Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. Soon as the morrow with the lamp of dawn
  2. looked o'er the world, they took their separate ways,
  3. exploring shore and towns; here spread the pools
  4. and fountain of Numicius; here they see
  5. the river Tiber, where bold Latins dwell.
  6. Anchises' son chose out from his brave band
  7. a hundred envoys, bidding them depart
  8. to the King's sacred city, each enwreathed
  9. with Pallas' silver leaf; and gifts they bear
  10. to plead for peace and friendship at his throne.
  11. While on this errand their swift steps are sped,
  12. Aeneas, by a shallow moat and small,
  13. his future city shows, breaks ground, and girds
  14. with mound and breastwork like a camp of war
  15. the Trojans' first abode. Soon, making way
  16. to where the Latin citadel uprose,
  17. the envoys scanned the battlements, and paused
  18. beneath its wall. Outside the city gates
  19. fair youths and striplings in life's early bloom
  20. course with swift steeds, or steer through dusty cloud
  21. the whirling chariot, or stretch stout bows,
  22. or hurl the seasoned javelin, or strive
  23. in boxing-bout and foot-race: one of these
  24. made haste on horseback to the aged King,
  25. with tidings of a stranger company
  26. in foreign garb approaching. The good King
  27. bade call them to his house, and took his seat
  28. in mid-court on his high, ancestral throne.