturned the seas with winds,
and with her words she snatched him, and breathing-out fire
She impaled him, with his chest pierced, on a sharp rock!
But Am I, who walk among the gods as queen, Jove’s
Sister and wife both, with one nation for so many years
to Wage War!? And who will worship the power of Juno
Hereafter, or who as suppliant will place honors on her alter?”
Her heart inflamed by pondering such things, the goddess
Went to the country of clouds, to a place filled with raging winds,
to Aeolia she came. Here, King *** in a vast cave
with his power controls the struggling winds and roaring tempests
and restrains them, imprisoned with chains.
They, indignant, with a great rumble around the mountain’s
restraints they roar. *** sits on a towering throne
holding a scepter, and he softens their spirits and calms their rage.
For, if he did not, they would rapidly carry-off the seas and lands
And vast heavens with them, and sweep through the skies.
But, the Omnipotent Father hid them away in dark caves,
Fearing this very thing, and so he built a structure and high mountains above
He emplaced, and he made a King, who knew by contract
When to press down, having been ordered, and when to loose reins.
To Him then, Juno, as suppliant, uttered these words:
“***, for unto you the Father of the Gods and King of Men
gave power to both calm the waves and to raise them by wind;
For- a nation hateful to me sails the Tyrrhenian sea,
carrying Trojans and their conquered gods to Italy:
Strike down force with winds! Crush the submerging sterns!
Or drive their scattered bodies into the ocean!
There are fourteen nymphs of mine, surpassing me in form,
Of Whom, she who is the most beautiful, Deiopea,
I will join to you in everlasting wedlock, and I will proclaim as your own,
so that for such services she might pass with you all the years
and make you a parent of beautiful offspring.”
*** in reply said these things: “It is your labor, O Queen,
To explore what you wish for-- it is mine to perform commands!
You, grant to me whatever of a kingdom this is, win-over the scepters,
And, by Jove, allow for me to recline at the feasts of the gods,
who grant me power over clouds and storms.”
with these things spoken, he struck a the mountain’s hollow insides
with a spear: and the winds, as with a battle-line formed when
an opening is given: they rush forth forth and blow over the lands with storms.
They fell upon the seas and churned the depths from the deep,
Together the East and South winds, crowded with gusts,
And the Southwest winds wrench massive waves to the shores.
The clamors of men and the creaking of ropes follow.
Suddenly, clouds ***-away the heavens and the day
From the very eyes of the Trojans-- black night sleeps on the sea.
The upper airs thundered and flashed with unbelievable lightning,
And all these things threaten the men with instant death.
At which time the limbs of Aeneas grow limp with cold;
He groans, and lifting both palms to the heavens,
With such a voice he proclaimed:“O, Three and Four-times blessed
"is he who before the faces of the fathers and high walls of Troy
is befit to encounter death! O Tydidus, bravest of the Danauen race!
Why was I not able to fall on the plains of Troy?
and to pour out this spirit by your right hand?
There, where the savage weapon of Achilles slay Hector,
where giant Sarpedon lies, where Samois snatched-up beneath waves
so many shields and helmets of men, and where so many brave bodies roll?”
With such words hurtled, a roaring blast from the North
strikes the sails head-on, and lifts waves to the stars.
The oars are shattered; then the prow gives-its-side to the waves,
And a towering mountain of water follows in a rush.
They hang on top of swells; a splitting wave shows them
Land amongst the waves; the tide rages with the sands.
The South wind twists three ships onto lurking rocks—
(The Italians call the rocks which are in the waves “alters”—
A huge spine at the surface of the sea); Eurus drove three ships
from the deep into the shallows, and onto a reef—miserable to see—
and dashed them into the shoals, smothering them with sand.
One (ship), she who was carrying Lycians and Trusted Orontes,
Before his very eyes was struck by a huge swell from high above
Directly on her stern: and the pilot was thrown headlong
And rolls onto his head; then a wave thrice in the same place
twists the ship around, and from the sea a swift whirlpool devours her.
Scattered sailors’ bodies appear from the vast foamy abyss,
Weapons, men, planks, and treasures of Troy appear through waves.
Now the strong ship of Ilioneus, now that of brave Achates,
and that which carried Abas, and that of old Aletes--
The storm conquers them all. All take on hostile water,
with the seams of hulls opened and with fissures bursting.
Meanwhile, Neptune senses that the sea is stirred-up with a great murmur,
and a winter storm has been sent out, and from the depths
Vast still waters are drained, gravely disturbed. And gazing-out
from the deep, he lifts his peaceful head over the top of a wave.
He sees the fleet of Aeneas scattered over the whole ocean,
The Trojans oppressed by waves, and the downfall of the heavens.
Nor however does the anger and tricks of Juno evade her brother.
He calls Eurus and Zephyr to him, and he speaks such things:
“Does such great faith of your family thus hold you?
