Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. As thus he prayed and to the altars clung,
  2. th' Omnipotent gave ear, and turned his gaze
  3. upon the royal dwelling, where for love
  4. the amorous pair forgot their place and name.
  5. Then thus to Mercury he gave command:
  6. “Haste thee, my son, upon the Zephyrs call,
  7. and take thy winged way! My mandate bear
  8. unto that prince of Troy who tarries now
  9. in Tyrian Carthage, heedless utterly
  10. of empire Heaven-bestowed. On winged winds
  11. hasten with my decrees. Not such the man
  12. his beauteous mother promised; not for this
  13. twice did she shield him from the Greeks in arms:
  14. but that he might rule Italy, a land
  15. pregnant with thrones and echoing with war;
  16. that he of Teucer's seed a race should sire,
  17. and bring beneath its law the whole wide world.
  18. If such a glory and event supreme
  19. enkindle not his bosom; if such task
  20. to his own honor speak not; can the sire
  21. begrudge Ascanius the heritage
  22. of the proud name of Rome? What plans he now?
  23. What mad hope bids him linger in the lap
  24. of enemies, considering no more
  25. the land Lavinian and Ausonia's sons.
  26. Let him to sea! Be this our final word:
  27. this message let our herald faithful bear.”