THE

AENEID

THE

AENEID

VERGIL

REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION

TRANSLATED BY

SARAH RUDEN

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

SUSANNA BRAUND

NOTES AND GLOSSARY BY

SUSANNA BRAUND AND EMMA HILLIARD

Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of James Wesley Cooper of the Class of 1865, Yale College.

Copyright © 2021 by Sarah Ruden and Susanna Braund.

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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sarah Ruden

INTRODUCTION

Susanna Braund

BOOK 1

BOOK 2

BOOK 3

BOOK 4

BOOK 5

BOOK 6

BOOK 7

BOOK 8

BOOK 9

BOOK 10

BOOK 11

BOOK 12

GLOSSARY

FURTHER READING

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sarah Ruden

I cannot fully express my gratitude to the scholarly editor of this second edition, Susanna Braund of the University of British Columbia. She patiently and expertly guided me in all the revisions, wrote the very useful new introduction, and supervised the composition of the footnotes and glossary. On behalf of Susanna and myself as well, I thank her superb collaborator, Emma Hilliard.

I also thank John Kulka, the editorial champion of the first edition at Yale University Press, and Jennifer Banks, the champion of this present one there. My heroic literary agent, Gail Hochman, worked hard and ingeniously to make the second edition a reality. The virtuoso manuscript editor Susan Laity has been, as always, a pillar of kindness and encouragement as well as of knowledge and diligence.

My two early inspirations for reading Vergil, David O. Ross at the University of Michigan and Richard Thomas at Harvard, deserve credit for any foundation of research and insight evident in my work, whereas any weaknesses are mine.

The Latin text and the commentary I have used since the start of translating the Aeneid for publication are those of R. D. Williams in The “Aeneid” of Virgil (London: Macmillan, 1972).

INTRODUCTION

Susanna Braund

Vergil’s Aeneid is the greatest poem ever composed in the Latin language. This epic in twelve books is beautiful, complex, and profound. That makes it hard to translate. In this introduction to Sarah Ruden’s revised version of her wonderful translation, which achieves a rare fidelity to the original, I shall discuss why Vergil’s poem has been crucial for Western culture, why it remains important today, and what are some of the challenges it presents to the translator.

VERGIL AND HIS POEM

The poet Vergil—his full Latin name was Publius Vergilius Maro—was born on 15 October 70 BCE and died on 21 September 19 BCE. His birthplace was the city of Mantua in what is now the north of Italy but which was at that time part of Cisalpine Gaul (Gaul on This Side of the Alps). He attended school in nearby Cremona and at the age of fifteen went to Rome to study rhetoric. From his late teens he moved in a circle of Epicureans based at Naples. In his early thirties he was taken up by Gaius Maecenas, who was a close associate of Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) in matters both political and cultural. Vergil was one of several poets, including Horace and Propertius, advanced by Maecenas’ patronage, and through Maecenas Vergil was introduced to Octavian. Both Maecenas and Octavian feature in his poems.

Vergil produced three poetic works which have remained central to the European literary canon. His collection of ten bucolic poems, Eclogues, was published, after three years of work, probably around 39 BCE, and his poem about how humans work the earth, Georgics, after seven years of work, in 29. He devoted eleven years to his twelve-book epic the Aeneid, but it was unfinished at his death. The ancient biographies state that Vergil planned to devote three years to polishing the poem while traveling in Greece and Asia, but he altered this plan when he met Augustus in Athens as Augustus was returning from the East to Rome. Vergil decided to travel back with Augustus but died of sunstroke at Brundisium (modern Brindisi) and is said to have been buried just outside Naples. The story that he left instructions to burn the Aeneid may be apocryphal; perhaps more secure is the suggestion that he instructed his literary executors not to publish anything he had himself not revised. We are told that this stipulation was overruled by Augustus and that the Aeneid was only lightly revised when it was published. Certainly there are several signs, including more than fifty incomplete lines, that it was unfinished at Vergil’s premature death.

The Aeneid tells the story of the foundation of Rome by colonists from the East, refugees from the city of Troy in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) after it was sacked by the Greeks at the end of the ten-year Trojan War, an event to which scholars traditionally assign the date 1184 BCE. Following divine instructions, the Trojan refugees along with their native gods are led by the prince Aeneas here and there throughout the Mediterranean, seeking the right place to settle. After several mistakes and misstarts, including Aeneas’ necessary but risky stay on the coast of North Africa with Dido, queen of Carthage, and his visit to the Underworld to meet with his recently deceased father, the survivors arrive in the “promised land” of “Hesperia” (literally, “the West”), namely, Italy. Here they encounter indigenous peoples who oppose their settlement, as well as Greeks who become their allies. Vergil depicts an exciting and at times desperate series of military clashes and maneuvers that eventually lead to the Trojans’ supremacy, but not before the indigenous peoples have demonstrated their military mettle. By the end of the poem the hero Aeneas has defeated Turnus, the leader of the native Rutulians, in single combat, and it has been decreed by Jupiter, who is the voice of Fate, that he will marry Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, king of the native Latins, and establish a settlement that, centuries in the future, will be the genesis of the Roman race. The goddess Juno, who has opposed the Trojans from the very start of the poem, is finally reconciled to this outcome by Jupiter’s concession that the Trojans and Latins will blend together and that the Latins will keep their name, language, and customs.

The trajectory of the Aeneid, which is Vergil’s own version of a well-established but still fluid myth (Aeneas is depicted as early as in Homer’s Iliad), is announced in the opening seven lines of the poem:

Arms and a man I sing, the first from Troy,

A fated exile to Lavinian shores

In Italy. On land and sea divine force

Shook him, through ruthless Juno’s brooding rage.

War racked him too, until he set his city

And gods in Latium. There his Latin race rose,

With Alban patriarchs, and high Rome’s walls.

The main story covers just one year in Aeneas’ life, and it does not see him establish his promised city. But through the use of flashbacks to past events and prophecies of the future and other literary distortions of time, Vergil makes his poem embrace all of Roman history at the same time that it speaks to his contemporary Roman audience. In essence, the poem is a foundation story, like the foundation stories of other nations, such as the Pilgrim Fathers in the United States and the Maori tales of travelers arriving by canoe in New Zealand. As a foundation poem, the Aeneid is strongly teleological—that is, it looks ahead to a specific outcome—in its anticipation of the construction of the city of Rome and the Roman nation that lies in the narrative future.

From early in the poem, Vergil devises ways of looking ahead to the establishment of the Roman Empire, making Jupiter prophesy about the Trojans’ descendants in book 1 in the words “For them I will not limit time or space.” That prophecy is fulfilled toward the end of Book 12 when Juno relents from her persecution of Aeneas and from her opposition to the foundation of Rome. Likewise, Vergil frequently introduces or foreshadows Roman customs, rituals, names, places, events, and characteristics. Book 8 is especially rich in this kind of forward-focused material. Here Vergil has Aeneas visit the future site of the city of Rome, which in his narrative is the stronghold of Aeneas’ Greek ally Evander and consists, at this early date, of a few buildings in a brambly wilderness; the poet incorporates the narrative of the hero Hercules slaughtering the monster Cacus there, which offers an etiology (origin explanation) for the Forum Boarium (Cattle Market) and the Ara Maxima (Greatest Altar) in that part of Rome, both associated with the cult of Hercules; and he concludes the book with a lengthy description of the marvelous shield made for Aeneas by the smith god Vulcan at the request of his mother, Venus, a weapon on which are depicted multiple images of important people and events from Roman history.

The poem consists of narrative alternating with speeches, many of which seem long to us, since we are unaccustomed to the role that oratory played in ancient epic and in Roman society generally. In the narrative sections, Vergil takes the role of the omniscient narrator, which is conventional in epic poetry, while the speeches characterize the speakers as individuals and focalize the action from multiple points of views. This pattern is impressively stark in the confrontation between Aeneas and Dido in book 4, for example, when Aeneas mumbles his decision to abandon her in obedience to the gods and she savages him for his lack of faithfulness. At a few remarkable moments, Vergil even intervenes in his poem personally to address a few emotive words to particular characters in a device known as apostrophe. This too is alien from our experience of modern poetry.

Major themes explored by Vergil as he narrates his story include models of good and bad kings, the relationships between fathers and sons, the roles of sacrifice and self-sacrifice, and the tensions between anger and mercy, revenge and self-control. These were all themes of significance for Vergil and his contemporary audience at the point when the Republic was transitioning into the Principate (see below), with Augustus, the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, in control. Thus Vergil makes Aeneas develop from a hot-headed Homeric warrior into a proto-Roman hero endowed with Roman virtues—above all, pietas, an untranslatable concept which embraces unwavering loyalty to one’s gods, to one’s family, and to one’s native land. Vergil often calls his hero pius Aeneas (“loyal Aeneas”) and pater Aeneas (“father Aeneas”) to indicate the responsibilities he bears and the leadership he offers. Vergil has also carefully structured the poem so that it repeats, varies, or even inverts certain narrative sequences: for example, in the role Juno plays as the obstacle to Aeneas’ mission at the start of book 1, when she creates a storm to wreck his ships, and again early in book 7, halfway through the poem, when she sends a Fury to rouse hostility against the Trojans.

It is important to note that the poem as it survives ends with Aeneas standing over the corpse of Turnus. Whether or not this is how Vergil planned to end the poem, in no sense is Aeneas the literal founder of Rome, an event traditionally dated to more than four centuries later, in 753 BCE. It is his descendants who are ultimately the founders, through his son Ascanius/Iulus, who is said to have founded the nearby settlement of Alba Longa. Centuries later, the priestess Ilia, whose name evokes “Ilium,” the alternate name for Troy, gave birth to twins fathered by the god Mars, Romulus and Remus, who were abandoned and suckled by a she-wolf. Romulus gave his name to the newly founded city, Rome, after killing his brother in a dispute over the city walls. In this way, Vergil cleverly managed to reconcile Rome’s two foundation myths, the myth of foundation by foreigners and the myth of foundation by a native Italian.

Although the Aeneid stops rather as it starts, in the middle of the narrative, the events that were to follow afterward are clearly enough sketched to allow a fifteenth-century Italian law student named Maffeo Vegio to write a Latin continuation. His book 13 (dating from 1428) depicts the funeral of Turnus, the truce between Trojans and Latins, the burial of those killed in the fighting, the marriage of Aeneas and Lavinia, and the apotheosis of Aeneas—all in elegant and largely Vergilian Latin. The loose ends are tied up, and Vergil’s somewhat open-ended poem is given a happy ending.

POLITICS AND POETRY IN VERGIL’S ROME

Vergil lived through a period of turbulence that saw the transition from what we call the Roman Republic to the Principate—in other words, from a system of government which had checks and balances to an autocracy in which the power was concentrated in the hands of a single individual, the princeps (literally “first” or “chief” citizen) or emperor. Civil wars raged for two decades of Vergil’s adult lifetime, from 49 until 30, and took down men as great as the orator and statesman Cicero. It is possible that during this period Vergil’s family’s lands near Mantua were confiscated as part of the settlements for veteran soldiers. In addition, his childhood must have been marked by communal memories of the conflict between Marius and Sulla (88–82) and his teenage years by the political disturbances that marked the late 60s and 50s. No surprise, then, that the horrors of war in general and the perversity of civil war are major themes in the Aeneid, along with a yearning for stability and peace.

In January 49 the conflict between Julius Caesar and the Senate, represented by Pompey the Great, flared into open warfare, which Vergil condemns in a passage in Aeneid 6. After Pompey’s death in 48, Caesar defeated the senatorial party in several key battles and celebrated a triumph in 46. After Caesar’s assassination in 44, his heir, Octavian, allied himself with Marc Antony and Lepidus as what we call the Second Triumvirate to fight against the assassins of Caesar. But Octavian and Antony were also reinforcing their own bases throughout the 30s, and conflict between the two men was inevitable. Octavian’s victory over Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 made him sole ruler of the Roman world. He returned to Rome in 29 to celebrate a triple triumph over his enemies in a spectacular ceremony, and in 27 took the (invented) name Augustus (suggesting growth and prosperity). He ruled for forty-five years and brought stability to the Roman state while at the same time consolidating power in his own hands and laying the foundations for the imperial system, which lasted until the deposition of the emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 CE. This newfound stability saw the arts flourishing: Augustus built and dedicated a new temple of Apollo, the god of poetry, next to his own residence on the Palatine Hill, and powerful men, including Maecenas, his unofficial minister of culture, promoted a new generation of poets who were encouraged to compose and recite their poetry at elite gatherings. (Latin literature was delivered orally rather than read silently.) One memorable story records Vergil’s recitation of books 2, 4, and 6 of the Aeneid to Augustus and his sister Octavia in the year 22. Vergil’s lament in book 6 for the premature death of the young Marcellus, Octavia’s son and Augustus’ prospective heir, which had taken place only recently, allegedly caused Octavia to faint.

Although the Aeneid concerns the hero Aeneas and the other Trojan refugees seeking a new home in the West and is set some eleven centuries before his own day—and long before the purported date of the foundation of Rome—Vergil incorporates references and allusions to his contemporary world throughout the poem. Augustus himself figures three times: in Jupiter’s guarantee of worldwide rule to the descendants of the Trojan refugees in book 1; in the parade of future Roman heroes put into the mouth of Aeneas’ father in the Underworld in book 6; and in book 8’s description of the central scene on the shield given to Aeneas by the gods. When we reflect on Vergil’s historical circumstances, we can readily understand the strong desire for peace presented in the Aeneid and his implicit praise of Augustus. We can also understand his desire to articulate and celebrate what it meant to be Roman, a task that was his own contribution to rebuilding the sense of community that had been so badly fractured in preceding decades. Whether this makes Vergil’s poem an instrument of imperialist propaganda has been debated intensely through the centuries, and I shall return to this question below. What is certain is that Vergil was not unusual in allowing contemporary politics to be reflected in his poetry.

One major feature of Aeneas’ story that recommended it to Vergil was the claim made by Julius Caesar to be descended from Aeneas and hence from Aeneas’ mother, Venus. This claim relied on the etymology that appears to connect the Latin family name “Iulius” with the name of Aeneas’ son Iulus (he is also known as Ascanius), which was taken to derive from “Ilium,” one of the names for Troy. We know that from the second century BCE on, the Julian clan was exploiting its purported connection with Aeneas and Venus for political ends. Since Augustus was the adoptive son of Julius Caesar, he too could claim the hero Aeneas and the goddess Venus as ancestors. Vergil plays up this connection in, for example, book 5, when he spotlights Iulus as the leader of the “Troy game,” in which the young Trojans trace intricate formations on horseback; Julius Caesar and Augustus revived (or perhaps invented) the “Troy game.”

This kind of claim was not unique to the Julian family. Many Roman aristocratic families claimed descent from Trojan ancestors. Vergil makes these etymological connections in the Aeneid, in particular in the funeral games for Anchises in book 5, where a number of individual Trojans come into the spotlight for a moment: for example, Cloanthus and Mnestheus are purportedly the ancestors of the clans of Cluentius and Memmius. These moments must have been gratifying for their supposed descendants among Vergil’s audience. And this link with Trojan refugees is in fact a phenomenon repeated among later aristocratic families of Europe: many of the major European dynasties took pride in their purported Trojan origins. For instance, according to legend Brutus of Troy, a descendant of Aeneas, founded the British nation and was its first king.

LATIN LITERATURE AND GREEK CULTURE

Latin literature from its beginnings had an inferiority complex with regard to Greek culture, despite the fact that Rome had conquered Greece in 146 BCE. The poet Horace, a friend and contemporary of Vergil’s, expressed this attitude acutely and accurately when he wrote in a poem addressed to Augustus (Epistles 2.1.156–57):

Captive Greece took captive her rough conqueror

and brought the arts to rustic Latium.

The first known works of Latin literature, which date from the middle of the third century BCE, were in fact translations of Homer’s Odyssey and of Greek tragedies. Latin literature from earliest times down to Vergil’s day and beyond refracts elements of Greek literature in an allusive mode of competition that was both a homage to the Greek authors and an intellectual challenge to Roman readers to engage critically with the reworkings of Greek texts. This level of self-consciousness is difficult for us to appreciate, given our extremely high valuation of novelty and innovation and our scorn for imitation. But attitudes in antiquity were far different. We can be confident that early readers of the Aeneid appreciated the opportunity to weigh mentally his new versions of episodes from the Homeric epics or from Greek tragic dramas, just as readers of his Georgics and Eclogues would have been critically conversant with his Greek models, respectively, the works of the archaic poet Hesiod and of the Hellenistic poet Theocritus. This cultural indebtedness of Rome to Greece explains why there is often a significant Greek text, more or less visible, behind Vergil’s text. That said, the Aeneid stands as a poem in its own right; it is nevertheless enriched by appreciation of the ways in which Vergil reworked material from earlier poetry.

In the Aeneid, Vergil is clearly invoking the Homeric epics, most obviously in its bipartite structure. Books 1–6, narrating Aeneas’ wanderings after leaving Troy, rework the Odyssey, and books 7–12, which narrate Aeneas’ war in Italy, rework the Iliad. This has given rise to the label “secondary epic” (the phrase derives from W. H. Auden’s attack on the Aeneid in the poem with that phrase as its title): an epic that is derivative and dependent on the earlier poems. In the first half, Aeneas reprises Odysseus in his quest for his home, except that Aeneas is seeking a new home, promised by the gods. Dido’s role in detaining the hero combines elements of Calypso and Circe from the Odyssey, and the love episode has echoes of the princess Nausicaa falling for Odysseus. An inset narrative sees Aeneas telling Dido and her courtiers of the Greek sack of Troy and his years of wandering through the Mediterranean (books 2–3), just as Odysseus tells his adventures to the court of the Phaeacians (Odyssey 9–12). In the second half of the epic, Aeneas and Turnus are cast in the roles of the warriors Achilles and Hector, while the young man Pallas replays Patroclus from the Iliad. Many episodes from the Homeric poems are reworked in the Aeneid, such as Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops and his vision of the Underworld. From the Iliad Vergil takes the night raid on the enemy, the death of the young warrior that provokes the hero to savage revenge, and the climactic single combat. The Homeric games for the slain Patroclus in Iliad 23 appear in the Odyssean half of the Aeneid, in book 5, as the games marking the anniversary of Anchises’ death. Many smaller details likewise have Homeric antecedents. The simile in book 12 describing Lavinia’s blush at the mention of her marriage to Turnus as ivory stained with crimson is imitated from Iliad 4, in which it describes blood flowing from Menelaus’ wounded thigh. Vergil’s elite male audience was familiar with the Homeric poems and would have appreciated the ingenious appropriations and adaptations.

VERGIL AND EPIC POETRY

The poem belongs to the genre we call epic. This name comes from the ancients’ term epos, literally meaning “word.” Epic poetry was considered in antiquity to be the highest form of literature. An epic poem is a story, usually of mythical and mystical times and gods and heroes, told expansively at considerable length and using an elevated style conveyed chiefly through a particular meter and a special, traditional language, rich in (among other features) formulas such as “rosy-fingered Dawn.” Epic typically deals with themes of heroism: quests, journeys, battles, and other struggles and challenges overcome. Besides the Homeric poems, another major Greek epic poem that influenced Vergil was that of Apollonius of Rhodes, written in the intensely learned atmosphere at the library and court of Ptolemy at Alexandria in Egypt in the early third century BCE. Apollonius’ Argonautica, the story of Jason and Medea, demonstrably affected Vergil’s depiction of Dido. It is not surprising that epic was the first genre to emerge at the beginning of Latin literature, in the mid-third century, in the form of a translation of Homer’s Odyssey into Latin by a Greek ex-slave, Livius Andronicus, of which only a handful of fragments survive.

In keeping with conventions of the genre, the Aeneid is named for its hero, the Trojan prince Aeneas, and it features the full panoply of Olympian deities, including Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Venus (Aeneas’ mother), Mercury, Hades, Mars, Vulcan, and Apollo, as well as Aeolus (the god of the winds), Iris (the goddess of the rainbow), and the Furies, and Italian deities such as Bellona, the goddess of warfare, and Faunus, a god of the forest. It features the narrative set-pieces (topoi, literally “places”) familiar from earlier epic, such as the storm (book 1), the sack of a city (book 2), catalogues of troops, a council of gods (book 10), and battle narratives. The Iliadic half of the poem in particular provides narratives that put the spotlight on a single warrior in his or her supreme moment (aristeia), including Aeneas, his enemy Turnus, his protégé Pallas, and Turnus’ ally, the virago Camilla (books 9–12). Vergil also produces other standard features of epic, including ecphrases, that is, detailed, vivid descriptions of temples and palaces (books 1 and 7), armor (book 8), and other works of art. He also has epic similes, modeled on those in Homer and Apollonius.

Following several earlier Latin poets, Vergil chose to use the meter of the Homeric poems, the dactylic hexameter, for his epic, rather than the longer native Italian “Saturnian” line, which had been used at the start of Latin literature two centuries earlier. This choice brought certain challenges, as the Latin language works less well than Greek in the dactylic hexameter. This meter consists of six metrical feet in every line; the last two feet have a predetermined pattern to signal the end of the line to the listener; the first four feet offer a range of options of long and short syllables. Syllables form the meter by means of their length, or the time spent pronouncing each one, not the degree of vocal stress placed on each one, as in English poetry. Ancient metrical patterns thus combine or conflict with the stress accents inherent in the words to create an effect of complex musicality. The poet Quintus Ennius (239–169 BCE) appropriated the Greek hexameter for his capacious epic poem Annals, written in the 170s, which traces Roman history from Aeneas down to military events of his own day. The few surviving fragments show Ennius developing Latin into a vehicle capable of high poetry. This process of refining Latin poetic language continued through the second and into the first century BCE, until we reach the six-book philosophical epic poem On the Nature of the Universe by Lucretius, written a generation before Vergil. Then, in Vergil’s hands, the dactylic hexameter reaches a new level of ease and naturalness, and this in turn influenced subsequent epic poets, such as Ovid and Statius.

Vergil is indebted to his predecessors not only for their honing of the Latin dactylic hexameter. In style and content too, he builds on earlier epic poetry. He clearly reworks incidents from Ennius’ Annals and is influenced by Ennius’ archaic Latin, although he departs from Ennius’ annalistic framework to handle the chronological layers much more deftly. (Ancient commentators who had access to Ennius’ text help us understand the degree of Vergil’s debt.) Lucretian ideas and language are also evident in both the Georgics and the Aeneid. Of supreme importance to Vergil in his Aeneid was Catullus, one of the “new poets” in Rome, who during the 60s and 50s adopted the poetic program of the Greek poets in Alexandria such as Apollonius and Callimachus. Vergil was intimately familiar with the poetry of Catullus, in particular with Poem 64, a miniature epic (known as an “epyllion”): Catullus’ treatment of the abandoned princess Ariadne profoundly affected Vergil’s conception of Dido.

But Vergil does not confine himself to epic models and material. He expands the scope of his epic to include material typically associated with other literary genres. This is most obvious in the tragic dimension developed in book 4, where the focus is on Dido rather than Aeneas, as reflected in the way her speeches dominate: she has nine speeches to Aeneas’ three. The presentation of a powerful queen evokes women of Athenian tragedy such as Clytemnestra, while Dido’s fall from power and happiness into isolation and ultimately suicide reprises the plot of Sophocles’ Ajax and reworks tragic treatments of Medea by Euripides in Greek and Ennius in Latin. The influence of Alexandrian poetry in Greek and Latin poets is likewise evident in book 4. Dido initially takes on the role of the “helpful princess” manifested in Apollonius’ Medea (Argonautica) and Catullus’ Ariadne (Poem 64); her character illustrates the subjective treatment of disastrous love that is a central feature of Alexandrian poetry and that Catullus and the love poets in the decades prior to Vergil explore so memorably. Vergil also incorporates into his poem a complex reworking of philosophical ideas drawn from both Greek and Latin sources, including Orphic texts, Plato (Republic, book 10), and Cicero (On the Republic, book 6), when he takes Aeneas down to the Underworld in book 6. These intertextualities added significant depth to Vergil’s narrative for his contemporary readers, who were familiar with the texts and ideas reworked in the Aeneid. For us, to appreciate this dimension requires close reading with the assistance of scholarly commentaries. But it is not compulsory to read Vergil through that prism. The poem stands up in its own right, and throughout the centuries since it appeared it has continued to attract readers.

WHY IS THE AENEID IMPORTANT?

While Vergil was still working on the poem, the Latin love poet Propertius heralded the Aeneid by declaring that “something greater than the Iliad is born” (nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade; Elegies 2.34.65), an astonishing claim which reflects the Aeneid’s importance in its own day. A similar endorsement is provided by the second-century account relating the emperor Augustus’ decision to override Vergil’s deathbed wish that the poem be burned by preserving it and publishing it (Life of Vergil by Suetonius and Donatus 40–41). The poem struck a chord immediately thanks to its treatment of Romanness and its anticipation of the foundation of Rome. That there was great interest at this time in Rome’s remote history is confirmed by the monumental work begun by the historian Livy, a contemporary of Vergil’s, which starts with the foundation of the city. Vergil endows Aeneas with qualities that are distinctly proto-Roman, above all pietas. Many Roman names, customs, and religious rituals are prefigured or predicted in the poem. Major events of Roman history, including Hannibal’s campaigns against Rome in the third century BCE and Antony’s recent liaison with Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt, are evoked. These are all themes and subjects of Livy. This complex interweaving of distant legend and recent history must have been compelling to the Roman reader of the Augustan period.

And the epic has remained central to the Latin literary canon and to Western European culture. In 1944 T. S. Eliot called the Aeneid “the classic of all Europe.” It was taught in schools from the moment of its publication soon after Vergil’s death and more or less continuously down into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It has thus influenced many generations of elite men who took leadership roles in society. It provided a paradigm for what was called in medieval times the translatio imperii et studii, “the transmission of empire and learning,” through persistent movement westward in particular, the direction of Aeneas and his refugees, as Richard Waswo argues in The Founding Legend of Western Civilization: From Vergil to Vietnam. It provided a model and justification for colonization for later imperialist regimes, including the Portuguese, Spanish, and British Empires. One seventeenth-century English translator of Vergil, George Sandys, was involved in the attempt to found the colony in Virginia and was present at the Jamestown massacre in 1622. The slogan “Go west, young man,” attributed to the nineteenth-century publisher Horace Greely, is an internalization, conscious or otherwise, of the message of the Aeneid.

Thanks to the thousands of translations into dozens of languages, the poem has also reached a wider audience that includes women and other people outside the male elite and thus has exercised a still broader influence. The Aeneid has been taken as the model or template for dozens of epic poems in European languages. Episodes from it, especially the story of Dido and the sack of Troy, have been reworked in many different literary and musical forms, serious and comic. For example, the founding work of modern Ukrainian literature is the 1798 travesty of the Aeneid by Ivan Kotlyarevsky in which the Trojans are depicted as hard-drinking Cossacks; this in turn inspired operas in the early twentieth century by Yaroslav Lopatinsky (Aeneas on His Wanderings, 1906) and Mykola Lysenko (Eneida, 1910), a 1985 rock opera, also entitled Eneida, by Serhiy Bedusenko, and a full-length animated movie by Volodymyr Dakhno released in 1991, the year in which the Ukrainian Parliament declared independence. One of the most exciting modern adaptations is the science-fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin’s 2008 novel Lavinia, which retells Aeneid 7–12 and beyond through the eyes of Vergil’s silent character, Lavinia, who in Le Guin’s hands is far from silent.

COMPETING INTERPRETATIONS OF THE AENEID

Readers and critics in different places and eras have emphasized different themes in the epic. Many readings have used the binary oppositions central to structuralist criticism, such as male versus female, order versus disorder, reason versus emotion, and human versus divine, some of which overlap; thus the goddess Juno represents disruption while the god Jupiter finally brings order. Others have seen tensions between the spheres of action, variously defined as heaven and hell, East and West, future and past, epic and tragedy, collective and individual. Still others have tried to resist these polar antitheses and instead have emphasized the ambivalences built into the text. Most of these readings hinge on the interpretation of the close of the poem, of which more below.

In antiquity the purpose of the Aeneid was commonly regarded as relatively straightforward: (implicit) praise of Augustus through (explicit) praise of Aeneas. This is the interpretation of Servius, the fourth-century CE schoolteacher whose commentary on Vergil remains an important testament to ancient readings of the poem. This interpretation persisted, not without contestation, until the twentieth century. At every period and in every place in which the poem has been read and studied—that is, throughout Europe and the parts of the world that have come under European sway—the Aeneid has become a vehicle of key cultural concerns. In monarchies and autocracies the dominant reading has made Aeneas a model ruler and has idealized his positive qualities and played down his negative traits. On this kind of reading the characters of Dido and Turnus, who present obstacles to Aeneas’ achieving his divinely ordained mission, can be dismissed or even demonized. People who interpret the poem positively focus on the passages in books 6 and 8 where Vergil celebrates the future achievements of Rome by evoking pride in the qualities shown by remarkable leaders from the Republican era.

But that line of interpretation has been contested by readers who emphasize Vergil’s palpable sympathy for the victims of the relentless imperial machinery. Viewed within this frame, Dido’s complaints against Aeneas for his sudden and sly departure from Carthage are justified and diminish Aeneas’ stature. So too does his uncontrolled rage and merciless slaughter after the death of his young protégé Pallas; he even takes enemy soldiers captive for human sacrifice. This kind of reading has existed alongside the “praise of Aeneas” reading since medieval times, but in recent decades, since the protests against the war in Vietnam and the U.S. defeat there in the 1960s and 1970s, this darker, more pessimistic interpretation has come to the fore. It has been championed by several Harvard scholars, and hence is identified as “the Harvard school” as opposed to “the European school.” On this interpretation, the poem incorporates two contrasting voices, in which celebration of imperialist achievement by a public voice is modified by a private voice which laments the losses, sacrifices, and waste depicted in the poem.

Essentially, the debate concerns whether the forces of order or the forces of disorder dominate. Nowhere does this issue arise more powerfully than at the end of the poem. The climax of the Aeneid is the duel between Aeneas and Turnus, the prince of the Rutulians. Aeneas is cast in the role of the Homeric Achilles, taking revenge for the death of his close friend Patroclus, whose equivalent in the Aeneid is Pallas. Turnus is cast in the role of the Homeric Hector as defender of his native land against foreign invaders. Like Hector, he is also fighting against fate: just as Troy was fated to fall to the Greeks, so Aeneas is fated to marry the princess Lavinia and settle in Italy. The critical debate about the final lines of the poem hinges upon two things: the fact that Aeneas kills Turnus and the state of mind which leads him to do this.

The positive view sees the killing of Turnus as an act of necessity or duty, or both. If we view Turnus as a villain or a hot-headed warrior on the Homeric model that Aeneas himself has shed since the sack of Troy, it can be argued that he could have no useful role in the new world ushered in by Aeneas’ alliance with King Latinus and marriage with Lavinia. To spare him would simply leave him alive to foment unrest and hostility against Aeneas later. If we recall that Aeneas had promised his ally King Evander that he would take care of his son Pallas as if he were his own son (book 8) and that Pallas was then killed by Turnus (book 10), his taking the ultimate revenge on Turnus now can be viewed as fulfilling an obligation to Evander. A favorable interpretation of Aeneas’ state of mind emphasizes his long moment of hesitation as he looks at Turnus pleading for his life: he is clearly inclined to show mercy. It emphasizes Aeneas’ recollection of the devastating grief he felt at Pallas’ death. And it emphasizes the words Aeneas speaks, in which he represents Turnus’ death as a ritual sacrifice to the ghost of Pallas.

The negative view sees the killing of Turnus as unnecessary or an act of irrational frenzy, or both. This view emphasizes Turnus’ courage: he explicitly says he is not asking for mercy, and he clearly envisages the likelihood of Aeneas killing him. This view also emphasizes the last words Turnus speaks, in which he capitulates completely in full view of the watching Italians and surrenders Lavinia to Aeneas. It emphasizes most of all Vergil’s description of Aeneas’ state of mind as “he burned with brutal rage” and views Aeneas as acting not rationally but passionately and cruelly in a blind frenzy. And it views as significant the fact that the poem closes not with a celebration of Aeneas’ victory but with apparent sympathy for his victim, with its focus upon the discontented departure of Turnus’ ghost to the Underworld. This emphasis upon the loss and destruction of fine individuals who get in the way of the founding of the Roman nation and the Roman Empire—including Dido, the helmsman Palinurus, Pallas, the warrior princess Camilla, and here Turnus—is seen as a crucial theme throughout the poem. This type of reading can be seen as anti-Augustan, in contrast to the pro-Augustan type of reading that emphasizes the positive.

While it is not difficult for readers to trace the contours of that debate, Ruden—a Quaker pacifist—does not engage with it. Perhaps this is because she is a poet and professional translator now located on the periphery of academia (although her training included a Ph.D. in Classics from Harvard). She regards her time living and working in South Africa as more relevant than any academic discussion of the meaning of the Aeneid. For her, that experience helped her understand the brutality of civil war and convinced her that divine forces are at work in history, but in no simple and satisfying way when seen from a human perspective. Her perspective seems to me to resemble closely that of Vergil.

CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS TO TRANSLATING THE AENEID

The first essential choice facing the translator is that between prose and verse. In theory prose offers a greater possibility of accuracy in representing a story because the rendering will not be subject to the constraints of poetry, but the choice runs the enormous risk of failing to convey that the Aeneid is a poem. In our era we do not recognize the long, epic poem as an artform. Rather, lengthy format is associated with the novel, a genre that was just peeking out in Greco-Roman literature but that did not emerge into full view until Cervantes in the early seventeenth century, and that attained its height in the nineteenth century. Students are apt to identify a prose translation of the Aeneid as a novel and to misunderstand it profoundly by bringing to bear inappropriate expectations of character, plot, and form.

Once the decision has been made to represent poetry as poetry, the translator faces further complex choices. She must decide which of the available verse forms in her culture to choose. That choice will then determine the length of line and whether to use rhyme. English literature offers translators an especially wide spectrum of metrical choices, from the blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameters), fourteeners, and heroic couplets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the free verse that dominates the second half of the twentieth century. These free verse systems present lines of various lengths, typically with five or six beats or stresses in each line, but many of them are distinguishable from prose only in their layout on the page. A further possibility is offered by the hexameter, which is not a common meter in original poetry in English. Experiments with quantitative hexameters in English, in imitation of the rules of quantitative meter (and its tensions with syllable accents) in the Latin dactylic hexameter, have largely been unsuccessful.

Sarah Ruden chose the iambic pentameter for her translation of the Aeneid, which produces a line of ten or eleven syllables with a dominant iambic (two-stress) rhythm. This rhythm reflects well the prevailing natural speech patterns of the English language. The meter itself has a long pedigree in English poetry, starting with Geoffrey Chaucer. In the sixteenth century Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare developed the unrhymed form of iambic pentameter that we call blank verse; in epic poetry this reached its apex with Milton in the seventeenth century, in Paradise Lost. The rhymed iambic pentameter, called the heroic couplet, was the meter of choice for translators of Vergil and Homer including John Dryden and Alexander Pope, while major poets of the nineteenth century including William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Robert Browning embraced blank verse for many of their poetic compositions. The substantial corpus of English poetry written in blank verse has thus accustomed our ears to its typical sounds and rhythms. This makes it an excellent choice as an analogy for the Latin dactylic hexameter: just as Vergil’s educated contemporaries were deeply familiar with epic poetry in Greek and in Latin in this meter, so anyone who has delved into English poetry will have read a lot of blank verse. It is the “right” meter for epic.

The major challenge presented by the choice of the iambic pentameter arises if the translator wishes to produce a line-for-line version. This is indeed Ruden’s choice, and it is commendable. It permits readers without Latin to consult scholarly discussions and commentary without the difficulty of identifying the line in question. But the choice requires brevity and compression in the translation. Whereas Vergil’s Latin dactylic hexameter lines have thirteen to seventeen syllables each, the iambic pentameter allows only ten or eleven syllables. The challenge is compounded by differences between the Latin language and the English language. Most obviously, Latin has no word for “the” or “a,” whereas English nouns usually require one or other of these. Latin is an inflected language; the endings of verbs (for example) indicate who is performing the action of the verb: “we” or “you” or “I” or “they.” English cannot dispense with these pronouns. Ruden has embraced the need for brevity in her translation with remarkable skill and success. Virtually nothing in the Latin is missing from her translation, yet her concision does not entail monstrosities of compression. In this second edition she has been able to hone her English still further and still more brilliantly while maintaining the line-for-line equivalence with Vergil’s Latin.

Ruden’s brevity plays well into the crucial question of register. Epic poetry was the highest literary genre in Greco-Roman literature. It has no equivalent in our world. Vergil attains and maintains a tone of dignity and gravity in his Aeneid, sometimes leaning toward solemnity, sometimes toward majesty, with only a few playful or comic moments, as during the funeral games in book 5. There is no place for banal or casual language in a translation of the Aeneid. Yet this is a fault afflicting many of the competing translations produced in the past few decades. By contrast, Ruden’s language is free of ornament, anachronism, and the ephemeral. Her diction is pitched at a higher level than ordinary speech, and it is muscular and compressed. The way in which she has stripped her translation down to the central ideas in the Latin gives it a consistent elegance which carries dignity and gravity. She is also capable of capturing Vergil’s variations in narrative speed. The largely iambic rhythm of the translation guarantees the onward impetus of Latin dactylic hexameters, which can move with rapidity in battle scenes and with sad solemnity in moments of pathos. She neither sanitizes nor brutalizes Vergil’s scenes of battle carnage, and she neither exaggerates nor diminishes the moments of pathos which are interspersed. Ruden demonstrates the kind of self-effacement that is ideal in a translator: she seeks not to impose herself on Vergil but to allow his words and ideas to emerge untrammeled.

Choices of vocabulary and syntax are major issues for any translator of Vergil. Milton crafted a highly Latinate and complex form of English for his epic Paradise Lost, which was heavily influenced by Vergilian language. But should the translator of Vergil use language derived from Latin roots? After all, Vergil’s Latin was not dependent on the Greek language. Ruden largely prefers Anglo-Saxon to Latinate vocabulary; for example, she uses huge rather than immense and hard rather than difficult. This preference often brings the advantage of a monosyllable over a polysyllabic word and helps her achieve the desired brevity. Likewise with syntax: she prefers to render the Latin in a natural rather than a strained, Miltonic word order in her English, even if this requires her to recast or reorder Vergil’s sentences. She observes Vergil’s plentiful use of enjambment: Vergil typically writes in sentences of several lines, and he frequently runs his sentences partway into the next line and introduces a strong punctuation break there. The temptation in English is to end-stop the lines. Ruden usually resists this. But sometimes she breaks Vergil’s longer sentences down into shorter units for clarity. At all times she aims to reflect the elegant fluidity of the Latin.

The major challenge in terms of content arises from the sheer alienness of the material. We are unlikely to be familiar with most of the names. The Trojans, for example, are also referred to as Dardanians and Teucrians, names derived from ancestors, and the god who rules the Underworld can be called Pluto or Hades or Dis. Ruden replicates these names, which would not have troubled the Roman audience; the notes and glossary are designed to assist the modern reader. Much more challenging are concepts central to Roman ideology that have no exact equivalent in English. Of these, the most important is the concept of pietas, which generates the adjective pius, applied to Aeneas often in the poem. This important Roman concept involves a love of parents, children, family, companions, country, gods, and institutions, necessitating unselfish devotion, self-discipline, and decorum. John Dryden, the great seventeenth-century translator of Vergil, discussed in the preface to his translation the difficulties of finding an equivalent for pietas in any modern language. Ruden’s translation decisions are guided by the particular context in each case: for the adjective she ranges through “good,” “loyal,” “faithful,” “steadfast,” “righteous,” “devout,” “dutiful,” “irreproachable,” “right-thinking,” and more; for the noun she uses “love,” “devotion,” “righteousness,” and “piety.” Another key Latin noun is virtus, where the problematics of the Latin word for English translators arise from the Christian appropriation of the word and the loss of sense of the root vir (man). Ruden’s “courage” works well; “virtue” would not be accurate. Other elements of the pagan world cause similar difficulties to translators, such as fatum (Fate) and Fortuna (Fortune), fas (moral right) and nefas (the unspeakable), since they have no real Christian equivalent.

Newly equipped with an introduction and notes to assist readers who have little or no background in classical studies, this substantially revised translation is designed to stand apart enduringly from the rest. The first edition was described by reviewer Garry Wills as “the first translation since Dryden’s that can be read as a great English poem in its own right.” This second edition seeks greater accuracy and concision in the translation and greater accessibility through the supplementary materials. Our ambition is to introduce another generation to the greatest Latin poem.

THE

AENEID

BOOK 1

Arms and a man I sing, the first from Troy,

A fated exile to Lavinian shores

In Italy. On land and sea divine force

Shook him, through ruthless Juno’s brooding rage.

War racked him too, until he set his city

5

And gods in Latium. There his Latin race rose,

With Alban patriarchs, and high Rome’s walls.

Muse, tell me why. What stung the queen of heaven,

What insult to her power made her drive

This righteous hero through so much undoing

10

And suffering? Can gods’ hearts know such fury?

Carthage, an ancient Tyrian outpost, faces

Italy and the far-off Tiber’s mouth,

Rich, and experienced and fierce in war.

This land, they say, was Juno’s darling. (Samos

15

Came second.) There her chariot and arms

Were kept, and from the start she planned that Carthage

Would rule the world—if only fate allowed!

But she had heard that one day Troy’s descendants

Would pull her Tyrian towers to the ground.

20

A war-proud race with broad domains would come

To cut down Africa: the fates ordained it.

Saturn’s child feared this. She recalled the war

She’d fought at Troy for her beloved Greeks

And also what had caused her savage anger.

25

Deep in her heart remained the verdict given

By Paris, and the insult to her beauty—

Ganymede raped and honored—that whole race

Of Trojans. Hot with rage, she barred from Latium

Those spared by cruel Achilles and the Greeks.

30

They tossed on endless seas, went wandering,

Fate-driven, year on year around the world’s seas.

A weighty work, to found the Roman nation!

Sicily fell from sight. They sailed with joy

Into the open, bronze prows churning foam.

35

But Juno, with her deep, unhealing heart wound,

Muttered, “Am I defeated, done with trying

To keep the Trojan king from Italy?

Fate blocks me. But then why could Pallas burn

The Trojan fleet and drown the men it carried,

40

Merely to punish Ajax’ frenzied crime?

Out of the clouds she hurled Jove’s hungry fire,

Scattered the ships and overturned the sea.

Her flames impaled the man, her whirlwind snatched him,

And on a piercing rock he gasped his life out.

45

But I, parading as the queen of heaven,

Jove’s wife and sister, fight a single people

For years. Will anyone now bow and pray

To me and place his tribute on my altar?”

Blazing within, the goddess sought the land

50

Of thunderclouds, which teems with southern gales.

There struggling winds and howling tempests fill

The whole vast cave that King Aeolus rules.

He disciplines them, chains them in their prison.

They shriek with rage around the bolted doors;

55

The mountain echoes. Throned up on a summit,

Aeolus holds a scepter, checks their anger—

Without him, they would seize land, sea, and deep sky

To carry with them in their breakneck flight.

But the almighty father, fearing this,

60

Shut them in that black cave, heaped mountains on it,

And set a ruler over them to slacken

The reins or tighten them, strict in control.

Juno approached him now and made this plea:

“The king of men and father of the gods

65

Gives you the right to rouse and soothe the waves.

A race I hate sails the Tyrrhenian Sea,

Bringing Troy’s beaten gods to Italy.

Goad your winds into fury, swamp the ships,

Or scatter them, strew bodies on the water.

70

Fourteen voluptuous nymphs belong to me,

And the most beautiful is Deiopea.

Her I will make your own, in steadfast union,

If you will help me. She will spend her life

With you—the lovely children that you’ll sire!”

75

Aeolus said, “You merely must decide,

My sovereign. I must hurry to obey.

My reign—my modest kingdom—and Jove’s favor

You brought me. I recline with gods at banquets,

I rule the stormy clouds because of you.”

80

With his upended spear he struck a flank

Of the hollow mountain. In a battle charge

The winds pour out. They spiral through the world:

The East and South gales, and the mass of whirlwinds

From Africa swoop down, uproot the sea,

85

And send enormous billows rolling shoreward.

The men begin to shout, the ropes to squeal.

Sudden clouds snatch away the daylight sky

From Trojan sight. Black night roosts on the deep.

Heaven resounds, fires dancing in its heights.

90

The world becomes a threat of instant death.

A swift and icy terror numbed Aeneas.

He moaned and held his hands up to the stars

And gave a cry: “Three times and four times blessed

Are those who perished in their fathers’ sight

95

Beneath Troy’s walls. You, Diomedes, boldest

Of Greeks, could you not spill my blood and let me

Fall on the fields of Troy, like raging Hector,

Slain by Achilles’ spear, or tall Sarpedon,

Where Simoïs River churns beneath his ripples

100

Shields, helmets, bodies of so many brave men?”

A screaming northern gale blew past his wild words

And slammed the sails and pulled a wave toward heaven.

The oars broke, the prow swerved and set the ship

Against a looming precipice of water.

105

Crews dangled on the crest or glimpsed the seabed

Between the waves. Sand poured through seething water.

The South Wind hurled them three times at the rocks

That lurked midway—Italians call them altars;

Their massive spine protrudes—three times the East Wind

110

Dashed them clear to the shallows—awful sight—

And rammed them tight, and ringed them with a sand wall.

Before Aeneas’ eyes a towering wave tipped,

To strike head-on the ship of staunch Orontes

And the Lycians, and whirled the helmsman out

115

Headfirst. The boat was whipped in three tight circles,

And then the greedy whirlpool swallowed it.

The endless sea showed scatterings of swimmers.

Planks, gear, and Trojan treasure strewed the waves.

The storm subdued the strong ships carrying

120

Ilioneus, Abas, brave Achates,

And old Aletes. Deadly torrents pushed

Through the hulls’ weakened joints, and fissures started

To gape. Now Neptune sensed with stern displeasure

The roaring havoc that the storm let loose.

125

Even the still depths spurted up. He raised

His calm face from the surface and looked down.

He saw Aeneas’ ships thrown everywhere,

Trojans crushed under waves, the plunging sky.

Juno’s own brother knew her guile and rage.

130

He called the East and South Winds and addressed them:

“Is this the arrogance of noble birth?

Without my holy sanction, have you dared

To churn up land and sea and raise these mountains?

Which I—but first I’ll calm these waves you’ve roused.

135

Later I’ll punish you with more than words.

Get out now, fast, and tell this to your ruler:

I was allotted kingship of the sea,

And the harsh trident. In his massive stone hall,

Home to you, East Wind, and the rest, we let him

140

Swagger, but he must keep that dungeon locked.”

Faster than words, he calmed the swollen sea,

Chased off the mass of clouds, brought back the sun.

Cymothoë and Triton heaved the ships

Off jagged boulders. Neptune with his trident

145

Helped them. He freed vast sandbanks, smoothed the surface,

His weightless chariot grazing billows’ peaks;

As often, in a crowded gathering,

Crude commoners in rage begin to riot,

Torches and stones fly, frenzy finds its weapons—

150

If a grave, upright hero of the nation

Appears, compelling silence and attention,

Then he can tame their hearts and guide their passions:

Like this, the broad sea’s brawling sounds grew quiet

Under its lord’s gaze. Now beneath a clear sky

155

With slackened reins he rode the breezes onward.

Aeneas’ worn-out cohort turned to struggle

Toward Libya because its coast was nearest.

A bay runs inland; island bluffs like walls

Create a harbor. From the deep, the waves

160

Break there and flutter out their separate ways.

Mammoth cliffs flank the place, and twin stone spires

Loom to the sky. Beneath them, smooth and safe,

The water’s hushed. A wooded backdrop quivers

Above; black-shadowed, bristling uplands loom.

165

At the bay’s head, cliffs hang to form a grotto

With a clear spring and seat of natural rock.

Nymphs live there. At the shore no rope is needed

To hold worn ships, no hooked and biting anchor.

Aeneas landed seven ships, regrouped

170

From the whole fleet. The Trojans went ashore

In mighty, yearning love for that dry sand.

Dripping with briny water, they lay down.

To start, Achates struck a spark from flint

And caught the flame in leaves and gave it dry food

175

All around, till it blazed up through the tinder.

Downheartedly they took out the equipment

Of Ceres, and the soaking grain they’d rescued;

They had to sear it dry before they ground it.

Meanwhile Aeneas climbed a crag to view

180

The great expanse of sea. Where did the wind toss

Antheus, Capys, Caicus’ lofty prow

Hung with his arms—or any Trojan vessel?

There was no ship in sight. But three stags wandered

The shore. Entire herds came after them,

185

And grazed in one long column through the valley.

Taking a stand, he snatched the bow and arrows

That his devoted friend Achates carried.

He brought the strutting, branching-antlered leaders

To the ground first, and then his arrows chased

190

The crowd in havoc through the leafy groves.

Exulting, he continued till he leveled

Seven large bodies for his seven ships,

Then went to share the meat out at the harbor,

Along with casks of wine, a noble gift

195

From kind Acestes to the crew departing

From Sicily. Aeneas spoke this comfort:

“Friends, we are all at home with suffering—

Some worse than this—but god will end this too.

You veered toward Scylla’s frenzy, and the deep roar

200

At the cliffs, you saw the rocks the Cyclops threw.

Revive your hearts, shake off your gloomy fear.

Sometime you may recall today with pleasure.

We fight through perils and catastrophes

To Latium, where divine fate promises

205

A peaceful homeland, a new Trojan kingdom.

Endure and live until our fortunes change.”

Sick with colossal burdens, he shammed hope

On his face, and buried grief deep in his heart.

Trojans tied back their clothes and made his quarry

210

A feast: tore back the hide, bared ribs and guts.

While some men pierced the quivering chunks with spits,

Others set cauldrons out or tended flames.

The food restored and filled them—the old wine,

The rich game—as they stretched out on the grass.

215

After the meal was done and cleared away,

They spoke with longing of their missing friends.

They hoped, they feared: were these men still alive,

Or past the end and deaf to any summons?

Loyal Aeneas, most of all, was groaning

220

Softly for keen Orontes, Amycus, Lycus,

For Gyas and Cloanthus—brave men, hard deaths.

Now they were finished. Jove looked down from heaven

At the sail-flying waters, open flatlands,

The shores, the far-flung nations. At the sky’s peak,

225

He fixed his gaze on Libyan territory.

His mind was anxious, busy. And now Venus

Spoke these sad words to him, her shining eyes

Filling with tears. “You, everlasting ruler

Of gods and men; you, fearsome lightning-hurler,

230

What great crime did Aeneas and the Trojans

Commit against you? They have died and died,

But in the whole world found no Italy.

You promised that the circling years would draw

Teucer’s new lineage from them, Romans, chieftains,

235

With power everywhere on land and sea.

Father, what new thought turns you from this purpose?

When Troy calamitously fell, I weighed it

Against the fate to come, to my great comfort.

Yet fortune goes on pummeling these heroes.

240

When will you, mighty ruler, end their hardships?

Antenor fled, unharmed, from the surrounding

Greeks, to Illyria’s deep coves, clear to the kingdom

Of Liburnia and the Timavus’ source,

Where the sea breaks through nine mouths, and the mountain

245

Roars, and the echoing waves oppress the fields.

And there he founded Padua, a homeland

For Trojans, with a Trojan name, its gateway

Displaying Trojan arms. He has his rest there.

But we, your children, promised heirs to heaven,

250

Lost our ships—monstrous!—through Somebody’s anger

And treachery. We’re kept from Italy.

Where is our new realm, won through righteousness?”

The gods’ and mortals’ father gave his daughter

The smile that clears the sky of storms and kissed her

255

Lightly, and this was how he answered her:

“Take heart: no one will touch the destiny

Of your people. You will see Lavinium

In its promised walls, and raise your brave Aeneas

To the stars. No new thoughts change my purposes.

260

But you’re tormented, so I’ll tell the future,

Unwinding to the light fate’s secret scroll.

In Italy your son will crush a fierce race

In a great war. With the Rutulians beaten,

Three winters and three summers he’ll shape walls

265

And warrior customs, as he reigns in Latium.

His son Ascanius—called “Iulus” too now

(From Ilus, before Ilium’s rule ended)—

Will reign while thirty spacious years unroll

Their whirling months, and he will move the kingdom

270

To Alba Longa, heaving up strong ramparts.

Three centuries the dynasty of Hector

Will govern, until Ilia, royal priestess,

Conceives by Mars and brings twin boys to light.

And the wolf’s nursling (glad to wear brown wolfskin)

275

Romulus will then lead the race and found

The walls of Mars for Romans, named for him.

For them I will not limit time or space.

Their rule will have no end. Even grim Juno,

Who now exhausts sea, land, and sky with terror,

280

Will change her mind and join me as I foster

The Romans in their togas, the world’s masters.

I have decreed it. Gliding years will bring

Anchises’ clan as rulers into Phthia,

Mycenae (once renowned), and beaten Argos.

285

The noble Trojan line will give us Caesar—

A Julian name passed down from mighty Iulus—

With worldwide empire, glory heaven-high.

At ease you will receive him with his burden

Of eastern spoils. They’ll pray to him in heaven.

290

Then wars will cease, cruel history will grow gentle.

Vesta, old Faith, and Quirinus, with Remus

His twin, will make the laws. Tight locks of iron

Will close War’s grim gates. Inside, godless Furor,

Slavering blood on heaps of brutal weapons,

295

Will roar against the chains that pinion him.”

Concluding, he dispatched the son of Maia

To have the Trojans welcomed down in Carthage

With its new fort—since Dido, unaware

Of fate, might keep them out. The god’s wings rowed him

300

Through the vast air, to stand on Libya’s shore.

Since it was heaven’s will, the fierce Phoenicians

Peacefully yielded; most of all, their queen

Turned a calm, gentle face to meet the Trojans.

Steadfast Aeneas spent a worried night,

305

But at the light of nurturing dawn decided

To go and find out where the wind had brought them

And who or what—the land looked wild—lived here,

And bring what he could learn to his companions.

The fleet lay hidden in a tree-hemmed inlet,

310

Under a rocky overhang enclosed

By bristling shade. He set off with Achates

And took two quivering pikes with iron blades.

Deep in the wood his mother came to him,

A girl in face and clothes, armed as in Sparta,

315

Or like Harpalyce in Thrace, outracing

The breakneck Hebrus with her harried horses—

A huntress with a bow slung, quick to hand,

From her shoulders, loose hair streaming in the wind,

Her clothing’s flowing folds tied over bare knees.

320

She greeted them and asked, “Please, have you met

One of my sisters roaming? Shouting, chasing

A boar whose mouth drips foam? She has a quiver,

And wears a spotted lynx skin and a belt.”

Venus had spoken; now her son began:

325

“Young girl, I haven’t heard or seen your sister.

But I should call you—what? There’s nothing mortal

In such a voice or face. No, you’re a goddess.

Apollo’s sister? Daughter of a nymph clan?

No matter: have compassion, ease our hardship.

330

Where on earth, on what shores have storm winds thrown us?

Beneath which tract of sky? The wind and huge waves

Drove us to this strange land in which we wander.

I’ll slaughter many victims at your altar.”

She answered, “This I surely don’t deserve.

335

These quivers are what Tyrian girls all carry;

We all wear purple boots, laced on our calves.

This is the Punic realm, Agenor’s city.

Unconquerable Africans surround us.

Dido is queen; she came here out of Tyre,

340

Escaping from her brother’s persecution.

It’s quite a story, but I’ll tell it briefly.

Her husband was Sychaeus, the Phoenician

Who owned the most land—she, poor thing, adored him.

Her father joined her to him as a virgin,

345

In her first marriage. But Pygmalion

Her brother ruled; there’s no worse criminal.

Hate rose between them. In blind lust for gold,

Indifferent to his sister’s love, Pygmalion

Wickedly caught Sychaeus at an altar

350

And murdered him. He dodged and made up stories,

Cynically drawing out her anxious hope.

But in her dreams there came to her the vision

Of her unburied husband’s strange pale face.

He showed his wounded chest: the ghastly crime

355

At the altar—monstrous secret—was laid bare.

He urged a quick escape. To aid the journey

Out of her country, he revealed where treasure,

A mass of gold and silver, lay long buried.

Alarmed, she made her plans, alerted friends—

360

All those who also loathed the brutal tyrant

Or lived in sharp fear. Seizing ready ships,

They loaded them with gold. The broad sea carried

Greedy Pygmalion’s wealth; a woman led.

They came here, where you now see giant walls

365

And the rising citadel of newborn Carthage.

They purchased land, ‘as much as one bull’s hide

Could reach around,’ and called the place ‘the Bull’s Hide.’

But who are you? What country do you come from?

Where are you going?” Answering, Aeneas

370

Sighed as he drew these words from his heart’s depths:

“Goddess, our whole sad story, from its start,

Would keep you here until the Evening Star

Closed off Olympus, bringing this day rest.

Through endless seas, we come from ancient Troy—

375

Perhaps you’ve heard that name. A storm has thrust us,

By its whim, to these shores of Africa.

I’m staunch Aeneas, heaven-famed, from Jove’s line.

My fleet conveys the household gods I saved

To Italy, the homeland that I seek.

380

My goddess mother shows my fated way.

Of twenty ships launched on the Phrygian sea,

Seven survive the tearing waves and East Wind.

Europe and Asia banished me to wander

The wastes of Libya, a needy stranger.”

385

Venus cut short this grief, these grievances.

“Whoever you might be, I think the favor

Of the gods has brought you to this Tyrian city.

Simply go on from here, up to the queen’s door.

I have good news. Your friends and ships are safe.

390

The North Wind turned and brought them back. My parents

Taught me to read the sky, I hope correctly.

Look at that cheerful squadron of twelve swans.

Jove’s eagle swooped from heaven through the clear sky

And routed them. But the long row regrouped—

395

Those still aloft look down on those who’ve landed.

Their joyful rushing wings on their return,

Their cries, their crowded circles in the sky

Speak of the ships that carry all your people:

Arrived in port or heading in with full sails.

400

Go on, then, make your way along the road.”

She turned away. Her rosy neck now shone.

Her hair’s ambrosia breathed a holy fragrance.

Her belt fell loose, her robe’s hem swept her feet.

Like a true god she walked. He recognized

405

His mother and called after her retreat:

“Why do you, cruel as anybody, taunt me,

Your child, with tricks and phantoms? Take my hand!

Let there be words between us as we are!”

Bitter, he set out toward the city walls,

410

But Venus hid the group in murky air,

In a thick cloud draped over them like clothing

That let nobody see or touch them; no one

Could ask why they were there or hold them back.

She soared off gladly to her home in Paphos,

415

To her shrine’s hundred altars, warm with incense

From Arabia and fragrant with fresh garlands.

Meanwhile they hurried, following the path.

They climbed a lofty hill above the city,

And looked down at the fortress straight ahead.

420

Aeneas was amazed at those great structures

Where huts had been: the gates, paved roads—the hubbub!

Tyrians feverishly laid out long walls

Or rolled up rocks to raise the citadel;

Men ringed their building sites with trenches, chose

425

Laws, magistrates, and sacred senators.

A port was being dug, a theater’s

Deep footing laid, great columns carved from cliffs

To ornament the stage that would be built there:

Like bees in spring across the blossoming land,

430

Busy beneath the sun, leading their offspring,

Full grown now, from the hive, or loading cells

Until they swell with honey and sweet nectar,

Or taking shipments in, or lining up

To guard the fodder from the lazy drones;

435

The teeming work breathes thyme and fragrant honey.

“What luck they have—their walls grow high already!”

Aeneas cried, eyes lifted to those roofs.

Still covered by the cloud—a miracle—

He passed in through the crowds, and no one saw him.

440

Deep in the city is the verdant shade

Where the Phoenicians, tempest-worn, unearthed

The sign that royal Juno said they’d find:

A horse’s head, foretelling martial glory

And easy livelihood through future ages.

445

Dido was building Juno a vast shrine here,

Filled with rich offerings and holy power.

The stairs soared to a threshold forged of bronze;

Bronze joined the beams; the doors had shrill bronze hinges.

Here a strange sight relieved Aeneas’ fear

450

For the first time, and lured him into hope

Of better things to follow all his torments.

While waiting for the queen, he scanned with wonder

The whole huge shrine—the city’s wealth it spoke of,

The toiling concord of the different craftsmen—

455

And saw Troy’s battles painted in their sequence,

A worldwide story now: Atreus’ sons

And Priam—and Achilles, cruel to both.

He halted, weeping: “What land isn’t full

Of what we suffered in that war, Achates?”

460

There’s Priam! Even here is praise for valor

And tears of pity for a mortal world.

Don’t be afraid. Somehow, our fame will save us.”

With steady sobbing and great streams of tears,

He fed his heart on shallow images.

465

He saw men fight around the citadel—

Trojan troops routing Greeks, Achilles’ crest,

His chariot bearing down on routed Trojans.

He wept to recognize, close by, the white tents

Of Rhesus: savage Diomedes stormed

470

And massacred the camp on its first night,

And seized the fiery horses there before

They tasted Trojan grass or drank the Xanthus.

Here Troilus—poor boy, no match for Achilles—

Who’d lost his weapons, clutched his reins, though sprawling

475

Behind his empty chariot and panicked

Horses. His neck and flowing hair were skidding

Over the ground. His spear point scored the dust.

The Trojan women, hair unbound, went begging

To the temple of implacable Athena.

480

They took a robe for her and beat their breasts.

She wouldn’t raise her eyes and look at them.

Three times Achilles dragged the corpse of Hector

Around Troy’s walls, then traded it for gold.

Aeneas gave a soulful groan to see

485

His comrade’s armor, chariot, and body,

And Priam stretching out defenseless hands.

He saw himself among Greek chieftains, fighting;

He saw black Memnon and the ranks of Dawn.

Penthesilea, leading Amazons

490

Who carried crescent shields, stormed through the throng,

Her gold belt tied beneath a naked breast—

A warlike girl who dared to clash with men.

Astounding pictures, rendering Aeneas

Of Troy transfixed, entranced—but while he stared,

495

Dido, the lovely queen, paced to the temple,

A large and youthful troop attending her.

On Eurotas’ banks or Cynthus’ heights, Diana

Keeps dances moving; there she’s flanked and followed

By a thousand clustering nymphs—they’re goddesses,

500

But she looms taller, shouldering her quiver

(A speechless joy engulfs Latona’s heart):

So cheerful Dido moved among her people,

Urging on work to make her kingdom strong.

Facing the doors, beneath the temple’s vault,

505

On her high throne she sat, flanked by her armed guards,

Gave judgments, made decrees, assigned the work

In fair proportions or by drawing lots.

But now Aeneas saw among the crowd

Fearless Cloanthus, Antheus, Sergestus,

510

And other Trojans whom the pitch-black whirlwind

Had scattered, driving them to distant shores.

He and Achates both were riveted

With fear and joy. They yearned to clasp their friends’ hands,

But didn’t, being startled and bewildered.

515

They hung back, watching from the hollow cloud.

What was the news, where were they moored, and why

Had they come here? Spokesmen from every ship

Clamored into the shrine with their petitions.

When he was given leave to speak, the eldest,

520

Ilioneus, peaceably addressed her:

“Your highness, we poor Trojans plead with you:

Jove let you found a city and bring justice

To lawless tribes. We wander on the sea,

Wind-harried: save our ship from evil fires.

525

Spare decent people—think what we’ve been through.

We haven’t come to plunder Libyan homes

Or drive your herds away onto the beaches.

Arrogant crime is not for beaten men.

There is a place Greeks call Hesperia,

530

An ancient land, rich-loamed and strong in war.

Oenotrians lived there, whose descendants call it

Italy, from king Italus, we’re told.

On our way there,

Stormy Orion heaved the surge against us,

535

Cruel South Winds drove us far into the shallows,

Scattered us under conquering waves and over

Stone barriers. We few rowed to your shores.

What race is this? What nation would permit

Such outrage? With belligerence, they’ve thrust us

540

From the beach; they yield no resting place on land.

You scorn the human race and human weapons?

Don’t doubt the gods remember good and evil.

Aeneas was our leader—none more just

Or faithful ever lived, no better fighter.

545

If fate still lets him breathe instead of sleeping

Among the shades of death, we’d have no fear,

And you would not be sorry for competing

With him in kindness. We have towns and troops

In Sicily. We’re kin of great Acestes.

550

Please, let us beach the fleet the winds have ruined,

And saw new planks, shape new oars in your woods.

Perhaps our friend and leader will return—

Then we can sail with joy to Italy.

If that won’t save us, and our loving father

555

Lies in the sea, and there’s no hope for Iulus,

We’d sail to Sicily—a king, Acestes,

A home is there for us across the strait.”

So Ilioneus spoke, and all the Trojans

Instantly roared approval.

560

Dido looked down and gave this brief reply:

“Calm your hearts, Trojans, put away your fears.

The threats to my new kingdom here have forced me

To place guards carefully on all the borders.

Who hasn’t heard about Aeneas’ family,

565

Or Troy—those brave men and the flames of war?

Phoenicians know the world! This town’s not set

Beyond the place the Sun God yokes his horses.

To Saturn’s fields, the great lands of the West,

Or the kingdom of Acestes next to Eryx,

570

I’ll send you off secure and well supplied.

Or would you settle here and share my kingdom?

The city that I found is yours, so land

Your ships. You will be equal to my people.

I wish the storm had brought your king Aeneas

575

Himself. But I will send some trusted men

Up and down Libya’s shoreline, since he might

Be cast up, wandering through woods or towns.”

Heartened now, staunch Achates and Aeneas

The patriarch were yearning to break free

580

Out of their cloud. Achates asked his leader:

“Goddess’ son, what new thoughts rise up in you?

Your fleet and followers are in safe havens.

Save for one man our own eyes saw the waves

Take under, it is as your mother said.”

585

He’d scarcely finished when the cloud that veiled them

Ripped apart and dissolved in open air.

Aeneas stood, his godlike face and shoulders

Flashing in clear light, since his mother breathed

Graceful long hair, the blushing glow of youth,

590

And happy shining eyes onto her son—

Like ivory beautifully carved, like silver,

Or Parian marble edged with tawny gold.

To the astonished queen and all the others

He quickly spoke out: “Here I am, you see—

595

Trojan Aeneas, saved from Libyan waters.

You are the first to pity Troy’s misfortunes.

We are the scraps the Greeks left. We have nothing.

Disaster pelted us on land and sea.

It could not be in all our people’s power

600

(We are world-scattered now) to thank you, Dido,

For making us the sharers of this place.

The gods and your own conscience must reward you.

Surely divine powers honor selflessness,

And justice does exist. What happy era

605

And what outstanding parents gave you birth?

While streams run to the sea, while shadows move

On mountain hollows, while stars graze in heaven,

You will have praise and honor, in whatever

Land calls me.” Now he reached out to Sergestus

610

And Ilioneus, with his right and left hands;

And then to brave Cloanthus and brave Gyas.

Phoenician Dido was amazed to see him,

And shocked by all his suffering. She spoke:

“What fate has hounded you through endless danger?

615

What force has brought you to our savage shores?

Are you the one born by the river Simoïs—

Trojan Anchises and kind Venus’ son?

Teucer in exile came to Sidon, looking

For a new kingdom, I recall, and seeking

620

My father, Belus’, help—he was away

Ravaging wealthy newly conquered Cyprus.

Since then I’ve known the tragedy of Troy,

The kings from Greece who fought there, and your name.

Your enemy himself admired Trojans

625

And claimed to share the ancient Teucrian line.

So come now, warriors, join me in my house.

Fate dragged me through much suffering myself

Until it let me settle in this land.

My own experience has taught compassion.”

630

She spoke, and led Aeneas to her palace,

Proclaiming sacrifices in the temples.

She sent his shore-bound comrades twenty bulls,

A hundred giant boars with bristling backs,

A hundred fat lambs and their mothers too,

635

Gifts for a joyful day.

Regal, bright luxury equipped the house.

The feast was laid out in the central hall:

Embroidery exquisite on proud purple,

A mass of silver vessels, with reliefs

640

In gold of her heroic ancestry,

The whole long story of her ancient race.

Aeneas, with an anxious father’s love,

Dispatched Achates swiftly to the ships,

To give Ascanius news and bring him here.

645

All the fond father’s thought was for the boy.

Aeneas ordered gifts brought in, the salvage

Of Troy: a mantle stiff with gold-stitched figures,

A veil trimmed yellow with acanthus flowers—

Greek Helen’s trappings, taken from Mycenae

650

When she set off for Troy and lawless marriage,

Glorious presents from her mother, Leda—

And the scepter once held by Ilione,

Eldest of Priam’s daughters; a pearl necklace;

And a crown’s double bands of gold and gems.

655

Achates rushed to fetch them from the ships.

But Venus was revolving new designs,

A new plan: Cupid, thoroughly transfigured,

And not Ascanius, would bring the gifts,

And twist a frenzied flame around the queen’s bones.

660

She feared this lying race, this doubtful refuge.

At evening, too, came thoughts of ruthless Juno

To trouble her, so she approached winged Love:

“My son, you are my strength, I rule through you.

You even scorn the father’s lightning bolts.

665

Humbly I come to seek your holy aid.

You know your brother’s tortuous worldwide voyage,

How Juno’s spite will never let him rest.

You’ve shared my grief about this many times.

Phoenician Dido flatters and detains him.

670

Juno has sanctioned this—but for what purpose?

She won’t hang back at this decisive time.

So I’ll move quickly, shrewdly, trap the queen

In flames, and then no will on high can change her.

She will be mine, through passion for Aeneas.

675

Now listen while I tell you how to do it.

My darling prince, at his dear father’s call,

Is setting out to the Phoenician city

With gifts saved from the sea and Trojan flames.

I’ll hide him, tranced in sleep, on Cythera’s heights,

680

Or high above Idalium—my shrines.

He won’t know, he won’t stumble on the scheme.

You are a boy too: for a single night

Impersonate the features Trojans know.

Amid the royal banquet’s flowing wine,

685

Dido will be enchanted with you, hold you

In her lap, with doting kisses. That’s your chance:

Stealthily breathe on her your flame of poison.”

Love shed his wings, obeying his dear mother,

And strutted in a gleeful imitation.

690

Venus poured deep sleep through the prince’s body

And took him in her arms to the high groves

Of Idalium. Soft marjoram wrapped flowers

And breathed their aromatic shade around him.

In glee and deference, now, Cupid followed

695

After Achates with the royal gifts.

He found the queen among her splendid hangings,

Posed in the middle, on a golden couch.

Father Aeneas and the ranks of Trojans

Assembled and reclined on purple covers.

700

The slaves poured water on their hands, provided

Baskets of bread and finespun napkins. Inside,

Fifty maids honored household gods with hearth flames

And made the long feast ready course by course.

Two hundred men and women of the same age

705

Served wine and weighed the tables down with good things.

Phoenician guests flocked in the festive doorway

And took their places on embroidered couches,

Struck by Aeneas’ gifts, and struck by “Iulus”—

The god’s bright face and masquerading words,

710

The cloak and the embroidered yellow flowers.

The Punic Queen, cursed and disaster bound,

Brooded insatiably and burned with staring,

Enchanted by the presents and the boy.

He put his arms around Aeneas’ neck,

715

Which gratified the duped and loving father,

Then sought the queen. Her eyes and mind were fixed

On him. Poor thing, she held him in her lap,

The mighty hidden god. He thought of Venus,

His mother, and began to ease Sychaeus

720

Out of her mind, to try a living love

Against a heart long quiet and disused.

An interval; the tables are removed.

They set out giant wine bowls crowned with flowers.

A clamor rises, and their voices roll

725

Through the wide hall. Lamps hang from golden panels,

Blazing, and waxed-rope candles rout the darkness.

The queen called for a bowl—heavy with gems

And gold—for unmixed wine. From Belus on,

The dynasty had drunk from it. Now, silence.

730

“They say you govern visits, Jupiter.

Make this a glad day for our Trojan guests

And us, a day our children all remember.

Bacchus who gives us joy, good Juno, come!

Tyrians, kindly solemnize our coming

735

Together.” She poured out an offering,

Then took the lead—her lips just brushed the rim—

And, with a challenge, passed to Bitias:

He wallowed in the full, foam-brimming gold.

The other leaders drank. Long-haired Iopas,

740

Great Atlas’ pupil, struck his golden lyre.

He sang the wandering moon, the sun’s eclipses,

Fire and rain, how men and beasts were made,

The keeper of the Bear, the Twins, the Rain Stars;

Why winter suns dive in the sea so quickly,

745

What obstacle makes winter nights so slow.

Repeated cheers rose, led by Tyrians.

Unlucky Dido spoke of various things,

Drawing the night out, deep in love already.

She asked so many questions: Priam, Hector,

750

The armor of the son of Dawn, what breed

Diomedes’ horses were, how tall Achilles.