“Now, winds, do you (dare) stir-up sky and land without my consent?
“And dare you to raise-up such heavy burdens?!?
“I curse you! But it is better for you to compose the stirred waves.
“After you atone to me for crimes with no similar punishment!
“Speed your flight! And say this to your king:
“ ‘Not to him was rule over the sea and the savage trident given,
“ ‘But by destiny to me. Let him hold those immense rocks,
“ ‘Eurus, your home; Let him vaunt himself in that palace
“ ‘And let *** rule in that closed prison of the winds.”
Thus he spoke, and faster than speaking it, he calms the swollen seas,
And puts-to-flight the collected clouds, and brings back the sun.
At the same time, Cymothoen and Triton dislodge the ships
Leaning against the sharp rocks. Neptune himself raises them with his trident,
and he clears the vast sand bars and tempers the waters
And he glides over the highest waves with light wheels.
Just as when sedition has arisen in a great people
And the ignoble crowd rages in their minds,
Now already rocks and torches fly, rage supplies weapons;
Then, if some man grave with piety and merit, if by chance
They might behold, they are silent, and they stand with raised ears;
For he who rules minds with words and calms chests—
Thus the whole crash of the sea subsides, and afterwards the God,
looking out over the seas, having been carried to the open sky,
he turns his horses, and, flying, he gives reins to the favorable chariot.
Exhausted, the Aeneans to the nearest shores hurriedly
sought their course, and they are turned to the bays of Libya.
There, a place within a deep inlet: an island whose port
Forms a barrier of sides, by which every wave from the deep
Is broken and cuts-through itself, reflected in a curve.
On this side and that, vast rocks and twin reefs tower,
Threatening the sky, beneath the top of which
All the waters are silent; There, a place with quivering forests
And a dark grove overhangs with shuddering darkness.
Beneath the face opposite the hanging reefs is a cave,
Sweet waters within, and living within seats in the rock
The Home of the Nymphs: Here, no chains restrained the tired ships,
nor did any anchors hold them with curved bite.
Aeneas arrives there with just seven ships collected
From the whole number; and with a great love of the earth
The Trojans conquer the desired sands,
And they place their salt-soaked limbs on the shore.
And first, a spark by flint struck Achates,
And he created fire from leaves, and dry fuel around
He gave as nourishment, and snatched up a flame in the tinder.
Then, they bring out wave-spoiled grain, and tools of bread making
and, exhausted by such things, they quickly recover fruits
and they prepare to roast the grain with flames, crushed by rocks.
Meanwhile Aeneas climbs the reef, and seeks a view
Over all the wintery calm, if he might see whatever of Antheus
Thrown-about by the wind, and the Phrygian galleys,
Or Capys, or the arms of Caicus in the towering sterns.
With no ships in view, he catches sight of three deer
Wandering on the shore; Whole herds follow them
From behind, and a long line grazes through the valley.
Here he stopped, and took-in-hand the bow and swift arrows,
Having snatched-up those which trusted Achates was carrying,
And first, the leaders themselves, those bearing their heads high
with branching horns, he laid-them low, and then he confuses
The whole herd with arrows, driving the lot among leafy forests
Nor does he stop before he, victorious, spills forth seven mighty bodies onto moist ground, equaling the number of ships.
From here he seeks the port, and shares the deer among his comrades.
Then, the good wine which Acestes had loaded in jars
On Sicilian shores, and had given to the departing Trojans,
He divides it among the men, and soothes their grieving chests with his words:
“O comrades— indeed we are not ignorant of previous evils—
O ye sufferers of graver things— God will also give an end to these.
You all, who approached the madness of Scylla, and the roaring crags,
and you who experienced the Cyclopean rocks,
Recall now your courageous spirits and send away gloomy fear,
And perhaps at some time it will help to remember these things.
Through so many different disasters, through so many crises,
We are pressing on into Latium; where the fates show peaceful seats;
For it is just that a kingdom of Troy will rise again in that place.
Endure, and save yourselves thus for better things.”
Having spoken such words, his voice weary with huge cares,
He pretends hope with his face, swallowing his deep grief.
And so, they prepare themselves for the prize, and for future feasts;
They tear the hides from the sides and denude the flesh;
Cutting parts into pieces, they pierce the quivering meat with spears;
Others place bronze urns on the shore and tend to the flames.
Then, when they'd restored their strength with food, and lying in the grass
They'd filled themselves of old Bacchus (wine) and rich venison.
After their hunger was vanquished by feasts, and with the tables struck,
Again they sought long-lost friends by conversation,
Uncertain between hope and fear-- whether they believed them alive,
or to have suffered the final fate— called, but unable to hear.
Then, Pious Aeneas groans, now for the downfall of fierce Orontes,
Now for Amycus he groans, and to himself, groaning for the cruel
Fate of Lycus, and brave Gyan and brave Cloanthus.
