Aeneid
Virgil
Vergil. The Aeneid of Virgil. Williams, Theodore, C, translator. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1910.
- “Hark now! for of the glories I will tell
- That wait our Dardan blood; of our sons' sons
- Begot upon the old Italian breed,
- Who shall be mighty spirits, and prolong
- Our names, their heritage. I will unfold
- The story, and reveal the destined years.
- Yon princeling, thou beholdest leaning there
- Upon a royal lance, shall next emerge
- Into the realms of day. He is the first
- Of half-Italian strain, the last-born heir
- To thine old age by fair Lavinia given,
- Called Silvius, a royal Alban name
- (Of sylvan birth and sylvan nurture he),
- A king himself and sire of kings to come,
- By whom our race in Alba Longa reign.
- Next Procas stands, our Trojan people's boast;
- Capys and Numitor, and, named like thee,
- Aeneas Sylvius, like thee renowned
- For faithful honor and for deeds of war,
- When he ascends at last his Alban throne.
- Behold what warrior youth they be! How strong
- Their goodly limbs! Above their shaded brows
- The civic oak they wear! For thee they build
- Nomentum, and the walls of Gabii,
- Fidena too, and on the mountains pile
- Collatia's citadels, Pometii,
- Bola and Cora, Castrum-Inui—
- Such be the names the nameless lands shall bear.
- See, in that line of sires the son of Mars,
- Great Romulus, of Ilian mother born,
- From far-descended line of Trojan kings!
- See from his helm the double crest uprear,
- While his celestial father in his mien
- Shows forth his birth divine! Of him, my son,
- Great Rome shall rise, and, favored of his star,
- Have power world-wide, and men of godlike mind.
- She clasps her seven hills in single wall,
- Proud mother of the brave! So Cybele,
- The Berecynthian goddess, castle-crowned,
- On through the Phrygian kingdoms speeds her car,
- Exulting in her hundred sons divine,
- All numbered with the gods, all throned on high.
- “Let now thy visionary glance look long
- On this thy race, these Romans that be thine.
- Here Caesar, of Iulus' glorious seed,
- Behold ascending to the world of light!
- Behold, at last, that man, for this is he,
- So oft unto thy listening ears foretold,
- Augustus Caesar, kindred unto Jove.
- He brings a golden age; he shall restore
- Old Saturn's sceptre to our Latin land,
- And o'er remotest Garamant and Ind
- His sway extend; the fair dominion
- outruns th' horizon planets, yea, beyond
- The sun's bright path, where Atlas' shoulder bears
- Yon dome of heaven set thick with burning stars.
- Against his coming the far Caspian shores
- Break forth in oracles; the Maeotian land
- Trembles, and all the seven-fold mouths of Nile.
- Not o'er domain so wide Alcides passed,
- Although the brazen-footed doe he slew
- And stilled the groves of Erymanth, and bade
- The beast of Lerna at his arrows quail.
- Nor half so far triumphant Baechus drove,
- With vine-entwisted reins, his frolic team
- Of tigers from the tall-topped Indian hill.
- “Still do we doubt if heroes' deeds can fill
- A realm so wide? Shall craven fear constrain
- Thee or thy people from Ausonia's shore?
- Look, who is he I may discern from far
- By olive-branch and holy emblems known?
- His flowing locks and hoary beard, behold!
- Fit for a Roman king! By hallowed laws
- He shall found Rome anew—from mean estate
- In lowly Cures led to mightier sway.
- But after him arises one whose reign
- Shall wake the land from slumber: Tullus then
- Shall stir slack chiefs to battle, rallying
- His hosts which had forgot what triumphs be.
- Him boastful Ancus follows hard upon,
- o'erflushed with his light people's windy praise.
- Wilt thou see Tarquins now? And haughty hand
- Of vengeful Brutus seize the signs of power?
- He first the consul's name shall take; he first
- Th' inexorable fasces sternly bear.
- When his own sons in rash rebellion join,
- The father and the judge shall sentence give
- In beauteous freedom's cause—unhappy he!
- Howe'er the age to come the story tell,
- 't will bless such love of honor and of Rome.
- See Decius, sire and son, the Drusi, see!
- Behold Torquatus with his axe! Look where
- Camillus brings the Gallic standards home!
- “But who are these in glorious armor clad
- And equal power? In this dark world of cloud
- Their souls in concord move;—but woe is me!
- What duel 'twixt them breaks, when by and by
- The light of life is theirs, and forth they call
- Their long-embattled lines to carnage dire!
