Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. So saying, she stirred a passion-burning breast
  2. to Iove more madly still; her words infused
  3. a doubting mind with hope, and bade the blush
  4. of shame begone. First to the shrines they went
  5. and sued for grace; performing sacrifice,
  6. choosing an offering of unblemished ewes,
  7. to law-bestowing Ceres, to the god
  8. of light, to sire Lyeus, Iord of wine;
  9. but chiefly unto Juno, patroness
  10. of nuptial vows. There Dido, beauteous Queen
  11. held forth in her right hand the sacred bowl
  12. and poured it full between the lifted horns
  13. of the white heifer; or on temple floors
  14. she strode among the richly laden shrines,
  15. the eyes of gods upon her, worshipping
  16. with many a votive gift; or, peering deep
  17. into the victims' cloven sides, she read
  18. the fate-revealing tokens trembling there.
  19. How blind the hearts of prophets be! Alas!
  20. Of what avail be temples and fond prayers
  21. to change a frenzied mind? Devouring ever,
  22. love's fire burns inward to her bones; she feels
  23. quick in her breast the viewless, voiceless wound.
  24. Ill-fated Dido ranges up and down
  25. the spaces of her city, desperate
  26. her life one flame—like arrow-stricken doe
  27. through Cretan forest rashly wandering,
  28. pierced by a far-off shepherd, who pursues
  29. with shafts, and leaves behind his light-winged steed,
  30. not knowing; while she scours the dark ravines
  31. of Dicte and its woodlands; at her heart
  32. the mortal barb irrevocably clings.
  33. around her city's battlements she guides
  34. aeneas, to make show of Sidon's gold,
  35. and what her realm can boast; full oft her voice
  36. essays to speak and frembling dies away:
  37. or, when the daylight fades, she spreads anew
  38. a royal banquet, and once more will plead
  39. mad that she is, to hear the Trojan sorrow;
  40. and with oblivious ravishment once more
  41. hangs on his lips who tells; or when her guests
  42. are scattered, and the wan moon's fading horn
  43. bedims its ray, while many a sinking star
  44. invites to slumber, there she weeps alone
  45. in the deserted hall, and casts her down
  46. on the cold couch he pressed. Her love from far
  47. beholds her vanished hero and receives
  48. his voice upon her ears; or to her breast,
  49. moved by a father's image in his child,
  50. she clasps Ascanius, seeking to deceive
  51. her unblest passion so. Her enterprise
  52. of tower and rampart stops: her martial host
  53. no Ionger she reviews, nor fashions now
  54. defensive haven and defiant wall;
  55. but idly all her half-built bastions frown,
  56. and enginery of sieges, high as heaven.