But already there was an end, with Jupiter from the highest heavens
Looking down at the billowing seas and lands, and shores and people
having been tossed about, thus from the top of the clouds
he stopped, and fixed his gaze on the kingdom of Libya.
And, while he was pondering such things, tossed-about in his heart,
Even sadder than he, with shining eyes full of tears,
Venus addressed him thus:
“O Ye who rule the affairs of men and Gods
with eternal dominion, and who terrify them with lightning,
What crime so great was my Aeneas able to commit against you?
What could the Trojans possibly have done, that the entire world
Might be shut-off from them, on account of Italy suffering so much?
For certain, Romans, one-day through the revolving years,
Will be leaders there, restored from the blood of Trojans,
Who will hold the seas, Who will hold all the lands with power,
This you have promised! What idea, then, has turned you, progenitor?
…Indeed by that promise alone I found consolation for the
ruin of Troy, with the sad downfalls balancing the opposing fates,
Now the same fortune follows men driven by so many misfortunes!
For-- what end of labors do you give, great king?
Antenor was able, having escaped from the midst of the Greeks,
To enter into the Illyrian bays and, once safe, to overpower
the kingdoms of the Liburnians, and the spring of Timavus,
whence through the nine mouths with a vast roar it rushes
into the furious sea and overwhelms the fields with floods.
Here however, he placed the city and homes of Patavium
And he gave the nation the name of Trojans, and hung the arms
Of Troy, And now he rests settled in quiet peace.
But we, your offspring to whom you promised the palace of heaven,
With ships lost on account of the anger of one unspeakable
We are betrayed and separated far from the shores of Italy??
Is this the reward of piety? Do thus you restore us to power?”
Smiling to her, the begetter of men and of Gods,
With a face such as that which calms heaven and storms,
gave forth kisses to his daughter, and then he said such things:
“Spare your fear, Cytherea, your people’s fate remains unchanged.
You will perceive the city and the promised Lavinian walls,
And you will bring him, uplifted, to the stars of heaven,
Great-spirited Aeneas; nor does anyone's opinion turn me!
For you, (I do confess, since this concern seems to gnaw at you,)
I will unveil the long-spinning secrets of the fates—
For you He will wage a great war in Italy, and the fierce peoples
He will crush, and will emplace the customs for men and the walls
of Latium, until a third summer will have seen him ruling, and
three winters will have passed with the Rutulians subdued.
And the boy, Ascanius, to whom now the name 'Iulus' is added,
--For he was 'Ilus' while the Ilium state reigned—
For thirty great years he will fulfill in power with months rolling,
And he will transfer the kingdom from the seat of Lavinia
And he will fortify Alba Longa with greater force.
Whence it will be ruled for another three hundred total years
Under the Hectorean race, until a queen priestess,
Pregnant by Mars, will give twin offspring in birth.
Then, happy in the brown hide of the she-wolf nurse,
Romulus will inherit the nation and found the Martian walls,
And he will call the people “Romans”, from his own name.
For them I place no boundaries— neither of space nor time.
For them I have given an empire without end. Even fierce Juno,
Who now wearies the sea and lands and heavens with fear,
Will change her opinion for the better, and she will cherish with me
Those Romans— masters of the world, the toga-clad race.
Thus it pleases me: It will come to pass, in gliding golden years,
When the house of Assaracus will press the Pythians and bright
Myceans into slavery, and the conquered Greeks will be ruled over.
From this beautiful origin will be born a Caesar of Troy,
who will bound the empire with Oceanus and his fame to the stars,
'Julius', a name derived from the great Iulus.
One day this man, laden with spoils of the Orient,
you will receive (him) untroubled; and this man will also be called in vows.
And then the ages will become mild, with wars having been put away.
White faith and Vesta, and Quirinus with the brother Remus
Will give laws; By harsh iron and close-knit seams
the dreadful gates of War will be closed; unholy Rage sits within
savage weapons, and bound with a hundred bronze knots
behind his back, he roars wretchedly with his bloody mouth”
He spoke these words, and sent his Maian son (Mercury) down from on high,
So that the lands and new towers of Carthage might lie open,
Welcoming the Trojans, nor might Dido, unaware of fate,
keep them off of her territories. Mercury flew out through the great air
with his beating wings, and quickly stood at the shores of Libya.
And now he gives orders, and the Phoenicians put down their fierce
Hearts by the god’s bidding; and firstly, the Queen
Accepted the Trojans with a calm mind and quiet spirit.
However, Pious Aeneas, wandering-much through the night,
Before first light was given had decided to leave,
to explore new places,-- which shores he came to by wind,
who held them? for he saw them untilled, whether men or beasts,
he had decided to ask— and to report back his findings to his friends.
He hid the fleet in the shallows beneath the hollowed-out rock,
Enclosed by trees and with trembling darkness all around.
