Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Then sovereign Juno, flushed with solemn scorn,
  2. made answer. “Dost thou bid me here profane
  3. the silence of my heart, and gossip forth
  4. of secret griefs? What will of god or man
  5. impelled Aeneas on his path of war,
  6. or made him foeman of the Latin King?
  7. Fate brought him to Italia? Be it so!
  8. Cassandra's frenzy he obeyed. What voice —
  9. say, was it mine?—urged him to quit his camp,
  10. risk life in storms, or trust his war, his walls,
  11. to a boy-captain, or stir up to strife
  12. Etruria's faithful, unoffending sons?
  13. What god, what pitiless behest of mine,
  14. impelled him to such harm? Who traces here
  15. the hand of Juno, or of Iris sped
  16. from heaven? Is it an ignoble stroke
  17. that Italy around the new-born Troy
  18. makes circling fire, and Turnus plants his heel
  19. on his hereditary earth, the son
  20. of old Pilumnus and the nymph divine,
  21. Venilia? For what offence would Troy
  22. bring sword and fire on Latium, or enslave
  23. lands of an alien name, and bear away
  24. plunder and spoil? Why seek they marriages,
  25. and snatch from arms of love the plighted maids?
  26. An olive-branch is in their hands; their ships
  27. make menace of grim steel. Thy power one day
  28. ravished Aeneas from his Argive foes,
  29. and gave them shape of cloud and fleeting air
  30. to strike at for a man. Thou hast transformed
  31. his ships to daughters of the sea. What wrong
  32. if I, not less, have lent the Rutuli
  33. something of strength in war? Aeneas, then,
  34. is far away and knows not! Far away
  35. let him remain, not knowing! If thou sway'st
  36. Cythera, Paphos, and Idalium,
  37. why rouse a city pregnant with loud wars,
  38. and fiery hearts provoke? That fading power
  39. of Phrygia, do I, forsooth, essay
  40. to ruin utterly? O, was it I
  41. exposed ill-fated Troy to Argive foe?
  42. For what offence in vast array of arms
  43. did Europe rise and Asia, for a rape
  44. their peace dissolving? Was it at my word
  45. th' adulterous Dardan shepherd came to storm
  46. the Spartan city? Did my hand supply
  47. his armament, or instigate a war
  48. for Cupid's sake? Then was thy decent hour
  49. to tremble for thy children; now too late
  50. the folly of thy long lament to Heaven,
  51. and objurgation vain.” Such Juno's plea;
  52. the throng of gods with voices loud or low
  53. gave various reply: as gathering winds
  54. sing through the tree-tops in dark syllables,
  55. and fling faint murmur on the far-off sea,
  56. to tell some pilot of to-morrow's storm.
  57. Then Jupiter omnipotent, whose hands
  58. have governance supreme, began reply;
  59. deep silence at his word Olympus knew,
  60. Earth's utmost cavern shook; the realms of light
  61. were silent; the mild zephyrs breathed no more,
  62. and perfect calm o'erspread the levelled sea.
  63. “Give ear, ye gods, and in your hearts record
  64. my mandate and decree. Fate yet allows
  65. no peace 'twixt Troy and Italy, nor bids
  66. your quarrel end. Therefore, what Chance this day
  67. to either foe shall bring, whatever hope
  68. either may cherish,—the Rutulian cause
  69. and Trojan have like favor in my eyes.
  70. The destinies of Italy constrain
  71. the siege; which for the fault of Troy fulfills
  72. an oracle of woe. Yon Rutule host
  73. I scatter not. But of his own attempt
  74. let each the triumph and the burden bear;
  75. for Jove is over all an equal King.
  76. The Fates will find the way.” The god confirmed
  77. his sentence by his Stygian brother's wave,
  78. the shadowy flood and black, abysmal shore.
  79. He nodded; at the bending of his brow
  80. Olympus shook. It is the council's end.
  81. Now from the golden throne uprises Jove;
  82. the train of gods attend him to the doors.