Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. So kindled he Alecto's wrath to flame;
  2. and even as he spoke a shudder thrilled
  3. the warrior's body, and his eyeballs stood
  4. stonily staring at the hydra hair
  5. which hissed and writhed above the grisly head
  6. of the large-looming fiend. With eyes of fire
  7. horribly rolling, she repelled him far,
  8. while he but faltered speechless. She upraised
  9. two coiling snakes out of her tresses, cracked
  10. the lashes of her scourge, and wrathfully,
  11. with raving lips replied: “Look well on me,
  12. gone to decay and dotage of old age!
  13. And mocked with foolish fear while kings contend!
  14. Wilt hearken now! Behold me, hither flown
  15. from where my sister-furies dwell! My hands
  16. bring bloody death and war.” She spoke, and hurled
  17. her firebrand at the hero, thrusting deep
  18. beneath his heart her darkly smouldering flame.
  19. Then horror broke his sleep, and fearful sweat
  20. dripped from his every limb. He shrieked aloud
  21. for arms; and seized the ready arms that lay
  22. around his couch and hall. Then o'er his soul
  23. the lust of battle and wild curse of war
  24. broke forth in angry power, as when the flames
  25. of faggots round the bubbling cauldron sing,
  26. and up the waters leap; the close-kept flood
  27. brims over, streaming, foaming, breaking bound,
  28. and flings thick clouds in air. He, summoning
  29. his chieftains, bade them on Latinus move,
  30. break peace, take arms, and, over Italy
  31. their shields extending, to thrust forth her foe:
  32. himself for Teucrian with Latin joined
  33. was more than match. He called upon the gods
  34. in witness of his vows: while, nothing loth,
  35. Rutulia's warriors rushed into array;
  36. some by his youth and noble beauty moved,
  37. some by his kingly sires and fame in arms.