He went himself, accompanied only by his comrade Achates,
Who brandished two spears with broad iron in his hands.
To them the mother (Venus) brought herself in the middle of the forest
wearing the face of a maiden, and arms of a maiden of Sparta,
just as how Thracian Harpalyce wearies horses,
and outstrips swift Hebrus, having turned with flight.
She hangs a ready bow from her shoulders,
And the huntress had given her hair to scatter to the winds,
Bare to her knees, having collected her flowing robe with a knot.
Firstly, she says: “Hey, you Lads, do tell if you have seen
any perchance of my sisters wandering about here,
with naked legs, girded only with quivers and the hide of a lynx,
or pursuing the frothy path of a boar with a shout?”
Thus spoke Venus; and thus spoke the son of Venus in reply:
“Nothing of your sisters has been heard of or seen by me---
O, how shall I mark you, ***? For you have hardly the face
Of a mortal, nor does your voice sound human! O, surely a Goddess:
Are you the sister of Apollo? Or one of the blood of the nymphs?
Would you be lucky, and lighten, however you can, our burden;
by telling us where, at-length, under what sky or on what shores of the world
have we been strewn? Ignorant of the men and places,
We wander, driven here by wind and by vast waves:
And, by my right hand, many a victim shall fall before your altars.”
Then Venus (said): “Indeed, I am not worthy of such an honor!
For it is custom for Tyrian maidens to carry a bow,
And to bind their legs high with purple boots.
You see the Punic kingdom and Tyrians and the city of Agenor;
But, the peoples of Libya are intractable in war.
Dido ruled the kingdom having set out from the city of Tyre
Fleeing her brother. Long is her injury, long are her wanderings.
But, I am following already from the highest summit of things....
“For Once, Sychaeus was husband to her, him most rich in land of all
Phoenicians, And for the wretched woman, cherished with great love,
To him the father had given her virginally-intact, and first joined them
with omens. But, the queen of Tyre had also a brother,
Pygmalion, unmatched before all others in wickedness.
Rage came into the midst of them. Impious, he overcame
Incautious Sychaeus, made deaf and blind with love,
And slay him with iron before the alters, uncaring for the love
of his sister; and for a long time he hid the deed,
and concealing many evils, he deceived his weary sister with empty hope.
But to herself in dreams came the ghost of her unburied husband,
raising astonishing wails with his ghastly face;
And, bearing bloody altars, and with his breast pierced with iron
He revealed all and exposed the whole hidden crime of the house.
Then, he urges her to hasten escape and to leave her fatherland,
And to help her on the road, he discloses buried in the ground
An ancient treasure, an unknown weight of silver and gold.
Moved by these things, Dido prepared flight and friends:
They assembled, those for whom there was either cruel hatred
Or sharp fear of a tyrant; Ships, which by chance were prepared,
They seized and loaded with gold. The riches of greedy
Pygmalion were carried on the sea; the woman led these actions.
They came to a place where now you perceive
huge walls and the surging citadel of new Carthage.
And they purchased, from the name of the deed, Byrsa,
as much soil as they were able to encircle with a bull’s hide.
But then, who are you?? From where or what shores do you come?
Or wherefore have you held your journey?” And, to her asking such things,
sighing and dragging his voice from deep within his chest, he said:
“O Goddess… if I were to proceed first from the very beginning…
and the annals of history were empty to hear of our labors,
with closed-Olympus Vesper would settle before I could finish!
We, of ancient Troy, if perhaps the name of Troy
Has crossed through your ears, from there a storm drove us
by chance carrying us through the various seas to the shores of Libya.
I am Pious Aeneas, I who bring the household gods with me,
snatched from the enemy, known by fame over the skies.
I seek Italy, the fatherland, and my race is from highest Jove.
With Twenty ships I ascended the Phrygian seas,
With the mother goddess showing the way, I followed the given fates.
Now scarcely seven survive, shattered by waves from Eurus.
Myself unknown and lacking, I wander here through deserts of Libya
Having been driven from Europe and Asia...”
and not asking more, Venus interrupted him suffering thus in the middle of his grief:
“Look, whoever you are, I scarcely believe that you draw-breath
hated by the Gods, you who have come to the Tyrian city.
Go now, and take yourself to the threshold of the queen,
For I announce to you that your restored friends and fleet,
Will be returned and driven to safety by the changed north winds:
Not unless my parents taught me augury in-vain!
For, gaze upon those twelve swans rejoicing in a line,
Those for whom a bird of Jove, having fallen from the clear sky,
Was churning the region of upper air; now they seem in a long line
Either to have just seized lands or to look down on already-seized lands:
Just as they, restored, mock with creaking wings
and encircle the sky in a flock and give song—
No-less otherwise do those ships and young men of yours
Either already hold the port or are coming to the harbor full-sail.