- Allied by nuptial truce, the sire descends
- From Alpine rampart and that castled cliff,
- Monoecus by the sea; the son arrays
- His hostile legions in the lands of morn.
- Forbear, my children! School not your great souls
- In such vast wars, nor turn your giant strength
- Against the bowels of your native land!
- But be thou first, 0 first in mercy! thou
- Who art of birth Olympian! Fling away
- Thy glorious sword, mine offspring and mine heir!
- “Yonder is one whose chariot shall ascend
- The laurelled Capitolian steep; he rides
- In glory o'er Achaea's hosts laid low,
- And Corinth overthrown. There, too, is he
- Who shall uproot proud Argos and the towers
- Of Agamemnon; vanquishing the heir
- Even of Aeacus, the warrior seed
- Of Peleus' son; such vengeance shall be wrought
- For Troy's slain sires, and violated shrines!
- “Or who could fail great Cato's name to tell?
- Or, Cossus, thine? or in oblivion leave
- The sons of Gracchus? or the Scipios,
- Twin thunderbolts of war, and Libya's bane?
- Or, more than kingly in his mean abode,
- Fabricius? or Serranus at the plough?
- Ye Fabii, how far would ye prolong
- My weary praise? But see! 'T is Maximus,
- Who by wise waiting saves his native land.
- “Let others melt and mould the breathing bronze
- To forms more fair,—aye! out of marble bring
- Features that live; let them plead causes well;
- Or trace with pointed wand the cycled heaven,
- And hail the constellations as they rise;
- But thou, 0 Roman, learn with sovereign sway
- To rule the nations. Thy great art shall be
- To keep the world in lasting peace, to spare
- humbled foe, and crush to earth the proud.”
- So did Anchises speak, then, after pause,
- Thus to their wondering ears his word prolonged:
- “Behold Marcellus, bright with glorious spoil,
- In lifted triumph through his warriors move!
- The Roman power in tumultuous days
- He shall establish; he rides forth to quell
- Afric and rebel Gaul; and to the shrine
- Of Romulus the third-won trophy brings.”
- Then spoke Aeneas, for he now could see
- A beauteous youth in glittering dress of war,
- Though of sad forehead and down-dropping eyes:
- “Say, father, who attends the prince? a son?
- Or of his greatness some remoter heir?
- How his friends praise him, and how matchless he!
- But mournful night Tests darkly o'er his brow.”
- With brimming eyes Anchises answer gave:
- “Ask not, 0 son, what heavy weight of woe
- Thy race shall bear, when fate shall just reveal
- This vision to the world, then yield no more.
- 0 gods above, too glorious did ye deem
- The seed of Rome, had this one gift been sure?
- The lamentation of a multitude
- Arises from the field of Mars, and strikes
- The city's heart. 0 Father Tiber, see
- What pomp of sorrow near the new-made tomb
- Beside thy fleeting stream! What Ilian youth
- Shall e'er his Latin kindred so advance
- In hope of glory? When shall the proud land
- Of Romulus of such a nursling boast?
- Ah, woe' is me! 0 loyal heart and true!
- 0 brave, right arm invincible! What foe
- Had 'scaped his onset in the shock of arms,
- Whether on foot he strode, or if he spurred
- The hot flanks of his war-horse flecked with foam?
- 0 lost, lamented child! If thou evade
- Thy evil star, Marcellus thou shalt be.
- 0 bring me lilies! Bring with liberal hand!
- Sad purple blossoms let me throw—the shade
- Of my own kin to honor, heaping high
- My gifts upon his grave! So let me pay
- An unavailing vow!”
- Then, far and wide
- Through spacious fields of air, they wander free,
- Witnessing all; Anchises guides his son
- From point to point, and quickens in his mind
- Hunger for future fame. Of wars he tells
- Soon imminent; of fair Laurentum's tribes;
- Of King Latinus' town; and shows what way
- Each task and hardship to prevent, or bear.
- Now Sleep has portals twain, whereof the one
- Is horn, they say, and easy exit gives
- To visions true; the other, gleaming white
- With polished ivory, the.dead employ
- To people night with unsubstantial dreams.
- Here now Anchises bids his son farewell;
- And with Sibylla, his companion sage,
- Up through that ivory portal lets him rise.
- Back to his fleet and his dear comrades all
- Aeneas hastes.Then hold they their straight course
- Into Caieta's bay. An anchor holds
- Each lofty prow; the sterns stand firm on shore.
