Aeneid

Virgil

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

  1. “Seed of the gods! who bringest to my shore
  2. thy Trojan city wrested from her foe,
  3. a stronghold everlasting, Latium's plain
  4. and fair Laurentum long have looked for thee.
  5. Here truly is thy home. Turn not away.
  6. Here the true guardians of thy hearth shall be.
  7. Fear not the gathering war. The wrath of Heaven
  8. has stilled its swollen wave. A sign I tell:
  9. Lest thou shouldst deem this message of thy sleep
  10. a vain, deluding dream, thou soon shalt find
  11. in the oak-copses on my margent green,
  12. a huge sow, with her newly-littered brood
  13. of thirty young; along the ground she lies,
  14. snow-white, and round her udders her white young.
  15. There shall thy city stand, and there thy toil
  16. shall find untroubled rest. After the lapse
  17. of thrice ten rolling years, Ascanius
  18. shall found a city there of noble name,
  19. White-City, Alba; 't is no dream I sing!
  20. But I instruct thee now by what wise way
  21. th' impending wars may bring thee victory:
  22. receive the counsel, though the words be few:
  23. within this land are men of Arcady,
  24. of Pallas' line, who, following in the train
  25. of King Evander and his men-at-arms,
  26. built them a city in the hills, and chose
  27. (honoring Pallas, their Pelasgian sire),
  28. the name of Pallanteum. They make war
  29. incessant with the Latins. Therefore call
  30. this people to thy side and bind them close
  31. in federated power. My channel fair
  32. and shaded shore shall guide thee where they dwell,
  33. and thy strong oarsmen on my waters borne
  34. shall mount my falling stream. Rise, goddess-born,
  35. and ere the starlight fade give honor due
  36. to Juno, and with supplicating vow
  37. avert her wrath and frown. But unto me
  38. make offering in thy victorious hour,
  39. in time to come. I am the copious flood
  40. which thou beholdest chafing at yon shores
  41. and parting fruitful fields: cerulean stream
  42. of Tiber, favored greatly of high Heaven.
  43. here shall arise my house magnificent,
  44. a city of all cities chief and crown.”