Go already! and wherever the road leads you, direct your steps.”
She spoke, and turning, she gleamed out from her rosey neck,
And from the top of her ambrosial hair a divine scent exhaled,
And her clothes were dashed-down to the very depths of her feet, as it were,
and with her stride she revealed a true goddess.
When he recognized his mother fleeing, he followed her with such a voice:
“Why do you so-cruelly deceive your son so many times over
with false images? Why (for me) to join right to right hand,
is it not given? and to hear true voices and reply?”
Reproaching with such things, he extends his step toward the walls:
But Venus enclosed those walking with a dark mist,
and the goddess poured forth a great cloud around them
lest anyone perceive them or be able to touch them,
or cause a delay, or demand reasons for their coming.
She goes herself, uplifted, to Paphos, and happily returns to
her throne, where for her a temple and one hundred Sabaean
incense alters smoke, and the airs exhale with fresh garland scents.
Meanwhile, they devoured the road, which the path showed them.
And now they were ascending a hill, which overshadows much
Of the city, and faces the opposing citadels from high above.
Aeneas marveled at the structures, once just simple huts,
he marveled at the gates, and the noise, and the strata of roads.
The ardent Tyrians press on, some of them in building walls,
Some constructing a citadel’s arch—rolling up rocks by hand,
Others choose a place for a house and enclose it with a trench.
[For they chose to elect laws and officials, and a sacred senate;]
Here some are excavating a port; here others are placing the deep foundations for a theater,
and cutting out huge columns from the rock, lofty decorations for a future stage.
Just as when bees, in the early summer through flowery country
Are busied by their labor under the sun, as when adults lead the
Young swarm of the hive, or when they stuff flowing honey
And fill fully-laden cells with sweet nectar,
Or, in receiving the burden of those arriving, as a battle line is made
they summon the drones, a lazy swarm, from the hive;
when the work seethes and the fragrant honey smells of thyme.
“O fortunate ones, whose walls are already rising!”
Aeneas uttered, and gazing up at the heights of the city,
He brought himself, enclosed by the cloud— marvelous to behold—
through the midst and mixes with men, nor is he perceived by any.
In the middle of the city was a grove, most happy of shade,
where first tossed by waves and by storm the Phoenicians
unearthed in that place a sign, which royal Juno had shown,
the spirited head of a horse; for thus in war they would be known
as victorious throughout the ages, and so distinguished, live easily.
Here, a huge temple to Juno Sidonian Dido founded,
rich with gifts and the power of the goddess,
for whom bronze doors were rising from the steps and beams were woven with bronze
and the hinge on the bronze gate was creaking.
Here first, a thing revealed in new light eased his fear,
Here first, Aeneas dared to hope for safety
and to admit that better things might befall him...
For beneath the massive temple, surveying things one at a time,
while awaiting the queen, while marveling at the city’s fortunes,
at the artifices being built by the hands of the craftsmen,
he was astounded to see Trojan battle lines depicted!
And Wars now spread with fame through the whole world:
The sons of Atreus, and Priam; and Achilles— savage to both.
He stopped, and in-tears, said:“What place now, O Achates!
What region of the world is not already full of our labors?
Behold, 'tis Priam! Even here are the rewards for glory itself!!
And these are tears for things touching mortal minds.
Loosen your fear; for this fame will bring some safety to you.”
Thus he spoke, and in doing so, he grazed his spirit with the empty scene,
groaning-greatly, and flooded his face with a copious stream.
For he was seeing images of former battles all around him,
Here Greeks were fleeing, the Trojans crushing the young men,
in this one, crested-Achilles in his chariot stands against the Trojans.
And not far from there, the white-cloth tents of Rhesus
He recognizes with tears, those that were betrayed on the first night;
By cruel Tydidus, devastated with great slaughter,
as he turned the burning horses into the camp, first even before
the Trojans might have tasted fodder and drunk of Xanthus.
In another part, Troilus fleeing with his weapons lost,
the unlucky boy meeting unequalled Achilles,
he is carried by horses and clings with his ankles to the empty chariot,
nevertheless holding the reins; his neck and hair are dragged
through the earth and the dust is marked by his upturned spear.
Meanwhile the Trojan women go to the temple of not-impartial Athena,
with their hair disheveled and bearing gowns,
Saddened by prayer, and by beating their chests with palm fronds.
The goddess, having turned away, holds her eyes fixed on the ground.
“Once he had thrice-dragged Hector ‘round the Trojan walls,
only then, Achilles was selling the lifeless body for gold.”
Then verily Aeneas gave a great groan from the very depths of his chest,
as he caught sight of the spoils, of the chariot, even the body itself
of his friend and Priam stretching out their unarmed hands.
He also recognized himself mingling with the leaders of the Greeks,
and the eastern lines and the arms of dark Agamemnon.