- One more immortal name thy death bequeathed,
- Nurse of Aeneas, to Italian shores,
- Caieta; there thy honor hath a home;
- Thy bones a name: and on Hesperia's breast
- Their proper glory.When Aeneas now
- The tribute of sepulchral vows had paid
- Beside the funeral mound, and o'er the seas
- Stillness had fallen, he flung forth his sails,
- And leaving port pursued his destined way.
- Freshly the night-winds breathe; the cloudless moon
- Outpours upon his path unstinted beam,
- And with far-trembling glory smites the sea.
- Close to the lands of Circe soon they fare,
- Where the Sun's golden daughter in far groves
- Sounds forth her ceaseless song; her lofty hall
- Is fragrant every night with flaring brands
- Of cedar, giving light the while she weaves
- With shrill-voiced shuttle at her linens fine.
- From hence are heard the loud lament and wrath
- Of lions, rebels to their linked chains
- And roaring all night long; great bristly boars
- And herded bears, in pinfold closely kept,
- Rage horribly, and monster-wolves make moan;
- Whom the dread goddess with foul juices strong
- From forms of men drove forth, and bade to wear
- the mouths and maws of beasts in Circe's thrall.
- But lest the sacred Trojans should endure
- such prodigy of doom, or anchor there
- on that destroying shore, kind Neptune filled
- their sails with winds of power, and sped them on
- in safety past the perils of that sea.
- Now morning flushed the wave, and saffron-garbed
- Aurora from her rose-red chariot beamed
- in highest heaven; the sea-winds ceased to stir;
- a sudden calm possessed the air, and tides
- of marble smoothness met the laboring oar.
- Then, gazing from the deep, Aeneas saw
- a stretch of groves, whence Tiber's smiling stream,
- its tumbling current rich with yellow sands,
- burst seaward forth: around it and above
- shore-haunting birds of varied voice and plume
- flattered the sky with song, and, circling far
- o'er river-bed and grove, took joyful wing.
- Thither to landward now his ships he steered,
- and sailed, high-hearted, up the shadowy stream.
- Hail, Erato! while olden kings and thrones
- and all their sequent story I unfold!
- How Latium's honor stood, when alien ships
- brought war to Italy, and from what cause
- the primal conflict sprang, O goddess, breathe
- upon thy bard in song. Dread wars I tell,
- array of battle, and high-hearted kings
- thrust forth to perish, when Etruria's host
- and all Hesperia gathered to the fray.
- Events of grander march impel my song,
- and loftier task I try. Latinus, then
- an aged king, held long-accepted sway
- o'er tranquil vales and towns. He was the son
- of Faunus, so the legend tells, who wed
- the nymph Marica of Laurentian stem.
- Picus was Faunus' father, whence the line
- to Saturn's Ioins ascends. O heavenly sire,
- from thee the stem began! But Fate had given
- to King Latinus' body no heirs male:
- for taken in the dawning of his day
- his only son had been; and now his home
- and spacious palace one sole daughter kept,
- who was grown ripe to wed and of full age
- to take a husband. Many suitors tried
- from all Ausonia and Latium's bounds;
- but comeliest in all their princely throng
- came Turnus, of a line of mighty sires.
- Him the queen mother chiefly loved, and yearned
- to call him soon her son. But omens dire
- and menaces from Heaven withstood her will.
- A laurel-tree grew in the royal close,
- of sacred leaf and venerated age,
- which, when he builded there his wall and tower,
- Father Latinus found, and hallowed it
- to Phoebus' grace and power, wherefrom the name
- Laurentian, which his realm and people bear.
- Unto this tree-top, wonderful to tell,
- came hosts of bees, with audible acclaim
- voyaging the stream of air, and seized a place
- on the proud, pointing crest, where the swift swarm,
- with interlacement of close-clinging feet,
- swung from the leafy bough. “Behold, there comes,”
- the prophet cried, “a husband from afar!
- To the same region by the self-same path
- behold an arm'd host taking lordly sway
- upon our city's crown!” Soon after this,
- when, coming to the shrine with torches pure,
- Lavinia kindled at her father's side
- the sacrifice, swift seemed the flame to burn
- along her flowing hair—O sight of woe!
- Over her broidered snood it sparkling flew,
- lighting her queenly tresses and her crown
- of jewels rare: then, wrapt in flaming cloud,
- from hall to hall the fire-god's gift she flung.
- This omen dread and wonder terrible
- was rumored far: for prophet-voices told
- bright honors on the virgin's head to fall
- by Fate's decree, but on her people, war.