Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Now Jupiter to Juno thus began:
  2. “O ever-cherished spouse and sister dear,
  3. surely 't is Venus—as thy mind misgave—
  4. whose favor props—O, what discernment thine!
  5. Yon Trojan power; not swift heroic hands,
  6. or souls of fury facing perilous war!”
  7. Juno made meek reply: “O noblest spouse!
  8. Why vex one sick at heart, who humbly fears
  9. thy stern command? If I could claim to-day
  10. what once I had, my proper right and due,
  11. love's induence, I should not plead in vain
  12. to thee, omnipotent, to give me power
  13. to lead off Turnus from the fight unscathed,
  14. and save him at his father Daunus' prayer.
  15. Aye, let him die! And with his loyal blood
  16. the Teucrians' vengeance feed! Yet he derives
  17. from our Saturnian stem, by fourth remove
  18. sprung from Pilumnus. Oft his liberal hands
  19. have heaped unstinted offering at thy shrine.”
  20. Thus in few words th' Olympian King replied:
  21. “If for the fated youth thy prayer implores
  22. delay and respite of impending doom,
  23. if but so far thou bidst me interpose,—
  24. go—favor Turnus' flight, and keep him safe
  25. in this imperilled hour; I may concede
  26. such boon. But if thy pleading words intend
  27. some larger grace, and fain would touch or change
  28. the issue of the war, then art thou fed
  29. on expectation vain.” With weeping eyes
  30. Juno made answer: “Can it be thy mind
  31. gives what thy words refuse, and Turnus' life,
  32. if rescued, may endure? Yet afterward
  33. some cruel close his guiltless day shall see—
  34. or far from truth I stray! O, that I were
  35. the dupe of empty fears! and O, that thou
  36. wouldst but refashion to some happier end
  37. the things by thee begun—for thou hast power!”
  1. She ceased; and swiftly from the peak of heaven
  2. moved earthward, trailing cloud-wrack through the air,
  3. and girdled with the storm. She took her way
  4. to where Troy's warriors faced Laurentum's line.
  5. There of a hollow cloud the goddess framed
  6. a shape of airy, unsubstantial shade,
  7. Aeneas' image, wonderful to see,
  8. and decked it with a Dardan lance and shield,
  9. a crested helmet on the godlike head;
  10. and windy words she gave of soulless sound,
  11. and motion like a stride—such shapes, they say,
  12. the hovering phantoms of the dead put on,
  13. or empty dreams which cheat our slumbering eyes.
  14. Forth to the front of battle this vain shade
  15. stalked insolent, and with its voice and spear
  16. challenged the warrior. At it Turnus flew,
  17. and hurled a hissing spear with distant aim;
  18. the thing wheeled round and fled. The foe forthwith,
  19. thinking Aeneas vanquished, with blind scorn
  20. flattered his own false hope: “Where wilt thou fly,
  21. Aeneas? Wilt thou break a bridegroom's word?
  22. This sword will give thee title to some land
  23. thou hast sailed far to find!” So clamoring loud
  24. he followed, flashing far his naked sword;
  25. nor saw the light winds waft his dream away.