Leading the Amazons' battle line with their crescent shields,
raging Penthesilea burns in the midst of thousands,
fastening a golden girdle for her one exposed breast,
The Warrioress, a ***, dares to run together with men.
While this sight seemed to dumbfound Dardanian Aeneas,
While he was stupefied, and fixing his obtuse stare on that one view,
Queen Dido, most beautiful in form, entered into the temple
With a great crowd of youths thronging behind her like goats.
Such as on the banks of the Eurota or through the ridge of Cynthus
Does Diana train the dancers, some thousands having followed
Here and there, with the oreads gathering; Dido carries a quiver
On her shoulder, and thus proceeding, towers over all goddesses.
Joys tempt at the secret heart of Latona:
Such was Dido, happily she carried herself so,
Through the midst, pressing-on with works for the future kingdom.
Then, inside gates of the goddess, in the middle of the temple vault
Surrounded by arms on the high throne she sat resting.
She was giving justice and laws to the men, and assigning their labor
In equal parts: either by command, or by random lot:
When suddenly Aeneas sees approaching in a grand group
Antheus and Sergentus and brave Cloanthus,
And the other Trojans whom the black storm had scattered
And had brought far away to the foreign shores
Aeneas Himself, gasping at the same time as Achates, astonished
By both joy and fear; eagerly they were burning to join hands.
But still, an unknown thing was disturbing their minds.
They hid, and looked-out, wrapped in the hollow cloud to see
What of the men’s fortune, on what shore they had left the fleet,
For what reason had they come, chosen from all the ships:
To beg for mercy? Or heading for the temple with a shout?
After they had entered, and the right to speak before the queen was given,
The eldest, Ilioneus, thus began with a placid spirit:
“O Queen, unto whom Jupiter has granted to found a new city
And to put the curb of justice on haughty peoples--
We unhappy Trojans, tempest-driven over every sea
We beg of you, keep-off flames from our unlucky ships,
Spare a pious people, and look more graciously on our fortunes.
We have not come either to spoil by sword your Libyan homes
Or to drive stolen prizes to the shores;
No such violence is in our hearts, nor have the vanquished such pride.
There is a place, called Hesperia by the Greeks,
An ancient land, mighty in arms and wealthy in soil;
There dwelt Oenotrians; now the rumor is that a younger race
Has called it “Italy” from the name of their leader.
That was our course:
When suddenly rising with swells, stormy Orion
Bore us onto hidden shoals and with fierce blasts scattered us
among the waves, and amid pathless rocks and overwhelming surges.
Hither to your shores we few have drifted.
For, What race of men is this? What land is so barbarous
as to allow this custom?--- We are denied the welcome of the sands;
They declare war and forbid us to set foot on the border of the land!
If you think light of human kinship and mortal arms,
Yet, look unto the gods who will remember right and wrong.
For, We had a king, Aeneas— none other more just than he,
None more pious, none more renowned in war and arms.
If the fates still preserve that man, if he feeds on the air
Of heaven, and lies not-yet in the cruel shadows,
then, we have no fear; nor should you regret to have taken the first step in stifling courtesies.
In Sicilian regions too there are cities and arms,
And a prince of Trojan blood, distinguished Acastes.
Grant us to beach our storm-battered fleet,
To fashion planks in the forests and to trim oars:
So that, if we are granted to find our king and comrades
And steer our course to Italy, Italy and Latium may we gladly seek;
But if our salvation is cut off, if you, noble father of the Trojan People
Are prey to the Libyan gulf and a nation’s hope no longer lives in Iulus,
Then may we at least seek the straits of Sicily, and the homes there,
From whence we came here, and let us seek Acestes for our King”
So spoke Ilioneus, and all the sons of Dardanus grudgingly groan their assent.
Then briefly Dido, with her face lowered, admits thus:
“Free your hearts of fear, Trojans, put-away your concerns.
For stern necessity and the new estate of my kingdom force me
To protect my frontiers far and wide with guards.
Who could be ignorant of Aeneas’ people? Or of the city of Troy--
of her brave men and their deeds, or of the fires of that great war?
Our Punic hearts have not grown so obtuse by toils!
Nor so far from this Tyrian city does the sun yoke his steeds.
Whether your choice be great Hesperia and the fields of Saturn,
Or the lands of Eryx and Acestes for your king,
I will send you hence with escorts, and aid you with my wealth.
Or, if it is your wish to settle with me on even terms in these realms,
Then the city I build is yours, draw-up your ships;
Between Trojan and Tyrian I shall make no discrimination.
But I wish only that your king were driven here by the same wind,
Aeneas himself! Nay, Indeed I will send trusty scouts along the coast
And bid them traverse the farthest reaches of Libya,
If perchance he strays there shipwrecked in forests or towns.”
Stirred-up in spirit by these words, both brave Achates
And Father Aeneas were long-already burning to break through the cloud.