“Tell it all from start, my friend—the ambush

By Greeks, your city’s fall, your wanderings.

This is the seventh summer now that sends you

755

Drifting across the wide world’s lands and seas.”

1–man: The Trojan hero Aeneas, son of Anchises and the goddess Venus, the protagonist of the poem. The Latin vir, “man,” can also mean “hero.”

2–Lavinian: Here, Italian. Lavinium will be the first city Aeneas founds in Italy, named after his future wife, Lavinia.

7–Alban patriarchs: The noble houses of Alba Longa, the city founded by Aeneas’ son Ascanius; these included the Julii; see 1.270–71.

10–righteous: Latin pius, “devoted to country, gods, and family.” This is Aeneas’ chief character trait.

12–Carthage: a Phoenician colony in northwest Africa that became Rome’s greatest rival in the Mediterranean. The three Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage (264–146 BCE) ended with the complete destruction of Carthage.

12–Tyrian: Tyre is the Phoenician city from which Dido fled to found Carthage.

13–Tiber: The river on which Rome was founded.

15–Samos: An Aegean island with an important temple of Juno.

23–Saturn’s child: Juno, daughter of the Titan Saturn.

26–27–the verdict given by Paris: a reference to the Judgment of Paris, the Trojan prince who was asked to judge which goddess, Venus, Minerva, or Juno, was the most beautiful. He chose Venus, who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, for his bride.

28–Ganymede raped and honored: The Trojan prince Ganymede was raped by Jupiter, then given the honor of being cupbearer to the gods. Juno is enraged by her husband’s infidelities.

30–cruel Achilles and the Greeks: Aeneas and his small band of Trojans are refugees from Troy, destroyed by the Greeks following a ten-year siege. Achilles was one of the mightiest Greek heroes, slayer of the Trojan prince Hector.

39–Pallas: The goddess Minerva (in Greek, Pallas Athena).

41–Ajax’ frenzied crime: During the sack of Troy the Greek warrior Ajax the Lesser raped Cassandra, a Trojan priestess, though she had taken refuge at Minerva’s altar.

42–Jove’s hungry fire: Jove’s (Jupiter’s) daughter, Minerva, here borrows her father’s weapon, lightning.

53–The whole vast cave: According to myth the winds were imprisoned in a cave on the island of Aeolia. Vergil later (8.417) identifies Aeolia with Lipari, a volcanic island off the northern coast of Sicily.

60–the almighty father: Jupiter.

67–Tyrrhenian Sea: A tract of the Mediterranean Sea situated between Sardinia and Corsica and the Italian peninsula, named after the Etruscan prince Tyrrhenus.

68–gods: the household gods. See 1.379n.

83–The winds pour out: Descriptions of storms were a standard element in epic poetry, from the Odyssey on, and offered poets a chance to compete with their predecessors.

84–The East and South gales: The wind gods Eurus (the East Wind) and Notus (the South Wind).

90–fires dancing in its heights: Probably Saint Elmo’s Fire, a weather phenomenon in which a bright blue or violet glow appears around masts in inclement weather.

96–Diomedes: One of the greatest of the Greek warriors; he nearly killed Aeneas at Troy, but Venus pulled her son from the fight (see Iliad 5).

98–Hector: The greatest Trojan warrior, whose slaughter by Achilles is depicted in Homer’s Iliad.

99–Sarpedon: A Trojan warrior, son of Jupiter.

109–altars: The Aegimori, two small rocky islands off the coast of Carthage.

111–shallows: The Syrtes, dangerous sandbanks off the northern coast of Africa.

114–15–Orontes and the Lycians: Orontes is the leader of the Lycians, Trojan allies from Anatolia, a term that now denotes the largest part of Turkey.

121–22–Ilioneus, Abas, brave Achates, and old Aletes: Trojan companions of Aeneas.

138–kingship of the sea: Neptune and his brothers, Jupiter and Pluto, split rulership of the cosmos into three domains: the sky (Jupiter), the sea (Neptune), and the Underworld (Pluto).

144–Cymothoë and Triton: Cymothoë is a sea nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris; Triton is a sea god.

148–As often: This is the first of Vergil’s many similes in the poem; the political relevance to Vergil’s own times is notable here.

151–a grave, upright hero: This hero, who sounds like Aeneas, is presented as a role model for Roman leaders, including Augustus, thanks to his pietas.

177–78–equipment of Ceres: Tools used to convert grain into meal. Ceres is both the Roman goddess of agriculture and the Latin word for “grain.”

182–Antheus, Capys, Caicus: Companions of Aeneas.

196–Acestes: The son of a river god and a Trojan woman named Egesta or Segesta, Acestes is a king of Sicily who hosts Aeneas and his Trojans before they land at Carthage (5.30).

200–201–Scylla’s frenzy, and the deep roar at the cliffs: Scylla (a sea monster) and Charybdis (a whirlpool) were traditionally located in the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy.

201–the rocks the Cyclops threw: A reference to Homer’s Odyssey 9, in which the Cyclops Polyphemus throws boulders at the ship of Odysseus (Ulysses) in an effort to sink them.

210–tied back their clothes: An anachronistic reference to a custom of Vergil’s own time. Cumbersome Roman togas needed to be drawn up and girded close to the body for active work.

235–Teucer’s new lineage: Teucer was the original ancestor of the Trojan kings. Through his descendant Aeneas, the Romans traced their line directly to the Trojan royal house.

242–Antenor: A nephew of Priam, king of Troy. After the city fell, he founded a colony of Trojans at Venetia (modern Padua).

243–Illyria: The area of the west Balkans, east of the Adriatic Sea.

244–Liburnia: A part of Illyria.

244–Timavus: A river in Italy.

247–Padua: A Trojan colony in northern Italy.

253–righteousness: Latin pietas, “devotion to country, gods and family”; cf. 1.10n.

268–Ilus: The traditional founder of Ilium (Troy).

272–the dynasty of Hector: Descendants of the Trojan royal house, via Aeneas and his wife, Creusa, Hector’s sister, were said to have ruled Alba Longa until the eighth century BCE, when Romulus was credited with founding the city of Rome.

273–Ilia: Mother of Romulus and Remus.

278–For them I will not limit time or space: Jupiter’s prophecy of everlasting empire has helped inspire colonialist expansion through the centuries.

284–Anchises’ clan: The Romans. Their Trojan roots are emphasized; though Troy was sacked, its descendants will eventually conquer Greece.

284–85–Phthia, Mycenae . . . Argos: Greek settlements: Phthia was the home of Achilles and his Myrmidon warriors; Agamemnon ruled Mycenae; Diomedes, Argos. Jupiter predicts the Roman conquest of Greece in the second century BCE.

286–Caesar: Not Julius but his heir Augustus, previously called Octavian.

287–Julian name: Augustus inherited the name of Caesar from his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, his great-uncle by blood.

290–eastern spoils: Augustus negotiated the return of lost battle standards from the eastern realm of Parthia (in modern Iran), a significant symbolic and diplomatic achievement. This is probably also a reference to his decisive victory over Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra in 31 BCE.

292–old Faith: Loyalty, here personified as a goddess, whose cult was established by King Numa early in Rome’s history.

292–Quirinus: Another name for Romulus; see 6.859n.

294–close War’s grim gates: Located in the Roman Forum, the gates of the temple of Janus, the two-faced god of boundaries, were open in times of war, closed in times of peace. They were closed extremely rarely: in Vergil’s lifetime only in 29 and 25 BCE. See 7.601–15.

294–Furor: Madness or frenzy, here personified. The conflict between frenzy and piety—duty to one’s family and duty to the gods—is a central motif in the Aeneid (see the Introduction).

297–son of Maia: Mercury, messenger of the gods.

302–Phoenicians: Here, Carthaginians; see 1.12n.

305–Steadfast: Another way of translating pius.

315–armed as in Sparta: Spartan women were trained in martial skills, including running, hunting, and riding.

316–Harpalyce in Thrace: a mythical Thracian warrior princess who lived in the forest.

317–Hebrus: A river in Thrace, regarded by the Romans as wild country.

329–Apollo’s sister: Diana, virgin goddess of hunting and the wilderness.

338–Agenor’s city: Venus refers to Carthage by naming Agenor, king of Tyre, one of Dido’s ancestors.

364–a woman led: A striking Latin phrase: dux femina facti, literally, “a woman was the leader of the action.”

367–68: “as much as one bull’s hide could reach around”: The Phoenicians were offered as much ground as they could surround with a bull’s hide, so they cut the hide into thin strips to make a single long string.

373–Evening Star: The planet Venus, called Vesper.

378–from Jove’s line: Aeneas refers to his Trojan ancestor Dardanus, son of Jupiter and Electra.

379–the household gods: The Penates, Roman deities of the home, closely associated with the Lares (a family’s guardian deities) and with Vesta, goddess of the hearth. Aeneas was credited with introducing their worship to Italy.

382–Phrygian sea: As Phrygia was the part of Asia Minor where Troy was situated, “Phrygian” often means “Trojan.”

391–North Wind: The wind god Aquilo, associated with winter.

392–to read the sky: A reference to the Roman practice of augury, in which the flights of birds were interpreted as omens.

403–ambrosia: Often represented as the food of the gods; also used as a divine unguent or perfume.

404–her robe’s hem swept her feet: Her short hunting tunic (line 320) transforms into the long flowing robe of a goddess.

415–Paphos: A coastal city on the island of Cyprus. Venus was believed to have landed here first after she was born of sea foam; her Greek name Aphrodite (aphros means “sea foam”) alludes to this myth.

426–Laws, magistrates, and sacred senators: Vergil represents the rising city of Carthage in Roman terms.

444–A horse’s head: According to Vergil, Juno indicated via an oracle that Carthage should be founded where Dido found the buried head of a horse. Carthaginian coins had a horse motif on one side.

457–Atreus’ sons: Agamemnon and Menelaus.

470–73–Rhesus . . . Xanthus: Rhesus was a Thracian prince, killed by Ulysses and Diomedes on the day he arrived at Troy. According to prophecy, if his horses drank from the river Xanthus and grazed on Trojan grass, the city would never be taken.

474–Troilus: A Trojan prince, son of Priam. Vergil often directs sympathetic attention to young casualties of war.

483–Achilles dragged the corpse of Hector: In Iliad 22 Achilles chases Hector on foot around the walls of Troy before he kills him, and in Iliad 24 he attaches his body to his chariot and drags it around Patroclus’ tomb. Vergil’s version of Achilles selling the corpse comes from another source.

487–Priam stretching out defenseless hands: A reference to the scene in Iliad 24 in which Priam appeals to Achilles to return his son Hector’s body.

489–black Memnon and the ranks of Dawn: Memnon, the son of Tithonus and the dawn goddess Aurora, brought a force from Ethiopia to aid the Trojans.

490–Penthesilea, leading Amazons: The Amazons, women warriors, were allies of the Trojans who arrived in the last year of the war. Achilles fell in love with their queen, Penthesilea, at the moment he killed her in battle.

498–Eurotas: A major river that ran through Sparta in the Peloponnese.

498–Cynthus: A mountain on the island of Delos, birthplace of Apollo and Diana.

502–Latona: Greek Leto, mother of Diana and her twin brother Apollo by Jupiter.

510–Sergestus: The ancestor of one of the oldest elite families in Rome, gens Sergia, of which the infamous Catiline was a member. See 8.669n.

521–Ilioneus: The oldest of the Trojans in Aeneas’ party.

530–Greeks call Hesperia: Italy, named from the Greek word for “west” (hesperos), as it lies to the west of Greece.

532–Oenotrians: Native inhabitants of Italy.

533–Italus: King of the Oenotrians.

534–On our way there: The first of about fifty-eight incomplete lines in the Aeneid, usually seen as a sign that Vergil did not have the chance to complete the poem.

535–Orion: The constellation Orion (the Hunter) was seen as a bringer of storms and rain.

568–Beyond the place the Sun God yokes his horses: I.e., beyond the known world.

569–Saturn’s fields: Italy, where the Titan Saturn was exiled after he was deposed from rule over the gods in a coup by his son Jupiter.

570–Eryx: Mount Eryx, on the western side of Sicily.

593–Parian marble: Marble quarried from the island of Paros was highly valued in antiquity, especially for carving statues.

619–Sidon: A Phoenician city.

625–Your enemy himself: Teucer, the Greek warrior.

681–Idalium: A small city on the island of Cyprus where Venus had a sanctuary.

731–you govern visits: Jupiter traditionally protected guests and travelers, as well as friendships between individuals and alliances between communities.

738–Bitias: Son of Alcanor, a companion of Aeneas.

740–Iopas: A Carthaginian bard; his singing at a banquet is imitated from Odyssey 1 and 8.

741–Atlas: A Titan condemned by Jupiter to bear the heavens on his shoulders; also sometimes credited as the founder of the science of astronomy.

742–He sang: Iopas’ song deals with natural history, and it reprises the songs of Orpheus in Apollonius’s Argonautica 1 and Silenus in Vergil, Eclogue 6.

750–She asked so many questions: Dido’s questions include some posed by ancient commentators on Homer.

BOOK 2

All faces now were fixed on him in silence.

Father Aeneas, on the high couch, spoke:

“Must I renew a grief beyond description,

Telling how Greeks destroyed the power of Troy,

That tear-stained kingdom, since I saw the worst,

5

While playing no small part? Telling about it,

A Myrmidon, a Dolopian, a trooper

Of cruel Ulysses too would weep. The moist night

Falls to its end, the setting stars urge sleep.

But if you are so passionate to hear,

10

Briefly, of the death agony of Troy,

I will begin, although my heart shrinks back

From memory. The years of war had broken

The Greek kings; destiny had pushed them back.

They built a mountainous horse, with woven ribs

15

Of fir—Athena’s genius aided them.

‘An offering for a safe voyage home!’ The news spread.

They picked the bravest men. With stealth they shut them

Into the darkness of the flanks: an armed squad

Filling the vast, deep cavern of the belly.

20

Tenedos shows offshore, the famous island—

Wealthy while Priam’s empire still existed,

Now just an inlet with its treacherous mooring.

They sailed there, to a lonely beach, and lurked,

As if they’d caught the winds out toward Mycenae.

25

The whole of Troy broke free of its long mourning.

We poured out through the open gates, delighted

To tour the Greek camp on the empty shore.

Achilles’ tent was here, Dolopians there.

The fleet moored there. Here was the battleground.

30

Some ogled that huge horse, gift of the virgin

Minerva for our ruin. Thymoetes

Was first to want it taken to our stronghold—

His own guile or the fate of Troy inspired him.

Capys and those who shared his good sense urged us

35

To hurl the treacherous bounty of the Greeks

Into the sea or set a fire beneath it,

Or drill into the secrets of its womb.

The fickle mob took opposite positions.

Now, leading his attendants in a crowd,

40

Laocoön rushed raging from the town’s heights.

‘Poor Trojans, have you lost your minds?’ he shouted.

‘You think they’re gone? Are any Greek gifts given

Sincerely? Don’t you know Ulysses better?

The Greeks are hiding in this wooden gadget,

45

Or else this is a siege machine they’ve built

For spying or alighting on our homes,

Or some such trick. Don’t trust the horse, my people.

Even when they bring presents, I fear Greeks.’

He hurled a massive spear with all his strength

50

Into the creature’s round and riveted belly.

The shaft was planted, quivering; the deep,

Recoiling womb sent out an echoing groan.

Had heaven willed it, had we all been sane,

We would have followed, shattering the Greek lair;

55

Priam’s high citadel would still be standing.

Shepherds approached the king now, clamoring,

Dragging a youth whose hands were tied behind him,

A stranger they had come across just now—

But he had plotted this, to open Troy

60

To Greeks. He was tough-mindedly prepared

To trap us with his lies or yield to death.

Trojan boys rushed to view the captive, crowding

Around him, seeing who could taunt him hardest.

Hear how the Greek plot worked: this single crime

65

Shows them for what they are.

Amid those stares, unarmed and looking harried,

He stood and swept his eyes around our ranks.

‘Is there some sea, is there some land to take me?’

He cried. ‘I’m finished. What do I have left?

70

No place among the Greeks, and now the Trojans

As well are shouting for my blood in payment.’

At this our rage was calmed, our onslaught stifled.

But still we had to know—who were his people?

What was the news he brought? Why should we spare him?

75

He finally put his ‘fear’ aside and spoke:

‘All that I’ll say, your highness, is the truth,

Whatever happens. First, I am a Greek,

Sinon. If Fortune made me desolate,

She will not make me lie, cruel as she is.

80

Perhaps you’ve heard the name of Palamedes,

The glorious son of Belus, whom the Greeks

Slanderously, outrageously accused

Of treason when he stood against the war.

They drained his life’s light, but they mourn him now.

85

My father, who was poor, sent me in boyhood

As Palamedes’ page, since we were family.

While he still safely ruled, strong in the councils

Of kings, I had my share of reputation

And honor. But when sly Ulysses’ envy—

90

You know it—thrust him from this upper world,

I lived in mourning darkness, persecuted

And raging at my blameless patron’s death.

I was in fact a fool, and pledged revenge

If chance allowed, if I came home in triumph

95

To Argos. Hatred rose against my words.

This tipped me toward disaster. Now Ulysses

Kept threatening, accusing, scattering rumors,

Recruiting helpers in his plot against me.

He didn’t rest until the seer Calchas—

100

But no, it’s useless; you don’t want to hear it.

I’m wasting time. If Greeks are all the same,

Kill me, I’m Greek. The sons of Atreus

Would pay you well. Ulysses would be pleased.’

This only made us burn to hear it all,

105

In innocence of evil Argive guile.

Shaking with false emotion, he continued:

‘The Greeks were often yearning, often trying

To leave. The endless war had worn them out.

I wish they’d gone. The stormy winter sea

110

Or South Wind often turned them from the journey.

The horse of maple wood stood here already,

When the sky rang with even louder storms.

In doubt, we sent Eurypylus to query

Apollo’s oracle, and got bad news:

115

“You Greeks appeased the winds with virgin blood

When you first traveled to the shores of Troy.

Now you must offer yet another Greek life

For your return.” The common soldiers heard this

With horror. Icy trembling seized their marrow:

120

Whose death was it Apollo asked of them?

Ulysses dragged old Calchas in, with much noise

And bullying: What did the god decree?

Many foresaw the schemer’s brutal crime:

They saw what was to come but held their peace.

125

The seer in his tent refused for ten days

To give a name and send a man to death.

Finally, driven by Ulysses’ clamor,

He spoke. They’d planned it: I would be the gift.

They all agreed. Each, fearing death, was happy

130

To see it land on my pathetic self.

The ghastly day had come: the salted grain,

Fillets around my head, the ritual.

I broke these chains of death—yes, I confess it.

In the swamp, among the reeds, I hid all night,

135

Breathlessly waiting for the fleet to sail.

I can’t return again to see my homeland,

Sweet children, and the father that I yearn for—

Perhaps they now may pay for my escape;

My weakness might just cost them their poor lives.

140

I beg you by those powers that know the truth,

By any pure trust placed in anything

Among us mortals, pity my affliction—

Pity the persecution of a good heart.’

We spared his life; we even pitied him.

145

Priam stepped in and had the man’s tight chains

And manacles removed, and spoke these kind words:

‘Stranger, the Greeks are lost to you: forget them.

You will be ours. But answer truthfully:

Who had the giant horse set up, and why?

150

Is it for worship or for making war?’

Greek cunning and conspiracy now caused him

To raise his hands—unbound now—to the stars.

‘By these eternal fires and sacred Troy,

By the altar and the evil blade I fled,

155

And the god’s ribbons that this victim wore:

It’s right to break the holy bonds of Greeks,

To hate them and make public everything

They hide. My nation’s laws don’t hold me now.

But keep your word, since Troy’s saved if my news

160

Is true, and proves rich payment for my safety.

All that the Greeks could hope for in this war

Was in the power of Pallas. Since the plotter

Ulysses and the godless Diomedes

Slaughtered the keepers of the soaring fortress,

165

And tore away that fateful effigy,

The Palladium, from its shrine, and even pawed

Her virgin fillets with their bloody fingers,

The tide is turned, the Greek cause slipping backward.

Their strength is broken by her stubborn anger.

170

She gave us signs, miraculous and clear:

We’d scarcely set her image in the camp

When its eyes flashed and burned, and salty sweat

Ran down it. From the ground it leaped three times

And shook its shield and spear—amazing story.

175

Calchas’ divine advice: escape by sea;

The Greeks would not raze Troy till they returned

To Argos for new omens and brought back

The deity they’d taken in their curved ships.

They’ve sailed home to Mycenae, to rearm

180

And gather gods as allies. They will cross

Back here and strike. So Calchas read the omens.

This statue pays for the Palladium,

An offering to violated godhead.

Calchas commanded that it be immense,

185

A mass of joined logs reaching to the sky,

And never pass the gates into your city

And save you, as the cult of Pallas did.

Handle Minerva’s gift impiously,

And ruin—may the gods turn back the omen

190

Against the seer—will meet the realm of Priam.

If your hands help it climb into your city,

Asia can hurl itself in war against

The walls of Pelops, in our grandsons’ time.’

Sinon’s false oaths and trickery convinced us.

195

The tears that he contrived did what Achilles

And Diomedes and ten years of war

And a thousand ships could not: they brought us down.

“Poor Trojans! Something still more horrible

Sprang up to fill our spirits with confusion.

200

Laocoön, the chosen priest of Neptune,

Was at the altar, slaughtering a large bull,

When over the calm sea from Tenedos

Came two huge coiled snakes—even now I shudder.

Breasting the water, paired, they sought the beach.

205

They reared among the waves, their blood-red crests

Towering, while their bellies trailed the surface.

Their backs were flowing in enormous spirals.

The salt foam roared. But now they reached dry land.

Fire and blood were brimming in their eyes.

210

Their quivering tongues licked hissing mouths. We ran,

White with fear. They were aimed, in their incursion,

Straight at Laocoön—he wasn’t first, though:

Each gripped a tiny son of his, entangling

The body, gnawing on its wretched limbs.

215

Their father snatched a spear and ran to help.

Both serpents caught him in their giant whorls.

Their scaly length went twice around his waist

And throat; above him reared their heads and necks.

He fought to rip apart the knotted forms.

220

Their slime and poison-black drool soaked his fillets.

His shrieks of agony rose to the sky,

As when a bull escapes the altar, shedding

The ax that was half-buried in his neck.

The snakes now ducked away, made for the fierce

225

Tritonian’s temple in its lofty setting.

At the statue’s feet they hid, beneath the round shield.

Now a fresh terror twisted through our hearts.

We quaked; some murmured that Laocoön

Deserved this for the hideous crime of striking

230

The sacred wooden image with his spear:

‘Bring it where it belongs. Beseech the power

Of the goddess.’

We cut the walls and opened up the city.

Bare-legged work put rollers underneath

235

Its feet, and tightened ropes around its neck.

The great catastrophe climbed to the fortress,

Pregnant with arms. Young boys and girls around it

Sang hymns and touched the cables in their joy.

It loomed into the middle of the town.

240

Heroic walls of Ilium, the gods’ home,

My country! Four times in the gate itself

It halted—weapons clattered in its belly.

We pushed on, blind with passion and distracted,

And set the monster in our sacred stronghold.

245

Cassandra spoke then, echoing the future.

But by the gods’ will, Troy could never hear her.

We wretches on our last day garlanded

The temples of the gods all through the city.

The heavens swung round, night leaped from the ocean

250

To wrap the earth and sky—and Greek deceit—

In its great shadow. On the walls the Trojans

Sprawled, muffled in a deep, exhausted sleep.

The Greek fleet came already in formation,

From Tenedos—the friendly moon hung silent—

255

To the familiar shore; and now the king’s ship

Signaled with flame. Sinon, protected by

Heaven’s harsh rulings, slipped pine bolts, birthed Greeks.

The horse gaped to the sky. The eager chieftains

Slid from the wooden cave and down the rope:

260

Machaon, then Thessandrus, Sthenelus,

Acamas, cruel Ulysses, Thoas, Peleus’

Grandson Neoptolemus, Menelaus,

And Epeos, who’d crafted this device.

They swarmed a city sunk in wine and sleep,

265

Slaughtered the guards, opened the gateway, let

Their comrades in, uniting ranks as planned.

It was the time when that first, sweetest sleep,

A gift from gods, slips into weary mortals.

I saw an anguished Hector in my dreams,

270

Streaming with tears and black with dust and gore.

His feet were swollen with the thongs that pierced them

When he was dragged behind the chariot.

How different from that Hector who returned

Wearing the plundered armor of Achilles

275

Or hurled our Trojan torches onto Greek ships!

His beard was dirty; dried blood caked his hair.

He bore the many wounds he got defending

His city’s walls. And in that dream I wept

And greeted that brave man with mournful words:

280

‘Light of our country, truest hope of Troy,

Why were you gone so long? What shore has sent us

This longed-for sight of you? So many died.

Your city and its people are worn out

With all their griefs. What undeserved disaster

285

Marred your calm face? What are these wounds I see?’

He took no notice of my empty questions,

But, sighing from his heart’s depths, only said,

‘Child of the goddess, run, escape these flames.

The walls are taken. From its pinnacle

290

Troy falls. Our country, Priam—gone. If my hand

Could have defended Troy, you would be safe.

Troy trusts its cult, its household gods to you.

Take them to share your fate, find room across

The sea to build high walls for them again.’

295

Then from the inmost shrine he brought the ribbons

And mighty Vesta and her ceaseless fire.

Confusion and distress spread through the fortress.

My father’s house was set far back and sheltered

By trees, and yet the martial din pierced through;

300

Now terror broke in, bristling with its weapons.

Startled from sleep, I scrambled to the rooftop

And stood there, motionless and listening:

It was like fire the raging South Winds send

Into the wheat, or torrents from a mountain

305

That flatten thriving crops (the work of oxen),

And drag whole forests headlong; on a high rock

A shepherd stands and stares in bafflement.

Here was plain evidence of Greek connivance.

The fire topped Deïphobus’ broad house

310

And brought it down. Ucalegon’s beside it

Had caught. The wide Sigean strait shone red.

The shouts of men, the ring of trumpets rose.

Blindly I seized my weapons—senselessly—

But my heart burned to gather friends and rush

315

To some high place. Delirious rage pitched me

Ahead: how beautiful to die in battle!

The priest of Phoebus of the citadel,

Othrys’ son Panthus, clutching holy emblems

And routed gods and his small grandson, dashed

320

Through the Greek spears in panic to my door.

‘Where is the hardest fight?’ I asked, ‘Our strong point?’

Quickly he answered me, but with a groan:

‘This is the last day, inescapable

For our nation—Troy, the Trojans, and our glory

325

Are gone. Fierce Jupiter has given all this

To Argos. Greeks are masters of these flames.

The horse is looming, pouring troops among us.

Sinon in mocking triumph scatters fire

Everywhere, and as many thousand others

330

As great Mycenae sent are at the broad gates.

In alleyways the spears are poised for ambush.

A flashing line of sword points is prepared

To murder us. Guards at the entrances

Scarcely resist them in the first blind clash.’

335

The priest’s words and the gods’ power, felt within me,

Drove me to burning battle. The grim Furies,

The roars and shouts that rose to heaven called me.

I drew in comrades: Rhipeus, Epytus

(Great warrior) emerged by moonlight; Dymas,

340

Hypanis, and Coroebus, Mygdon’s son,

Strode with me—this young man had journeyed here

In burning and deranged love for Cassandra,

To fight, as Priam’s son-in-law, for Troy—

Poor man, his promised bride had raged and warned him:

345

He hadn’t heard.

Now when I saw them come together ready

For war, I urged them on. ‘Come, are you burning

To waste your courage, fighters, following me

Into a final clash? You see our fortune.

350

All of the gods who kept this kingdom standing

Have left their shrines and altars. These are flames

You fight. Let’s rush to die in that dense combat.

The beaten have one hope: to lose all hope.’

The young men’s frenzy grew. Like plundering wolves

355

Whose ravening stomachs drive them on a blind hunt

Through black fog while their cubs, with dry throats, wait

Back in the lair, we kept on pressing forward

Through our armed enemies, straight through the city

To certain death. The blackness swirled around us.

360

Who could describe that night’s catastrophes?

What tears could show our agony in full?

An empire, generations old, was falling.

We saw unmoving bodies sprawled and scattered

In houses, on the roads, on holy thresholds

365

Of gods’ homes. But not only Trojans paid

The price in blood. New courage seized our hearts.

Greeks in their triumph fell. Ferocious grief,

Terror, and every kind of death enclosed us.

Androgeus with his mass of troops was first

370

To meet us. He mistook us for his allies

And shouted at us these congenial words:

‘Hurry, men! What’s this dragging of your feet?

Why hold back? All the rest are plundering

Troy’s flames. You’ve left your tall ships only now?’

375

No reassuring answers came to him—

He knew he’d stumbled into his opponents.

Stunned, he retreated from his words and us.

Like someone on a brambly path who treads

On a hidden snake and backs away in terror

380

From the blue swollen neck, erect in rage,

Androgeus looked at us and backed up, shaking.

We swarmed around them with our weapons, scattered

And killed them—they were panicked in that strange place.

So Fortune blessed our very first endeavor.

385

Coroebus was exuberant; he shouted,

‘Friends, we should take the road that Fortune’s favored

At the beginning: there we’ll find our safety.

Let’s put Greek armor on and swap our shields.

A trick’s as good as courage in a war,

390

And here’s our chance!’ He took the long-plumed helmet

And shield with its fine blazon from the leader,

And put them on, and belted on the Greek sword.

Then Rhipeus too, and Dymas, and others

Eagerly armed with fresh loot. We set out

395

Among the Greeks, under Greek auspices.

In the thick dark we skirmished many times

With them, and we sent many down to Orcus,

While others sought their ships on sheltered beaches.

A truly craven few climbed back and hid

400

In the familiar belly of the Greek horse.

No one should trust the gods against their will.

Priam’s unmarried daughter, streaming-haired,

Was dragged out of Minerva’s shrine. She lifted

Her burning eyes to heaven, uselessly—

405

Her eyes, because her tender hands were tied.

Seeing this put Coroebus in a frenzy.

He threw his doomed self straight against the captors;

We followed, rushing where the clash was densest.

But now, hurled from the temple’s lofty rooftop,

410

Trojan spears overwhelmed us, abject slaughter:

Our plumes, our emblems turned us into Greeks.

Roaring frustration at the young girl’s rescue,

The gathered Greeks attacked: ferocious Ajax,

Atreus’ two sons, Pyrrhus with his army—

415

As when a whirlwind breaks and sets the West Wind

Against the South and East who relishes

Driving Dawn’s horses. Woods roar, Nereus

Rages and foams, and from its floor the sea rears.

Even the men we’d ambushed in night’s shadows,

420

Routing them, chasing them all through the city,

Emerged now they could see through our disguise,

And also hear our language wasn’t Greek.

They swarmed us instantly. Coroebus fell first,

Before the mighty warrior goddess’ altar.

425

Peneleus killed him. Rhipeus fell too—

It was the gods’ will, though no other Trojan

Served justice better. Hypanis and Dymas

Died on their comrades’ spears. Apollo’s emblem

That reverent Panthus wore was no protection.

430

By Trojan ashes, by those fatal flames

I swear: in that collapse I shirked no fighting

Or other hazard. If my fate had been

To fall, I would have earned it. I was stranded

With Iphitus (weighed down with age) and Pelias

435

(Lame from a wound Ulysses had inflicted).

We now heard shouts and ran to Priam’s palace,

Where what we saw drove all the other battles

And massacres in Troy to nothingness.

Implacably the Greeks attacked the building,

440

Crowding the door, their shields above their heads.

Ladders gripped walls beside the gates; feet struggled

Toward higher rungs, while left hands grasped the shelter

Of shields and right hands reached to seize the gables.

The Trojans ripped up parapets and whole roofs

445

For weapons of defense. They knew the end

Was coming: they would fight until it came.

They rolled down gilded beams, the ornaments

Of generations. Others drew their swords

And in a dense rank blocked the gates below.

450

So now we turned to bring the palace help,

To bring relief and new strength to the beaten.

There was a hidden door that linked two parts

Of Priam’s house, remote and at the back.

Andromache, poor thing, while Troy survived,

455

Went through there unattended to her in-laws,

Taking Astyanax to see his grandsire.

This way I reached the rooftops, where the Trojans

Uselessly, pitiably hurled their weapons.

A soaring tower, by a steep drop down,

460

Was once our lookout onto all of Troy,

And the whole Greek encampment with its ships.

Now we assailed the tower’s upper stories,

Where joints were loose, and ripped it from its high perch,

Shoving it over. In a swift collapse

465

And roar it skidded down. On top of Greek ranks

It smashed—but others came. There was no pause

Of stones or other missiles.

Pyrrhus stood in the gateway to the courtyard,

Exultant, glittering in his bronze armor—

470

Just as a serpent, fed on poison weeds,

Emerges swollen from its winter burrow

And sheds its skin and gleams, its youth renewed,

And swirls its glossy length and rears its head

Straight toward the sun, and darts its three-forked tongue.

475

Huge Periphas, Achilles’ squire and driver

Automedon, and all the Scyrian troops

Pressed up and hurled their torches to the roof.

Pyrrhus was at the front. He snatched an ax

To smash the bronze-bound doors and tear their hinges,

480

First hacking out a panel for a hole

In the hard oak—a wide and gaping window.

Inside, the house: its atrium stretched back—

The ancient kings’ and Priam’s sanctuary—

And on the threshold stood its armed defenders.

485

Sounds of disaster and confusion echoed

Throughout the place, with women’s lamentations

And howls. Shouting struck the golden stars.

Terrified mothers roamed all through the mansion,

And clung to doorposts, pressing kisses on them.

490

Strong as his father, Pyrrhus came on. Locks,

Guards couldn’t hold him back. The battering ram

Made the door sway, unhinged, and topple forward.

The Greeks broke murderously through. They killed

The first defenders, swarmed through all the rooms.

495

A foaming, storming river is far gentler,

Which roars out past its mounded banks’ resistance.

Swollen, it tears through broad fields, sweeping herds

And barns along. I saw there, in the doorway,

Blood-frenzied Neoptolemus, Atreus’ sons,

500

Hecuba with her hundred daughters, Priam,

Whose blood would foul the altar flames he’d blessed.

The fifty bedrooms (bountiful with grandsons),

Pillars that flaunted gold barbarian spoil—

Everything fell. Where flames failed, Greeks laid hold.

505

Perhaps you want to know how Priam died.

He saw his city fallen, taken, gates

Torn open, and the enemy inside.

On shaking shoulders he set armor—last worn

Decades ago—strapped on a useless sword,

510

And rushed to die in hordes of hostile soldiers.

Beneath steep, open heaven in his courtyard

Stood a great altar, where an ancient laurel

Leaned to embrace the household gods with shade.

Hecuba and her daughters ringed the high shrine

515

Like doves that rush for refuge from a black storm,

Futilely, and embraced the effigies.

The queen saw Priam in his youthful armor

And said, ‘Poor husband, what insanity

Dressed you for war? Where are you hurrying?

520

No such defenders, no such help is called for

Today—not even if my Hector lived.

Retreat here, let this altar keep us safe,

Or die with us.’ She took the old king’s hand

And in that sacred place she sat him down.

525

But look! The Trojan prince Polites ran

From Pyrrhus’ carnage, ducked through hostile spears.

Down the long porch, across the empty courtyard,

Wounded, he fled. Pyrrhus in bloodlust followed,

Thrusting his spear, grasping beyond his reach.

530

Emerging in his father’s sight at last,

Polites fell. Blood, life gushed out of him.

Now Priam, though encircled by the slaughter,

Didn’t hold back from shouting in his fury:

‘If there is sight and conscience up in heaven,

535

The gods will give you your deserved reward,

Their thanks for this outrageous crime, for letting

Me see with my own eyes my own son’s murder.

You have defiled a father’s sight with death.

Achilles was your father? It’s a lie.

540

This isn’t how he fought. He had respect

For a trusting suppliant’s rights. He sent me back

To my throne with Hector’s corpse for burial.’

The old man threw a weak, unwarlike spear.

All it could do was clang across the bronze shield

545

And hang there by the leather of the boss.

Pyrrhus replied, ‘Then go tell Peleus’ son,

My father, how far short of him I fall.

Be sure he knows what hateful things I did.

So die.’ The king was dragged up to the altar,

550

Shaking and slipping in his own son’s blood.

A left hand gripped his hair. A right hand lifted

A flashing sword and sank it to the hilt.

As Priam watched Troy burn, its fortress topple,

Death took him, and he found his destined end.

555

But he had once been haughty lord of Asia,

Its lands, its peoples. On the shore a tall corpse

Lies nameless, with its head ripped from its shoulders.

That was the moment savage horror gripped me.

I froze. I seemed to see my darling father

560

In the king—the same age—with that savage gash,

Who gasped his life out. What about Creusa,

Alone—the house torn open—little Iulus?

I looked around to find some troops to help me.

Deserters! In their terror and exhaustion,

565

They’d jumped from walls or dashed into the flames.

Now I was all alone there—no, I saw

Through Vesta’s doorway, quiet, skulking, hiding,

Tyndareus’ daughter in the glare the flames

Shed for my ranging feet and searching eyes.

570

She feared the Trojans’ vengeance for their city,

Justice from Greeks, the outrage of a husband

Betrayed. She was a Fury for both lands.

A loathsome thing, she crouched behind the altar.

My heart caught fire: I had to punish her

575

For crimes that had destroyed my fatherland.

‘She’ll safely gaze on Sparta and Mycenae,

Where she was born? She’ll triumph as the queen?

She’ll see her father’s home, her husband, children—

Slaves will escort her, Trojan boys and ladies?

580

Priam is butchered. Troy burns. All this time,

Our shore has sweated blood. No—not for this.

To execute a woman brings no glory—

It is no triumph trailing praise behind it.

Yet I’ll destroy this evil, bring it justice—

585

I will be praised—I’ll satisfy my heart

With flames of vengeance for my own who’re dying.’

My ranting fury carried me along—

Then, in pure brightness, through the night appeared

My gentle mother, never clear as now,

590

Revealing her divinity, the form

She has in heaven, and her hand restrained me.

Out of her rosy mouth there came these words:

‘My child, what pain could bring on such wild anger?

Why rave this way? Where is your love for us?

595

Where have you left Anchises, your poor father,

Broken with age? Ascanius, Creusa—

Are they still living? Everywhere around them

Greek forces mill. If not for my protection,

The weapons and the flames would have consumed them.

600

Give up your hatred of the lovely Helen

And wicked Paris, since it is the gods

Who are so cruel and topple wealthy Troy.

Look! I will take away the whole black cloud

That wraps around you mistily and dims

605

Your mortal sight. But have no fear and do

As I command. Have faith in me, your mother.

Here where you see a giant mass of rock

Shattered and strewn in rippling, dusty smoke,

Neptune has smashed the walls with his great trident,

610

And shaken and uprooted all the city.

Bloodthirsty Juno, girded with a sword,

Has seized the Scaean Gate and wildly calls

Her army from the ships.

There on the citadel Athena flashes

615

Her ruthless Gorgon shield through burning cloud.

Father Zeus fills the Greeks with winning courage

In person, rousing gods against your troops.

Stop struggling and lay hold of your escape.

I’ll take you safely to your house’s door.’

620

She hid away then in the night’s thick mist.

Before me stood grim shapes, great deities

Hostile to Troy.

Truly, I saw the whole of Troy collapsing

In flames, and Neptune’s city overthrown,

625

Like an old mountain ash that several farmers

Hack with unresting axes in a race

To tear it loose. It menaces, its leaves

Tremble and dip, once its high top is shaken.

Wounds slowly weaken it. It gives a last groan,

630

Rips loose, drags devastation down the hillside.

Some god then led me from the roof, released me

From flames and weapons—all of these gave way.

When I arrived at my ancestral house,

Seeking my father first, and keen to take him

635

Into the towering hills before the others,

He said he couldn’t live past Troy’s extinction,

Wouldn’t bear exile. ‘You, with youth unbroken,

And hearty blood and staunch and solid strength,

Hurry, escape.

640

If those above had wanted me to live,

They would have saved my city. I’ve survived

One captured, fallen Troy—it is enough.

Say your farewell: this is my funeral.

Some plunderer will show me mercy, ending

645

My life. To lie unburied is a small loss.

Uselessly, hated by the gods, I linger

Since heaven’s father and the king of men

Blasted me with his fire and windy thunder.’

These were his stubborn words. He wouldn’t move.

650

In tears we begged him—I, my wife Creusa,

My son, our household: ‘Don’t drag everything

Down with you, making heavy fate a rockslide.’

But he refused, fixed in his plans and place.

My hopeless urge was war again, and death.

655

Nothing in life remained to me but these.

‘Father, you thought I’d leave you here and run?

Abomination from a father’s mouth!

If out of towering Troy the gods leave nothing,

If you’re resolved to give this dying city

660

Yourself and us, the door to that stands open—

To Pyrrhus, soaked with Priam’s blood, who kills

The son and then the father at the altar.

Sweet mother, did you save me from the flames

Of war for this? The enemy in my home,

665

My son, my father, and Creusa lying

Streaked with each other’s blood, like slaughtered cattle?

My armor—bring it: we are not quite beaten.

Let me go back to battle with the Greeks.

We won’t all die today without revenge.’

670

Buckling my sword on, readying my shield

In my left hand, I was about to go.

My wife, there on the threshold, grasped my feet

And thrust our son, our little Iulus, toward me.

‘If you go out to die, then take us with you.

675

But if you think you have some hope in weapons,

Then guard this house. To whom do you leave Iulus,

Your father, me—your wife but soon your widow?”

Her words, her groans, her wails rang through the house—

But an astounding portent intervened.

680

With Iulus in our arms, near our sad faces,

We saw a filmy, shining tongue of flame

Rise from his head; it licked his baby locks

And browsed around his temples harmlessly.

In our alarm we tried to slap the fire out

685

And drench the sacred burning of his hair.

Father Anchises gazed, though, toward the stars

In joy, stretched out his hands, and spoke these words:

‘Almighty Jupiter, if prayer can move you,

Look down on us; for our devotion, Father,

690

Grant us a sky sign now, affirm this omen.’

A sudden, crashing roar rose on the left side

While the old man still spoke, and through the dark sky

A comet hurtled, with a dazzling tail.

We saw it glide above the towering rooftops

695

And hide its brilliance in the woods of Ida.

Its tail still glowed, a long, light-brimming furrow.

Its sulfur smoldered over all that country.

My father stood up, conquered by the truth.

In reverence for that sacred star, he prayed,

700

‘No more delay! Gods of my fathers, lead me:

I’ll follow. Save my family, save my grandson.

This was your sign, and Troy is in your power,

And I will yield and go with you, my son.’

Now through the walls the fire’s roar grew louder.

705

The blasts of heat were rolling closer to us.

‘Dear Father, let them set you on my shoulders.

I’ll carry you—you will not weigh me down.

Whatever happens, it will be one peril,

One rescue for us both. Our little Iulus

710

Will walk with me, my wife will follow, far back.

Servants, pay close attention to my orders.

A barrow and an old deserted temple

Of Ceres lies outside the fort. Our fathers

Have long revered an ancient cypress near it.

715

We’ll all take separate paths but meet up there.

Father, you take our gods, these holy statues.

Smeared with the fresh gore of a dreadful battle,

I must not touch them but must first be cleansed

In running water.’

720

And now I pulled a tawny lionskin

Over my bending neck and brawny shoulders

And took my load. My little Iulus’ fingers

Were twined in mine; he trotted by my long steps.

Behind me came my wife. We went our dark way.

725

Before, I hadn’t minded hurtling spears

Or Greeks who massed against me from their ranks.

Now every gust and rustle panicked me

Because of whom I led and whom I carried.

Now I approached the gates. The journey seemed

730

Over, when suddenly a massive tramping

Sounded. My father, spying through the shadows,

Shouted, ‘Run—run, my boy! They’re coming close!

Shields flashing and the glint of bronze—I see it.’

Some hostile god then seized me in my terror

735

And stole my reason. Byways led me running

Beyond the streets of the familiar city.

And there my wife, Creusa—no!—was taken

By fate, or strayed, or else collapsed, exhausted.

Who knows? We never saw her anymore.

740

I didn’t think of her or note her absence

Until we reached the mound and ancient shrine

Of Ceres. When we gathered there, we found

Her gone—her husband, child, friends cheated of her.

I spared no god or man in my wild curses.

745

Nothing in that whole city’s fall was crueler.

I left my son, my father, and my gods

In comrades’ care, deep in a twisted gully.

Bright in my weapons, I went back again,

Determined to run all those risks once more,

750

To risk my life in searching all of Troy.

I now approached the walls, the gates’ dim threshold

That I had fled from, searching out my footprints

Keenly in darkness, following them back.

The very silence filled my heart with terror.

755

I set out homeward—maybe she had gone there—

Maybe. The Greeks infested that whole building,

And instantly the flames, rolled by the wind,

Consumed the rooftop, shot insane heat skyward.

I passed to Priam’s palace and the fort.

760

On the forlorn porch, in the sanctuary

Of Juno, Phoenix stood with grim Ulysses,

Assigned to guard the spoils, heaped Trojan treasure,

Torn from the flaming shrines: the pure gold wine bowls,

The tableware and clothing of the gods

765

Were captured now. Mothers and children stood

In long lines, terrified.

I even dared to shout across the shadows,

Uselessly filling all the roads with grief,

Ceaselessly calling out Creusa’s name.

770

On I went, in my race to search the buildings—

But the sad apparition of Creusa

Came to me, taller than the living woman.

Shock choked my voice and stood my hair on end,

Yet what she said was soothing to my spirit:

775

‘Why do you rave and revel in this sorrow,

Sweet husband? It was by the will of heaven

This came about. It was not right to take me:

The king of high Olympus will not let you.

In a long exile, you will plow a vast sea,

780

Clear to the West, where Tiber’s Lydian water

Serenely sweeps through warriors’ rich fields.

A thriving kingdom and a royal wife

Are yours. So weep no longer, though you love me.

I am a Trojan; Venus is your mother:

785

I will not serve Greek matrons in the cities

Of proud Dolopians and Myrmidons.

The gods’ Great Mother keeps me here—farewell.

We share a child: keep love for him alive.’

She left me, cutting short my words and weeping—

790

I had so much to say; her image faded.

Three times I threw my arms around her neck.

Three times her image fled my useless hands,

Like weightless wind and dreams that flit away.

When I rejoined my friends, the night was gone.

795

It startled me to find how many more

Had streamed there—mothers, men in their best years,

And youths had massed pathetically for exile.

They came from everywhere, supplied, resolved

To sail with me to any land I chose.

800

The Dawn Star rose past Ida’s highest slopes

And brought the day. The Greeks held every gate

To the city. There was nothing left to help us.

I picked my father up and sought the mountains.”

7–Myrmidon . . . Dolopian: Greek warriors from Thessaly. The Myrmidons were under the command of Achilles, the Dolopians of Achilles’ son, Neoptolemus.

11–Briefly: Aeneas’ narrative, modeled on Odysseus’ inset narrative in Odyssey 9–12, occupies books 2–3.

13–The years of war: The siege of Troy lasted ten years.

21–Tenedos: An Aegean island just off the coast of Turkey, near the entrance of the Dardanelles.

25–Mycenae: Here, Greece in general.

32–Minerva: The Greeks pretended to leave the Trojan Horse as an offering to Minerva to guarantee safe passage home.

32–Thymoetes: A Trojan. His son was put to death to avert a prophecy linking his birth to the downfall of the city; Thymoetes’ suggestion here may be an act of revenge.

35–Capys: A companion of Aeneas.

41–Laocoön: A Trojan priest of Neptune.

49–Even when they bring presents, I fear Greeks: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis; one of the most famous sayings in the poem, often quoted.

76–The line is thought to be spurious.

81–Palamedes: A Greek warrior who was framed by Ulysses and wrongfully executed as a traitor.

82–Belus: A distant ancestor of Palamedes, not to be confused with Dido’s father.

100–Calchas: A Greek seer, tasked with determining the will of the gods for the army.

114–Eurypylus: The son of Telephus, leader of the Thessalians.

116–virgin blood: Before setting out for Troy the Greeks had sacrificed Iphigeneia, a daughter of Agamemnon, to ensure favorable winds for sailing.

133–Fillets: wool ribbons used to decorate sacrificial animals before slaughter; they were also worn by priests.

156–the god’s ribbons that this victim wore: fillets; see 2.133n.

164–Ulysses and the godless Diomedes: Ulysses and Diomedes are especially villainous Greeks in the Aeneid: Ulysses as the inventor of the Trojan Horse, Diomedes as the warrior who almost killed Aeneas in the Iliad (see 1.96n).

167–68–Palladium . . . fillets: A statue of Minerva, upon whose protection the city depended; its title is derived from her Greek name, Pallas Athena. The fillets are the ribbons sanctifying the statue.

193–94–Asia . . . Pelops: Here Asia refers to Troy and the walls of Pelops to Greece.

198–a thousand ships: A rounded number; there are 1,186 in Homer’s catalogue of ships.

204–two huge coiled snakes: It is possible that Vergil knew the second-century BCE marble sculpture of Laocoön and his two sons, which Pliny regarded as superlative, and which inspired the German Romantic critic and dramatist Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Laocoon: An Essay upon the Limits of Painting and Poetry (1766).

226–Tritonian: An epithet for Minerva.

262–Peleus: The father of Achilles and grandfather of Neoptolemus.

263–Neoptolemus: The son of Achilles, also called Pyrrhus, portrayed by Vergil as more cruel and violent than his father.

275–the plundered armor of Achilles: Hector acquired Achilles’ armor when he killed Achilles’ friend Patroclus, to whom Achilles had lent it.

293–its household gods: The Penates. See 1.379n.

297–Vesta: Goddess of the hearth. See 1.379n.

310–Deïphobus: Helen’s second Trojan husband, whom she married after the death of Paris. Aeneas will meet his spirit in the Underworld at 6.494–534.

311–Ucalegon: One of Priam’s aged counselors.

312–Sigean strait: Near the Sigean promontory on the coast of Asia Minor, close to the mouth of the Hellespont.

319–Othrys’ son Panthus: A Greek from Delphi whom Priam made a priest of Apollo after his abduction to Troy.

337–The grim Furies: Female Underworld deities associated with revenge, they also sometimes personify the drive to battle.

346–He hadn’t heard: Coroebus does not believe Cassandra: she is fated to prophesy accurately and never be believed.

370–Androgeus: A companion of Aeneas.

398–Orcus: The Underworld.

403–Priam’s unmarried daughter: Cassandra, whose rape by the Greek warrior Ajax the Lesser sets Minerva against the Greeks.

414–Ajax: See 1.41n.

415–Pyrrhus: See 2.263n.

418–Nereus: A sea deity.

455–Andromache: The wife of Hector.

457–Astyanax: Hector’s infant son; after the sack of Troy, he was thrown from the city walls, as depicted in Euripides’ Trojan Women.

477–Automedon: The chariot driver for Achilles and later for his son Neoptolemus.

501–Hecuba with her hundred daughters: Traditionally Priam and Hecuba had fifty sons and fifty daughters; Virgil is counting Hecuba’s daughters-in-law here.

542–43–He sent me back . . . with Hector’s corpse for burial: In the final book of the Iliad, Achilles gives up his rage and returns Priam’s son Hector’s body for a proper funeral.

557–58–On the shore a tall corpse . . . from its shoulders: Priam’s corpse is described in terms designed to evoke the headless corpse of Pompey the Great after his assassination on the shore of Egypt in 48 BCE.

562–63–Creusa . . . Iulus: Aeneas’ wife and son.

567–88–The “Helen episode” is not preserved in the most important manuscripts and may not have been written by Vergil.

569–Tyndareus’ daughter: Helen, properly the daughter of Jupiter. Tyndareus, a Spartan king, is her mortal stepfather.

573–Fury: Here a metaphor suggesting that Helen is the spirit of vengeance.

577–Sparta . . . Mycenae: Helen was originally the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Mycenae here refers to Greece in general or to Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon’s kingdom.

602–Paris: The Trojan prince who abducted Helen and thus triggered the war.

613–the Scaean Gate: The main gate of Troy.

616–Gorgon shield: Minerva’s shield, the aegis, bore the decapitated head of the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa.

625–Neptune’s city: Neptune and Apollo were credited with building Troy’s giant walls.

642–43:–I’ve survived one captured, fallen Troy: Troy had been captured once before, by the hero Hercules.

692–on the left side: The favorable side for omens.

708–I’ll carry you: Aeneas shouldering his father and leading his son by the hand became a famous motif in Western art.

762–Phoenix: Accompanied Odysseus (Ulysses) on the embassy to Achilles in Iliad 9.

781–Tiber’s Lydian water: The river Tiber, in central Italy, flowed through the land of the Etruscans, who were believed to have emigrated from Lydia in Asia Minor.

788–the gods’ Great Mother: The mother goddess Cybele, whose cult worship originated in Anatolia, the same region as Troy, and spread to Rome in the late third century BCE.

792–Three times: the triple embrace attempt comes from Odyssey 11; Vergil repeats this motif at 6.700.

801–Ida: A sacred mountain near Troy.

BOOK 3

“The gods’ decree brought down the Asian empire

And Priam’s blameless race. Proud Ilium fell.

Smoke rose from all of Neptune’s leveled Troy.

Prophecy drove us into empty lands

And far-off exile. Toiling to build ships

5

In Phrygian Ida’s foothills near Antandros,

We didn’t know where fate would let us settle,

But mustered men. At summer’s start my father

Urged us to spread our sails to destiny.

I set out, weeping, from my country’s shores,

10

The plains where Troy had been. I swept to exile

With friends, my son, my family’s gods, the great gods.

Far off are spacious fields, the land of Mars

That Thracians till; once cruel Lycurgus reigned there.

Blood ties and ritual bound the place to Troy

15

While our luck held. I landed, set my first walls

On the curving shore, and formed a name from mine,

‘Aeneas’ Town’—but fate was hostile here.

Providing offerings for my mother, Venus,

And gods who bless new works, I planned to slaughter

20

A fine bull on the beach for heaven’s king.

Nearby, a mound was topped with clumps of cornel

And myrtle bristling like a mass of spears.

I tried to wrench that greenwood from the ground

To roof the altar with the leaves and branches.

25

Then—hideous sight, almost unspeakable—

The first plant pulled away oozed drops of blood

From its torn roots, a filthy gore that tainted

The ground. A freezing tremor shot me through;

My blood ceased flowing, icy with my fear.

30

I didn’t stop but pulled a second stem,

To find whatever cause lay deep inside.

Again, black blood came dripping from the bark.

I prayed, confounded, to the rustic nymphs

And Father Mars, lord of the Getic fields,

35

To come and take away this omen’s curse.

At the third shaft, I made a harder try,

Struggling, with both knees planted in the sand.

Do I dare say this? From the barrow’s depths

I heard somebody sob and call to me:

40

‘Aeneas, no—don’t maul a buried corpse,

Polluting your clean hands. Troy gave me life,

You know me—me, not wood that oozes blood.

Run from this cruel land, from its greedy shore,

Since I am Polydorus, and a woodland

45

Of iron pierced me—here the sharp spears grow.’

Confused and terrified, I stood unmoving,

My hair on end, words clotted in my throat.

Poor Priam secretly sent Polydorus

And a great treasure to the Thracian king

50

Years ago, in his fear of weapons’ failing

To save our city from the siege that ringed it.

But when the luckless Trojan power was broken,

The Thracian joined in Agamemnon’s victory:

He broke with honor, killing Polydorus

55

To loot the gold. What will that hellish hunger

Not drive a man to do? When I’d stopped quaking,

I told our leaders—first of all my father—

About the omen here and sought advice.

They agreed: from this evil land, defiling

60

Guest-friendship, the South Winds should take our fleet.

We gave fresh rites to Polydorus, raising

A large tomb on the mound. His spirits got

Their altar, grim with cypress and dark fillets.

The Trojan women stood with loosened hair.

65

We brought him cups of warm and frothing milk,

Basins of sacred blood. We roused his spirit

With one last shout, then laid it in the tomb.

When we could trust the sea, and the wind called us

With gentle rustling to the placid deep,

70

The men massed on the shore and launched the ships.

The port, the land, the cities dipped behind.

“A sacred land lies in the sea, the favorite

Of the Nereids’ mother and Aegean Neptune.

It floated loose until the thankful Archer

75

Lashed Mykonos and high Gyarus to it:

It could be lived on then, and flout the winds.

Here I now sailed. The bay serenely welcomed

Our weary crews. We hailed Apollo’s town.

King Anius, who was the god’s priest too,

80

Fillets and laurels on his sacred head,

Hurried to meet Anchises, his old friend.

He clasped our hands and took us to his house.

The shrine was built of ancient rock. I prayed,

‘Give us a home, Apollo. We are worn out.

85

Give refugees from Greeks and cruel Achilles

Enduring city walls; grant us descendants.

Where must we go and settle? Under what guide?

Grant us an omen, Father! Fill our hearts!’

Suddenly, everything appeared to shake:

90

The door, the laurels, the entire hill.

The secret place lay bare; the tripod roared.

We fell and hid our faces. Now a voice came:

‘Enduring Trojans, where your race was born,

A fertile, loving land will take you back

95

As nurslings. Seek out your primeval mother.

Aeneas’ sons will rule in every country—

His children’s children through the generations.’

These were the god’s words. Jubilant wild shouting

Broke out. Where was the town, we asked, that Phoebus

100

Was summoning us back to as we wandered?

My father then considered the traditions.

‘Noblemen, hear what we can hope for now.

Crete, great Jove’s island, stretches in mid-ocean.

There in Mount Ida’s land our race arose.

105

Crete has a hundred cities, wealthy empires,

And Teucer, our progenitor, set sail

From there—if I remember what they tell—

And found a place to reign. Troy’s citadel

Was not yet built; its people lived in deep vales.

110

From Crete came Mother Cybele, Corybants

With cymbals, faithful silence for her rites

In Ida’s woods, tame, chariot-yoked lions.

We need to hurry where the gods direct us.

Give offerings to the winds and sail for Knossos.

115

It isn’t far. With Jupiter to help us,

The fleet will moor there when the third dawn breaks.’

And then he slaughtered what he owed the gods:

A bull for Neptune, one for bright Apollo,

The good West Wind’s white sheep, the Storm God’s black one.

120

The rumor came: Idomeneus banished

From his ancestral kingdom, Crete deserted,

Empty of enemies, homes for the taking.

We left the Delian port and skimmed the sea

Past Naxos’ Bacchic ridges, green Reed Island,

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Then Olive Island, snow-white Paros, scatter

Of Cyclades. We threaded shallow roiled straits.

Each sailor fought to do the most. They shouted

For speed to Crete, the country of our fathers.

A fair wind rose behind to waft our vessels

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To where the Curetes lived long ago.

Craving to stay, I founded Pergamum—

A welcome name—and urged my race to love

Their homes and fill the citadels with rooftops.

The ships were on the shore and almost dry,

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Marriage and farming occupied the young,

Laws and allotments me; when suddenly

That sky rained wretched rotting sickness on us.

The trees and fields grew only death that year.

We gave our sweet breath up or dragged our lives out.

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And then the sterile Dog Star scorched the fields.

Shoots withered, and the sick crops gave no food.

My father urged a crossing back to plead

Once more at Phoebus’ oracle and ask him

When he would grant an end to our exhaustion,

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Where we should look for help, where we should go.

“Night had brought sleep to all who live on earth.

The sacred forms of Trojan household gods

That I had rescued from the city’s flames

Appeared before my eyes as I was lying

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Asleep. They stood out plainly in the bright light

The moon was pouring through my open window.

They seemed to speak to me and soothe my worry.

‘What the god would have told you at his shrine,

He kindly sends by us, right to your threshold.

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When Troy was burned, we soldiered after you.

We crossed the swelling water with your fleet,

And we will raise your children to the stars

And give the wide earth to your city. High walls

For your high gods you’ll need there. Do not shirk

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Hard travel to a new home, since Apollo

Did not intend your settling here in Crete.

There is a place Greeks call Hesperia,

An old land, strong in war and rich in loam.

Oenotrians lived there, whose descendants take

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Their name, it’s said, from Italus the king.

This is our own home. Dardanus was born here,

And our clan’s founder, Father Iasius.

Wake! Hurry! Go with joy to your old father.

There is no question this time: he must go

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To Italy. Jove denies you land in Crete.’

The sight and sound of gods dumbfounded me.

(It was no dream, you see. I recognized

Expressions, garlands, faces there before me,

And my whole body dripped with chilly sweat.)

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I leapt from bed and raised a suppliant’s hands

And voice to heaven, poured unwatered wine

Onto the hearth. These rites with joy completed,

I told Anchises all that had transpired.

He saw we had a double origin;

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He’d made a fresh mistake about old places.

‘Child, how the destiny of Troy torments you!

Only Cassandra gave us such predictions.

Now I recall she often said our race

Was meant to have “the West” or “Italy.”

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But who’d imagine Trojans going there?

And who believed Cassandra in those days?

Have faith in Phoebus—now he sets us right.’

With shouts of triumph all of us obeyed.

We left another home, but some remained.

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Now sails unfurled. Light hulls skimmed untold water.

“A long way out, with nothing in our sight

Anywhere but the ocean and the sky,

A blue-black mass of rain and stormy midnight

Loomed in; the water bristled in the dark wind.

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All that colossal surface rose in arcs,

Flinging and strewing us across itself.

The storm clouds muffled day, the soaking night

Hid the sky, fire kept shattering the vapor.

Slammed off our course, we groped through blinding waves.

200

That sky, said Palinurus, muddled night

With day: he’d lost his way across the sea.

For three long days (we thought—the gloom confused us)

We wandered, and as many starless nights.

On the fourth day at last we saw land rising:

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Some distant mountains and a curl of smoke.

We lowered sails. The sailors’ plunging rowing

Raised curls of foam and swept us on the blue.

So I was saved, and reached the Turning Islands,

A Greek name. In the wide Ionian

210

They are now fixed, and home to grim Celaeno

And other Harpies, who have all been banished

From Phineus’ palace, routed from his banquet.

The fury of the gods has raised no horror,

No plague more vicious from the waves of Styx.

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They have girls’ features, but their stomachs drip

Revolting filth, their hands have claws, their faces

Are always pale with hunger.

We put to land there. Just beyond the harbor,

We saw a sleek herd scattered in a meadow—

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Cattle and goats with no one guarding them.

We drew our swords, swarmed in, and called on Jove

And other gods to share our spoils. The curved shore

Filled with our couches as we cooked a feast.

A terrifying swoop out of the mountains:

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The Harpies with their clanking wings came screeching

To loot the food. All that they touched was smeared

With filth. We caught their nauseating stench.

In a deep hollow underneath a cliff

Enclosed by trees and bristling shade, we set

230

Fresh tables and restored our altar fires.

From other lairs and corners of the sky—

A circling, screaming, taloned, snatching horde,

Spreading their dirty drool. I called my friends

To arms, to meet that fiendish breed in war.

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Just as I ordered them, they stashed their swords

In grass clumps all around and hid their shields.

Now when the birds plunged, shrieking, down the shore’s arc,

Misenus gave the signal from his lookout

With his bronze horn. My men rushed in to maim

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These hideous seabirds with their swords—strange battle.

No one was strong enough to strike a wound

Through those hard plumes. Stampeded to the sky,

They left half-eaten loot and sickening slime.

Celaeno, though, ill-omened prophet, perched

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On a high cliff and shouted out these words:

‘Trojans, on top of slaughtering our cattle,

You take up war against the blameless Harpies

And try to drive us from our rightful kingdom?

Store in your hearts the prophecy that Phoebus

250

Gave me. It came from the almighty father;

I, greatest of the Harpies, now reveal it.

You’ll call the wind to sail to Italy.

When you arrive, you’ll find an open harbor,

But walls will never ring your promised city

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Until this crime against us and your hunger

Drive you to grind your tables in your jaws.’

She now took wing and fled into the woods.

My comrades’ blood froze. Overcome with fear,

They told me to abandon arms and plead

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With prayers and promises to be let go,

Whether these things were gods or loathsome birds.

On the shore my father stretched his hands out, calling

High powers, and announcing their due rites.

‘Gods, block their threats! Hold this disaster back!

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We serve you—save us!’ He had mooring ropes

Torn free, and sheets let out. Now the South Wind

Bellied the sails. Now on the foaming waves

We fled, winds and the pilot guiding us.

Wooded Zacynthus rose amid the waves,

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Dulichium, Samē, Neritos’ steep rocks.

Ithaca’s crags passed by, where once Laertes

Was king; we cursed Ulysses’ motherland.

The misty peak of Leucata appeared—

Apollo’s shrine, which sailors hold in awe.

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We dropped our anchors at the little town,

Exhausted. All along the beach our ships stood.

Beyond hope, we had gained a place on dry land.

We cleansed ourselves for Jove, burned promised gifts,

Held Trojan ritual games on Actium’s shore.

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My comrades stripped and wrestled in the old way,

Dripping with oil, relieved at their escape

Through all those cities of Greek enemies.

Meanwhile the sun passed through the great year’s circuit;

The waves grew sharp in icy winter’s North Winds.

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The curved bronze shield great Abas’ arm once held

I nailed outside the gate above this verse:

‘Aeneas won these arms from conquering Greeks.’

My orders: man the oars and leave the harbor.

With zeal they lashed the sea and swept across it.

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Quickly, Phaeacia’s cloud-high bastion dipped

From sight. We traced Epirus’ shores and landed

At the Chaonian port of high Buthrotum.

“A rumor—unbelievable—possessed us:

Helenus, Priam’s son, reigned in the Greek towns,

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Succeeding Pyrrhus; and Andromache

Had found in him her second Trojan husband!

I was amazed and eager in my heart

To question him about these strange events.

My fleet was in the harbor; I went inland.

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By chance Andromache was in the woods

Beside the river ‘Simoïs,’ offering

The ritual food and gifts to Hector’s ashes,

To call his spirit at the hollow green mound

And the two altars sacred to her tears.

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She saw me coming in my Trojan armor

And froze, beside herself, stunned by the portent.

As she stood gazing, all warmth left her body.

She fainted. Finally, she could speak, and said,

‘Goddess’ son, is it you I see—alive?

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You’re really here—with news? But if you’ve lost

The kind light, where is Hector?’ Now her tears gushed,

Her wailing filled that place; I was distressed,

And as she raved, I struggled with a few words:

‘I am alive, through all of my ordeals.

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Don’t doubt your eyes.

Andromache, you were the wife of Hector.

How far you fell! But has some worthy fate

Now caught you? Or is Pyrrhus still your husband?’

She bent her head and whispered this to me:

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‘Lucky beyond us all was Priam’s daughter,

Compelled to die beside a hostile grave

Beneath Troy’s high walls. No lots drawn for her,

No conqueror’s bed to take her prisoner!

Hauled past remote seas once my homeland burned,

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I bore the insults of Achilles’ son.

I had a child in slavery. Pyrrhus, chasing

A Spartan bride, Hermione, Leda’s grandchild,

Gave me to Helenus, another slave.

Orestes, Fury-hounded for his own crime,

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And full of rage when Pyrrhus stole his bride,

Caught him and killed him at his father’s altar.

And at his death a portion of his kingdom

Passed rightfully to Helenus, who named

This land Chaonian, for Trojan Chaon,

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And put a tower, ‘Ilium,’ on that ridge.

What wind, what fate has set your course, what god

Drove you here to our shores, without your knowing?

Your boy Ascanius still drinks the air?

He was at Troy with you—

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And does he miss his mother, who is gone?

And do his father and his uncle Hector

Inspire him for his legacy of courage?’

She poured this out, with tears and useless wailing—

Then Priam’s son, heroic Helenus,

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Came from the town, with plenty of attendants.

He knew us, and with joy he led us homeward,

And every word he spoke was bathed with tears.

Now I approached a little Troy, a tower

Shaped like the great one, and a dry stream, ‘Xanthus.’

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I kissed the threshold of a ‘Scaean Gate.’

My Trojans too enjoyed their kindred city.

The king in his broad vestibule received them,

And in his central hall they poured libations,

Holding the wine bowls. Food was set on gold plates.

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“A day passed, then another. Breezes called

Our sails. The South Wind puffed to swell the canvas,

And I approached the prophet, questioning:

‘Trojan-born voice of gods! To you are known

The power, the Clarian bay trees, and the tripod

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Of Phoebus; stars and birdcalls, signs from birds’ flight:

Tell me (since all the rites have promised me

A good voyage, and the gods’ will urged me on

To make for Italy, so far away—

Except Celaeno spoke of some strange evil

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To come, a fearful anger that would bring

A loathsome hunger), what are my chief dangers?

What can I do to overcome my trials?’

Helenus slaughtered sacramental heifers,

Begged the gods’ favor, freed his sacred head

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Of wreaths and led me, cautious at the great

And holy presence, into Phoebus’ house,

And from his priestly mouth came this foretelling:

‘Son of the goddess, certainly gods guide you

Across the sea. The king of them allotted

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This fate, this turning wheel of incident.

These words will help you cross the unknown seas

In safety, clear to an Italian haven.

Some things that I could say the Fates have hidden;

Some Juno, Saturn’s daughter, holds inside me.

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First, you think Italy is close. In planning

To gain its harbors easily, you’re wrong.

The road that is no road runs by long shorelines.

In the Sicilian waves you’ll bend your oars

And cross the salty plain near Italy

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By Circe’s island and the lakes of hell

Before a safe land lets you found a city.

Keep carefully in mind the signs I speak of:

Troubled at heart, you’ll find a huge sow lying

With thirty piglets by a distant river

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Under the holm oaks. On her bed of dark ground

She will be white, white youngsters suckling her.

Your city will be there, and your sure respite.

And as for eating tables, calm your terror.

Follow fate’s path and ask Apollo’s help.

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Avoid the nearer coast of Italy,

The beaches washed by tides we share, since evil

Greeks live in every fort: the Locrians

Have built Narycium’s walls; Idomeneus

Of Lyctos occupies Sallentian flatlands;

400

Small Petelia can rely on walls built

By Philoctetes, Meliboea’s chieftain.

Once moored across the sea, when you are giving

Your promised gifts at newbuilt shoreline altars,

Hide your head, drape it in your purple clothing,

405

So that amid the flames of sacred rites

You see no enemy and spoil the omens.

Let your companions hold to this—and you too,

And your sons’ sons: keep pure in this observance.

The wind will take you on to Sicily;

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Pelorus will disclose its narrow gap.

Aim for the left shore, circle in from far out;

Avoid the land and water on the right.

They say some cataclysm split these places.

(Time holds within it such tremendous changes.)

415

It was a single place once, but the waves

Burst through the middle, splitting Italy

From Sicily, to sever farms and cities

By the new shores and narrow, sweeping tides.

Scylla lurks on the right, vicious Charybdis

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On the left; its vortex sucks down vast cascades

Sheer to the bottom three times every day

And spouts them back to strike the stars with froth.

Scylla, down in her secret, murky cave,

Thrusts out her mouths, drags vessels onto rocks.

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She’s human—she’s a girl with lovely breasts

Above the waist, below a gruesome sea beast;

Wolves at her belly end in dolphin tails.

Better to double back and make your slow way

Around Pachynum, Sicily’s far headland,

430

Than glimpse disgusting Scylla in her huge lair

And hear her sea-blue dogs make boulders echo.

And if I can be trusted as a prophet,

And know my art, and if the god inspires me,

Then above all hear this, child of the goddess,

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An urgency I can’t repeat enough:

Plead with and pray to mighty Juno’s godhead;

Win the queen over with your suppliant gifts

And cheerful promises: at last she’ll let you

Leave Sicily for Italy—your triumph.

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When you reach Cumae, near the sacred lakes

And the deep-sighing forest of Avernus,

You’ll see the raving Sibyl in a deep cave.

She chants the future, and with special signs

Marks it on leaves. The virgin puts these verses

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In sequence and then locks them in her cave.

They stay there motionless, in perfect order.

But when a hinge turns, and a tender breeze

Falls on that flimsy foliage and disturbs it,

She doesn’t chase its flutters through her cavern,

450

Or link the lines back in their proper order.

Disgusted, people leave, forgoing counsel.

You must not brood about the time you spend there,

Though your friends grumble, though your goal insists

On canvas bellying across the deep.

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Approach the seer, beg to know your future

From her own chanting mouth, by her goodwill:

She’ll tell of tribes that live there, wars to come,

And hardships to endure or to avoid.

Revere her, and she’ll grant a good voyage back.

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But this is all that I’m allowed to tell you.

Go then, raise Troy to heaven with your strivings.’

After the augur spoke these loving words,

He had the gifts, heavy with their carved ivory

And gold, brought to our ships. He packed our hulls

465

With silver bars and cauldrons from Dodona.

