Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Meanwhile the Trojans on the doleful shore
  2. Bewailed Misenus, and brought tribute there
  3. Of grief's last gift to his unheeding clay.
  4. First, of the full-sapped pine and well-hewn oak
  5. A lofty pyre they build; then sombre boughs
  6. Around it wreathe, and in fair order range
  7. Funereal cypress; glittering arms are piled
  8. High over all; on blazing coals they lift
  9. Cauldrons of brass brimmed o'er with waters pure;
  10. And that cold, lifeless clay lave and anoint
  11. With many a moan and cry; on their last couch
  12. The poor, dead limbs they lay, and mantle o'er
  13. With purple vesture and familiar pall.
  14. Then in sad ministry the chosen few,
  15. With eyes averted, as our sires did use,
  16. Hold the enkindling torch beneath the pyre :
  17. They gather up and burn the gifts of myrrh,
  18. The sacred bread and bowls of flowing oil;
  19. And when in flame the dying embers fall,
  20. On thirsty ash they pour the streams of wine.
  21. Good Corynaeus, in an urn of brass
  22. The gathered relics hides; and three times round,
  23. With blessed olive branch and sprinkling dew,
  24. Purges the people with ablution cold,
  25. In lustral rite; oft chanting, “Hail! Farewell!”
  26. Faithful Aeneas for his comrade built
  27. A mighty tomb, and dedicated there
  28. Trophy of arms, with trumpet and with oar,
  29. Beneath a windy hill, which now is called
  30. “Misenus,”—for all time the name to bear.