First, Achates encourages Aeneas:
“Goddess-born, what purpose now rises in your heart?
You see that all is safe, fleet and comrades have been restored.
Only one is gone, whom our own eyes saw engulfed amid the waves;
All else agrees with your mother’s words!”
Scarcely had he admitted this, when the encircling cloud suddenly
Parts itself and clears-away into the open air.
Aeneas stood forth, gleaming in the clear light,
Godlike in his face and shoulders; for his mother herself
Had shed upon her son the beauty of flowing locks,
With youth’s ruddy bloom and on his eyes a joyous luster;
Such as that beauty which the hand gives to ivory,
Or as when silver or Parian marble is set in yellow gold leaf.
Then he addressed the queen suddenly and surprising them all,
He spontaneously spoke:
“I, whom you seek, am here in-person, Aeneas of Troy, ripped from the Libyan waves...
O, you who alone have pitied Troy’s unutterable woes,
You who grant us-- those left by the Greeks, over land and sea
Already exhausted by every misfortune, destitute of all, you grant us
A share in your city, your home, your people, and to pay you worthy
gratitude is not within our power, Dido! Nor in theirs—
wherever any survive of the Dardanian name, scattered over the wide world.
May the Gods bring you— if any divine powers have regard for good,
if there is any justice anywhere— may the gods and the consciousness of right bring you worthy rewards!
O What happy ages bore you? What glorious parents gave birth to so-noble a child?
While rivers will flow to oceans, while shadows will roll over
On mountainous slopes, while heaven will feed the stars,
Ever shall your honor, your name, and your praises abide with me,
Whatever be the lands that summon me!”
Having spoken thus, He grasps his friend Ilioneus with his right hand, and Serestus with his left;
then the others: brave Gyan and brave Cloanthus.
Sidonian Dido was baffled, first at the sight of the hero,
Then at his peculiar misfortune, and thus her lips made utterance:
“What fate pursues you, goddess-born, amidst so many perils?
What forces of violence drive you to these savage shores?
Are you that Aeneas, of Dardanian Anchises, to whom
gracious Venus bore by the wave of Phrygian Simois?
Indeed, I myself remember well Teucer’s coming to Sidon,
When, exiled from his native land, he sought a new kingdom
By aid of Belus— my father Belus was then wasting
rich Cyprus, and holding it under his victorious sway…
From that time on, the fall of Troy has been known to me,
Known, too, your name and the Pelasgian kings.
Though their enemy, my father often praised the Trojans
And claimed that he himself was sprung from their ancient seed.
Come then, O brave young men, and be seated within our halls.
For similar fortunes have driven me too through so many toils,
And willed that in this land I should at last find rest.
Not ignorant of such evils, I learn to aid those in distress.”
Thus she spoke, and at once leads Aeneas under the royal roof;
At the same time proclaiming a sacrifice at the temples of the gods.
Nor any less thoughtful is she than to send his comrades on the shore
Twenty bulls, a hundred massive swine with bristling backs,
And a hundred fatted lambs with their ewes,
And most joyous gifts of the God (Wine of Bacchus).
But the palace within is laid out with the splendor of princely pomp,
And amid the great halls they prepare a banquet:
They place coverlets, skillfully embroidered and of royal purple,
On the tables are massive silver (plates), and in gold are engraved
The brave deeds of her family, a long, long course of exploits
Traced through many a hero from the early dawn of her race.
Aeneas (for a father’s love allows not for his heart to have any rest)
speedily sends Achates forward to the ships,
To carry this news to Ascanius, and lead him to the city walls;
In Ascanius all his fond parental care is centered.
Presents, too, snatched from the wreck of Ilium,
He bids him bring— a mantle stiff with figures wrought in gold,
And a veil fringed with yellow acanthus,
Once worn by Argive Helen, which she brought from Mycenae,
when she sailed for Pergamus and her unlawful marriage,
the wondrous gift of her mother Leda:
Also, the scepter, which Ilione had worn once,
Priam’s eldest daughter, a necklace hung with pearls,
And a crown twice-encircled with jewels and gold.
Speeding these commands, Achates made his way to the ships.
But Venus revolves in her breast new arts,
New schemes, how Cupid, changed in face and in form,
Might come instead of sweet Ascanius, and by his gifts
Beguile the queen and send flames into her very marrow;
In truth, she fears the uncertain house and double-tongued Tyrians
Juno’s fury burns her, and at nightfall her worry rushes back.
Therefore to winged Love she admits these words:
“O Son, my strength, my mighty power—
O Son, you who alone scorn the mighty father’s Typhoian darts,
To you I flee and as suppliant I beg your favor,
How your brother Aeneas is tossed about on all the seas
And strewn onto the shores by bitter Juno’s rage
Is known to you, and often have you grieved in my grief.