A corselet, triple-layered in gold chain mail,

And splendid helmet, topped with flowing plumes,

Had once been Pyrrhus’; and my father got

Special gifts. Pilots, horses were provided,

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Fresh rowers, and new armor for my comrades.

Meanwhile, Anchises had the sails refitted—

Nothing must keep us when the wind was right.

Helenus spoke to him with great respect:

‘Anchises, fit to marry lofty Venus,

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Troy fell twice, twice the gods who love you saved you.

There is your western land. Spread sails and seize it.

Take care, though: skirt the near side, since the far side

Alone is opened for you by Apollo.

Go now! You’re blessed with this devoted son.

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I mustn’t waste the rising South Wind’s time.’

Andromache, as gracious as her husband,

Heaped on more gifts, in grief at our departure:

Clothing she had embroidered with gold yarn,

And for Ascanius a Trojan cloak.

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‘Take what my hands worked and remember me.

Andromache, the wife of Hector, pledges

Her love this way. Receive your family’s last gifts—

You, the sole image of Astyanax

Left to me, with his hands and his expressions

490

And eyes; he’d be at boyhood’s end, like you.’

As I was leaving, tears rose in my eyes:

‘Be happy, since your destiny is finished.

We are called on to one and then another.

You have your peace: no ocean field to plow,

495

No land to seek that falls away from you

Forever. You’ve made images of Xanthus

And Troy with your own hands—with better omens,

I hope, than Troy, and out of reach of Greeks.

And if I ever come to Tiber’s country

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And see the ramparts granted to my people,

Italy and Epirus at its border—

Which share a history, and a founder too,

Dardanus—will unite in heart. We’ll make

A single Troy. Our heirs must see to this.’

505

“We sailed out. Circling the Ceraunian headland

Gave us the quickest voyage to Italy.

The sun plunged down. The mountains shadowed over.

On the dry beach—warm, yearned-for earth—we drew

Lots for the next day’s rowing, then dispersed,

510

Sprawled, rested. Fresh sleep poured through tired limbs.

The Hours had not yet driven Night halfway

Around, when zealous Palinurus rose,

Ears sifting air to test for any wind.

He traced the still sky’s gliding constellations:

515

The Rainy Ones, the Oxen and the Great Bear,

And in the south, Orion with gold armor.

Seeing the proper signs in limpid heaven,

He blared a signal from the stern. We broke camp

And spread our wings of sails and ventured out.

520

Now blushing Dawn had chased the stars away;

We glimpsed dim hills—there, just above the sea,

Was Italy. Achates gave the first shout,

Then the whole company cheered: ‘Italy!’

Father Anchises wreathed a giant bowl,

525

Filled it with wine, and on the looming stern

Stood calling on the gods:

‘Deities who rule land and sea and storms,

Be gracious, send a wind, make our way easy.’

The breezes strengthened, and a harbor opened;

530

Then on the heights we saw Minerva’s shrine.

They furled the sails and turned the prows toward shore.

Waves from the east have made a bow-shaped harbor.

In front sharp rocks are sprayed with briny water.

On either side stone spires with their low arms

535

Form twin walls, and the shrine is safely inland.

Four snow-white horses, our first omen seen,

Ranged browsing on the plain. My father spoke:

‘New land, you’ll bring us war, since horses go

To war in armor—these beasts threaten war.

540

They can submit, though, and be trained to draw

A chariot beneath a yoke of concord;

So peace may come.’ Cheering, we disembarked.

We called on Pallas first, shield-clanging godhead.

Trojan clothes hooded us before her altars.

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As Helenus had urged this most of all,

We honored Argive Juno, offering

Gifts in the flames. Our vows fulfilled, we hurried

To point the sail-draped yardarms out to sea.

This was a land of Greeks, which made us leery.

550

Tarentum’s gulf!—where Hercules (the tale says)

Visited. Facing it rose Juno’s temple,

Caulon’s fort, and ship-wrecking Scylaceum.

Above the far flood rose Sicilian Etna.

We heard the sea-struck rocks in their vast groaning

555

Already, and the shattered voice of breakers.

The shallows leapt, the sand ran through their seething.

My father shouted, ‘That must be Charybdis—

Helenus warned us of those crags and grim rocks.

Friends, save us! All together at the oars!’

560

The men obeyed, and Palinurus led,

Wrenching his creaking prow out toward the sea.

The whole fleet rowed and turned their sails to follow.

The arching billow heaved up to the sky,

Then hollowed out: we sank as deep as hell.

565

Three times the caverns at the cliff’s base thundered.

Three times the foam shot out and soaked the stars.

Sun and wind left us now. Exhausted, lost,

We drifted to a coast, to Cyclops country.

The harbor, blocked from wind, is broad and peaceful,

570

But Etna’s gales of rubble roar beside it.

Sometimes a dark cloud blasts clear up to heaven,

A pitch-black smoky whirlwind ringed with white ash:

Its swarms of hurtling fire flick the stars.

Sometimes it vomits crags and mountain entrails

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Into the air, or masses melted stone

From its deep roots and, with a groan, boils over.

The Giant, lightning-scorched Enceladus,

They say, is pinned beneath enormous Etna,

Which breathes its fires out of shattered forges,

580

And when he turns, exhausted, all the island

Trembles and roars, and thick smoke masks the sky.

Cowering all night in the woods, we suffered

Inhuman horrors, noises out of nowhere.

Neither the stars’ flames nor the moon were showing.

585

The heights of heaven lost all incandescence;

The hours of night were buried in dark cloud.

The day was rising, and the dawn appeared.

“Aurora drove the shadows from the damp sky

When a strange form burst on us from the forest:

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A pitiful, starved heap of dirt and rags.

A suppliant, his hands out, he approached.

We stared. His long beard straggled, he was filthy,

Thorns pinned his clothes. But he was Greek, we saw:

A past invader, in his country’s armor.

595

He’d seen our Trojan clothes and arms already

And halted for a little while in terror—

Then he came rushing forward to the shore,

Weeping and pleading: ‘By the stars, the gods,

This sky that gives us shining air to breathe,

600

Take me on board, to any country, Trojans.

That is enough. I sailed in that Greek fleet,

And I attacked your homes—yes, I admit it.

If my crime is too great, then scatter me

Across the waves and sink me in the vast deep.

605

Give me the joy of death at human hands!’

He clutched my knees, in an unyielding grovel.

I strove to draw from him his name and lineage,

And then the story of his misery.

Anchises quickly gave the youth his right hand,

610

A ready sign of friendship, lending courage.

At last he let his terror go and spoke:

‘I’m Achaemenides. Luckless Ulysses

Took me to Troy: my father, Adamastus,

Was poor—I wish I’d stayed in poverty.

615

My friends forgot me in their fear and left me

In the Cyclops’ monstrous cavern when they stole

Out of his savage door. That huge, dark house

Is fouled with gory food. He towers, striking

The stars. Gods, rid the world of such a plague!

620

Who’d want to speak to him or look at him?

He eats poor human entrails and black blood.

In the middle of his cave I saw him lying:

He put his giant hand on two of us

And smashed them on a rock; the cavern’s entrance

625

Ran with sprayed blood. I saw him chewing bodies

Black with their own gore, while their limbs still quivered.

He paid. Ulysses acted like the hero

He was, and took a great, defiant risk.

The Cyclops, stuffed with food and sunk in wine,

630

Stretched his great length across the cave and laid down

His lolling head, and slept, and vomited

Blood, wine, and gory fragments. We beseeched

The holy powers, drew lots for tasks, and swarmed

Around him. With a sharpened spike we pierced

635

The single eye beneath his brutal brow—

Sun-big, big as a shield an Argive carries.

The joy, when we avenged our comrades’ ghosts!

But run, poor people! Slash your mooring cables!

Get away!

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As huge as Polyphemus in his cave,

Shutting his woolly herds in pens for milking,

A hundred Cyclopes are on the loose

On this curved shore and wander in these mountains.

And now the third moon fills its horns with light,

645

Tally of time endured deep in these woods

Among beasts’ dens. From cliffs I see the monsters.

I tremble when I hear their steps and voices.

Trees give me miserable fodder: berries,

And stony cornels, and I pull at roots.

650

Yours are the first ships I have known to land here

In all my watching—and at any price,

I submit, to escape this evil race.

Grant any death you like, and take my spirit.’

Just as he finished, we saw Polyphemus

655

Himself, high on a hill among his herd,

His great bulk moving toward the shore he knew—

A massive, hideous monster, though now blinded.

A pine log led his hand and braced his steps.

The woolly ewes, his sole delight and comfort,

660

Followed him.

He waded to the deep and level water

To wash the scooped-out socket’s running matter,

Grinding his teeth and groaning. Now he strode

Far out, but no waves wet his towering flanks.

665

Away we scrambled with the suppliant,

Poor man. With stealth, we cut the ropes and rowed

Flat out, churning the surface frantically.

He wrenched his footsteps toward the sound we made,

But couldn’t get his grasping hands on us—

670

We were too fast on the Ionian currents.

His roar shook every wave on that wide sea;

Inland, through Italy it sent its terror,

And bellowed in the arching caves of Etna.

All of the Cyclops tribe, roused by the noise,

675

Ran from the woods and hills to fill the beach.

We saw the clan of Etna standing there,

Each with a cloud-high head and one wild eye—

Grim council—like the oaks that fill the ether,

Or cone-hung cypresses; like mountain forests

680

Of Jove, like groves in which Diana hunts.

Our terror drove us headlong—anywhere.

We let the sails out for the wind to take.

Helenus warned us of the narrow way

By Scylla and Charybdis: death crowds both sides.

685

We chose to set the canvas for retreat.

A north wind from Pelorus’ narrow cape

Drove us around Pantagia’s rocky gates—

The bay of Megara—low-lying Thapsus.

Hapless Ulysses’ Achaemenides

690

Pointed out shores he’d skimmed in coming there.

Wave-washed Plemyrium confronts an island

Stretched across a Sicilian bay. The ancients

Called it Ortygia, land of Arethusa,

The spring to which the Alpheus River tunneled

695

From Elis, as they say, to blend in this sea.

We prayed to local gods, as we’d been told to,

And sailed on past Helorus’ fertile wetlands,

And grazed the jutting, high Pachynian cliffs.

Far off rose Camerina—fate forbade

700

Moving it—and the fields outlying Gela,

A city named for roaring Laughter River;

Steep Acragas then showed huge walls far off—

Once, long ago, it bred high-hearted horses.

We passed palm-filled Selinus with a fair wind

705

And picked through Lilybaeum’s vicious shallows

And found a port, and grief, at Drepanum.

There I lost my consoler for each mishap

And care, Anchises, whom so many storms

Had hounded. Best of fathers, you were worn out

710

And left me, after all I saved you from.

From all dire things foretold by Helenus

And grim Celaeno, this one grief was missing,

And this I suffered last in my long travels.

It was from there god brought me to your shore.”

715

So, with the crowd engrossed, Father Aeneas

Told of the fate the gods sent, and his travels.

At last he reached the end and sat in silence.

3–Neptune’s leveled Troy: Neptune and Apollo built the walls of Troy.

6–Phrygian Ida’s . . . Antandros: Antandros is a city at the base of Mount Ida, on the opposite side from Troy.

12–my family’s gods: The Penates. See 1.379n.

13–14–Mars . . . Thracians . . . cruel Lycurgus: Thrace, in northeast Greece, was associated with the war god Mars. The legendary king Lycurgus persecuted the worshippers of Bacchus and was driven mad by the god.

18–“Aeneas’ Town”: In legend, Thrace was one of Aeneas’ stops. Cities in the area were named after him.

35–Getic fields: The Getae were a Thracian tribe.

60–61–evil land, defiling guest-friendship: Guests were held to be sacrosanct in the ancient world.

73–A sacred land: Delos was sacred to marine deities, including Doris, mother of the Nereids. Apollo fixed the free-floating island in place in the Cycladic Islands to reward the Delians for allowing his mother, Latona, to give birth to him and his sister Diana there.

80–Anius: King of Delos and priest of Apollo.

89–Father: Apollo’s Delian title was “begetter.”

92–tripod: A sacred three-legged stand associated with the oracles of Apollo.

104–5–Crete . . . Mount Ida: Jupiter (Jove) was born on Crete, at the base of Mount Ida.

107–Teucer: Apollo has directed the Trojans to settle in the land of their ancestors. He means Italy, the original home of Dardanus, but Anchises thinks he means Crete, the original home of Teucer.

111–Mother Cybele, Corybants: Cybele, the mother goddess, drove a chariot pulled by lions; her ecstatic followers were the Corybants. There is a Mount Ida in her homeland of Phrygia, near Troy, as well as one on Crete, so she was associated with both regions.

115–Knossos: The principal city of Crete.

120–West Wind: The Zephyr.

121–Idomeneus: The king of Crete and enemy of the Trojans. He fought with the Greeks at Troy and was exiled on his return home for sacrificing his son after foolishly promising to sacrifice the first thing he saw.

125–27–Naxos’ Bacchic ridges, green Reed Island . . . Olive Island, snow-white Paros . . . Cyclades: They sail through the island group in the Aegean known as the Cyclades. The largest, Naxos, was sacred to Bacchus.

131–Curetes: Priests of the goddess Cybele.

132–Pergamum: The citadel of Troy.

141–the sterile Dog Star: Sirius, a star associated with drought, madness, and the “dog days” of summer.

165–66–Oenotrians . . . Italus: The Oenotrians were an ancient people of unknown origin who lived in southern Italy; Italus was their king.

167–68–Dardanus . . . Iasius: Dardanus and Iasius, or Iasus, his older brother, were founding ancestors of the Trojans.

177–unwatered wine: Romans diluted their drinking wine with water, but only pure wine was appropriate to offer to deities.

209–13–the Turning Islands . . . Celaeno and other Harpies . . . Phineus’ palace: The Harpies (literally “snatchers”) were woman-faced birds, sent as punishment by Jupiter to steal and pollute King Phineus’ banquets. The Argonauts drove them to the Turning Islands (the Strophades), so named because the Argonauts were “turned back” there in their pursuit by the rainbow goddess Iris, who promised that the Harpies would leave King Phineus alone.

215–Styx: A river in the Underworld.

230–The line is thought to be spurious.

239–Misenus: A trumpeter; he reappears in book 6.

257–to grind your tables in your jaws: Celaeno’s prophecy is fulfilled at 7.109–26.

269–the pilot: Palinurus.

270–72–Zacynthus . . . Dulichium, Samē, Neritos . . . Ithaca: Greek islands in the Ionian Sea. Samē is also known as Samos.

272–73–Ithaca . . . Laertes . . . Ulysses: Ulysses was the king of Ithaca; Laertes was his father.

274–75–Leucata . . . which sailors hold in awe: A promontory with a temple of Apollo constructed on a dangerous rock.

280–Actium’s shore: North of Leucata; location of the decisive naval battle in 31 BCE through which Augustus (then Octavian) secured power by defeating Marc Antony and Cleopatra.

286–Abas: One of Aeneas’ companions.

291–Phaeacia: A legendary location from Homer’s Odyssey, ruled by the benevolent King Alcinous.

292–Epirus: A region in northwestern Greece.

293–Chaonian . . . Buthrotum: Buthrotum is the Greek city ruled by the Trojan refugees Helenus and Andromache. Helenus names part of it after his Trojan friend Chaon.

295–97–Helenus . . . Andromache . . . second Trojan husband: Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, took Hector’s wife, Andromache, as a slave after the sack of Troy. According to Vergil, Pyrrhus gifted her to another Trojan captive, Helenus.

302–“Simoïs”: Helenus has named the river after the one beside Troy, as he has done with other place names.

321–Priam’s daughter: Polyxena, sacrificed by the Greeks to the dead Achilles.

328–31–A Spartan bride . . . his bride: These events are described in Euripides’ tragedy Andromache: Pyrrhus marries Hermione, daughter of the Spartan king Menelaus and Helen, daughter of Leda. But Hermione was already betrothed to Orestes (see 4.471–73n), who slays Pyrrhus at Delphi.

332–at his father’s altar: An echo of Pyrrhus’ killing of Priam at Troy at 2.550–55.

335–Chaon: A Trojan warrior, the friend or brother of Helenus.

336–“Ilium”: Another name for Troy; see 302n.

339–Your boy Ascanius: Andromache is thinking of her young son Astyanax, killed after the sack of Troy.

341–42–his mother . . . uncle Hector: Aeneas’ wife, Creusa, died at Troy. Hector was her brother.

350–“Xanthus”: Named after a river beside Troy.

351–“Scaean Gate”: Named after the landmark at Troy.

358–the prophet: Helenus.

360–61–the Clarian bay trees, and the tripod of Phoebus: Bay (or laurel) was sacred to Apollo. For the tripod, see 3.92n.

361–signs from birds’ flight: Augury, the study of the flight of birds to determine the will of the gods.

375–The king of them: Jupiter.

384–Sicilian waves: Aeneas will sail around the island of Sicily.

386–Circe’s island: Aeaea, legendary home of the sorceress Circe in the Odyssey. They will sail by her at 7.10.

386:–the lakes of hell: Lake Avernus, traditionally located at the entrance of the Underworld. See 6.238 and 6.242n.

389–90–a huge sow lying with thirty piglets: The prophecy is repeated at 8.42–45 and fulfilled at 8.81–83.

392–white: “White” (alba) refers to Alba Longa, the city that will be founded by Ascanius in Italy.

394–eating tables: Celaeno made this prophecy at 3.247–57; see 3.257n.

396–the nearer coast of Italy: That is, the eastern coast, nearer Greece.

398–402–the Locrians . . . chieftain: Various Greek enemies from the Trojan War. The Locrians were the troops of Ajax the Lesser; on Idomeneus, see 3.121n. The Greek warrior Philoctetes was stranded by the Greeks because of the rotten smell of his wound.

405–Hide your head: A forerunner of the Roman custom of covering one’s head when conducting a sacrifice.

411–Pelorus:–The northeastern tip of Sicily.

420–Scylla . . . Charybdis: Dangers on either side of the Strait of Messina encountered by Odysseus (Ulysses) in Odyssey 12. See 1.200–201n.

430–Pachynum: A promontory on the southeastern side of Sicily. Helenus suggests that Aeneas go around Sicily rather than risk encountering Scylla and Charybdis in the Strait of Messina.

438–Win the queen over: Juno remains hostile to Aeneas until the end of book 12.

441–43–Cumae . . . Avernus . . . Sibyl: Near modern Naples, Cumae was the home of Apollo’s prophetess Sibyl, who wrote her prophecies on oak leaves. These events will be described in book 6.

466–Dodona: The oldest oracle of Zeus (Jupiter), located in Epirus, near Buthrotum, in northwestern Greece.

476–Troy fell twice: Hercules had sacked Troy before the Trojan War, after the Trojan king Laomedon refused to compensate him as promised for killing a sea monster plaguing the city.

480–this devoted son: Another reference to Aeneas’ pietas.

500–Tiber’s country: Italy.

502–Epirus: See 3.292n.

506–the Ceraunian headland: The Ceraunians are a coastal mountain range in Albania, north of Greece.

516–17–The Rainy Ones, the Oxen . . . the Great Bear . . . Orion: The constellations the Pleiades, Boötes, and Ursa Major (Big Dipper or Plow); the scene is modeled on Odyssey 5.

531–Minerva’s shrine: Castrum Minervae, in Calabria, Italy.

544–Pallas: Minerva.

547–Argive Juno: Juno was the patron goddess of Argos, a city in Greece.

551–Tarentum’s gulf . . . Hercules: Tarentum, located in the arch of the “boot” of Italy, was said to have been founded by Hercules.

552–54–Juno’s temple, Caulon’s fort . . . Scylaceum . . . Etna: Locales on the eastern coast of Sicily.

569–Cyclops country: The region around Mount Etna.

578–Enceladus: One of the Giants, who rebelled against the Olympians and were punished by being chained under mountains (here, the volcano Mount Etna).

589–Aurora: The dawn goddess.

613–Achaemenides: Not mentioned in previous literature and probably an invention of Vergil.

617–the Cyclops’ monstrous cavern: A reference to Odyssey 9, in which Odysseus (Ulysses) and his men encounter the Cyclops Polyphemus.

671–Ionian: The Ionian Sea is the stretch of water between Italy and Greece.

681–Diana: The goddess of hunting.

688–89–Pantagia’s . . . Thapsus: Aeneas’ most direct route would be through the Strait of Messina (see 3.420n, 3.430n), but he avoids it because of the dangers posed by Scylla and Charybdis. Instead, he sails around Sicily, passing a number of Sicilian locales along the way, including the mouth of the river Pantagia.

694–96–Ortygia . . . Arethusa . . . Elis: The Sicilian spring Arethusa was said to originate in the Peloponnese. According to myth the nymph Arethusa, pursued by the river god Alpheus, fled under the sea to Sicily. Alpheus followed and their waters merged at Ortygia, near Syracuse.

699–707–Pachynian cliffs . . . Drepanum: Starting from Cape Pachynus, the southeastern tip of Sicily, Aeneas sails along the southern coast and up the western side to the port of Drepanum, the northwestern corner of the island. He is ready to turn in toward Italy when Juno’s storm sends him southwest to Carthage on the African coast.

715–to your shore: Vergil returns the frame to Dido and the Carthaginians.

BOOK 4

Now the queen’s lifeblood fed her brutal love wound;

A flame, unseen, gnawed at her hour by hour.

His martial manhood and his family’s glory

Came back to her—his face, his words now clung to

Her heart; her body had no peace or rest.

5

Dawn had raised Phoebus’ torch to light the earth,

And pushed the drizzling shadows from the sky,

When stricken Dido told her loving sister:

“Anna, half-waking dreams have terrified me.

This stranger who has come here as our guest—

10

His face, his walk, his heart’s and weapons’ strength—

I think—it must be true—this is a god’s child.

Fear marks plebeian spirits. How I pity

His hard fate and the long, grim war he told of!

If ever my heart moved from where I fixed it—

15

I set myself against the ties of marriage

When death had cheated me of my first love,

Blighting for me the wedding torch and chamber—

I might relent, this single time, and falter.

Anna, I must confess, since poor Sychaeus

20

Fell, since my brother stained our home with murder,

This one alone has moved me; now I waver.

I recognize the remnants of that flame.

But let the earth first gape to its foundation,

Or the almighty father’s lightning drive me

25

To the pale shades of Erebus and deep night,

Before I wrong you, Honor, and your laws.

The man who first was part of me has taken

My love. He ought to keep it where he’s buried.”

Her overflowing tears now soaked her dress.

30

Anna replied, “You, who are more than life

To me, mean to let grief devour your youth,

Without sweet children and the gifts of Venus?

You think that ashes care, or ghosts in graveyards?

Both here in Libya and back in Tyre

35

No suitors tamed your grief. Iarbas and others

Reared by this rich, triumphant Africa

Are scorned—and now you fight a love that suits you?

Recall whose land this is you’ve made your home in:

The cities of Gaetulians, never conquered,

40

The wild Numidians, treacherous Syrtis,

Bare desert, and marauding Barcaeans

Encircle you, and conflict looms from Tyre—

Your brother threatens.

It was the provident gods and Juno’s favor

45

That steered the Trojan ships here on the wind.

The city that you’ll see, the rising empire

Out of this marriage! Trojan allied arms

Will bring this Punic town to soaring glory.

Seek the gods’ sanction with propitious gifts.

50

Weave pretexts for delaying as you fete him:

Seas raging through the days of wet Orion,

Ships damaged, and a hard and stubborn sky.”

This appeal made the spark of passion blaze,

Lent hope to hesitation, melted shame.

55

First they approached each temple and its altar

With ritual pleas, killed chosen sheep for Phoebus,

Law-giving Ceres, the Lyaean Father,

But Juno first, who joins the bonds of marriage.

Radiant Dido held the bowl, her right hand

60

Tipping it on a snow-white heifer’s forehead.

She strode beneath gods’ eyes to wealthy altars,

Began each day with gifts, searched for the meaning

Cut open in the steaming guts of beasts.

O empty-minded augurs! In her madness,

65

What use were prayers and temples? Flame devoured

Soft marrow, and a heart’s wound throbbed in hiding.

Poor Dido burned, raved, wandered through the city,

As when a deer, at peace in Cretan glades,

Is pierced from far off by a hunting shepherd.

70

Not knowing where the flying iron point

Landed, he leaves it. Through the groves of Dicte

She runs at random, in her side the death reed.

Now Dido leads Aeneas through the fortress,

Shows him Sidonian wealth, the rising city,

75

Begins to speak but leaves her words half-said.

At fall of daylight, she repeats her banquet,

Demands to hear the Trojans’ trials again,

Again hangs on his words in her delusion.

Her guests are gone, the moon puts out its dim light,

80

And falling constellations counsel sleep;

She sorrows in the empty house, reclining

There on the couch he left—sees, hears his absence.

She holds Ascanius—so like his father!—

In her lap, cheats her real and shameful love.

85

The towers she began don’t rise. The young men

No longer drill or build defending ramparts

Or ports. The work stalls, halfway done—the menace

Of high walls, and the cranes as high as heaven.

So sickness gripped the queen, who let her folly

90

Outrun her good name. Juno, Jove’s dear wife

And Saturn’s daughter, saw, and went to Venus.

“Truly, your son and you have won such glory,

Such huge spoils. Power worth eternal praise

Shows in two gods who dupe a mortal woman!

95

I know that you’ve been wary of our walls here,

Distrustful when you saw high Carthage settled.

Where will this end? Where is this fierce fight going?

Why not a lasting treaty and a contract

Of marriage? What your heart desired, you have.

100

Dido’s love burns. Her bones draw in its fury.

Why not unite two races? We can rule them

Together. As a Phrygian husband’s slave,

She’ll hand you all these Tyrians, her dowry.”

But Venus felt the trick in this, the effort

105

To steer Italian power to Libya.

She countered: “To agree is merely sane.

Who would prefer to take up arms against you?

If only what you plan succeeds in practice . . .

Fate, to me, sways, uncertain. Is Jove’s plan

110

One town for Tyrians and Trojan exiles?

Alliance or a blended population?

You, as his wife, could rightly probe his thinking.

Ask him, and I’ll be with you.” Juno answered,

“Leave that to me. For now, I’ll tell you briefly—

115

So listen—how we finish what’s at hand.

Poor Dido and Aeneas are preparing

A woodland hunting trip at dawn tomorrow,

When the sun’s rising rays reveal the round earth.

While horsemen rush to cordon off the passes,

120

I’ll mingle dusky cloud with hail and rain

And pour it down and shake the sky with thunder.

Their retinue will scatter in the dark.

The same cave will receive the Trojan leader

And Dido. I’ll be there (with your approval);

125

Join her to him, make her his own in marriage

That’s sanctioned. These will be the rites.” Then Venus,

Amused at the duplicity, agreed.

Dawn rose now, leaving Ocean; and the gates,

In her fresh rays, emitted chosen troops,

130

With nets and traps and broad-tipped hunting spears.

Massylian horsemen, keen-nosed dogs ran forward.

At the queen’s door the Tyrian leaders waited.

Her horse stood radiant in gold and purple,

And fiercely stamped, and gnawed a foaming bit.

135

At last, thronged with her retinue, she came.

Her cloak was Punic, edged with lavish stitching.

Her hair was clasped in gold, her quiver gold,

A brooch of gold secured her purple robe.

The Trojan troops and an excited Iulus

140

Came up. Finest of all these was Aeneas,

Who as her escort joined his ranks with hers.

Apollo, coming to his mother’s Delos

From winter Lycia and the river Xanthus,

Renews the dance. Around the altar shout

145

Dryopians, Cretans, tattooed Agathyrsi.

He walks the slope of Cynthus with his long hair

Braided and bound with tender leaves and gold.

Arrows clank on his shoulder. Just as lively,

As beautiful, as noble, rode Aeneas.

150

They came into the hills and trackless woods.

Wild goats they started from a stony summit

Ran down the slope. Deer from another refuge

Sped off in crowding ranks across the bare plain,

In dusty panic to escape the mountain.

155

The boy Ascanius, keen-horsed keen rider,

Outraced each troop of hunters through the valley

And scorned the tame herds—better that the heights

Disgorge foam-spitting boars or tawny lions!

From the sky now a racket and a tumult

160

Erupted; storm clouds shot in, full of hail.

Trojan youth, Punic escorts, Venus’ grandson

From Dardanus’ realm scattered through the fields

Toward urgent shelter. From the hillsides, streams rushed.

The Trojan lord and Dido found the same cave.

165

Primeval Earth and Juno, bride-bestower,

Signaled, and in collusion, lightning flashed

At the union. On the mountaintops nymphs howled.

From this day came catastrophe and death.

No thought of public scandal or of hiding

170

Her passion troubled Dido any longer.

She called it marriage, covering her own fault.

Rumor, the swiftest plague there is, went straight

To all the settlements of Libya.

She thrives on motion, drawing strength from travel;

175

Tiny and timid first, then shooting upward,

She hides her head in clouds yet walks the ground.

They say the Earth, in anger at the gods,

Bore this child last, quick-footed, quick-winged sister

Of Titan Enceladus and huge Coeus.

180

Beneath each feather of the ghastly monster—

This is the startling legend—is a wide eye,

A tongue, a blaring mouth, a pricked-up ear.

Between the earth and sky, in shadow, shrieking,

She flies at night. No sweet sleep shuts her eyes.

185

By day she sits as lookout on a rooftop

Or a high tower and alarms great cities.

Her claws hold both true news and evil lies.

She filled the realms now with her tangled talk,

Chanting in glee a mix of fact and fiction:

190

“Aeneas, from a Trojan family, came here.

Beautiful Dido chose him as her lover.

What kind of rulers spend the whole long winter

Sunk deep in sensuous and sordid passion?”

The ugly goddess passed along these stories

195

At large, then flew directly to King Iarbas,

And with her words piled high and lit his rage.

A Garamantian nymph and Ammon’s violence

Created him. His broad lands raised to Jove

A hundred huge shrines. Priests and altar flames

200

Kept constant vigils for the gods, while herds’ blood

Slathered the floor and bright wreaths decked the doorways.

Stung with this hearsay now, in frantic rage,

He faced the living gods before their altars,

Raised suppliant hands and prayed insistently,

205

“Almighty Jove, to whom the race of Moors

On their embroidered couches pour libations—

Here, have you seen? When you hurl thunder, Father,

Is terror needless? Is that fire, that noise

Up in the clouds without an aim or meaning?

210

A woman straying on my borders rented

A scrap of shore for building on and farming

On my conditions. She refused me marriage

But lets Aeneas rule with her—no, rule her.

That Paris with his mincing retinue,

215

An Asian headdress on his perfumed hair,

Masters his loot. I guess it’s empty legend

Alone that makes us fill your shrines with gifts?”

This was the king’s prayer as he grasped the altar;

And the almighty heard, and turned to see

220

The queen’s walls and the heedless, shameless lovers.

He spoke to Mercury and gave this order:

“Call the West Winds, my son, glide on your wings;

Speak to the Trojan leader loitering

At Tyrian Carthage with no thought for cities

225

Granted by fate. Go, hurry my words landward.

This wasn’t what his lovely mother promised,

Or why, both times, she saved him from the Greeks,

But to rule Italy, beget an empire

That roars with war, to give us noble Teucer’s

230

Descendants, who will bring the whole world laws.

If this majestic future cannot rouse him

To take this labor on for his own glory,

Does he begrudge his son the Roman fortress?

What can he gain here in a hostile nation?

235

Ausonian progeny? Lavinian fields?

The sum of what I want him told: Set sail!”

He spoke. So on his mighty father’s orders,

The son prepared, first tying golden sandals

Onto his feet, to take him swift as wind

240

High over land and ocean on their wings.

He took the wand that calls pale souls from Orcus,

Sends them to gloomy Tartarus, awakens

And puts to sleep, and opens perished eyes.

With this he drove the winds and skimmed through chaos

245

Of clouds. He saw the brow and looming flanks

Of rocky Atlas, prop of the high heavens—

Atlas, with black clouds always at his head,

Where the pines grow, and wind and rain blast hard.

The snow spreads down his shoulders. Off the chin

250

Of the old man torrents pour. Ice locks his sharp beard.

Mercury halted, poised on balanced wings,

Then hurled his body headlong toward the waves.

A certain kind of bird skims shoreline waters

Or rounds the base of crags where fish are teeming.

255

Like this, Cyllene’s native sliced the winds,

Leaving his mother’s father, passed to earth,

To Libya’s sandy shoreline, where he landed.

He set his feathered feet among the shanties

And saw Aeneas laying out the towers

260

And building houses. Tawny jasper flecked

His sword. His shoulders trailed a purple cloak,

Glowingly rich, with thin gold stripes, a present

Woven by wealthy Dido. The god scolded:

“Your wife must like you laying the foundations

265

For lofty Carthage, such a splendid city—

Forgetting your own kingdom that awaits you.

The ruler of the gods, whose strength bends heaven

And earth, has sent me down from bright Olympus,

Commanding that I fly here with this message:

270

What will this loitering in Libya bring you?

If you’re unmoved by all the coming splendor,

Which is a weight you do not wish to shoulder,

Think of your hopes as Iulus grows, your heir,

Owed an Italian realm and Roman soil.”

275

These were the words from the Cyllenian’s mouth.

Still speaking, he passed out of human vision

And trailed away until the thin air hid him.

This apparition left Aeneas stunned.

His hair stood up, and words stuck in his throat.

280

He burned to run, however sweet this land was.

The gods’ august command had terrified him.

But how? What would he dare to tell the queen—

So passionate? How could he start explaining?

His mind kept darting and his thoughts dividing

285

Through the whole matter and each baffling question.

After much wavering, this seemed the best plan:

He called Mnestheus and brave Serestus

And Sergestus: they must get the men together

Quietly, rig the fleet, and hide the reason

290

Things stirred. And meanwhile Dido, the good lady,

Would not expect such vital love could fail.

He would approach her at the kindest time

And seek the best words. With alacrity,

These men obeyed in everything he ordered.

295

But who can fool a lover? Soon the queen—

Anxious when nothing threatened—sensed the trick,

Though no ship moved yet. Evil Rumor told her

The fleet was being fitted for a journey.

She raved all through the town in helpless passion,

300

Like a bacchant customary mysteries rouse

With ritual ululations, brandished emblems,

And shouts that summon her to dark Cithaeron.

She faced off with Aeneas and accused him:

“You traitor, did you think that you could hide

305

Such a great crime, that you could sneak away?

The pledge you made, our passion for each other,

Even your Dido’s brutal death won’t keep you?

Monster, you toil beneath these winter skies

And rush to cross the deep through northern blasts—

310

For a strange home on someone else’s land?

If ancient Troy still stood today to sail to,

Would you make off across that surging plain?

You run from me? By your pledged hand, my tears

(Since everything but these is stripped from me),

315

Our union, and the wedding we embarked on—

If I have ever earned it through my kindness,

Have pity on my tottering house and me.

If pleading has a chance still, change your mind.

The Libyan clans and Nomad rulers hate me,

320

So do the Tyrians, because of you.

You ruined me and my good name—my one path

To the stars. Tell me, my guest (the sole term left—

Not spouse): Whose hands will kill what you abandon?

My prospect? Will Pygmalion raze my walls?

325

Gaetulian Iarbas lead me off, a captive?

If only I’d conceived before you bolted,

And had your offspring, if a small Aeneas

Played in my palace, with a face like yours—

I wouldn’t feel so cheated and abandoned.”

330

She spoke; he kept his eyes down, at Jove’s orders,

Struggling to force his feelings from his heart.

Finally, briefly: “Name your favors, list them.

There isn’t one I ever would deny.

Never will I regret Elissa’s memory

335

While I have memory, while I breathe and move.

A little on the facts, though: don’t imagine

I meant to sneak away; and as for spouse,

I never made a pact of marriage with you.

If fate would let me live the life I chose,

340

If I had power over my decisions,

I would have stayed at Troy, where I could tend

Belovèd graves; Priam’s high house would stand;

I would have built a new Troy for the conquered.

But Grynean Apollo and the edicts

345

Of Lycia drive me into Italy.

My love, my home are this. You, though Phoenician,

Are riveted by towers in Libya.

So how can you resent us Trojans’ settling

In Italy, our lawful foreign kingdom?

350

When the night masks the earth with drizzling shadows,

When fiery stars rise, then the troubled ghost

Of my father, dear Anchises, hounds my dreams.

I know I cheat Ascanius, my dear son,

Out of his western realm, the fields fate grants.

355

The envoy of the gods, dispatched by Jove

Himself (I swear, on both our heads), brought orders

Down through the air. In the clear day I saw him

Within these walls, and these ears heard his voice.

Don’t goad me—and yourself—with these complaints.

360

Italy is against my will.”

Although her back was turned, she still surveyed

The speaker blankly and distractedly

Over her shoulder, then broke out in fury.

“Traitor—there is no goddess in your family,

365

No Dardanus. The sharp-rocked Caucasus

Gave birth to you, Hyrcanian tigers nursed you.

Why pretend now? Is something worse in store?

Was there a sigh for tears of mine? A glance?

Did he give in to tears himself, or pity?

370

Injustice overwhelms me—which concerns

Great Juno and our father, Saturn’s son.

What bond can hold? I helped a castaway,

I shared a kingdom with him, like a fool.

The ships you lost—I saved your friends from death—

375

Hot madness drives me. Now the fortune-teller

Apollo, Lycian lotteries, Jove dispatching

Dire orders earthward through the gods’ own mouthpiece—

As if such work and worry roiled their peace!

I will not cling to you or contradict you.

380

Ride windy waves to chase Italian kingdoms.

I hope that heaven’s conscience has the power

To trap you in the rocks and force reprisal

Down your throat, as you call my name. I’ll send—

I’ll bring black flames, I’ll hound you after cold death

385

Draws out my soul. Even among the dead

In hell, I’ll hear when you, at last, are paying.”

In torment, she broke off and turned away,

And ran out of his sight into the palace.

Frozen, he stood—prepared to say so much.

390

She fainted and was lifted by her maids;

The bed inside the marble walls received her.

Now the right-thinking hero, though he wished

To give some comfort for so great a grief,

Obeyed the gods, returning to his ships,

395

While he continued groaning, deeply lovesick.

The Trojans fell to work and pulled the vessels

Down from the beach in one long line. Tarred hulls

Floated. The busy crews brought leafy oars

And logs with bark still on them.

400

That rush from everywhere in town resembled

Ants plundering a giant heap of spelt

To store at home in readiness for winter.

Over the grass the thin black phalanx goes,

Loaded with booty. Some are heaving huge grains

405

Forward, and some are marshaling and prodding,

So the entire pathway hums with work.

What did you feel, then, Dido, when you saw?

How did you sob when all that shoreline seethed?

You gazed from your high tower: that whole sea

410

Was an industrious uproar and commotion.

Reprobate Love, wrencher of human hearts!

She’s driven now to tears, and now to beg

And cravenly submit her pride to passion—

Whatever leaves a hope of shunning death.

415

“Anna, you see the whole shore in a tumult.

They come from everywhere. Sails draw the breeze.

Sailors in joy hang garlands on the sterns.

As surely as I saw this great grief coming,

So surely I’ll endure. But do one service

420

In pity, since the traitor was your friend—

Yours only: you were trusted with his secrets,

And you know how to reach him when he’s weak.

Go, sister, kneel to my proud enemy.

I was no Greek at Aulis when they swore

425

To smash his race. I sent no fleet to Troy,

Nor made his father’s ghost and ashes homeless.

How can he block his ears against my words?

Where is he running? As a last sad love gift,

He ought to wait for winds that make it easy.

430

I do not plead the marriage he betrayed.

Let the man go be king in charming Latium.

I just want time, a pause to heal my mind

And teach myself to mourn in my defeat.

I ask this final wretched favor, sister—

435

A loan—and I will give my death as interest.”

Weeping, she made this plea. Her grieving sister

Delivered it repeatedly. No tears

Could move him; no words found his sympathy.

His fate and Jupiter had barred his ears.

440

As in the Alps, the North Wind’s blasts assault

A solid, tough, and venerable oak,

Competing to uproot it; under hard blows,

Creaking, it spreads its high leaves on the ground

But clasps the cliff with roots that go as far

445

Toward hell as its top reaches up to heaven:

Just as relentless were the words that battered

The hero. Though his generous heart suffered,

The tears fell useless. His resolve endured.

Appalled now by her fate, poor Dido prayed

450

For death; she wished to see the sky no longer.

But there was more to drive her from the daylight:

Her gifts on incense-burning altars rotted,

Horrible to describe; wine turned to black

And filthy gore the second that she poured it.

455

No one was told. Her sister did not know it.

There stood inside her home a marble shrine

To her dead husband: there she worshipped him,

Spreading white fleece and hanging holy wreaths.

She thought she heard his echoing voice call there.

460

When the night’s darkness covered all the earth,

She listened to a lone owl on a rooftree,

Whose song of death kept trailing into sobs.

Many grim warnings of the long-dead seers

Panicked her too. In dreams a fierce Aeneas

465

Chased her. She raved in fear or was abandoned,

Friendless, forever walking a long road,

Seeking her Tyrians in a lifeless land:

So Pentheus, in madness, saw a phalanx

Of Furies, two Thebes, and a double sun;

470

So, in a play, the son of Agamemnon

Runs from his mother’s torches and black snakes,

While vengeful demons lurk outside the door.

Her conquered heart was full of grief and madness,

And she chose death. She had a time and method,

475

But hid her plan behind a face of peace

And hope, in speaking to her wretched sister.

“Anna, I’ve found a way—congratulate me!—

To bring him back or set me free from love.

Next to the setting sun and Ocean’s boundary,

480

In Ethiopia, where giant Atlas

Turns the star-blazing heavens on his shoulder,

Lived a Massylian priestess I’ve now found,

Who guarded the Hesperides’ shrine there,

Nourished the snake, preserved the sacred branches,

485

And strewed sleep-bringing poppy and moist honey.

She says her spells soothe any minds she wishes

Or send out grueling troubles into others,

Stop rivers, turn stars backward in their courses,

And call out ghosts at night. The earth will roar

490

Beneath your feet, as ash trees rush down mountains.

Sister, I swear it by your darling life

And by the gods—I wouldn’t choose such weapons.

Build me a pyre in secret in the courtyard.

The arms that evil man hung in our bedroom,

495

The clothes he left me here, our bed of union

(My death)—put it all there. I want the remnants

Of the criminal destroyed. She’s shown me how.”

Now she was silent, and her face went pale.

But Anna didn’t guess her sister’s funeral

500

Hid in these strange rites, or suspect such frenzy—

What could be worse than when Sychaeus died?

She did as she was told.

Deep in the house, beneath the sky, a pyre

Now towered high, with logs of pine and oak.

505

The queen festooned the walls with funeral garlands.

Conscious of what must be, she put his picture

On the bed, above his sword and cast-off clothes.

Altars stood round. The loose-haired priestess called

Countless gods—Erebus, Chaos, Hecate

510

With three forms, or Diana with three faces.

She sprinkled drops she said were from Avernus.

Herbs appeared, cut with bronze knives at the full moon,

Swollen and oozing coal-black milk of poison;

A love charm too, torn from a new foal’s forehead

515

Before the mare could get it.

Dido, with sacred meal in clean hands, robes loose,

One sandal off, now stood at the high altar,

Called gods, called fate-wise stars as witnesses.

She prayed to anything in heaven that sees

520

And punishes a broken bond of love.

Now it was night, and all earth’s weary creatures

Slept peacefully. The woods and untamed waters

Were still. The stars were halfway through their journeys

Above the tranquil fields. Cattle and bright birds

525

Of the broad lakes and brambly wilderness

All lay asleep beneath the noiseless sky,

Their troubles soothed, their sufferings forgotten—

But not the desolate Phoenician queen.

Her heart and eyes shunned darkness and the ease

530

Of sleep. Her torments thronged, her love ran wild,

Surged back and forth on seething tides of madness.

Her heart was churning with its endless questions:

“What should I do? Go back where I’ll be laughed at,

And beg to marry a Numidian prince

535

After I turned those suitors all away?

Follow the Trojan ships and do whatever

The Trojans order? Surely they’ll recall

The help I gave and, for the past’s sake, help me.

Yet—were I willing—would they let the outcast

540

On their proud ships? Poor fool, you’re not familiar

With treachery in Laomedon’s descendants?

Would I dog cheering sailors all alone

And leave my people? Or take Tyrian ranks

As escorts? Would those barely torn from Sidon

545

Endure another sea voyage on my orders?

No, die—you’ve earned it. Give the sword your sorrow.

But you, my sister, weakened by my tears,

Turned folly to disaster and defeat.

I couldn’t live a blameless life, unmarried,

550

Like a wild thing, and spared this agony.

I broke my promise to the dead Sychaeus.”

Out of her heart these words of sorrow broke.

On the high stern, Aeneas was asleep,

In confidence that everything was ready,

555

When in a dream he saw the god again:

Mercury’s face and coloring were there,

His yellow hair and handsome young man’s body.

The image spoke the warning once again:

“You sleep, child of the goddess, while disaster

560

Teeters unseen, and dangers lurk around?

Fool, can’t you hear the opportune West Winds?

The woman, who now knows her death is coming,

Is tossed in heaving, scheming tides of rage.

Bolt from here headlong, while you have the chance,

565

Or you’ll see storms of wreckage and the glare

Of brutal torches. Flames will fill the beach

If the dawn finds you loiter in this land.

Be quick and go! A woman is a changing,

A fitful thing.” The form ebbed into black night.

570

The sudden vision of this chilling shade

Ripped him from sleep. He shook his comrades too.

“Wake—now!—and take your places on the benches.

Hurry! Unfurl the sails. Once more from heaven

A god’s come, driving our escape: start cutting

575

The twisted ropes! We follow you, whichever

God you might be—again we hail your orders.

Be with us, guide us graciously, and bring us

Favoring stars.” He drew his flashing sword

And struck the mooring line. A single passion

580

Seized all of them. They ran and snatched their gear

And quit the beach. The level blue was hidden

By skimming ships. The oars raised twists of foam.

Dawn, risen from her husband’s saffron bed,

Was scattering her light across the world.

585

The sky grew white above the queen’s high tower.

Below, the ships went forward in a row.

The port, the shore were bare, the sailors gone.

Repeatedly she struck her lovely breast

And tore her blond hair. “Jupiter! He’s leaving?

590

A stranger comes—and goes—and mocks my power?

Why doesn’t the whole city arm and follow

In ships torn madly from their moorings? Hurry!

Bring torches, pass out arms, ram the oars forward!

What? Where is this new madness taking me?

595

Poor thing. His crimes—you feel them only now?

You made him king. See what his word is worth!

They say he brought his household gods with him,

And hauled his frail old father on his shoulders.

I could have scattered the torn pieces of him

600

Across the waves. I could have killed his friends—

His son—and made a banquet for the father—

A struggle I might not have won—no matter:

I still would die. My torches should have swarmed

His camp and gangways till they made a pyre

605

For father, son, the whole race, and myself.

Come, Sun, the blazing lamp of all creation—

Juno, the witness and the go-between—

And Hecate, a name shrieked at the crossroads—

Avenging Furies—and my own death demons:

610

Turn heaven’s justice where it should be turned.

This is my prayer now: If that living curse

Must skim his way to harbor in that country,

If Jove and fate require this to happen,

Then let a bold and warlike people drive him

615

Out of his realm and tear his Iulus from him.

Make him go beg for help and see the death

Of blameless friends. Degrading pacts won’t bring

The happy life he hoped for in his kingdom.

He’ll fall and lie unburied in the sand.

620

And now, my last plea, gushing with my blood:

Tyrians, hound with hatred for all time

The race he founds. My ashes call from you

This service. Let there be no pacts of friendship.

Out of my grave let an avenger rise

625

To visit fire and sword on Trojan settlers—

Now—someday—when the power is there to strike.

Our shores will clash, weapons and seas collide.

My curse is war for Trojans and their children.”

She finished. Now her thoughts went everywhere,

630

Seeking the fastest way to leave the light.

She told the old nurse of Sychaeus, Barce

(Her own had died back in the fatherland),

“Darling, please bring my sister Anna—hurry!

Have her splash river water on her body

635

And bring the beasts and other offerings.

Cover your own brow with a reverent fillet.

I’ll now round out the ritual I started

For Jove below the earth, to end my pain,

And light the pyre that holds the Trojan’s life.”

640

Quickly the fond old woman hobbled off.

Now Dido’s own grim plans had made her frantic.

Her red eyes darted, and her cheeks were blotched

And shook—but she grew pale in facing death.

Frenzied, she reached the center of the house,

645

Climbed up the pyre and drew the Trojan sword—

A gift she’d begged, not meaning it for this.

Here she surveyed the bed she knew so well,

The Trojan clothes. In tearful contemplation

She lay a little while, and spoke these last words:

650

“Sweet leavings—while divine fate kept you sweet—

Receive my breath and free me from this pain.

I lived, I ran the race that fate allotted.

I’ll send the Underworld a noble ghost.

I saw the walls of my great city standing,

655

Avenged my husband, made my brother pay.

A happy—no, a more than happy life,

If Trojan ships had never touched these shores.”

She kissed the bed. “I die without revenge—

But let me die. I like this path to darkness.

660

Let the cruel Trojan’s eyes take in these flames.

The omen of my death will go with him.”

Her maids now saw her falling on her sword,

Still speaking, saw her blood foam down the blade

And fleck her hands. A shout rose to the rooftop,

665

And through the shaken city Rumor raged.

Long-drawn-out shrieks of grief and women’s keening

Brimmed from the buildings. Anguish filled the sky,

As if invading troops brought Carthage down—

Or ancient Tyre were sacked—and flames were scaling

670

The rooftops of the houses and the temples.

Her sister heard and ran to her in panic,

Clawing her cheeks, bruising her breast with blows.

Plunging straight through the crowds, she called that doomed

name.

“This was your purpose, sister—to deceive me?

675

The pyre, the flames, the altars bring me this?

How could you leave me like a cast-off thing

And go alone, and not take me along?

One sword, one hour, one agony for both!

I piled the wood, I called our fathers’ gods

680

To let you lie alone here, heartless monster?

You killed yourself and me, your city’s people,

And the Phoenician lords. Come, give me water

To wash these wounds—and if a last breath hovers,

My mouth will take it.” She had climbed the pyre,

685

And held her sister now, that fading life,

And moaned and mopped the black blood with her clothes.

Dido now strained to lift her heavy eyes

But failed. Around the sword, her breast’s wound hissed.

Three times she rose a little, on her elbow,

690

Collapsed each time, and with her wandering vision

Searched for the bright high sky and sighed to find it.

Queen Juno cut her torture short, in pity,

Dispatching Iris earthward from Olympus

To free the struggling spirit from its bonds.

695

There was no fate or justice in her death.

Her madness brought a wretched early end,

Proserpina had cut no lock of blond hair

To dedicate this life to Stygian Orcus,

So dewy Iris swooped on saffron wings,

700

Trailing a thousand sun-reflecting colors,

And floated near her head. “I am to take

This gift to Dis and free you from your body.”

Her right hand made the stroke. All living heat

Vanished, and life dissolved into the wind.

705

6–Phoebus’ torch: The sun; Phoebus is Apollo, the sun god.

10–stranger . . . guest: The Greeks and Romans believed in treating strangers as honored guests.

17–my first love: Dido’s dead husband, Sychaeus.

21–my brother . . . murder: Pygmalion, king of Tyre and Dido’s brother, had Sychaeus killed. See Venus’ narrative at 1.338–68.

33–the gifts of Venus: Sex.

35–Libya: Here, Africa is meant.

35–Tyre: Dido’s hometown in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) which she fled after the murder of her husband.

36–Iarbas: Dido’s most determined suitor; king of the Gaetulians and son of the African god Ammon (Jupiter’s African counterpart). See 4.196–219.

40–41–Gaetulians . . . Numidians: Peoples of northern Africa.

41–Syrtis: Dangerous sandbanks in the modern Gulf of Sirte.

42–Barcaeans: Barce was a city close to modern-day Tripoli. Vergil may mention it here for its resemblance to Hannibal’s family name, Barca. See 4.386n.

49–Punic: Carthaginian.

52–Orion: The setting of the constellation Orion in November was linked to stormy weather.

58–the Lyaean Father: Bacchus, here called “The Looser” as the god of wine and revelry.

72–Dicte: A mountain in Crete.

75–Sidonian: Carthaginian; Sidon was a city in Phoenicia.

103–Phrygian: Here, Trojan; Juno refers to Aeneas.

126–in marriage: Juno is the goddess of marriage.

132–Massylian: Refers to a people of northern Africa.

143–Delos: The island in the Aegean Sea where Apollo and his twin sister, Diana, were born.

144–Lycia: In Anatolia, modern Turkey.

146–Dryopians . . . Agathyrsi: Somewhat obscure Greek tribes.

147–Cynthus: A mountain on Delos.

166–Primeval Earth: A Roman goddess.

173–Rumor: Latin Fama, a deity.

178–80–the Earth . . . huge Coeus: The Olympian gods came to power by staging a coup against the previous generation, the Titans. The Earth goddess Gaia, their mother, took revenge by birthing the chaos-spreader Rumor.

193–94–What kind of rulers . . . sordid passion?: Vergil’s language probably evoked images of Antony and Cleopatra for his contemporary audience.

196–Iarbas: See 4.36n.

198–Ammon: An African deity identified with Jupiter.

206–Moors: The people of Mauretania in northwest Africa.

215–That Paris with his mincing retinue: Iarbas disparages Aeneas by linking him with his fellow Trojan Paris, first as a wife stealer, and second as effeminate, a charge typical of Roman prejudice toward Easterners.

228–she saved him from the Greeks: Venus first spirited Aeneas away from a deadly battle with Diomedes (Iliad 5); she then directed him out of Troy as it fell (see 2.589–92).

236–Ausonian: Italian.

242–43–Orcus . . . Tartarus: Underworld locations. Mercury is a guide of souls, or psychopomp, tasked with leading the dead to and from the Underworld with his wand.

247–Atlas: Mercury’s grandfather; the Titan condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders.

254–A certain kind of bird: Probably a gull; the simile echoes Odyssey 5, in which Mercury, sent by Jupiter, orders Odysseus (Ulysses) to leave his lover Calypso and continue his journey home.

256–Cyllene’s native: Maia, a daughter of Atlas, bore Mercury on Mount Cyllene in southern Greece.

261–Tawny jasper: The jewels are on the hilt or the scabbard.

273–The line is thought to be spurious.

301–bacchant: a female follower of Bacchus.

303–Cithaeron: Mountain near Thebes, sacred to Bacchus and hence the location of bacchic rituals performed by the bacchantes.

320–Libyan clans and Nomad rulers: Dido refers to the local tribes in North Africa in whose territory her city of Carthage was being built.

325–Pygmalion: see 4.21n.

335–Elissa: An alternate name for Dido.

339–I never made: Aeneas’ interpretation of what happened in the cave differs from Dido’s (4.172).

345–46–Grynean Apollo and the edicts of Lycia: A reference to the oracles authorizing Aeneas’ quest; Apollo was worshipped under the title “Grynean” in the Aeolis, a northwestern region of Asia Minor, and under the title “Lycian” in southwestern Asia Minor. Compare the oracles of Apollo at 3.161–62.

356–envoy of the gods: The god Mercury.

365–no goddess: Dido rejects Aeneas’ claim that his mother is Venus.

366–Dardanus: Son of Jupiter and Electra, ancestor of Ilus, Tros, and the Trojans.

366–Caucasus: Mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, regarded as harsh and inhospitable.

367–Hyrcanian tigers: Hyrcania was the region southeast of the Caspian Sea and regarded as extremely wild.

372–Saturn’s son: Jupiter. Dido here refers to the gods as parents of humankind.

377–Lycian lotteries: A disparaging recasting of lines 345–46: see note.

379–As if such work . . . peace!: In the view of Epicureans, the gods existed, but in a separate realm untroubled by human concerns.

386–Even among the dead: Anticipates Dido’s dying curse on Aeneas, in which she calls for an avenger (625–29), understood by the Roman audience to be Hannibal of Carthage, though he is never named in the poem, who waged war on Rome in the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE).

425–26–Greek at Aulis when they swore to smash his race: The Greek commanders met at Aulis before setting off to attack Troy; Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia there.

449–The tears fell useless: Critics debate whose tears these are, Anna’s or Aeneas’.

469–70–Pentheus . . . a double sun: The Theban king Pentheus banned the worship of Bacchus and was driven mad by the god; this description of his hallucinations is reworked from Euripides’ Bacchae.

471–73–the son of Agamemnon . . . outside the door: Orestes killed his mother, Clytemnestra, in revenge for her murder of his father, Agamemnon. He was pursued by his mother’s ghost and by the Furies, snake-haired Underworld entities who wield torches, as related in Aeschylus’ Oresteia.

483–Massylian: Relevant here as tragic foreshadowing for Dido. In the Second Punic War the North African Massylian king Massinissa betrayed the Carthaginians to help the Romans, but the Romans refused to pardon his Carthaginian wife, resulting in her suicide.

484–the Hesperides’ shrine: The Hesperides were the nymphs of the evening; their shrine, an orchard of golden apples, was believed to be located in northern Africa.

510–11–Erebus, Chaos . . . three faces: Underworld deities; Hecate, the three-faced goddess of witchcraft, is associated with Diana.

512–Avernus: The lake outside the entrance to the Underworld.

517–18–with sacred meal . . . one sandal off: Loosened clothing and bare feet aid in the working of magic.

528–The line is thought to be spurious.

535–Numidian: African.

542–treachery in Laomedon’s descendants: The Trojan ancestor Laomedon swindled the gods Apollo and Neptune out of their payment after they had built the walls of Troy. See also 3.476n.

545–Sidon: A city in Phoenicia, Dido’s homeland.

569–70–A woman is a changing, a fitful thing: This quotation is sometimes used misogynistically.

584–her husband’s saffron bed: The orange color of saffron makes it suitable for the bed of the dawn goddess, but its associations with marriage in Roman culture highlight Dido’s abandonment.

600–601–scattered the torn pieces of him across the waves: In imitation of Medea, who scattered pieces of her brother to slow down her father as he pursued her.

602–made a banquet for the father: In imitation of Atreus who took revenge on his brother Thyestes by serving his children to him in a banquet.

615–29–Then let a bold and warlike people drive him . . . children: This is Dido’s infamous curse, which anticipates Hannibal.

617–go beg for help: Aeneas begs for assistance from the Greek king Evander in Italy (book 8).

658–If Trojan ships had never touched these shores: Vergil reworks Medea’s wish about the Argonauts in Ennius’ play Medea.

694–Iris: Goddess of the rainbow, a messenger of the gods.

698–99–Proserpina had cut no lock . . . to Stygian Orcus: Proserpina, queen of the Underworld, snips a lock of hair from the dying to offer to Pluto (Orcus); as Dido’s death is unexpected, Iris must snip it instead.

BOOK 5

Aeneas staunchly voyaged out with his fleet,

Cutting the waves the driving North Wind darkened.

He saw behind him poor Elissa’s fire,

A huge glow in the fort—but what had caused it

The Trojans couldn’t tell. Yet what they knew

5

Of woman’s rage from ruined love’s hard grief

Gave them a grim foreboding in their hearts.

They sailed the open water; no land met them,

Yet everywhere were sea and sky alone.

But then a purple-black light-stifling storm

10

Came swooping down. Night bristled on the water.

On the high stern, the pilot Palinurus

Himself cried, “These huge thunderheads that wrap

The sky—what are you doing, Father Neptune?

Row hard and pull the tackle in,” he ordered.

15

He sloped the sails against the wind and added,

“No hope for Italy in such foul weather,

Not even if Jove promised, brave Aeneas.

The black west sends a rising, roaring wind

Into our side. Air thickens into cloud.

20

We haven’t got the strength to fight against it.

Fortune has triumphed, and we must submit,

Turning our course her way. We near the havens

Of Sicily and your loyal brother Eryx,

If I recall the stars I traced in coming.”

25

Steadfast Aeneas answered, “I have watched you

Struggling against insistent winds and losing.

Shift the sails, turn. There’s no land I prefer

To send these tired ships to than the one

That keeps for me Dardanian Acestes

30

And holds my father’s bones in its embrace.”

They sought the port. Favoring West Winds hurried

The fleet’s stretched sails across the deep. They turned

At last toward welcome and familiar beaches.

Startled to see them from a far-off peak,

35

Acestes rushed to greet the kindred ships.

Child of a Trojan mother and the river

Crinisus, he now wore rough Libyan bearskin

And carried sharp spears. Mindful of his lineage,

He happily received his weary friends

40

As guests again, in rustic luxury.

The stars were routed by the brightening dawn.

From the long beach Aeneas called his comrades

Together and addressed them from a raised mound:

“Descendants of high gods, heroic Trojans,

45

One circling year is full, its months completed,

From when we laid my honored father’s bones

In the ground and consecrated his sad altar.

This seems to be the bitter day the gods

Decreed that I commemorate forever.

50

If I were exiled in Gaetulian Syrtes,

Or caught by storms and captive in Mycenae,

Still I would carry out these solemn rites

And pile the altar with the proper gifts.

But here we are now, at a friendly port,

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And in the bones’ and ashes’ very presence.

It must have been the gods’ will that achieved this.

So let us all be glad in this observance,

Ask for good winds, and pray he’ll grant this rite

Each year in our new city, in his own shrine.

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Acestes, who was born at Troy, will give you

Two oxen for each ship. Invite our home gods,

Our country’s, and our host’s to share the feast.

But when the ninth dawn brings the nurturing day

To mortals, and its beams light up earth’s circle,

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I’ll hold a race for speedy Trojan ships.

Strong runners, too, and hardy, confident

Masters of javelins and buoyant arrows,

Any bold boxers with their rawhide thongs

Can step up. There are prizes for the winners.

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Place garlands on your heads, in holy silence.”

He hid his forehead in his mother’s myrtle.

Helymus did the same, and old Acestes,

And also young Ascanius and his peers.

With a great crowd of soldiers for an escort,

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Aeneas left the conclave for the grave mound.

There on the ground he poured two ritual cups

Each of unmixed wine, fresh milk, holy blood,

And scattered purple flowers. “Hallowed father,

I call unceasingly to your poor spirit,

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Your ghost: the body that I saved is ashes.

I couldn’t seek with you our fated lands

In Italy, and a river called the Tiber.”

Then from beneath that holy site there slipped

A giant snake, who drew his seven coils

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Gently around the barrow and the altar.

His back was blazoned blue, and gold-flecked scales

Kindled and glowed, as when a rainbow catches

The sun, and myriad colors strike the clouds.

Aeneas was amazed. It stretched its great length

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Among the bowls and polished cups. It tasted

The dishes and slid back beneath the tomb

Harmlessly from the banquet on the altar.

The son resumed the rites with greater fervor.

Was this the place’s spirit? Or his father’s

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Attendant? Now he sacrificed two sheep,

Two sows, and two black bullocks, poured out wine,

And called upon the soul of great Anchises,

The ghost that Acheron had now released.

With a good will each comrade brought the gifts

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That he could spare, killed bulls, and heaped the altar.

Others lined cauldrons up and then stretched out

On the grass to roast the spitted meat on coals.

The long-awaited ninth day came. The horses

Of Phaethon brought dawn in pleasant weather.

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The fame of glorious Acestes drew

The eager neighboring tribes. They filled the shore

To see Aeneas’ men—or challenge them.

At the start, the center of the field displayed

The prizes for the winners: sacred tripods,

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Garlands, palm branches, clothing dyed with purple,

Along with massive bars of gold and silver.

From a mound, a trumpet’s blare began the games.

For the first contest, four ships, closely matched,

With heavy oars were chosen from the fleet.

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Mnestheus took the Whale, with its keen rowers

(In Italy, the Memmian clan is his),

And Gyas the Chimera’s hulking mass,

A town’s size, rearing triple banks of oars

And driven forward by the youth of Troy.

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Sergestus, father of the Sergian house,

Rode the vast Centaur; sky-blue Scylla carried

Cloanthus: the Cluentii are his.

In open sea, far from the foaming shore,

A rock lies, sometimes sunk in swollen waves

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When the northeastern storms conceal the stars.

Now it rose quiet from the tranquil water,

Its flat top welcome to the sunning gulls.

Father Aeneas set a leafy oak branch

Out there to show the sailors where to turn

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And bend their lengthy courses back again.

They drew for starting places, and the captains

Stood on the sterns in glowing gold and purple.

The young men in the crews wore poplar garlands.

Their shoulders glistened with the oil rubbed on.

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They sat and took a tight grip on their oars,

Keen for the signal; throbbing trepidation,

Hot greed for praise clutched at their leaping hearts.

The trumpet blared, and instantly they sprang

Over the line. Their shouting struck the sky.

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Their arms drew back, they whipped the sea to foam.

The ships cut trenches in a row. The surface

Split with the force of oars and trident beaks.

Chariots never with such plunging speed

Poured from the gate and tore along the course,

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Their drivers shaking free the waving reins

And bending forward to apply the whip.

Then the whole forest roared with the applause

Of partisans. The deep-set bay sent voices

Rolling, the hills recoiled from pounding shouts.

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First Gyas slipped ahead across the waves,

Beyond the crowded clatter. Then Cloanthus

Chased him, although the heavy pine hull hampered

His better crew. The Centaur and the Whale,

An equal space behind, fought for third place.

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Now the Whale has it, now the giant Centaur

Passes him, now the two prows shoot in tandem,

While long salt furrows trail behind the hulls.

But now they neared the rock, their turning post.

Gyas, the halfway victor, kept the lead.

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He shouted to Menoetes at the helm:

“Why are you headed so far right? Turn this way!

Keep to the shore! Your oars should graze the crags.

The rest can sail the sea.” But still Menoetes,

Who dreaded hidden rocks, swerved toward the deep.

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“Where are you going? Toward the rocks, I said!”

Yelled Gyas. Looking back, he saw Cloanthus

Gaining—and circling closer to the shore,

Between his own ship and the sounding cliffs.

He scraped his way through, quickly passed the leader—

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Beyond the turning post he reached safe waters.

Fury flamed in the other captain’s young bones.

Tears on his cheeks, forgetting dignity

And safety, he threw circumspect Menoetes

Out of the lofty stern into the sea.

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He took the helm himself now, as the pilot,

Urged on the men and swung the rudder shoreward.

Menoetes (in a while) escaped the sea floor,

Old as he was and hampered by his wet clothes.

He climbed the rock and settled on a dry ledge.

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Trojans had laughed to see him fall and swim,

And now they laughed to see him spewing brine.

Sergestus and Mnestheus, who were last,

Were thrilled—they might pass Gyas as he lingered.

Sergestus pulled ahead—but it was only

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By half a length—as he approached the rock.

Alongside skimmed the Whale’s competing prow.

Mnestheus paced amidships, rallying

His crew: “Heave! Throw your whole strength into it!

Comrades of Hector, allies whom I chose

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In Troy’s last crisis: show the strength and courage

That served you at the sandbanks of the Syrtes,

Ionian seas, and savage Malean waves.

I don’t demand the glory of first place

(And yet—no, Neptune, you must choose the winner).

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But last! Humiliation! That at least

We must avoid.” They made a flat-out effort.

The bronze-beaked ship was trembling with the blows.

The surface slipped away, the panting shook

Arms, legs, and dry mouths. Sweat flowed down in streams.

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It was mere chance that brought the men their triumph.

Sergestus in his fervor drove his prow

Close to the rock—an inside, risky passage—

And caught disastrously on jutting outcrops.

His oars struck those rough edges with a crunch.

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The prow was rammed and hung above the water.

With shouts, the crew sprang up and steadied her,

And took out pointed rods and poles made stiffer

With iron to fish back their broken oars.

Mnestheus, even keener in his good luck,

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With a swift sweep of oars, invoking winds,

Sped to the shore across the open water,

Like a dove startled from her darling nestlings

Hidden in crannies of a soft-stone cave

That is her home. She bursts out with a clatter

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Into the countryside, then coasts through air

That’s calm and clear, and stills her rapid wings.

Like her the Whale flew, on its own momentum,

And sliced the surface at the course’s end,

Leaving Sergestus struggling on a sharp rock

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At first, then in the shallows as he yelled

For help and learned to make his way with split oars.

Still, he reached Gyas and the huge Chimera;

Robbed of its pilot, this one fell behind.

Only Cloanthus needed overtaking.

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Mnestheus, with all his power, chased him.

The noise swelled on the shore, everyone clamored

For the ship in second place. The high air echoed.

The leader’s crew would have been mortified

To lose their victory, glory worth their lives!

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The others’ strength was growing as they gained:

Now neck and neck, they might have won together,

Had not Cloanthus, arms held toward the sea,

Poured out this prayer and made the gods this promise:

“Hear, ocean’s rulers, on whose plain I move:

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To pay my vow as victor on the shore,

I’ll set a snow-white bull before your altar,

And give your salt waves flowing wine and entrails.”

In the deep current all the Nereids heard,

All Phorcus’ troupe, and virgin Panopea.

240

The father, God of Ports, pushed with his huge hand;

The ship shot past the speed of wind or arrows

And bolted to the deep protecting harbor.

Anchises’ son then duly told the herald

To call the people and announce Cloanthus

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The winner. A fresh bay wreath hid his temples.

Aeneas let each crew divide the prizes:

Three heifers, wine, a hundredweight of silver.

Particular awards were for the captains:

The winner got a gold cloak, with two waves

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Of Meliboean purple on its border,

Ganymede woven in, on leafy Ida,

A fierce-speared runner-down of speedy stags,

Panting like life—but now caught up on high

In the hooked claws of Jove’s swift armor-bearer.

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His aged minders reached up helplessly

To the stars, and dogs bayed, menacing the air.

The man whose skill had gained him second place

Got a gold breastplate, triple-meshed and polished;

Aeneas’s spoil from Demoleos beaten

260

Near rushing Simoïs under towering Troy.

The battle refuge graced another man now—

Two servants, Sagaris and Phegeus,

Staggered beneath its layered weight. Demoleos

Had worn it running after Trojan stragglers.

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The third prize was a pair of matched bronze caldrons,

And solid silver cups, rugged with carvings.

And while the victors swaggered in the thrill

Of rich rewards, red ribbons on their heads,

Sergestus reached the shore. He’d worked his hull free

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From the cruel rock, lost his oars, and bashed a row

Of oarlocks useless. He won only laughter.

His ship was like a snake caught on the road’s edge,

Cut across by a bronze wheel or left mangled

And half-dead by a traveler’s heavy stone.

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It tries to whip away, but this is hopeless—

The hissing, arching head and burning eyes

Are held back by the crippled part that knots

The struggling creature back upon itself.

Like this the ship moved, with its ruined oars;

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And yet it reached the port with full-spread sails.

Aeneas, happy that the crew and vessel

Were saved, gave to Sergestus what he’d promised:

A Cretan slave girl, Pholoë, nursing twins,

And skillful at Minerva’s weaving work.

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Righteous Aeneas, at this contest’s end,

Strode toward the grassy field that was surrounded

By wooded hills, a natural stadium

For a racetrack. Thousands trailed behind the hero.

Seated amid the stands there on a platform,

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He offered prizes to entice the daring

Of anyone considering the footrace.

Competitors converged—Trojans, Sicilians—

First Nisus and Euryalus;

Euryalus a handsome, blooming youth

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Whom Nisus loved devotedly. Diores

Came next, a prince of Priam’s peerless bloodline;

Then Salius, an Acarnanian;

And Patron, an Arcadian Tegean;

In old Acestes’ cohort, Helymus

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And Panopes, youths from Sicilian woodlands;

And many more, obscure, unknowable.

Aeneas, in the center of them, spoke:

“I know you’ll be delighted when you hear this:

No one will leave without a gift from me.

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Two spearheads of bright iron, worked in Crete,

And a two-headed ax embossed in silver

Will honor everyone. But olive leaves

Of tawny green will crown the fastest three.

The winner gets a horse with handsome trappings,

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The next an Amazonian quiver full

Of Thracian arrows, with a wide gold strap

Whose buckle is a solid polished gem.

This Argive helmet must content the third.”

The runners took their places. At the signal,

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They sprang across the line and down the course,

Pouring like clouds. Now with the goal in sight,

Nisus flashed out ahead and took the lead

As swiftly as the wind or wings of thunder.

The next, but with a lengthy gap before him,

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Was Salius; Euryalus came third,

Some distance back.

Helymus followed him, and right behind

Diores sped—his foot brushed on a heel,

His shoulder loomed. And had the track been longer

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He would have slipped ahead or tied for fourth.

But as they came exhausted to the last stretch,

Poor Nisus skidded on some slippery blood

That had poured out and wet the grassy ground

When, as it happened, steers were slaughtered there.

