Aeneid

Virgil

Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.

  1. Sidonian Dido felt her heart stand still
  2. when first she looked on him; and thrilled again
  3. to hear what vast adventure had befallen
  4. so great a hero. Thus she welcomed him:
  5. “What chance, O goddess-born, o'er danger's path
  6. impels? What power to this wild coast has borne?
  7. Art thou Aeneas, great Anchises' son,
  8. whom lovely Venus by the Phrygian stream
  9. of Simois brought forth unto the day?
  10. Now I bethink me of when Teucer came
  11. to Sidon, exiled, and of Belus' power
  12. desired a second throne. For Belus then,
  13. our worshipped sire, despoiled the teeming land
  14. of Cyprus, as its conqueror and king.
  15. And since that hour I oft have heard the tale
  16. of fallen Troy, of thine own noble name,
  17. and of Achaean kings. Teucer was wont,
  18. although their foe, to praise the Teucrian race,
  19. and boasted him of that proud lineage sprung.
  20. Therefore, behold, our portals are swung wide
  21. for all your company. I also bore
  22. hard fate like thine. I too was driven of storms
  23. and after long toil was allowed at last
  24. to call this land my home. O, I am wise
  25. in sorrow, and I help all suffering souls!”
  26. So saying, she bade Aeneas welcome take
  27. beneath her royal roof, and to the gods
  28. made sacrifice in temples, while she sent
  29. unto the thankful Trojans on the shore
  30. a score of bulls, and of huge, bristling swine,
  31. a herd of a whole hundred, and a flock
  32. of goodly lambs, a hundred, who ran close
  33. beside the mother-ewes: and all were given
  34. in joyful feast to please the Heavenly Powers.
  35. Her palace showed a monarch's fair array
  36. all glittering and proud, and feasts were spread
  37. within the ample court. Rich broideries
  38. hung deep incarnadined with Tyrian skill;
  39. the board had massy silver, gold-embossed,
  40. where gleamed the mighty deeds of all her sires,
  41. a graven chronicle of peace and war
  42. prolonged, since first her ancient line began,
  43. from royal sire to son.
  1. Aeneas now
  2. (for love in his paternal heart spoke loud
  3. and gave no rest) bade swift Achates run
  4. to tell Ascanius all, and from the ship
  5. to guide him upward to the town,—for now
  6. the father's whole heart for Ascanius yearned.
  7. And gifts he bade them bring, which had been saved
  8. in Ilium's fall: a richly broidered cloak
  9. heavy with golden emblems; and a veil
  10. by leaves of saffron lilies bordered round,
  11. which Argive Helen o'er her beauty threw,
  12. her mother Leda's gift most wonderful,
  13. and which to Troy she bore, when flying far
  14. in lawless wedlock from Mycenae's towers;
  15. a sceptre, too, once fair Ilione's,
  16. eldest of Priam's daughters; and round pearls
  17. strung in a necklace, and a double crown
  18. of jewels set in gold. These gifts to find,
  19. Achates to the tall ships sped away.
  1. But Cytherea in her heart revolved
  2. new wiles, new schemes: how Cupid should transform
  3. his countenance, and, coming in the guise
  4. of sweet Ascanius, still more inflame
  5. the amorous Queen with gifts, and deeply fuse
  6. through all her yielding frame his fatal fire.
  7. Sooth, Venus feared the many-languaged guile
  8. which Tyrians use; fierce Juno's hate she feared,
  9. and falling night renewed her sleepless care.
  10. Therefore to Love, the light-winged god, she said:
  11. “Sweet son, of whom my sovereignty and power
  12. alone are given! O son, whose smile may scorn
  13. the shafts of Jove whereby the Titans fell,
  14. to thee I fly, and humbly here implore
  15. thy help divine. Behold, from land to land
  16. Aeneas, thine own brother, voyages on
  17. storm-driven, by Juno's causeless enmity.
  18. Thou knowest it well, and oft hast sighed to see
  19. my sighs and tears. Dido the Tyrian now
  20. detains him with soft speeches; and I fear
  21. such courtesy from Juno means us ill;
  22. she is not one who, when the hour is ripe,
  23. bids action pause. I therefore now intend
  24. the Tyrian Queen to snare, and siege her breast
  25. with our invading fire, before some god
  26. shall change her mood. But let her bosom burn
  27. with love of my Aeneas not less than mine.
  28. This thou canst bring to pass. I pray thee hear
  29. the plan I counsel. At his father's call
  30. Ascanius, heir of kings, makes haste to climb
  31. to yon Sidonian citadel; my grace
  32. protects him, and he bears gifts which were saved
  33. from hazard of the sea and burning Troy.
  34. Him lapped in slumber on Cythera's hill,
  35. or in Idalia's deep and hallowing shade,
  36. myself will hide, lest haply he should learn
  37. our stratagem, and burst in, foiling all.
  38. Wear thou his shape for one brief night thyself,
  39. and let thy boyhood feign another boy's
  40. familiar countenance; when Dido there,
  41. beside the royal feast and flowing wine,
  42. all smiles and joy, shall clasp thee to her breast
  43. while she caresses thee, and her sweet lips
  44. touch close with thine, then let thy secret fire
  45. breathe o'er her heart, to poison and betray.”
  46. The love-god to his mother's dear behest
  47. gave prompt assent. He put his pinions by
  48. and tripped it like Iulus, light of heart.
  49. But Venus o'er Ascanius' body poured
  50. a perfect sleep, and, to her heavenly breast
  51. enfolding him, far, far away upbore
  52. to fair Idalia's grove, where fragrant buds
  53. of softly-petalled marjoram embower
  54. in pleasurable shade.