Phoenician Dido now holds him, delaying him with soft words,
And I dread what may be the outcome of Juno’s hospitality;
For, I doubt that at such a change of fortune she will be idle.
Wherefore I purpose to outwit the queen with guile,
and encircle her with love’s flame, lest any power change her mind,
But on my side she may be held fast in strong love for Aeneas.
How you can do this, take now my plan:
The princely boy, at his dear father’s bidding,
Makes ready to go to the Sidonian city, my greatest care,
Bearing gifts that survived the sea and the flames of Troy.
Him I will lull to sleep, and on the heights of Cythera
Or Idalium I will hide him in my sacred shrine,
So that he by no means might learn my plans or come to thwart them.
But you, for a single night feign by your craft his form,
And, boy that you are, don the boy’s familiar face,
So that, when in the fullness of her joy, Dido takes you to her ***
Amid the royal feasting and the flowing of wine,
And, while embracing you and imprinting with sweet kisses,
may you breathe into her a hidden fire and beguile her with your poison”
Love obeys his dear mother’s words,
and with wings put-away, he walks joyously with the step of Iulius.
And Venus pours-over the limbs of Ascanius with the dew
Of gentle repose, and fondling him in her ***, uplifts him
To Idalia’s high groves, where soft majoram wraps him
In flowers and he is smothered by the breath of its sweet shade.
And now, Cupid went forth, obedient to her word,
carrying royal gifts for the Tyrians and rejoicing in Achates as guide.
As he enters, already among royal draperies, the queen has laid
herself on a golden couch, and taken her place in the middle.
Now, Aeneas the father, and now the Trojan boy,
They are reunited, and the guests recline on sheets of purple.
Servants pour water on their hands, and they serve bread
from baskets, and bring in soft smooth-cut napkins.
Fifty serving-maids are within, whose task it is to arrange
The long feast in order, and keep the hearths aglow with fire.
A hundred more there are, with as many parts of like age,
To load-up the tables with silverware and set-out the cups.
The Tyrians, too, are gathered in throngs throughout the halls,
Summoned to recline on the embroidered couches,
They marvel at the gifts of Aeneas, they marvel at Iulus,
At the god’s glowing looks and well-feigned words,
And at the robe and the veil, embroidered with saffron acanthus.
Above all, the unlucky one, doomed to impending ruin,
Cannot satiate her soul, but takes fire as she gazes,
The Phoenician queen, thrilled alike by the boy and by the gifts.
He, when he has hung in embrace on Aeneas’ neck
And satisfied the deluded father’s deep love,
He goes to the queen. With her eyes, with all her heart
She clings to him and repeatedly fondles him in her lap, Poor Dido,
Knowing not how great a god settles there to her sorrow.
But he, mindful of his Acidalian mother, little by little
Begins to efface Sychaeus, and tempts with a living passion
To surprise her long-slumbering soul and her heart, unused to love.
When there first came a lull in the feasting, and with the tables cleared,
they set down great bowls and top-up the wine.
A din arises in the palace, and voices roll through the most spacious halls;
Lighted lamps hang down from the fretted roof of gold,
And flaming torches conquer the darkness of night.
Here, the queen called for a cup, heavy with gold and jewels,
And filled it full of red wine, a cup which Belus and all his line
Had been sorely wont to use; and then, with silence fallen through the hall:
“O Jupiter- for they say thou appointeth laws for host and guest alike--
grant that this be a day of joy for Tyrians and the voyagers from Troy,
and grant that our children will remember it well!
May Bacchus, giver of joy, be near; and bounteous Juno;
And may you, O Tyrians, grace this gathering with friendly spirits!”
She spoke, and onto the table poured forth a libation,
And, with the libation given, was first to touch the goblet to her lips,
Then, as a challenge she gave it to Bitias-- briskly he drained the
foaming cup, and drank-deep in the brimming gold;
Then the other lords proceeded (to drink). Long-haired Iopas,
once taught by mighty Atlas, makes the hall ring with his golden lyre.
He sang of the wandering moon and the sun’s toils;
Whence sprang the race of man and beast, whence rain and fire;
Of Arcturus, and rainy Hyades and the twin Bears of the north;
Of why wintery suns make such haste to dip themselves in Ocean,
Or what delay stays the slowly passing winter nights.
With shouts the Tyrians applaud him, and the Trojans follow suit.
No less did she prolong the night with varied talk--
O unlucky Dido-- and she was drinking deep draughts of love,
Asking much more about Priam, much more about Hector;
Now of the armor in which came the son of Dawn;
Now of the wondrous steeds of Diomedes, now of great Achilles.
“Nay— more! Tell us from the very beginning, my guest,” She said,
“Of the treachery of the Greeks, of the sad fate of your people,
and of your own wanderings; for already a seventh summer
bears you a wanderer over every land and every sea”