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Already thrilled with victory, the young man

Couldn’t secure his step, and staggered, fell

Face-first in filthy dung and sacred blood.

But with his dear Euryalus in mind,

He lurched up from the muck—in Salius’ way.

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A rapid somersault laid him on hard sand.

Through his friend’s help, Euryalus flashed by

And flew in first, with roaring crowds to greet him.

Helymus came in next, Diores third.

Through the whole vast arena, where the elders

340

Watched from the front, the yells of Salius rang,

Demanding the award a foul had stolen.

The crowd, though, backed Euryalus’ shy tears—

And the great beauty of his budding manhood.

Diores helped him with his own loud protests:

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He’d won the third prize, but it would be void

If Salius was now to have the first.

Father Aeneas answered: “All your prizes

Are safe, boys: nobody will change the order.

But I can soothe a friend who’s been unlucky.”

350

To Salius he gave a lion’s pelt

From Libya: huge, heavy-maned, and gold-clawed.

But Nisus said, “If that’s what losers get,

And accidents win pity, what’s for me?

I deserved first prize, and I would have won it,

355

But for the same bad luck that Salius had.”

He gestured to the wet dung on his face

And body. The good father of the Trojans

Laughed and had fetched a shield that Didymaon

Had made—Greek spoil from Neptune’s holy door—

360

A splendid gift for this outstanding youth.

When all of this was done, Aeneas said:

“Whoever has staunch ready manhood in him,

Let him step up and bind and raise his fists.”

He set out two more prizes: for the winner,

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A bull with gilded horns and hanging ribbons;

A sword and splendid helmet, loser’s solace.

Unhesitating, Dares thrust his jaw out

And rose in all his strength. The whole crowd murmured.

He alone had been used to fighting Paris;

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He’d crushed the champion, huge Butes (boasting

Lineage from Bebrycian Amycus)

And laid him out to die on tawny sand

Beside the tomb where peerless Hector rested.

Such a man reared his towering head to fight,

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Showed his wide shoulders, shot out first one arm

And then the other, hammering the air.

The second boxer? Out of that whole crowd,

No one dared wrap his hands in thongs to face him.

Thinking they were conceding him the prize,

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He took a happy stand below Aeneas.

His left hand gripped the bull’s horn, and he spoke:

“So, goddess’ son, if no one’s brave enough,

How long exactly should I stand here waiting?

Tell me to take my prize.” All of the Trojans

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Roared for the man to have the promised trophy.

Acestes was disgruntled with Entellus,

Who sat beside him on a bench of green turf:

“You were the strongest—once. What use is that?

You’ll let this splendid prize be snatched away

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Without a fight? What good is godlike Eryx

You claim as teacher? What about your fame

Throughout this land, the prizes on your walls?”

Entellus shot back: “It’s not fear defeating

My lust for fame, but slow and freezing blood

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Of old age, and my cold depleted strength.

If I were in my prime still, like that fellow—

So insolent, full of himself, cocksure—

I’d take my place, but not to win a fine bull.

Prizes don’t draw me.” Into the arena

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He threw a pair of hugely heavy gauntlets

Whose hard hide savage Eryx used to wrap

Around his hands for every boxing battle.

The crowd gaped: riveted with lead and iron

To stiffen them were seven massive bulls’ hides.

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Dares backed well away in stupefaction;

Anchises’ brave son turned them over, testing

The weight of those immense loops in his hands.

The veteran boxer spoke then, from his heart:

“What if we saw what Hercules himself wore

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In the tough contest on this very beach?

Your brother Eryx had these on his hands once

(Look at the caked brains, and the spattered blood)

And faced that hero, and I used to wear them

In my strong-blooded years, when jealous old age

415

Had not yet sowed the white hairs on my temples.

If Dares, though, demurs, and good Aeneas

Chooses, and if Acestes my supporter

Agrees, we’ll make it fair and take away

Eryx’ straps and your Trojan ones—don’t worry.”

420

He dropped his cloak of double thickness, stripping

The body with the massive joints, bones, arms,

And took his hulking stand in the arena.

Anchises’ son, the father, brought out matched thongs

And bound the hands of both with equal weapons.

425

They didn’t pause but faced off, on their toes,

Fearless, alert, their hands up in the air.

Their heads were reared far back and out of range.

Fists tangled, sparred, and sought an opening.

The one was younger, quicker on his feet,

430

The other stronger, larger, but his knees

Faltered, and weary panting shook his bulk.

Often they missed in swinging at each other,

But often loudly thumped against a chest

Or curved-in side; fists darted around temples

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And ears, jaws crackled under stony blows.

Entellus’ feet were rooted in position—

But sharp eyes kept his body swaying, dodging.

Dares, as if he stormed a city’s bulwarks

Or kept a mountain fortress under siege,

440

Scanned thoroughly and shrewdly for a gap,

And drove assaults from everywhere—for nothing.

Entellus sprang and thrust his right arm up,

Then down. His quick opponent saw it falling,

Instantly slipped aside, and wasn’t there.

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Entellus spilled his strength into the air.

The force of his own vast weight sent him crashing

Like a hollow pine tree torn up at the roots

On Erymanthus or the heights of Ida.

Trojans, Sicilians, on their feet, were yelling

450

Clear to the sky. Acestes, though, his agemate

And friend, ran up and lifted him in pity.

But the fall didn’t slow or cow the hero,

Who came back fiercer, stronger in his anger

And searing shame, self-conscious in his courage.

455

Over the whole arena he pitched Dares.

He battered with his right hand, then his left,

Not letting up. Like clouds that pound the rooftops

With hail, the hero pummeled his opponent

Ceaselessly with both fists and sent him spinning.

460

Father Aeneas now was moved to check

The savage anger of Entellus, ending

The fight—a rescue for exhausted Dares—

And did it with these sympathetic words:

“Poor friend, where has your mind gone? Don’t you sense

465

Some strength here more than his? Gods are against you:

Relent.” He caused the boxers to be parted.

Staunch comrades led the loser to the ships.

His head lolled, and he dragged his crippled knees.

He spat out broken teeth and clotted blood.

470

Others were called to claim his sword and helmet,

Leaving the bull and garland for Entellus.

The victor, full of heady pride, proclaimed:

“Son of the goddess, and you other Trojans:

Think of the strength I had when I was young—

475

Think of the death from which you just saved Dares.”

Before the young bull waiting as a prize

The boxer stood and faced him. Looming high

He aimed a hard-bound hand between the horns,

Shattered the creature’s skull, and splashed its brains out.

480

Shaking in death, it crumpled and collapsed,

And over it he spoke these fervent words:

“Eryx, I give to you this better soul

Than Dares’—and unbind my hands forever.”

Soon after this, Aeneas sought contestants

485

For soaring archery and set out prizes.

His brawny hands took from Serestus’ ship

The mast and planted it and tied a dove—

The target—to a rope looped through the top.

In a bronze helmet rivals tossed their lots.

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Hippocoön, the son of Hyrtacus,

Was chosen, to warm cheers, to take the first turn.

Next was Mnestheus, who’d won the ship race

And his bright olive crown; Eurytion

Was third—your brother, famous Pandarus,

495

Who broke the truce on orders from a god

And launched a weapon at the warrior Greeks.

Acestes’ was the last lot in the helmet—

He dared to try the work of younger men.

Now each one took an arrow from his quiver

500

And bent his curving bow with burly arms.

An arrow first soared off the twanging string

Of Hyrtacus’ son, sliced the air in two,

And hit the wooden mast straight on and lodged.

The pole shook, and the terrified dove flapped,

505

And the whole valley echoed with applause.

Now fierce Mnestheus stood and drew his weapon

And aimed high, straining both his bow and eyes.

Too bad! The steel tip failed to reach the bird,

But broke the knotted linen string that tethered

510

The creature by the foot atop the mast.

She sped off toward the storm clouds in the south.

Eurytion had drawn his bow already;

He quickly aimed, while praying to his brother.

With joy and clapping wings she’d reached the free sky

515

Beneath the clouded darkness, when he shot her.

She fell and left her life among the stars,

But brought to earth again the piercing arrow.

Acestes’ chance was gone—he still let fly

An arrow to the upper air, which showed

520

His bow-resounding skill, though he was old.

An omen flashed—its meaning the great outcome

Proved in the time to come, when fearsome prophets

Chanted of signs that lagged in their fulfillment.

The arrow soared in flame through flowing clouds,

525

Burning a path that faded out and tattered

In breezes: thus a star that’s been dislodged

Crosses the sky and trails its hair behind it.

Both Trojans and Sicilians were astonished

And begged the gods to keep them safe. Aeneas

530

The great revered the omen and embraced

Happy Acestes, heaped on gifts, and spoke:

“Accept these, Father, since Olympus’ great king

Has marked you out for some supreme distinction.

This embossed bowl, a precious gift from Cisseus,

535

Keepsake and token of a loving friendship,

Belonged to my own father, old Anchises.”

He ringed Acestes’ head with verdant laurel

And named him winner over all the others.

Eurytion—fine boy—did not resent it,

540

Though he’d brought down the bird. The next gifts went

To the rope’s breaker; then the one whose winging

Arrow had pierced the mast got his reward.

Father Aeneas didn’t end the games

Till he had called Epytides, dear tutor

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Of little Iulus. To this trusty man

He whispered, “Go and tell Ascanius,

If he’s drawn up the squad of boys on horses,

To lead it out, for his grandfather’s sake,

And put his armed maneuvers on display.”

550

Aeneas had the field, in its long circuit,

Cleared—people had been pouring onto it.

Before their fathers’ eyes, the boys filed in,

Gleaming on bridled horses. Both Sicilians

And Trojans buzzed approval at their coming.

555

A ritual trimmed chaplet bound each boy’s head;

Each had a pair of steel-tipped cornel spears;

Some had smooth quivers. From their necks hung circles

Of pliant gold that twisted at their throats.

Three troops of riders, each one with its leader,

560

Wove their way; twelve boys in each double file

Followed their captains in a neat division.

One young glad line was led by little Priam,

Polites’ son (bright bearer of a great name

One father back), who’d sire new Italians.

565

His Thracian horse was dappled, with white pasterns;

The forehead that it reared was splashed with white.

Iulus’ beloved agemate led the next squad,

Atys, the Latin Atii clan’s forebear;

Iulus, best-looking of the boys, came last.

570

His mount was Tyrian; shining Dido gave it

To be his own, for loving memory’s sake.

The other boys were on Sicilian horses,

The gifts of old Acestes.

The Trojans cheered their shy sons and were happy

575

To see ancestral faces replicated.

In joy they passed the crowd, their families watching.

The line paused. From the side, Epytides

Signaled, first with a shout and then a whip crack.

Now the three squads, each in two columns, wheeled

580

Apart to right and left. Another signal:

They turned back, aiming weapons at each other.

Then they made other moves and countermoves,

Faced off at distances and overlapped

In rings, and acted out armed skirmishes.

585

They fled, their backs defenseless, turned their spears

For an attack, then rode together, peaceful.

Like high Crete’s fabled labyrinth that wove

Its baffling paths within its blinding walls,

With countless tricks to keep its captives lost,

590

Confusing any signs that might have led them—

So was the Trojan sons’ game as they wove

A running pattern, mock attacks and mock

Retreats, like dolphins playing in the waves

Cutting the Libyan or Carpathian straits.

595

When he was building Alba Longa’s walls,

Ascanius revived the battle pageant

And taught the ancient Latins to perform it,

As he had done with fellow Trojan youngsters.

The Albans passed it down. Rome in her glory

600

Is heir to this ancestral ritual.

The boys are “Troy” and their formation “Trojan.”

With this, the honored father’s games concluded.

Now, in a fresh turn, Fortune changed allegiance.

While all these sports were offered to the tomb,

605

Juno the child of Saturn sent down Iris

To the Trojan fleet, and sped the wind behind her,

Plotting to satisfy her long-held rancor.

Over the thousand colors of the rainbow

The goddess swiftly skimmed, and no one saw her.

610

Beyond the crowd, she passed along the shore

And saw the fleet left empty in the port.

The Trojan women stood and mourned Anchises

On a lonely beach. They gazed out at the deep

In tears, and all deplored how many seas

615

Remained to cross—how it exhausted them!

“A city! Not the sufferings of voyages!”

Iris, skilled meddler, slipped among the mothers

Of Troy, and she exchanged the face and clothing

Of a goddess for the form of Beroë,

620

The long-lived wife of Doryclus of Tmaros.

Well known and nobly born, she’d been a mother.

“Wretches,” cried Iris, “not dragged off to death

By warring Greeks beneath your city’s walls!

What doom does Fortune keep for our poor people?

625

The seventh summer since Troy’s fall is passing.

Driven from star to star across the seas,

The whole world’s lands and wrecking rocks, we’re wave-tossed

On the great gulf. Italy retreats from us.

Now our own Eryx’ land, our host Acestes

630

Must let us found a city of our own.

Fatherland! Gods we saved from war for nothing!

What walls will have Troy’s name? Where will I see

A Simoïs and Xanthus, Hector’s rivers?

So come, let’s burn these ships that brought such sorrow.

635

In a dream, I saw the prophetess Cassandra;

She gave me burning torches: ‘Find your Troy here—

This is your home.’ Now is the time to act—

Quickly, on such great signs. Here are four altars

Of Neptune. He will give us fire and courage.”

640

She was the first to seize destroying flames.

She raised a torch and waved it. Then she strained

And threw it as the Trojan women watched

In horror. But the oldest of them, Pyrgo,

The nurse of Priam’s many children, shouted,

645

“Mothers, this isn’t Rhoetean Beroë,

Doryclus’ wife! Look at the godly splendor

Shown in her burning eyes, her haughtiness,

Her face, the way her voice sounds, and her gait.

And I myself have just left Beroë

650

Sick, and upset that she alone was missing

Her portion in these honors for Anchises.”

So she spoke.

The matrons didn’t know what they should do.

They glowered at the boats, in bitter yearning

655

To stay, yet thinking of the fated kingdom.

But as she fled on even wings, the goddess

Cut a great rainbow underneath the clouds.

This apparition made the women shriek,

Frenzied. Some pillaged central hearths of buildings,

660

While others snatched up kindling, leaves—then torches

From altars. Over painted sterns and benches

And oars the god of fire ran amok.

Eumelus brought the news to the arena

Next to Anchises’ tomb; but on their own there,

665

Men saw a cloud of ashes surging skyward.

Ascanius capered at his squadron’s head—

But now his panting trainers couldn’t catch him:

He’d turned and galloped to the camp in riot.

“What are you doing? Have you lost your minds?

670

Poor Trojan women! It’s no hostile Greek camp

You’re burning, but your future. This is me,

Your own Ascanius!” At their feet he dashed

The helmet worn just now in that staged battle.

Aeneas rushed in, with a host of Trojans.

675

The women scattered, panicked, on the shore,

Then skulked away to trees and rocky hollows.

Shame drove them to the darkness; they awoke

To know their own and free their hearts from Juno.

And yet their raging fire didn’t slacken.

680

The caulking was alive beneath the wet wood,

Vomiting steady waves of smoke. Unyielding,

The flame of ruin ate the hulls, the whole ships;

The floods strong heroes hauled there couldn’t stop it.

Loyal Aeneas, clothes torn from his shoulders,

685

Begged for the gods’ help, stretching out his hands:

“Almighty Jove, unless you hate us Trojans

To the last man, and human suffering

Moves you no longer, let our fleet escape!

Save our exhausted race from ruin, Father!

690

Or hurl your thunderbolt of devastation

At what remains of us—if I deserve it.”

He’d scarcely finished when a monstrous black storm

Broke in a rage of pouring rain and thunder.

The plains and mountains shook. The whole wild sky

695

Slid down in blackness through the whirling South Winds—

The decks filled up, the half-burned wood was soaked—

And now the fire was completely out,

And all the ships but four were saved from ruin.

A hard blow for the patriarch Aeneas!

700

Tormented back and forth, he didn’t know

Whether to stay in these Sicilian fields,

Shirking his fate, or reach for Italy.

Old Nautes spoke, Tritonian Athena’s

Own chosen pupil, who was known for skill

705

In prophecies of what the forceful anger

Of gods would bring—he knew the links in fate’s chain.

He comforted Aeneas: “Venus’ son,

Staying or going, we must follow fate.

Whatever comes, endurance conquers fortune.

710

Here is Acestes, Trojan child of heaven.

Make plans with him—he’ll be a willing partner.

Leave him the lost ships’ orphans, leave him those

Exasperated by your great task’s hardships.

Spare the old men and ocean-weary mothers,

715

And anyone who’s weak or shy of danger,

And let them rest and have their city here,

Named for Acestes, if he will allow it.”

The words of his old friend excited him,

But he was torn between anxieties.

720

Now black Night’s chariot had reached its zenith.

Father Anchises’ image came from there,

Descending suddenly, and poured these words out:

“My son, who more than my own life I cherished,

While I still lived: How Troy’s fate tortures you!

725

Jove sent me—it was Jove who drove the fire

From your ships. The high god pities you at last.

Take Nautes’ good advice—his age and wisdom

Support it. Choose the staunchest men to voyage

To Italy. The race you must defeat there

730

Is tough and hardy. First, though, you must enter

The house of Dis below, cross deep Avernus,

And meet me—not in Tartarus’ cruel prison:

Lovely Elysium is now my home,

Where guiltless souls convene. Kill many black sheep,

735

To earn the virgin Sibyl as a guide

To where you’ll see your city and descendants.

Good-bye. The dewy Night is at her turning.

Ah, the fierce breath of Dawn’s pursuing horses!”

He disappeared, like thin smoke in the air.

740

“Where have you gone so fast?” Aeneas cried,

“Who do you fear? Who keeps us from embracing?”

He roused the dozing fire, offered Troy’s

Home god and white-haired Vesta in her shrine

Ritual flour and burned his store of incense.

745

He quickly called Acestes, then his comrades,

And told what Jove enjoined, what his dear father

Counseled, and what he now himself resolved.

Acestes, with no pause for talk, complied.

The matrons were enrolled, the city settled

750

With volunteers who had no urge for glory.

Crews small in number but alive with valor

Mended the benches and replaced the wood

The flames had gnawed. New oars and ropes were fitted.

Aeneas plowed out borders, made allotments,

755

Named the town Ilium, the country Troy.

Trojan Acestes, pleased to rule, ordained

A forum and made rules for his new senate.

A shrine was laid out for Idalian Venus

On Eryx’ height. Anchises’ tomb was given

760

A spacious sacred grove, a priest appointed.

Now the whole tribe had sacrificed and feasted

For nine days. Peaceful winds smoothed out the sea:

The South Wind rose and called them toward the deep.

Along the winding shore rose noisy weeping.

765

All day, all night they clung in tight embraces.

Even the mothers, even those disgusted

At the word sea and at the sight of it,

Were keen for all the suffering of exile,

Kindly Aeneas soothed his friends. He wept,

770

Trusting them to Acestes, his relation.

He ordered three calves sacrificed to Eryx,

And to the Storms one lamb, before unmooring.

He wore an olive wreath and stood apart

In the prow to hold the bowl and pour clear wine

775

And offer entrails to the salty waves.

A following wind surged up against the stern.

Eager crews beat the sea and skimmed above it.

But meanwhile Venus, in her anguished worry,

Poured out these passionate complaints to Neptune:

780

“Juno’s hard anger and her ruthless heart

Force me to make humiliating pleas.

She yields to neither time nor loving duty.

Fate and Jove’s orders cannot break or halt her.

It didn’t satisfy her vicious hatred

785

To tear Troy from its people and devour it,

Or drag the bones and ashes of the city

Through all this—she must know why she’s so livid.

A while ago, you saw the towering storm

She raised off Africa. Through Aeolus’ whirlwinds,

790

She merged the world’s seas with the sky, brash meddling

In your domain—for nothing!

And see how wickedly she drove the mothers

Of Troy to burn the fleet, like criminals,

To strand the Trojans where they shouldn’t be.

795

Let the remainder spread their sails in safety

And cross to reach the Tiber at Laurentum—

If this can be, if the fates grant a city.”

Saturn’s son, tamer of the deep sea, spoke:

“Lady of Cythera, you rightly trust

800

My realm, where you were born, and I’ve been steadfast,

Crushing great rages of the sea and sky.

Even on dry land I protect Aeneas—

I call to witness Simoïs and Xanthus:

Achilles drove the panicked Trojan ranks

805

Against the walls. The river groaned with thousands

Of corpses—Xanthus couldn’t reach the sea.

Peleus’ son, for his part, had fierce strength

And gods’ help. In a saving cloud I hid

Aeneas, though I longed to ruin Troy:

810

I built it, but it broke its promises.

Don’t be afraid—I feel the same as then.

He’ll reach your chosen port beside Avernus.

The sea will take just one for him to grieve for,

A single life for many.”

815

The patriarch had cheered and comforted

The goddess. Now he yoked his team in gold,

Bitted their foaming mouths, and gave them rein.

In his blue chariot he skimmed the sea.

Beneath the rumbling axle swelling waves

820

Spread even, and the savage clouds dispersed.

His suite, in all its forms, came with him: monsters,

Glaucus’ old troop, Palaemon son of Ino,

Tritons, swift Phorcus’ ranks, and on the left

Thetis, young Panopea, Melite, Spio,

825

Nesaeë, Thalia, and Cymodoce.

Sweet joy now overwhelmed the anxious thoughts

Of Father Aeneas, who had all the masts

Raised quickly and the yardarms draped with sails.

The crew lined up to set the sheets, released

830

The folds, first left, then right, and then maneuvered

The yards, and now a good breeze took the fleet,

And Palinurus led that crowded column:

The others were to set their course by him.

The dewy night was near its turning point

835

Above. The sailors sprawled, relaxed and peaceful,

Under the oars and on the rigid benches,

When Sleep slipped gently down from starry heaven,

Parting the dusky air and strewing shadows,

To bring grim dreams to guiltless Palinurus.

840

High on the stern Sleep sat, disguised as Phorbas,

And let these words come flowing from his mouth:

“Iasus’ son, the sea itself transports us.

The wind breathes evenly; it’s time to rest.

Lay down your head, steal shut your weary eyes,

845

And I myself will see your tasks are done.”

But Palinurus scarcely raised a glance.

“You’re telling me to trust the sea’s calm face

And peaceful waves? I know that it’s a monster.

It’s fooled me many times—should I entrust

850

Aeneas to the double-dealing winds?”

He spoke, and gripped the helm, and wouldn’t yield it,

Unwavering in gazing at the stars.

But the god shook a branch, which dripped with dew

Of Lethe and the lulling power of Styx,

855

Over his temples, forced his swimming eyes shut.

The stealthy doze sank in, and he relaxed.

Sleep bent to pitch him, with the shattered helm

He clung to and its rudder, into clear waves.

His comrades didn’t hear the cries he gave.

860

Winged Sleep rose through the insubstantial air.

The fleet ran on in safety, undisturbed

And free of fear, as Father Neptune promised.

But now it drifted toward the Sirens’ cliffs—

A menace once, once white with heaps of bones—

865

From which rock-pounding water sounded far off.

Father Aeneas felt the ship was drifting

Without its guide. He steered it through the night waves

Himself, with groans of anguish for his friend:

“Oh, trusting victim of calm sea and sky,

870

Unburied on some strange shore, Palinurus!”

24–Eryx: Half-brother of Aeneas by Venus, after whom a city and mountain in Sicily are named.

30–Dardanian Acestes: A Trojan leader who has settled in Sicily; he is called Dardanian after Dardanus, the Italian ancestor of the Trojans.

46–One circling year is full: A year has passed since the end of book 3, when the Trojans buried Anchises on this shore.

51–Gaetulian Syrtes: Dangerous sandbanks near Carthage in North Africa, where the Gaetuli lived.

52–Mycenae: A major Greek city, the home of Agamemnon.

59–this rite: Aeneas is credited with founding the Roman festival of Parentalia, which honors family ancestors.

72–his mother’s myrtle: Myrtle is sacred to Venus.

73–Helymus: Son of Anchises, half-brother of Aeneas.

82–83–our fated lands in Italy, and a river called the Tiber: Aeneas is only vaguely aware of his destination.

99–Acheron: A river in the Underworld.

105–Phaethon: Here the sun, literally “shining one.”

109–10–the center of the field displayed the prizes for the winners: The games for Anchises are modeled on the funeral games for Patroclus in Iliad 23.

116–23–Mnestheus . . . Cluentii: The key racers are ancestors of powerful Roman families of Vergil’s time.

118–Chimera: Named for the fire-breathing monster killed by the hero Bellerophon.

129–Father Aeneas: Aeneas takes on the leadership role more fully after his father’s death.

193–Malean waves: Cape Maleas, on the southeastern coast of the Peloponnese, is treacherous for shipping.

239–41–Nereids . . . Phorcus . . . Panopea . . . God of Ports: Oceanic deities. Phorcus is an old man of the sea. Panopea is a Nereid, or sea nymph. Portunus was the God of Ports.

246–bay wreath: A symbol of victory in athletic and artistic competition; in Rome, it was awarded to generals in military parades called triumphs.

251–Meliboean purple: A rich red-purple. The dye was extracted from sea snails.

252–Ganymede . . . Ida: The Trojan prince Ganymede was abducted from Mount Ida near Troy by Jupiter: see 1.28n.

255–hooked claws: Of the eagle, Jupiter’s bird.

260–Demoleos: A Greek warrior at Troy, killed on the battlefield there.

285–Minerva’s weaving work: Minerva is the patron of crafts, especially weaving.

294–Nisus and Euryalus: A warrior couple modeled on Homeric and Platonic ideals. They will appear again at 9.174–449.

311–12–Amazonian quiver full of Thracian arrows: The Amazons were known for their skill at archery; Thracians were considered especially fierce and warlike.

359–Didymaon: Not otherwise known.

366–ribbons: See 2.133n.

372–Lineage from Bebrycian Amycus: Amycus, king of the savage Bebryces, forced strangers to box with him for their lives.

387–Entellus: Not otherwise known; there was a city in Sicily called Entella.

401–5–hugely heavy gauntlets . . . seven massive bulls’ hides: Roman boxers protected their hands by wearing the leather caestus, which extended from the knuckles up the forearm.

410–Hercules: Aeneas’ half-brother Eryx was killed by Hercules in a wrestling match.

449–Erymanthus: A mountain in Arcadia, famous for its monstrous wild boar, which Hercules slew.

495–Pandarus: A Trojan archer who broke the ceasefire during the duel between Menelaus and Paris in Iliad 4.

514–his brother: Pandarus: see 5.495n.

522–An omen flashed: The omen may portend the greatness of Acestes and his city Segesta.

535–Cisseus: Father of Hecuba, the wife of Priam.

545–Epitydes: Periphas, son of Epytus, from Homer, Iliad 17.

551–the field, in its long circuit: It resembles the Circus Maximus in Rome.

569–Atii: Augustus’ mother, Atia, was a member of the Atian family, or Atii.

588–Crete’s fabled labyrinth: The maze designed by the inventor Daedalus to imprison the Minotaur.

595–Carpathian: Of the island Carpathus, between Crete and Rhodes.

601–this ancestral ritual: The “Troy game,” an equestrian display performed by Roman youths of noble birth, was revived by Julius Caesar and brought into regular practice by Augustus.

632–Gods: The Penates. See 1.379n.

636–the prophetess Cassandra: see 2.346, 3.183–87.

704–Nautes: An ancestor of the elite Roman family the Nautii.

704–Tritonian Athena: Minerva was born near the African lake Triton.

732–Dis: God of the Underworld.

732–Avernus: Both the wood at the entrance of the Underworld and, broadly, the Underworld itself.

733–Tartarus’ cruel prison: The Underworld’s area of punishment.

734–Elysium: The realm of the blessed.

736–Sibyl: The Sibyl of Cumae.

744–Home god . . . Vesta: Here, the Lar (singular of Lares); and the female god of the hearth.

757–58–ordained a forum and made rules for his new senate: Vergil uses Roman terminology.

759–Idalian Venus: Idalia, on the island of Cyprus, was a sanctuary of Venus.

773–Storms: This personification reflects the essentially animistic beliefs of the Romans.

797–Laurentum: A city in Italy; Aeneas will found the city of Lavinium nearby.

799–Saturn’s son: Neptune.

800–Lady of Cythera: Venus.

808–10–Peleus’ son . . . Aeneas: Achilles fought Aeneas until Aeneas was rescued by his mother (Iliad 20).

841–Phorbas: A fellow Trojan.

855–Lethe and the lulling power of Styx: Two rivers in the Underworld; Lethe was the river of forgetfulness.

864–Sirens: Mythological singers, part bird and part woman, who lure ships to ruin, depicted tempting Odysseus in Odyssey 12.

BOOK 6

He spoke in tears, and gave the fleet free rein.

At length they landed at Euboean Cumae.

Their anchors, biting in, secured the ships

Prows seaward, while the curved sterns hemmed the beach.

A band of young men leaped out eagerly

5

On the Hesperian shore. Some searched for seeds

Of flame in veins of flint, some sacked the dense woods,

Home of wild beasts, and brought reports of rivers.

Steadfast Aeneas sought Apollo’s stronghold

And the huge cave behind it on that height.

10

There Delos’ prophet breathed into the Sibyl

His mighty will, to show the things to come.

Hecate’s grove, her gold house, arched above them.

Daedalus, in the story, fled King Minos,

Venturing to the sky on speedy wings.

15

By a new route, he swam into the cold North,

And hung at last above the heights at Cumae.

This land first took him in. He offered Phoebus

His wings—like oars—and then a giant temple,

Androgeus’ death carved on the door, with Athens

20

Paying—how pitiful—her yearly fine,

Seven sons’ lives. The urn is there, the lots drawn.

Behind the scene, Crete looms above the sea:

Brutal lust for the bull; Pasiphaë,

His mate by stealth; their human-bovine offspring,

25

The Minotaur, crazed passion’s monument;

The hopeless, wearying maze beneath the palace.

But pitying the deep love of the princess,

Daedalus solved his own entrapping riddle:

A thread would guide the lost. You, Icarus,

30

But for your father’s grief, would figure large

In that great artwork. Twice his hands failed, trying

To show your fall in gold. Now, with Achates

Gone in, the Trojans would have scanned each image;

He soon returned, though, with Deïphobe,

35

Glaucus’ child, Phoebus and Diana’s priestess,

Who told the king, “This is no time for gawking.

Come, offer seven heifers from a wild herd,

And seven ewes as well, correctly chosen.”

The Trojans quickly carried out her orders.

40

She called them in then, to the soaring temple.

A cave cuts deeply through the cliff at Cumae.

A hundred mouths, a hundred apertures

Disgorge the swarming answers of the Sibyl.

“It’s time,” the virgin shouted at the threshold,

45

“To ask what fate will bring you! Look, the god!”

Just as she spoke before the doors, her color

Changed, face contorted, hair blew wild, she panted.

Her heart was frenzied, and she seemed to tower

And echo the god’s voice, since he was near,

50

“Trojan Aeneas, are your prayers and vows

So feeble? Only words of thunder stun

These great gates open.” Silence—as a chill

And tremor skittered through the Trojans’ hard bones.

From deep within his heart, their leader pleaded,

55

“Phoebus, you always pitied Trojan anguish.

You guided Paris’ hand and arrow, piercing

The son of Aeacus, and you have led me

On a bold voyage between the continents,

Clear to Massylian land, along the Syrtes.

60

At last we clutch elusive Italy.

Troy’s fortunes must not dog us any farther.

All of you, gods and goddesses, who balked

At Ilium, the splendor of our reign,

Can spare us now, at heaven’s will; and you,

65

Most holy seer, since I only seek

The realm fate owes me, let the Trojans settle

In Latium with their wandering harried gods.

I will decree a marble shrine for Phoebus

And for Diana of the Crossroads. Feast days

70

Will have Apollo’s name. For you, my kind guide,

I’ll raise a great shrine in my land and put there

Your lots and secret forecasts for my people,

And appoint priests. But do not trust your verses

To leaves that gusts can play with and confuse.

75

Chant them yourself, please.” There he finished speaking.

Inside, the priestess ran amok, resisting

Phoebus and trying hard to shake that great god

Out of her soul. He drove her harder, twisted

Her face and curbed her heart, pinioning, shaping.

80

The hundred huge doors, on their own, broke open

And poured outside the answers of the prophet:

“Your perils on the seas are finally over,

Though worse will come on land. But be assured:

The Trojans will arrive. Lavinium’s land, though,

85

Will make them wish they hadn’t. I see war,

Grisly war, and the Tiber frothing blood.

You’ll have another Simoïs and Xanthus,

A Greek camp, and a Latin-born Achilles,

Himself a goddess’ son. Juno will cling

90

To hounding you, while on your knees you plead

With every town and tribe in Italy.

Again a foreign love, an alien marriage

Will bring the Teucrians ruin.

Do not give in, but where your fortune lets you,

95

Go on more bravely still. The path to safety—

Yes, it is true—will open through a Greek town.”

The Sibyl in her shrine at Cumae chanted.

Her fearsome, truth-entangling riddles boomed

Out of the cave. Apollo lashed his reins

100

Against her, drove his goads into her heart.

But then her frenzy lulled, her rabid mouth

Grew quiet, and the hero spoke. “Pure virgin!

No unfamiliar form of hardship threatens:

My soul has grasped and probed all this. But grant

105

One thing. The king below and Acheron’s

Welling dark swamp, they say, are through this doorway.

Let me come see my father, face to face.

Tell me the way, open the holy gates.

From fire and a thousand hostile spears,

110

From the enemies’ midst I saved him, on these shoulders.

He was my comrade over all the seas,

Enduring every threat of sky and ocean;

His weak old age deserved another fate.

He begged me, trusted me to come implore you

115

Here at your door. Pity the son, the father.

Your kindness has this power: Hecate

Put in your charge the forest of Avernus.

If Orpheus, with sweet notes on a lyre

From Thrace, could call his wife back, and if Pollux

120

Could buy his brother’s life, and they exchange

The journey back and forth—and Hercules?

Great Theseus? I’m kindred, too, of Jove

On high.” So he implored, and clutched the altar.

The seer began: “Sowed from the gods’ blood, Trojan

125

Anchises’ son! The road down to Avernus

Is easy. Black Dis’ door gapes night and day.

The toil, the struggle is to walk back up

Into the open air. A few could: godborn;

Those Jove loved justly; those whose burning valor

130

Raised them to heaven. Forests fill the center;

Cocytus flows in black curves all around.

If you’re in love with floating twice on pools

Of Styx, and hot to see black Tartarus

Twice, if your whim is plunging in this mad task,

135

Hear what to do first. In dense foliage hides

A pliant gold-leafed branch that’s dedicated

To Juno of the Underworld. The whole woods,

The dim and shady valley shelter it.

Whoever comes within earth’s hidden places

140

Must first pluck off the tree its gold-haired offspring.

Lovely Proserpina appointed this

Her offering. Another will replace it,

And other leaves of gold grow from its stem.

Search for it high up; when you’ve duly found it,

145

Pluck it. It should fall gladly in your hand

If fate has summoned you. If not, your whole strength

Will fail—you couldn’t tear it off with hard steel.

But—you don’t know—a friend lies dead, defiling

The whole fleet with his corpse, while in my doorway

150

You dawdle, asking for my prophecies.

First lay him in a tomb, his proper home,

And kill black sheep, the first appeasing rite;

Then only will you see the Stygian groves,

The land that’s closed to life.” Her lips shut, silent.

155

Aeneas, grim-faced, eyes fixed on the ground,

Walked from the cave and in his mind turned over

What the descent might bring. Faithful Achates,

In stride with him, shared his anxieties.

They spoke in trust and spent a long time guessing

160

Which man had died, and waited to be buried.

But when they reached the arid shore again,

They saw Misenus dead—he hadn’t earned it.

No one was better skilled than Aeolus’ son

At kindling valor with a bronze horn’s song.

165

He’d gone to battle in great Hector’s cohort.

You knew him by his trumpet and his spear.

But when Achilles won, and Hector’s life

Became his plunder, brave Misenus followed

Aeneas, just as great a Trojan leader.

170

Yet then, the fool, he blared a hollow conch shell

Over the sea and challenged gods at music.

Triton, who envied him—or that’s the story—

Caught him among foam-pouring rocks and drowned him.

So howls of mourning rang from all his comrades,

175

Especially good Aeneas. Then they hurried,

In tears, to raise the altar of a tomb,

Heaping wood skyward, as the Sibyl ordered.

They strode into the old woods, deep beast shelter.

Pines toppled, holm oaks echoed to the ax.

180

Wedges split beams of ash and fissile oak,

And giant mountain ash rolled down the slope.

Aeneas, with the same tools as the others,

Set an example, urged the workers on.

Scanning the vast woods, pondering his tasks

185

In his sad heart, he happened to be pleading:

“What if that gold branch were revealed to me

In this huge woods, since everything is true

The seer said of you, Misenus—too true.”

He’d scarcely finished when two doves came flying

190

Out of the sky to pass before his eyes,

And landed on the grass. The matchless hero,

Knowing his mother’s birds, now prayed with joy:

“Guide me, if there’s a way; direct your flight

Into the grove where that rich bough is shading

195

The fertile ground. And you, immortal mother,

Be with me in this trial.” He checked his steps

To see what signs the birds gave, where they flew.

Browsing, they fluttered just the length ahead

That kept them in the sight of their pursuer.

200

But when they reached Avernus’ reeking throat,

They shot up, then soared down through limpid air,

Then perched on what Aeneas sought, the contrast

Of flashing gold among the tree’s green branches;

Just as the mistletoe in dead of winter

205

Grows a fresh leaf, its own and not its host’s,

And rings the smooth trunk with its yellow shoot,

So the gold leaves stood out against the dark oak.

Their foil was jangling in the gentle wind.

He grasped the clinging branch, wrenched it off keenly,

210

And took it to the prophet Sibyl’s home.

Back on the beach, the Trojans still were weeping

In last rites for Misenus’ thankless ashes.

They built a massive pyre first, fueled with pitch pine

And oak logs. On the sides they wove dark leaves,

215

Set funeral cypresses in front, on top

The splendid beauty of his flashing armor.

Some heated pots to make the water swell,

And washed the cold corpse and anointed it.

A groan rose. Now they laid out what they wept for,

220

Beneath its own familiar purple cloak.

Now some took on that sad task, shouldering

The giant bier, and, in the ancient rite,

Applied the torch. Heaped gifts of food and incense

And bowls of olive oil were burned together.

225

After the flame died and the ash collapsed,

Wine washed the thirsty cinders. Corynaeus

Gathered the bones and laid them in a bronze jar.

Three times he walked around his comrades, sprinkling

A clear dew from a fertile olive branch

230

To cleanse them, speaking last words. On the ashes

Reverent Aeneas raised a massive mound,

And placed the hero’s horn and armor there

Beneath a lofty mountain called Misenus

To keep his name alive throughout the ages.

235

With haste, he now performed the Sibyl’s orders.

There was a cave—monstrously gaping, jagged,

Deep. A dark woods, a black lake sheltered it.

Birds at their peril made their winging way

Above, in poison breathing from that black throat

240

And pouring upward to the dome of heaven.

The Birdless Place is what the Greeks have named it.

First the priest had four young black bullocks brought

To stand there. He poured wine between their horns

And clipped the bristling tufts that stood up highest,

245

As the first offering for the sacred fire,

And called on Hecate, strong in hell and heaven.

Others applied their knives and caught the warm blood

In bowls. Aeneas slaughtered with his sword

A black-fleeced lamb for Night, the Furies’ mother,

250

And Earth, their sister; for Proserpina

A sterile cow; then sacrificed entire bulls

In the night rituals of the Stygian king,

Pouring a rich oil on the burning entrails.

Now, right before the rising sun’s light broke,

255

The ground beneath their feet roared. Wooded slopes

Shifted. Dogs seemed to howl among the shadows.

The goddess! “Keep away!” the priestess yelled.

“Far away! Leave the grove unless you’re pure!”

But you go forward boldly. Pull your sword free.

260

It’s now you need your fearless heart, Aeneas.”

Into the open cave she bolted, maddened,

And he kept pace with her, his guide, with brave steps.

You gods who rule dead souls, you silent shades,

And Phlegethon and Chaos, spread with still night,

265

Give holy sanction, let me pass this tale on

And open what deep earth and darkness cover.

They walked along, in dark and lonely night,

Through empty shadows and the court of Dis,

As by a stingy moon’s cloud-crowded glimmer,

270

A path leads through the woods when Jove has shadowed

The sky, and color hides beneath black night.

Before the entrance hall, the mouth of Orcus,

Sorrow and stinging Guilt have made their beds.

Here are pale Sickness, bleak Old Age, and Fear,

275

Crime-urging Hunger, shameful Poverty—

Horrible sights—and Drudgery and Death:

Death’s brother, Sleep, as well; ebullient Evil,

And War, the slaughterer, on the threshold, near

The Furies’ iron rooms; crazed Discord lives there,

280

Her hair of snakes tied up with bloodstained ribbons.

A huge, dense elm tree in the middle spreads

Its ancient arms. They say this is the roost

Of lying dreams, which cling beneath each leaf.

A great array of monsters has its stables

285

There at the gates: half-human Scyllas, Centaurs,

The Lernaean horror-hissing beast, the hundred

Arms of Briareus, Chimeran flames,

Gorgons and Harpies, Geryon’s ghost with three forms.

Aeneas snatched his sword in sudden terror,

290

And held it up against the shapes approaching.

Had not his shrewd guide said these flitting things

Were flimsy forms, illusions lacking bodies,

He would have rushed to stab them, to no purpose.

The road leads to the river Acheron:

295

A whirlpool’s endless chasm seethes with thick mud;

Cocytus drinks the vomit of the sand.

Guarding these waters is a ghastly boatman,

The squalid, fearsome Charon, with his white beard

In massive snarls, with fixed and fiery eyes,

300

His dirty cloak hangs from a shoulder knot.

He poles his boat along and sets the sails,

Conveying corpses in his rust-red vessel.

Old age in him—a god—is fresh and strong.

All of the mob comes pouring to the shore:

305

Mothers and grown men and the lifeless bodies

Of daring heroes; boys, unmarried girls,

Young men their parents saw placed on the pyre;

As many as the woodland leaves that fall

At the first frost, or birds that flock to land

310

From the high seas when freezing winter drives them

Across the great gulf into sunny lands.

Ghosts stand and beg to be the first to cross,

Stretching their hands out, yearning for the far shore.

But the grim boatman makes his choice among them

315

And shoves the rest far back across the beach.

Aeneas, awed and saddened by this chaos,

Asked, “Tell me, why this rush down to the river?

What do these souls want? Why do some retreat

Up the banks, others row the gloomy water?”

320

The ancient priestess made a brief reply.

“Son of Anchises, heaven’s true child! These

Are the deep-pooling Cocytus and Styx’ swamp.

Gods swear by it and keep their word, in terror.

This helpless crowd you see has not been buried.

325

The boatman, Charon there, transports the others.

He cannot bring them past the grisly banks

And roaring stream until their bones find rest.

They flit a hundred years around this shore,

Then are let through, home to the pools they long for.”

330

Anchises’ son now halted in his footsteps,

Brooding in pity on that desolate fate.

He saw there wretched souls deprived of death rites,

Leucaspis and the Lycian fleet’s commander,

Orontes. On the stormy way from Troy

335

A southern gale engulfed them with their ship.

And there the helmsman Palinurus paces,

Who in mid-voyage from Africa had fallen

Overboard off the stern while tracking stars.

Aeneas barely recognized his sad form

340

In so much darkness. “Palinurus! Which god

Tore you from us and plunged you in mid-ocean?

Tell me! When did Apollo ever cheat me

In prophesying, but about yourself?

He told me you would reach Italian shores

345

Uninjured. Is this how he keeps his promise?”

He answered, “No, Anchises’ son, my leader,

The oracle was truthful. No god drowned me.

The rudder that I clutched and steered the ship by

Was simply ripped away, and I, its keeper,

350

Fell, dragging it along. I swear by rough seas,

It was your ship I feared for, robbed of tackle,

Its pilot overboard—not for myself.

Would it now falter under these huge waves?

Three stormy nights a violent South Wind drove me

355

Over unending sea, and on the fourth day,

From a wave’s crest I just glimpsed Italy.

I struggled on and would have landed safely

Had not a cruel tribe come at me with swords—

Stupid: I was no prize. Weighed down by wet clothes,

360

I clutched the jagged cliff top where I landed.

The windy breakers hold me, roll me now.

I beg you by the sky’s sweet light and air,

Your father, and your hopes as Iulus grows,

Save me, unconquered hero. Either sail

365

To Velia’s port again and bury me

Or, if your deathless mother knows a way

(For I believe the power of gods has brought you

To these great rivers and the Stygian swamp),

Have pity, take my hand, convey me over,

370

Give me at least a place of peace in death.”

These were his pleas; the prophetess retorted:

“This wish of yours is monstrous, Palinurus—

To see cold-blooded Styx, the Furies’ river,

To go down there, unburied and unsummoned?

375

Don’t try to plead away the gods’ decrees.

But hear and keep this comfort for your hard fate.

The cities all around your tomb, obeying

Signs from the high gods, will appease your bones.

They’ll raise a tomb and give it sacrifices;

380

The land there will be named for you forever.”

This eased the anguish of his heart a short time:

A place named after him—it made him glad.

They pressed ahead from there and neared the river.

But now from streaming Styx the boatman saw them

385

Walk through the quiet woods and toward the bank.

He was the first to speak, with this rebuke:

“Who are you, marching down here with your weapons?

Stay where you are, and quick, explain yourself.

This is the place of ghosts, sleep, drowsy night:

390

This boat of Styx may not take living bodies.

To my regret, I shipped great Hercules

Across the lake, and Theseus with his comrade

Pirithoüs, unconquered sons of gods.

The first one came to chain the guardian hell hound,

395

And dragged him trembling from beneath the king’s throne;

The others tried to take our lady captive—

From Dis’ bed!” But Apollo’s seer spoke briefly:

“Don’t be afraid—we have no plotting purpose;

These arms are peaceful. For all time, that huge guard

400

May turn ghosts pale by baying in his cave,

The girl stay in her uncle’s house, unsullied.

Renowned Aeneas, upright, fierce in battle,

Goes to the shades below to find his father.

The sight of such devotion doesn’t move you?

405

You know this, then”—the branch, which she drew out

From her clothes’ folds. His swelling rage subsided,

And neither spoke. The hallowed gift amazed him,

The branch of fate—so long since he had seen it!

He turned the dark ship to approach the bank,

410

Shoved the souls from their seats along the benches,

And cleared the gangways. Towering Aeneas

Boarded the hollow leather boat. Its stitching

Groaned at his weight, the swamp poured through the gaps.

But the barge set the prophetess and hero

415

Safe on the muck, among gray reeds, at last.

Cerberus sprawled immense there in his cave.

The baying of his three throats filled that kingdom.

The snakes rose on his neck, but then the seer

Threw him a cake of drug-soaked grain and honey.

420

With his three gaping mouths, in savage hunger,

He seized it, and his monstrous arch of spine

Melted, to stretch his huge form through the grotto.

Aeneas passed the guard, now sunk in sleep,

And hurried from the hopeless river’s banks.

425

Now a loud howling struck them from the spirits

Of babies: they were crying at the entrance.

They had no share in sweet life. At the breast,

An early death—black day—had swallowed them.

Next were those executed on false charges.

430

Jurors, assigned by lot, appoint the homes here.

Minos the judge draws names for voiceless panels

And hears what every life now stands accused of.

Beyond this, dismal suicides are lodged.

Though innocent, they threw away their breath

435

In hatred of the light. But now they’d cherish

Hardships and poverty beneath the sky!

Divine law and the hateful grim swamp trap them.

Around them Styx, with its nine loops, is tied.

She pointed out the nearby Fields of Mourning—

440

This is their name—that stretch in all directions.

There hidden tracks, bordered by myrtle trees,

Shelter the victims of cruel, wasting love.

Even in death their passions do not leave them.

Phaedra was here, Procris, and Eriphyle

445

(Who sadly showed the wounds from her cruel child),

Pasiphaë, Evadne; Laodamia

And Caeneus, once a young man, now a woman—

Since fate had changed her back—walked by their sides.

Phoenician Dido wandered in that broad wood,

450

Her wound still fresh; and when the Trojan hero

Encountered her and recognized her dim form

Through shadows, as a person sees the new moon

Through clouds—or thinks he sees it—as it rises,

He wept and spoke to her in tender love:

455

“Poor Dido, then the messenger was right—

Your own hand held the blade that brought your death?

And it was my fault? By the stars, the high gods,

And any truth below the earth: my queen,

It was against my will I left your country,

460

And by the orders of the gods, who now

Ordain my journey through this shadowed squalor,

These depths of night. I couldn’t have believed

That I would bring such pain by my departure.

Stay here—don’t back away, but let me see you.

465

Who are you running from? Fate gives this last chance

To speak to you.” She only glared in fury

While he was pleading, while he called up tears.

Her eyes stayed on the ground, her face averted,

As changeless in expression, while he spoke,

470

As granite or a jagged marble outcrop.

At last she darted bitterly away

To the dark forest, where her spouse, Sychaeus,

Felt for her sorrow and returned her love.

Aeneas, no less shaken by her hard fate,

475

Followed her with a tearful gaze of pity.

On the appointed path he struggled forward.

They reached the famous warriors’ distant fields.

Tydeus met them, and Parthenopaeus,

Splendid in warfare, and Adrastus’ pale form.

480

Here were slain Trojans, wept for terribly

Above. Aeneas groaned at long ranks: Glaucus,

Medon, Thersilochus, Antenor’s three sons,

Ceres’ priest Polyboetes, and Idaeus

Still clinging to his arms and chariot.

485

The souls were crowding at his right and left.

Not happy with one look, they held him back,

To walk with him and learn why he had come.

But the Greek lords and Agamemnon’s cohorts

Were terrified to see the hero’s weapons

490

Flash through the shadows; some were turning, running,

As once they’d scampered to their ships, some squeaking—

Their open mouths were thwarted: no shouts came.

He saw Deïphobus, the son of Priam,

All mangled, with cruel slashes on his face

495

And both his hands, his ears stripped from his head,

His nose grotesquely lopped. He shrank back, trying

To hide these awful wounds. Aeneas hardly

Recognized him, but kinship made him speak:

“Great warrior, from the noble blood of Teucer,

500

By whose cruel choice did such afflictions come?

Who had such power over you? They told me

You’d used your strength up killing Greeks that last night

And fallen on a heap of muddled carnage.

On the Troad’s shore I raised an empty tomb,

505

Sent three shouts to the spirits. There your weapons

And name remain, but friend, I never saw you.

I couldn’t set you in our country’s earth.”

Priam’s son answered, “You neglected nothing.

You did your duty by my ghost and me.

510

Fate and the Spartan woman’s fatal sin

Engulfed me in this torment—her memento.

You know how we were duped, and celebrated

That last night? But there’s no forgetting it.

The fatal horse, pregnant with infantry,

515

Leaped to our citadel, steep Pergamum,

And Helen led around our Trojan women

In a sham Bacchic rite and held a great torch

Herself: our tower signaled to the Greeks.

Anxiety had worn me into dull sleep

520

In my unlucky bed. A sweet, deep rest,

Peaceful as death, muffled me as I lay there.

Meanwhile my prize wife cleared the house of weapons—

Even the trusted sword beneath my pillow.

She opened up our door to Menelaus—

525

Hoping, I guess, this favor to her old flame

Would kill the stink of all her crimes before.

I’ll make it brief: they burst in, with Ulysses,

Who’s behind every crime. Gods, pay the Greeks back!

Mine is a reverent tongue that asks this favor!

530

But come—now you: what brought you here still living?

Were you off course in voyaging, and swept down?

Did gods direct you? What tormenting fortune

Shows you this sunless town, this sea of darkness?”

Aurora’s rosy chariot in the ether

535

Soared past the zenith while the two were talking.

They might have used up all the time permitted.

Aeneas’ guide, the Sibyl, curtly warned him:

“Night rushes on, and tears take up the hours.

The road divides here. This branch on the right,

540

Which stretches to the walls of powerful Dis,

Will take us to Elysium. The left one

Sends culprits to their due in Tartarus.”

“Great priestess, don’t be angry,” said the dead man.

“I’ll take my place again in that dark cohort.

545

Go on, Troy’s glory. May your fate be better.”

Then he retreated, as he finished speaking.

Aeneas turned, and right there, to his left—

A fortress with three walls beneath a cliff.

A raging stream of flame called Phlegethon,

550

With crashing, whirling boulders, rings it, facing

Huge gates and columns made of solid steel.

No human strength, no strength of gods at war

Could tear it up. An iron tower soars.

Tisiphone, unsleeping, guards the gates

555

Day and night, in her hitched-up bloody robe.

From inside echo savage blows and groans,

The shriek of iron and the drag of chains.

Terror transfixed Aeneas at the din.

“What crimes did they commit? Pure virgin, tell me!

560

How are they punished? What loud howls are rising!”

“Great Trojan leader,” she replied, “no good man

Enters this wicked place; but Hecate,

When she assigned me these Avernan groves,

Led me around to all the gods’ reprisals.

565

Here Cretan Rhadamanthus rules, unyielding.

He puts each life on trial, extracts confessions

Of sins not expiated there above,

Hidden with stupid relish, till too late.

Tisiphone, who’s ready with her whip,

570

Swoops down for vengeance, aiming vicious snakes

From her left hand, and calls her sisters’ cruel ranks.

Finally, with a grisly scream of hinges,

The holy doors fall open. Do you see

Her form that sits and guards the entranceway?

575

A fiercer monster lives inside, the Hydra,

With fifty black throats. Tartarus itself

Plunges next—twice as far, beneath the shades,

As a gaze toward Olympus in the aether.

Titans, an ancient earth-born race, struck down

580

By lightning long ago, writhe at the bottom.

Aloeus’ giant twins are there—I’ve seen them.

They tried to wrench away the towering sky,

Attack the gods above, dethrone their ruler.

There I saw Salmoneus cruelly punished—

585

He’d aped Jove’s flames and the Olympian thunder.

Shaking a torch, he drove his chariot

In triumph through Greek nations, through his city

Of Elis, claiming honors of the gods—

Fool: the inimitable thundercloud

590

Shammed by the sound of hooves that beat on bronze!

Then the almighty father hurled his weapon—

Which was no guttering pine torch—through the clouds

And drove him headlong in a monstrous whirlwind.

Tityos, reared by all-begetting Earth,

595

Was there to see, stretched over nine whole acres.

A giant vulture with its hooked beak browses

His deathless liver. Through pain-fertile innards

It burrows, feeds—lives deep inside his torso;

And with no rest, his viscera grow back.

600

A crag of flint that hangs above two Lapiths,

Ixion and Pirithoüs, seems set

To topple any second. Banquet couches

Rear high, with shining gold posts. Splendid food

Is spread before their eyes. But the chief Fury,

605

The guest beside them, will not let them touch it.

She leaps up, thrusts her torch at them, and roars.

Souls who while living hated brothers, struck

Their fathers, or wove fraud around dependents;

And those who crouched alone on newfound riches

610

(The largest crowd), not sharing with their families;

Slaughtered adulterers; and rebel soldiers,

Bold criminals, betrayers of their lords:

Locked up, all wait for sentencing. Don’t query

The kinds of torment Fortune’s plunged them in.

615

Some roll immense rocks, some are splayed on wheel spokes.

Poor Theseus sits there—he’ll sit forever.

Phlegyas in his torture shrieks a warning

To everyone—his voice rings through the shadows:

‘Learn justice from my fate, and fear the gods!’

620

One sold his country and imposed a tyrant;

One, for a price, made laws and then remade them.

One stormed his daughter’s room—a lawless marriage.

All of them dared great evil and succeeded.

A hundred tongues and mouths, a voice of iron

625

Wouldn’t allow me to describe the crimes

In all their forms, or list the punishments.”

The ancient priestess of Apollo added,

“Come, hurry on. Finish the task you started.

Faster! I see the walls the Cyclopes

630

Forged. There’s a gateway underneath the arch

Where we must put our gifts, as we were told to.”

They stepped along the dark route, side by side,

Crossed the gap quickly, and approached the doors.

Aeneas flicked fresh water on his body

635

And faced the sill, and set the branch there, upright.

Their duty to the goddess done at last,

They came into a glad land: pleasant grounds

In forests of good fortune, blessèd home.

A richer, shimmering air arrays these fields,

640

Which have their own familiar sun and stars.

Men exercised in grassy fields, competed

In games, or wrestled on the tawny sand.

Some stamped their dancing feet and chanted songs.

And there the Thracian singer, in his long robe,

645

Played to the beat, through seven intervals,

Changing between his ivory pick and fingers.

Here was the ancient dynasty of Teucer,

Handsome, courageous, born in better years:

Ilus, Assaracus, Dardanus, Troy’s founder.

650

Aeneas gazed at ghostly chariots

Far off, and armor, planted spears, and horses

Grazing untethered. The delight the living

Take in their arms and chariots, the fondness

For pasturing bright beasts survive the tomb.

655

Aeneas looked from side to side: some heroes

Feasted and sang a joyous hymn of praise

Among sweet laurel stands. Eridanus

Rolled its great waves into the world above.

This group was wounded fighting for their country;

660

These, while they lived, had been pure priests; these prophets

Were righteous and deserved to speak for Phoebus.

Some had enriched our life with their inventions,

Or left the memory of some great service.

All of them had white bands around their foreheads.

665

They poured around the Sibyl. She addressed

Musaeus chiefly (all that huge crowd gazed up:

He towered, massive-shouldered, in the center):

“Tell me, you happy souls, and you, great singer,

Where can we find Anchises, in which quarter?

670

For him we sailed through Erebus’ wide waters.”

With a few words the hero answered her:

“We have no houses here. Our homes are dim woods,

Stream banks our couches, verdant, flowing meadows

Our settlements. But if you speak your heart’s wish,

675

Come up this easy path to climb the ridge.”

He stepped ahead and showed the shining plains

That stretched below, but soon they left the high ground.

Father Anchises, in a low green valley,

Devotedly surveyed the souls confined there

680

Before emerging to the light. He happened

Now to be tallying his dear descendants—

Lives, destinies, achievements, characters—

And when he saw Aeneas making toward him

Over the grass, he stretched his hands out, blissful.

685

The tears poured down his cheeks, and he exclaimed.

“You’ve come at last? Love would win out, I knew,

On this hard road. And can I see your face,

My child, hear your beloved voice, and answer?

Really, I counted on this, calculated

690

The time, and anxious hope could not deceive me!

Welcome! How many lands and wide seas sent you,

My son, and on what giant waves of danger!

I feared the Libyan realms would injure you.

Aeneas answered, “Father, your sad image,

695

Which often meets me, called me to this place.

My ships stand in the Tuscan sea. My hand—

Clasp it and don’t retreat from my embrace.”

The tears poured down his face. Three times he tried

To throw his arms around his father’s neck,

700

Three times the form slid from his useless hands,

Like weightless wind or dreams that fly away.

The hero now saw, at the valley’s end,

A sheltered woods. Wind murmured in its branches.

The river Lethe drifted past the still homes.

705

Above the water, souls from countless nations

Flitted, like bees in tranquil summer meadows

Who move from bud to vivid bud and stream

Around white lilies—all the field whirs loudly.

The unexpected sight enthralled Aeneas.

710

He wished to learn about it—what the stream was,

And what men filled the banks in that great phalanx.

Father Anchises answered, “These are souls

Fate owes new bodies. Here at Lethe’s water

They drink up long oblivion and peace.

715

All of this time, I’ve yearned to tell of them

And let you see them, counting my descendants,

To share my joy that you’ve reached Italy.”

“Father, do some souls really soar back skyward

From here, returning into sluggish bodies?

720

What dreadful longing sends them toward the light?”

“I’ll free you from suspense, my child,” he answered,

And told it all, in detail and in order.

“At first, an inner spirit nurtures earth

And sky, the water’s plains, the moon’s bright globe,

725

The sun and stars; and mind infuses each part

And animates the mass of all there is.

Thus arise humans, grazing beasts, and creatures

That fly, and monsters in the glittering ocean.

Their seeds have fiery force; these come from heaven.

730

And yet the noxious body slows them somewhat.

The earthly parts that perish make them numb.

Those parts bring fear, desire, joy, and sorrow.

Souls in dark dungeons cannot see the sky.

When, on the final day, a life departs,

735

Not every evil sickness of the body

Wholly withdraws from that poor spirit—many

Are long grown in, mysteriously ingrained.

So souls are disciplined and pay the price

Of old wrongdoing. Some are splayed, exposed

740

To hollow winds; a flood submerges some,

Washing out wickedness; fire scorches some pure.

Each bears his own ghost; then a few are sent

To live in broad Elysium’s happy fields,

Till time’s great circle is completed, freeing

745

The hardened stain so the ethereal mind,

The fire of pure air, is left untainted.

When they have circled through a thousand years,

God calls them all in one long rank to Lethe,

To send them back forgetful to the sky’s vault,

750

With a desire to go back into bodies.”

Anchises finished, and he drew the two guests

Into the middle of the rumbling crowd.

He climbed a ridge that showed him every man

In the long line. He knew each face approaching.

755

“Come, hear your destiny, the future glory

Of Dardanus’ long line, all the descendants

We are to have from the Italian race—

Great souls who will be born into our family.

That young man leaning on a headless spear

760

Will take the next turn in the airy light:

Your posthumous son Silvius (a name

From Alba), first of Troy’s Italian bloodline.

Lavinia will raise him in the forest,

And he will be a king and father kings:

765

Our family that will reign in Alba Longa.

By him stands Procas, glory of Troy’s race,

Followed by Capys, Numitor, Aeneas

Silvius, your high-hearted, blameless namesake—

If ever he succeeds to Alba’s kingship.

770

What fine young men! You see the strength in them.

Oak leaves of civic honor shade their temples.

They’ll found Nomentum, Gabii, Fidenae,

The fortress of Collatia in the mountains,

Pometii, Castrum Inui, Bola, Cora—

775

The famous names of places nameless now.

Romulus, Mars’ child, Trojan through his mother,

Will join Mars’ father, by his side above.

You see the twin crests? They’re a special emblem

The father of the gods already gives him.

780

Under the omens this man saw, renowned Rome

Will rule the world and raise her heart to heaven;

Blessed in her sons, with one wall ringing seven

Citadels: like the tower-crowned Great Mother,

Driving her chariot through Phrygian cities,

785

Holding in blissful arms her hundred grandsons

From gods—all gods themselves, who live in heaven.

Now turn your eyes here, see this clan—your Romans:

Caesar, and all of Iulus’ offspring, destined

To make their way to heaven’s splendid heights.

790

Here is the god’s son you have often heard

Promised, Augustus Caesar, who will bring

Another age of gold to Saturn’s old realm,

Latium. Past India he’ll take our rule,

Beyond the Garamantes and the sun’s path

795

That marks the year, where Atlas hefts the sky

And turns the high vault set with burning stars.

The Caspian realm, the land around Maeotis

Already quake at prophecies—he’s coming!

All the Nile’s seven mouths are in confusion.

800

Hercules didn’t travel through so much land

To pierce the bronze-hoofed deer or tame the woods

Of Erymanthus, or make Lerna tremble

Under his bow; nor Bacchus, flexing vine reins,

Whom tigers drew in triumph from high Nysa.

805

Shall we hang back and not exert our courage,

Fearing to stake our claim in Italy?

Who is that, far off, olive-crowned, and bringing

A sacrifice? White hair, white beard—I know him:

This Roman king will found the new-built city

810

On laws. From little Cures with its poor soil

He’ll rise to great dominion. But that next one,

Tullus, will break the country’s peace and rouse

Its men, who’ve grown unused to victories.

Next is the boaster Ancus, even now

815

Drunk on the breezes of the people’s favor.

Now shall I show you Tarquin kings and Brutus,

The proud avenger, winning back the fasces—

First consul, with that office’s harsh axes?

For splendid freedom’s sake he’ll have his own sons

820

Put to death, when they stir up war again—

Poor man, though ages after him applaud.

Love for his country, greed for praise will triumph.

Torquatus with his savage ax, the Drusi

And Decii, Camillus, who’ll bring home

825

Our standards. See those two in bright matched armor,

Souls in accord while night imprisons them.

But once they reach the light, how great a war

They’ll rouse, what ranks of death, father-in-law

Come down the bouldered Alps from high Monoecus,

830

And son-in-law deploying all the East.

Children, don’t lose your horror of such warfare.

Don’t turn your massive strength against your country.

You of the gods’ stock: take the lead, have mercy!

My son, throw down your weapons!

835

Mummius—there!—in triumph over Corinth’s

Slain Greeks will ride up to the Capitol;

Paullus will root out Agamemnon’s town

And Argos: Perseus, Achilles’ heir,

Will pay for Troy and Pallas’ sullied shrine.

840

Great Cato, Cossus, who could pass you over?

Gracchus’ sons?—Scipios, the twin war-lightning

Fellers of Libya?—or that resourceful

Fabricius, or Serranus, furrow-sower?

You, Fabii, seize my weary sight: your Greatest

845

Will be Rome’s sole protector—through his stalling!

Others, I know, will beat out softer-breathing

Bronze shapes, or draw from marble living faces,

Excel in pleading cases, chart the sky’s paths,

Predict the rising of the constellations.

850

But Romans, don’t forget that world dominion

Is your great craft: peace, and then peaceful customs;

Sparing the conquered, striking down the haughty.”

They were amazed. Father Anchises added,

“See how Marcellus marches in the glory

855

Of the Rich Spoils, an over-towering victor.

This knight will save a Rome in chaos, crushing

Carthage and rebel Gaul; he’ll make our third gift

Of captured rebel arms to Quirinus.”

Aeneas saw a fine youth in bright armor,

860

Walking beside Marcellus—but his face

Was overcast, his eyes fixed on the ground.

“Father, who’s that companion of the hero?

A son perhaps, or grandson of that great stock?

What a fine presence, what great praise around him!

865

But black night winds sad shadows round his head.”

Father Anchises then began to sob:

“My son, don’t ask about your clan’s great sorrow.

Fate will give just a glimpse of him on earth.

Deities, you decreed the Roman race

870

Would be too mighty if it kept this gift.

What loud laments from citizens will Mars’ Field

Send up to Mars’ great city! What processions

Will Tiber see when gliding by the new tomb!

No boy of Trojan blood will raise more hope

875

In Latin forebears. In no other nursling

Will Romulus’ land ever glory more.

Rectitude, old-time honor, strength unbeaten

In war! Nobody meeting him in battle

Could have escaped him as he came on foot

880

Or gored a horse’s foam-flecked side with spurs.

Poor boy—if you could only break this cruel fate!

You’ll be Marcellus. Let me give the gifts

I can: armloads of lilies, purple flowers,

Scattered in empty ritual for the soul

885

Of my descendant.” Through the airy, broad fields

They wandered now, surveying everything.

Anchises led his son to all the sights,

And fired the lust for glory in the future,

Then told about the wars he soon must fight,

890

Laurentian tribes, the city of Latinus,

How to endure or else avoid each hardship.

There are two gates of sleep. The one, they say,

Is horn: true shades go out there easily;

The other—shining, white, well-crafted ivory—

895

Lets spirits send false dreams up toward the sky.

His speeches done, Anchises brought his son here,

And sent him with the Sibyl through the ivory.

Aeneas went straight back, to ships and comrades,

Then coasted to the harbor of Caieta.

900

The prows dropped anchors; sterns stood on the shore.

2–Euboean Cumae:–Cumae, near Naples, was founded by Greeks from Euboea.

6–Hesperian: Italian.

11–Delos’ prophet . . . Sibyl: The Sibyl will be possessed by Apollo, called Delian after the island of Delos, his birthplace.

13–Hecate: The goddess of witchcraft, often identified with Diana.

14–Daedalus . . . Minos: The famous Athenian inventor, imprisoned on Crete by King Minos. He escaped by creating wings for himself and his son Icarus.

20–26–Androgeus’ death . . . Minotaur: After mating with a bull, Queen Pasiphaë bore the Minotaur, half-bull and half-man, which Daedalus contained in the labyrinth. After the Athenians murdered Androgeus, Pasiphaë’s human son by King Minos, Athens was forced to offer seven youths as a sacrifice to the Minotaur annually until it was slain by Theseus, guided by the Cretan princess Ariadne, who had fallen in love with him.

30–Icarus: Daedalus’ son who drowned after flying too close to the sun, which melted the wax of the wings his father created.

35–Deïphobe: The name of the Sibyl.

57–58–Paris’ hand and arrow, piercing the son of Aeacus: Paris shot Achilles, actually the grandson of Aeacus, in the heel.

60–Massylian land . . . Syrtes: A reference to Aeneas’ stay in Carthage; Aeneas credits Apollo with guiding their entire journey thus far, from Troy through Carthage.

69–a marble shrine for Phoebus: Aeneas’ temple is not mentioned again, but Augustus will dedicate a shrine on the Palatine to Apollo, his patron god, in 28 BCE: see 8.720–21n.

70–Diana of the Crossroads: Diana Trivia, or “three ways,” who had dominion over Y-shaped or three-way roads.

74–75–verses to leaves: The Sibyl’s oracular responses were written on oak leaves.

85–Lavinium’s land: The realm of King Latinus in Italy.

87–Tiber frothing blood: This phrase was made infamous by the British politician Enoch Powell in his 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech opposing immigration.

97–a Greek town: Pallanteum, founded by the Greek Evander sometime during the Trojan War. Aeneas will visit there in book 8.

106–the king below: The god Pluto or Dis, king of the Underworld.

108–my father: Anchises, who died at the end of book 3.

119–20–Orpheus . . . his wife: The Underworld journey (Greek katabasis) is a common undertaking for legendary heroes. Orpheus descended into the Underworld to resurrect his wife, Eurydice, but lost her again because he looked back as they emerged, against Pluto’s orders.

120–21–Pollux could buy his brother’s life: Pollux and Castor were twins, but only Pollux was immortal. They “shared” death by taking turns in the Underworld.

122–23–Hercules . . . Theseus: Hercules went to the Underworld to kidnap the three-headed dog Cerberus, Theseus to help his companion Pirithoüs try to abduct the queen, Proserpina.

132–Cocytus: A river in the Underworld.

137–gold-leafed branch: The “golden bough,” which was Aeneas’ passport to the Underworld; this episode provided Sir James Frazer with the title of his famous and influential 1890 anthropological study.

142–Proserpina: Daughter of Ceres, wife of Pluto, queen of the Underworld.

149–a friend lies dead: Misenus, the trumpeter who signaled the attack against the Harpies (3.239–40), whose death is described below.

173–Triton: A sea god.

180–82–Pines toppled, holm oaks echoed to the ax . . . down the slope: Tree-felling scenes are standard in ancient epics.

190–two doves: Doves were sacred to Venus.

234–a lofty mountain called Misenus: The modern Cape Miseno, near Naples.

242–The Birdless Place: the Greek-derived name Avernus means “Birdless”; the lake’s toxic fumes were thought to be deadly to birds. This line is thought to be spurious.

243–black bullocks: Offerings to chthonic deities are usually black.

253–the Stygian king: Dis or Pluto.

265–Phlegethon: A fiery river in the Underworld.

265–Chaos: The primordial void which existed before the creation of the universe.

273–Orcus: A Roman Underworld god; his name, like that of other chthonic deities, can broadly refer to Underworld itself.

286–89–Scyllas, Centaurs, . . . Geryon: Various mythological monsters, some of them featuring in the Labors of Hercules.

299–Charon: The boatman who ferries the souls of the dead across the river Styx.

334–Leucaspis: Otherwise unknown.

335–Orontes: A Trojan who died in the storm at 1.114–16.

366–Velia’s port: The city Elea.

381–The land there will be named for you forever: Cape Palinuro, near Elea on the southwestern coast of Italy.

393–94 Theseus with his comrade Pirithoüs: see 6.122–23n.

395–the guardian hell hound: Cerberus.

397–our lady: Proserpina.

432–Minos the judge: The first king of Crete, who after death became a judge in the Underworld.

440–Fields of Mourning: An area filled with spurned lovers, many of whom had come to violent ends.

445:–Phaedra: The wife of Theseus, she committed suicide due to unrequited love for her stepson, Hippolytus.

445:–Procris: She was killed by her husband, Cephalus, in a hunting accident.

445–Eriphyle: She was bribed to betray her husband, Amphiaraus, and killed as punishment by her son.

447–Evadne: She threw herself on the funeral pyre of her husband, Capaneus.

447–Laodamia: She committed suicide after the death of her husband, Protesilaus, the first Greek to die at Troy.

448–Caeneus: A woman who was transformed into a man after her rape by Neptune; Caeneus was eventually killed by Centaurs and reverted to female form in the afterlife.

479–80–Tydeus . . . Parthenopaeus . . . Adrastus: Three of the Seven Against Thebes, warriors who besieged the city of Thebes in the succession struggle between Oedipus’ sons.

