Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Then Aeolus: “'T is thy sole task, O Queen,
  2. to weigh thy wish and will. My fealty
  3. thy high behest obeys. This humble throne
  4. is of thy gift. Thy smiles for me obtain
  5. authority from Jove. Thy grace concedes
  6. my station at your bright Olympian board,
  7. and gives me lordship of the darkening storm.”
  1. Replying thus, he smote with spear reversed
  2. the hollow mountain's wall; then rush the winds
  3. through that wide breach in long, embattled line,
  4. and sweep tumultuous from land to land:
  5. with brooding pinions o'er the waters spread,
  6. east wind and south, and boisterous Afric gale
  7. upturn the sea; vast billows shoreward roll;
  8. the shout of mariners, the creak of cordage,
  9. follow the shock; low-hanging clouds conceal
  10. from Trojan eyes all sight of heaven and day;
  11. night o'er the ocean broods; from sky to sky
  12. the thunders roll, the ceaseless lightnings glare;
  13. and all things mean swift death for mortal man.
  14. Straightway Aeneas, shuddering with amaze,
  15. groaned loud, upraised both holy hands to Heaven,
  16. and thus did plead: “O thrice and four times blest,
  17. ye whom your sires and whom the walls of Troy
  18. looked on in your last hour! O bravest son
  19. Greece ever bore, Tydides! O that I
  20. had fallen on Ilian fields, and given this life
  21. struck down by thy strong hand! where by the spear
  22. of great Achilles, fiery Hector fell,
  23. and huge Sarpedon; where the Simois
  24. in furious flood engulfed and whirled away
  25. so many helms and shields and heroes slain!”