Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. The Trojans, with exultant, Ioud acclaim,
  2. receive the shy-faced boys, and joyfully
  3. trace in the features of the sons their sires.
  4. After, with smiling eyes, the horsemen proud
  5. have greeted each his kin in all the throng,
  6. Epytides th' appointed signal calls,
  7. and cracks his lash; in even lines they move,
  8. then, Ioosely sundering in triple band,
  9. wheel at a word and thrust their lances forth
  10. in hostile ranks; or on the ample field
  11. retreat or charge, in figure intricate
  12. of circling troop with troop, and swift parade
  13. of simulated war; now from the field
  14. they flee with backs defenceless to the foe;
  15. then rally, lance in rest—or, mingling all,
  16. make common front, one legion strong and fair.
  17. As once in Crete, the lofty mountain-isle,
  18. that-fabled labyrinthine gallery
  19. wound on through lightless walls, with thousand paths
  20. which baffled every clue, and led astray
  21. in unreturning mazes dark and blind:
  22. so did the sons of Troy their courses weave
  23. in mimic flights and battles fought for play,
  24. like dolphins tumbling in the liquid waves,
  25. along the Afric or Carpathian seas.
  26. This game and mode of march Ascanius,
  27. when Alba Longa's bastions proudly rose,
  28. taught to the Latin people of the prime;
  29. and as the princely Trojan and his train
  30. were wont to do, so Alba to her sons
  31. the custom gave; so glorious Rome at last
  32. the heritage accepted and revered;
  33. and still we know them for the “Trojan Band,”
  34. and call the lads a “Troy.” Such was the end
  35. of game and contest at Anchises' grave.