494–Deïphobus: The Trojan husband of Helen after Paris’ death.

505–Troad: The peninsula in modern Turkey where Troy was located.

511–the Spartan woman’s fatal sin: Helen’s leaving her husband, Menelaus, king of Sparta, to elope with Paris, starting the Trojan War.

516–Pergamum: The citadel of Troy.

535–Aurora: Dawn.

542–Elysium: The part of the Underworld reserved for people who have led virtuous lives.

555–Tisiphone: Leader of the Furies, female spirits of revenge.

566–Rhadamanthus: Formerly a king of Crete, now judge of the dead.

580–Titans: The gods who preceded the Olympian gods; children of Earth and Sky, who, along with the Giants, rose up against Jupiter and the Olympians and were chained underground as punishment.

582–Aloeus’ giant twins: Otus and Ephialtes, Giants who tried to seize Diana and Juno to be their wives.

585–Salmoneus: A king who attempted to force his subjects to worship him over Jupiter and was struck down by Jupiter.

591–bronze: Salmoneus imitated the sound of thunder by driving his horses over a bridge made of bronze.

595–Tityos: A Titan who attempted to rape Leto, mother of Apollo and Diana.

601–2–Lapiths, Ixion and Pirithoüs: The Lapiths Ixion and his son Pirithoüs attempted to rape Olympian goddesses (Juno and Proserpina, respectively). Their punishment (usually associated with the sinner Tantalus) was to have an ever unreachable feast set under a menacing crag; elsewhere Ixion’s punishment was to be whirled on a wheel forever.

616–roll immense rocks . . . splayed on wheel spokes: Previously the punishments of Tartarus were limited to extraordinary sinners; Vergil expands these punishments to everyday people who commit social and civic crimes.

617–Theseus: As punishment for helping his friend Pirithoüs attempt the rape of Proserpina, Theseus was fixed into the rock of the Underworld when he sat down there.

618–Phlegyas: He razed a temple of his father, Apollo.

630–the Cyclopes: One-eyed giants; their large size made them useful builders for the gods.

645–the Thracian singer: Orpheus, the famous singer-hero, who also came to be associated with the afterlife cult of Orphism.

648–50–the ancient dynasty of Teucer . . . Ilus, Assaracus, Dardanus: Ancient founders of Troy.

658–Eridanus: The river Padus (in modern times the Po).

667–Musaeus: A legendary singer.

680–Devotedly surveyed the souls confined there: Anchises is reviewing souls prior to their reincarnation, much as a Roman censor would ceremonially review Roman citizens.

694–the Libyan realms: Carthage.

734–souls in dark dungeons: Vergil incorporates the Orphic idea of the body as the prison of the soul.

749–God: Used vaguely.

757–Dardanus’ long line: The Romans claimed ancestry from the Trojans.

764–Lavinia: Aeneas’ future wife in Italy, the daughter of King Latinus.

766–Alba Longa: City believed to have been founded by Aeneas’s son Ascanius.

767–Procas: One of the Latin kings of Alba Longa.

772–Oak leaves of civic honor: A wreath of oak leaves was presented to Romans who saved a citizen’s life in battle.

773–75–Nomentum . . . Cora: Early settlements founded from Alba Longa in the region surrounding Rome, all of which had lost their importance by Vergil’s day.

777–Romulus, Mars’ child: The war god Mars impregnated a Vestal Virgin called Ilia, a descendant of Assaracus (named in the Latin here; see 6.648–50n.), who bore Rome’s founders, Romulus and Remus.

784–85–tower-crowned Great Mother . . . Phrygian cities: The mother goddess Cybele, or Magna Mater, who wore a crown of turrets and drove a chariot pulled by lions. Her cult was imported to Rome during the Second Punic War. Her mention here underlines the Romans’ descent from the Trojans.

789–Caesar . . . Iulus’ offspring: Probably Augustus, since his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, is mentioned below (829–31), but scholars debate this identification.

792–94–Augustus Caesar . . . Latium: The reign of Caesar Augustus (31 BCE–14 CE) was distinguished as a period of great civic and economic prosperity as well as literary achievement. Vergil claims it resembles the first Golden Age, when the god Saturn ruled in Latium.

795–Garamantes: An African people.

798–The Caspian realm . . . Maeotis: The Caspian Sea and the Sea of Azov.

801–Hercules: The hero Hercules had to complete Twelve Labors to atone for unintentionally killing his family; the labors included capturing the Cerynaian deer, slaying the Erymanthian boar, and defeating the many-headed Lernaean Hydra.

805–Nysa: Bacchus, god of wine and revelry, was believed to have been born on Mount Nysa in India.

810–11–This Roman king . . . Cures: Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, was born in the Sabine town of Cures. He instituted many of Rome’s most important religious and political customs.

813–Tullus: Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Rome, who conquered Alba Longa.

815–Ancus: Ancus Martius, the fourth king of Rome.

817–18–Tarquin kings and Brutus, the proud avenger . . . fasces: Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus (the Proud), the fifth and seventh kings of Rome. The rape by Superbus’ son of the Roman noblewoman Lucretia caused Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus to drive out the kings in 510 BCE; they became the first Roman consuls and shifted Rome from a monarchy to a republic, symbolized by the fasces, a bundle of wooden rods and an ax bound together (the word fascism is derived from this). Brutus the assassin of Julius Caesar was Lucius’ descendant.

824–Torquatus: Manlius Torquatus, a Roman general from the fourth century BCE who executed his son for abandoning his military post.

824–the Drusi: The most famous Drusi were Augustus’s wife, Livia, and her son by a previous marriage, the future emperor Tiberius.

825–Decii: A Roman plebeian family, most famous for a father and son who ritually sacrificed themselves in battle (Latin devotio) for the salvation of Rome in 340 and 295 BCE, respectively.

825–Camillus: A soldier and statesman known for being imprisoned by invading Gauls and recovering Roman battle standards from the enemy, which invites recollection of Octavian’s recovery of military standards previously lost to the Parthians.

829–31–father-in-law . . . son-in-law: A reference to the Roman civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great, who was married to Caesar’s daughter Julia until her death in childbirth. After successful military campaigns in Gaul, in 49 BCE Caesar marched his troops through the Alps and into Roman territory; this was seen as an act of war by the Senate, which ordered Pompey to defend the state. The ensuing conflict ended in Caesar’s solidification of power and Rome’s permanent shift from republic to empire.

836–Mummius: Lucius Mummius, who in 146 BCE sacked the city of Corinth and made Greece part of Rome’s territories.

838–39–Paullus . . . Agamemnon’s town . . . Argos: Lucius Aemilius Paullus conquered Perseus, king of Macedon, in the battle of Pydna in 171 BCE. Agamemnon’s town was Mycenae. “Argos” is often used to denote the same part of the Peloponnese.

840–Pallas’ sullied shrine: A reference to the rape of Cassandra in Minerva’s shrine (2.403–6) and perhaps also to the theft of the Palladium (2.162–68).

841–Great Cato: Cato the Elder, who ended every speech by urging the destruction of Carthage.

841–Cossus: A Roman general famous for killing the king of Veii in single armed combat in 428 BCE and so earning the “Rich Spoils” (spolia opima), which were awarded only three times in Roman history. See 6.855–57n.

842–Gracchus’ sons: The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, who advocated the redistribution of land to veterans and the poor and were assassinated by the Roman elite.

842–43–Scipios . . . Libya: Probably Publius Scipio Africanus and Scipio Aemilianus, who defeated the Carthaginian general Hannibal in 202 BCE and sacked the city of Carthage in 146 BCE, respectively. “Libya” refers obliquely to Carthage.

844–Fabricius: Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, who lost to King Pyrrhus of Epirus in battle; the heavy losses suffered by Pyrrhus in winning his victory are the origin of the phrase “Pyrrhic victory.”

844–Serranus: Nickname of the Roman general Gaius Atilius Regulus, a hero of the First Punic War.

845–Fabii . . . your Greatest: One of the most celebrated of the Fabian clan was Quintus Fabius Maximus (“the greatest”) Cunctator (“the delayer”) who saved the Romans from Hannibal by delaying tactics.

847–Others: The Greeks, whom Anchises otherwise pays little attention to.

853–Sparing the conquered, striking down the haughty: One of the most famous lines in the poem; the end of book 12 raises the question of whether Aeneas follows his father’s advice.

855–57–Marcellus . . . the Rich Spoils . . . This knight: Marcus Claudius Marcellus, a Roman general during the Second Punic War (218–201 BCE) who had won the spolia opima (“Rich Spoils”) for only the third time in Roman history, the first two winners being the legendary king Romulus and Cossus (see 6.841n.).

859–Quirinus: Romulus, the founder of Rome, became identified with the god Quirinus after his death.

860–a fine youth: Gaius Claudius Marcellus, the nephew and heir-apparent of Augustus, who was only twenty when he fell ill and died in 23 BCE.

872–Mars’ Field: The Campus Martius, where Marcellus’ ashes were interred at the mausoleum of Augustus.

890–91–told about the wars . . . Laurentian tribes, the city of Latinus: Anchises foresees the events of books 7–12, in which Aeneas will battle the native Italians, here called Laurentians.

893–two gates of sleep: Modeled on the gates of horn and ivory described by Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, in Odyssey 19.562–67. Why Aeneas passes through the Gate of Ivory, the gate of false dreams, remains a mystery.

900–the harbor of Caieta: A port near the Gulf of Naples, named for Aeneas’s nurse.

BOOK 7

Aeneas’ old nurse, you as well, Caieta,

In dying gave our shores your lasting fame.

The great West keeps your resting place today

In glory—if there’s glory in the grave.

Loyal Aeneas rendered her due rites,

5

Heaping a mound up. When the deep sea calmed,

He spread his sails and left the port behind.

The breezes blew past nightfall, and the white moon

Lit up their course; the gleaming surface trembled.

They sailed close by the shore of Circe’s country.

10

The Sun’s rich daughter makes secluded groves there

Resound with constant singing and, in high halls

At nighttime, by the fragrant cedar’s light

Runs her shrill shuttle through the filmy weave.

In the late hours, growls are heard, and roars

15

Of lions in hot struggles with their chains,

And raging screams of bristly hogs and bears

In pens, and howls from wolves—those hulking shapes,

Once human: potent herbs from that fierce goddess

Gave them the faces and the fur of beasts.

20

Saving the blameless Trojans from these grim spells,

From landing in that port on deadly shores,

Neptune sent helping winds to fill their sails,

And they escaped beyond the foaming shallows.

The sea blushed with ethereal beams; Aurora

25

Showed tawny in her rosy chariot.

The wind abated. Instantly the breezes

All calmed, oars toiled in smooth and sluggish water.

Now from the watery plain Aeneas saw

A broad grove, lovely Tiber bursting through—

30

Darting with whirlpools, yellow with its sand load—

Seaward. All kinds of river birds and shore birds

Fluttered from branch to branch, around and over

The channel, and their songs caressed the sky.

He told his men to turn the prows toward land,

35

And gladly started up the shaded river.

Erato, let me tell about the times,

The rulers, and what ancient Latium was

When foreigners first beached their army’s fleet

In Italy, and how the quarrels started.

40

Goddess, direct your poet. Savage warfare

I’ll sing, and kings whose courage brought them death:

The Tuscan army, all Hesperia rallied

To arms. This is a higher story starting,

A greater work for me.

Latinus, old now,

45

Had reigned through long peace over towns and farmland.

Faunus and a Laurentian nymph, Marica,

We hear, begot him; Picus, Faunus’ father,

Claimed Saturn as his own, the family’s founder.

By the gods’ will, Latinus had no male child;

50

Sons born to him were taken in their first youth.

An only daughter, hope of that great house,

Was now grown up and ready for a husband.

From Latium’s breadth, from all of Italy

Men courted her. The handsomest was Turnus,

55

From a strong dynasty. Latinus’ wife

Was ardent, wild to have this son-in-law.

But holy signs, each with its terrors, blocked her.

A laurel, long revered, with sacred foliage,

Stood in the central high-roofed palace shrine.

60

Father Latinus found it here while building

The town, they say, and offered it to Phoebus,

And named the settlers after it Laurentians.

Now a loud swarm of rumbling bees—amazing

To speak of—crossed the clear air, seized the treetop.

65

Quickly they intertwined their feet and hung

Down from a leafy branch in one great mass.

An augur said, “I see a warrior

Come from abroad. A phalanx trails these bees

To the same spot—the new lords in your tower.”

70

When the king burned pure torches on the altar,

And chaste Lavinia stood by her father,

A blaze—uncanny—seemed to catch her long hair.

And all her rich clothes crackled in the flame.

Her regally bound hair, her crown with bright gems

75

Kindled, and she was wrapped in tawny light

And smoke, and sparks were scattered through the palace—

A wondrous, fearful sight, it was reported.

Prophets foretold a glorious destiny

For her, but for her people mighty conflict.

80

Anxious, the king approached the oracle

His father, Faunus, spoke through in the grove

The Albunea, king of forests, waters,

Loud with its sacred spring, dark, breathing sulfur.

Here, if perplexed, the tribes of Italy

85

Seek answers. When a priest has brought his gifts,

He lies on sheepskins from the sacrifices

And goes to sleep beneath the still night sky.

There he sees many eerie fluttering forms,

Hears voices of all kinds, consults with gods,

90

And speaks to Acheron in Avernan depths.

Father Latinus sought advice in person.

He sacrificed a hundred woolly sheep,

Then lay there resting on their spread-out fleeces.

Suddenly, from within the grove, a voice:

95

“My child, shun this alliance for your daughter

With Latins, though a wedding is at hand.

Foreigners will arrive, and intermarriage

Will raise our name to heaven. The descendants

Will bring the earth beneath their feet and rule it

100

Clear to both oceans that the sun rides over.”

Latinus didn’t keep concealed the warning

His father, Faunus, gave him in the still night.

Rumor had winged it into all the far towns

Of Italy when Trojan forces moored

105

Their ships off Tiber’s grassy mounded bank.

Aeneas, his lieutenants, and his fine son

Sprawled on the ground beneath a high tree’s branches,

Prepared a meal, and, at Jove’s prompting, set

Spelt wafers on the grass to hold their food,

110

A cereal base to pile with woodland forage.

All this was eaten; hunger drove them further,

To gnawing at the sheets of bread. Their hands,

Their bold jaws now assaulted the baked disks,

Broad surfaces that fate had sent to them.

115

“Look how we eat our tables,” Iulus said—

A joke—but those few words first gave a sign

Of hardship’s end. His father seized on them,

Struck by the miracle, and silenced him,

Then cried at once, “Hail, country pledged by fate!

120

Hail, faithful guardian gods of Troy as well!

This is your home, your land. Father Anchises

(Now I recall) bequeathed this fateful secret:

‘My child, when on strange shores your food is torn

Away, and hunger makes you eat your tables,

125

Then trust that home and rest are there. Be mindful,

Lay buildings out and raise defensive walls.’

This is that hunger, waiting till the end

To close our exile off.

So at first light let’s fan out eagerly

130

From where we’ve landed and explore the country—

What people live here? Where is their walled city?

Pour Jove an offering and send my father

Anchises prayers, and bring more wine for feasting.”

Wearing a verdant chaplet, he beseeched

135

The place’s spirit and the firstborn goddess,

And Earth, and nymphs and rivers still unknown,

And Night, with all her rising signs, and Jove,

God of Mount Ida, and the Phrygian Mother;

Then his own parents—in the sky, below earth.

140

Thundering three times, the almighty father

In clear high heaven shook a cloud and made it

Blaze out, conspicuous with rays of gold.

The word spread quickly through the Trojan ranks:

The time had come to build their promised walls.

145

Ecstatic at that great sign, they renewed

The feasting, placing garlands on the wine bowls.

The new day rose, the great lamp spread its light.

They split up, scouted riverbanks, the city

And borders of the tribe. Here was the Tiber—

150

Numicus’ pooling spring—brave Latins’ home.

Anchises’ son now chose a hundred legates

Of various ranks and sent them to the king’s

Proud walls. They must put on olive crowns

And take him gifts, peace offerings from Trojans.

155

They hurried to obey and strode there quickly.

Where walls would rise, Aeneas on the shore

Dug a low ditch and labored at their first home,

With battlements and ramparts, like a camp.

The group now made its journey, saw the high roofs

160

And towers of Latins, and approached the walls.

There boys and thriving young men drilled on horses,

Or trained their chariot teams on dusty tracks,

Pulled tight-strung bows, hurled pliant javelins,

Or boxed and raced on foot in competition.

165

A mounted messenger rushed with his news

To the old king: tall men, in foreign clothes.

He ordered them invited in and sat

In the hall’s center, on his forebears’ throne.

Laurentian Picus’ huge and stately palace

170

Soared with its hundred columns at the town’s crest,

A wooded site the ancients held in awe.

For the good omen, kings took up their scepters

And rods of office there. It housed the Senate

And sacred banquets; there the elders slaughtered

175

A ram and sat at tables in a long row.

The forebears’ busts were in the vestibule,

Old cedar faces, Italus, Sabinus,

Planter of vines—his sickle hung beneath him—

The old man Saturn, Janus’ double face,

180

And all the other kings from the beginning,

With heroes wounded in their country’s wars.

On sacred doorposts many war spoils hung:

Axes with curved blades, chariots in bondage,

With plumes from helmets, giant bolts from gates,

185

Spearheads and shields, and rams torn out of hulls.

Picus himself, horse-tamer, sat there, shown

In a short cloak. His right hand held the staff

Of Quirinus, his left the sacred shield.

Circe, his lust-crazed wife, armed with her gold staff

190

And potions, changed him to a dappled bird.

On his ancestral seat inside this temple,

Latinus called the Teucrians to meet him

And spoke to them serenely when they came:

“Trojans (we know your city and your race;

195

We heard about you as you sailed this way),

What do you seek? What need has brought your ships here

Through endless blue sea to Italian shores?

If you are lost or swept astray by tempests—

Which many sailors on the deep endure—

200

And so you broach our river, camp beside

Our port, take refuge here. Be sure that Latins,

Saturn’s race, don’t do right from sheer compulsion

Of law but choose to keep the old god’s ways.

I do remember, though time dims the story,

205

What old Auruncans said: Born in this country,

Dardanus sailed to Phrygian Ida’s cities

And Thracian Samos, now called Samothrace,

From Corythus, his own Etruscan town.

The starry sky’s gold palace now enthrones him;

210

He ranks among the gods and has his altars.”

He finished; Ilioneus now answered,

“King, glorious child of Faunus, no black storms,

No roiling billows drove us to your country;

The stars, the coastlines gave us no false guidance.

215

We all came to your city willingly,

On purpose, exiles from the greatest kingdom—

Once—that the Sun saw, voyaging from the sky’s edge.

Jove first begot our race; in this our people

Delight. From Jove’s high race our king was born:

220

Trojan Aeneas sent us to your doorstep.

How great a storm from pitiless Mycenae

Poured over Trojan fields, when fate brought two worlds,

Europe and Asia, battering together—

The earth’s remotest people, set apart

225

By Ocean with its tides, or in the brutal

Tropical middle of the five zones, know this.

Out of that deluge, through vast seas we’ve come,

To beg a tiny home here for our gods,

A harmless beach. Water and air cost nothing!

230

We will not shame your kingdom—no, your good deed

Will bring you lasting gratitude and glory;

Italians won’t regret embracing Trojans.

I swear it by Aeneas’ fate, his strong hand

Proven in all his friendships and his battles:

235

Many tribes, many nations have sought union

Or treaties with us. We approach you first

With suppliant words and fillets—do not scorn us.

On gods’ prophetic orders we have sought

Your land—once Dardanus’. Mighty Apollo

240

Summons us back to the Etruscan Tiber

And to Numicus’ sacred pooling waters.

Our leader sends you gifts, which are his remnants

Of wealth, saved from the flames at Troy. His father

Poured wine out on the altars from this gold bowl.

245

Priam, proclaiming laws to gathered nations,

Held this rod, wore this holy crown, these clothes,

The work of Trojan women.”

Latinus, stunned by Ilioneus’ words,

Sat there unmoving, gazing at the floor.

250

But his eyes moved in thought. Embroidered purple

And Priam’s scepter touched him less. He dwelt

More on his daughter’s wedding and her union.

Old Faunus’ presage—in his heart he mulled it:

This was the foreign voyager fate pledged him

255

As son-in-law, to join him as an equal

In ruling; his descendants would be heroes,

And all the world would come beneath their power.

At last he spoke in joy: “Gods bless our plans

And their own prophecy. Take what you ask for;

260

And I accept your gifts. While I am reigning,

You’ll have a rich land, you’ll have wealth like Troy’s.

But if Aeneas has such eager longing

To be my guest here and be called my ally,

Then let him come—a friend’s face holds no terror.

265

I’ll clasp your king’s hand, making good this treaty.

But you must take this message back to him:

I have a daughter whom an oracle

And many heavenly signs forbid my giving

To one of our race. Strangers come to Latium

270

Will be our sons through marriage, and the new stock

Will reach the stars. I think—I hope—it’s this man

Fate calls for, if my intuition’s right.”

The lord chose from the sleek three hundred horses

Housed in his high-roofed barn. He had one led

275

To every Trojan there, down through their ranks—

Swift mounts—and they had saddlecloths embroidered

With purple, and gold collars hanging down.

Their trappings were of gold; they chewed gold bits.

A chariot and team were for Aeneas,

280

A fire-breathing pair, heavenly mix-breeds:

Sly Circe’d stolen stallions from her father

To cross with mortal mares. Aeneas’ men,

Now mounted high, conveyed Latinus’ gifts,

Speeches, and terms for peace back to the camp.

285

Then Jove’s fierce wife flew in her chariot

From Inachus’ home, Argos. From on high,

In far-off Pachynus in Sicily,

She saw Aeneas happy, with his fleet:

They worked at building, settled trustingly,

290

Forgot their ships. She halted, pierced by grief,

Then shook her head, and from her heart poured this:

“That hated Phrygian race, their fate opposed

To mine! They couldn’t die on Sigeum’s plain,

Couldn’t stay conquered? Trojans couldn’t burn

295

When Troy burned? Through the fire and the onslaughts

They found a way. At last, I guess, my power

Lies slack and weary from its load of hatred.

I even stooped to persecute their exile,

Harrying refugees across the ocean.

300

The sea and sky have no strength left to fight them.

What good the Syrtes, Scylla, vast Charybdis?

Trojans nest in the longed-for Tiber, fearing

Neither the deep nor me. Mars’ strength destroyed

The monstrous Lapiths. Jove, who sired the gods,

305

Assuaged Diana’s rage with Calydon,

The ancient town. What great crimes earned such sanctions?

But I, Jove’s mighty wife, have shrunk from nothing,

Tried every useless way, and now am beaten—

Aeneas did this! If my own power fails,

310

I’ll find help anywhere I can—no scruples!

Heaven resists me? I’ll try Acheron.

Fate grants them entrance to the Latin kingdom;

Lavinia must be Aeneas’ wife.

But I can put off these great happenings,

315

And crush the subjects of this pair of kings:

Marriage, allying them, will have this price;

Blood from both sides will dower you, child; Bellona

Will be your escort. Fire as a bridegroom

Hasn’t been born from Hecuba alone.

320

No, Venus’ child will be another Paris,

A funeral torch to burn a reborn Troy.”

Terrible now, she sped to earth, to summon

Allecto, mourning-bringer, from her dark home

Below among the Furies. Treachery,

325

War, rage, atrocities are in her heart.

Her father, Pluto, and her hellish sisters

Loathe her themselves, the monster; all her dire forms

And faces, all the black snakes sprouting from her.

Now Juno made this speech, inciting her:

330

“Daughter of Night, lend me your special service

And safeguard my prestige. Keep it from yielding;

Don’t let Aeneas’ crew buy off Latinus

Through marriage, or lay siege to Italy.

You can set brothers who were friends at war,

335

Destroying homes with hate, invading them,

Whip, flames of death in hand. A thousand names

Are yours, a thousand torments. Rouse your genius,

Shatter their treaties, sow the seeds of war—

War! Wished, demanded, started all at once!”

340

Allecto, steeped in Gorgon poisons, rushed

To the Laurentian king’s high halls in Latium

And lurked there, at the threshold of Amata,

Who smoldered with a woman’s anxious anger:

Trojans had come—would they steal Turnus’ wedding?

345

Dark snakes made up the Fury’s hair: she tossed one

To glide—maddening, hellish—through the dress

Into the heart, and rattled all the house.

Beneath her clothes it coiled, around her smooth breasts.

She couldn’t feel it as it breathed its poison—

350

Her frenzy. As a gold chain, that huge serpent

Twined her neck, hung as ribbon from her headband,

Wove through her hair and slid around her body.

The venom oozed in, and the sickness started

To storm her senses, wrap her bones in fire.

355

Before the flames engulfed her heart and mind,

She spoke quite gently, as a mother would,

And wept: Her daughter married to a Phrygian!

“You’ll give Lavinia to Trojan exiles,

Not pitying your child, yourself, or me?

360

The lying pirate’s sure to snatch our girl

Off to the deep on the first wind. That’s how

The Phrygian shepherd infiltrated Sparta

And hauled off Helen, Leda’s child, to Troy.

Your oath? The love you once had for your people?

365

Your promises to Turnus, who is family?

If Latins need a foreign son-in-law,

And it is fixed and ordered by your father,

Then every land that’s free, outside our power,

Is foreign, I think—can’t the gods mean that?

370

Just trace the house of Turnus from its start:

Acrisius, Inachus—Mycenae’s heart’s blood.”

She found these words were useless, for Latinus

Was firm. The venom slipped, infuriating,

Into her entrails, seeped all through her body.

375

Now monstrous visions haunted that poor woman.

Frenzied, she ran amok all through the city,

Like a top flitting under coiling whip blows;

Boys in intent play, in an empty courtyard,

Send it in spacious circles. At the lash,

380

It rushes on its curving course. The young group

Watches in wonder as the blows inspire

The flying boxwood. No less fiercely driven,

Amata ran straight through the haughty city.

With a sham Bacchus goading her, she dashed

385

Into the woods, a greater, wilder outrage,

And hid her daughter in the leafy mountains,

To thwart, to steal her marriage to a Trojan.

She roared, “O Bacchus, only you deserve her!

She takes in hand your pliant thyrsus, dances

390

Around you, grows a lock of hair to give you.”

Word flew; the other mothers caught her passion,

Which drove them from their homes out into new ones,

Hearts flaming, heads and necks bare to the wind.

Some of them filled the sky with shivering howls,

395

Wore skins, held spear shafts wound with grapevine leaves.

Fevered Amata waved a torch among them

And sang the wedding of her child and Turnus,

Rolling red eyes. She gave a sudden shriek:

“Oh, listen, mothers everywhere in Latium,

400

If your good hearts still cherish poor Amata,

And if my flouted mother-rights disturb you,

Unbind your hair, take up these secret rites.”

Allecto used such Bacchic goads to harry

The queen all through the bleak, beast-haunted forest.

405

Pleased with this first sharp frenzy, the grim goddess

Who’d wrecked Latinus’ plans and all his household

Didn’t delay but on her dark wings sought

The brave Rutulian’s town (where Danaë,

Driven, they say, by headlong South Winds, founded

410

A settlement for Argives. It was called

Ardea by the ancients—still a great name;

Its wealth is gone, though). There, in his high palace,

Turnus was sleeping through the black of midnight.

Allecto stripped off her ferocious form

415

And changed to an old woman: plowed her forehead

With ugly lines, whitened her hair and bound it

With olive twigs and ribbons, to resemble

Calybe, Juno’s priestess at her shrine.

She came before the young man’s eyes and spoke:

420

“Turnus, you let your striving go for nothing?

You watch your scepter pass to Trojan settlers?

The king denies the bride your blood has paid for.

He wants a foreigner to have his kingdom.

They laugh at you! Take useless risks and scatter

425

Etruscan lines, for Latium’s peace and safety.

Almighty Juno ordered me to say this

Plainly, as you were resting in the still night.

Up, then, and arm the young men, march them out

To fight. Burn, with their painted ships, the lords

430

Of Phrygia squatting by your lovely river.

The gods’ great power demands that King Latinus,

Unless he does your will and grants your wedding,

Should find at last what you are like in battle.”

The young man answered, sneering at the prophet:

435

“The news has not escaped me, as you think:

The fleet has traveled into Tiber’s waters.

I don’t need made-up panic. Royal Juno

Hasn’t forgotten me.

Your failing and oblivious old age

440

Torments you pointlessly with these false fears

And prophecies about the clash of kings.

Your task is guarding the gods’ effigies.

Men, who fight wars, will deal with war and peace.”

The speech inflamed Allecto. While still speaking,

445

The young man felt a sudden terror seize him

And gaped: so many snakes hissed on the Fury,

So monstrous was the sight. He stopped and stammered.

She shoved him back, her flaming eyes assailed him.

Two snakes reared from her head. She made the whips

450

She brandished hiss, and spoke from foaming lips:

“Just look at how oblivious I am,

With these false fears about the clash of kings.

See! From the deadly sisters’ home I come,

With death and war in hand.”

455

She spoke, and threw a smoking torch at him,

To lodge its black light in his youthful breast.

Terror crashed through his sleep, and sweat broke out

To cover him and soak him to the bones.

He roared for arms and searched his bed, his rooms

460

In savage iron-lust, depraved war frenzy,

And rage above all; as a heap of twigs

Is lit to roar beneath a frothing cauldron;

The water leaps and burns—inside there storms

A smoky river, foam goes burgeoning

465

Beyond its confines, shooting black steam skyward.

Peace was profaned: he sent his young lieutenants

To King Latinus, ordered arms prepared,

Italy guarded, enemies thrust out.

Latins and Trojans—he could face them both.

470

He told the gods what he would give for victory.

Rutulians egged each other on to fight.

His fine and graceful youth moved some, and some

His royal bloodline or his glorious warcraft.

While Turnus filled his soldiers’ hearts with fire,

475

Hell-winged Allecto, with a new ploy, hurried

Off to the Trojans. Scouting out the shore,

Where handsome, swift, and cunning Iulus hunted,

The hellish virgin struck the dogs with madness.

She tossed a scent they knew before their noses,

480

To goad them on a deer’s trail. Anguish started

This way, and kindled rustic hearts for war.

There was a splendid stag, with wide-spread antlers.

Together with his young sons, Tyrrhus, master

Of the king’s herds and keeper of his broad plains,

485

Had taken it, a suckling then, and reared it.

Silvia, the boys’ sister, lavished care

On the pet, twined its antlers with soft garlands,

Combed it and bathed it in a crystal spring.

It ate its owners’ food, put up with stroking,

490

And though it roamed the woods, it made its own way

Back to their door, however late at night.

Iulus’ ferocious dogs now started it—

It had strayed far from home and swum upstream

And rested from the heat beneath a green bank.

495

Ascanius was fired by ambition

And aimed an arrow out of his bent bow.

A god directed his uncertain hand.

The dart twanged out and sang through flanks and belly.

The wounded beast sought refuge in its home.

500

Moaning and bleeding, limping to the barn,

It filled the buildings with beseeching wails.

Silvia heard, in horror beat her forearms,

And called the hardy country men to help.

In the still woods the vicious Fury hid.

505

Instantly they were there: one had a charred torch;

The next a club with swollen knots. Rage rummaged

Its weapons out, and Tyrrhus marshaled forces:

From quartering a log of oak with wedges,

He’d turned and seized his ax in panting fury.

510

Perched on a lookout, the divine fiend saw

More to do. Moving to a barn’s high rooftop,

She sent her hellish voice out through a curved horn—

A shepherd’s call, which set the whole deep forest

Immediately echoing and trembling

515

Clear to Diana’s lake and the Nar River,

White with its sulfur, and Velinus’ springs.

Mothers in fear pressed children to their breasts.

The sturdy farmers swarmed from everywhere,

Answering the grim trumpet’s call and seizing

520

Whatever weapons were at hand. The Trojans

Poured from their own gate, to Ascanius’ aid.

Both sides lined up. It was no yokel brawl now

With burnt stakes and hard cudgels, but a contest

Of two-edged blades; a darkly bristling crop

525

Of swords stretched far away. Bronze armor flashed,

Struck by the sun; the light shot to the clouds:

As when the surface of the sea begins

To whiten, slowly rising, shooting waves

Higher, until its lowest depths heave skyward.

530

Now at the front, the eldest son of Tyrrhus,

Young Almo, fell. A hissing arrow struck him

And lodged below his throat, to choke with blood

The thin soft passage of his voice and life breath.

Around him many dead lay; old Galaesus

535

Had stepped between to plead for peace—most just

And wealthiest Italian of those days:

Five bleating and five lowing herds were driven

Over his soil; a hundred plowshares turned it.

Equally matched, men filled the plain with fighting.

540

This was the mighty goddess’ pledge: a bloodstain

Starting the war—a first clash—deaths. Allecto

Left Italy and passed through airy heaven

And spoke to Juno haughtily, in triumph:

“Here is your conflict, sealed by dismal war.

545

Now tell them to be friends, bound by a treaty.

I’ve spattered Trojans with Italian blood.

I’ll do more if you sanction it. My rumors

Will spread the war to nearby towns and kindle

The lust for frenzied Mars. They’ll come to help

550

From everywhere. I’ll strew the land with arms.”

“Enough deceit and fear for now,” said Juno.

“They’re fighting hand to hand, with solid motives.

Chance offered weapons; fresh blood sullies them.

Venus’ superior son and King Latinus

555

Can have this as a wedding and a marriage.

The father, though, Olympus’ king, would surely

Not want you wandering at will in heaven.

Get out then. I’ll direct whatever action

Is called for now.” So Saturn’s daughter spoke.

560

The other raised her wings, which hissed with snakes,

And left the steep sky for her home in hell.

Midway through Italy, beneath high mountains,

Ampsanctus lies, a famous valley, legend

In many lands. Dark forests crowd both sides

565

With their thick leaves. A torrent in the middle

Crashes through rocks and twists its frothing waters.

They point a fearsome cave out there, where cruel Dis

Breathes from the chinks, and Acheron breaks through

A poisoned pit. The Fury, hateful power,

570

Slipped in, unburdening the earth and sky.

Now Saturn’s queenly daughter put the last touch

On war. The shepherd’s whole contingent ran

From battle to the town, and brought the dead—

Young Almo and Galaesus with his torn face—

575

Imploring gods, appealing to Latinus.

To raging murder charges Turnus added

New alarms: Trojans asked to share the kingdom,

Easterners breeding in, himself expelled.

The families of the matrons running wild

580

Through trackless woods in Bacchic bands now gathered

(Amata’s name had weight) demanding war,

Evil war. Everyone was now possessed;

The omens, the decrees of fate meant nothing.

They avidly besieged Latinus’ palace.

585

A cliff above the sea, he stood unmoving—

A sea cliff in reverberating storms;

Firm in its bulk it holds, though waves throng roaring

Around it. Crags and frothing boulders moan—

Unshaken, pouring back the battered seaweed.

590

The old man had no power to defeat

Their blind plans—heartless Juno set things going.

Often he called on gods and empty air:

“Fate wrecks our ship; a whirlwind whips us onward.

Poor things, you’ll make atonement with your blood.

595

Turnus, your sin will bring harsh punishment.

Too late you’ll pray and try to buy the gods off.

But I’ve earned rest. I’m on the haven’s edge,

And robbed of nothing but a happy death.”

He kept indoors and dropped the reins of state.

600

There was a ritual in Hesperian Latium,

Which Alban cities afterward kept sacred,

And lofty Rome performs, when war is launched—

Whether against Hyrcanians or Getans

Or Arabs, or if it’s an eastward march

605

To claim back standards from the Parthians.

There stand twin Gates of War (so they are named),

Held sacred in the dread of savage Mars.

Eternal iron and a hundred bronze bars

Seal them, and Janus is their guardian.

610

When senators resolve to fight, the consul,

Marked out by Quirinal robe and Gabine belt,

With his own hands throws wide the creaking doors,

And gives the call to war. The fighting men

Follow, and bronze horns blast their harsh assent.

615

Though ordered to perform this rite, declaring

War on the Trojans through these the gloomy portals,

Father Latinus shrank from touching them.

He fled the hateful task and hid in shadows.

But then the queen of heaven, Saturn’s daughter,

620

Flew down herself to force the iron war gates

Apart, and pushed until the hinges turned.

Italy, calm and still before, now blazed.

Some looked to march across the plains, some reared

Wildly on dusty mounts. All called for weapons.

625

Some used thick fat to polish shields and lances,

And others ground their axes sharp on whetstones.

The trumpet thrilled them, hoisted standards thrilled them.

Five mighty cities made their anvils echo:

Proud Tibur, strong Atina, Ardea,

630

Towered Antemnae, Crustumerium

Hollowed out sturdy helmets and wove shields

From bending wicker, or shaped cuirasses

From bronze, or glossy greaves from pliant silver.

Forgetting their devotion to the plowshare

635

And sickle, men reforged their fathers’ blades.

Horns blared, the watchword spread—the war had come.

One snatched his helmet on the run from home.

One strained to yoke his neighing team, put on

His shield, gold-woven breastplate, trusted sword.

640

Stir my song, Muses, open Helicon.

What kings were roused to war, what armies followed

To fill the plains, what heroes bloomed already

In that propitious soil, what arms grew hot there?

You know it and can tell it, goddesses;

645

Barely a breath can reach me of the story.

Out of Etruria, Mezentius,

Wild scorner of the gods, first armed his men

And marched, with his son Lausus—there was no one

Handsomer, save for Turnus of Laurentum—

650

Lausus, horse-tamer, conqueror of wild things,

Who led a thousand men (what good to him?)

From Caere and deserved more in obeying

His father—he deserved a better father.

Next Aventinus, splendid Hercules’

655

Splendid child, strutted his prize chariot team.

The Hydra, girdled with a hundred snakes,

His father’s emblem, marked his shield. The priestess

Rhea had brought him to the shores of light

In secret, on the wooded Aventine.

660

She’d mated with the god, who came as victor

From slaughtered Geryon to Laurentian fields

And bathed his Spanish cows in Tuscan currents.

His son’s men now were armed with spears and fierce pikes

And polished swords and Sabine javelins.

665

He went on foot himself, a lion’s huge skin—

Dire, matted, bristling, white-toothed—on his head

And swept around him. Dauntingly he came

Into the palace in the hero’s cloak.

Twin brothers then left Tibur’s walls (a third

670

Brother, Tiburtus, gave their clan its name):

Catillus and keen Coras, youthful Argives,

Ran at the front, where spears and arrows swarmed—

As cloud-born Centaurs leave some looming peak

To dash down Homole or snowy Othrys

675

At great speed; massive forest yields a path;

Crashing, the underbrush gives way to them.

Caeculus too was there, Praeneste’s founder,

In lasting legend Vulcan’s royal child

Born among herds and found beside a hearth.

680

An army came with him, from far-flung farms

At high Praeneste, Juno’s Gabian

Fields, the cold Anio’s banks, the Hernici’s

Stream-sprinkled rocks. Some, rich Anagnia nurtured,

Some, Father Amasenus’ river. Not all

685

Had armor or loud chariots or shields.

Most of the men were slingers of pale lead;

Others waved two spears; tawny caps of wolf fur

Covered their heads. With nothing on their left feet,

And crudely made right boots, they strode along.

690

Messapus, tamer of horses, son of Neptune—

Guarded by heaven’s will from sword and fire—

Abruptly called to arms tribes long inactive,

Armies unused to war, and drew his own sword.

Fescennia’s fort, Falisci-on-the-Plain,

695

Soracte’s peaks, Flavinian fields, Ciminus’

Mountain and lake, Capena’s groves all sent them:

Marching in numbered ranks, they sang their king,

Like snowy swans among the flowing clouds,

On their way back from feeding, pouring sweet songs

700

From their long necks to make the Asian marsh

And river ring far off.

No one would think bronze battle lines were massing

From the great throng, but that a soaring, hoarse cloud

Of birds swarmed from the ocean to the shore.

705

Clausus, of ancient Sabine stock, led forward

A huge force (he was such a force, alone;

It was his Claudian clan that spread to Latium

After the Sabines gained a share in Rome):

Old Quirites, Amiternans, the whole force

710

From olive-rich Mutusca and Erutum;

Troops from Velinus country, walled Nomentum,

Tetrica’s rough cliffs and Severus Mountain,

Casperia, Foruli, Himella’s stream, cold Nursia;

Some drank out of the Fabaris and Tiber;

715

Ortinian horsemen came, whole Latin towns,

And those whose home the Allia—cursed name—passes:

As many as the glittering Libyan waves,

When cruel Orion dips in winter seas;

As many as the wheat ears scorched by spring sun

720

On Lycia’s fields of gold, or Hermus’ plains.

Shields sounded, and the earth was stunned with tramping.

Halaesus, Agamemnon’s crony, hateful

To Troy, now yoked his chariot, rushed a thousand

Fierce clans to Turnus’ side, hoers of vineyards

725

In fertile Massica. Auruncan lords

Swept men from high hills. Sidicinian plains,

Cales, shallow Volturnus’ banks sent others.

Savage Saticulans and a contingent

Of Oscans brought familiar polished spears

730

To throw with pliant cords, left-handed shields,

And curving swords for fighting at close quarters.

My poem will not pass over Oebalus

In silence: Telon in old age begat him

On the nymph Sebethis. In Capreae

735

He ruled the Teleboae, but his son

Fretted there. To the broad Sarrastian lands,

He spread his realm, to plains the Sarnus waters,

To Rufrae, Batulum, Celemna’s farmers,

To apple land beneath Abella’s walls.

740

His men, like Germans, carried spears with barbs.

Their heads were covered with the bark of cork trees.

Their small shields flashed with bronze, their swords with gold.

Ufens was sent to war from highland Nersae.

His fame was great, his war achievements splendid,

745

His barbarous Aequiculans addicted

To hunting in the woods. They lived on hard soil,

Plowed wearing armor, constantly collected

Fresh loot, and liked to live on what they’d taken.

From the Marruvian people valiant Umbro

750

The priest came also, sent by King Archippus.

Lush olive leaves festooned the warrior’s helmet.

There was no breed of poison-breathing viper

He couldn’t put to sleep with charms and stroking.

He soothed their rage and remedied their bites,

755

And yet he couldn’t cure a Trojan spear strike.

Sleep-bringing spells and herbs the Marsians

Find in their hills were useless for the wound,

Glassy-waved Fucinus, Angitian woods,

The clear pools wept for him.

760

Virbius marched there too, Hippolytus’

Glorious child, Aricia’s noble nursling,

Raised in Egeria’s grove, around the moist shores

Where sumptuous gifts can win Diana’s favor.

His cunning stepmother and bolting horses

765

Had torn Hippolytus apart: he paid

In blood the price his father claimed; Diana,

It’s said, who loved him, used the Healer’s herbs

To make him rise again to starry heaven.

Then the almighty father, in his anger

770

At a mortal brought from hell to light and life,

Struck Phoebus’ son and blasted to the Styx

The one who’d found this potent remedy.

But kind Diana gave Hippolytus

A refuge in the nymph Egeria’s woodland,

775

To spend his life obscurely, with a new name,

Virbius, in the woods of Italy.

And so the goddess’ sacred grove and temple

Bars hard-hooved horses like the team that wrecked

His chariot, when sea-beasts panicked them.

780

His son, however, drove an eager pair

Over the flat plain, hurtling into war.

Turnus moved back and forth along the front,

Beautiful, armed, a head above the others.

His triple-plumed high helmet reared the emblem

785

Of a Chimera, spewing flames of Etna:

Her ruinous breath grew wilder, her roar louder

As battle grew more brutal and blood flowed.

Io in gold was blazoned on his smooth shield—

A rough-haired, butting cow. Such detail! Argus

790

Guarded her, and her father, Inachus,

Poured his stream from a silver urn. Behind,

Foot soldiers, shields, ranks packed the plain: young Argives,

Auruncans and Rutulians, primeval

Sicanians, a Sacranian array,

795

Labicians who carried painted bucklers;

And men who plowed the uplands of the Tiber,

Numicus’ holy shore, Rutulian hills,

And Circe’s ridge—domains of Jove of Anxur

And of Feronia, glad in her green grove;

800

Troops from Satura’s black swamp, and the valley

Cold Ufens threads, to duck into the sea.

Last came Camilla of the Volsci,

Leading a cavalry that bloomed with bronze.

A female warrior, stranger to Minerva’s

805

Tasks and the distaff, though she was a girl,

She endured combat and outran the wind.

She could have skimmed the tips of standing grain

Over a field and spared the tender heads,

Or glided clear across the swelling ocean

810

And kept her swift feet dry above the surface.

Men poured from fields and matrons out of houses

To gaze on her in wonder as she rode.

They gaped, astonished at the royal splendor

Of purple on smooth shoulders, the gold hair clasp—

815

The Lycian quiver hanging at her back,

The shepherd’s staff of myrtle, tipped with iron.

1–Caieta: The promontory, harbor, and city here were all called Gaeta after Caieta.

5–Loyal: Another way of translating pius.

10–Circe’s country: Aeaea, the island of the sorceress Circe in the Odyssey, was associated with modern-day Monte Circeo on the southwest coast of Italy.

30–Tiber: The main waterway of Rome.

37–Erato: The Muse of love poetry. The second half of the Aeneid will center on the battle between Aeneas and Turnus for Lavinia’s hand.

43–Tuscan . . . Hesperia: Italy.

45–A greater work for me: Vergil announces the start of his Iliadic narrative, following his Odyssean books 1–6.

45–Latinus: The king of the Latins and father of Lavinia.

47–Faunus: An Italian god of woods and trees.

48–Picus: The first king of Latium and a son of Saturn. He was turned into a woodpecker by Circe.

52–An only daughter: Lavinia.

55–Turnus: King of the Rutulians, Lavinia’s fiancé.

56–Latinus’ wife: Queen Amata.

64–rumbling bees: Bees settling in a bay laurel were considered a bad omen.

83–Albunea: A spring or wood near the oracle of Faunus. The waters of Albunea were cloudy with sulfur; hence the name’s derivation from the Latin word alba, “white.”

91–Acheron . . . Avernan depths: Stand-ins for the Underworld and its deities, which often function as sources of prophetic wisdom. The real places, Acheron (in Thesprotia) and Avernus (in Campania), were treated as oracles of the dead.

94–lay there resting: Incubation—spending the night in a sacred area to receive prophetic dreams—was often practiced at oracles.

116–we eat our tables: Fulfilling the prophecy made by the harpy Celaeno (3.254–57).

121–guardian gods: See 1.379n.

139–Mount Ida: The mountain on Crete where Jupiter was raised.

139–Phrygian Mother: Cybele, the Great Mother, associated with the other Mount Ida, near Troy; see 3.111n.

140–his own parents—in the sky, below earth: Venus is a goddess; Anchises is now in the Underworld.

151–Numicus’ pooling spring: A river of Latium with mythological connections to Aeneas’ burial and deification.

170–huge and stately palace: Vergil makes Picus’ palace a precursor of Rome with mention of ceremonial rods, a Senate, portrait busts, and spoils of war.

178–Italus, Sabinus: Eponymous ancestors of the native Italians and the Sabines.

180–Janus’ double face: Janus is portrayed with two faces, one looking to the past and the other to the future.

189–Quirinus: An early Roman god; Romulus, Rome’s founder, would later be identified with him: see 6.859n.

190–Circe . . . wife: Actually would-be wife; when Picus spurned her she turned him into a woodpecker.

206–old Auruncans: A native Italian people, also called Ausonians.

207–8–Dardanus sailed to . . . Samothrace: Samothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean famous for its mystery cult. It is sometimes called Dardania.

212–Ilioneus: The oldest of the Trojans in Aeneas’ party.

219–Jove first begot our race: A Trojan ancestor, Dardanus, was the son of Jupiter (Jove) and Electra.

227–the five zones: According to ancient theory the earth was divided into two temperate habitable zones, two frigid zones (the Arctic and Antarctic), and an arid equatorial zone.

287–From Inachus’ home, Argos: The Greek city of Argos was sacred to Juno. Inachus was a river god there.

294–Sigeum’s plain: A promontory near Troy.

304–5–Mars’ strength destroyed the monstrous Lapiths: The king of the Lapiths, Pirithoüs, did not invite Mars to his wedding, so Mars incited a war between the Lapiths and the Centaurs.

306–Assuaged Diana’s rage with Calydon: When King Oeneus of Calydon did not include Diana in a sacrifice she sent a monstrous boar to ravage his realm.

319–20–Fire as a bridegroom hasn’t been born from Hecuba alone: A reference to Hecuba’s son Paris, whose abduction of Helen started the Trojan War; while pregnant, Hecuba had dreamt that she would give birth to a fiery torch.

324–Allecto: one of the three Furies.

341–Gorgon poisons: The Furies were sometimes depicted with snakes for hair, linking them to the Gorgons, the most famous of whom was Medusa.

343–Amata: Latinus’ queen, who favored Turnus as a son-in-law.

363–The Phrygian shepherd: Paris.

372–Acrisius, Inachus: Early Greek kings. Amata is trying to qualify Turnus for the prophecy that Lavinia must marry a foreigner by citing his Greek ancestry.

385–With a sham Bacchus goading her: Amata is consciously acting like a bacchant, one of the frenzied female followers of Bacchus.

390–thyrsus: An ivy-covered staff carried by Bacchus.

409–The brave Rutulian’s town: Turnus’s home, Ardea, chief city of the Rutulians.

409–Danaë: It was prophesied that Danaë’s son would kill her father, Acrisius, so upon finding her pregnant by Jupiter, Acrisius locked her and her baby, Perseus, in a chest and set them adrift. Vergil’s Amata makes the unique claim that she landed in Italy and was an ancestor of Turnus, making him of foreign (Greek) heritage.

418–ribbons: Fillets; see 2.133n.

419–Juno’s priestess at her shrine: There is a temple of Juno in Ardea.

484–Tyrrhus: The king’s chief herdsman; the Latin word also means “Etruscan.”

487–Silvia: Her name means “of the woodland.”

516–Diana’s lake: The Lake of Diana, near the town of Aricia.

516–Nar River: The main tributary of the Tiber.

517–Velinus’ springs: A lake in Sabine lands; appears again at 7.712.

564–Ampsanctus: A sulfuric lake in southern Italy. The ancients believed there was an entrance to the Underworld there.

601–15–There was a ritual . . . assent: On the Gates of War see 1.294n. This practice, along with Quirinal robes typically worn by Roman consuls (line 612), is contemporary to Vergil but attributed to the ancient Latins.

604–5–Hyrcanians . . . Getans . . . Arabs: Foreigners; the Getae (north of the Danube) were conquered during Augustus’s reign.

606–claim back standards from the Parthians: Augustus’s great diplomatic achievement. In 20 BCE he recovered military standards lost to the Parthians by Crassus in 53 BCE.

630–31–Tibur, . . . Atina, Ardea, . . . Antemnae, Crustumerium: Cities of Latium.

641–Stir my song, Muses, open Helicon: The nine Muses, who lived on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, traditionally inspired poets. Homer invoked them before his catalogue of ships in book 2 of the Iliad, which Vergil is about to imitate with a catalogue of Latin troops.

653–Caere: The capital of the Etruscans, home of Mezentius and Lausus.

655–Aventinus: Vergil’s invented namesake for the famous Aventine Hill in Rome.

662–Geryon: The Giant whom Hercules slew to steal his cattle, another of his Labors; cf. 6.289.

665–Sabine: A native Italian people, some of whom intermarried with the Romans after the founding of Rome (the Romans kidnapped them in what is known as the rape of the Sabine Women).

670–Tibur: An ancient Etruscan town, modern Tivoli.

672–Argives: Greeks.

674–cloud-born Centaurs: Ixion attempted to rape Juno, not realizing Jupiter had replaced her with a Juno-shaped cloud. The union produced the Centaurs.

675–Homole . . . Othrys: A town and mountain in Thessaly, near the home of the Centaurs.

678–Praeneste: modern Palestrina, in the Apennines, not far from Rome.

682–84–Gabian fields . . . Anio . . . Hernici . . . Anagnia: Vergil describes various locales in central Italy. Juno was a special patron of the city of Gabii. The Hernici’s territory was famous for its rocks; the name may come from the Sabine word for rock (herna).

685–Amasenus: This river will later block King Metabus and the infant Camilla as they flee the Volsci: 11.539–66.

689–With nothing on their left feet: Some ancient peoples considered that leaving the left foot unshod was advantageous to soldiers throwing missiles.

695–97–Fescennia’s fort . . . Capena’s groves: Places in southern Etruria just north of the Tiber.

701–the Asian Marsh: A region on the river Caÿster in Lydia.

706–8–Clausus . . . Claudian clan: Clausus is a Sabine whom Vergil seems to make the ancestor of the Claudians, a family that in Vergil’s time included the two Marcelli (6.855–86) and Tiberius Claudius Nero (not to be confused with the emperor Nero), father of the future emperor Tiberius.

710–Quirites: Another name for the Romans, viewed here as an ancient people; the name was derived from the Sabine town Cures.

711:–Mutusca and Erutum: Cities in Sabine territory.

712–14–Velinus country . . . Nursia: All in Sabine territory.

715–Fabaris: A small river which flows into the Tiber; now called the Farfa.

717–the Allia—cursed name: In 390 BCE the Gauls defeated the Roman army at the river Allia and captured Rome itself.

719–Orion: The constellation; its risings and settings were associated with stormy seas.

721–Lycia . . . Hermus: Places in Asia Minor; Hermus is a river in Lydia.

726–Massica: The area surrounding Mount Massicus, famous during antiquity for its wine.

728–Volturnus: A river in Campania.

730–Oscans: An ancient people of Campania.

733–36–Oebalus . . . Capreae . . . Teleboae: Oebalus is from the Naples area; his father, Telon, was king of Capri, which was settled by the Teleboans.

738–the Sarnus: A river between Naples and Salerno.

740–Abella: A town in Campania.

750–Marruvian: Marruvium was a town near Lake Fucinus (modern Fucine) in central Italy.

756–a Trojan spear strike: He will fall to Aeneas’ spear: see 10.543–45.

757–Marsians: A people of central Italy.

759–Fucinus, Angitian woods: Angite was the sister of the witch Circe. Her grove was in the territory of the Marsians, near Lake Fucinus.

761–69–Virbius . . . heaven: According to one tradition, Hippolytus rebuffed the advances of his stepmother, Phaedra, after vowing chastity to Diana. Under Venus’ influence Phaedra falsely accused him of rape. His father, Theseus, then cursed him, resulting in his death. With medicines from Aesculapius (the Healer), son of Apollo, Diana caused him to be reborn as Virbius, a forest god worshipped in Italy.

763–Egeria: A nymph who instructed Numa, Rome’s second king.

786–Chimera: A mythological creature.

789–91–Io . . . Inachus: Io, daughter of the river god Inachus, was seduced by Jupiter and changed into a cow to protect her from his jealous wife, Juno. The cow was guarded by a hundred-eyed monster named Argus. For Turnus’ purported connection to this area, see 7.372n.

798–Numicus: See 7.151n.

799–800–Anxur . . . Feronia: There was a temple and sanctuary of the wilderness goddess Feronia near Anxur, modern Terracina.

801–Satura’s black swamp: In the Pomptine marshes.

802–Cold Ufens: Here a river; at 7.744 and 8.7 a warrior.

803:–Camilla of the Volsci: Vergil’s female warrior, who resembles the Amazon queen Penthesilea in epic poems following Homer. She will feature prominently in the upcoming war.

BOOK 8

The trumpets gave a harsh blare. Turnus raised

The war sign from the tower of Laurentum,

And whipped his horses up, and clashed his weapons.

Instantly all of Latium joined in frenzy

And panic. Its young men grew cruel and savage.

5

The foremost leaders levied troops: Messapus,

Ufens, Mezentius the gods’ reviler

Stripped all the lands of farmers. Venulus,

Sent to ask help from Diomedes’ city,

Reported Trojans building homes in Latium,

10

Aeneas shipping in his conquered gods

And claiming fate had called him to be king;

And many peoples joined the Trojan fighter—

Far over Latium his renown was growing;

But Diomedes could discern more clearly

15

Than either King Latinus or King Turnus

His purpose and what he desired from victory.

Meanwhile, great waves of worries tossed the hero,

The son of Troy, at everything he saw.

His thoughts were darting one way, then another,

20

At every side of his perplexity,

Like shivering light reflected from the water

In bronze urns, from the sun or shining moon;

Flittering all around, then shooting upward

To strike the panels of the lofty ceiling.

25

Now it was night. Deep sleep held weary creatures

Throughout the earth, all kinds that walked and flew.

Under the tall cold sky beside the river

Father Aeneas, troubled by grim war,

Stretched out to give his body rest at last.

30

The old man Tiberinus, who was god there,

Appeared: out of the pleasant stream he rose

Through poplar leaves. A thin gray robe of linen

Covered his body, shady reeds his hair.

He spoke and took away Aeneas’ cares:

35

“Child of the gods who brings Troy back to us

From enemies, to keep its tower forever:

Laurentum’s earth and Latium’s fields await you;

They’re promised for your home and gods—persist!

Have courage, though war threatens. Heaven’s fury

40

Has all has drawn back.

But now, as proof this was no empty dream,

You’ll find a giant sow with thirty newborns

Lying beneath a holm oak on the bank:

White on the dark soil, white young at her teats.

45

The city will be there, and your sure rest.

In thirty circling years, Ascanius

Will found the city Alba—glorious name.

I prophesy the truth. I’ll show you briefly

(So listen!) how to triumph in this crisis.

50

Arcadians, Pallas’ lineage in this land,

Followed their king Evander and his standards

And chose a hilly site and built their city,

Named Pallanteum for their ancestor.

They’ve been at constant war with Latium’s people.

55

Make them your allies, join them in a treaty.

I’ll lead you up the stream between my banks;

You’ll overcome the current, rowing inland.

Son of the goddess, come! While the first stars set,

Supplicate Juno, thwart her anger’s menace

60

With proper prayers and vows; and pay me honor

When you prevail. I am the brimming river

Grazing these banks and cutting through the rich fields,

The azure Tiber, stream the gods most favor.

My halls are here, my source among the high towns.”

65

The river vanished to his basin’s deep floor,

And sleep and night departed from Aeneas.

He stood and saw the heavenly light rising,

Piously cupped his hands, and lifted water

Out of the stream, with fervent words to heaven:

70

“Nymphs of Laurentum, who give birth to rivers,

And Father Tiber with your holy current,

Take me and keep me safe—at last—from danger.

Because you pity our distress, wherever

Your wellsprings gush out, filling you with glory,

75

I’ll worship you and honor you with gifts,

Horned king of all the waters of the West.

Only stay with me: prove your godly favor.”

He spoke, and chose two biremes from the fleet,

Then oarsmen, and supplied his men with weapons.

80

But suddenly he saw among the trees

The wondrous portent: on the grassy bank

A white sow lay stretched out beside her white brood.

Devout Aeneas offered them all up

To you, majestic Juno, at your altar.

85

The Tiber flowed less swollen that whole night,

Checking its current, silencing its surges,

And smoothed its surface to the gentle peace

Of marshland so the rowers wouldn’t struggle,

And thus, with cheers, they sped along their way.

90

Greased fir slid through the shallows; woods and water

Wondered to see strange things: the warriors’ shields

Shining far off, and painted, swimming hulls.

The men wore out a day and night in rowing

Up the long bends. Trees of all kinds gave shelter,

95

And the keels cut the virid, still reflections.

The burning sun had climbed to its mid-orbit

When they saw distant walls, a citadel,

Roofs of sparse homes—things Roman power now

Lifts heavenward; Evander’s poor domain then.

100

Quickly they turned their prows and neared the city.

That day it happened the Arcadian king

Honored great Hercules and other gods

Outside the city in a grove. His son

Pallas, young nobles, and the humble Senate

105

Stood by while incense burned, blood steamed at altars.

They saw tall ships come through the shady woods,

Gliding to shore, as rowers thrust, in silence.

The sudden sight alarmed the feasting men,

Who all stood up. “Don’t interrupt the rites!”

110

Pallas warned, snatched a spear, dashed toward the strangers.

From a far mound he cried, “Where are you heading

On unfamiliar roads? What is your bloodline?

Where do you come from?—and in peace or war?”

Father Aeneas answered from the high stern,

115

While holding out a branch of peaceful olive,

“We’re Trojan-born, and we’re at war with Latins,

Who shamelessly attacked us fugitives.

Where is Evander? Tell him chosen leaders

From Troy have come to ask for an alliance.”

120

“Come ashore,” Pallas said, “though we don’t know you”—

Troy’s great name staggered him. “Speak to my father

Face to face. Be a guest-friend in our household.”

He seized Aeneas’ hand and pressed it warmly.

They moved off from the bank into the woods.

125

Aeneas genially addressed the king:

“Best of men born from Greeks! Fortune has sent me,

A suppliant, to offer boughs with fillets—

Not dreading a Greek lord, Arcadian,

From the same stock as Atreus’ two sons.

130

No, my own rectitude, our common lineage,

The prophecies of gods, and your wide fame

Unite us, and I serve fate willingly.

Dardanus, sailing to the Teucrians,

Founded and fostered Troy. Greeks call him offspring

135

Of Electra, Atlas’ daughter—massive Atlas,

Who holds the globe in heaven on his shoulder.

Mercury was your forebear; snow-white Maia

Gave birth to him on cold Cyllene’s summit.

If we can trust tradition, that same Atlas

140

Who hoists the constellations fathered Maia.

From the same blood, our families branch two ways.

This I relied on, and I used no legates

To test you slyly. Coming to your threshold,

I risked my life, a suppliant in person.

145

The Daunian race hounds both of us with cruel war.

They think they cannot fail, if they defeat us,

To place a tight yoke over all the West

And hold the seas that wash the north and south coasts.

Give me your pledge and take mine. Warlike spirits

150

Are ours, and soldiers proven sound by action.”

The whole time that Aeneas spoke, the king

Surveyed his eyes, his face, and all his form,

Then briefly answered: “Bravest of the Trojans,

I welcome you with joy, remembering

155

The words and voice and face of great Anchises.

Yes, Laomedon’s son Priam visited

Hesione his sister’s realm, then passed

From Salamis to cold Arcadia.

Youth’s early down was blooming on my cheeks.

160

The Trojan chieftains awed me, the prince Priam

Awed me; yet one strode higher than the rest,

Anchises, and I burned with boyish longing

Till I could greet the hero with a handclasp

And lead him to the town of Pheneus.

165

He gave me Lycian arrows when we parted,

A handsome quiver, and a cloak with gold threads

Woven in, and—my son’s now—twin gold bits.

My right hand makes the pledge you now desire,

And when the dawn returns to earth tomorrow,

170

You’ll go back cheered and helped by my resources.

Oblige us, meanwhile, since you come as friends,

And join our annual rite—delay is sinful.

Feast with your allies; start the custom now.”

The meal was over; he had food and wine

175

Brought back, and led the men to seats of turf.

A shaggy lion’s pelt, a maple throne’s

Cushions received Aeneas, guest of honor.

The altar’s priest and chosen keen young men

Served roasted bull, heaped baskets with the gifts

180

That Ceres grants to work, and poured the wine.

Aeneas and the other Trojans savored

A whole ox chine and sacrificial entrails.

When they had got the better of their hunger,

Royal Evander said, “No superstition

185

About old gods imposed this ritual,

This feast, this altar for a mighty being.

No, Trojan guest: saved from a savage peril,

We owe a deity this yearly rite.

First, see that cliff with overhanging rocks,

190

The desolation of that mountain house,

The far-flung boulders of a giant crag fall.

A cave was there, immense in its recesses,

Half-human, hideous Cacus’ home, cut off

From the sun’s rays. The ground was always wet

195

With fresh gore. Hanging on barbaric doors

Were pallid heads of men, decayed and grisly.

Vulcan had sired the monster. Cacus spewed

Vulcan’s flames blackly, moving in his vast bulk.

At last, we had, as people do, an answer

200

To long prayers, and a god arrived to help us:

Hercules, great avenger, proud of killing

Three-bodied Geryon, and of the spoils:

Huge cattle grazed and waded in this valley.

Cacus’ depraved and Fury-haunted mind

205

Could leave no treachery or crime untried.

He took four splendid grazing bulls away,

And four resplendent heifers. To prevent them

From making hoofprints in the right direction,

He dragged them by their tails, reversed their tracks,

210

And hid the stolen creatures in his dark cave.

No evidence would lead you to the place.

Amphitryon’s son now prepared to drive

His cattle onward—they had grazed their fill.

But their complaining lowing filled the forest;

215

With a great noise, they moved off from the hills.

One of the captives in the monstrous cave

Lowed back and thwarted Cacus’ plans to keep her.

At this, black fury blazed up in Alcides.

He snatched the heavy knotted club, his weapon,

220

And quickly scaled the steep and lofty mountain.

Then we saw Cacus fearful and tormented

For the first time as, faster than the East Wind,

He sought his cave. His feet were winged with terror.

He shut himself inside and broke the chain

225

His father’d forged for holding up the boulder,

Which toppled now, to barricade the door.

But now the furious Tirynthian

Was there. He gnashed his teeth and peered all over

For a way in. He raged three times around

230

The Aventine; three times he tried the stone door

And each time fell back, winded, in the valley.

A spire of flint, with sheared rocks all around it,

Rose from the cave’s roof, dizzying to see:

A fitting place for ghastly birds to nest.

235

It slanted from the ridge above the river

On the left. Wrenching from the right, he freed it,

And tore it from its roots and shoved it over.

The heights of heaven shuddered at the impact.

The stream fled backward, terrified; the banks burst.

240

Now Cacus’ massive caverned court was opened,

Its shadowed depths exposed—as if some power

Should split the earth clear to the resting places

In Hades and uncover that pale kingdom

The gods hate. From above, the huge abyss

245

Would show, the spirits tremble at the light.

The monster in the rocky hole was caught

In sudden day—he’d never howled like this.

Above, the hero persecuted him

With everything at hand, with boughs, with boulders.

250

Cacus in turn—since there was no escape—

Belched out a flood of smoke (amazing sight)

And wrapped his quarters in a blinding darkness,

Tearing away our view of him and heaping

A smoky, fire-flecked midnight in the cavern.

255

Fierce Hercules had had enough. He plunged

Straight to the center, where the smoke surged highest,

A black cloud seething from that giant cave.

There he caught Cacus spewing useless flames

In darkness, pinned and throttled him until

260

His eyes popped and his throat was dry and bloodless.

Now with the doors torn off, the black lair open,

The sky saw looted cows he’d tried to hide.

The ugly corpse was pulled out by the feet.

Men couldn’t satisfy their hearts with gazing

265

At the half-human creature’s fearsome eyes,

His bristling chest, his face, his mouth—its fires dead.

Ever since then, we have observed this day;

Potitius was the founder of the cult,

But the Pinarian clan tends it now.

270

And in this grove he set the Greatest Altar—

We call it so; so it will always be.

Come, young men, give this heroism honor.

Garland your hair; with cups in your right hands,

Invoke the gods we share with glad libations.”

275

Hercules’ dappled dangling poplar leaves

Covered the king’s head now, and he had taken

The holy cup in hand. Keenly, all present

Prayed to the gods, with wine poured on the table.

The sky moved down, and evening drew in closer.

280

Potitius led a file of priests, who wore

The ritual belted furs and carried torches.

Again they feasted, bringing pleasant gifts

For the next course, and full trays heaped the altars.

The Salii, in crowns of poplar branches,

285

Gathered to chant around the lighted altars.

A young choir and an old one sang the valor

Of Hercules, how he first throttled monsters,

The twin snakes that his father’s wife had sent,

Then overthrew Oechalia and Troy,

290

Towns great in war. For King Eurystheus

He endured countless labors, through the spite

Of Juno. “Triumphs everywhere! You slaughtered

The cloud-born Centaurs Pholus and Hylaeus,

The Cretan beast, the giant Nemean lion.

295

You panicked Stygian pools and Hades’ guard,

Sprawled over gnawed bones in his bloody cave.

You even faced Typhoeus with his weapons

Raised high. You found a way to kill the Hydra

Of Lerna, with its crowd of heads that ringed you.

300

Greetings, Jove’s new son, true god in your glory.

Come to your ritual with happy omens.”

Such were the exploits that they sang—above all

The cave and fire-breathing Cacus in it.

The whole woods echoed, and the hills resounded.

305

The rites were over. Everyone returned

Into the city. Slowed by age, the king

Kept his son and Aeneas close beside him

And spoke of various things to ease the walk.

Aeneas gazed all over, much impressed.

310

For everything he had an eager question,

And learned of what the men of old had left there.

Rome’s fortress builder, King Evander, told him,

“The native fauns and nymphs once shared this forest

With men, a tribe born out of flinty oak trunks—

315

Primitive, ignorant of yoking oxen,

And how to gather goods and how to keep them.

The trees and savage hunting gave them food.

Saturn was first to come, a kingly exile

Running from high Olympus and Jove’s violence.

320

This race, untaught and scattered in high mountains,

He brought together under law and called it

“Latin” from “latent” safety in this country.

Under this king the age that they call Golden

Arrived, and in great peace he ruled the people,

325

Till slowly a degraded age came on

With its war frenzy and its burning greed.

Then came Ausonians, and Sicanian tribes—

The land of Saturn often changed its name.

There were kings, such as giant, cruel King Thybris,

330

After whom we Italians call this river.

The Albula has lost its ancient name.

All-ruling Fortune, fate with no escape,

Apollo’s mandate and the nymph Carmentis

My mother’s fearsome warnings sent me here,

335

An exile to the ocean’s farthest edge.”

Not pausing, he went on and showed the altar

And gate the Romans gave the name Carmental:

This was an early honor for Carmentis,

Who first claimed future glory for the line

340

Aeneas sired, and for Pallanteum.

In this large grove would be fierce Romulus’

Asylum. Chill cliffs roofed the Lupercal,

Named for Arcadia’s Lycaean Pan.

He showed the sacred grove, the Argiletum,

345

And told how Argus, though a guest, was killed there.

Tarpeia’s Rock rose, and the Capitol—

Gold now, then overgrown with forest brambles.

That cliff and woods made rustics quake already:

They felt a deadly power in the place.

350

“A god (but which?) lives in this grove, this hummock

Topped with leaves,” said the king. “Arcadians

Think they see Jove himself here often, shaking

His dusky aegis, summoning the storm clouds.

But these two towns with ruined walls you see

355

Are records left of men who came before.

Old Janus built this fort, Janiculum,

And Saturn this one, called Saturnia.”

They then moved toward Evander’s simple home;

His lowing cattle ranged on what is now

360

Rome’s Forum and the elegant Carinae.

They reached the house. “Hercules stooped inside

And found this palace big enough,” the king said.

“Friend, scorn wealth boldly; you too must be ready

For godhead—come, don’t sneer at my poor home.”

365

Beneath the narrow roof he led Aeneas,

A towering man, and placed him on a couch

Of leaves; a Libyan bearskin lay across it.

Night fell, embracing earth in her dark wings.

Venus’ maternal terror had its reasons:

370

Laurentum threatened, shameless tumult spread.

These words to her spouse, Vulcan, in their bedroom

Of gold breathed supernatural passion through him.

“While the Greek kings pressed on to pillage Troy,

Whose citadel would fall in fated flames.

375

I asked no help, no weapon from your art

For the poor things, dear husband. I had no wish

To see your work and trouble go for nothing—

Though I owed much to Priam’s sons and often

Cried for the bitter hardships of Aeneas.

380

Now Jove’s will sets him on Rutulian shores.

I ask your holy honored self for arms,

A mother for her son. Nereus’ daughter,

Tithonus’ wife—they wept and won you over.

I see tribes massing, gates shut, iron sharpened

385

Against me, to eradicate my people.”

He wavered. Tenderly the goddess wrapped him

In her white arms and fondled him. In no time

He took in the familiar flame. The old heat

Ran through his bones and shook him to the marrow,

390

As when a streak of flame, ripped loose by thunder,

Flashes and shoots through clouds with its intense light.

His wife was glad—her tricks and beauty worked.

Bound in eternal love, the great god spoke:

“Why far-fetched pretexts? You had faith in me

395

In the past, Goddess. Had you wanted it

Back then, I would have rightly armed the Trojans,

Since neither fate nor the almighty father

Had outlawed ten more years for Troy and Priam.

But if you’re now preparing for a war,

400

Whatever help my skill and care can promise,

Anything that the force of fire and bellows

Can make from melted iron and electrum

Is yours. Don’t plead for it and doubt your powers.”

He then made tender love to her and melted

405

Into sweet slumber in his wife’s embrace.

