Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Aurora's first young beams to earth were pouring
  2. as from Tithonus' saffron bed she sprang;
  3. while from her battlements the wakeful Queen
  4. watched the sky brighten, saw the mated sails
  5. push forth to sea, till all her port and strand
  6. held not an oar or keel. Thrice and four times
  7. she smote her lovely breast with wrathful hand,
  8. and tore her golden hair. “Great Jove,” she cries,
  9. “Shall that departing fugitive make mock
  10. of me, a queen? Will not my men-at-arms
  11. draw sword, give chase, from all my city thronging?
  12. Down from the docks, my ships! Out, out! Begone!
  13. Take fire and sword! Bend to your oars, ye slaves!
  14. What have I said? Where am I? What mad thoughts
  15. delude this ruined mind? Woe unto thee,
  16. thou wretched Dido, now thy impious deeds
  17. strike back upon thee. Wherefore struck they not,
  18. as was most fit, when thou didst fling away
  19. thy sceptre from thy hand? O Iying oaths!
  20. O faith forsworn! of him who brings, they boast,
  21. his father's gods along, and bowed his back
  22. to lift an age-worn sire! Why dared I not
  23. seize on him, rend his body limb from limb,
  24. and hurl him piecemeal on the rolling sea?
  25. Or put his troop of followers to the sword,
  26. ascanius too, and set his flesh before
  27. that father for a feast? Such fearful war
  28. had been of doubtful issue. Be it so!
  29. What fears a woman dying? Would I had
  30. attacked their camp with torches, kindled flame
  31. from ship to ship, until that son and sire,
  32. with that whole tribe, were unto ashes burned
  33. in one huge holocaust—myself its crown!
  34. Great orb of light whose holy beam surveys
  35. all earthly deeds! Great Juno, patroness
  36. of conjugal distress, who knowest all!
  37. Pale Hecate, whose name the witches cry
  38. at midnight crossways! O avenging furies!
  39. O gods that guard Queen Dido's dying breath!
  40. Give ear, and to my guiltless misery
  41. extend your power. Hear me what I pray!
  42. If it be fated that yon creature curst
  43. drift to the shore and happy haven find,
  44. if Father Iove's irrevocable word
  45. such goal decree—there may he be assailed
  46. by peoples fierce and bold. A banished man,
  47. from his Iulus' kisses sundered far,
  48. may his own eyes see miserably slain
  49. his kin and kind, and sue for alien arms.
  50. nor when he basely bows him to receive
  51. terms of unequal peace, shall he be blest
  52. with sceptre or with life; but perish there
  53. before his time, and lie without a grave
  54. upon the barren sand. For this I pray.
  55. This dying word is flowing from my heart
  56. with my spilt blood. And—O ye Tyrians! I
  57. sting with your hatred all his seed and tribe
  58. forevermore. This is the offering
  59. my ashes ask. Betwixt our nations twain,
  60. No Iove! No truce or amity! Arise,
  61. Out of my dust, unknown Avenger, rise!
  62. To harry and lay waste with sword and flame
  63. those Dardan settlers, and to vex them sore,
  64. to-day, to-morrow, and as long as power
  65. is thine to use! My dying curse arrays
  66. shore against shore and the opposing seas
  67. in shock of arms with arms. May living foes
  68. pass down from sire to son insatiate war!”