But when he woke from his first sleep, and Night

Had finished half her course—the hour a woman

Who makes a flimsy living from her craft

Of spinning wakes the sleeping ashes, adding

410

Night hours to work, with slaves kept at their long tasks

By firelight, to bring up her little children

And guard her marriage bed from any shame:

At that hour, and as tirelessly, the fire god

Rose from his soft bed to his craft. An island

415

Rears high, with smoking cliffs, beside the coast

Of Sicily and Aeolian Lipari.

Dug underneath it are the caves of Etna

For the loud forges of the Cyclops clan.

The anvils boom and echo with strong blows,

420

Dipped iron squeals, and forges roar with fire

In Vulcan’s house, in the land named for him.

From the sky’s heights the fire god came, to find

His workers beating iron in that vast cave:

Brontes, Steropes, half-stripped Pyracmon.

425

They had in hand a new-forged thunderbolt,

Part perfect, part unfinished, such as Zeus

The father hurls to earth in lavish numbers.

On it they put three shafts of twisted rain,

Three each of wet cloud, red flame, winged South Wind,

430

And then mixed lightning in, and noise, and terror,

And added wrath with its pursuing fires.

Others worked hard at Mars’ winged chariot

For stirring soldiers, for inciting cities;

Others were busy at the ghastly aegis,

435

Armor of Pallas in her rage. They polished

The gold scales and the snake-twined, wild-eyed head—

The Gorgon who adorned the goddess’ breastplate.

“Get rid of all this, Cyclops race of Etna,

And start this new work,” Vulcan told them now.

440

“A man with heart needs weapons. You need strength

And quick hands, and your craft’s full mastery.

Hurry!” He said no more. All swiftly bent

To work, dividing it in equal shares.

Soon rivulets of bronze and gold were flowing.

445

Wound-making steel was melting in the huge forge.

They formed a giant shield, with seven disks

Bound into layers fit to meet the weapons

Of all the Latins. Some pump windy bellows,

Others dip hissing bronze work in the basin.

450

The cavern groans with blows on steady anvils.

Alternately they raise their mighty arms

In rhythm; with tight tongs they turn the ingots.

Aeolian Vulcan hurried on this work,

As tender light and birdsong from the eaves

455

Wakened Evander in his simple home.

The old man rose, tied on Etruscan sandals,

Draped himself in a tunic, hung a sword belt

And an Arcadian sword from his right shoulder,

While from the other swept a panther skin.

460

Down from the doorstep two dogs came with him

And closely paced before their master’s steps.

He sought his guest Aeneas’ quarters, thinking—

The good man—of their talk and what he’d promised.

Aeneas too rose early; with Achates

465

He went to meet Evander and his son.

The men clasped hands and seated in the courtyard,

Finally found a chance for a discussion.

The king began:

“Great Trojan chief, as long as you’re alive,

470

I’d never call the power of Troy defeated.

We can give little help to match your glory.

The Tiber blocks us on one side. The other

Clangs with Rutulian weapons at our walls.

But I propose to join vast nations to you,

475

And armed camps rich with empire; chance has given

Relief unlooked-for; fate has called you here.

Not far off, on its ancient stone foundation,

Is Argylla. War-renowned Lydians

Settled there long ago, on Tuscan uplands

480

And throve for many years. Mezentius

Then came to rule by force, a brazen tyrant.

Unspeakable, his butcheries, his frenzies.

Gods, bring the same to him—and to his children.

He even tied dead bodies onto live ones,

485

Hands against hands and faces against faces—

His special torture. In this grim embrace,

His victims slowly died, in liquid rot.

At last his people, worn down by his riots

Of horrors, placed his household under siege,

490

Shot his roof full of flame and killed his henchmen.

Mezentius escaped, though, and took refuge

Among Rutulian arms, as Turnus’ guest-friend.

Now all Etruria rose in rightful anger,

Calling for his return, on pain of war.

495

I’ll give you to these thousands as a leader.

Their vessels pack the shore, the soldiers clamor

For battle; an old augur’s prophecies

Hold them back. ‘Chosen youth of Lydia,

Brave flower of an ancient warrior tribe,

500

Driven by just rage at Mezentius’ crimes!

You must not serve a man of Italy.

Wait for a foreigner.’ The Tuscan army

Has not marched on, in fear of heaven’s warning.

Tarchon himself sent legates to deliver

505

The crown and rod of kingship and a summons

To camp, where I could take up Tuscan rule.

But weary old age, slow and cold, denies me

Command; my strength for daring now lies sluggish.

I’d urge my son, but he’s a part of this land:

510

His mother’s Sabine. Fate approves your age

And lineage. Heaven calls you. Come, begin,

Heroic Trojan and Italian leader.

I’ll even lend my only joy and comfort,

Pallas—you’ll be his guide. From your example,

515

He’ll grow accustomed to Mars’ heavy work.

Let him from early youth hold you in awe.

Two hundred chosen knights, rock of my army,

I’ll give him, and he’ll give you just as many

In his own name.” Anchises’ son Aeneas

520

And trustworthy Achates kept their eyes down.

Sad-hearted, they turned many harsh thoughts over—

But Venus gave a portent up above.

Astonishingly, lightning flashed from heaven,

And thunder boomed, as if the sky were falling;

525

And like a Tuscan horn the high air sounded.

They looked up, and the blaring blasts continued.

In calm clear sky, between the clouds they saw

Weapons glow red; they clashed like thunderclaps.

It stunned them all—except the Trojan hero,

530

Who knew the sound, pledge of his goddess mother.

“Guest-friend,” he said, “these signs allow no doubt:

Olympus calls me. My immortal mother

Promised this sign, a covenant for wartime,

And said she’d bring me weapons made by Vulcan

535

Down through the air.

The slaughter waiting for the poor Laurentians!

The punishment for Turnus! All the helmets,

Shields, brave men’s bodies rolling in old Tiber!

Let them break treaties, let them have their war.”

540

He rose from his high seat. Hercules’ altar

Was smoldering; he stirred its ashes up,

Then cheerfully approached the lowly home gods

He knew from yesterday. Evander slaughtered

Chosen sheep; Troy’s young men performed the same rite.

545

Returning to his ships and friends, Aeneas

Chose all the ablest men to follow him

To war; the others glided with the fleet

Slackly downriver to Ascanius

With news of how things stood, and of his father.

550

The Trojans headed for the Tuscan plains

Were given mounts; Aeneas’ special one

Wore a sand-colored gold-clawed lion pelt.

Suddenly Rumor flew all through the small town:

Horsemen were speeding to the Tuscan camp.

555

Over and over mothers prayed: their terror

Grew with the danger, and Mars’ specter grew.

Father Evander now took Pallas’ hand

In parting, and he couldn’t stop his tears.

“If only Jove restored my youth and made me

560

Again the victor at Praeneste, throwing

The front ranks down, then burning heaps of shields—!

That day I sent King Erulus to Hades,

Feronia, his mother, gave him three lives—

Monstrous—and triple weapons for attack.

565

He had to be cut down three times; I took

Each soul from him, three times I stripped his weapons.

My former self would not be torn from you,

My child; Mezentius would not insult me,

His neighbor, with so much barbaric slaughter

570

And a town widowed of so many townsmen.

You, gods above, and your great governor

Jupiter, pity an Arcadian king,

And hear a father’s prayer. If your divine power

And fate will keep my Pallas safe for me,

575

And if I live to see him face to face,

I beg to live, no matter what I suffer.

But if you threaten the unspeakable,

Then, Fortune, break my wretched life off now,

While fears are unconfirmed, hope arguable,

580

While you, dear son, sole pleasure of my old age,

Are in my arms, and no hard news is wounding

My ears.” The father, at the last farewell,

Poured out these words, and swooned. Slaves took him home.

The cavalry had passed the gates: Aeneas

585

And staunch Achates in the leading rank,

Then other Trojan nobles; in the middle

Went Pallas in a vivid cloak and armor;

As, soaked in Ocean’s waters, Lucifer,

Whom Venus loves above all other stars,

590

Raises his sacred face and melts the darkness.

Up on the wall stood frightened mothers, gazing

After the dust cloud and the bronze-bright squadrons.

These marched off in their armor through the brush,

The closest way. A shout rose from the column.

595

Horses’ hooves rumbled on the loose-earthed plain.

There is a forest near cool Caere’s stream,

Widely held sacred by an old tradition.

Hills covered in black firs encircle it.

They say the old Greeks, first to live in Latium,

600

Made this a shrine, with its own holy day,

For the god ruling fields and herds, Silvanus.

Tarchon and his Etruscans pitched their tents

In a safe site nearby. A hilltop view

Showed the whole army camped across the plain.

605

Father Aeneas and his picked troops came here

Tired, cared for their mounts, and ate and rested.

Snowy-white holy Venus brought her presents

Through heaven’s clouds. Far off, she saw her son

In a secluded valley, by a cold stream.

610

She went straight up to him and spoke these words:

“My husband’s gifts are finished, with the skill

He pledged. So don’t hang back from challenging

The arrogant Laurentians or fierce Turnus.”

Then the Cytherean embraced her son,

615

And set the gleaming arms beneath the oak.

The goddess’ gift—the honor of it—thrilled him.

He couldn’t fill his gaze with every piece.

With awe he picked them up and turned them over:

The fearsome helmet with its flaming crest,

620

The deadly sword, the blood-red corselet stiff

With bronze—enormous, like a cloud, blue-shaded

But kindling with the sky’s far-stretching rays;

Then the smooth greaves of forged gold and electrum,

The spear, the shield—work beyond all description.

625

There the fire god had etched Italian history

And Roman triumphs, from the prophecies

He knew: Ascanius’ whole line to come,

And every war the clan would fight, in sequence.

There lay a mother wolf, in Mars’ green grotto.

630

Playful twin boys were hanging on her teats,

Fearlessly suckling on their foster-mother.

She arched her neck above the pair and licked

Either in turn, to shape them with her tongue.

Beside this he’d put Rome, and Sabine women

635

Snatched—such a lawless act—from crowded stands

At the Great Games. Old Tatius, with his stern folk

Of Cures, warred again with Romulus

And his settlers. It was over then: the two kings

Stood before armed Jove’s altar, holding bowls,

640

Their treaty hallowed by a slaughtered sow.

Next, chariot teams tore Mettus limb from limb

(You should have kept your promise, man of Alba);

The liar’s guts were scattered through the woods

By Tullus—blood dew spattered bramble bushes.

645

Porsenna ordered Rome to take back Tarquin,

And with a massive force besieged the city.

Aeneas’ people dashed to arms, for freedom.

You saw the threat and anger on his face—

When Cocles dared to tear the bridge apart

650

And Cloelia broke her chains and swam the river.

Near the shield’s top was Manlius, who guarded

Tarpeia’s heights, the Capitol and temple;

Romulus’ palace still had bristling fresh thatch.

In the gold portico a silver goose,

655

Flapping and calling, warned that Gauls had come.

Stealing up through the brush, they’d reached the stronghold,

Protected by the favor of dark Night.

Their hair was shaggy gold, their clothes were gold,

Their striped cloaks shone, around their milky necks

660

Were twists of gold; each rattled in his hand

Two Alpine pikes; long shields were their protection.

From the god’s hammer Salii had leapt,

And naked Luperci, wool caps, shields fallen

Out of the sky. In dainty carts chaste matrons

665

Brought holy objects through the town. Far off

Were Dis’ high gates, the settlement of Hades

Where crimes are punished. From a looming cliff

Catiline hangs and quivers at the Furies.

The good live elsewhere; Cato makes their laws.

670

A picture of the swollen sea, in gold,

Wound through these scenes and billowed, foaming white.

Bright silver dolphins circled in the rim’s spume

And swept the surface with their tails. The fleets,

Braced with bronze, were lined up at Actium

675

In the shield’s center. All of Leucata

Was seething with them. Gold shone on the waves.

Caesar Augustus led the Roman forces—

Senate and people, hearth gods, mighty sky gods.

High on the stern he stood; from his glad forehead

680

Poured two flames. From his head his father’s star rose.

Elsewhere Agrippa—gods and winds both helped him—

Led the line from on high, bright naval ship beaks

Crowning him proudly. Antony, the victor

Over the Eastern lands, over the Red Sea,

685

Brought foreign wealth and motley troops against them.

Egypt, and Eastern power, and farthest Bactra

Were in his train, and his Egyptian wife

Followed him—outrage! Now the navies clashed.

Beaks, backed oars, triple spikes churned sea to foam.

690

To the deep! You’d imagine Delos torn loose

And floating, or high mountains smashed together:

Men moved to battle on such towering sterns.

Oakum in flames and iron weapons soared.

Neptune’s fields reddened. In the midst the queen

695

Rallied her ranks, shaking her country’s sistrum—

Not seeing yet the two snakes etched behind her.

The dog Anubis and all sorts of beast gods

Faced off with Venus, Neptune, and Minerva;

And Mars raged in the center of the battle,

700

Engraved in iron; grisly Furies hovered,

Discord stalked in a tattered robe, contented.

Bellona followed with her bloody whip.

From his high cliff-top shrine Apollo saw,

And aimed his bow. Egyptians, Indians,

705

Arabs, Sabaeans turned and fled in terror.

The queen was pictured calling on the winds

And just then slacking ropes to spread the sails.

The smith god made her pale among the slaughter.

She faced her death; the waves and the northwester

710

Swept her along. The mighty Nile, in mourning,

Opened his arms and giant cloak and beckoned

The conquered to retreat to his blue delta.

Caesar rode into Rome in triple triumph

And gave our gods their holy lasting payment:

715

Three hundred towering shrines throughout the city.

Streets roared with celebration and applause.

Offerings filled the temples, mothers danced,

And slaughtered calves were sprawled before the altars.

Sitting at shining Phoebus’ snowy threshold,

720

He viewed the nations’ gifts and had them mounted

On the proud doors. All kinds of clothing, weapons,

And languages filed by in captive order:

Leleges, Carians, loose-robed Africans,

Nomads, Gelonian archers. The Euphrates

725

Walked with meek waves; the two-horned Rhine walked by;

Remote Morini, Dahae now first conquered,

And the Araxes, fuming at his new bridge.

Aeneas, thrilled by Vulcan’s scenic shield,

His mother’s gift, knew nothing of the stories.

730

He shouldered his descendants’ glorious fate.

2–Laurentum: Latinus’ city, though Turnus now seems to be acting as leader.

6–Messapus: A king of Etruria, famous as a horse-tamer.

9–Diomedes’ city: Argyripa, also called Arpi; Diomedes, a Greek warrior at Troy, settled in Italy after the war.

11–conquered gods: See 1.379n.

22–25–Like shivering light . . . lofty ceiling: Vergil has adapted this simile from Apollonius, Argonautica 3, in which it describes Medea’s fluttering heart.

31–Tiberinus: The god of the river Tiber.

43–giant sow with thirty newborns: This fulfills Helenus’ prophecy at 3.389–92.

46–This line is thought to be spurious.

48–Alba: Vergil hints that Alba Longa is so named for the white color of the sow (Latin albus).

51–54–Arcadians . . . Pallanteum: Arcadians are Greeks descended from Pallas, Evander’s great-grandfather. Pallanteum, the city they founded in Italy, gives its name to Rome’s Palatine Hill.

79–biremes: A Greek warship with two decks of oars.

103–Hercules: Hercules defeated the monster Cacus near Pallanteum, as described in 8.190–267.

105–Pallas: Soon to be a close companion of Aeneas.

105–Senate: Vergil assimilates Evander’s settlement to Rome.

130–Atreus’ two sons: Agamemnon and Menelaus share ancestry with Evander via Maia, the mother of Mercury.

131–our common lineage: Aeneas reminds Evander that he is related to the Trojans too, via Dardanus and Mercury, as explained in 131–42.

134–Teucrians:–See 1.235n.

136–Electra: Sister of Maia.

139–Cyllene: A mountain in the Peloponnese in Greece.

146–Daunian race: Turnus’ Rutulians. Daunus was Turnus’s father.

166–Lycian arrows: Lycians were skilled as archers, so Lycian arrows were especially valuable.

193–94–A cave was there . . . Cacus’ home: Vergil adapts a local Italian myth about Vulcan’s son Cacus.

203–the spoils: the cattle of the monster Geryon, taken as one of Hercules’ Labors.

213–Amphitryon’s son: Hercules, who is properly the son of Jupiter; Amphitryon is his stepfather.

219–Alcides: Another name for Hercules.

228–Tirynthian: Hercules was linked with the Mycenaean city of Tiryns, his base of operations during his Twelve Labors.

231–Aventine: One of the seven hills of Rome.

269–70–Potitius . . . Pinarian clan: Families of Rome who were in charge of the cult of Hercules.

271–Greatest Altar: The ara maxima, in the Forum Boarium at Rome.

276–poplar leaves: The poplar was associated with Hercules.

285–Salii: Roman priests usually associated with Mars; they recur at 8.663.

289–twin snakes: Jealous of her husband’s affair, Juno sent snakes to kill the infant Hercules in his cradle.

290–Oechalia and Troy: Two cities sacked by Hercules.

291–93–King Eurystheus . . . spite of Juno: Driven mad by Juno, Hercules killed his wife and son and was ordered to perform his Twelve Labors for King Eurystheus as penance. The speech that follows touches on several of them.

294–cloud-born Centaurs: See 7.674n.

295–Cretan beast . . . Nemean lion: The Cretan beast was a wild bull sent by Neptune; the hide of the Nemean lion could not be pierced by any weapon. These were two of Hercules’ Twelve Labors.

296–Hades’ guard: Cerberus. One of the Labors was to fetch him from the Underworld.

298–Typhoeus: One of the Giants; Hercules fought the Giants when they attacked the Olympian gods.

299–300 Hydra of Lerna: The hundred-headed Hydra grew two new heads for each head cut off; during one of the Labors, Hercules cauterized each stump when he cut off the head.

319–Saturn: Jupiter deposed his father Saturn, who is said to have gone into exile in Latium.

323–“Latin” from “latent”: Vergil links “Latin” with the verb lateo, “lie hidden,” because Saturn lay hidden in Latium from his son Jupiter.

324–the age that they call Golden: An idyllic early period of human existence, the first and best in a series of progressively declining ages; Silver, Bronze, and Iron followed.

330–giant, cruel King Thybris: His name may connect with the Greek word hybris, “violence.”

334–Carmentis: The mother of Evander, worshipped in Rome as a goddess of prophecy and childbirth.

342–43–Romulus’ asylum: The “asylum” on the Capitoline Hill, where Romulus invited the dispossessed from other nations to live.

343–44–Lupercal, named for Arcadia’s Lycaean Pan: A cave of the god Lupercus at the foot of the Palantine Hill, where the wolf that reared Romulus and Remus was said to have lived; Pan’s epithet “Lycaeus” means “wolfish” in Greek.

345–Argiletum: Literally “death of Argus”; Argus was a Greek who plotted to kill his host Evander but instead was killed by Evander’s subjects.

347–Tarpeia’s Rock: Steep cliff on the Capitoline Hill, named after Tarpeia, who betrayed the Romans in their war with the Sabines. Especially notorious criminals were thrown off it to their deaths.

348–Gold now, then overgrown with forest brambles: The Capitoline Hill was the location of the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, restored with gilding by Augustus in 26 BCE.

357–Janiculum: The hill across the Tiber.

358–Saturnia: On the Capitoline Hill.

361–Rome’s Forum and the elegant Carinae: The Forum was the center of urban life in Rome; Carinae was a Roman district named for some of its buildings, which looked like the keels of ships (carinae).

383–84–Nereus’ daughter, Tithonus’ wife: Thetis, mother of Achilles, and the dawn goddess Aurora, mother of Memnon, had persuaded Vulcan to forge arms for their sons.

415–17–An island . . . Lipari: The island Hiera, modern Marettimo, off the western coast of Sicily.

422–the land named for him: The island named “Volcani insula” (Vulcan’s island) is sometimes identified with modern Hiera.

425–Brontes, Steropes, . . . Pyracmon: In Greek their names mean “lightning,” “thunder,” and “fire anvil.”

438–The Gorgon: Medusa, the female monster whose severed head was part of the aegis (shield or breastplate) of Minerva.

479–Argylla . . . Lydians: Argylla is the Etruscan city of Caere. The Etruscans were said to come from Lydia, in Asia Minor.

505–Tarchon: Founder of the Etruscan town Tarquinii, and an ally of Aeneas.

511–Sabine: The Sabines were native Italians, so although Evander is Greek, his son is not fully “foreign.”

515–your example: Role models were central to Roman thought.

524–25–lightning . . . thunder: Thunder and lightning in a clear sky signified an extremely important omen.

561–Praeneste: modern Palestrina, in the Apennines, not far from Rome.

589–Lucifer: The Morning Star, literally “Light Bearer.”

597–Caere: The Etruscan city where Mezentius had ruled.

602–Silvanus: A woodland god.

615–the Cytherean: The island Cythera was sacred to Venus.

616–the gleaming arms: The “Shield of Aeneas” section is Vergil’s adaptation of Homer’s famous description of the shield of Achilles in Iliad 18.

626–the fire god: Vulcan.

626–27–Italian history and Roman triumphs: Vergil concentrates on early Roman legend then moves rapidly to the contemporary Battle of Actium, omitting many notable events, including the invasion of Hannibal.

630–31–a mother wolf, . . . playful twin boys: Romulus and Remus, the former being the founder of Rome. Sons of Mars, they were suckled by a she-wolf in the Lupercal: see 8.343–44n.

635–36–Sabine women snatched: Facing a shortage of women, early Roman men abducted local Sabine women and married them, an event referred to as the rape of the Sabine women.

637–38–Tatius, with his stern folk of Cures: Tatius was the king of the Sabines who went to war with Romulus, the first king of Rome; Cures was a Sabine town.

642–45–chariot teams tore Mettus limb from limb . . . Tullus: Mettus Fufetius, ruler of Alba Longa, wavered in supporting Rome in battle; the third Roman king, Tullius Hostilius, condemned him to be torn apart by horses driven in opposite directions.

646–Porsenna: The Etruscan king Lars Porsenna besieged Rome after the Romans deposed their last king, Tarquinius Superbus, who was of Etruscan origin. He was impressed by several Roman acts of bravery, described below.

650–Cocles: Horatius Cocles, who single-handedly held a bridge during Porsenna’s initial attack.

651–Cloelia: A Roman hostage of Porsenna who escaped his camp by swimming across the Tiber

652–Manlius: A Roman general who in 390 BCE with a small contingent of soldiers held off the Gauls’ attack on Rome via the Tarpeian Rock (8.347n.).

654–Romulus’ palace still had bristling fresh thatch: The thatched house of Romulus on the Capitoline Hill, a historical monument in Vergil’s time.

655–silver goose: Manlius was alerted to the Gauls’ night attack on the Capitoline Hill by the honking of the sacred geese.

663–Salii: See 8.285n.

664–Luperci: Priests of Lupercus, a fertility god, whose festival was celebrated by the Luperci running half-naked through the streets striking people with goads; see 8.343–44n.

664–65–shields fallen out of the sky: Sacred shields were believed to have fallen from the sky during the reign of Numa.

669–Catiline: Lucius Sergius Catilina, a patrician who in 63 BCE plotted to overthrow the Roman Republic before being exposed by the consul Cicero.

670–Cato: Cato the Younger, a proponent of Stoic philosophy who was known for his moral integrity.

676–Leucata: Site of the Battle of Actium; see 3.280n.

678–Caesar Augustus: At the time he was still named Octavian; he would not be given the title of Augustus until 27 BCE.

680–High on the stern he stood: In the Latin, exactly the same phrase is used to describe Anchises at 3.526–27 and Aeneas at 10.261, thus linking Augustus with his claimed ancestors.

682–Agrippa: Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus’ admiral, who was largely responsible for the victory at Actium.

684–Antony, the victor: Antony had recently led successful campaigns against the Parthians.

687–Egypt: The last of the Roman civil wars occurred when Antony, previously Octavian’s ally, took up arms against Rome after the Senate declared war on his lover Cleopatra.

688–89–His Egyptian wife . . . outrage!: As Cleopatra was a foreigner, her affair with Antony was not a lawful Roman marriage.

691–Delos: That is, the ships were so large they appeared to be islands. For Delos as a “free-floating” island, see 3.73n.

696–sistrum: An Egyptian musical instrument resembling a rattle.

697–two snakes: Cleopatra will later commit suicide by asp bite.

698–Anubis and all sorts of beast gods: Anubis was a dog-headed Egyptian god. The animal components of Egyptian deities seemed bizarre to Romans.

704–cliff-top shrine: Apollo had a temple at Actium.

709–The smith god: Vulcan.

714–in triple triumph: Augustus held a three-day triumph in 29 BCE when he returned to Rome.

716–Three hundred towering shrines: Augustus consecrated many temples and shrines during his lifetime.

720–21–Phoebus’ snowy threshold, he viewed the nations’ gifts: Octavian sits on the marble portico of the temple of Apollo on the Palatine.

725–28–Euphrates . . . Araxes: Rivers representing various peoples conquered by the Romans; in triumphal processions rivers were depicted as chained river deities.

BOOK 9

While, far away, all this was happening,

Iris came earthward, sent by Saturn’s daughter

To Turnus, who was seated in a hollow,

The sanctum of his ancestor Pilumnus.

Rosy-lipped Thaumas’ child addressed him: “Turnus,

5

Circling time, on its own, brings you an answer

To prayers—no god would venture it: Aeneas

Has left behind his fort, his fleet, his comrades

For Palatine Evander’s kingly home.

He’s ventured on to Corythus’ far cities

10

To gather Lydian farmers and equip them.

Why waver? Call for chariots and horses.

Don’t hold back: overrun the camp and take it.”

On poised wings, she rose skyward, and a great arc

Was cut beneath the clouds as she retreated.

15

The young man knew her, and he raised both hands

To heaven, calling these words after her:

“Iris, great splendor of the sky, who sent you

Down through the clouds? Why is the air so bright

Just now? I see the sky split in the middle—

20

Stars wander at its height. Whoever’s great signs

Call me to arms, I follow.” He went down

To take up water from the current’s surface

And overwhelmed the gods above with prayers.

Now the whole army crossed the open plains,

25

Wealthy in horses, gold, embroidery;

Messapus marshaled the front ranks, the sons

Of Tyrrhus had the rear, the center Turnus,

Wheeling with weapons, taller by a head—

As the calm Ganges swells from the infusions

30

Of seven smooth streams; as the Nile’s rich floods

Ebb from the plains and hide beneath the banks.

The Trojans suddenly saw black dust massing

Far away, darkness welling on the plain.

From a high mound Caïcus gave the warning:

35

“Citizens, what’s that murky roiling round thing?

Quick—bring your swords and spears and man the walls.

They’re here!” The Trojans hollered and sought shelter

Through every gate, and crowded on the ramparts;

Such were the parting orders of Aeneas,

40

The able general: that if something happened,

They must not take the field and risk a battle,

But stay on bastions and defensive mounds.

Though shame and anger counseled them to fight,

They shut the gates, as ordered, armed themselves,

45

And braced for the attack in hollow towers.

Turnus, with twenty chosen horsemen trailing,

Flew past his slow front line and reached the town,

To its alarm. He rode a dappled horse

From Thrace, and wore a gold, red-crested helmet.

50

“Young men, who’ll join me in the first assault?

Look—” And he whirled his spear up through the air

To start the fight; he loomed, he plunged ahead.

His men took up the shout—they followed him

With chilling roars, contemptuous of the Trojans.

55

Why not fight man to man, out on the level?

Why hunch inside? The agitated general

Rode back and forth but couldn’t find a gap;

As a wolf prowls outside a crowded sheepfold

And growls at every chink. The wind and rain

60

Of midnight lash him. Lambs beneath their mothers

Huddle and bleat and bleat. Though he can’t reach them,

He lunges in wild rage, lashed on by hunger

Grown into frenzy, by his blood-starved throat.

So the Rutulian scanned the camp’s defenses,

65

Seared to the bone by anger and frustration.

How could he break in? What assault would scatter

The Trojans out across the level ground?

Their fleet lay snug, moored right beside the camp,

Closed in by earthworks and the flowing river.

70

There he struck, calling to his cheering comrades,

“Torches!”—and hectically snatched burning pine.

They set to work, with Turnus there to goad them.

Soon all the troops laid hold of sooty weapons,

Looting the fires; pitchy smoky light spread,

75

And Vulcan sent the sparks clear up to heaven.

Muse, say what god it was that saved the Trojans,

Beating the fierce flames from their ships. The ancients

Vouched for the story, and it still endures.

Back when Aeneas, high on Phrygian Ida,

80

Began to build a fleet to sail the deep,

The Berecynthian mother of the gods,

They say, told great Jove, “You’re Olympus’ lord,

So grant what your dear mother begs from you.

For many years I had a cherished forest

85

On a high peak, a place of offerings,

Shadowed with black pitch pines and maple trees.

Gladly I gave it to the youthful Trojan

Who had to have a fleet, but now I’m anxious.

Free me from fear: grant what your mother begs,

90

That whirlwinds never shatter and submerge them

On any voyage. Please—they are from my mountains.”

Her son, who guides creation’s stars, replied,

“Mother, what favor have you asked of fate?

Could it be right for ships a mortal made

95

To last forever? Should Aeneas’ perils

Bring him no risk? What god has so much power?

But when they’ve done their work and reached a harbor

In Italy, each that survived the sea

To bring the Trojan chieftain to Laurentum

100

I’ll strip of earthly form and make a goddess

Of the great ocean, like the Nereids Doto

And Galatea breasting through the sea foam.”

He swore this by the Styx, his brother’s stream—

Black eddies, pitch that seethes along the banks.

105

He nodded, and Olympus shook. The Fates

Had rounded out the time; the promised day

Had come. The torches flung by Turnus roused

The Mother to defend her sacred ships.

A strange light flashed; a great cloud from the east

110

Appeared to dart across the sky, with bands

Of devotees. A fearsome voice fell earthward

And filled the Trojan and Rutulian ranks:

“Don’t take up arms or anxiously defend

My ships. It will be sooner granted Turnus

115

To burn the sea than holy pines. Be free,

Sea goddesses, my daughters: I command it.”

Right away, on their own, they broke their moorings

And headed for the bottom, dolphinlike.

Though bronze-prowed ships a moment earlier

120

Had stood along the shore, girls’ bodies rose

And skimmed the sea—it was a miracle.

This staggered the Rutulians, and Messapus

Himself took flight behind his rearing team.

The Tiber, roaring, pulled its stream upriver.

125

But cocksure Turnus’ nerve held even then.

He stung his friends to action with this speech:

“These signs are for the Trojans. Jove himself

Arrived before our fire and spears, and tore

Their old support from them. The sea is closed now.

130

They can’t get out, with that part of creation

Taken away, the land ours, armed Italians

In thousands here. The holy oracles

These easterners allege don’t frighten me.

The fates and Venus have their due. The Trojans

135

Landed in fertile Italy. My fate

Is slashing this vile race away. My wife

Is stolen. Not just Atreus’ sons suffered;

Not just Mycenae took up righteous arms.

‘Troy fell once—that’s enough.’ Their crime before this

140

Should be enough. By now they ought to loathe

All women! For their courage they rely

On palisades and ditches that delay

Death by mere moments. But they saw Troy’s walls

Collapse in flames, though Neptune was the builder.

145

Which of you picked troops is prepared to splinter

The walls and swarm the quaking camp with me?

A thousand ships or Vulcan’s arms, who needs them?

They’ve found Etruscan allies—good. They’ve got

No sneaking tricks at night to fear from us,

150

As when Athena’s temple guards were slaughtered.

We won’t be lurking in a horse’s belly!

I’ll ring their walls with fire—in open daylight.

They won’t mistake us for the Greeks, whom Hector

Held back for ten years—no, I’ll set them straight.

155

But now the day is past the time for battle.

In what is left, be cheerful—you’ve done well.

Eat, rest, since there’s a fight to come, believe me.”

Messapus’ duty was to block the gates

With sentries and surround the wall with watch fires.

160

For the patrol, fourteen Rutulian captains

Were chosen, each to lead a hundred men

Arrayed in purple crests and shining armor.

They scattered to their different tasks or sprawled

Across the grass and drank their wine from bronze cups.

165

Fires formed a single glow. The watchmen gambled

Throughout the sleepless night.

Armed Trojans watched them from their walls above.

They anxiously checked gates and—still in armor—

Built gangways and defenses in a network,

170

Urged on by keen Serestus and Mnestheus:

Father Aeneas had appointed them

Leaders and generals in case of crisis.

The whole force on the walls took turns to guard

The risky posts assigned by lot. One sentry

175

Was Hyrtacus’ son Nisus, fierce in battle.

Nimble with arrows and a spear, he’d come

From Ida’s hunting grounds to serve Aeneas.

His friend Euryalus was lovelier

Than any other of Aeneas’ fighters.

180

On his unshaven cheeks were manhood’s first signs.

Love bound these two; they dashed to war together,

And now they shared a picket at the gate.

Nisus asked, “Is it gods who make me want this,

Or do we make our deadly urges gods?

185

A long time now I’ve thought of taking on

Some fight or other great thing—I’m so restless!

You see these overconfident Rutulians

At scattered glinting campfires. There they sprawl,

Melted by wine. It’s all so quiet. Listen

190

To what I might do—no, I’ve now decided.

Leaders and all, the whole camp wants Aeneas

To know what’s happened and return to help us.

For a pledged prize (to go to you—for me,

Glory’s enough) I’d find a way around

195

That ridge to reach the fort at Pallanteum.”

Euryalus, though overwhelmed by passion

For praise, was prompt in answering his fierce friend:

“You mean to bar me from this crucial mission,

And face the risk alone? That’s not the way

200

Opheltes, my war-hardened father, raised me

In the Greek siege’s horrors, in our struggles

At Troy. And at your side have I been like that

In following Aeneas to fate’s edge?

I have contempt for daylight, and I count

205

The honor that you aim at worth my life.”

Nisus replied, “I couldn’t rightly doubt you.

So may great Jupiter or any fair judge

Of courage bring me back to you in triumph.

But if a god or mishap steals my life—

210

A thing you often see in such great dangers—

I’d want you living, since your youth deserves it.

And if my corpse is rescued or bought back,

You’d bury it; if fate denies those rites,

An empty tomb and gifts could honor me.

215

I wouldn’t bring such sorrow to your mother,

Since she, of all our mothers, followed you,

Indifferent to the walls of great Acestes.”

His friend rebutted this: “Empty excuses!

My mind is made up, nothing’s going to change it.

220

Let’s hurry”—and he woke the other sentries

To take the watch in turn. They left their post

And side by side strode off to find their king.

All other creatures on the earth were sleeping,

Their cares dissolved, no hardship in their minds.

225

The Trojan leaders, picked men in their prime,

Were meeting about vital strategy.

What should they do? Who’d bring Aeneas news?

In the camp’s central yard, they gripped their shields,

Leaned on their long spears. Now Euryalus

230

And Nisus pleaded for an urgent hearing:

This would be worth it. Iulus took the lead,

Welcomed the fervent youths, had Nisus speak.

Hyrtacus’ son began: “Friends of Aeneas,

Give us a thoughtful hearing; don’t regard

235

Our age. Our enemies are sunk in silence

And wine and sleep. We’ve seen a gap to sneak through

Near the sea, where the road forks at the gate.

There the black smoke from scattered campfires rises

Clear to the stars. Just let us use this chance

240

To reach Aeneas at Pallanteum’s fort:

You’ll see us here again soon, with the spoils

Of a great slaughter. No, we won’t get lost:

From hidden valleys where we hunt, we’ve seen

The outskirts. The whole river is familiar.”

245

Aletes spoke, age-burdened, ripe in judgment:

“Our fathers’ gods, forever ruling Troy,

You can’t mean to destroy us utterly:

You’ve given our young men such valiant spirits.”

Speaking, he turned to each and clasped their hands

250

And shoulders. Tears were gushing down his face.

“What prizes, warriors, could I think worthy

Of your heroics? Here’s the first and finest:

The gods’ approval; prompt rewards will come, too,

From good Aeneas and Ascanius.

255

The youngster won’t forget such vital service.”

The prince concurred. “Father’s return alone

Can save me. By our city’s great gods, Nisus,

Assaracus’ god, white-haired Vesta’s shrine:

I’m trusting all my fortune, all my hopes

260

To you. Bring back my father, let me see him.

What can we fear when he’s with us? I’ll give you

Two well-made silver cups, deeply embossed

(My father’s spoil from capturing Arisba),

Two tripods, two gold bars of standard weight,

265

An ancient wine bowl from Sidonian Dido.

And when Aeneas conquers Italy,

Claims kingship, and distributes all the spoils—

You saw the horse gold-armored Turnus rode?

Nisus, I’ll set that beast aside for you;

270

The shield and red crest too are yours already.

Father will add his gifts: twelve hand-picked slave girls,

All mothers, and twelve captives with their armor,

And King Latinus’ own estates besides.

You, honored boy, who’re closer to my own age,

275

With all my soul I’ll keep you as a friend

In everything I have to face, pursuing

No glory on my own account without you.

In peace and war, you’ll be my foremost comrade

And confidant.” Euryalus responded:

280

“No time will come that shows me less courageous

Than in this enterprise. If only luck

Won’t turn against me—but I ask one favor

Besides these. My poor mother, of the old race

Of Priam, wouldn’t stay behind in Troy

285

Or King Acestes’ fort, but came with me.

I’ve kept from her my plans, however risky,

And my good-byes (your right hand and the night

Witness this), since I couldn’t bear her tears.

But you, assuage her loss, relieve her need.

290

If I believe you will, I’ll take my chances

More boldly.” These words struck the Trojans’ hearts.

They wept—and handsome Iulus most of all,

Wrung by the thought of how he loved his father.

He spoke:

295

“Be sure of everything this great task earns you:

She’ll be my mother, lacking just the name

Creusa—and get no small thanks for having

A son like you. However this turns out,

I swear it by this life my father swore on.

300

My pledges, if you don’t return successful,

Are for your mother and your family.”

Weeping, he took the gold sword from his shoulders:

The wondrous skill of Knossian Lycaon

Had shaped the blade to fit an ivory scabbard.

305

Mnestheus’ hunting spoil, a lion’s rough pelt

Was Nisus’. Staunch Aletes traded helmets

With him. The armed youths set out; all the leaders,

Both old and young, stood praying at the gates:

Among them handsome Iulus, with the forethought

310

And duty of a man before his time,

Sent many messages, but might as well

Have given them to misty wind to scatter.

In shadowed night, they crossed the moats and sought

The hostile camp: many would die before them.

315

Randomly on the grass men sprawled in wine’s sleep,

And chariots stood upright on the shore.

Among the reins and weapons, wheels and wine jars

Soldiers were lying. Nisus broke the silence:

“This is our chance to strike, Euryalus.

320

Come on this way, and look around and guard me;

Make certain no one follows where we go.

I’ll lead you on a broad path—which I’ll empty.”

He checked his voice and made his way to Rhamnes

The proud, who happened to be snoring loudly

325

In slumber, propped up on a pile of blankets:

A prophet, Turnus’ friend, a king himself;

But prophecy would not prevent his death.

Three slaves were slumped among the weapons; Nisus

Stifled them; also Remus’ page and driver

330

Under the team, whose drooping necks he cut,

Then lopped their owner’s head and left the body

Sobbing out blood: warm, black, it soaked the bed

And ground. He then killed Lamyrus and Lamus

And handsome young Serranus, who’d stayed up

335

To gamble, and lay beaten by the wine god—

Too much for him. It would have been more lucky

For him to go on gambling until dawn.

Nisus was like a famished lion raging

In crowded sheep pens, gnashing, dragging soft beasts

340

In their mute terror, roaring with his red mouth.

Euryalus blazed just as fiercely, killing.

Rank-and-file soldiers never saw him coming—

Fadus, Herbesus, Abaris, and Rhoetus—

No, Rhoetus was awake through all of it,

345

And shrank in fear behind a giant wine jar.

He rose to fight; from close at hand a sword

Thrust to the hilt and came out, dripping death.

He spewed his soul in wine-stained purple blood.

His killer carried on, in eager stealth.

350

Now he was making toward Messapus’ camp—

Its dying outer fires, its horses tethered,

Cropping the grass. But Nisus, when he sensed

The boy’s blood-greed grow out of bound, spoke curtly:

“We need to stop. Light’s coming and could catch us.

355

We’ve hit them hard and made our way beyond them.”

They left behind there many splendid weapons

Of silver, mixing bowls, and lovely fabrics.

Euryalus took Rhamnes’ gold-bossed sword belt

And badges. Wealthy Caedicus had sent them

360

To Remulus of Tibur, to befriend him

From far off. This man left them to his grandson,

After whose time Rutulians plundered them.

And now they hung from powerful, doomed shoulders;

Messapus’ helmet with its showy plumes,

365

Fitted well too. They left the camp for safe ground.

Volcens, just then, came from the Latin city

With a response for Turnus, and three hundred

Cavalry with their shields—aside from them,

Their army was deployed across the plain.

370

Nearing the walls, they saw, off in the distance,

The young men take the path that headed left.

In the dim-glimmering light the shining helmet,

Forgotten by Euryalus, betrayed him.

Alertly, Volcens called, “Halt, men! Who are you?

375

Where do you think you’re going, and for what?

Why are you armed?” They didn’t try to answer

But rushed for refuge to the night-black woods.

The horsemen knew the byroads; splitting up,

They blocked all exits with a ring of guards.

380

The place was large, and full of dusky holm oaks

And rough brush; briars choked it everywhere.

Only some sparse trails showed, vague cattle tracks.

Euryalus, weighed down by plunder, stumbled

Through branching shadows. Fear befuddled him.

385

But Nisus didn’t notice; he escaped

And passed the place now called—from Alba—Alban.

(The lofty pens for King Latinus’ herds

Were there.) He stopped, looked back; his friend was gone.

“Where did I leave you, poor Euryalus?

390

Where should I look?” Back through the knotted path,

The maze of woods, he went, tracing his footprints

Where he could see, and wandered in still thickets.

Horses’ tread, clanging, signals—the pursuers!

Before much longer, shouting reached his ears.

395

He saw the whole force rush Euryalus

And overwhelm him, though he struggled hard.

That dark deceitful spot had left him helpless.

But what should Nisus do? How should he strike

To free the boy? Perhaps he ought to plunge

400

Into their swords—a quick and noble death.

He’d hurl his spear. He swiftly drew it back

And gazed up at the moon above and prayed:

“Be with me now, Diana, help my struggle,

Keeper of forests, glory of the stars.

405

If for my sake my father brought your altar

His gifts, and if I hung your temple roof

With beasts killed in my hunts, to honor you,

Then guide my spear and let me rout this band.”

All of his body strained to throw the weapon

410

Of iron, which flew off, sliced through the shadows

Of night, went into Sulmo’s back and shattered,

Thrusting its splinters through his diaphragm.

He writhed, warm blood was spewing from his chest,

Long gasps convulsed his sides as chill death took him.

415

They looked to all sides. Nisus, now grown fiercer,

Poised a fresh weapon high up, by his ear.

As they stood shocked, the spear sang through the temples

Of Tagus and stuck fast in his warm brain.

Volcens, beside himself, still couldn’t see

420

The spear’s source and attack it in his fury.

He told Euryalus, “Then you can pay

For both with your hot blood.” He drew his sword

And strode up. Nisus shouted, wild with terror.

He couldn’t hide in darkness any longer,

425

He couldn’t stand such agony. “It’s me!

I’m here! I did it. Turn your swords on me!

It’s all my fault. He didn’t dare, he couldn’t.

The sky and the all-knowing stars can witness:

He only loved his luckless friend too much.”

430

He spoke, but couldn’t stop the spear that rammed

Into Euryalus’ ribs and split his white chest.

Dying, he thrashed. His lovely limbs and shoulders

Poured streams of blood; his neck sank limply down:

So, cut off by a plow, a purple flower

435

Faints away into death; so poppies bend

Their weary necks when rain weighs down their heads.

Nisus ran in among them, but he aimed

For Volcens only—that was all he wanted.

Enemies mobbed in close on either side

440

To drive him back. He fought on, lightning sword

Whirling. With this he pierced the shouting face

Of the Rutulian, paying with his own life.

He was stabbed through and through and hurled himself

On his dead friend, to find his rest and peace.

445

Lucky pair! If my song has any power,

You’ll be remembered while Aeneas’ children

Live near the Capitol’s unmoving rock,

And while a Roman father has dominion.

The plunder fell to the Rutulian cohort,

450

Who also, tearfully, took Volcens’ body.

As great a grief awaited them, with Rhamnes

Found lifeless, with the massacre of leaders—

Numa, Serranus. To the corpses crowds rushed,

To dying men, to ground the fresh gore warmed,

455

To rivulets that swelled with foaming blood.

A murmur rose: they saw Messapus’ badges

And helmet—so much work to win them back!

Dawn rose now from Tithonus’ saffron bed

And scattered her fresh light throughout the world.

460

Now in the sun-soaked and revealing day,

First Turnus armed himself, then called his men

To arms. Each leader urged his bronze ranks on,

Inflaming them with news of what had happened.

And—piteous sight—they even raised the heads

465

Of Nisus and Euryalus on spear ends,

And marched with shouts behind.

Aeneas’ hard men faced them in a line

At the left wall (the river hugged the right one),

Guarded their moats, or grimly manned their towers.

470

A shock of grief—they recognized the heads

Too well. Black gore was oozing down the spears.

Rumor came swooping through the frightened town

And whispered to Euryalus’ mother. All warmth,

Down to her bones, went out of that poor lady.

475

She dropped her shuttle, and the thread unwound.

She dashed outdoors with piteous female keening,

Tore at her hair, ran for the walls and front lines,

Unmindful of the men there and the danger

Their spears held. Soon her wailing filled the sky:

480

“Euryalus, that’s you, my only solace

As my life closed? But how could you desert me

So cruelly, without letting your poor mother

Tell you good-bye before that risky mission?

Alien Latium’s dogs and birds will tear you.

485

Your mother couldn’t walk you to the grave,

Close your eyes, wrap you in the robe I rushed,

Night and day, at my loom to finish—worry

In an old woman can be soothed this way.

Where will I look for you? What region holds

490

Your torn corpse? All of you that you bring back

Is this? I came with you on land and sea!

Rutulians, if you care, launch all your spears

At me, hack me to death, then fight your war.

Or you, great father of the gods, have pity,

495

Strike me with lightning, hurl the life I hate

To Hades: only that can end my pain.”

A moan ran through the ranks. They all were heart-struck,

Their strength numb, fighting spirit broken, grief

Enflamed—so Actor and Idaeus took her

500

In hand and led her back indoors, at orders

From sobbing Iulus and Ilioneus.

The bronze horn blared its fearful melody

Far off. Men shouted, and the sky roared back.

Volscians, under overlapping shields,

505

Rushed in to fill the moats and drag the fence down.

One group was set to climb the walls with ladders

And aimed to get in where the ring of guards

Was gapped or thin. The Trojans poured down weapons

Of all kinds and shoved back with sturdy pikes.

510

Their past long war had taught them siege defense.

They spun down massive boulders from the walls

To break the sheltered column, but the men

Beneath their sturdy roof enjoyed each blow—

Until the Trojans rolled a monstrous rock

515

To where the largest cohort threatened them;

This wrecked a stretch of the Rutulians’ cover

And struck its bearers down; the rest, though hearty,

Had no more taste for fighting blind, but struggled

To pelt the Trojans off their wall.

520

Elsewhere Mezentius brandished—chilling sight—

A fiery, smoking pine tree as a weapon.

Now the horse-breaker, Neptune’s son Messapus,

Breached the fence, called for ladders for the walls.

So come, Calliope and all your sisters,

525

Inspire me, let me sing of Turnus’ slaughter,

The men that every soldier sent to Orcus.

Goddesses, help unfold that great war’s contours:

You know it; you know how to make it known.

There was a looming tower with high gangplanks

530

In a strategic spot. With all their strength,

All their resources, the Italians tried

To storm or topple it. Massed at the windows,

Trojans hurled stones and spears in their defense.

Now Turnus took the lead and threw a torch:

535

Its flames clung to the wall, spread in the wind,

Seized planks, stuck to the doors, devouring them.

Inside was futile panic to escape.

When the defenders backed away to huddle

In a safe place, their weight collapsed the tower,

540

And the sky echoed with the sudden crash.

Dying, they fell, impaled on their own spears

And the hard splinters—then the huge mass followed.

Only two crawled out, Lycus and Helenor.

This last, a youth sired by a Lydian king

545

On the slave Licymnia, was born in secret

And sent by her to Troy, though banned from war.

His arms were light: an unheroic shield

With no device, a bare sword. Latin columns

Flanked him now. He saw Turnus’ men in thousands,

550

And as a wild thing ringed in tight by hunters

Lashes against their spears and leaps on purpose

To perish on their weapons, so the young man

Rushed in to die among his enemies,

Making for where he saw the spears were densest.

555

Lycus, a better runner, dodged opponents

And missiles till he reached the wall. He struggled

To grip the top edge and the hands of friends.

Turnus ran after him and launched a spear

With a triumphant taunt: “Fool, did you think

560

You’d get away from me?” He tore him down

From where he hung—a stretch of wall came with him;

So a bird, keeper of Jove’s lightning, soars

Skyward, hooked claws around a hare or swan;

So a wolf drags a plundered lamb its mother

565

Searches for, bleating. Shouting rose on all sides.

Soldiers ran in to fill the moat with dirt

And hurl their torches to the roof. Lucetius

Had brought his to the gate; Ilioneus

Laid him out with a cliff shard. The skilled lancer

570

Liger struck down Emathion; Asilas,

Whose arrow stole from far off, Corynaeus.

Turnus killed Dioxippus, Clonius, Itys,

Promolus, Caeneus (who’d killed Ortygius),

Sagaris, and, on towered bastions, Idas.

575

Capys dispatched Privernus, who had dropped

His shield, the idiot, to clutch a slight wound

Dealt by Themillas’ spear. An arrow flew

To lodge deep in his left side, splitting open

His hidden breathways with a fatal wound.

580

The son of Arcens was a splendid sight

With his superb arms and embroidered cloak

Bright with red Spanish dye. His father’d sent him

From Mars’ grove by the banks of the Symaethus,

Close to Palicus’ altar, rich with gifts.

585

Mezentius put his spears aside and whipped

His hissing sling three times around his head.

The searing lead chunk hit the brow straight on,

Split it, and stretched the tall form on the ground.

They say Ascanius first aimed an arrow

590

In war that day—before, he’d only hunted—

And with his own skill brought Numanus down.

Remulus was his clan name. He was freshly

Allied: he’d married Turnus’ younger sister.

Pride-swollen as a sharer in the kingdom,

595

He came up past the vanguard now to flaunt

His bulk and shout the hit and miss of insults:

“Twice-beaten Phrygians, don’t you feel embarrassed

At how we keep you penned behind your fence?

You fight with us, to take away our wives?

600

What god, what madness drove you to this country?

No sons of Atreus here, no glib Ulysses.

Our stock is tough; we make our infants tougher,

Dipping them in a savagely cold river.

Our boys stay up and wear the woods out, hunting.

605

Their games are archery and taming horses.

Our young men, used to scarcity and hard work,

Subdue the soil and batter towns with war.

We live our lives with weapons, drive our oxen

With butts of spears. Not even slow old age

610

Cripples our courage or our heartiness.

Helmets press down white hair, since we prefer

To live on what we plunder, as a habit.

Needlework glows on you, saffron and purple.

You love to laze and treat yourself to dancing.

615

Your hats have ribbons and your tunics sleeves.

You’re Phrygian women! Climb up Dindymus:

The double flute there plays the songs you’re used to.

The Mother on Mount Ida calls with drums

And boxwood flutes. Leave weapons for us men.”

620

Ascanius could not endure these boasts

And ugly taunts. He turned and pulled the bow wide,

Aiming an arrow on the horse-gut bowstring,

And paused, a suppliant addressing Jove:

“Almighty Jupiter, bless my bold effort.

625

I’ll bring your temple ritual gifts myself

And set before your altar a white bullock

With gilded horns, the same height as his mother.

He’ll butt and kick up sand already.” Hearing,

The sire of heaven thundered from a clear sky

630

On the left, as the deadly bow was twanging.

With a grim hiss, the drawn-back arrow fled.

Its iron point transfixed the curving temples

Of Remulus. “Go bait brave soldiers now!

This is your answer from twice-beaten Phrygians.”

635

Jubilant Trojans followed up these words

With roaring yells. Their hearts soared to the skies.

Long-haired Apollo, cloud-throned in the sky,

Watched the Italian army and the town,

And now he spoke to Iulus in his triumph:

640

“Bless your first brave act: that’s the way to heaven.

Godborn, you’ll father gods. Troy cannot hold you.

All destined wars will one day cease, in justice,

Under Assaracus’ posterity.”

He soared through gusty air down from the aether

645

To the boy, and assumed old Butes’ features.

This was the faithful house guard and retainer

Who’d served Dardanian Anchises first,

Whose son made him Ascanius’ protector.

Like this old man in voice and coloring

650

And armor with its dreadful clang, Apollo

Strode up and spoke to Iulus in his fervor:

“Enough, Aeneas’s son! Your arrow killed

Numanus; you survived this first success,

Which great Apollo gave, with his own weapon.

655

But you must stop now.” Halfway through these words,

Apollo put aside the mortal form,

And faded into far-off, filmy air.

The Trojan leaders heard his quiver clatter—

He vanished, and they recognized the armed god,

660

And held war-hot Ascanius in check

At Phoebus’ holy orders. They themselves

Returned to their exposed and risky fight.

A shout went all along the walls and ramparts.

They fiercely aimed their bows and whirled their spear-thongs

665

And strewed the ground with weapons. Hollow helmets

And shields were clanging in the bitter fight,

Thick as ground-lashing rain out of the west

At the Kids’ stormy rise; or hail that storm clouds

Plunge in the sea—the soaking gale that Jove hurls,

670

Bristling with southern blasts, to split the gray vault.

Alcanor’s sons by Ida’s nymph Iaera,

Fighters called Pandarus and Bitias,

Raised in Jove’s woods, huge as their native firs

And mountains, opened up the gates assigned them

675

And called opponents in. Trusting their weapons,

They flanked the entranceway, as strong as towers,

Iron-clad, and with lofty, ruffing plumes;

As when two oak trees rear their bushy heads

To heaven with exalted, nodding crests

680

Beside the flowing water, on the banks

Of the Po, or the lovely Athesis.

Rutulians saw the opening and swarmed it.

But soon Aquiculus—fine sight in armor—

Reckless Tmarus, Quercens, Haemon (Mars’ son)

685

Had either turned and run with all their troops

Or laid their lives down on that very threshold.

The clashing hatred and the fury grew.

The Trojans, massed at one point, dared to fight

Hand to hand, and to sally out ahead.

690

Elsewhere the chieftain Turnus, on a rampage

Through fighters, got the news of this fresh slaughter:

The enemy was flaunting open gates!

A boundless fury made him storm away

To the Dardanian gate and the proud brothers.

695

Antiphates led the attack, a bastard

Of Prince Sarpedon by a Theban mother.

Turnus hurled an Italian cornel spear

That sliced the soft air, pierced the gut, and burrowed

Up the chest. Froth pulsed out of that black hollow.

700

The iron point grew warm, lodged in the lung.

He struck down Merops, Erymas, Aphidnus,

And flame-eyed Bitias (who’d roared with pride)—

Not with a spear (he wouldn’t have surrendered

His life to one) but with a shrieking pike

705

Propelled like lightning through his shield’s two ox hides

And double gold scales of his trusted breastplate.

His massive body crumpled and collapsed.

The earth groaned, and his great shield clanged above him,

Just as, on the Euboean coast at Baiae,

710

A pier built in the sea on massive rock piles

Collapses, with a steep, fast drag of wreckage,

Bursts on the shallow seafloor before settling;

The water is in chaos; black sand rises.

Islands boom: high Prochyta, Inarime—

715

Typhoeus’ prison bed, placed by Jove’s orders.

Now Mars, war master, gave the Latins strength

And spirit, twisting sharp goads in their hearts,

While letting loose black Fear and Rout on Trojans.

The Latin troops swarmed in—the fight was here;

720

The warrior god inspired them.

Pandarus saw his brother’s sprawled-out body,

And knew the course that destiny was taking.

With all his strength, heaving with his broad shoulders,

He turned the gate in on its hinge and left

725

Many friends shut out in the brutal battle.

Others rushed through in time. The idiot

Missed the Rutulian prince, who got inside

Deep in the crowd—invited to the city:

A giant tiger penned with helpless cattle.

730

From Turnus’ eyes a fresh light flashed, his weapons

Rang fearsomely, his blood-red crest convulsed,

His shield flared lightning—and Aeneas’ people

Instantly knew the giant hated form

And panicked. But then towering Pandarus

735

Ran forward, burning to avenge his brother.

“Amata’s wedding gift this isn’t—it’s no palace;

And it’s not Ardea, your native stronghold.

This is a hostile fort. You can’t get out.”

Serenely Turnus smiled at him and answered:

740

“Come, if you dare, fight hand to hand, then go

Tell Priam that you’ve met Achilles here.”

Pandarus put his whole strength into hurling

His crude spear with its knots and green bark. Breezes

Wafted it off, or Saturn’s daughter Juno

745

Turned it aside. It hit the gate and stuck.

Turnus spoke: “Here’s a weapon and a strong hand

You won’t escape: it’s me who drives this home.”

He reared up with his sword and thrust it midway

Between the young man’s temples, monstrously

750

Splitting his forehead and his beardless cheeks.

A crash—the ground was shaken by his huge weight:

He crumpled and sprawled dying there, his armor

Covered with gory brains, and one precise half

Of the head hanging down at either shoulder.

755

The routed Trojans scattered in their terror.

Had their pursuer been inspired to break

The bolts and let his comrades in, that war

And that race would have found their end that day.

Hot frenzy, though, crazed bloodlust drove him forward

760

Onto the battle line.

First, he caught Phaleris and Gyges (hamstrung)—

Seized both their spears and thrust them in the backs

Of men he chased, with strength and nerve from Juno:

Halys and shield-pierced Phegeus joined the dead;

765

Halius, Prytanis, Noëmon, Alcander—

Incautious on the walls, rallying others.

Lynceus called his friends and made for Turnus,

Who lunged left from the earthworks, flashed a sword

And stopped him. In his helmet lay his head,

770

Far off: one blow, close up, had severed it.

Amycus fell next, wild-beast killer—no one

Was handier at smearing spears with poison;

And Clytius, Aeolus’ son; Cretheus

As well, the Muses’ follower, whose joy

775

Was setting music to the lyre and singing

Of horses, weapons, warriors, and battles.

News of this carnage brought the Trojan leaders—

Mnestheus, fierce Serestus—there at last.

They saw the enemy inside, friends scattered.

780

“Where are you running?” yelled Mnestheus.

“What walls, what fortress have you got but these?

Citizens! Will you let a single man

Trapped in your earthworks pile your town with slaughter

And send your finest soldiers down to Hades?

785

Have pity on your ancient gods, your poor race,

And great Aeneas! Cowards, where’s your shame?”

This roused them. Now they rallied against Turnus

In a dense column. Gradually, he moved

Back to a spot encircled by a stream.

790

The Trojans pressed more fiercely on, converging

With loud shouts, as a band of hunters holds

A savage lion at their spear points; frightened,

Glaring, and storming, he retreats, but fury

And courage will not let him run. He longs

795

To strike back at the men and spears but can’t.

So Turnus slowly and reluctantly

Stepped backward, as his spirit seethed with rage.

He even dashed clear through opposing ranks

Twice, and twice scattered them along the walls.

800

The camp soon reunited all its forces.

And Juno, Saturn’s daughter, didn’t dare

Grant strength to fight them: Jove sent down limpid Iris

Conveying threats and orders for his sister

If Turnus didn’t leave the Trojans’ walls.

805

His shield and sword were not enough—the young man

Could not hold out. The missiles from all sides

Engulfed him. Constantly his helmet rang

Around his head. Stones split the solid bronze,

Tore off the plume. His shield could not endure

810

The blows. The Trojans—thundering Mnestheus

Among them—heaped their spears on. Turnus’ body

Was pouring filthy sweat—he had no time now

To catch his breath. He shook, worn, sore, and panting.

At last he jumped headfirst, with all his weapons,

815

Into the river, and its tawny surge

Welcomed him, raised him on soft waves, returned him,

Content and cleansed of blood, to his companions.

2–Iris: The rainbow goddess.

4–Pilumnus: An Italian god and grandfather of Turnus.

5–Thaumas: A sea deity.

10–11–Corythus . . . Lydian farmers: The Etruscans were said to come from Cortona in Lydia (Asia Minor).

29–The line is thought to be spurious.

30–31–Ganges . . . seven smooth streams: The Romans believed the River Ganges split into seven channels.

31–Nile’s rich floods: Every year the Nile flooded its banks in the summer, then receded.

82–Berecynthian mother of the gods: Cybele; Berecynthus is a mountain in her native Phrygia.

102–Nereids: Sea nymphs.

104–his brother’s stream: Pluto, Jupiter’s brother, is god of the Underworld.

137–My wife: In his indignation Turnus refers to his fiancée, Lavinia, as his wife.

138–39–Atreus’ sons . . . Mycenae: Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Menelaus, commanders of the Greeks, who sacked Troy to retrieve Menelaus’ wife, Helen, abducted by Paris.

148–Vulcan’s arms: The shield of Achilles, like that of Aeneas, was forged by Vulcan.

151–Athena’s temple guards: Ajax the Lesser and his soldiers took Athena’s temple in Troy. The line is thought to be spurious.

176–79–Nisus . . . Euryalus: The night raid of Nisus and Euryalus that follows is modeled on Odysseus’ (Ulysses’) similar escapade in Iliad 10. We saw the two lovers in the footrace at 5.293–361.

196–Pallanteum: Evander’s city, which Aeneas visited in book 8.

218–Acestes: A Trojan leader who had already settled in Sicily.

232–Iulus took the lead: Although Iulus must be only twelve years old, he shows precocious leadership skills.

246–Aletes: A Trojan companion of Aeneas, last seen at 1.122.

259–Assaracus: The grandfather of Anchises.

259–Vesta: Goddess of the hearth.

264–My father’s spoil from capturing Arisba: Nothing more is known about the episode.

304–Knossian Lycaon: Otherwise unknown, but Cretans were renowned for their craftsmanship.

351–Messapus: See 8.6n.

361–Tibur: Tivoli.

387–the place now called—from Alba—Alban: See 8.48n.

389–He stopped, looked back; his friend was gone: An echo of book 2, when Aeneas realizes he has lost Creusa during the sack of Troy (2.738–94).

459–Tithonus: Dawn’s husband.

505–Volscians: A native Italian people.

505–under overlapping shields: The “tortoise” formation, which featured interlocked shields above and in front.

525–Calliope and all your sisters: Calliope is the Muse of epic poetry; her sisters are the eight other Muses.

527–Orcus: The Underworld.

529–The line is thought to be spurious.

563–a bird, keeper of Jove’s lightning: The eagle, Jove’s bird.

584–85–Symaethus . . . Palicus: Palicus was a god worshipped in Sicily near the river Symaethus.

592–93–Numanus . . . Remulus: His name recalls Romulus, Remus, and the early Roman king Numa Pompilius.

617–Phrygian women: Recalls Ther-sites taunting the Greeks as “Achaean women” in Iliad 2.

617–Dindymus: A mountain in Phrygia.

619–The Mother on Mount Ida: Cybele.

669–the Kids’ stormy rise: The Goat Stars, now called Auriga, the Charioteer.

710–the Euboean coast at Baiae: On the Bay of Naples, near Cumae.

715–16–Prochyta, Inarime—Typhoeus’ prison bed: Islands near Baiae. Typhoeus was a Giant imprisoned under the earth by Jupiter.

719–Fear and Rout: Deities personifying the phenomena.

738–Ardea: Turnus’ city.

742–Tell Priam that you’ve met Achilles here: A fulfillment of the Sibyl’s prophecy, 6.89–90.

804–his sister: Juno.

BOOK 10

All-powerful Olympus’ hall now opened.

The sire of gods and king of men had called

A conclave to his starry home, steep lookout

Onto the world, the Trojan camp, the Latins.

In a hall open on both sides, the gods sat.

5

“Sky dwellers,” he began, “what made your purpose

Turn backward into vicious rivalry?

I forbade Italy to clash with Troy.

Why this rebellious strife? What terror drives

Each side to swarm for arms and rouse the other?

10

The time will come for battle. Don’t invoke it.

Wild Carthage will one day send devastation

Through shattered Alps against the Roman walls.

Then you can have your hateful fight, your pillage.

Leave off, content: confirm the pact I sanctioned.”

15

Brief words—but golden Venus gave an answer

That wasn’t brief.

“Father, mankind’s—all things’—eternal ruler

(What greater being is there to appeal to?),

You see how the Rutulians gloat and Turnus

20

Drives through the ranks, a striking presence, scornful

In his success. Without the aid of closed walls,

The Teucrians must fight within their gates,

Within their earthworks, filling moats with blood;

Aeneas is far off and unaware.

25

When will you let these sieges end? A new force

Looms at Troy’s walls and stifles her rebirth.

Tydeus’ son—now from Aetolian Arpi—

Assails them. Once again I will be wounded:

Weapons of mortals wait for me, your child.

30

If Trojans came without your holy sanction

To Italy, don’t help, but punish them.

But if so many oracles, from gods

And the dead, brought them, how can anyone

Turn your commands aside, ordain new fate?

35

Why mention ships burned by the shore at Eryx,

Or crazed gales the Aeolian king of storms

Stirred up, or Iris shunted through the clouds?

Now she incites creation’s only part

Still left in peace, the demons, thrusts Allecto

40

Up to the light, to rave through Italy’s towns.

Now I don’t mind about the empire hoped for

In luckier times. Let those you favor win.

No lands for Teucrians? Your wife’s too bitter?

I beg, then, by Troy’s smoking ruins, father:

45

Let me discharge Ascanius from war,

Unharmed. Please let my grandson live. Aeneas

Can toss on foreign seas, for all I care:

Whatever road fate grants him, let him follow,

But let me take his son from ruthless battle.

50

I own Amathus, Cythera, high Paphus,

The Cyprus shrine. Let him grow old with me,

Unarmed, inglorious. Command that Carthage

Trample and tyrannize Ausonia.

Nothing from us will stop it. Has it helped him

55

To live through that cursed war, escape the Greek fires,

Take endless risks at sea and on bleak land,

In search of Latium and a reborn Troy?

They should have settled on their homeland’s ashes,

On Troy’s site. Give the wretched Trojans back

60

Xanthus, Simoïs, the entire round

Of Ilium’s rise and fall.” Then queenly Juno

Spoke in her rage: “Why shatter my deep silence

And bring my hidden grief to public words?

Has any god or human forced Aeneas

65

Into Latinus’ kingdom? Granted, fate—

Or else Cassandra’s ravings—led him there:

I certainly was not the one to urge him

Out of his camp and into risky winds,

Leaving the walls and army to a boy,

70

To roil the Tuscans and those peaceful tribes.

What god, what tyranny of mine propelled him?

Juno did this? Or Iris, sent from clouds?

‘How wrong to ring this infant Troy with flames!’

Divine Venilia’s son, Pilumnus’ grandson

75

Turnus can’t get a foothold in his own land!

And Trojans putting Latium to the torch?

And farms usurped and looted? In-laws chosen

At will, girls torn from promised husbands’ arms?

Hands clasped in peace—and weapons studding prows?

80

You stole Aeneas from the hands of Greeks

And left them only mist and empty breezes.

Out of the ships you made a fleet of nymphs.

Helping Rutulians is a crime for me?

Aeneas gone and unaware—so be it.

85

Paphus, Idalium, Cythera are yours;

Why meddle with this tough, war-pregnant city?

Did I attempt to topple shaky Troy?

I—or the man who threw the wretched people

In the Greeks’ way? What made two continents

90

Rise up in arms? Why were their oaths betrayed?

Did I send out the Trojan lover-boy

Who raided Sparta? Did I furnish weapons?

Feed war with lust? The time to fear was then!

It’s late for petty wrangles and complaints.”

95

This was the plea of Juno. All the gods

Murmured their different thoughts, as forests murmur,

Catching the first gusts, whisking hidden rustlings,

Speaking to sailors of the storm to come.

Then the almighty father, the world’s ruler,

100

Began. For him the gods’ high hall grew silent;

The deep earth shook, the towering sky was still,

The West Winds settled, oceans calmed their waves.

“Hear what I say and fix it in your hearts.

A league of the Ausonians and Trojans

105

Was not allowed, nor can your quarrel end.

To no one’s luck today, to no one’s hope

Will I show favor—Trojan or Rutulian.

If it’s Italian fate, or Trojan folly,

Or false advice behind this siege, no matter.

110

Everyone—the Rutulians too—will earn

Triumph or pain: King Jupiter is neutral.

The fates will find their way.” He nodded, swearing

By Styx, his brother’s river—pitch-seared banks

And dark gulf. At his nod Olympus shook.

115

No more was said. He rose from his gold throne.

Gods drew around and led him to the door.

Meanwhile the slaughtering Rutulians thronged

At every gate and ringed the walls with flames.

The Trojan band could not escape their fort.

120

They stood pathetic, helpless, and quite hopeless

On towers or thinly topped the ring of ramparts.

In the front line were Hicetaon’s son

Thymoetes; and Imbrasus’ Asius;

Old Thymbris; Castor; next, Sarpedon’s brothers

125

Clarus and Thaemon, from proud Lycia.

Huge as his father, Clytius, or his brother

Menestheus, Lyrnessan Acmon strained

Hugely to haul no small part of a mountain.

They fought with spears or rocks in their defense.

130

Fire was thrown and arrows set to bowstrings.

And in the midst was Venus’ rightful darling,

The Trojan boy, who’d left his lovely head bare.

He gleamed like gems in tawny gold, which make

A head or neck resplendent, or like ivory

135

Set by skill in Orician terebinth

Or boxwood. On his milky neck cascaded

Long hair beneath a pliant band of gold.

The brave tribes saw you there too, Ismarus,

Guiding your poisoned shafts to bloodshed. Strong men

140

Work in your noble Lydian clan’s fields

That the Pactolus, gold-dust river, waters.

Mnestheus was there too, still exulting

From driving Turnus from the earthwork walls;

And Capys—the Campanian town is named

145

For him. So these men met in hard war’s clashes.

That night Aeneas cut the channel’s waters.

Leaving Evander, he approached the king

In the Etruscan camp, told who he was,

His strengths, his needs, the savage heart of Turnus,

150

The allies that Mezentius was gaining.

He warned how risky human projects are,

But mingled pleas with all this; straight off, Tarchon

Joined with him in a pact. The Lydian race

Embarked beneath a foreign captain, paying

155

Fate’s debt, and by the gods’ command. Aeneas

Led with his ship. Its beak showed Phrygian lions

Below Mount Ida—dear to Trojan exiles.

The mighty hero sat there and considered

How the war might end. Pallas, at his left,

160

Asked about stars, the guides of that dim voyage,

And all the leader’s trials on land and sea.

Goddesses, open Helicon, recite

What forces fitted vessels out and followed

Aeneas from Etruscan shores by sea.

165

The armored Tigress of King Massicus

Sliced the waves. In his charge a thousand young men

Left Cosae and walled Clusium, deadly bows

And arrows in light quivers on their shoulders.

Fierce Abas’s whole force wore resplendent arms.

170

A gold Apollo glittered on his prow.

His native Populonia had yielded

Six hundred battle-hardened youths; from Ilva

(With endless iron mines) three hundred more marched.

Next came Asilas, who brought prophecy

175

From gods to men. The stars, the guts of beasts,

The tongues of birds, the prescient lightning served him.

He swept with him a thousand bristling spears.

Pisa, Alphaean town on Tuscan land,

Had placed them at his service. Lovely Astyr

180

Followed, trusting his horse and rainbow armor.

The Caeretans and farmers by the Minio,

Old Pyrgi and Graviscae, which breeds sickness,

Sent three more hundred, equally devoted.

Heroic leader of Ligurians,

185

I won’t omit you, Cunarus, or you,

Cupavo, with few men; your swan-plumed crest

Spoke of your father’s transformation—Love’s fault.

Cycnus, they say, mourned his dear Phaethon

In leafy shade of poplars, the boy’s sisters.

190

He sang because it soothed his bitter longing,

And grew soft feathers, white like old men’s hair,

And left the ground, calling and chasing stars.

His son now led the fleet, with troops his own age.

Its oars heaved his enormous Centaur forward;

195

The figurehead, hefting a boulder, menaced

The waves; the long keel furrowed the deep water.

The father’s banks gave troops to Ocnus, Manto

The seer’s and the Tuscan river’s son.

He founded Mantua, named for his mother—

200

Mantua rich in different lineages:

Three races and four clans in each, but this

Is the chief town, with strength from Tuscan stock.

Mezentius drew five hundred more to fight:

Mincius River, veiled in blue reeds, brought them

205

Seaward from Lake Benacus in a warship.

Stalwart Aulestes’ hundred oarsmen surged

To beat the water, turning calm to froth

Round the huge Triton figurehead that blasted

On a blue conch and terrified the straits;

210

His shaggy torso human to the waist,

Below, a whale. Waves roared and foamed beneath him.

These chosen princes sailed in thirty ships

To Troy’s aid. Bronze prows cut the briny plain.

Day had retreated from the sky. Kind Phoebe

215

Drove her night horses tramping through high heaven.

Aeneas (wakeful in anxiety)

Trimmed the sails or sat, steering, at the tiller.

Suddenly in midcourse a band of comrades

Appeared; the ships that kindly Cybele

220

Had changed to nymphs, goddesses of the sea—

One for each bronze beak that had stood on shore.

They swam along with him and sliced the waves.

Far off, they’d known their king; they danced around him.

Cymodocea, the most eloquent,

225

Came up behind, her right hand on the stern,

Her left hand softly paddling, breasts emerging.

He didn’t know her. “Child of gods, Aeneas,

Are you awake? Then let the sails’ rope go.

We are your fleet, pines from the holy heights

230

Of Ida—sea nymphs now. With sword and flame

The treacherous Rutulian hounded us.

We had to break your chains and seek you here.

The Mother pitied us, transformed us, sent us

To live a blessed life beneath the water.

235

The walls and moat imprison your young son

Among fierce Latins and their bristling spears.

Arcadian horsemen hold their posts, brave Tuscans

Along with them. But Turnus with his squadrons

Blocks them, resolved to keep your camps apart.

240

Rise up! Call your confederates to arms

At first dawn. Take the shield the god of fire

Has ringed with gold and made invincible.

Tomorrow’s light—if you will trust my words—

Will see great heaps of the Rutulian dead.”

245

She spoke and dove away, but first pushed deftly

At the high hull, which ran on through the waves

More swiftly than a spear or wind-quick arrow,

And the rest sped behind. Anchises’ son,

The Trojan, stunned, then joyful, turned his gaze

250

To the sky’s arch and prayed, “Idaean Mother

Of gods, devoted to Mount Dindymus,

Tower-crowned towns, and chariot-yoked lions:

Lead me in war, achieve your prophecy,

March with the Phrygians, bringing them good fortune.”

255

The day, in its swift circle, had returned;

The ripe sun routed nighttime as he spoke.

He called his troops to arms: they must await

His signal, with their hearts prepared for war.

Now he could see the Trojans and their camp

260

From the high stern. He raised the flaring shield

On his left arm. His people on the walls

Shouted up to the sky—hope spurred their rage—

And threw their spears with force, like cranes from Strymon

Who skim the upper air beneath black clouds,

265

Fleeing the South Winds with loud, cheerful calls.

The king and lords of Italy were stunned

To see the vessels turning toward the shore.

The sea became a fleet that flooded in.

A flame poured from Aeneas’ feathered crest;

270

The gold boss on his shield was spewing fire,

As when a clear night brings the deathly glow

Of bleeding comets, or the Dog Star rises,

Burning with drought and sickness for weak mortals,

And spreads malignant light across the sky.

275

But Turnus didn’t lose his nerve—he’d do it:

Get to the shore in time, beat back the landing—

First heartening his troops, or baiting them:

“Now you can smash them, as you’ve yearned to do.

Courage controls the god of war. Remember

280

Your wives and homes. Remake your fathers’ fame

And heroism. Hurry to the surf

And catch the sailors staggering and fearful.

Fortune helps bold men.”

Still speaking, he considered which to lead

285

On this attack, and which should keep the siege.

Aeneas sent his comrades down the gangplanks

From the high sterns. Most watched the ebbing sea

And made a cautious leap into the shallows.

Some climbed down oars. Now Tarchon spied a place

290

Where no waves broke and boomed to mark the shallows,

But untouched sea washed, with a gentle swell.

He turned his prow there and implored his troops:

“My chosen company, drive on your oars,

Hurl your ships forward—each hull’s beak will split

295

The hostile land apart, each plow a furrow.

I wouldn’t shrink from breaking on that berth

The moment I seize land.” His comrades heard

And surged against the oars and brought the boats

Through frothing water onto Latin soil.

300

Now every hull had settled without harm,

Gripping the dry sand—all except for Tarchon’s.

On a projecting sandbank in the shallows

It hung and teetered and withstood the waves—

Then shattered, pouring men into the surf

305

To fight the benches and the splintered oars

And the hard undertow that caught their feet.

Instantly, zealous Turnus took his whole force

To stand and face the Trojans on the shore.

The signal blared. Aeneas charged first, cutting

310

The rustic ranks of Latins down—an omen

Of how the fight would end. He killed huge Theron,

Who first came at him. Bronze joints, gold scales yielded,

And the sword pierced his side and drank his blood.

He wounded Lichas, sacred to Apollo:

315

Cut from his lifeless mother yet surviving

The knife himself. Aeneas hurled to death

Huge Gyas and tough Cisseus, who mowed

The lines. No use their clubs from Hercules,

No use their strong hands or their sire, Melampus,

320

Hercules’ friend in all his stringent tasks

On earth. The hero hurled a javelin

Through Pharus’ shouting, boasting, coward mouth.

And you, poor Cydon, there for Clytius,

Your latest love, with blond down on his cheeks,

325

Would have been brought down by a Trojan hand

That turned all passion for young men to nothing,

Had Phorcus’ seven sons, your troop of brothers,

Not hedged you closely, throwing seven spears,

Some to bounce from Aeneas’ shield and helmet,

330

Others to graze him, when kind Venus turned them.

But now Aeneas spoke to staunch Achates:

“Give me the weapons planted in Greek bodies

At Troy. Not one I hurl at the Rutulians

Will go to waste.” He snatched a giant spear

335

And threw it. Macon’s bronze shield was transfixed—

His breastplate and the breast behind it shattered:

Alcanor caught his brother, as he fell,

With his right arm—through which the hero’s lance

Continued unimpeded, soaked in blood.

340

His own dead hand now hung by scanty sinews.

Numitor snatched the spear that killed his brother

And aimed it at Aeneas, but to lodge it

Was not his fate. He grazed Achates’ thigh.

Clausus from Cures, young and strong and bold,

345

Launched a stiff spear at Dryops, who was speaking.

It drove beneath his chin and pierced his throat:

His words and life both ended in one moment.

His forehead hit the earth, in thick spewed gore.

Three youths from Boreas’ high clan in Thrace

350

And the three sons Ismaran Idas sent

Fell under different wounds. Halaesus led

Auruncans in a charge. The son of Neptune,

Messapus, followed with fine horses: all blocked

The landing, struggling on the very threshold

355

Of Italy. As winds across the vast sky

With equal strength and courage meet in battle,

A stalemate of themselves, the clouds, the sea,

The world a standoff and the end unknown—

So were the Trojans and the Latins, clashing,

360

Foot locked with foot, hands grappling man to man.

Elsewhere a rushing stream had rolled down boulders

And scattered them with trees ripped from its banks.

Here on this torn-up ground Arcadians

Had left their horses, but they weren’t accustomed

365

To charging as a line of infantry.

When Pallas saw the Latins routing them,

He pleaded and harangued in desperation:

“Where are you running, friends? By your brave acts

And selves, by King Evander and his triumphs,

370

And by my hope of winning fame like his:

Your swords must cut a path through your opponents.

Your feet are useless! Our great country calls

Both you and me to meet the thickest onslaught.

These are not gods but men attacking men,

375

An equal count of mortal hands and souls.

Shall we go back—or to the Trojan camp?”

He pierced the center of the densest ranks.

Lagus was in his way first—evil luck

Set him there: tugging at a giant boulder,

380

When a spear hurtled, striking where ribs branch

Out from the spine. Now Pallas bent to yank

The shaft free, just as Hispo made a lunge

In reckless fury at his friend’s cruel death.

Pallas was quick to put a stop to him,

385

Driving a sword deep in his panting lung.

He turned to Sthenius, then Anchemolus

Of Rhoetus’ ancient race, who’d violated—

Rash crime—the bedroom of his father’s wife.

Twins also fell in those Rutulian fields—

390

You, Daucus’ sons, Thymber and Larides,

Whose likeness baffled and amused your parents.

Evander’s child gave them a brutal difference

By slicing Thymber’s head off with a sword,

Then Larides’ right hand—it twitched back toward him,

395

The dying fingers clutching at the sword.

Their angry shame at Pallas’ taunts and triumph

Heated and armed Arcadians for battle.

Rhoeteus drove past, making his escape:

The youth impaled him; Ilus was reprieved

400

(For a short time)—the spear was aimed at him,

But Rhoeteus took it, while you noble brothers,

Teuthras and Tyres, chased him. Out he rolled

And beat Rutulian ground with numbing heels.

When summer winds he’s prayed for start to rise,

405

A shepherd scatters fires around the woods;

The gaps catch suddenly: a battle line

Of fierce unbroken burning spans the country:

The victor sits and eyes victorious flames.

Likewise the courage of uniting troops

410

Seconded Pallas. But war-keen Halaesus

Went forward under cover of his shield.

He slaughtered Ladon, Pheres, Demodocus.

Strymonius reached for his throat; a bright blade

Lopped his hand; then a rock smashed Thoas’ face:

415

Gory brains, skull chips flew. His seer father

Had hid the child Halaesus in the woods,

But when death lulled the white-haired old man’s eyes,

The Fates could claim the child, a sacrifice

To weapons of Evander. Pallas now prayed,

420

“Make this throw lucky, Father Tiber, piercing

Halaesus’ strong breast, and your sacred oak

Will have his arms and armor.” The god heard him,

And the Arcadian spear found poor Halaesus’

Exposed chest, as it shielded Imaon.

425

Lausus, a great force here, did not desert

The slaughter-panicked ranks. He first killed Abas,

The mainstay of the fight, who came at him.

Arcadia’s children fell, Etruscans fell,

And Trojans whom the Greeks had left alive;

430

Leaders and brawn were equal in the clash.

The rearguard pushed the front line to a mass

Of hampered weapons. Pallas drove his own men,

And Lausus his—the youths were beautiful

And close in age. Homecoming was denied

435

To both by fate. But high Olympus’ king

Would not consent for them to face each other.

Their doom would come from greater enemies.

Meanwhile the kind nymph sent her brother Turnus

To Lausus’ aid. He sped his chariot

440

Through the line, telling comrades, “Now stand down.

Pallas belongs to me—I’ll go for him.

I only wish his father could look on.”

He spoke. His comrades quit the field as ordered.

With the Rutulians gone, the youth, transfixed

445

By the sneered order, let his hard gaze rove

Up and down Turnus’ huge form from a distance.

He gave this answer to the tyrant’s words:

“Either brings praise: the warlord’s arms or glory

In death—it makes no difference to my father.

450

So stop your threats.” He stepped into the open,

Freezing the blood in the Arcadians’ hearts.

Turnus jumped down, and now on foot he moved

Close in. A lion on his lofty post

Sees a bull lunging on a distant plain

455

And hurtles toward him: Turnus looked like this.

Pallas first gauged his spear’s range, then stepped forward,

On the huge sky he called, in hope that chance

Would bless his bravery against the odds.

“Hercules, come—my father took you in,

460

A stranger—help in this great enterprise.

Let dying Turnus see his bloody weapons

Taken from him by these hands, once they’ve won.”

The god heard, but he stifled heavy groans

Within; the tears were futile that he shed.

465

To comfort him, his father, Jupiter,

Said this: “An end is set for everyone,

For life is brief and cannot be recovered.

But brave men, through their exploits, strive for fame

That lasts. Beneath Troy’s high walls many sons

470

Of gods died. My own child Sarpedon died there.

Fate calls: for Turnus too the race is ending.”

He turned his eyes from the Italian fields.

Pallas with all his great strength cast his spear

And snatched his bright sword from the hollow sheath.

475

The spear flew, pierced the layers of the shield,

And struck the breastplate at the shoulder’s rim,

Finally grazing Turnus’s massive form.

But he in turn deliberately aimed

His iron-pointed pike and launched it, saying,

480

“See if my weapon is the one to stick.”

The spearhead, striking, shaking, pounded through

The shield—all of the bronze and iron sheets,

All of the bull’s-hide layers wrapping it—

Into the breastplate, into that strong chest.

485

Out of the wound he tore the heated shaft,

But with it came the lifeblood and the soul.

Collapsing forward with a clash of arms,

He touched the hostile soil with blood-daubed lips.

Turnus stood over him:

490

“Go tell Evander this, Arcadians:

I send him back the Pallas he deserves.

The soothing tribute of a burial

I grant him. But he had a costly guest—

Aeneas.” With his foot he held the corpse down

495

And stripped the giant sword belt with the story

Of crime etched in—a wedding night that left

The bedrooms smeared with gore of slaughtered youths—

That Eurytus’ son Clonus had embossed

In gold, and Turnus now was thrilled to loot.

500

People know nothing of their fated future.

Their exaltation cannot stay in bounds.

The time would come when he’d give anything

Not to have touched the boy. He’d hate his plunder,

And hate this day. Pallas’ friends pressed in, wailing.

505

They laid him on his shield to haul away.

What grief, what glory will you take your father!

A single day brought war and death to you.

But you leave mountains of Rutulian corpses!

Not a mere rumor of disaster came

510

To Aeneas, but a trusty runner, pleading

For him to pull his comrades from death’s edge.

He reaped his furious way and made a broad path

To Turnus as he triumphed in fresh slaughter.

Aeneas as he ran kept seeing Pallas,

515

Evander, and their banquet for the stranger,

Their hands’ clasp. Now he seized the four young sons

Of Sulmo, then the four brought up by Ufens:

They were reprieved to serve as sacrifices

To ghosts: their captive blood would soak the pyre.

520

Ferociously, he cast a spear at Magus,

Who nimbly ducked—it passed above him, trembling.

He grasped Aeneas’ knees, entreating him,

“By your ancestral spirits and your hopes

For Iulus, spare me for my child and father.

525

Fine embossed silver by the hundredweight

Lies buried in my high house—pounds of gold too,

Worked and unworked. The Trojans still can win:

What difference is there in a single life?”

Aeneas gave this answer to his pleas:

530

“Let your sons have so many pounds of silver

And gold, since Turnus did away with bargains

In war the moment that he slaughtered Pallas.

My father’s ghost agrees, and so does Iulus.”

He seized the helmet, wrenching back the neck,

535

And stabbed him as he begged, up to the hilt.

Not far off was Haemonides, the priest

Of Apollo and Diana, in a headband

And fillets, radiant white robes, and emblems.

Aeneas chased him down and, looming darkly,

540

Sacrificed him. Serestus hauled the weapons

Away, a trophy for King Mars the Strider.

Caeculus, born of Vulcan’s line, and Umbro,

From Marsian mountains, rallied the Italians.

Aeneas stormed against them. With his sword

545

He lopped off Anxur’s hand—the round shield fell.

He’d shouted out some self-deceiving boast.

Perhaps he dreamed about immortal fame,

Or reassured himself of gray old age.

Tarquitus, son of Dryope the nymph

550

And sylvan Faunus, strode with his bright weapons

Into Aeneas’ rage. He drew the spear back

And made the massive shield and breastplate useless.

The head was slung to earth before it finished

Its pleading, the warm body was kicked over,

555

And from his hardened heart Aeneas spoke:

“Lie there, you menace, so the best of mothers

Can’t hide your corpse beneath your father’s tomb.

You will be left for crows, or waves will sweep you

Beneath, where hungry fish will gulp your wounds.”

560

He turned to chasing Turnus’ vanguard: Lucas,

Antaeus, hearty Numa, fair-haired Camers—

Son of brave Volcens, richest of Italians

In land, and lord of quiet Amyclae.

Just like Aegaeon’s hundred hands and arms,

565

His fifty fire-belching chests and mouths,

When (in the story) fifty clanking shields

And fifty drawn swords fought Jove’s thunderbolts,

Aeneas swept the plain in savage triumph

Once blood was on his sword. He made a charge

570

Straight toward the breasts of Niphaeus’ four-horse team.

They saw his long strides, heard his gruesome roaring,

And in their panic wheeled and tore away

Their chariot to the shore. Its driver toppled,

The brothers Lucagus and Liger entered

575

The fight, drawn by white horses, Liger driving,

Lucagus fiercely whirling his bare sword.

Galled by their fervent rage, Aeneas dashed

To loom before them, holding up his spear.

And Liger said,

580

“This is no Trojan plain, no chariot

Of Diomedes or Achilles. Your life

Ends with this war.” From Liger in his folly

These words flew. And the Trojan hero offered

Nothing in answer but to hurl his spear.

585

Lucagus leaned and, with his weapon’s side,

Slapped his team, but was poised to fight, his left foot

Thrust forward, as Aeneas’ pike breached all

The bright shield’s layers, to transfix his thigh.

He tumbled and rolled dying on the ground.

590

Righteous Aeneas spitefully addressed him:

“No routed team betrayed your chariot,

Lucagus, no false visions turned them from us.

No, you yourself jumped and abandoned them.”

He seized the reins. Poor Liger, once he’d fallen

595

From the same chariot, raised helpless hands:

“By your great self, by your proud parents too,

Leave me my breath, have pity, I am pleading.”

Aeneas stopped him. “You spoke differently

Not long ago. Die—don’t desert your brother.”

600

He slashed the chest, the hiding place of breath.

The Trojan chief went killing down the field

Rampantly, like a black storm or a whirlpool.

At last Ascanius and other troops

Broke from their fortress, as the siege had failed.

605

Meanwhile, Jove spoke forthcomingly to Juno:

“Sister—and darling spouse—you must be right:

Venus alone upholds the strength of Troy,

Just as you thought, and not their active hands,

And not their savage and unflinching hearts.”

610

Juno said pliantly: “My splendid husband,

Why do you taunt your weak browbeaten wife?

If you still loved me as you did—and should—

You’d surely do what lies in your great power,

And let me rescue Turnus from the fight

615

To send unharmed back to his father, Daunus.

No, let them put to death a blameless man,

Although he shares divine descent with us—

Pilumnus was his ancestor; although

He piled your shrine freehandedly with gifts.”

620

Briefly the king of high Olympus spoke:

“If what you beg is only a reprieve

For the doomed youth, if you accept my terms,

Send Turnus running from his looming fate:

So far I can concede. But if your pleas

625

Hide hopes of greater mercy, and you think

That the war’s end can change, you are mistaken.”

Juno wept. “If your thoughts grant what your words

Deny, if it’s ordained that he can live—!

No, either I’m deluded, or he’ll die

630

In unearned pain. I wish my fears deceived me—

Or you’d divert these plans—it’s in your power!”

But then she ringed herself in clouds and shot

Down from the sky, and drove a storm before her,

To the Laurentian camp and Trojan line.

635

From empty mist and thin and strengthless shadow

She fashioned an Aeneas—eerie marvel.

She copied Trojan arms, the shield, the crest

For his divine head, furnished vacant speech,

Sounds without thoughts. She made it stride like him—

640

The thing was like the fluttering ghosts in legends;

It looked like dreams that trick our sleeping senses.

The sneering image danced before the lines.

Taunting proud Turnus, teasing with its weapons.

Turnus closed in and hurled a hissing pike

645

And saw a back turned, saw withdrawing steps,

As if Aeneas were in full retreat.

His heart was full of wild, deluded hope.

“Your wedding’s promised and you run away?

You sailed here seeking land: I’ll lay you on it.”

650

Shouting, he chased the thing and shook his sword,

But on the wind his triumph slid away.

Moored at a towering outcrop’s base, the ship

That brought Osinius from Clusium

Stood with its ladders out and gangplanks down.

655

The frightened bolting image of Aeneas

Dove in to hide there, never losing Turnus.

Nothing could slow him—up the plank he vaulted.

He reached the prow, and Juno broke the rope

And wrenched the ship out on retreating waves.

660

Aeneas, shouting for the absent Turnus,

Dispatched the many warriors in his way.

The fragile phantom now stopped seeking cover

And soared up, then it blended with black cloud.

A whirlwind carried Turnus far from shore.

665

Bewildered, and ungrateful to be safe,

He looked back, raised his hands and shouted starward,

“Almighty Father, have I earned this shame,

This punishment? Where am I being swept?

From where? And how? And how can I get back?

670

When will I see the town and camp again,

And that brave company that followed me?

They’re left—the outrage!—ringed by grisly death.

I’ll see them scattered, hear them fall and groan?

What will I do? What pit gapes deep enough

675

For me? No, pity me instead, you winds.

I beg you with my whole heart, drive this ship

Into the rocks or cliffs or deadly shallows,

Away from the Rutulians and my shame.”

And now two options wavered in his judgment:

680

Fall on his sword, maddened by his dishonor,

And drive the brutal blade between his ribs?

Dive in mid-ocean, try to reach the curved shore,

And face the Trojan weapons once again?

Three times he tried each course, three times great Juno

685

In heartfelt pity held the young man back.

Current and sea swell made a wafting path

Clear to his father Daunus’ ancient city.

Blazing Mezentius, urged on by Jove,

Joined the fight, charging at the cheering Trojans.

690

The Tuscan ranks closed in on him alone—

All of their hatred, all their crowding weapons.

He stood there like a rock in lonely waters,

Bare to the savagery of wind and waves,

To sea and sky’s unending pounding threats—

695

Unmoved. He brought down Dolichaon’s son,

Hebrus, then Latagus and timid Palmus.

Into the former’s face Mezentius

Cast an enormous mountain shard to halt him.

Palmus rolled helpless, tendons cut, and Lausus

700

Received his corselet and his crest to wear.

Phrygian Euanthes died, and Mimas also,

Paris’ friend: both were given life the same night

Through Amycus and Theano, and the queen,

Torch-pregnant Hecuba. In his own city

705

One died; Laurentum’s shore holds one, a stranger.

Like a boar chased by snapping dogs from years

Of shelter in high, pine-clad Vesulus,

Or the Laurentian lake, a forest pasture

Of reeds—but now the net encloses him;

710

Snarling, he takes a stand with bristling shoulders.

Who’s brave enough to bring his anger near?

They leave a space, throw spears, shout cautiously;

Fearless, he faces one way, then another,

717

Gnashing his teeth and shaking off the spears;

718

So righteous rage against Mezentius

714

Never found spirit for a charge with swords.

715

They harried him with long-range spears and yells.

716

Acron, from ancient Corythus, a Greek,

719

Was banished from his wedding and his country.

720

Mezentius saw him far off, spreading havoc,

In his betrothed’s gifts, purple plumes and clothing.

A lion, maddened by his hunger, searches

Deep coverts—now he sees a fleeing goat

Or stag with towering horns, and spreads his jaws

725

Joyfully wide, bristles his mane, then crouches

Engrossed in entrails; on voracious lips

The grim gore oozes—

So keen Mezentius charged hostile throngs.

Unlucky Acron fell and kicked black earth

730

And stained the broken spear with dying blood.

The fighter wouldn’t stoop to kill the fleeing

Orodes with a spear throw to the back.

He dashed in front and met him man to man—

Superior in warcraft, not in stealth—

735

Felled him, and stepped on him to pull the spear out.

“Here great Orodes lies—one of their best.”

His troops yelled, echoing his victory chant.

Orodes gasped in death, “I’ll have revenge soon.

You won’t gloat long, whoever you might be.

740

The same fate, in this same field, waits for you.”

Anger infused Mezentius’ smile. “Die now.

The gods’ sire and the king of men will see

To me.” He yanked the spear free, and Orodes

Closed eyes that iron sleep, hard rest pressed down:

745

He entered endless night. Caedicus killed

Alcathoüs, Sacrator killed Hydaspes;

Rapos, Parthenius and iron Orses;

Messapus, Clonius, whom bolting horses

Sent sprawling, and Erichaetes as well,

750

Lycaon’s son, on foot—like Lycian Agis,

Dispatched by Valerus, brave as his grandsire;

Thonius next, by Salius—who fell

To Neacles, famed lancer, cunning archer.

Now heavy fighting balanced grief and slaughter

755

Between the sides. On both they won and lost,

Killed and went down, and neither would retreat.

The gods assembled in Jove’s palace pitied

Such futile rage, such dreadful human hurt.

Venus looked on, across from Saturn’s daughter,

760

As pale Tisiphone raved through those thousands.

Raging Mezentius, shaking a huge spear,

Strode on, as massive as Orion walking

Across the seafloor, in the deepest waters,

But towering above them from his shoulders;

765

Or bringing an old ash tree from a summit,

Feet on the earth, head hidden in the clouds.

Mezentius, like him, but hugely armored,

Advanced. Aeneas saw him in the long line

And started toward him. Stable in his huge bulk,

770

Calm, he awaited his brave enemy,

And gauged how far he had to throw his spear.

“Help me, hand that’s my god; help me, this spear

That’s poised! My son will be the monument—

My Lausus, draped in armor from that bandit,

775

Aeneas.” And he whipped a whistling spear

At long range. From the shield it glanced—flew—hit

Lovely Antores just above the groin:

Hercules’, then Evander’s follower,

Greek exile, settler in a local town;

780

A hapless proxy victim now, he gazed

Up at the sky and thought of darling Argos.

Then dutiful Aeneas’ spear slammed clear through

Mezentius’ domed shield of three bronze layers,

Three hides and linen padding. In the groin

785

It stuck, but not with force. It thrilled Aeneas

To draw Etruscan blood. He drew his sword

Eagerly, charging at his trembling target.

Lausus saw, and for love of his dear father,

He moaned. The tears were rolling down his face.

790

I won’t be silent here about your exploit

Or the hard death it brought—you’ve earned the telling,

Heroic boy—if we believe tradition.

Mezentius fell back helpless, hampered, dragging

The shield, the enemy’s spear lodged in it.

795

His youthful son now tore into the clash.

Aeneas reared and raised his sword to strike.

Lausus ducked in with a defensive stroke

That stopped him. The boy’s comrades came up nearer,

Shouting, and threw harassing spears to let

800

The father get away beneath the son’s shield.

Aeneas held out, raging in his shelter.

Just as when storm clouds hurtle down in hail,

And every plowing farmer runs for refuge,

And travelers find shelter in some stronghold—

805

A jutting riverbank, an arch of high rock—

Till at the rain’s end they resume their day

In sunlight; so beneath a pelting war cloud

Aeneas held up till its thunder died,

And only shot insulting threats at Lausus.

810

“Why do you rush to die here? You’re outmatched,

Dupe of your loyal love!” The boy paraded

In senseless triumph. In the Trojan leader

Rage mounted, and the Fates prepared to cut

The threads of Lausus’ life. Aeneas sank

815

The whole strong sword’s length in the young man’s belly,

First through the shield—flimsy to brag behind—

And the soft gold mail coat his mother’d woven.

Blood filled his breast. The soul slipped from his body

And through the air, departing for the shades.

820

But when Anchises’ son saw that pale face—

The dying face uncanny in its pallor—

He moaned in pity, stretching out his hand.

He saw in him his own love for Anchises.

“Poor boy! They call me ‘good.’ What will I give you

825

To match your courage? Your dear weapons—keep them.

And you I’ll send to the ancestral ashes

And spirits, if that matters to you now.

But this should solace your pathetic death:

It came from great Aeneas.” He berated

830

The boy’s troops, who were hanging back, and lifted

The body with its smooth-combed bloodstained hair.

Meanwhile the father, at the Tiber’s banks,

Rinsed his wound, leaning weakly on a tree trunk.

Far away, his bronze helmet hung from branches;

835

His heavy weapons rested on the grass.

He gasped in pain, among his young retainers,

Head down, his combed beard trailing on his chest.

Often he asked how Lausus did, and ordered

Runners to call him to his wretched father.

840

His weeping friends brought Lausus’ massive body—

Massively wounded—lying on a shield.

Mezentius knew those groans and sensed disaster.

He dirtied his white hair with dust and raised

Both hands to heaven, then embraced the corpse.

845

“Did I have such delight in life, my child—

My own son—that I let you take my place

Against the enemy? Did these wounds save

Your father, living by your death? How dismal

My exile is at last, how deep my wound.

850

And it was me who smeared your name with guilt—

Me, hounded from the kingship of our fathers.

By any means they chose, I should have given

My guilty life to soothe my country’s hatred.

But still I haven’t left this world, this daylight—

855

Not yet.” He got up on his ruined thigh,

Unbeaten. Though the deep stab crippled him,

He had them fetch his horse—his pride and comfort,

Who brought him out of every fight a victor—

And to this grieving animal he spoke:

860

“Rhoebus, if anything lasts long for mortals,

Our life has. Triumphing with me today,

You’ll fetch that gory plunder, and Aeneas’

Head, which will be revenge for Lausus’ anguish.

And if we haven’t got the strength to do it,

865

You’ll fall with me. Brave thing, I don’t believe

You’d take your orders from a Trojan master.”

He settled in his old place, with a sharp pike

Hefted in either hand, and his bronze helmet

Flashing beneath a bristling horsehair plume.

870

He dashed into the battle lines, his heart

Seething with shame and grief that drove him wild;

Spurred by mad passion and familiar courage.

Three times he yelled, “Aeneas!”—who then prayed

With joy: “Yes, Father of gods, and high Apollo!

875

Now—you, come grapple.”

He stopped before him, leveling a spear.

“My son is gone, you savage. What’s your threat?

That was the only way you could destroy me.

I don’t fear death. To me the gods are nothing.

880

Quiet then. Take these gifts before I die.”

He hastened in a spacious circle, launching

One weapon, then another, then one more,

And lodged them in the shield. The gold boss held,

The hero stood. Mezentius wheeled left

885

Three times and hurled more spears. Three times the Trojan

Pivoted with his shield—a ghastly forest.

Impatiently he pulled out all the barbs,

Under the pressure of unequal combat.

At last he charged straight out and flung a spear,

890

Which struck between the horse’s curving temples.

The creature reared up, battering the air.

The rider toppled, and the horse fell headlong,

Pinning him to the ground, his shoulder ripped.

Trojan and Latin shouts lit up the sky.

895

Up ran Aeneas, wrenching free his sword.

“Where’s fierce Mezentius now, his spirit’s violence?”

The Tuscan now lay coming to himself,

Gasping the sky in, gazing at the air.

“Cruel enemy—why sneering threats of death?

900

Killing’s no crime—I came here knowing that.

My Lausus made no pact with you to save me.

I ask one thing, though, if the beaten can:

Let the earth cover me. I am surrounded

By hatred from my people. Guard me from it,

905

Please, and let one tomb hold my son and me.”

He gave his throat on purpose to the sword

And poured his life out—waves of blood on armor.

2–The sire of gods and king of men: Jupiter.

3–A conclave: Councils of the gods are a standard feature in Greco-Roman epic.

12–Carthage will one day send devastation: A reference to the Second Punic War; see 4.386n.

28–29–Tydeus’ son . . . Once again I will be wounded: Tydeus’ son is Diomedes, who wounded Venus when she intervened to save Aeneas at Troy (Iliad 5); he now resides in Italy (8.9–17).

36–38–ships burned . . . crazed gales . . . Iris: Juno has orchestrated the storm that stranded the Trojans at Carthage (1.50–119), and she has used Iris to initiate the burning of the Trojan fleet (5.605–63) and to rouse Turnus (9.1–22).

39–creation’s only part: The cosmos was traditionally divided into heaven, earth and sea, and the Underworld. Venus claims Juno has already brought war to the first two and is now disturbing the third.

40–Allecto: One of the three Furies.

51–Amathus, Cythera, high Paphus: Locations of sanctuaries of Venus.

67–Cassandra’s ravings: Cassandra told Anchises that the Trojans would settle in Italy: see 3.183–87.

70–a boy: Ascanius, left in charge by Aeneas despite his young years.

81–You stole Aeneas from the hands of Greeks: See 10.28–29n.

83–a fleet of nymphs: It was Cybele, not Venus, who transformed the ships (9.77–122).

89–the man who threw: Paris. Juno attributes the Trojan War—and thus Aeneas’s troubles—to Venus’s support in his abduction of Helen.

113–14–He nodded, swearing by Styx: Oaths sworn by the river Styx were considered inviolable.

133–The Trojan boy: Ascanius.

142–Pactolus: The gold-producing river where King Midas washed away his “golden touch.”

148–the king: Tarchon, commander of the Etruscans.

154–The Lydian race: The Etruscans were believed to come from Lydia.

163–214–Vergil’s catalogue of ships supplied by Etruscan allies is inspired by Iliad 2.

163–Goddesses, open Helicon: The Muses of Mount Helicon; see 7.641n.

168–Cosae:–A city on the coast, more usually called Cosa.

168–Clusium:–A city near Lake Trasimene.

179–Pisa, Alphaean town: Modern Pisa, founded by settlers from Pisa in Greece, near the river Alpheus.

185–Ligurians: Liguria is a coastal region of northwestern Italy, coinciding with the Italian Riviera.

189–Cycnus: Cycnus’s lover Phaethon, child of the sun god Helios, was killed driving his father’s solar chariot. The mourning Cycnus was transformed into a swan.

200–Mantua: Vergil’s hometown, named for Manto, daughter of the famous seer Tiresias.

204–Mezentius drew: Because of their hatred for him.

206–Lake Benacus: Now Lake Garda, in northern Italy.

215–Phoebe: Another name (meaning “shining”) for the moon goddess.

220–the ships that kindly Cybele: See 10.83n.

252–Mount Dindymus: A Phrygian mountain sacred to Cybele.

253–Tower-crowned . . . lions: Cybele is depicted wearing a turret crown and driving a chariot pulled by lions.

264–Strymon: Cranes were believed to winter at the river Strymon in Thrace.

270–A flame poured from Aeneas’ feathered crest: Echoes a famous image of Achilles from Iliad 18.

273–Dog Star: Sirius, whose rising was associated in antiquity with drought, famine, and madness.

278–The line is thought to be spurious.

284–Fortune helps bold men: A Latin proverb incorporated here by Vergil.

315–16–sacred to Apollo: cut from his lifeless mother: Babies born by Caesarian section were dedicated to Apollo, god of medicine.

345–Clausus from Cures: An ancestor of the powerful Claudian family, one branch of the Julio-Claudian dynasty that produced several emperors.

350–Boreas: The North Wind, believed to originate in the mountains of Thrace.

378–He pierced the center of the densest ranks: The beginning of Pallas’ aristeia, a conventional scene in epic poetry in which a hero displays excellence in combat.

426–Lausus: The son of Mezentius.

435–36–Homecoming was denied to both by fate: Lausus will be killed by Aeneas, Pallas by Turnus.

439–kind nymph: Juturna, deified after she was raped by Jupiter.

443–his father: Evander, one of Aeneas’ primary Italian allies.

460–Hercules: The people of Pallanteum (sometimes called Arcadians by Vergil) had a special relationship with Hercules, having adopted his cult after he saved them from the monster Cacus, as narrated by Evander at 8.185–275.

471–Sarpedon: A Trojan son of Jupiter. Jupiter reluctantly allowed him to be killed by Patroclus at Troy (Iliad 16).

496–97–the giant sword belt . . . the story of crime: Pallas’ sword belt is decorated with the myth of the Danaids, the fifty daughters of Danaus who killed their husbands on their wedding night.

504–He’d hate his plunder: The sight of Pallas’s belt will drive Aeneas to slay Turnus: 12.941–49.

519–to serve as sacrifices: Achilles did the same at the death of his companion Patroclus (Iliad 21).

537–Haemonides, the priest: Not mentioned elsewhere.

542–King Mars the Strider: The Latin epithet Gradivus is cognate with gradior, “step.”

551–Faunus: An Italian god of woods and trees.

557–Lie there, you menace: Vergil reworks the cruelty of Odysseus in Iliad 11 and of Achilles in Iliad 21, both of whom denied their enemies proper burial.

565–Aegaeon: One of the Giants, also called Briareus.

582–Diomedes or Achilles: That is, Aeneas may have managed to escape Diomedes (10.28–29n.) and Achilles (Iliad 20), but he will not survive this time.

688–his father Daunus’ ancient city: Ardea, his capital.

705–Torch-pregnant Hecuba: Before the birth of Paris Hecuba dreamed of giving birth to a torch; Paris would go on to bring about the fiery destruction of Troy.

714–20–The translator is following R. D. Williams (The “Aeneid” of Virgil) in reordering these lines.

761–Tisiphone: The leader of the Furies.

763–Orion: The mythological hunter, made into a constellation by Jupiter on his death.

773–hand that’s my god: Mezentius, the “wild scorner of the gods” (7.648) worships only his own strength.

783–dutiful: Another way of translating pius.

814–15–the Fates prepared to cut the threads of Lausus’ life: the job of the Fates was to spin the threads of each mortal life and measure and cut them when the person was due to die.

825–“good”: Another way of translating pius.

850–My exile: Mezentius had been exiled for his cruelty (8.481–95).

872–The line is thought to be spurious.

BOOK 11

Dawn rose away from Ocean. Though Aeneas

Chafed to inter his friends, though he was tortured

By grief, he took the time, as morning broke,

To make his promised victory offerings.

He lopped the branches from a huge oak, set it

5

In a mound, decked it with Mezentius

The chieftain’s shining armor as a trophy

For the war god, attached the broken spear,

The blood-soaked crest, the pierced and battered breastplate;

At its left side, the figure held the shield;

10

From the neck hung the ivory-hilted sword.

Aeneas spoke to spur the Trojan leaders,

All cheering in a close-packed crowd around him,

“Fighters, these first fruits, spoils a proud king yielded,

Are no small prize. Look forward, without fear.

15

This is Mezentius, work of my hands.

Now we’ll attack the Latin king and town.

Prepare for war with bold anticipation.

Don’t let fear, second thoughts, or callow minds

Render you slow and unprepared when gods

20

Consent to standards hoisted, troops led out.

Now we must give the earth our comrades’ bodies:

No other honor waits in Acheron.

Go, grant the final tribute to the great souls

Who won this country for us with their blood.

25

But first send Pallas to Evander’s city—

How it will mourn! An early death, a black day

Engulfed this warrior, who was no coward.”

He spoke in tears, then walked back to the doorway,

Where Pallas’ corpse was laid out. Old Acoetes

30

Guarded it, who had been Evander’s squire

Back in Arcadia, but with worse omens

Was sent with his dear foster child—around whom

His retinue now stood, with Trojan soldiers

And Trojan women, hair unbound in mourning.

35

And when Aeneas came beneath the high gates,

The people beat their breasts and raised a moan

To the stars; heavy grief rang through the king’s house.

When he saw Pallas’ ivory face, his propped head,

And the wide wound from the Italian spear point

40

In his smooth chest, Aeneas sobbed and spoke:

“My poor boy, were you all that changing fortune

Begrudged me? You will never see my kingdom

Or ride back to your father’s home in triumph.

This isn’t how I pledged to care for you

45

Before Evander, with farewell embraces,

Sent me to win a mighty realm, though warning

I’d fight a rugged nation and fierce soldiers.

Perhaps right now the king, a dupe of hope,

Heaps altars with his gifts, prays for your safety,

50

While—empty honor—we in grief escort

This youth, who now owes nothing to the gods.

How cruel, how pitiful to see his son dead!

Is this the glorious return we hoped for?

Is my great trust fulfilled? Yet you, his father,

55

Will see no wounded back, mark of a coward,

Or pray for death yourself because he’s living.

Italy, Iulus, what a shield you’ve lost!”

He ordered them to raise the corpse they pitied.

Choosing a thousand men from all his forces,

60

He sent them to attend the final honors

And share the father’s tears—for such a great loss

Small comfort, yet it was that poor man’s due.

Others worked urgently to weave a bier

Out of soft oak-tree and arbutus branches;

65

To build a couch and leafy canopy.

High on this rustic bed they laid the boy out,

Like a plucked blossom in a young girl’s hand,

A drooping hyacinth or tender violet—

Its beauty and its brightness lingering,

70

But without food or strength from Mother Earth.

Aeneas brought two robes out, stiff with gold

And purple dye, made long ago by Dido

Of Sidon, happy in the task. Her own hands

Had worked the fine gold threads into the weave.

75

He chose one—sad last gift—and drew it up

Over the young man’s hair, which soon would burn.

He heaped up spoils from the Laurentian battle

And had them taken in a long procession,

Along with spears and mounts, the boy’s own plunder.

80

He’d bound the hands of captives, offerings

To the dead, for blood to sprinkle on the flames.

He had his captains carry tree trunks labeled

With hostile names, and hung with hostile arms.

Men led Acoetes, ruined by old age.

85

He clawed his face and bruised his chest with pounding

And then fell forward, sprawling, on the earth.

Blood-soaked Rutulian chariots filed by,

And then came Pallas’ warhorse, Aethon, stripped

Of ornaments, face soaked in his great tears;

90

Then the youth’s spear and helmet—Turnus claimed

The rest. Trojans, Arcadians, Etruscans,

Their arms reversed, came in a sad array.

And when this whole procession had filed forward

Aeneas stopped and gave a heavy sigh.

95

“This war doomed others I am called to mourn.

Farewell forever now, my splendid Pallas—

Bless you for all time.” Now the man fell silent

And walked back to his camp with its high walls.

Olive-crowned legates from the Latin city

100

Were there to ask a favor: the return

Of slaughtered bodies scattered on the plain.

Would he now let an earth mound cover them?

Lightless, defeated, they were not at war;

He ought to show past hosts and in-laws mercy.

105

Their pleas were not repulsed by good Aeneas—

Graciously he assented, and continued:

“How is it you’re caught up in this cruel war

You don’t deserve? Why do you run from friends?

Now for the sake of those who died in battle

110

You plead for peace. I’d give it to the living!

I only claim the home fate grants me here.

It’s not your people but your king I’m fighting,

Who broke our guest bond, trusting Turnus’ weapons—

It ought to have been Turnus facing death.

115

Aiming to fight this out and drive the Trojans

Away, he should have met me hand to hand

And let a god or fighting skill decide it.

Go now, and light the pyres of your poor people.”

The men were stricken by his words; their eyes

120

Turned to each other, and they held their peace.

Old Drances, always hostile and accusing

Toward the young Turnus, spoke up in reply:

“Hero of Troy, great in your fame, but greater

In battle, how could I extol you more—

125

Admiring first your prowess or your justice?

We’ll gladly take your message to our city

And join you to our king, Latinus—Fortune

Allowing. Turnus needs his own alliance.

We’re happy to haul stones on our own shoulders

130

And raise the destined walls of your new Troy.”

They all roared their assent once he had finished.

A twelve-day truce was made, and in its calm

Trojans and Latins roamed the woods and mountains

Unharmed together. Double axes rang

135

On high ash trees, and soaring pines were toppled.

Steadily, they split oak and fragrant cedar

With wedges; wagons groaned with mountain ash.

Now Rumor, who’d just told of Pallas’ triumph

In Latium, flew with early news of anguish

140

To blight Evander’s heart and house and city.

Snatching up torches for their ancient death rites,

Arcadians swarmed the gate. A row of flames

Stretched down the road; light split the land in two.

The retinue of Trojans joined their ranks

145

Of mourning. Matrons saw them reach the houses

And set the town alight with shouts of grief.

No one was strong enough to hold Evander.

Where the bier stood, he pushed into the crowd

And fell on Pallas, crying, clinging, groaning.

150

At last his torment let a few words through:

“Pallas, this isn’t what you promised me,

Caution in trusting wild Mars with your life.

But I knew how a first campaign can be—

The sweet allure of glory when it’s new.

155

Sorry first offering, and hard first lesson

In war so close at hand! Not one god heard

My prayers and pledges. Oh, my blessèd wife,

Lucky in death, since you don’t feel this pain!

I’ve triumphed over death—outlived my son.

160

If only I had gone along and buried

My own life in the spears of the Rutulians,

And this procession brought me home—not Pallas!

Trojans, you’re not to blame, and not our friendship

Or treaty. For my old age this was fated.

165

Though he was bound to die, there will be comfort:

He killed so many thousand Volscians

And fell while leading Trojans into Latium.

And Pallas, I could wish no rites more worthy

Than good Aeneas and the Trojan lords,

170

The Tuscan captains, and the whole force give you.

They bring huge trophies of the men you slaughtered.

Turnus, you’d stand here too, a log with weapons,

If Pallas were your age, with strength to match it.

My grief, still, mustn’t hinder Trojan warfare.

175

Go, tell your king that with my Pallas gone,

I keep my hated life because he knows

His sword owes Turnus both to son and father.

His luck and heroism are for this.

My fate forbids me joy in life—but let me

180

Bring my son word among the dead below.”

Meanwhile, Dawn raised reviving light and summoned

Wretched mankind back to its work and hardship.

Father Aeneas on the curved shore now

Joined Tarchon to build pyres for each man’s dead,

185

For the old rite of burning. Kindling black flames,

They hid the towering sky in murky darkness.

In their bright armor, soldiers marched three times

Around the lighted pyres. Three times the horsemen

Circled the dismal fires and raised their wails.

190

Their tears rained on the weapons and the earth,

And warriors’ cries and horn blasts struck the skies.

Some threw in plunder torn from slaughtered Latins:

Helmets and fine swords, bridles, wheels that once

Seethed against axles. Other men gave gifts

195

The dead knew: their own shields and losing weapons.

Oxen were sacrificed to Death on all sides.

Bristly boars, livestock seized from every pasture

Bled from their throats into the fire. The beach

Was full of friends who watched friends burn and nursed

200

The half-dead pyres and clung there till damp night

Wheeled round a sky bejeweled with burning stars.

Elsewhere the Latins too, in desolation,

Built countless pyres. Out of the throng of bodies,

Some were interred, some carried to the country

205

Nearby, and others sent back to the city.

The rest they burned, a heap of muddled carnage,

Uncounted and unhonored. Ravaged fields

Were glowing with an avid crowd of fires.

A third dawn swept away the chill of darkness.

210

The mourners leveled jumbled bones and ash piles

And heaped the warm earth on them in a mound.

But in the homes of rich Latinus’ city

The drawn-out shrieks of mourning were the loudest.

Here mothers and their sons’ poor wives and sisters,

215

Tenderly sorrowing, and orphaned children

Cursed the disastrous war and Turnus’ wedding:

He ought to fight it out since he demanded

Italy’s kingship and the highest honors.

Drances was there to goad them on, attesting

220

That Turnus had been challenged—no one else.

Yet Turnus had his various supporters;

He sheltered in the glory of the great queen

And could rely on fame from his own trophies.

And now, amid the flames of this contention,

225

Came this: from Diomedes’ famous city

The envoys brought an answer: that huge effort

Had failed; the fervid pleas, the gifts of gold

Did nothing—“They must find another ally,

Or ask the Trojan ruler for a truce.”

230

The massive blow crushed even King Latinus.

The anger of the gods and these fresh tombs

Left no doubt: it was fate that brought Aeneas.

Therefore he summoned all his people’s leaders,

His council, for a meeting in his halls.

235

They streamed together to the palace, filling

The streets, and as the eldest and the king,

Grim-faced Latinus took the central seat.

He asked to hear what answer had come back

From the Aetolian city, every detail

240

From start to finish. Then, a call for silence;

Venulus, ordered to begin, reported:

“Citizens, we came safely through our journey

To Diomedes in his Argive camp

And touched the hand that brought Troy’s kingdom down.

245

We found him laying out a city, named

After his clan, in Iapygian country

He’s won near Garganus. Let in, let speak,

We proffered gifts and told our names and nation,

And who made war on us, and why we’d come

250

To Arpi. With a tranquil face, he answered:

‘O ancient, fortunate Italian races,

Kingdoms of Saturn. After your long peace,

What lures you, what incites you into war?

All of us who laid waste to Troy have paid

255

Horribly for our crimes throughout the world.

(And what of fighters sunk in Simoïs,

And all our anguish under those high walls?)

Priam would weep for us! Witness Minerva’s

Storm, and the vengeful cliff Caphereus.

260

We’re scattered to the world’s ends—Menelaus

Clear out to Proteus’ columns, and Ulysses

To Etna’s Cyclopes. And the short reign

Of Neoptolemus? Idomeneus’

Shattered home? Locrians in Libya?

265

The great Greeks’ Mycenaean leader reached

His threshold to be butchered by his wife.

He’d conquered Asia, but her lover lurked.

The gods begrudged me my ancestral altars,

My yearned-for wife, and lovely Calydon.

270

I’m hounded even now by grisly visions

Of friends changed into birds that fluttered skyward

And now roam rivers—monstrous punishment:

The cliffs re-echo with their sobbing calls—

But what was I expecting since the moment

275

I lost my mind and lunged at a divine form,

Profaning Venus’ right hand with a wound?

No, don’t urge more such battles—not on me.

Since Troy was overthrown, I have no quarrel

With Trojans. I did not enjoy those struggles.

280

Your country’s gifts you bring me—let Aeneas

Have them instead. I’ve fought him hand to hand,

Faced his cruel weapons. I know—so believe me—

How high he rears behind his shield, how fiercely

His spear whirls. Had Mount Ida’s country bred

285

Two more like him, Troy could have visited

On the Greek towns the mourning meant for Troy.

All that long siege of stubborn Ilium,

Ten years of victory stalling and retreating,

We owed to Hector and Aeneas only—

290

Both known for bravery and skill in war,

But one more righteous. Clasp hands, make a treaty:

You have the chance. Avoid a clash of arms.’

Sovereign, that sovereign sends you this reply,

And gives his view of this momentous war.”

295

He’d scarcely ceased—conflicting, anxious words

Raced among the Italians, like the roar

Of torrents choked by boulders, like the banks

Echoing back the clatter of the current.

But when the nervous crowd grew still, the king

300

Called on the gods, then spoke from his high throne.

“Latins, an early plan to meet this crisis

Would have been better than to call a meeting

Now, when the enemy blockades our walls.

How can we fight with children of the gods,

305

With these unwearying unconquered heroes?

Even when beaten, they don’t drop their swords!

Aetolian allies? Give that hope up now.

We all have hopes—you see what this one’s worth.

Everything else that’s ruined in our cause

310

You have before your own eyes—you can touch it.

I don’t blame anyone. You’ve reached the limits

Of courage, fought with all your nation’s strength.

Now listen while I tell you in a few words

The judgment that through all my doubts I’ve come to.

315

I have an old tract by the Tuscan river.

It stretches west, past the Sicanian border.

Auruncans and Rutulians plow and sow

Its hard hills; on the roughest heights their herds graze.

I’ll give it, and a strip of pine-strewn summit,

320

In friendship to the Trojans. We must make

Fair terms with them and let them share the kingdom.

If they’re so eager, they can raise their walls

And settle. If it’s other lands they want,

And they’re allowed to leave our soil, we’ll build them

325

Twenty ships from our own Italian oak.

If they can man more, wood is on the coast.

How many boats, what kind of boats, they’ll tell us.

And we’ll supply the labor, bronze, and dockyards.

I’ll also send the hundred noblest Latins

330

To take the news and finalize the treaty.

These will present the olive boughs of peace,

And gold and ivory in standard measures,

And emblems of this reign, the robe and throne.

Confer together, save us from disaster.”

335

Drances, still hostile, rose; half-hidden envy

Of Turnus’ stature galled him; he was lavish

With goods, and in his eloquence a hero—

But not in war—valued as an adviser,

A rabble-rouser, though; his mother’s bloodline

340

Was splendid, though his father’s was obscure.

He now spoke, heaping up the fire of hatred:

“Good king, to all of us your plan makes sense.

What can I add? Everyone should acknowledge

Our town’s way forward, but they’re all too frightened.

345

He needs to stop his rants and let me speak.

Wayward and evil-omened—let him threaten

A bloody death for saying this—he brought down

All those fine leaders, sank this town in grief,

When he attacked the Trojan fortress, shaking

350

His sword at heaven, though prepared to run.

Add one gift to the many that you send

And promise to the Trojans, peerless king:

You are a father—get a splendid son

By giving him your daughter. Don’t let threats

355

Deter you. Make the bond of peace eternal.

And if we’re terrified, let’s make our pleas

To Turnus here, and ask him, as a favor,

To let this king and country have their rights.

You are a curse on Latium! Why keep throwing

360

Your hapless people into open peril?

Turnus, the war can’t save us. We all beg you

For peace—which has one guarantee, so give it.

You say I hate you (shouldn’t I?)—but see,

I am the first to kneel. Pity your country.

365

Lay down your pride. You’re beaten—you should go.

We’re routed, slaughtered, so much land is razed—

If you want fame, and if your will’s so hard,

And if you need a palace as a dowry,

Meet your opponent face to face, with courage.

370

But no: to get a royal wife for Turnus,

We’ll scatter our cheap lives across the plain,

Unwept, unburied. If you have the strength

Or courage that your fathers had, go face

Your challenger.”

375

This kindled the ferocity of Turnus.

He growled, and these words broke from deep within him:

“Drances, your eloquence just overflows

Whenever war needs fighters. You arrive first

At each assembly. Your majestic words

380

Fill it while you stay safe, while earthworks bar

The enemy, and moats don’t fill with blood.

So thunder on as usual and call me

A coward when as many heaps of Trojans

Have died by your hand, when your splendid trophies

385

Litter the plain. Try for yourself what courage

And energy can do. We needn’t look far:

The enemy are all around our walls.

Shall we go face them now? Or will your fighting

Stay limited to feet that bolt, a tongue

390

Gusting away?

Me—beaten? Oh, you worm—who’d say that, seeing

The Tiber swelling with the blood of Trojans,

Arcadian armor stripped, Evander’s house

Brought down, without an heir? Does Bitias,

395

Does Pandarus, that giant, find me beaten?

The thousands I subdued and sent to Hades

While penned inside their walls and earthworks? War

Can’t save us? Chant these omens to the Trojans—

And to your own self, madman. Keep on muddling

400

Our plans with terror: that twice-beaten nation

So powerful, our Latin arms so frail!

Myrmidon chiefs, Achilles from Larissa,

And Diomedes quake! The Aufidus

Retreats, flows backward from the Adriatic!

405

There’s more—this cunning bastard, when I taunt him,

Shams fear; it gives his allegations force.

My hand won’t take a soul like yours—don’t worry.

Keep it there, living in your worthless self.

Now to your grave deliberations, father.

410

If you can place no further hope in fighting,

If we’re abandoned, if from one retreat

Ruin prevails, and Fortune can’t turn back,

Let’s hold our weak hands out and beg for peace.

I long for any trace of our past courage,

415

And I prefer the man who won’t surrender,

Who’d rather bite the dust, once and for all:

He has the most heart, he’s most blessed in hardship.

But still we have supplies, and men to call on,

And allied towns and tribes in Italy;

420

The Trojans got their glory with a bloodbath:

The same storm fell on them, they have their losses.

Why shamefully give in already, quaking

Down to our toes before the trumpet sounds?

Often the changing work of shifting time

425

Brings good again. Commonly, Fortune alters

And sets her victims back on steady ground.

Arpi and its Aetolian king won’t help us;

Lucky Tolumnius, Messapus, leaders

From many towns will. Latium’s chosen troops,

430

Laurentum’s farms will get no petty fame.

And there’s Camilla of the noble Volsci

Leading her mounted squadrons, bright with bronze.

If Trojans challenge me to single combat,

And you say yes, since I’m our stumbling block,

435

I’m willing. Victory hasn’t yet rebuffed me:

No matter what the risk, to me it’s worth it.

He’s greater than Achilles and wears armor

Like his, which Vulcan made? I still will face him.

I’m Turnus, I’m the equal of my forebears.

440

To all you here, and to my future father,

I’ve vowed my life. I beg for single combat!

I don’t want Drances paying with his death

For the gods’ rage—or getting any glory.”

And so they wrangled in this time of danger.

445

Meanwhile, Aeneas moved his camp and forces.

The news sped through the palace, spreading uproar;

The city soon was overwhelmed with terror:

The Trojans and the Tuscans had deployed

Beside the Tiber and swept down the plain.

450

The common people were appalled and stricken

And stung into an even greater anger

And fevered calls for arms; youths roared for arms,

And fathers wept in fear. A racket rose

From all sides to the sky, a storm of discord;

455

As a flock clatters, settling in some tall grove,

Or swans call hoarsely as they pass above

Padusa river’s teeming, sounding shallows.

Turnus then seized his chance: “Yes, citizens!

Let’s call a meeting and sit praising peace

460

While they invade our land.” He said no more

But rushed away, out of the towering building.

“Volusus, call the Volsci, arm their squadrons,

Bring the Rutulians! Coras, with your brother!

Messapus! Spread your horsemen on the plain.

465

Block the approaches too, and man the towers.

The rest can follow me in the attack.”

Now the whole town stampeded to the walls.

Himself, the lord Latinus, in this crisis,

Fled the assembly, put off great endeavors,

470

Contrite that he’d not taken in Aeneas

Straight off, as son-in-law and city sharer.

They ditched below the gates and hauled in boulders

And spikes. The trumpet hoarsely called for blood.

Everyone came out: mothers and their children

475

Stood on the walls in an uneven line.

To Pallas’ temple on the heights the queen drove

With offerings, and matrons thronged around her.

Beside her was the girl Lavinia

(Cause of the havoc), looking down with fine eyes.

480

With gifts of incense, women sought the shrine;

Their sorrow echoed from the looming door.

“Strong-weaponed chief of war, Tritonian virgin,

Shatter the Phrygian pirate’s spear and stretch him,

Face in the dirt, before our city gates.”

485

Fierce and impatient, Turnus dressed for battle.

Already he had on a ruddy breastplate

Bristling with scales, and gold greaves—though his head

Was still bare—and a sword hung at his side.

Bright with gold, from the stronghold’s heights he raced,

490

In thrilled anticipation of the fight,

As a horse breaks his rope, bolts from the barn,

And gains the open flatlands, finally free,

And gallops to the mares that crowd the pastures,

Or to the river that he used to bathe in,

495

Arching his neck exuberantly high,

While his mane plays across his neck and withers.

Royal Camilla with her Volscian force

Hurried to meet him. Right outside the gates

She now dismounted; her battalion likewise

500

Jumped down and stood before her as she spoke:

“If courage brings the confidence it should,

I’ll undertake to face Aeneas’ horsemen,

And ride alone against the mounted Tuscans:

I’ll go to meet the hazards of this war.

505

You take a stand on foot and guard the walls.”

A formidable girl—Turnus was staring:

“Glory of Italy! How could I thank you

Or decently repay you? But we know

Your matchless spirit: let me share your efforts.

510

Rumors, backed up by scouts, tell us Aeneas

Has insolently sent ahead light horsemen

To scour the plains. He’s coming to the city

Himself, across the steep unguarded ridge.

I plan an ambush at a covered path,

515

With armed guards in the woods, at both ways out.

Draw up your troops to meet the Tuscan horse charge,

With keen Messapus, and Tiburtus’ corps,

And Latin cavalry. Take joint command.”

He roused Messapus and the allied captains

520

Likewise, then set off toward his enemy.

There is a twisting valley—or a trap—

Darkly and thickly overgrown; two cliffs

Crowd from its sides; a wispy path leads in,

And at both ends the jaws are grim and narrow.

525

Above, among the soaring lookout places,

There is a hidden clearing, good for cover

To strike from, swooping from the left and right;

Boulders can be sent rolling down the slopes.

Swiftly, by a familiar route, the young man

530

Arrived and took his lurking woodland post.

Where the gods live above, Latona’s child

Now spoke these words of sorrow to swift Opis,

One of her sacred retinue of virgins.

“For all the good they’ll do her, my Camilla

535

Takes up my arms and marches to cruel war.

She is my favorite, and my love for her

Is no new charm or impulse for my soul.

Deposed through hatred of his tyranny,

Metabus left the ancient town, Privernum.

540

Escaping from rebellion into exile,

He took his infant daughter, called Camilla

(A small change from her mother’s name, Casmilla),

And struck out toward bleak woods along the mountains,

The child clutched in his arms. Volscian troops swarmed

545

On all sides, sniping at him savagely.

The Amasenus foamed beyond its banks

And trapped him—so much rain had burst the clouds.

He was prepared to swim but hesitated

In fear for his dear burden. He was forced

550

To make a rapid choice among his options:

In his strong hand, the warrior had a pike

Of seasoned hard oak with a mass of knots.

He wrapped his child in woodland cork-tree bark

And deftly tied her halfway down the shaft,

555

Poised it in his great fist, and called to heaven:

“Latona’s pure kind daughter, forest dweller,

A father vows his child to you. It’s your spear

She holds first; at your mercy, she’s escaping.

I trust her to the risky air, so claim her!”

560

His arm drew back; he sent the weapon hurtling.

The water roared. Above the rapid river

Flew poor Camilla on the hissing spear.

Metabus, as the hostile band drew close,

Dove in and—triumph—plucked Diana’s gift,

565

His daughter, from the other grassy bank.

No walls, no homes of cities took him in—

But such a savage wouldn’t have submitted.

In lonely highlands, shepherds’ haunts, his life passed.

And there, among the thickets and the beasts’ lairs,

570

He milked a half-wild brood mare from the herd

Between his daughter’s tender lips, to nurse her.

And when the baby’s steps first pressed the ground,

He placed a sharp spear in her hand and hung

A bow and quiver from her tiny shoulder.

575

No trailing robe and no gold snood for her:

A tiger skin was on her neck and back.

Already her soft hand flung childish weapons.

On a resistless leash she whirled a sling

To bring down a Strymonian crane or swan.

580

Throughout the Tuscan cities many mothers

Wanted her for their sons. She was content

With me, and longed to stay a virgin huntress,

Untouched. If she weren’t caught up in this struggle,

And so determined to harass the Trojans,

585

She would be with me still, a cherished comrade.

Go, since a bitter fate is tracking her,

Glide from these heights, visit the Latin country,

Where the ill-omened ghastly fight is starting,

And take this quiver: an avenging arrow

590

Must claim as much blood from the soldier wounding

Her sacred body—Trojan or Italian.

I’ll take her poor corpse in a cloud, its armor

Unplundered, and entomb it in her country.”

Opis sailed lightly down through airy heaven,

595

Veiled in a storm cloud—but her weapons rang.

The Trojan muster now approached the walls,

With Tuscan chiefs and all the cavalry

Counted into their units. Horses pranced

And neighed and swerved and yanked resisting reins

600

Everywhere on the plain. An iron crop

Bristled, raised spears flamed clear across the plain.

The Latins and Messapus hurried forward;

Camilla’s wing and Coras with his brother

Appeared among them, charging, thrusting spears

605

Forward and back, and shaking javelins.

The men and neighing horses blazed ahead,

But stopped, a spear throw’s distance from each other,

Then raised a shout and urged their stormy horses

Into the center. Weapons poured from all sides

610

As thick as snow, and wove the sky in shadow.

Now fierce Aconteus raced in—Tyrrhenus met him;

They rammed their spears and were the first to fall,

With great noise, as their horses’ breasts collided,

Smashing the ribs, and like a thunderbolt

615

Or catapulted rock, Aconteus

Was hurled away. His soul seeped through the air.

The Latin army turned in sudden panic,

Shields on their backs, and galloped to the walls.

Asilas led the Trojan squad that chased them.

620

Nearing the gates, the Latins gave the war cry

Again, and turned their horses’ pliant necks.

The Trojans beat a long, free-reined retreat.

The rocking, swelling surf makes such assaults,

Rushes to land, with foamy waves on high rocks,

625

Arches to flood the beach to its far edge,

Then retreats, pulling back the spinning stones

In froth; the water thins, the shore is bare.

Twice, Tuscans drove Rutulians toward the city,

And twice were forced to flee, shields at their backs.

630

The third encounter saw their whole front lines

Embroiled, as every man fixed on another.

Truly the dying groaned then; sunk in blood,

Weapons and bodies rolled, with half-dead horses

Soaked in men’s gore, as bitter fighting surged.

635

Orsilochus stayed clear of Remulus,

But lodged his pike beneath the horse’s ear.

The beast, in rage and agony, reared high,

Lashing its forelegs while its fallen master

Writhed on the ground. Catillus took down Iollas,

640

Herminius next, great in his bulk and weapons

And nerve. His breast and tawny head were bare—

Fearless, he left his giant body open

And let a spear transfix his massive shoulders.

Quivering, he was doubled up in pain.

645

Black gore flowed everywhere. They fought, they stabbed,

They killed, and through their wounds sought splendid death.

Amazon-like, Camilla, with her quiver

And one breast bared, reveled amid the slaughter,

Now showering a hail of pliant spears,

650

Now with a strong ax in her tireless fist.

Diana’s gold bow clattered on her shoulder.

Even when pressured, giving ground, pursued,

She turned around and aimed her arrows backward.

Her retinue was choice: the girls Larina,

655

Tarpeia, Tulla shaking her bronze ax—

Italians bright Camilla picked to serve her

Staunchly, her ornaments in peace and war:

Like Amazons who gallop in the shallows

Of Thermodon, Hippolyta’s companions

660

In painted armor, or like female ranks

With crescent shields who wildly whoop to praise

Penthesilea as she comes from battle.

Hard girl, who did you first unhorse, who last?

How many lay there dying from your blows?

665

Clytius’ son Eunaeus was the first:

Her long fir shaft impaled his naked chest.

He spewed blood, falling, gnawed the gory earth,

And writhed and curled around his wound in death.

Then she killed two, when Liris’ horse collapsed

670

And threw him as he grappled for the reins,

And Pagasus, bare-handed, tried to catch him;

They fell together; then she killed Amastrus,

Hippotas’ son. Her hard-flung shafts chased Chromis,

Tereus, Harpalycus, Demophoön.

675

For every dart the virgin’s hand sent hurtling,

A Phrygian died. The hunter Ornytus,

Far off, rode an Apulian mount; his armor

Was strange: for war he covered his broad shoulders

With skin ripped from a bull and kept his head safe

680

In a wolf’s giant gaping mouth and white teeth.

His weapon was a country pike. He shifted

Through the squads’ center, but a head above it.

She caught him easily, amid the rout,

And spoke with hate above his skewered body:

685

“Tuscan, did you imagine you were hunting

In woodland? On this day a woman’s weapons

Refute your boasts. Yet it’s my spear that kills you:

You’ll take this glory to your fathers’ ghosts.”

Straight off, she killed Orsilochus and Butes,

690

Huge Trojans, spearing Butes from behind

On the white strip of neck that gleamed, defenseless,

While he rode, spear slung down from his left shoulder.

Chased in a broad ring by Orsilochus,

She doubled back inside it—now she chased him—

695

Then rose to hammer with her sturdy ax

Through armor into bone, though he kept begging

To live. The warm brains splattered on his face.

Aunus’ son, warrior from the Apennines,

A great Ligurian while his fate permitted

700

His tricks, now froze to find himself before her.

He knew he couldn’t turn aside the princess

Or get away, however fast his mount.

Quickly he plotted what to do and spoke:

“What’s so remarkable? A woman trusting

705

Her strong horse to protect her? Send him off.

Arm for a fair fight, hand to hand, on foot.

You’ll soon find out how emptily you boasted.”

Stung with the taunt, she handed off her horse

In rage, and took a bold stance, armed like him

710

With a foot soldier’s naked sword and plain shield.

The young man thought his trickery had worked.

Without a moment’s pause, he wheeled his horse

And sped it in retreat with iron spurs.

“Ligurian, full of nothing but yourself!

715

Your native cunning won’t work here and send you

Home safely to your swindling father, Aunus.”

The virgin spoke. On foot, as swift as fire,

She ran his horse down. Facing it, she seized

The reins and took his hated blood in vengeance

720

Easily, as a sacred falcon leaves

Its cliff to soar and chase a dove in high clouds,

Catches it tight, and guts it with hooked talons,

Till blood and torn-out feathers fall from heaven.

The gods’ and mortals’ father, sitting throned

725

On high Olympus’ peak, observed with keen eyes.

The patriarch now spurred Etruscan Tarchon

To fury and the savagery of battle.

Through slaughter and collapsing lines the man rode,

With varied shouts to goad the squads. He called

730

Each man by name, regrouping them for battle.

“Etruscans, always useless, never shamed,

What terror grips your cringing heart today?

A woman drives our ranks in rout and chaos.

Don’t you know what to do with swords and spears?

735

For love and your campaigns at night, you’re eager,

For dances Bacchus’ curving flute announces.

The tables will be rich with food and wine

(Your guiding passion) when an augur sanctions

Victory rites, and a greasy offering calls you

740

To the tall groves.” He wheeled, spurred toward the center,

Prepared to die. He plunged at Venulus

And tore him from his horse, clasped his opponent

With all his strength, and sped away. A shout

Rose to the sky, and all the Latins watched:

745

Tarchon blazed down the broad field with his captive,

Weapons and all; he snapped the spearhead off

And groped for some unguarded place to thrust it

Lethally. Venulus fought back and blocked

Stabs to his throat. Strength against strength, they grappled.

750

A tawny eagle soaring with a snake

Snatched from the ground and fastened in its claws—

In twisting coils, the wounded creature flails,

Raises its spiky scales and rears its head,

Hissing; its captor gouges at these struggles

755

With a hooked beak, while beating through the sky’s heights:

So Tarchon fetched his prize from Tibur’s lines,

Elated. When his Tuscans saw this exploit,

They charged. Fate’s hand had come to rest on Arruns.

Craftily he kept circling swift Camilla,

760

Clutching his spear and looking for his chance.

Wherever in the fighting’s midst the girl raged,

Arruns came after, softly tracking her.

Where she beat down opponents and withdrew,

The young man slyly turned his horse to follow.

765

He tested this and that way all around,

Shaking his deadly spear, unstoppable.

Cybele’s votary and former priest,

Cloreus, stood out bright in Phrygian armor.

He spurred a foam-mouthed horse whose leather trappings

770

Had bronze scales linked by gold in feather patterns.

He wore exotic red and splendid purple

And shouldered a gold Lycian bow, with arrows

From Sicily. The helmet of the priest

Was gold, a gold brooch caught his linen cloak

775

In rustling saffron folds. Embroidery

Covered his tunic and barbarian leggings.

The huntress, longing to nail Trojan weapons

On a shrine’s door or wear proud captive gold,

Picked the man out of all that strife and tracked him

780

Blindly and recklessly across the phalanx—

On fire with a woman’s love of plunder.

This was when Arruns saw a chance to trap her

At last. He raised his spear and prayed to heaven:

“Holy Soracte’s keeper, great Apollo,

785

Tuscans revere you most: our heaps of pine logs

Feed your fire; we go barefoot through the flames

And deep coals, trusting in our piety.

Almighty father, let my weapon cancel

Our army’s shame. I want no arms, no trophy—

790

No spoils at all. I’ll get my glory elsewhere.

I’d strike this noxious bitch down and return,

Gladly obscure, back to my homeland’s cities.”

Apollo heard. Part of the prayer he granted;

The rest he scattered to the fluttering breeze.

795

He let him kill Camilla in an ambush,

But not return again to his proud nation—

That plea went gusting to the southern gales,

So when the spear he launched snapped through the air,

The Volscians, all avidly alerted,

800

Looked toward their princess. But she didn’t notice

The air, the sound, the weapon from the sky,

Until it found its goal beneath her bared breast,

Drove deep, and lodged, and drank her virgin blood.

She fell; dismayed, her retinue ran in

805

To hold her up. Arrun’s alarm was greatest:

Fear marred his joy. He fled, no longer willing

To trust his spear or meet the young girl’s weapons—

As, far ahead of hateful armed pursuers,

A wolf slinks quickly off to trackless heights;

810

He knows how rash he was to kill a shepherd

Or bulky ox; between his legs his tail shakes

And strokes his belly as he seeks the woods:

So Arruns in his terror slunk from view,

And merged into the ranks, content with safety.

815

Dying, she yanked the spear: the iron point

Was wedged deep in the wound, between her ribs.

She bled, she slumped down, and her eyes were closing

In death’s chill. From her face the blush was gone.

Breathing her last, she singled Acca out

820

And spoke to her—this was the most devoted

Comrade she had, and her sole confidant.

“Sister, my strength is gone. This bitter wound

Has finished me, and everything grows dark.

Make your escape—take Turnus this last message:

825

‘Step in, and keep the Trojans from the city.’

And now good-bye.” The reins had dropped. She tumbled

To earth and was released from her cold body

Slowly. She bent her head and laid it down,

Conquered by death, and let her weapons go.

830

An angry groan—her life fled to the shades.

Then an immense shout rose and struck the gold stars.

After her fall, the fight grew raw. The whole force

Of Trojans, Tuscan chiefs, Evander’s horsemen

Out of Arcadia stormed into one mass.

835

Opis, Diana’s spy, had sat a long time

And watched the battle from a mountaintop.

But when, among the far-off shouting frenzy

Of troops, a ruthless death brought down Camilla,

She groaned and spoke from deep within her heart:

840

“This is too hard a punishment, poor girl,

For your attempt to harry Teucrians!

You served Diana in the lonely thickets,

Our quiver on your shoulder—what good now?

But even at the end your queen won’t leave you

845

Unhonored. All the world will praise your death

And know you didn’t shamefully lack vengeance.

Whoever gave you that outrageous wound

Should die—and will.” Below the mountain, shadowed

By holm oaks, was Dercennus’ tomb, a huge mound.

850

(In ancient times he’d been Laurentum’s king.)

Swiftly and gracefully, the goddess leapt there,

And stood and gazed at Arruns from on high.

His armor glinted, and he swelled with swagger.

“Why do you turn and go? Come over here,

855

And get the prize Camilla’s death has earned you.

But are you worth an arrow of Diana?”

The Thracian goddess took a speedy shaft

From her gold quiver. Full of rage, she drew

The bow out till its curving ends converged.

860

Her right hand on the string against her breast

And, at the iron point, her left were level.

In one short moment Arruns heard the sizzle

Of the dart’s flight and felt its iron lodge.

His comrades didn’t notice, and they left him

865

Groaning his last breaths on the dusty plain.

Opis flew off to heavenly Olympus.

Camilla’s light-armed squadron fell back first,

Rutulians next, with keen Atinas, routed.

The leaders scattered from their regiments;

870

Everyone galloped toward the walls and safety.

Nobody could hold out against the onrush

Of deadly Trojan arms, no one could fight them,

But threw their unstrung bows on weary shoulders,

And hoofbeats’ rhythms shook the soft-earthed plain.

875

Black dust rolled toward the walls, a murky tumult.

Mothers on lookout towers beat their breasts

And raised a female cry clear to the stars.

The enemy swarmed in among them, hounding

Those who first rushed the open gates. Their threshold

880

Became a sorry death trap. With their snug homes

And nation’s walls around, they choked out life,

Impaled. Some closed the gate—they didn’t dare

Let pleading comrades in. Now there was carnage

Of those who slashed and stabbed to block the portal

885

And those stampeding in against their weapons.

Their weeping parents watched some locked-out soldiers,

Shoved by the rout, roll headlong into ditches,

Or spur and slack their reins to batter blindly

At those unyielding barriers, the gates.

890

The very mothers on the walls, who’d witnessed

Camilla’s love of country, tried to match her.

In their alarm, they hurled down posts of oak wood

And stakes singed hard in place of iron weapons.

They longed to die first in the town’s defense.

895

Acca found Turnus in the woods and gave him

The brutal news of that tremendous havoc:

The Volscian lines smashed, and Camilla fallen,

Enemies sweeping with rapacious triumph,

Unstoppable, a rout that reached the walls.

900

In rage (and by Jove’s hard will), he deserted

His station in the close-grown upland forest.

Just when he’d left his lookout for the plains,

Father Aeneas reached the unwatched pass,

Emerged from the dark woods and crossed the ridge.

905

Both hurried toward the town with all their forces—

And no long measure of a gap between them.

Aeneas spotted the Laurentian columns

Down the dust-smoking plain, and right then Turnus,

Hearing the tramp of feet and snort of horses,

910

Recognized fierce Aeneas under arms.

They would have made an instant trial of battle,

But ruddy Phoebus plunged his weary team

Into the Spanish sea, day slipped to night.

They camped before the town, constructing ramparts.

915

23–Acheron: The Underworld.

32–Arcadia: Evander was originally from Arcadia, in Greece, before he founded Pallanteum in Italy.

68–Like a plucked blossom in a young girl’s hand: Echoes similes in Sappho and Catullus; cf. the simile at Euryalus’ death (9.435–37).

78–Laurentian: here, Italian.

81–82–He’d bound the hands of captives, offerings to the dead: See 10.519n.

83–tree trunks: Tropaea, which gives us the English word “trophy,” were used to display military trophies in Vergil’s day; cf. 11.5–11.

90–face soaked in his great tears: reworks Achilles’ horse weeping at the death of Patroclus (Iliad 17).

105–in-laws: A glance to the future intermarriage of Trojans and Latins, including Aeneas and Lavinia.

122:–Drances: A scheming politician, used by Vergil as a foil to Turnus.

135–36–Double axes rang on high ash trees: See 6.180–82n.

167–Volscians: Italians, allies of Turnus.

173–a log with weapons: See 11.83n.

213–rich Latinus’ city: Laurentum.

218–He ought to fight it out: That is, in hand-to-hand combat with Aeneas.

223–the great queen: Amata, Latinus’ wife and a staunch supporter or Turnus.

226–Diomedes’ famous city: The city of Arpi. Venulus was sent there by Turnus to request support from Diomedes against the Trojans (see 8.9).

240–Aetolian city: Arpi, called Aetolian because Diomedes is from Aetolia in northern Greece.

247–48–Iapygian country . . . Garganus: Part of Apulia, in southern Italy. Garganus is a mountain on the upper coast.

253–Kingdoms of Saturn: Italy. The god Saturn was said to have fled to Italy after being overthrown by his son Jupiter: see 8.319–23.

259–60–Minerva’s storm . . . vengeful cliff Caphereus: Minerva destroyed the Greek fleet because Ajax the Lesser raped her priestess Cassandra at Troy (2.403–6). He was shipwrecked at Cape Caphereus on the island of Euboea, drawn to the false lights erected by Nauplius to avenge his son Palamedes (see 2.81–85).

261–62–Menelaus . . . Proteus’ columns: Menelaus was driven to the island of Pharos off the coast of Egypt, which was ruled by Proteus, a sea god who had the capacity to change shape. Proteus’ columns are the eastern analogue of the columns of Hercules (Gibraltar) in the west.

262–63–Ulysses . . . Etna’s Cyclopes: Odysseus (Ulysses) encountered the Cyclops Polyphemus on Mount Etna in Odyssey 9.

264–Neoptolemus: Achilles’ son, also called Pyrrhus. For his death see 3.330–32.

264–65–Idomeneus’ shattered home: The Cretan king Idomeneus promised Neptune that if he returned home safely from Troy, he would sacrifice the first thing he saw—and duly sacrificed his own son.

265–Locrians in Libya: Presumably Greeks shipwrecked in Africa by Minerva’s storm.

266–Mycenaean leader: Agamemnon, murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus on his return home to Mycenae.

270–Calydon: A Greek city in Aetolia; Diomedes’ family is from there.

272–friends changed into birds: Diomedes’ companions were said to have been turned into seabirds.

276–I lost my mind: In trying to kill Aeneas at Troy, Diomedes wounded Venus (Iliad 5).

292–one more righteous: Aeneas is presented as superior even to the idealized Hector, thanks to his proto-Roman pietas.

316–the Tuscan river: The Tiber.

317–the Sicanian border: The Sicani were an Italian people; cf. 7.795, 8.328.

355–your daughter: Lavinia.

395–96–Bitias . . . Pandarus: Trojan brothers killed by Turnus (9.672–756).

401–twice-beaten nation: Troy was sacked twice; first by Hercules, then by the Greeks.

403–Myrmidon chiefs: Troops of Achilles.

403–Larissa: The chief city of Thessaly.

403–4–There may be spurious material here (“Achilles from Larissa / and Diomedes”; see line 404 in the Latin).

404–Aufidus: The river Aufidus (today’s Ofanto) runs through Apulia.

410–father: Turnus considers himself betrothed to Latinus’ daughter Lavinia.

432–Camilla of the noble Volsci: She was introduced at 7.803: see note.

458–Padusa: A marshy channel of the river Po.

464–Coras, with your brother: Catillus, commander of the Tiburtines, named at 7.672.

477–Pallas’ temple: An echo of Trojan matrons supplicating Athena during the siege of Troy in Iliad 6.

480–looking down: A sign of her modesty.

483–Tritonian virgin: Minerva was said to have been born near the African lake Tritonis.

484–Phrygian pirate: Aeneas; cf. “bandit” at 10.775.

518–Tiburtus: Gave his name to the city of Tibur. See 7.670–71.

522–There is a twisting valley: The passage resembles Livy’s description of the Caudine Forks, where the Romans were penned in by the Samnites and forced to surrender in 321 BCE.

530–the young man: Turnus.

532–33–Latona’s child . . . Opis: Diana is Latona’s daughter; Opis is one of her companions.

540–Privernum: A Volscian city conquered by Rome in the late fourth century BCE.

636–Remulus: A Latin soldier (not the same as at 9.593).

649–one breast bared: Amazons fought with a breast bared or even amputated to make archery easier.

654–aimed her arrows backward: A technique used by the Parthians, eastern enemies of Rome famed for their skill in archery.

659–63–Amazons . . . Hippolyta . . . Penthesilea: Hippolyta and Penthesilea were famous Amazon queens; the latter fought at Troy and was killed by Achilles.

664–Hard girl, who did you first unhorse, who last?: Here begins Camilla’s aristeia.

700–701–fate permitted his tricks: The Ligurians had a reputation in antiquity as treacherous liars.

721–sacred falcon: Sacred because their flight patterns were observed for augury, bird divination.

737–Bacchus’ curving flute: The tibia, used in ecstatic worship of Bacchus.

759–Arruns: An Etruscan name belonging to the Tarquin dynasty that provided the fifth and seventh kings of Rome.

782–a woman’s love of plunder: Vergil’s essentialism here, claiming love of plunder to be a feminine trait, is contradicted by his showing Euryalus attracted to shiny spoils (9.359–74).

785–Holy Soracte: Apollo had a temple near Mount Soracte in Etruria.

914–the Spanish sea: I.e., the Atlantic, where the sun could be seen to set.

BOOK 12

As soon as Turnus saw the Latins shattered,

And felt their stares demand he keep his pledge,

His spirit filled with unrelenting flame—

As on the plains of Punic Africa

A lion wounded in the breast by hunters

5

Relishes going into war at last,

Tosses his mane and snaps the planted spear,

Unflinching, roaring with his bloody mouth.

So Turnus’ savagery was set alight.

In wild disorder he addressed the king:

10

“I’m ready now. Why should Aeneas’ cowards

Renege on their agreement? I’ll go face him.

Father, bring offerings, and set the terms.

I’ll send the Trojans (on the run from Asia)

To hell, before a Latin audience,

15

One sword refuting all our shame, or else

We’ll be his slaves, Lavinia his bride.”

Latinus answered, with his heart made quiet:

“Indomitable young man, your fierce courage

Must weigh against my heavy obligation

20

To take great care in looking to the future.

You have your father Daunus’ realm. You’ve captured

Many towns. I have gold and open hands.

Other unmarried girls, with proper bloodlines,

Live throughout Latium. Let me be straightforward.

25

I’ll use harsh words, but you must take them in.

My child was not for any former suitor:

Divine and human prophets made this clear.

Our common blood, my love for you, the tears

Of my poor wife prevailed: I broke all bonds,

30

Seized my son’s new bride, started evil war.

Since then, you see what dogs me, and how great

Your hardships are, above all. Two huge battles

Are lost; this city scarcely lets us guard

Italy’s hopes. Our blood still warms the Tiber;

35

Our bones have turned these miles of grasslands white.

What madness keeps me changing and retreating?

If you were killed, I would adopt these allies.

Shouldn’t I end the conflict now and spare you?

Your own Rutulian kin—all Italy—

40

What will they say if (fate forbid!) I lure you

To death, because you’re chasing this alliance?

Think of war’s risks, think of your poor old father

Grieving far off in Ardea, his city.”

These words did nothing to allay his passion;

45

The treatment only made the sickness worse.

But when he could, he spoke, “Excellent father,

It would be kinder not to be concerned.

Just let me make my bargain: life for glory.

And yet the spears I throw are not so feeble.

50

The wounds that I inflict don’t fail to bleed.

He’ll have no goddess-mother there to veil

His flight in female clouds and empty shadows.”

The queen burst into tears, in deadly panic,

And held her child’s fierce suitor in her arms.

55

“If you regard me and these tears at all,

Turnus (my only hope now, my one solace

In old age, since Latinus’ rule and honor,

And our whole tottering house, are on your shoulders),

Tell me you won’t fight hand to hand with Trojans.

60

I have a stake in how this combat ends.

Along with you, I’ll leave this hateful daylight,

No captive of my son-in-law Aeneas.”

Lavinia was there and heard her mother.

The tears came pouring down her flaming cheeks,

65

Dashing across the heat of crimson blushes.

Indian ivory purple dye has wounded,

Or roses bunched with lilies, lending shadows

Of red—these were the colors on the girl’s face.

He stared, confused by love—which stoked his passion

70

To fight—and spoke a few words to Amata:

“Mother, I plead with you, don’t let the omen

That sends me to the grisly clash of Mars

Be tears. I am not free to put off death.

Idmon, go now, displease the Phrygian tyrant

75

With these words: when tomorrow’s dawn first rises,

Blushing and driving her red chariot,

He must not lead his forces out: both armies

Can down their arms and let his blood or mine

End this. That’s how we’ll court Lavinia.”

80

He hurried back inside. Where were his horses?

He smiled to see their whinnying impatience.

Orithyia’s superb gifts to Pilumnus

Were swifter than the wind, whiter than snow.

Their drivers fussed around them busily,

85

Slapping their chests and combing their long manes.

Turnus strapped on a breastplate, gold with scales

Of pale bronze, set his shield for action, took up

His helmet with its red crests in their sockets,

And then—forged by the fire god for his father,

90

Daunus, and tempered in Styx’ stream—his sword.

On a huge column in the central hall

Leaned a strong spear, won from Auruncan Actor.

He seized and clenched it, shook and brandished it,

And cried, “My faithful servant, never shirking,

95

The time has come. Great Actor carried you,

And now it’s Turnus. Let me throw him down,

Rip off his corselet with my brawny hand

And smear dust over Phrygian eunuch hair,

Sodden with myrrh and crimped with iron tongs.”

100

His eyes flashed as these rages hounded him;

His face, on fire all over, threw off sparks:

As an enraged bull bellows fearsomely,

And tries to vent his fury with his horns—

Charging against a tree trunk, jabbing wind—

105

And kicks up sand in prelude to the battle.

Equally fierce, in armor from his mother,

Aeneas roused his soul to martial rage,

Glad of the offer that would end the conflict.

Now he assured his men and anxious Iulus

110

Of destiny, and sent to King Latinus

A firm reply that set the terms for peace.

The dawn’s first glow spread on the mountaintops

As the Sun’s chariot rose from the ocean,

His horses’ nostrils flaring, breathing light.

115

Beneath the splendid city’s walls, Rutulians

And Trojans measured out the fighting ground

And in the center piled up sod for altars

To common gods. Some men, in sacred garlands

And hooded by their cloaks, brought fire and water.

120

In massive columns, the Ausonian army

Poured from the gate. The Trojans and Etruscans

Streamed from their camp, with all their varied weapons,

As if grim Mars himself had summoned them.

The captains flew among them, flaunting gold

125

And purple gear: Assaracus’ descendant

Mnestheus was there, and brave Asilas;

Messapus too, Neptune’s horse-taming offspring.

Each, at the signal, fell into his place,

Planted his spear and leaned his shield against it.

130

Eager to see, mothers, the unarmed commons,

And weak old men came pouring out to fill

Towers and roofs, or stood above high gateways.

Juno was watching from the Alban hilltop

(Not famous yet—it wasn’t even named).

135

She saw the field and both the armies, Trojan,

Laurentian, and the city of Latinus.

Now she addressed a fellow deity,

Sister of Turnus, who ruled sounding rivers

And lakes (the honor that the king of heaven

140

Granted because he’d raped the virgin girl).

“Cherished nymph, glory of the streams, you know

I favor you above all girls in Latium

Who’ve been with willful Jove and not enjoyed it.

I’ve gladly let you have your place in heaven.

145

Learn of the grief in store, but don’t blame me.

With Fate and Fortune letting Latium prosper,

I shielded Turnus and your city’s walls.

But now I see the youth outmatched by fate.

An angry force draws near and brings his ending.

150

I cannot watch them make a pact or fight.

Would you dare help your brother at close quarters?

You should. Poor things, it still might turn out better.”

At once, Juturna’s face was streaming tears.

Repeatedly she struck her handsome breast.

155

“This is no time to cry,” said Saturn’s daughter.

“Run to your brother, save him, find a way,

Or stir up war and break the truce they’ve made.

I will support you.” But this goading speech

Left the girl still in doubt, confused and stricken.

160

Now the kings came. Latinus’ chariot

Was four-horsed, massive; and around his temples

Shone twelve gold rays, the emblem of the Sun,

His ancestor, while Turnus brandished two spears

With broad heads as he drove his two white horses.

165

Aeneas, father of the Roman race,

His shield a star, his armor from divine hands,

Marched from his camp beside Ascanius,

Rome’s second hope. A priest in pure white robes

Brought out a piglet and an unshorn sheep

170

And made them stand before the flaming altar.

The leaders faced the rising sun. They sprinkled

Salted grain, notched the foreheads of the victims,

And poured out their libations on the altars.

Faithful Aeneas drew his sword and swore:

175

“I call the Sun to witness, and this land

For which I have endured so many hardships;

And the almighty father and his consort—

May she be kinder now, I pray—and great Mars,

Lord who twists every war beneath his power;

180

Rivers and springs, and everything we worship

In the sky’s heights and in the blue of ocean:

If Turnus the Italian wins, we losers

Must migrate to the city of Evander,

Iulus will cede this land, Aeneas’ people

185

Will not renew the war against this city.

If in this combat Victory sides with me

(I think it will; may the gods’ power confirm this),

I will not make the Trojans overlords

Or claim the throne. With neither race the loser,

190

We’ll make a lasting bond, on equal terms.

I’ll bring our rites and gods in. My wife’s father,

Latinus, can still reign and keep his army

While Trojans build my town, Lavinium.”

Aeneas had been first. Latinus followed,

195

His eyes on heaven, right hand to the stars.

“Aeneas, I too swear by earth, sea, stars,

Latona’s twins, and Janus with two faces,

The power of gods below, and cruel Dis’ temples.

Father, whose lightning bolt welds treaties, hear me:

200

I touch the altars; by the fire between us,

And by the gods, our race won’t break this treaty,

Whatever the result. No force will turn me

Aside from this, though seas may flood the land

In chaos, heaven melt its way to hell;

205

As surely as this scepter”—in his right hand—

“Won’t send out shoots with tender shading leaves

Now that it’s severed from its mother earth

And had its boughs and foliage stripped away—

It was a tree; a craftsman now has wrapped it

210

In handsome bronze for Latin kings to carry.”

So they affirmed the terms before the nobles.

And now they cut the consecrated throats

Above the flame, pulled out the throbbing guts,

And piled the altars with the laden platters.

215

All along, the Rutulians thought the fight

Unfair, which stirred a welter of emotions,

Worse now that they could see themselves outmatched,

Worse still when Turnus silently stepped forward

With downcast eyes to pray before the altar,

220

His face so young, his youthful form so pale.

Juturna, Turnus’ sister, sensed the murmurs

Were growing, and the crowd confused and shaken.

She assumed Camers’ form (his ancestry

Was splendid, and his father known for courage,

225

And he himself the cutting edge of battle)

And sowed all sorts of rumors through the army—

She knew what she was doing—and harangued it:

“Rutulians, what’s this shameful sacrifice

Of one man? Aren’t we all a match for them?

230

Look at how few there are—Arcadians, Trojans,

And Tuscans, Turnus’ fated enemies.

Would half of us have one opponent each?

Turnus will have the same immortal glory

As gods themselves, to whom he’s vowed his life.

235

We’ll lose our native land, we’ll be enslaved,

Sitting here dawdling on the battlefield!”

The fire these words set in the soldiers’ hearts

Grew and grew. Mutters snaked across the ranks.

Latins, Laurentians changed, and even those

240

Who just before had hoped for peace and safety

Now longed for arms, prayed for the truce to break,

Wringing their hearts for Turnus’ unjust lot.

More forcefully, Juturna gave a sign

In the sky’s heights, of just the character

245

To be misread and muddle the Italians:

Jove’s tawny eagle chased a shrieking mob

Of shore birds in the ruddy sky—a winged rout—

And then went swooping to the waves and captured

The leader of the swans in his cruel talons,

250

Transfixing the Italians. But the flock

Now rallied with a cry—amazing sight.

The sky was darkened by their cloud of wings

As they pursued their enemy. The eagle,

Harried and weighed down, let the plunder fall

255

Into the stream and fled among the clouds—

An omen the Rutulians loudly hailed,

Stirring to fight. Tolumnius the augur

Spoke first: “This is the thing I often prayed for,

The gods’ sign—welcome! Follow me to battle,

260

Poor people, terrorized by this invader,

Like weak birds, as he sacks your coasts—the outrage!

He’ll hoist his sails to get away, a long voyage.

With a united purpose, close your ranks

And fight to save the prince who’s taken from you.”

265

Now he ran forward toward the enemy,

Flinging a spear. The well-aimed cornel shaft

Hissed through the air. A shout rose instantly

From every part of the excited crowd.

The spear flew toward the nine resplendent sons

270

A single virtuous Etruscan wife

Had given to Arcadian Gylippus.

It struck one in the waist (right at the pin

That held the chafing sword belt at the belly)—

A very handsome youth with shining armor—

275

Passed through his ribs and pitched him on the sand.

The brave line of his brothers, fired with grief,

Drew swords and took up spears, attacking blindly.

The ranks of the Laurentians dashed against them.

The answer was a flood of Agyllines,

280

Trojans, Arcadians in painted armor,

All with one passion: settling this with war.

They tore apart the altars—while a wild storm,

A ruthless rain of iron filled the sky—

And snatched the bowls and braziers. King Latinus

285

Fled with his routed gods. The truce was broken.

Men seized the reins of chariots, or vaulted

Onto their mounts and menaced with drawn swords.

Eager to spoil the truce, Messapus charged

Aulestes the Etruscan, who wore emblems

290

Of kingship. As the poor man backed away,

He hit an altar, which he tumbled over

Onto his head. Excitedly, Messapus

Galloped up with his spear. The king was pleading.

The rider loomed and struck and jeered. “He’s finished—

295

A better offering for the gods above.”

Italians ran to strip the still-warm body.

From that same altar Corynaeus snatched

Lit wood, and as Ebysus lunged for him,

Thrust the flame in his face. His giant beard

300

Blazed with a stinging stench, and the attacker

Now grabbed his dazed opponent by the hair,

Forced him down, kneeling hard, and pierced his side

With the unyielding sword. The shepherd Alsus

Dashed through flung spears, but Podalirius

305

Pursued him with a sword; now his opponent

Lifted an ax in turn and split his brow

And chin, and spattered gore across his armor.

A sleep of iron pressed his eyelids down,

And left them closed for an eternal night.

310

Righteous Aeneas stood bareheaded, lifting

An unarmed hand and shouting to his troops:

“Why are you racing to a brawl again?

Hold in your rage: we’ve ratified our terms,

So let me keep them—I must fight alone.

315

Don’t be afraid; my sword will seal this treaty.

These rites have pledged that Turnus is for me.”

The warrior was still haranguing loudly,

When a winged arrow hissed its way to him—

But which hand sent it flying is unknown.

320

Did chance or did a god bring the Rutulians

Such glory? This great exploit’s fame was stifled.

Nobody boasted that he’d shot Aeneas.

Hope flared up hot in Turnus when he saw

Aeneas falling back, his captains panicked.

325

He called for arms and horses, proudly vaulted

Into his chariot and grabbed the reins.

Many strong men died where he flew along.

Others he rolled away half-dead, he trampled

Whole ranks, he poured their own spears on the routed.

330

As, by the chilly Hebrus, bloody Mars

Is stirred to clash his shield and storm to war,

Giving his team free rein to skim the plains

Faster than South and West Winds, and their hoofbeats

Make farthest Thrace groan, and the god’s retainers—

335

Treachery, Rage, and black Fear—pound beside him:

So wildly Turnus drove his steaming horses.

They capered on the pitiable carnage,

Spattering blood-dew with their tearing hooves;

The sand they stamped across was mixed with gore.

340

Hand to hand, he killed Thamyrus and Pholus,

Sthenelus with a distant shot—like Glaucus

And Lades, raised by Imbrasus, their father,

In Lycia and given matching armor

For sparring or out-galloping the wind.

345

Elsewhere Eumedes plunged in. He possessed

His grandsire’s name, but Dolon’s strength and spirit:

His father, hero of the bygone war,

Had boldly named Achilles’ chariot

To be his prize for spying on the Greek camp.

350

But Diomedes gave a different prize,

Which kept him from aspiring to those horses.

Now Turnus saw the son far off, exposed,

Chased him the whole way with a javelin,

Then leapt out of his chariot to straddle

355

The fallen dying man. He stamped his neck down

And wrenched the shining sword from his right hand

To sink it in his throat, and taunted him:

“Trojan, here’s Western ground for you to conquer:

Measure it with your body, be rewarded

360

For daring to attack me. Look, your walls grow!”

His spear sent Asbytes with him, and Dares,

Chloreus, Sybaris, Thersilochus,

Thymoetes, whom his bucking horse had thrown.

Edonian north winds that howl across

365

The deep Aegean, driving winds to shore,

Gales that swoop down and drive the clouds from heaven

Were like the path that Turnus cut; the columns

And battle lines were turning in a flood.

His soaring plume was pulsing in the wind.

370

Phegeus, keen to stop his roaring onrush,

Dove straight into his way and yanked aside

The foam-soaked bridles of his whipped-up horses.

While he hung dragging from the yoke, his shield

Slipped, a spear struck him, and it penetrated

375

The breastplate with its double mesh and grazed him.

He faced his enemy still, heaved up his shield,

And tried to make some headway with his sword—

The hurtling whirling wheel propelled him headlong,

And he went sprawling. Turnus went to him.

380

The helmet left the neck exposed. He took

The head, and left the body in the sand.

These victories sowing death, Mnestheus

And staunch Achates, with Ascanius,

Helped back to camp Aeneas, smeared in gore,

385

His long spear propping every other step.

The arrow had snapped off. He gouged the wound,

Raging: the most direct way was a broadsword

To cut down where the point hid and allow him

To go back into battle. But the son

390

Of Iasus, Iapyx, came; Apollo

Had loved him painfully, beyond all others,

And gladly offered all his skills and powers:

His lyre and prophecy, and his swift arrows.

But to prolong his dying father’s life,

395

He chose to learn the properties of herbs

And humble, unheroic arts of healing.

Aeneas seethed in pain, propped on his huge spear

Among the warrior crowd with grieving Iulus,

But their tears didn’t move him. Old Iapyx,

400

His robe hitched up in the physicians’ manner,

Made many anxious trials with herbs of Phoebus—

Applied with no result, as when he prodded

The point or took it in his gripping forceps.

No route proved lucky, and his patron god

405

Didn’t come help. Across the plain, cruel horror

Swelled, and disaster neared. Dust filled the sky,

Horsemen came swooping in, and swarms of arrows

Reached the camp’s heart. Grim shouts went heavenward,

As young men fought and died in ruthless battle.

410

Venus the mother, shaken by her child’s pain—

Unfair!—picked dittany in Cretan Ida.

This is an herb with trailing purple flowers

And downy leaves, familiar to wild goats

For browsing when they’re wounded by an arrow.

415

Venus, veiled in a dark cloud, brought it down

And steeped the secret remedy in water

A bright bowl held. She sprinkled in ambrosia

And panacea with its pleasant fragrance.

The moment old Iapyx bathed the wound,

420

The pain was gone, though he did not know why;

The blood dried from the bottom of the lesion;

The arrow yielded to his hand—unforced,

It dropped out, and the body’s weakness vanished.

Iapyx took the lead, goaded the others:

425

“Why are you standing there? Quick, get his weapons!

It was no human power, no skill of mine

That saved your life, Aeneas. Someone greater

Than me is sending you to greater exploits.”

Hungry to fight, he’d strapped on both gold greaves

430

Already. Restively, he shook his spear.

His shield now fitted to his side, his cuirass

Around his trunk, he gave Ascanius

A steel embrace and kissed him through the visor.

“Learn courage and true toil from me, my boy—

435

And Fortune’s ways from others. I’ll protect you

This time, and lead you where the great rewards are.

Do keep in mind, as you mature, the models

From your own stock: be driven by Aeneas

Your father, and your uncle Hector too.”

440

He loomed, shook his huge spear, rushed from the gates;

With him, Antheus and Mnestheus

Took a massed force. The men poured out and emptied

The crowded camp, and soon the field was muddled

With blinding dust, jolted and roiled with tramping.

445

Turnus, up on the earthwork, saw them coming.

Blood chilled in the Italians as they saw.

Juturna was the first among the Latins

To recognize the sound, and she retreated.

Aeneas swept the deadly line with him

450

Across the plain. As storm clouds cross the sea

And block the sun (terror of wretched farmers,

Who, long before the start, foretell the downfall

Of trees, crops massacred, the whole land ruined),

While winds soar on and bring the sound to land:

455

So the Rhoeteian leader led his army

At his opponents, all formations joining

In one. Thymbraeus killed immense Osiris;

Mnestheus, Arcetius; Achates,

Epulo; Gyas, Ufens; then the augur

460

Tolumnius—who’d taken that first shot.

A shout rose skyward. Now it was Rutulians

In dust-choked flight across the battlefield.

Aeneas didn’t stoop to bring them down

In death with duels on foot or with pursuit

465

Of men with spears. He kept at Turnus’ back

Through the murk, yelling challenges at Turnus.

The warrior girl Juturna, in alarm,

Toppled Metiscus, who was Turnus’ driver,

Over the shaft and left him far behind,

470

Taking his place to steer with rippling reins—

Disguised as him, down to his voice and weapons.

Like a black swallow flying through the mansion

Of a rich man, across his lofty halls,

Gathering scraps to bring her prattling brood,

475

Calling in empty porticoes and circling

The cisterns: so Juturna’s chariot

Sped through the hostile army. Everywhere

She made a show of her exultant brother—

But kept him far away from any fighting.

480

Aeneas tracked him on a winding path

Toward confrontation, calling through the remnants

Of battle lines. He’d glimpse his enemy

And fight to overtake the fleeing team:

Juturna always turned the chariot.

485

What should he do? As on chaotic currents,

His purposes were pulled conflicting ways.

Messapus happened to be carrying

Two pliant iron-pointed spears. He ran up,

Aimed one and hurled it for a certain strike.

490

Behind his shield, Aeneas dropped to one knee,

But when the speeding spear passed over him,

It grazed the helmet, ripping off the plume.

His anger flared up at the sneak attack.

When he saw Turnus’ chariot receding,

495

He called on Jove, the broken truce’s altars,

And plunged straight in—and now Mars favored him.

He launched a slaughter—horrifying, cruel,

And random—and it gave his rage free rein.

What god will sing me such pain—deaths of all kinds

500

For chiefs whom Turnus and the Trojan hero

Drove back and forth in turn across the plain?

Jupiter, was it your decree, this clash

Of nations that would later live as friends?

Where Trojans rushing in first met resistance

505

Aeneas killed Rutulian Sucro, deftly

Driving his cruel sword through the fence of ribs

Into his side—this wound that kills the fastest.

Turnus unhorsed Amycus and Diores,

Brothers, and then he dealt with them on foot,

510

One with a javelin, one with a sword,

And hung his chariot with their bleeding heads.

Aeneas in one clash slew brave Cethegus,

Talos and Tanaïs; then sad Onites,

Peridia’s child, a Theban; Turnus killed

515

Two brothers from Apollo’s Lycia:

Menoetes too, futile in hating war:

A poor Arcadian, adept at fishing

The teeming streams at Lerna—not at serving

Powerful men. His father sowed hired ground.

520

A fire is launched into a withered forest

From either side, to set the bay trees crackling;

Two frothy rivers crash from mountain heights

And hurry to the seas, each ravaging

Its path: so Turnus and Aeneas swept

525

The battlefield with so much energy.

Their rage swelled as it never had; their hearts burst,

Unconquered. They attacked with all their strength.

Murranus boasted of his ancient clan

And claimed a pure descent from Latin kings.

530

Aeneas’ whirling giant boulder dashed him

Onto the ground. The wheels rolled him ahead

Under the reins and yoke. Battering hooves

Trampled the man—his horses didn’t know him.

Hyllus charged in untrammeled fury; Turnus

535

Answered him with a spear to his gold helmet.

It pierced the forehead, lodging in his brain.

Cretheus, bravest of the Greeks, was no match

For Turnus. When Aeneas came, Cupencus

Could find no safety in his gods. The poor man

540

Gained just a short delay from his bronze shield.

Laurentian fields saw your death, Aeolus:

Stretched on your back, you covered no small space,

Though the Greek phalanx couldn’t bring you down—

Achilles either, ending Priam’s reign.

545

Your walls were at Lyrnesus, under Ida:

Your finish line was here, your tomb this ground.

All the lines turned to fight now—Latins, Trojans:

Mnestheus, keen Serestus, and Messapus

(Tamer of horses), brave Asilas, Tuscans

550

Drawn up, Arcadian horsemen of Evander—

Each struggling on his own, with all his strength;

No rest, no pause in the prodigious fight.

Aeneas’ lovely mother prompted him

To make a quick deployment to the walls

555

And stun the Latins with a new disaster.

While tracking Turnus through the hostile lines,

And looking all around, he saw the city

Peaceful—untouched by all the strife. A vision

Of fuller battle jolted him. He called

560

Mnestheus, Sergestus, brave Serestus,

His captains, climbed a mound, and made a speech.

His army hurried in to crowd around him,

And listened with their shields and spears still hoisted:

“Obey, and don’t waste time. Jove’s on our side.

565

It’s a quick change of plans, but don’t hang back.

Unless the guilty town Latinus rules

Accepts our terms and comes beneath our yoke,

I’ll raze its smoking rooftops to the ground—

Unless I ought to wait till Turnus chooses

570

To fight with me and lose a second time.

Trojans, this evil war is his creation.

Bring torches, quick! Let flames enforce our treaty.”

Now all his forces raced to the attack

And in a massive wedge made for the walls.

575

Ladders and fire suddenly appeared.

Men scattered to the gates and cut the guards down,

Or made the sky dark with their hurtling weapons.

Aeneas at the front, below the ramparts,

Shouted, stretched out his hand, accused Latinus,

580

And called the gods to witness: he was forced

To war again—a second pact was broken.

The frightened people of the town were wrangling:

Some called to have the gates flung open, Trojans

Let in, the king dragged to the ramparts. Others

585

Brought arms, put up a fight—as when a shepherd

Tracks home a swarm of bees back to their cliff,

And fills their pumice crannies with sharp smoke,

Making them roil around in their wax quarters,

In terror and loud-buzzing, sharpened rage;

590

A black reek billows through their home; inside,

It’s whirring shrilly as the smoke pours out.

A new blow to the tortured Latins shook

The city to the ground with grief. The queen

Looked from her rooms at the encroach, the walls

595

Attacked, the fire flying to the rooftops—

No Turnus, no Rutulian counterforce.

The wretched woman thought the youth had died,

And maddened by the sudden agony,

She cried she was to blame for these disasters,

600

And babbled in the frenzy of her grief.

Prepared to die, she ripped her purple robe

And hung a cruel noose from a lofty beam.

News of this great loss reached the Latin women.

Lavinia tore her bud-bright hair and scratched

605

Her cheeks, while those around her raved with horror.

The sound of mourning echoed in the palace.

The tragic story traveled through the city,

Spreading despair. Latinus’ clothes were torn,

His white hair smeared with dust. The suicide

610

And the town’s downfall stunned him. He kept blaming

Himself: he hadn’t readily accepted

Trojan Aeneas as his son-in-law.

The warrior Turnus, at the field’s far side,

Was chasing a few stragglers, slowing down,

615

His pleasure in his horses’ onslaughts fading,

When the wind carried him the sound of shouting,

Signal of some new horror. The grim roar

Of the town’s turmoil fell on his keen ears.

“What is this monstrous loss that shakes the walls?

620

Why is this uproar flooding from the city?”

He pulled his reins and stopped, dazed with alarm.

His sister, though—she steered the chariot,

Looking just like Metiscus, Turnus’ driver—

Came back with this: “Let’s chase the sons of Troy here.

625

We’ve started winning, and the road lies open.

Others can shield their homes, but while Aeneas

Is pressuring Italians, let’s hurl death

At Trojans in their turn; you’ll leave this place

With no less honor, and no fewer killed.”

630

Turnus replied:

“Sister, I knew you ever since you ruined

The truce, and threw yourself into the war.

Why bother now to hide your holy presence?

Who sent you from Olympus on this mission—

635

To see your hapless brother’s brutal death?

What can I do? What stroke of luck could save me?

Murranus died—I saw, he called to me;

No one still living is a dearer friend:

A massive wound brought down his massive body.

640

Poor Ufens fell, so didn’t see my shame.

The Trojans have his weapons and his corpse.

Should I give up and let them raze the town,

And not put Drances’ insults to the sword?

And will this country see me run away?

645

Is death so terrible? Spirits below,

Bless me! The gods above have turned away.

My soul descends untouched by cowardice.

I’m worthy of my splendid ancestors.”

A horse came dashing, foaming at the mouth,

650

Through ranks of enemies and brought him Saces,

Wounded across the face, entreating Turnus:

“Have mercy on your people—you’re our last hope.

Aeneas, in the thunder of his onslaught,

Brings ruin to the towers of Italy.

655

Torches fly to the roofs already. Latium

Now looks to you. The king himself, Latinus,

Doesn’t know who his son is, or what treaty

Binds him; your queen, your staunch friend, killed herself,

Fled the light, terrified. Before the gate,

660

Only Messapus and the fierce Atinas

Hold our line—though around them stand close ranks

With swords that bristle like an iron wheat field—

And here you drive around on empty grass.”

Turnus was stunned to hear of these reversals.

665

He stood and stared in silence. In one heart

Surged endless shame, madness infused with grief,

Love spurred by fury, and the pride of courage.

Clouds scattered from his mind, though, and that moment

He turned his burning wide eyes toward the walls,

670

Glared at the city from his chariot.

The flames were rolling up through every story,

A skyward stretch of waves that seized the tower—

Which he himself had raised, a compact network

Of beams, with wheels beneath, and lofty gangways.

675

“Sister, now fate has won. Don’t hold me back.

Let’s go where god and brutal Fortune call us:

I am resolved to fight Aeneas, suffer

Anything, die. You’ll see no more dishonor

In me. Grant me my final frenzy now.”

680

He vaulted from the chariot and burst

Straight through the hostile ranks and clouds of spears

At a dead run, deserting his sad sister,

Like a rock plunging from a mountaintop,

Torn free by wind, or by a scouring rainstorm,

685

Or loosening and undermining years;

Headlong, unstoppable, it speeds along,

Bouncing, and rolling with it trees and herds

And men. So through the scattered forces Turnus

Rushed to the city walls, where blood had drenched

690

The earth deep down, and spears sang through the air.

He waved his arm, protesting, bellowing:

“Rutulians, stop! Put down your weapons, Latins!

Whatever fortune brings is mine. I’ll pay

For the spoiled truce and settle this—it’s fairer.”

695

They all stepped back and made a space between them.

Father Aeneas heard the name of Turnus

And left the ramparts, left the city’s towers,

Broke off all action, threw off all delay

In joy, and clashed his arms with mighty noise,

700

Towering like a mountain—Athos, Eryx,

Or Father Apennine, who relishes

Rattling his oaks and rearing his white head.

Rutulians, Latins, Trojans all together,

Those on the high walls, those below who worked

705

Battering rams, turned avidly to look,

Laying down arms. Even Latinus gaped

As the two giant heroes came together

To fight it out—though born a world apart.

Once on the open ground, they started forward,

710

Running, and launched their spears across the distance,

Then plunged in hand to hand, their bronze shields ringing.

The earth groaned. Now their swords struck, and the blows

Multiplied, in the thick of chance and courage.

As on Taburnus’ heights or Sila’s vast slopes,

715

Two bulls meet in a savage clash of horns;

The herdsmen back away from them, the herd

Stands mute in fear, the heifers wonder which

Will rule the woods—which will the herds all follow?

Brutally, they converge, exchanging wounds,

720

Straining their horns home; down their necks and shoulders

Blood washes, groans re-echo through the glade:

Trojan Aeneas met the Daunian hero

With that much force. The clang of shields filled heaven.

Now Jove himself held up a pair of scales,

725

Evenly balanced, for the pair of fates:

Who was condemned? Which side would death weigh down?

Seeing a safe chance, Turnus darted forward,

Lifted his sword, and struck with all his strength.

Trojans and frightened Latins shouted. Both lines

730

Juddered—and then the treacherous sword broke,

Deserting its fierce master as it landed.

He saw the strange bare hilt. He was unarmed,

And ran—he had to—faster than the East Wind.

Mounting behind his team, they say, and bolting

735

To battle, he had snatched his charioteer

Metiscus’ sword, and left behind his father’s.

This served him well in scattering the Trojans,

But when it fell on Vulcan’s holy weapons,

The mortal blade, brittle as ice, was shattered.

740

Its pieces glittered on the tawny sand.

Turnus sought frantically for some way out

Across the plain, and wove erratic circles,

Since Trojans pressed around him, and a swamp

Blocked one side, and the looming walls the other.

745

Aeneas kept up, though the arrow wound

Hampered and slowed him. Seething, step by step,

He harried, right behind his cowed opponent—

Just as a hunting dog keeps baying, charging

A stag trapped by a river or a fence

750

That’s hung with terrifying scarlet feathers;

Panicking at the ambush and the high bank,

The prey runs back and forth in countless dodges;

The zestful Umbrian hound with gaping jaws

Has got him—almost—now—but snaps on air.

755

Then a real outcry rose, the pools around them

Echoed, the whole sky thundered with the uproar:

On the run, Turnus screamed at the Rutulians—

Each one by name, and shouted for his own sword.

Aeneas threatened instant death for any

760

Who came near, and to terrify them more,

He vowed he’d raze their town. He hobbled on,

Chased Turnus clear around five times, and five

The other way. It was no sport; no small prize

Was now at stake, but Turnus’ life and blood.

765

An olive tree, with bitter leaves, had stood there,

Sacred to Faunus. Sailors saved from shipwrecks

Revered it: pledges for Laurentum’s god

Were put there, nailed-up gifts and hanging clothes.

The Trojans cut it down—though it was holy—

770

With other trees, to clear a space to fight on.

The heir of Dardanus, Aeneas, hurled

A spear into the stump. It stuck there, anchored

In the tough root. He stooped to wrench it free:

The weapon might outrun the man he couldn’t.

775

A raving terror now took hold of Turnus:

“Faunus, and queenly Earth, I beg for pity.

Hold the spear, if I’m faithful to the rites

Aeneas’ mob, by making war, has spoiled.”

This was his prayer, which didn’t go to waste.

780

Aeneas struggled at the clinging stump,

But all his strength could not suffice to loosen

Its hardwood jaws; and while he kept on straining,

The Daunian goddess—in Metiscus’ form—

Rushed up and gave her brother back his sword.

785

Venus, in rage—why was the nymph allowed this?—

Came near and tore the spear out. Both men, hulking,

Courage and arms recovered now—one holding

His trusted sword, one looming, spear in hand—

Took panting stands as Mars’ competitors.

790

All-powerful Olympus’ king addressed

Juno, who watched them from a tawny cloud:

“My wife, what’s left to do? Isn’t it over?

You do admit that fate must raise Aeneas

Up to the stars, a god of Italy.

795

What hopes can keep you in these chilly clouds?

How could a mortal weapon strike a god?

What of the sword Juturna (you control her!)

Returned to Turnus, new strength for the beaten?

Give way at last, I beg you. Don’t let sorrow

800

Gnaw you in silence—and I want an end

To brooding grievances from your dear mouth.

It’s time now. You were free to hound the Trojans

On land and sea, ignite this evil war,

Destroy a house, bring mourning to a wedding.

805

I won’t allow you more.” The child of Saturn,

The goddess, answered, with her head bent humbly:

“Father Jove, god of power, I knew your will,

And left the earth and Turnus—otherwise,

You wouldn’t see me here, meek and accepting.

810

I’d be there, ringed with flames, down on the front lines,

Dragging the Trojans to the bitter fight.

I urged Juturna, yes, to help her brother—

Poor man—and sanctioned bolder acts to save him,

But never meant for her to draw her bow:

815

By the relentless spring of Styx, I swear it,

The only oath that awes the gods in heaven.

But I concede and leave the fights I loathe,

Begging one thing for Latium, for your children’s

Glorious state—no law of fate forbids it.

820

When they make peace with a propitious marriage—

Let them!—and treaties and shared laws unite them,

Don’t make the native Latin warriors change

Their ancient ways and name; don’t force on them

The clothes and speech of Troy. Let Latium be,

825

And grant it centuries of Alban kings,

And Roman stock, strong with Italian courage.

Troy fell. Now let her name lie fallen with her.”

The world’s and humankind’s creator smiled.

“Truly, you’re Saturn’s child too, my own sister:

830

You hold such waves of anger in your heart.

What good, though, has it done you? So be calm:

I grant your wish, you’ve won, I give up gladly.

Ausonians will keep their speech and customs

And name unchanged. The Trojans will fade out

835

As they breed in. I’ll introduce their rites,

But make one Latin people, with one language.

You’ll see the new race, with Italian blood,

Surpass the world—and gods—in piety.

Nobody else will bring you greater worship.”

840

Juno agreed and changed her mind, contented,

And at that moment left the cloud in heaven.

Now the gods’ father had a plan in mind

To force Juturna from her brother’s side.

The twin fiends named for horror are the Dirae.

845

The Dead of Night gave birth to them, together

With deepest hell’s Megaera. She wound all three

With coiling snakes and gave them windy wings.

They serve before the throne of ruthless Jove

As goads of terror for poor humankind

850

When the god’s ruler causes deadly plagues

Or menaces a guilty town with war.

One of this pair of ghouls was sent by Jove

From heaven to Juturna as an omen.

Fast as a whirlwind she flew down to earth,

855

Arrowlike, as if some Cydonian

Or Parthian bow had sent her hurtling, poisoned

With savage gall that has no remedy,

Whirring through clouds, unnoticed in the shadows.

So Night’s child made her swift way to the world.

860

Seeing the Trojan lines and Turnus’ columns,

Quickly she shrank to look like that small bird

That perches on deserted roofs, or tombs,

And sings—an evil omen—in the dark night.

The demon screeched and harried back and forth

865

In Turnus’ face, wings beating on his shield.

A strange, numb panic made his body helpless.

His hair stood up; his voice clung in his throat.

Juturna, his poor sister, knew the far hiss

Of the fiend’s wings; she tore her loosened hair,

870

Scratched her face bloody, pounded her breasts livid.

“Turnus, my brother, how can I help now?

What else must I endure? I have no skill

To keep you living. Can I fight this omen?

At last I’ll leave the field. No need to threaten,

875

Hideous birds. I know your deadly wingbeats;

I know the will of Jupiter, high-minded,

High-handed. But can this be how he pays

For my virginity? He made me deathless,

And yet if I could die, I’d end my anguish

880

And go with my poor brother through the shadows.

What is the good of my unending life

Without you? Can the earth gape wide enough

To drop me to the shades, though I’m immortal?”

With many sighs, the goddess draped her head

885

In a gray veil and plunged into the river.

Aeneas pushed ahead and shook his spear—

Big as a tree—and spoke from his fierce heart:

“What’s the delay now, Turnus? Why fall back?

It’s not a race, but combat, hand to hand.

890

Change into every form. See what your courage

Or skill can do. Soar up into the sky,

Or find a hole down underground to hide in.”

But Turnus shook his head. “I’m not afraid

Of your words when the gods—and Jove—attack me.”

895

He looked around: by chance, a massive boulder,

An ancient bulk, was lying on the plain,

A marker to solve conflicts over fields.

Ten chosen men could scarcely shoulder it—

Men of the strength that earth brings forth today.

900

The hero grappled, grasped it, made a run

And rose and heaved it whirling at his rival.

But the familiar speed was not in Turnus,

Or strength to lift and throw that giant stone.

His knees gave way, his blood was frozen hard.

905

The stone went rolling through the empty air,

But not so far that it could strike its target.

As, when at night our eyes are sealed with slumber,

We dream we can’t run on by any effort,

And finally sink exhausted as we struggle;

910

The tongue is powerless, the body loses

The strength it knew, the voice and words are gone;

So the grim goddess blocked off every path

For Turnus’ valor. Baffled and distracted,

He gazed at the Rutulians and the city—

915

And froze in dread: his death was coming close.

Where could he—run—attack? His chariot—

Where? And his sister, who’d been driving it?

He paused. Aeneas shook the fatal spear,

Saw what chance offered, flung across the distance

920

With all his strength. No catapulted stones

Smash against walls like this. No thunderbolts

Strike with such noise. Strong as a hurricane,

Through the shield’s seven layers, bringing death,

Then through the breastplate’s lower edge it hissed,

925

And then into his thigh. And at the impact

Huge Turnus toppled forward on one knee.

The hills threw back the groans, the groves reechoed

The sounds Rutulians—on their feet now—made.

The humbled man looked up and stretched a hand out:

930

“I’ve earned this—I won’t grovel for my life.

Use your good luck. But if a parent’s anguish

(Think of Anchises) can at all concern you,

Then pity Daunus—please—in his old age.

Send me, or else my corpse, back to my family.

935

You’ve triumphed: the Italians see me begging

Mercy. Lavinia is now your wife.

Lay down your hatred.” There Aeneas stood,

Fierce, armed—but now his eyes had grown unsteady,

His hand still; and his halting change of heart

940

Grew stronger. Then he saw, on that tall body,

The belt with shining studs his young friend Pallas

Had once worn. Turnus, who had cut him down,

Displayed the hateful token on his shoulder.

Aeneas stared—the spoils brought back to him

945

His wild grief, and he burned with brutal rage.

“So you’ll escape, in loot from one of mine?

It’s Pallas who now slaughters you, to offer

Your vicious blood in payment for your crime.”

Incensed, he thrust the sword through Turnus’ chest.

950

The body’s warmth and strength dissolved; the life

Groaned in its rancor and fled down to Hades.

28–Divine and human prophets made this clear: See 7.58–80 and 96–101.

29–Our common blood: Amata is Turnus’s aunt.

72–Mother: He thinks of her as his mother-in-law.

75–the Phrygian tyrant: Aeneas.

83–Orithyia’s superb gifts to Pilumnus: Orithyia, wife of the North Wind, Boreas, gave the horses to Pilumnus, Turnus’s grandfather.

90–the fire god: Vulcan, who also forged Aeneas’ shield.

93–Actor: Otherwise unknown.

99–Phrygian eunuch hair: A typical Roman insult toward Easterners, who were considered effeminate.

131–Eager to see: An example of the narrative trope of teichoscopia, “viewing from the walls,” such as in Iliad 3.

134–the Alban hilltop: The Alban Mount, southeast of Rome, where there will later be a temple of Jupiter.

139–Sister of Turnus: Juturna, a water nymph, first mentioned at 10.439–40.

169–Rome’s second hope: That is, after Aeneas.

173–Salted grain, . . . the foreheads of the victims: Salted grain was sprinkled on the forehead of sacrificial animals. The forelock was ritualistically cut and the hair burned; see 6.245–46.

258–Tolumnius the augur: Augurs observed signs, especially the flight of birds, to interpret the will of the gods.

319–When a winged arrow hissed its way to him: The wounding of Aeneas is modeled on an episode in Iliad 4 in which Menelaus is struck by an arrow.

331–Hebrus: A river in Thrace.

348–49–his father . . . Achilles’ chariot: Dolon, a Trojan spy who was killed in Iliad 10 by Diomedes and Odysseus.

359–Western ground: A play on Hesperia, “western land,” another name for Italy.

365–Edonian north winds: Thracian. Thrace was known for harsh weather.

412–dittany in Cretan Ida: A healing herb found only in Crete, dittany is named for another Cretan mountain, Dicte.

433–34–he gave Ascanius a steel embrace: Contrasts with the tenderness shown by Hector to his son in Iliad 6.

456–Rhoeteian: Trojan.

542–Aeolus: A Trojan warrior, not to be confused with the keeper of the winds (see 1.52–63).

546–Lyrnesus, under Ida: Lyrnesus was a city near Troy, below Mount Ida.

569–I’ll raze its smoking rooftops to the ground: As the Greeks did Troy’s. See too Aeneas’s threat at 12.762.

582–a second pact was broken: The Fury Allecto had caused the first rupture at 7.341–55.

605–bud-bright hair: The Williams text contains the rare word floros as opposed to the banal flavos (blond) to describe Lavinia’s hair.

612–13–These lines are thought to be spurious.

701–2–Athos, Eryx, or Father Apennine: Athos was in northern Greece, Eryx on Sicily. The Apennines are a mountain range that runs the length of Italy.

715–Taburnus’ heights or Sila’s vast slopes: Mount Taburnus, now Monte Taburo, is part of the Apennines in southern Italy. Sila was a forested region in southern Italy inhabited by the Samnites, Rome’s great Italian foe.

725–a pair of scales: Jupiter balances the fates of Aeneas and Turnus as he did those of Achilles and Hector in Iliad 22, with the difference that Vergil feels no need to spell out the result.

737–his father’s: Turnus has left behind the sword forged by Vulcan for his father, Daunus (12.90–91).

751–with terrifying scarlet feathers: Devices used by Roman hunters to drive prey along a predetermined path into nets.

767–Faunus: An Italian god of woods and trees.

784–The Daunian goddess: Juturna, called Daunian after her father, Daunus.

826–Alban kings: The Alban kings, descended from Aeneas through Ascanius, ruled this area between the events of the Aeneid and Romulus’ founding of Rome.

839–piety: Aeneas’ primary virtue, subservience of self to family, gods, and country.

845–Dirae: The “Grim Ones,” the Furies Allecto and Tisiphone: see 6.555–56 and 7.323–25. The third Fury is Megaera.

856–57–Cydonian or Parthian bow: Cydonians, or Cretans, were known to poison their arrows. Parthians were skilled archers.

862–that small bird: Perhaps some species of owl; an ill omen.

899–900–Vergil reworks from Iliad 12 (445 ff.) the motif of the superiority of Hector’s strength to that of modern-day men and from Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura 5 (820 ff.) the idea of the earth’s offspring becoming progressively punier.

913–the grim goddess: The Dira sent by Jupiter.

Glossary

Abas

The name of two friends of Aeneas, one Trojan and one Etruscan; possibly also the name of a Greek warrior from whom Aeneas wins armor in a skirmish during the sack of Troy

Acestes

A Trojan hero who hosts Aeneas and his followers in Sicily; founder of Acesta

Achaea

A region in the northern Peloponnese

Achaeans

Often used to refer to the Greeks generally, especially those who besieged Troy

Achates

Aeneas’ comrade and armor bearer, famed for his loyalty

Acheron

A river in the Underworld, sometimes used to refer to the Underworld as a whole

Achilles

Son of the hero Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis; the greatest Greek warrior at Troy; slayer of the Trojan champion Hector

Actium

A headland in Acarnania in Greece with a temple of Apollo near which Octavian, later called Augustus Caesar, defeated the Roman general Antony and the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra in a naval battle in 31 BCE to become the uncontested ruler of Rome

Adriatic

The sea between Italy and the Balkan peninsula

Aegean

The sea between Greece and Asia Minor (modern Turkey)

Aeneas

The son of the Trojan prince Anchises by the goddess Venus; he established in Italy the dynasty that would found and rule Rome

Aeolia

An island ruled by Aeolus, master of the winds; probably Lipari, north of Sicily

Aeolus

A god, master of the winds

Agamemnon

King of Mycenae and leader of the Greeks besieging Troy; he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus on his return from Troy

Ajax

The name of two Greek warriors who fought at Troy: (1) Telamonian Ajax, or Ajax the Great, of Salamis; and (2) Ajax the Lesser, of Locris, who raped Cassandra and was killed by Minerva, from whose temple he had dragged her along with the Palladium, the sacred image of the goddess

Alba [Longa]

The pre-Roman settlement of the Trojans in Italy

Albula

A pre-Roman name for the Tiber

Albunea

Both a grove and a fountain in Latium

Alcides

“Descended from Alcaeus,” used for Hercules

Allecto

One of the three Furies

Amata

Queen of Latium, wife of Latinus, and mother of Lavinia

Anchises

Father of Aeneas

Andromache

Wife of the Trojan champion Hector, later married to Helenus

Antony

A Roman general who along with the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra was defeated by Octavian (later called Augustus Caesar) at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE

Apollo

Also Phoebus; the god of music, medicine, light, prophecy, and archery; twin brother of Diana and son of Jupiter and Latona; father of the healer Asclepius

Arcadia

A district in the central Peloponnese, the original home of Evander, king of Pallanteum in Italy

Argives

Greeks

Argos

A kingdom in the Greek Peloponnese

Ascanius

Another name for Iulus, Aeneas’ son

Atlas

The Titan who holds up the sky

Atreus

The father of Agamemnon and Menelaus

Augustus Caesar

The title adopted by Octavian when he became the first Roman emperor; the Aeneid was written under his auspices

Aurora

The goddess of the dawn; she drives a chariot across the sky

Ausonia

Another name for Italy; the allies of Turnus and Latinus are sometimes called Ausonians

Avernus

A lake in Italy and the region around it, believed to be located near an entrance to the Underworld; the Cumaean Sibyl had her cave there

Bacchus

The god of wine and ecstatic celebration; his followers were feral women known as Bacchantes

Baiae

A Roman resort town on the Bay of Naples

Bellona

An Italian goddess of warfare

Brutus

The Roman who overthrew the monarchy, which under Tarquin the Proud had become a tyranny, and established the Republic

Camilla

A woman warrior and leader of the Volscians; ally of Turnus

Carthage

Dido’s city on the coast of North Africa

Cassandra

A Trojan princess, daughter of Priam; after she refused Apollo sex, he gave her the gift of prophecy along with the curse that no one would believe her predictions; she was murdered along with her later captor Agamemnon

Centaurs

Creatures that were half-human, half-horse

Cerberus

The three-headed dog that guarded the entrance to the Underworld

Ceres

The goddess of agriculture and mother of Proserpina, wife of Pluto

Charybdis

A whirlpool in the straits of Messina located opposite the cave of the monster Scylla

Circe

A sorceress who turned men into animals; see Odyssey 10

Corinth

An important Greek city on the isthmus between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese

Crete

A large Aegean island, the home of King Minos and his wife, Pasiphaë, who mated with a bull and gave birth to the monstrous Minotaur

Creusa

A Trojan princess and the first wife of Aeneas; the mother of Iulus

Cumae

A colony near Naples and the home of the Sibyl, a priestess and prophetess of Apollo

Cumaean Sibyl

Prophetess and keeper of the entrance to the Underworld at Cumae; Aeneas’ guide in the Underworld

Cupid

“Desire,” the god of erotic love and son of Venus

Curetes

The indigenous people of Crete, who cared for the infant Jupiter

Cybele

The Great Mother goddess of Asia Minor

Cyprus

An Aegean island, important cult center for Venus

Cythera

An Aegean island in the waters off which Venus was born

Dardanus

The founder of Troy; Trojans are sometimes called Dardanians

Deïphobus

A Trojan prince, the son of Priam and Hecuba, who married Helen after the death of his brother Paris

Delos

The Aegean island where Apollo and Diana were born and a chief site of their cult

Diana

The goddess of hunting and the moon; sister of Apollo; she was sometimes linked with Hecate, a goddess of the Underworld

Dido

Also called Elissa; the ruler of Carthage, which she founded after fleeing Tyre, where her husband had been murdered

Diomedes

A Greek hero at Troy who afterward founded the town of Arpi in Italy

Dis

The god of the Underworld

Elissa

Another name for Dido

Erebus

The god of darkness; another name for the Underworld

Eryx

(1) A mountain in Sicily; (2) A Sicilian hero, son of Venus and Neptune

Etna

A volcano in Sicily

Etruria

A nation in Italy; the Etruscans, also called Tuscans, were allies of Aeneas against Turnus and Latinus

Euryalus

The friend of Nisus and his partner on an ill-fated Trojan mission during the war in Italy

Evander

A Greek king from Arcadia who founded Pallanteum in Italy; the most important ally of Aeneas

Fates

The three goddesses who spun and cut the threads of mortal lives

Faunus

An Italian woodland deity, father of King Latinus

Furies

Three demons of female anger, especially as avengers of the murder of blood relatives: Allecto, Megaera and Tisiphone

Gaul

The region that is now France; the Gauls attacked Rome in the fourth century BCE and were repulsed; the region became part of the Roman Empire in the first century BCE

Geryon

A three-bodied giant killed by Hercules

Gorgon

A monster in the shape of a woman with hair of snakes; the most famous was Medusa, who had the power to turn onlookers to stone and who was killed by Perseus; her head was then placed on Minerva’s aegis (shield or breastplate)

Hades

Also called Dis, Pluto, and Orcus; the god of the Underworld and husband of Proserpina; also used to refer to the Underworld itself

Hecate

A goddess of the Underworld and of witchcraft; she is often linked with Diana

Hector

Son of Priam and Hecuba, husband of Andromache, brother of Creusa, and brother-in-law of Aeneas; chief defender of Troy, killed by Achilles

Hecuba

The wife of Priam and queen of Troy

Helen

The most beautiful woman in the world and the wife of Menelaus of Sparta; her abduction by Paris at the instigation of Venus caused the Trojan War

Helenus

A Trojan prince who married the widowed Andromache and founded Little Troy in Epirus (modern northwestern Greece and southern Albania)

Helicon

A mountain in central Greece, home to the Muses

Hercules

A hero and son of Jupiter who achieved divinity after completing twelve superhuman labors

Hesperia

Literally “The West”: Italy

Hydra of Lerna

A many-headed monster killed by Hercules as one of his Twelve Labors; for each head Hercules lopped off, two grew in its place; Hercules cauterized the stumps to stop regeneration

Ilia

The mother of Romulus and Remus by Mars

Ilium

Another name for Troy

Iris

The goddess of the rainbow and a divine messenger

Iulus

Also called Ascanius, the son of Aeneas and Creusa and the founder of the Julian line that included Julius Caesar

Jove

Another name for Jupiter

Julius Caesar

Brilliant Roman general, murdered in 44 BCE for his pretensions to autocracy; he adopted Octavian, later called Augustus, as his heir

Juno

The queen of the gods, daughter of Saturn, and wife and sister of Jupiter

Jupiter

Also called Jove, Greek name Zeus; the son of Saturn, he became ruler of the gods after he defeated his father and the other Titans

Juturna

The sister of Turnus, deified after her rape by Jupiter

Latinus

King of Latium, husband of Amata and father of Lavinia

Latium

Latinus’ kingdom in Italy

Lausus

The son of Mezentius

Lavinia

A princess of Latium betrothed to Turnus but destined for marriage with Aeneas; her father’s refusal to give her to Aeneas starts the war between the Italians and Trojans

Lethe

The river of forgetfulness in the Underworld

Libya

A region on the coast of North Africa

Manlius

A Roman general who defended the Capitol from an attack by the Gauls in the fourth century BCE

Mars

The god of war, father of Romulus and Remus

Megaera

One of the three Furies

Menelaus

The king of Sparta and cuckolded husband of Helen of Troy

Mercury

The messenger god and conductor of souls to the Underworld

Messapus

A son of Neptune and ally of Turnus

Metabus

The expelled king of Privernum and father of Camilla

Mezentius

The deposed king of Etruscan Caere and an ally of Turnus

Minerva

Also called Pallas; in Greek, Athena; the goddess of wisdom, warfare, and women’s handicrafts

Mnestheus

A lieutenant of Aeneas

Neoptolemus

Also called Pyrrhus; a Greek hero at Troy, the son of Achilles; he enslaved Andromache, widow of Hector, and married Hermione, the daughter of Helen and Menelaus

Neptune

The god of the sea, who built the walls of Troy but then turned against the city when King Laomedon refused to pay him

Nisus

The friend of Euryalus and his partner on an ill-fated Trojan mission during the war in Italy

Numitor

(1) A king of Alba Longa and the father of Ilia; (2) a Rutulian warrior

Olympus

The home of the gods, at the top of Mount Olympus on the border between Macedonia and Thessaly

Orcus

Another name for Hades; the Underworld

Orestes

A Greek prince who killed his mother, Clytemnestra, in revenge for her murder of his father, Agamemnon, and was driven insane by the Furies

Palatine

One of the seven hills of Rome

Palinurus

Aeneas’ helmsman

Pallanteum

The city in Italy founded by the Greek king Evander

Pallas

(1) Evander’s son; (2) Evander’s ancestor; (3) another name for Minerva

Paris

The Trojan prince who caused the Trojan War by his abduction of Helen

Pasiphaë

A queen of Crete cursed with love for a bull; she became the mother of the Minotaur by him

Peleus

The father of Achilles

Phoebus

“Shining,” another name for Apollo

Phrygia

A region in Asia Minor that was subject to Troy; Trojans are sometimes referred to as Phrygians

Pirithoüs

A friend of Theseus who was condemned to perpetual torture for attempting to kidnap Proserpina, queen of the Underworld

Pluto

God of the Underworld; also called Hades

Polyphemus

The Cyclops blinded by Odysseus (Ulysses)

Priam

The king of Troy at the time of the Trojan War; husband of Hecuba and father of fifty sons, including Hector and Paris

Proserpina

Wife of Pluto and queen of the Underworld

Pyrrhus

Another name for Neoptolemus

Quirinus

A native Italian god and another name for Romulus

Rhoeteum

A promontory near Troy; hence “Rhoeteian” can denote “Trojan”

Romulus

Also called Quirinus; a descendant of Aeneas, the son of Mars, twin brother of Remus, and founder of Rome

Rutulians

Turnus’ tribe in Italy

Sarpedon

A son of Jupiter and an ally of Troy during the Greek siege

Saturn

A Titan, the father of Jupiter and Juno, and the original ruler of Italy; he was driven there after being deposed from kingship of the gods by Jupiter

Scylla

A sea monster lurking in the Straits of Messina opposite the whirlpool Charybdis

Sibyl

A prophetess; in the Aeneid the keeper of the entrance to Hades at Cumae, and Aeneas’ guide in the Underworld

Simoïs

A river near Troy

Sparta

A city in the Greek Peloponnese, home to Helen and Menelaus

Styx

A river in the Underworld; oaths sworn by the gods on Styx were binding

Sychaeus

The husband of Dido in Tyre, murdered by her brother Pygmalion

Syrtes

Notoriously dangerous sandbanks off the northern coast of Africa, modern Gulf of Sidra

Tartarus

The part of the Underworld reserved for punishing wrongdoers; also used for the Underworld in general

Teucer

(1) The original ancestor of the Trojan royal house: Trojans are often referred to as Teucrians; (2) a Greek warrior who fought at Troy and was later an exile from his kingdom, Salamis

Theseus

The killer of the Minotaur (with the help of Ariadne) and later king of Athens; he joined his friend Pirithoüs in the attempted kidnapping of Proserpina

Tibur

A city in Latium; modern Tivoli

Tisiphone

One of the three Furies

Troy

Also called Ilium; the city of Aeneas in Asia Minor, destroyed by the Greeks after the ten-year Trojan War

Turnus

A prince of the Rutulians in Italy, betrothed to Lavinia

Tuscans

Another name for Etruscans

Tyre

The Phoenician city from which Dido fled to found Carthage

Ulysses

For the Greeks, Odysseus; the king of Ithaca and an important Greek hero at Troy

Venus

For the Greeks, Aphrodite; the goddess of love and the mother of Aeneas by Anchises

Vulcan

The god of fire and metalworking and the husband of Venus

Xanthus

A river beside Troy

Further Reading

The scholarly literature on Vergil is vast. An excellent starting point is the entry by Don and Peta Fowler in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th ed., ed. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), along with Philip Hardie’s superb survey Vergil, number 28 in the Greece and Rome: New Surveys in the Classics series (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), and Alison Keith’s brilliant and accessible Virgil in the Understanding Classics series (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2020). Susanna Braund raises some of the central issues of interpretation of the Aeneid in chapter 1 of Understanding Latin Literature, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2017).

The Virgil Encyclopedia edited by Richard Thomas and Jan Ziolkowski (Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014) contains a wealth of material. Useful collections of essays include Virgil: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Steele Commager (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966), which includes Adam Parry’s groundbreaking “The Two Voices of Virgil’s Aeneid”; Oxford Readings in Vergil’s “Aeneid,” ed. S. J. Harrison (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), especially the opening overview of twentieth-century interpretations by Stephen Harrison; Virgil, Critical Assessments of Classical Authors, ed. Philip Hardie, 4 vols. (London: Routledge, 1999); Reading Vergil’s “Aeneid”: An Interpretive Guide, ed. Christine Perkell (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999); Why Vergil? ed. Stephanie Quinn (Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2000); and especially the second edition of The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, ed. Fiachra Mac Góráin and Charles Martindale (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).

For insights into the translation history of the Aeneid, see “Virgil in English Translation” by Colin Burrow in The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, 2nd ed., listed above; the essays in Virgil and His Translators, ed. Susanna Braund and Zara Martirosova Torlone (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018); and Susanna Braund, A Cultural History of Translations of Virgil from the Eleventh Century to the Present Day (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press). Of the numerous reviews of Ruden’s first edition, that of Joseph Farrell in Translation and Literature 19 (2010): 203–13 is especially worthwhile for its scope and depth.

Important different takes on the meaning of the Aeneid come from W. R. Johnson in Darkness Visible: A Study of Vergil’s Aeneid (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), which discusses the positions of the different critical schools, including the European school and the Harvard school; Philip Hardie in Virgil’s “Aeneid”: Cosmos and Imperium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), which proposes an analogy between the ordered workings of the universe and the functioning of the expanding Roman Empire; and Francis Cairns in Virgil’s Augustan Epic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), which reads the poem in the light of Augustan political ideology, in particular as an exploration of ancient ideas of kingship. The debate about the philosophical flavor of the end of the Aeneid has been conducted most vigorously by Karl Galinsky and Michael Putnam in, for example, Karl Galinsky’s “How to Be Philosophical About the End of the Aeneid,” Illinois Classical Studies 19 (1994): 191–201, and Michael Putnam’s The Humanness of Heroes: Studies in the Conclusion of Virgil’s “Aeneid” (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2011), along with Richard Thomas, Virgil and the Augustan Reception (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), and Craig Kallendorf, The Other Virgil: “Pessimistic” Readings of the “Aeneid” in Early Modern Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Religious aspects of the poem are explored by Philip Hardie in The Epic Successors of Virgil (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), John F. Miller in Apollo, Augustus, and the Poets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), and Julia T. Dyson in King of the Wood: The Sacrificial Victor in Virgil’s “Aeneid” (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001). On models of masculinity in epic, see Alison Keith’s Engendering Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).

The influence and reception of the Aeneid is explored very accessibly by Philip Hardie in The Last Trojan Hero: A Cultural History of Virgil’s “Aeneid” (London: Publisher, 2014). The essays in Joseph Farrell and Michael C. J. Putnam’s Companion to Vergil’s “Aeneid” and Its Tradition (Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) complement material in The Cambridge Companion to Virgil, 2nd ed. On the connection between the Aeneid and imperialism see Richard Waswo’s The Founding Legend of Western Civilization: From Virgil to Vietnam (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1997). Studies with specific focus include David Scott Wilson-Okamura in Virgil in the Renaissance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) and two of Craig Kallendorf’s books on Vergil: The Virgilian Tradition: Book History and the History of Reading in Early Modern Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007) and The Protean Virgil: Material Form and the Reception of the Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015). Wilson-Okamura also provides a valuable online bibliography in Virgil in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance: An Online Bibliography, 10th ed. 2010, at www.virgil.org/bibliography/.

Discussion Questions

1.     How is the Aeneid a replay of the Odyssey and the Iliad, and how is it not?

2.     If the Aeneid is viewed as a foundation legend, which are the most important episodes?

3.     If the Aeneid is viewed as a celebration of Augustanism, which are the central elements?

4.     What justifications have readers of the past five hundred years had for viewing the Aeneid as colonialist propaganda?

5.     What are the justifications for retaining the Aeneid in the literary canon?

6.     In which episodes does Vergil explore the tragic dimension of his story?

7.     How can architectonic (structural) analysis of the Aeneid enhance our understanding of the poem’s themes?

8.     The Aeneid is a story in which East meets West: is Vergil more concerned with differentiation or assimilation?

9.     What can we learn about Vergil’s poem by examining the reaction of his readers since antiquity?

10.   Twentieth-century and twenty-first-century readers seem to be polarized between optimistic and pessimistic readings; explore the factors that divide readers between these two camps.

11.   Where, how, and why does Vergil intrude himself into the narrative?

12.   In what respects does Vergil offer food for thought for our contemporary world, especially with regard to indigenous rights and the movement of refugees?

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

BOOK 1

BOOK 2

BOOK 3

BOOK 4

BOOK 5

BOOK 6

BOOK 7

BOOK 8

BOOK 9

BOOK 10

BOOK 11

BOOK 12

GLOSSARY

FURTHER READING

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS