Jfci.177
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HARPER'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
THE WORKS OF VIRGIL,
LITERALLY TRANSLATED.
*
,
&
? V
** *
4
THE
WORKS OF VIRGIL.
LITERALLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE,
WITH NOTES,
BY DAVIDSON.
A NE\T EDITION, REVISED, WITH ADDITIONAL NOTES,
THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY,
OF CHRIST CHURCH.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS,
829 & 881 PEAEL S,TREET.
1859.
"*
PREFACE.
THE object of the publishers in issuing the present
volume was not so much to produce a new book, as to
render an old and, in many respects, a good one, more
suited to the present state of scholarship, and the exi-
gences of the student.
With this view the translation has been carefully
compared with Wagner's text, and with the principal
commentaries ; many thousand alterations, involving
either closer accuracy in translation or a stricter adher-
ence to the construction, have been introduced ; and,
while the brief historical and mythological notes of the
original work have been retained for the use of the tyro,
attention has also been paid in the editor's further
illustrations to the requirements of the more advanced
scholar.
2051520
vi PREFACE.
The brief Memoir of Virgil contains every fact neces-
sary to be known by the general student, and nothing
more. In criticising a poet, whose taste, rather than his
invention, is to be commended, it is easy to offend many,
and please none ; to draw comparisons, but fail of con-
viction.
THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY,
CHRIST CHURCH.
MEMOIR.
PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS MARC was born on the 15th of
October, B. c. TO, at Andes, a little village near Mantua.
His mother's name was Maia, and his father was prob-
ably a small landowner. Great attention must have
been bestowed upon the education of our poet, as he
appears to have been thoroughly imbued with the spirit
of ancient philosophy by his master, Syron. Delicacy
of health, and the probable want of influence arising
from his not being a Roman citizen by birth, no doubt
prevented his attention to the more rising professions
of war and oratory, and contributed to strengthen his
natural inclination for a retirement sacred to poetry
and agriculture.
The fatal issue of the battle of Philippi, in B. c. 42,
placed Mark Antony and Octavianus at the head of
affairs, and the latter quickly began, on his return, to
reward his soldiers with allotments of land. To make
way for these new occupants, the old possessors had to
give up their own estates, and among these sufferers
was Virgil. The particulars of the case are insufficiently
viii MEMOIR.
known to us, but Virgil probably owed the subsequent
restitution of his estate (between B. c. 42 and 40) to the
advice and intercession of Asinius Pollio. The first
Eclogue is commonly regarded as a thank-offering of
the poet to Augustus.
About the same time Virgil became acquainted with
the proverbial patron of men of genius, Maecenas, at
whose mansion his friendship with Horace probably
commenced. The writings of the latter show that the
most cordial intimacy must have subsisted between
these distinguished poets and their liberal entertainer.
Critics seem to agree in placing the completion of the
Georgics in B. c. 31, while his Eclogues were no doubt
of an earlier date. As Theocritus formed the model of
these brief pastorals, so the Greek agricultural and
astronomical poems of Hesiod, Aratus, Nicander, and
others, whose works are only known to us in fragments,
furnished the materials, and often the language, of the
Georgics of VirgiL
The jEneid must have occupied our poet's thoughts
for a long time, although we have no certain data of its
commencement and progress. 1 At whatever time, how-
ever, it was begun, the poet appears to have regarded
it as an unfinished production at the time of his death,
an opinion in which modern critics have unanimously
coincided.
On the return of Augustus from Samos in the year
B. c. 20, he met Virgil at Athens. An intended tour
1 A summary of some of the principal suppositiors on this head will
be found in Mr. George Long's article " Virgilius," in Smith's Biographi-
cal Dictionary.
MEMOIR. j x
through Greece was prevented by his failing health,
and Virgil died soon after his arrival at Brundusium,
on the 2d of September, B. c. 19. His remains were
carried to Naples, which had been his favorite place
of residence, and, if we may believe Donatus, the fol-
lowing inscription, from the poet's own hand, was
placed on the tomb.
" Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces."
Although Virgil had lived with the greatest liberality,
and had been studiously mindful of the fulfillment of
filial duty, he left considerable property, accumulated
by the liberality of his friends. His manners were
modest and retiring ; his disposition distinguished by
amiable urbanity and unassuming gentleness. Nor was
his fortune inferior to his merits. He lived in the best
age of Home, among the best spirits of that age, and
enjoyed the delights of fame without the persecutions
of envy and the sacrifice of character. If not possessed
of the mighty inventive genius of a Homer or ^Eschy-
lus, he was beyond all others in the true perception of
elegance, in the unaffected love of his subject, and in
the exquisite finish and sublimity of his episodes.
VIRGIL'S BUCOLICS.
ECLOGUE I.
Virgil, in this Eclogue, celebrates the praises of Augustus, for restoring to
him his lands, of which he had been dispossessed, having been bestowed
upon the veteran soldiers who had fought in the cause of Augustus, at
the battle of Philippi, B. c. 42. Tityrus personates Virgil, or probably his
father, and M-elib<xw, his less fortunate neighbors, the Mantuans.
MELIB(EUS, TlTYRUS.
M. You, Tityrus, reclined under the covert of a full-spread
beech, practice a woodland lay on a slender oaten pipe. We
leave the bounds of our country, and our pleasant fields ; we
fly our country ; you, Tityrus, stretched at ease in the shade,
teach the woods to re-echo beauteous Amaryllis. 1
T. O Meliboaus, a god hath vouchsafed us this tranquillity ;
for to me he shall always be a god ; a tender lamb from our
folds shall often stain his altar [with its blood]. He permitted
my heifers to range at large, as you see, and myself to play
what I wished on my rural reed.
M. I envy you not indeed ; I rather marvel ; to such an ex-
tent is there confusion in the lands. Lo, myself, sick at heart,
am driving forth my tender she-goats : this, too, O Tityrus, I
drag along with difficulty : for here just now among the thick
hazels having yeaned twins, the hope of a flock, she left them,
alas! on the naked flinty rock. This calamity, I remember,
my oaks stricken from heaven often presaged to me, had not
my mind been infatuated : [often the ill-boding crow from a
hollow oak presaged. 8 ] But tell me, Tityrus, who is this god
of yours?
1 Amaryllis, the name of a country girl. Some have supposed that the
poet spoke of Rome under that name.
a This line properly belongs to EcL ix. 15. " Memini" is elegantly
used with respect to ill omens. Cf. Ter. Phonn. L 2, 24. B,
1
2 BUCOLICS. ECL. I. 2050.
T. The city, Meliboeus, which they call Rome, I foolish
imagined to be like this our [Mantua 3 ], whither 4 we shep-
herds oft are wont to drive down 6 the tender offspring of our
ewes. So I had known whelps like dogs, so kids [like] their
dams : thus was I wont to compare great things with small.
But that city hath raised its head as far above others, as the
cypresses are wont among the limber shrubs. 6
M. And what so great a reason had you to visit Rome ?
T. Liberty; which, though late, yet kindly looked upon
me, although indolent, after my beard began to fall off with a
whitish hue when I shaved ; yet [on me] she looked, and
after a long time came, when Amaryllis began to sway me,
and Galatea had cast me off. For I will not disown it, while
Galatea ruled me, I had neither hopes of liberty, nor concern
about my stock. Though many a victim went from my folds,
and fat cheese was pressed for the ungrateful city, 7 my right
hand never returned home heavy with money.
M. I used to wonder, Amaryllis, why disconsolate you
were invoking the gods ; and for whom you suffered the apples
to hang on the tree. Your Tityrus hence was absent. The
very pines, O Tityrus, the fountains, these very copses called
for thee.
T. What could I do ? It was neither in my power, while I
staid here, to deliver myself from servitude, nor elsewhere to
experience gods so propitious. Here Meliboeus I saw that
youth, to whom for twice six days our altars yearly smoke
[with incense]. Here first he gave this entreating answer te
me: "Swains, feed your heifers as formerly, and yoke youi
steers."
M. Happy old man ! your lands then will remain [still in
your possession], and large enough for you. Though the naked
flint, and marsh with slimy rush, overspread all the pasture-
grounds ; yet no unaccustomed fodder shall harm thy languid,
3 Mantua> a city in the north of Italy on the Mincio, in the neighbor-
hood of which Virgil was born.
4 "Quo"=:"ad quam." This is a common usage in poetry, but is
scarcely to be imitated in prose. See Muncker on Hyginus, Fab. 3. B.
6 " Depellere." It must be remembered that Virgil's village, Andes,
stood on high ground, and hence the road to the city lay downward. B.
" Viburnum" is properly the " wayfaring tree." B".
7 Urbs is emphatically applied to Rome. So Tibull. i. 9, 61, (i Te
canet agricola, e magna cum venerit urbe." B,
ECL. i. 5174. BUCOLICS 3
pregnant ewes ; nor noxious diseases of the neighboring
flock shall hurt them. Happy old man ! here, among well-
known streams and sacred fountains, you will enjoy the coo)
shade. On this side, a hedge planted at the adjoining bound
ary, whose willow blossoms are ever fed on by Hyblaean
bees," shall often court you by its gentle hummings to indulge
repose. On the other side, the pruner beneath a lofty rock
shall sing to the breezes : nor meanwhile shall either the
hoarse wood-pigeons, thy delight, or the turtle from his lofty
elm, cease to coo.
T. Sooner therefore shall the fleet stags pasture high in
the air, and the seas leave the fish naked on the shore ; sooner,
the bounds of each being traversed, shall the Parthian 9 exile
drink the Arar, or Germany the Tigris, than his countenance
be effaced from my breast.
M. But we must go hence ; some to the parched Africans, 10
some of us shall visit Scythi-a, and Oaxes the rapid [river] of
Crete, and the Britons, totally separated from all the world.
Ah ! shall I ever hereafter, after a length of time, with wonder
behold my native territories, and the roof of my poor cot
piled up with turf; some ears of corn, 11 my [only] kingdom?
Shall a ruffian soldier possess these well-cultivated fields ? a
barbarian, these my fields of standing corn? See! to what
extremity discord hath reduced us wretched citizens. See !
for whom we have sown our fields. Now, Meliboeus, graft
your pear-trees; in order range your vines. Begone, my
* Hyblsean bees, from Hybla, a mountain of Sicily, celebrated for its
excellent honey.
* Parthian, etc. Parthia, now part of Persia, a country of Asia. The
Arar, or Saone, a river of France, which falls into the Rhone at Lyons.
Germany, a large country of Europe, to the north of Italy. The Tigris,
a river of Asia, forming a junction with the Euphrates.
10 Africans, etc. Africa, one of the three divisions of the ancient world.
Scythia, a general name given by the ancients to the extreme northern
parts of Europe and Asia. Oaxes, a river in the southern part of the
island of Crete. The Britons, the inhabitants of Britain, which some of
the ancients believed was once joined to the continent of Europe.
11 So the later commentators ; but I am still inclined to follow Serviug
in interpreting aristas " corn seasons." He observes, " quasi rusticua
per aristas numerat annos." See my note on Soph. Ant. 340. Bind.
So Silius It. viii. 61, " Dum flavas bis tondet messor aristas." Auso-
nius, however, probably understood it the other way, if we may judre
from his imitation, Id. 3, " Salve haerediolum majorum regna meorum."
B.
4 BUCOLICS. ECL. i. 7584. u. 120.
goats, once a happy flock, begone : no more shall I, stretched
out in my verdant grot, henceforth behold you hanging far
above me from a rock with bushes overgrown. No carols
shall I sing; no more, my goats, as I feed you, shall you
browse the flowery cytisus and bitter willows.
T. Yet here this night you may take up your rest with
me on green leaves. We have mellow apples, soft chestnuts,
and plenty of fresh-pressed curd. And now the high tops of
the villages afar smoke, and larger shadows fall from the lofty
mountains.
ECLOGUE H.
The subject of this Eclogue is copied from Theocritus. The shepherd Cory-
don is deeply enamored of Alexis, an ungrateful youth of great beauty.
ALEXIS.
THE shepherd Corydon burned 1 for beauteous Alexis, the
darling of his master ; nor had he any thing to hope. Only
among the thick beeches, high embowering tops, he continu-
ally came : there, in solitude, with unavailing fondness, he
cast forth to the mountains and the woods these undigested
[complaints] :
Ah, cruel Alexis, for my songs hast thou no care ? on me
hast thou no pity ? thou wilt surely at last" compel me to die.
Even the cattle now pant after shades and cool retreats ; now
the thorny brakes shelter even the green lizards ; and Thes-
tylis pounds the garlic and wild thyme, strong-scented herbs,
for the reapers spent with the violent heat. But to the hoarse
grasshoppers in company with me the thickets resound, while
under the scorching sun I trace thy steps. Was it not better
to endure the rueful spite and proud disdain of Amaryllis?
Would it not [have been better to endure] Menalcas, though
he was black, though thou wast fair? Ah, comely boy, trust
not too much to complexion. White privets fall neglected ;
the purple hyacinths are gathered. By thee, Alexis, I am
neglected; nor dost thou inquire who I am; how rich in
1 For this Grecism compare Hermesianax, 37, Kate pev
Nemes. Eel. ii. 1, " Formosam Donacen puer Idas et puer Alcon arde-
bant." B.
* The full force of " denique" seems to be, " What tlien ? will you
force me," etc. B.
ECL. IL 2048. BUCOLICS. 5
flocks, how abounding in snow-white milk.* A thousand
ewes of mine stray on the mountains of Sicily. I want not
milk in summer ; I have it new even in the cold weather. I
warble the same airs 'which Theban Amphion* was wont,
when on Attic Aracynthus* he called his herds together. Nor
am I so deformed : upon the shore I lately viewed myself,
when the sea stood unruffled by the winds. I will not fear
Daphnis, thyself being judge, if my image never deceives me.
O would it but please thee to inhabit with me our mean rural
retreats and humble cots, and to pierce the deer, and to drive
together a flock of kids to the green mallow ! In the woods
along with me thou shalt rival Pan in singing. Pan* first
taught [men] to join several reeds with wax ; Pan guards
both the sheep and the shepherds. Nor let it displease thee
to rub thy lip with a shepherd's reed. What did Amyntas not
do to learn this same art ? I have a pipe of seven unequal
reeds compactly joined, of which Damoetas some time ago
made me a present, and dying, said, Thou art now its second
master. Damoetas said : the foolish Amyntas envied. Be-
sides [I have] two young he-goats I found in a valley not
safe, whose skins even now are speckled with white ; each day
they drain both the udders of an ewe ; these I reserve for
thee. Long Thestylis has begged to have them from me ;
and she shall do so, since my presents are disdained by
you.
Come hither, O lovely boy ; behold the nymphs bring thee
lilies in full baskets. For thee, fair Nais, cropping the pale
violets 7 and heads of poppies, joins the daffodil and flower of
8 I follow Anthon's punctuation. But Servius defends " nivei pecoris."
There seems little difference. B.
* Amphion, the famous king of Thebes, who built the walls of that
city ; the stones whereof he is said to have made to dance into their places
by the music of his lyre. He is called Dircseus, either from Dirce, his
step-mother, whom he put to death for the injuries she had done to bis
mother, Antiope ; or from a fountain in Bceotia of that name.
6 Aracynthus was a town on the confines of Attica and Boeotia, where
was the fountain Dirce : it is called Actaeo, Attic, from Acta or Acte, the
country about Attica, Ovid. Met. lib. ii. 720, "Sic super Actaeas agilis
Cyllenius arces inclinat cursus,"
6 Pan, the god of shepherds, chiefly worshiped in Arcadia. B.
7 i. e. gilliflowers or wall-flowers. The term " pale" is here applied
to denote a pale, tawny hue, not mere whiteness, as Anthon has ob-
served. B
(5 BUCOLICS. ECL. n. 4873.
sweet-smelling dill. Then, interweaving them with cassia, 8
and other fragrant herbs, sets off the soft hyacinths with saf-
fron marigold. Myself will gather for thee quinces hoary
with tender down, and chestnuts which my Amaryllis loved.
Plums I will add of waxen hue. On this fruit" too shall
honor be conferred. And you, O laurels, I will crop; and
thee, O myrtle, next : for, thus arranged, you mingle sweet
perfumes.
Corydon, thou art a clown. Alexis neither minds thy
presents ; nor, if by presents thou shouldst contend, would
tolas yield. Alas, alas, what was the bent of my wretched
mind ? Undone, I have let the south wind loose among my
flowers, and the boars in my crystal springs. Ah, madman,
whom dost thou fly ? The gods themselves have dwelt in
woods, and the Trojan Paris. Let Pallas herself inhabit the
citadels she has erected. Let woods above all things delight
us. The grim lioness pursues the wolf, the wolf on his part
the goat ; the wanton goat pursues the flowery cytisus ; Cory-
don thee, O Alexis. His own peculiar pleasure draws on
each one.
See, the steers bring home the plow hung upon the yoke,
and the retreating sun doubles the growing shadows ; but me
love still consumes. For what bounds can be set to love?
Ah, Corydon, Corydon, what frenzy hath possessed thee ?
Half-pruned is thy vine on the leafy elm. 10 Why rather
triest 11 thou not to weave, of osiers and pliant rush, some one
at least of those implements which thy work requires. Thou
wilt find another Alexis, if this disdains thee.
8 The " spurge plant," or " mountain widow- waile," not the aromatic
plant of the same name. ANTHON.
* " Pomum" is literally " an apple," but it is also used as a general
term for all kinds of fruit
10 Vines were trained to elms. So Hor. Ep. L 13, 3, " amicta vitibua
ulmo." B.
u Literally, " but do you rather," i. e. " than go on in this mad way."
ECL. in. 127. BUCOLICS.
ECLOGUE IIL
This Eclogue exhibits a trial of skill in singing, between Damcetas and Me-
palcas. Palsemon, who is chosen judge, after hearing them, declares his
inability to decide such an important controversy.
MENALCAS, DAMOSTAS, PALSEMON.
M. TELL me, Damcetas, whose 1 is that flock ? Is it that of
Meliboeus ?
D. No ; but ^Egon's. ^Egon lately intrusted it to my care.
M. Ah sheep, ever a luckless flock; while he himself ca-
resses Neaera, and fears that she may prefer me to him, this
hireling shepherd milks his ewes twice in an hour; and the
juice 2 is filched from the flock, and the milk from the lambs.
D. Remember, however, that these scandals should with
more reserve be charged on men. We know both who [cor-
rupted] you, and in what sacred grot, while the goats looked
askance ; but the good-natured nymphs smiled.
M. Then, I suppose, when they saw me with a felonious bill
hack Mycon's elm-grove and tender vines.
D. Or here by these old beeches, when you broke the bow
and arrows of Daphnis : which when you, cross-grained Me-
nalcas, saw gi fen to the boy, you both repined, and had you
not, by some means or other, done him a mischief, you had
burst [for envy].
M. What can masters do, when pilfering slaves are so auda-
cious ? Miscreant ! did I not fee thee entrap that goat of
Damon, while his mongrel barked with fury ? And when I
cried out, Whither is he now sneaking off? Tityrus, assemble
your flock ; you skulked away behind the sedges.
D. Ought he not, when vanquished in singing, to give me
the goat which my flute by its music won ? If you know it
not, that same goat was my own : and Damon himself owned
it to me, but alleged that he was not able to pay.
M. You [vanquish] him in piping ? Or was there ever a
wax-jointed pipe in your possession? Wast thou not wont,
thou dunce, in the cross-ways to murder a pitiful tune on a
squeaking straw ?
1 " Cujum," from the obsolete " cujus, -a, -m." B.
9 i. e. animal lymph, as Edwards observes. Cicero Tusc. Q. ii. 17,
" Subdue cibum unum diem athlete, ferre non posse exclamabit." B.
8 BUCOLICS. ECL. ni. 2859.
D. Are you willing, then, that each of us try by turns what
we can do ? This young heifer I stake ; and lest you should
possibly reject it, she comes twice a day to the milking-pail :
two calves she suckles with her udder : say for what stake you
will contend against me.
M. I dare not stake any thing with thee from the flock : for
I have a sire at home, I have a harsh step-dame : and twice a
day both of them number the cattle, and one the kids. But
what thou thyself shalt own of far greater value, since thou
choosest to be mad, I will stake my beechen bowls, the carved
work of divine Alcimedon, 3 round which a curling vine, super-
added by the skillful carver's art, mantles the clustering berries
diffusely spread by the pale ivy. In the midst are two figures,
Conon ; and, who was the other ? He who with his wand dis-
tributed among the nations the whole globe ; [who taught]
what seasons the reaper, what the bent plowman, should
observe. Nor have I yet applied my lips to them, but I keep
them carefully laid up.
D. For me too the same Alcimedon made two bowls, and
with soft acanthus 4 wreathed their handles : Orpheus in the
midst he placed, and the v/oods following. Nor have I yet ap-
plied my lips to them, but keep them carefully laid up. If you
consider the heifer, you have no reason to extol your bowls.
M. By no means shalt thou this day escape : I will come to
any terms you challenge. Let but that very person who comes
(lo, it is Palsemon) listen to this strain : I will take care that
you shall not challenge any henceforth at singing.
D. Come on, then, if thou hast aught [to sing] ; in me there
shall be no delay : nor do I shun any one. Only, neighbor
Palsemon, weigh this with the deepest attention ; it is a matter
of no small importance.
P. Sing, since we are seated on the soft grass ; and now
every field, now every tree, is budding forth : now the woods
look green ; now the year is most beauteous. Begin, Damcetas :
then you, Menalcas, follow. Ye shall sing in alternate verses :
the Muses love alternate verses.
8 Alcimedon, an excellent carver, but of what country is uncertain.
Conon, a Greek astronomer of Samos, the cotemporary and friend of
Archimedes, who, probably, was the other figure mentioned by the poet.
* Plin. Ep. v. 6, " Acanthus in piano mollis, et, pene dixerim, liquidus."
It is the modern " Brankursine." B.
ECL. in. 60 83. BUCOLICS. 9
D. From Jove, ye Muses, 5 let us begin: all things are
full of Jove : he cherishes the earth ; by him are my songs
esteemed.
M. And me Phoebus loves : for Phoebus 6 are still with me
his appropriate gifts, the laurel and sweet-blushing hyacinth.
D. Galatea, wanton girl, pelts me with apples, 7 and flies to
the willows, but wishes first to be seen.
M. But my flame Amyntas voluntarily offers himself to me ;
so that now not Delia's 8 self is more familiar to our dogs.
D. A present is provided for my love : for I myself marked
the place where the airy wood-pigeons have built.
M. What I could, I sent to my boy, ten golden apples
gathered from a tree in the wood : to-morrow I will send him
ten others.
D. O how often, and what things Galatea spoke to me !
Some part, ye winds, waft to the ears of the gods.
M. What avails it, O Amyntas, that you despise me not in
your heart, if, while you hunt the boars, I watch the toils.
D. Tolas, send to me Phyllis : it is my birthday. When for
the fruits I sacrifice a heifer, come thyself.
M. lolas, I love Phyllis above others : for at my departure
she wept, and said, Adieu, fair youth, a long adieu.
D. The wolf is fatal to the flocks ; showers to ripened corn ;
winds to the trees ; to me the anger of Amaryllis.
M. Moisture is grateful to the sown corn ; the arbute to
weaned kids ; the limber willow to the teeming cattle ; to me,
Amyntas alone.
8 Muses, goddesses who presided over poetry, music, etc. The nine
Muses were called the Pierian Sisters, from Pieria in Macedonia, where
they were born. Virgil also calls them Sicilian Muses, because Theoc-
ritus, the celebrated pastoral poet, was a native of Sicily ; and Libefhrian
nymphs, from Libethra, a mountain of Boeotia, in Greece.
9 Phoebus, a name given to Apollo. The " laurel" refers to his mistress
Daphne, who was changed into that tree, while flying from her lover. B.
7 The apple, under the Latin name of which (malum) the Romans
comprehended also the quince, the pomegranate, the citron, the peach,
etc., was sacred to Venus, whose statues sometimes bore a poppy in one
hand and an apple in the other. A present of an apple, or a partaking
of an apple with another, was a mark of affection ; and so, also, to throw
an apple at one. To dream of apples was also deemed by lovers a good
omen. ANTHON.
8 Delia. Diana was so called, because she was born in the island of
Delos.
1*
10 BUCOLICS. ECL. ra. 84105.
D. Pollio loves my muse, though rustic : ye Pierian Sisters,
feed a heifer for your reader.
M. Pollio himself too composes unrivaled verses : feed [for
him] the bull which already butts with the horn, and spurns
the sand with his feet.
D. Let him who loves thee, Pollio, rise to the same state to
which he rejoices that thou [hast risen] ; for him let honey
flow, and the prickly bramble bring forth amomum.
M. Who hates not Bavius" verse, may love thine, O Maavius ;
and the same may yoke foxes, and milk he-goats.
D. Ye swains who gather flowers, and strawberries that
grow on the ground, O fly hence ; a cold snake lurks in the
grass. 10
M. Forbear, sheep, to advance too far ; it is not safe trusting
to the bank ; the ram himself is but now drying his fleece.
.D. Tityrus, from the river remove your browsing goats; I
myself, when it is time, will wash them all in the pool.
M. Pen up the sheep, ye swains : if the heat should dry up
the milk as of late, in vain shall we squeeze the teats with our
hands.
D. Alas, how lean is my bull amid the fattening vetch ! the
same love is the bane of the herd and of the herdsman.
M. Surely love is not the cause with these : they scarcely
stick to their bones. Some evil eye or other bewitches my
tender lambs.
D. Tell me (and you shall be my great Apollo), where
heaven's circuit extends no farther than three ells. 11
9 Bavius and Maevius, two contemptible poets in the age of Augustus,
contemporary with Virgil.
10 The Greek proverb is, vird iravri J.iQy anopinof, [" under every
stone a scorpion,"] in Carcinus apud Athen. xv. 15. With regard to the
epithet, " frigidus," Kiessling, on Theocr. xv. 58, quotes a remark of the
Scholiast on Nicander Th. 291, to the effect that the epithet V^P^f is
applied to all reptiles in a similar manner. B.
* Numerous explanations have been given to the enigma here stated,
some making the reference to be to a well ; others, to a pit in the center
of Rome, in the Comitium, etc. The best solution, however, is that of
Asconius Pedianus, who heard Virgil himself say, that he meant to al-
lude to a certain Ccelius, a spendthrift at Mantua, who, having run through
all that he possessed, retained merely enough ground for a sepulcher :
and that this very sepulcher, embracing about three ells in extent, is
what Damcetas refers to in the text, the whole enigma turning upon the
similarity in form and sound between cceli, "of heaven," and Cceli (i. e.
Ccelii), ' ; of Codius." AJJTHOX.
ECL. HI. 106 111. IT. 115. BUCOLICS. U
M. Tell me in what land flowers grow, inscribed with the
names of kings; 11 and have Phillis to thyself alone.
P. It is not for us to determine so great a controversy be-
tween you ; both you and he deserve the heifer ; and whoever
[so well] shall sing the fears of sweet [successful] love, and
experimentally describe the bitterness of [disappointment]. 13
Now, swains, shut up your streams ; the meads have imbibed
enough.
ECLOGUE IV.
, >
Virgil, in this Eclogue, is supposed by some to refiw to the birth of Marcel- '
lus, the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus ; or to a son of his patron, ' '
the consul Pollio, to whom the Eclogue is inscribed. Others consider it
to be founded on ancient predictions respecting the Messiah, and apply it
to our blessed Saviour.
POLLIO.
YE Sicilian Muses, let us sing somewhat higher strains.
Vineyards and lowly tamarisks delight not all. If rural lays
we sing, let those lays be worthy of a consul's ear. The last
era, of Cumaean 1 song, is now arrived : The great series of ages
begins anew. Now, too, returns the virgin Astraea," returns
the reign of Saturn ; now a new progeny is sent down from
high heaven. Be thou but propitious to the infant boy, under
whom first the iron age shall cease, and the golden age over
all the world arise, O chaste Lucina; now thy own Apollo
reigns. While thou too, Pollio, while thou art consul, this
glory of our age shall make his entrance ; and the great months
begin to roll. Under thy conduct, whatever vestiges of our
guilt remain, shall, being done away, release the earth from
fear forever. He shall partake the life of gods, shall see
11 The allusion is to the hyacinth, which has, according to a poetic
legend, the letters AI marked on its petals, not only as a note of sorrow
for the death of Hyacinthus, but also as constituting half the name of
Ajax, i. e. Ataj-. AXTHON.
13 There is much uncertainty respecting the reading of this passage.
Anthon ingeniously transposes " amores" and "amaros." But I can not
help thinking that "there is no occasion to alter the common reading. B.
1 Cumasan song, from Cuma3, a city of Italy, north-west of Naples, in
the vicinity of which resided the celebrated Cumaean SibyL
2 Astraea, in the mythology of the ancients, was the goddess of Justice,
who resided on earth during the reign of Saturn, or the golden age.
Being shocked by the impiety of mankind, she returned to heaven, and
became one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, under the name of Virgo.
12 BUCOLICS. ECL. iv. 15 49.
heroes mingled in society -with gods, himself be seen by them,
and rule the peaceful world with his father's virtues. Mean-
while the earth, O boy, as her first offerings, shall pour thee
forth every where, without culture, creeping ivy with lady's
glove, and Egyptian beans with smiling acanthus intermixed.
The goats of themselves shall homeward convey their udders
distended with milk; nor shall the herds dread huge over-
grown lions. The very cradle shall pour thee forth attractive
flowers. The serpent also shall die ; and the poison's fallacious
plant shall die: the Assyrian spikenard shall grow in every
soil. But soon as thou shalt be able to read the praises of
heroes, and the achievements of thy sire, and to understand
what virtue is, 3 the field shall by degrees grow yellow with soft
ears of corn ; blushing grapes shall hang on the rude brambles
and hard oaks shall distill the dewy honey. Yet some few
footsteps of ancient vice shall remain to prompt [men] to brave
the sea in ships, to inclose cities with walls, and cleave furrows
in the earth. There will then be another Tiphys, and another
Argo 4 to waft chosen heroes: there shall be likewise other
wars: and great Achilles 6 shall once more be sent to Troy.
After this, when confirmed age shall have ripened thee into
man, the sailor shall of himself renounce the sea ; nor shall
the naval pine barter commodities : all lands shall all things
produce. The ground shall not endure the harrow, nor the
vineyard the pruning-hook ; the sturdy plowman, too 1 , shall
now release his bulls from the yoke. Nor shall the wool learn
to counterfeit various colors : but the ram himself shall in the
meadows tinge his fleece, now with sweet-blushing purple, now
with saffron dye. Scarlet shall spontaneously clothe the lambs
as they feed. The Destinies, harmonious in the established
order of the Fates, sung to their spindles : " Ye ages, run on
thus." Dear offspring of the gods, illustrious increase of Jove,
set forward on thy way to signal honors ; the time is now at
* Servius rightly understands the successive studies of poetry and
philosophy, as they are enumerated in Plato Protag. 43. B.
4 Argo, the name of the ship which carried Jason and his fifty -four
companions to Colchis, to recover the golden fleece. Tiphys, who was
pilot of the ship, died before reaching Colchis. The Argonautic expedi-
tion happened about 1263 B. 0.
6 Achilles, the bravest of all the Greeks in the Trojan war, where he
performed prodigies of valor. He slew Hector, but was himself at last
slain by Paris.
ECL. IV. 50 63. v.l 12. BUCOLICS. 13
hand. See the world with its convex weight nodding to thee,
the earth, the regions of the sea, and heavens sublime : See
how all things rejoice at the approach of this age. O that my
last stage of life may continue so long, and so much breath as
shall suffice to sing thy deeds ! Neither Thracian Orpheus,*
nor Liuus, shall surpass me in song, though his mother aid the
one, and his sire the other, Calliopea Orpheus, and fair Apollo
Linus. Should even Pan with me contend, Arcadia's self being
judge, even Pan should own himself overcome, Arcadia's self
being judge. Begin, sweet babe, to distinguish thy mother
by thy smiles ;' ten months brought on thy mother tedious
qualms. Begin, young boy ; that child on whom his parents
never smiled, nor god ever honored with his table, nor goddess
with her bed.
ECLOGUE V.
In this Eclogue, the shepherds Menalcas and Jtopsns celebrate the funeral
eulogium of Daphnis.
MENALCAS, MOPSUS.
ME. SINCE, Mopsus, we are met, both skillful swains, you in
piping on the slender reed, I in singing verses, why have we
not sat down here among the elms intermixed with hazels ?
Mo. You, Menalcas, are my superior : it is just that I be
ruled by you ; whether under the shades that waver by the
fanning zephyrs, or rather into this grotto we repair : see how
the wild vine with scattered clusters hath spread the grotto.
ME. Amyntas alone in our mountains may vie with tkee.
Mo. What if the same should vie with Phoebus' self in
song ?
ME. Begin you, Mopsus, first; whether you are disposed
to sing the passion of Phyllis, 1 or the praises of Alcon, or the
strife of Codrus ; begin : Tityrus will tend the browsing kids.
* Orpheus, the son of (Eagrus, king of Thrace, and the muse Calliope,
celebrated for his masterly skill in music.
7 Heyne wrongly refers " risu" to the mother's smile. B.
1 The names here introduced, namely, Phyllis, Alcon, and Codrus, be-
long not to real characters, but to fictitious pastoral personages. Phyllis,
therefore, must not be confounded with the daughter of Lycurgus, king
of Thrace, who was abandoned by Demophoon, nor Codras with the early
king of Athens. ANTHON.
14 BUCOLICS. ECL. T. 1351.
Mo. Nay, I will rather try those strains which lately I in-
scribed on the green bark of the beech tree, and sang and noted
them by turns : then bid Amyntas vie with me.
ME. As far as the limber willow is inferior to the pale olive,
and humble lavender to crimson beds of roses ; so far is Amyn-
tas, in my judgment, inferior to you.
Mo. But, shepherds, cease further words : we have reached
the grot. The nymphs wept Daphnis cut off by cruel death ;
ye hazels and ye streams witnessed [the mourning of] the
nymphs, when the mother, embracing the hapless corpse of
her son, reproached both gods and stars with cruelty. The
swains, O Daphnis, then forgat to drive their fed cattle to the
cooling streams : no quadruped either tasted of the brook, or
touched a blade of grass. The savage mountains, Daphnis,
and the woods, can tell that even the African lions mourned
thy death. Daphnis taught to yoke Armenian tigers in the
chariot ; Daphnis, to lead up the dances in honor of Bacchus,
and wreathe the pliant wands with soft leaves. As the vine
is the glory of the trees, as grapes are of the vine, as the bull
is of the flock, as standing corn of fertile fields ; so thou wast
all the glory of thy fellow-swains. Ever since the Fates
snatched thee away, Pales 4 herself, and Apollo too, have left
the fields. Luckless darnel, and the barren oats, spring up in
these furrows, where we were wont to sow the plump barley.
Instead of the soft violet, instead of the purple narcissus, the
thistle springs up, and the thorn with its sharp prickles.
Strew the ground with leaves, ye shepherds, form a shade
over the fountains : these rites Daphnis for himself ordains.
And form a tomb ; and on that tomb inscribe this epithet : I
am Daphnis of the groves, hence even to the stars renowned,
the shepherd of a fair flock, fairer myself.
ME. Such, matchless poet, is thy song to me, as slumbers to
the weary on the grass ; as in scorching heat to quench
thirst from a salient rivulet of fresh water. Nor equal you
your master in the pipe only, but also 3 in the voice. t Happy
swain, you shall now be the next to him. Yet, I will sing
in my turn these verses of mine, such as they are, and exalt
* Pales, the goddess of sheepfolds and of pastures, was worshiped with
great solemnity among the Romans.
3 I have supplied the ellipse of " et," with Burm. on Phaedr. ProL
L6. B.
ECL. v. 5079. BUCOLICS. 15
your Daphnis to the stars : Daphnis I will raise to the stars ;
me too Daphnis loved.
Mo. Can aught be more acceptable to me than such a pres-
ent ? The swain himself was most worthy to be sung, and
Stimichon hath long since praised to me that song of thine.
ME. Daphnis, robed in white, admires the courts of heaven,
to which he is a stranger, and under his feet beholds the clouds
and stars. Hence mirthful pleasure fills the woods and every
field, Pan and the shepherds, and the virgin Dryads.* The
wolf doth neither meditate plots against the sheep, nor are
any toils set to insnare the deer ; good Daphnis delights in
rest. For joy, even the unshorn mountains raise their voices
to the stars : now the very rocks, the very groves, resound
these notes : a god, a god, he is, Menalcas. O be propitious
and indulgent to thy own ! Behold four altars ; lo, Daphnis,
two for thee,* and two for Phoebus. Two bowls foaming with
new milk, and two goblets of fat oil, will I present to thee
each year : and chiefly, enlivening the feast with plenty of
the joys of Bacchus, 8 before the fire if it be winter ; if har-
vest, in the shade, 7 1 will pour thee forth Ariusian wine, a
new kind of nectar. Damoetas and Lyctian ^Egon shall sing
to me : Alphesiboeus shall mimic the frisking satyrs. These
rites shall be ever thine, both when we pay our solemn an-
niversary vows to the nymphs, and when we make the circuit
of the fields. While the boar shall love the tops of mountains ;
while fishes love the floods ; while bees on thyme shall feed,
and grasshoppers on dew ; thy honor, name, and praise shall
still remain. As to Bacchus and Ceres, 8 so to thee the
4 Dryads, nymphs who presided over the woods.
5 " Lo ! two (altars) for thee, Daphnis, two larger ones for Phoebus."
Observe that altaria is here in opposition with aras understood. This
passage shows plainly that the distinctive difference between ara and
aUare is here meant to be observed. Ara is an altar of smaller size, on
which incense, fruits of the earth, and similar oblations are offered up ;
aLtare is an altar of larger size, on which victims are burned. This serves
to explain, also, what immediately follows. To Daphnis, as to a deified
hero, no bloody offerings are to be made ; the oblations are to consist
merely of milk, oil, and wine. ANTHON.
6 Bacchus first taught the use of the vine, etc., and was therefore
called the God of wine. Ariusia, i. e. Chios, now Scio, an island in the
Archipelago, celebrated for its excellent wine.
7 Cicero de Senect. 14, " Me vero delectant et pocula minuta atque
rorantia, et refrigeratio restate, et vicissim aut Sol aut ignis hibernus." B.
8 Ceres, the goddess of corn and of harvests.
16 BUCOLICS. ECL. v. 80 90. TL 1 13.
swains shall yearly perform their vows : thou too shalt bind
them by their vows.
Mo. What, what returns shall I make to thee for so excellent
a song ? For neither the whispers of the rising south wind,
nor shores lashed by the wave, nor rivers that glide down
among the stony vales, please me so much.
ME. First I will present you with this brittle reed. This
taught me, " Corydon for fair Alexis burned." This same
hath taught me, " Whose is this flock ? is it that of Meli-
bceus?"
Mo. But do you, Menalcas, accept this sheep-hook, beautiful
for its uniform knobs and brass, which Antigenes never could
obtain, though he often begged it of me ; and at that time he
was worthy to be loved.
ECLOGUE VI.
Silenus, a demi-god and companion of Bacchus, was noted for his love of
wine and skill in music : here he relates concerning the formation of the
world, and the nature of things, according to the doctrine of the Epicu-
reans.
SILENUS.
Mr Thalia is the first who deigned to sport in Syracusian
strain, nor blushed to inhabit the woods. When I offered to
sing of kings and battles, Apollo twitched my ear, and warned
me thus: A shepherd, Tityrus, should feed his fattening
sheep, and sing in humble strain. 1 Now will I, O Varus 2
(for there will be many who will desire to celebrate thy
praises, and record disastrous wars), exercise my rural muse
on the slender reed. I sing not unbidden strains : yet whoso
enamored [with my strains], whoso shall read even these, to
him, O Varus, our tamarisks, each grove shall sing of thee :
nor is any page more acceptable to Phoebus, than on whose
front the name of Varus is inscribed. Proceed, O Muses.
1 Deductum dicere carmen, a humble or slender song; a metaphor
taken from wool spun out till it becomes fine and slender. So Hor. lib.
ii. 1, 225, Tenui deducta poemata filo. And TibuL lib. i. 3, 86, Deducat
plena stamina longa colo.
1 Varus, Quintilius Varus, a Roman proconsul, who commanded an
army in Germany, where he lost his life, with three whole legions,
A. D. 10.
*OL. vi. 13 35. BUCOLICS. 17
Chromis and Mnasylus, the youthful swains, saw Silenus lying
asleep in his cave, his veins, as usual, swoln with yesterday's
debauch. His garlands just 3 fallen from his head, lay at some
distance, and his heavy flagon hung hy its worn handle.
Taking hold of him (for often the sire had amused them both
with the promise of a song), they bind him with his own
wreaths. ^Egle associates herself with them, and comes un-
expectedly upon the timorous swains ; JEgle, fairest of the
Naiads ; and just as he is opening his eyes, she paints his
forehead and temples with blood-red mulberries. He, smiling
at the trick, says, Why do ye fasten these bonds ? Loose me,
swains : it is enough that I have suffered myself to be seen.
Hear the song which you desire : the song for you ; for her
I shall find another reward. At the same time he begins.
Then you might have seen the Fauns and savages frisking in
measured dance, then the stiff oaks waving their tops. Nor
rejoices the Parnassian rock so much in Phoebus :* nor do
Rhodope and Ismarus' so much admire Orpheus. For he
sang how, through the mighty void,' the seeds of earth, and
air, and sea, and pure fire, had been together ranged ; how
from these principles all the elements, and the world's tender'
globe itself, combined into a system ; then how the soil began
to harden, to shut up the waters apart* within the sea, and by
s Tantum capti delapsa, " Having fallen to such a distance from his
head." It is very hard to say what is here the true meaning of tantum.
If we join it with procul, it makes a most harsh construction ; if we ren-
der it "only," it clashes with procul, unless this stand for juxta, which
is too forced; if, with Voss., we make it equivalent to modo, "just," it
appears frigid and tame. We have ventured, therefore, to regard it as
standing for in tantum. ANTHON.
4 Parnassain rock. Parnassus, a celebrated mountain of Phocis in
Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses, remarkable for its two summits.
6 Ehodope and Ismarus, two high mountains in Thrace.
6 Magnum per inane. The Epicureans, whose philosophy is here
sung, taught that incorporeal space, here called magnum inane, and cor-
poreal atoms were the first principles of all things; their void space they
considered as the womb, in which the seeds of all the elements were
ripened into their distinct forms.
7 " Tener," Anthon says, " because just created." But I prefer under-
standing it of the plastic nature of the materials, with Pliny, Hist. Nat
ii. 3. B.
8 Et discludere Nerea ponto. Literally, "to shut up Nereus apart in
the sea," i. e. to separate the waters into their channel,- Uereus the sea*
god being here put for the waters in gener?'
18 BUCOLICS. ECL. vi. 3660.
degrees to assume the forms of things ; and how anon the
earth was astonished to see the new-born sun shine forth ; and
how from the clouds, suspended high, the showers descend :
when first the woods began to rise, and when the animals, yet
few, began to range the unknown mountains. He next tells
of the stones which Pyrrha 9 threw, the reign of Saturn, the
fowls of Caucasus, 10 and the theft of Prometheus. To these
he adds the fountain where the sailors had invoked aloud
Hylas 11 lost; how the whole shore resounded Hylas, Hylas.
And he soothes Pasiphae 13 in her passion for the snow-white
bull : happy woman if herds had never been ! Ah, ill-fated
maid, what madness seized thee ? The daughters of Prcetus 13
with imaginary lowings filled the fields ; yet none of them
pursued such vile embraces of a beast, however they might
dread the plow about their necks, and often feel for horns on
their smooth foreheads. Ah, ill-fated maid, thou now art
roaming on the mountains ! He, resting his snowy side on the
soft hyacinth, ruminates the blenched herbs under some
gloomy oak, or courts some female in the numerous herd. Ye
nymphs, shut up now, ye Dictaan 14 nymphs, shut up the
avenues of the forests, if any where by chance my bullock's
wandering footsteps may offer to my sight. Perhaps some
heifers may lead him on to the Gortynian stalls, 16 either
9 Pyrrha, the wife of Deucalion, in whose age all mankind was de-
stroyed by a deluge, these two excepted. On consulting the oracle, they
were directed to repair the loss, by throwing stones behind their backs ;
those which Pyrrha threw were changed into women, and those of
Deucalion into men.
" Caucasus, a lofty mountain of Asia, between the Euxine and Caspian
Seas. Prometheus, having made a man of clay, which he animated with
fire stolen from heaven, was, for the impiety, chained to a rock on the top
of Caucasus, where a vulture continually preyed upon his liver.
u Hylas, a youth, the favorite of Hercules, who accompanied the
Argonautic expedition, but was drowned in the Ascanius, a river of
Bithynia, which afterward received his name.
" Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, king of Crete, who disgraced herself by
her unnatural passion.
13 Proetus, king of Argolis, whose three daughters became insane for
neglecting the worship of Bacchus, or, according to some, for preferring
themselves to Juno.
14 Dictaaan nymphs, Cretan nymphs from Dicte, a mountain in the
island of Crete, where Jupiter was worshiped.
15 Gortynian stalls. Gortyna, an ancient city of Crete, the country
around which produced excellent pastures.
ECL. vi. 6077. BUCOLICS. 19
enticed by the verdant pasture, or in pursuit of the herd.
Then he siugs the virgin, 18 charmed with the apples of the
Hesperides : then he surrounds the sisters of Phaeton" with
the moss of bitter bark, and raises the stately alders from the
ground. Then he sings how one of the Sister Muses led
Gallus, wandering by the streams of Permessus, 18 to the
Aonian mountains ; and how the whole choir of Phoebus
rose up to do him honor : how Linus, the shepherd of song
divine, his locks adorned with flowers and bitter parsley,
thus addressed him : Here, take these pipes the Muses give
thee, which before [they gave] to the Ascraen 19 sage ; by
which he was wont to draw down the rigid wild ashes from
the mountains. On these let the origin of Grynium's grove"
be sung by you ; that there may be no grove in which Apollo
may glory more. Why should I tell how [he sang] of
Scylla 21 the daughter of Nisus ? or of her whom, round the
snowy waist, begirt with barking monsters, fame records to
have vexed" the Dulichian ships, and in the deep abyss, alas,
to have torn in pieces the trembling sailors with sea-dogs ?
18 i. e. Atalanta, daughter of Schoeneus, king of Scyros, or, according
'to others, of lasius, king of Arcadia, who was famed for her beauty,
which gained her many admirers. She consented to bestow her hand on
him that could outrun her, though he was to die if he lost the race.
Many of her suitors had perished in the contest, when Hippomenes
offered himself; during the race, he dropped, at intervals, three golden
apples from the garden of the Hesperides, which Atalanta stopping to
pick up, he arrived first at the goal, and obtained her in marriage.
17 The sisters of Phaeton, according to the mythologists, bewailing his
unhappy end, were changed into poplars by Jupiter.
18 Permessus, a river issuing from Mount Helicon in Aonia (Bceotia),
sacred to the Muses.
19 Ascrsean sage. Hesiod, so named from Ascra, a village of Bceotia
in Greece, where he was born.
80 Grynium's grove. Grynium, a town on the coast of JEolia in Asia
Minor, where Apollo had a temple with a sacred grove.
21 Scylla, a daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, feigned to have been
changed into a lark. Dulichian ships, those of Ulysses, who was king
of the island of Dulichium. After the fall of Troy, Ulysses, in his return
home, encountered incredible hardships, and with difficulty escaped the
rocks of Scylla, so named from a daughter of Typhon, who was changed
by Circe into a frightful monster, when, throwing herself into the sea
between Italy and Sicily, she became the dangerous rocks which con-
tinued to bear her name.
" Virgil's use of " vexare" is discussed by Gellius, ii. 6, and Macrob.
Sat vi. 7. From their remarks, the word harass best appears to ex-
press its meaning. B.
20 BUCOLICS. ECL. vi. 7886. rn. 19.
or how he described the limbs of Tereus" transformed ?
what banquets and what presents Philomela for him pre-
pared ? with what speed he sought the deserts, and with what
wings, ill-fated one, he fluttered over the palace once his own ?
All those [airs] he sings, which happy Eurotas" heard, and
bade its laurels learn, when Phoebus played of old. The val-
leys, stricken [with the sound], re-echo to the stars ; till
Vesper 56 warned [the shepherds] to pen their sheep in the
folds, and recount their number; and came forth from re-
luctant Olympus.
ECLOGUE Vn.
In tills Eclogue, Virgil, as Melibceus, gives an account of a poetical contest
between Thyrsis and Corydon.
MELIBCEUS, CORYDON, THYRSIS.
M. DAPHNIS by chance sat down under a whispering 1
holm-oak, and Corydon and Thyrsis had driven their flocks
together; Thyrsis his sheep, Corydon his goats distended
with milk : both in the flower of their age, Arcadians both, 2
equally matched at singing, and ready to answer. To this
quarter, while I was fencing my tender myrtles from the cold,
the he-goat himself, the husband 3 of the flock, from me had
strayed away : and I espy Daphnis : when he in turn saw me,
he cried out, Come hither quickly, Melibceus ; your goat and
23 Tereus, a king of Thrace. He married Progne, a daughter of Pan-
dion, king of Athens, who, in revenge for his having violated her sister
Philomela, and cut out her tongue, killed his son Itys, and served him
up at a banquet. According to the poets, they were all changed into
different kinds of birds.
84 Eurotas (Vasili Potamo), a river of Laconia, washing ancient Sparta,
and falling into the Mediterranean.
25 Vesper, the planet Venus, or the evening star.
1 The rustling of the breeze in the leaves is thus said ijji&vpl&iv in
Greek. B.
* i. e. both skilled in music, which was greatly cultivated among the
Arcadians. No reference to their country is intended, but merely to
their musical excellence. B.
8 Vir gregis ipse caper. " The he-goat himself, the husband of my
flock." (Compare Theocritus, viii. 49: 'Q rpuye TUV ).EVKUV ar/tiv
uvep). Observe the force of ipse here, implying that he was followed by
the rest of the flock (Wagner, Qusest. Virg. xviii. 2, b.) ; and hence we
have, in verse 9th, " caper tibi salvus et ?uxdi." ANTHOX. So Martial,
Ep. is. 31, "pecorisque maritus tanigeri." B.
ECL. vii. 10 42. BUCOLICS. 21
kids are safe ; and, if you can stay a while, rest under this
shade. Hither thy bullocks of themselves will come across
the meads to drink. Here Mincius 4 hath fringed the verdant
banks with tender reed, and from the sacred oak swarms of
bees resound. What could I do ? I had neither Alcippe, nor
Phyllis, to shut up at home my weaned lambs ; but there was
a great match proposed, Corydon against Thyrsis. After all,
I postponed my serious business to their play. In alternate
verses, therefore, the two began to contend : alternate verses
the Muses would have me record. These Corydon, those
Thyrsis, each in his turn recited.
C. Ye Libethrian nymphs, my delight, either favor me with
such a song as ye did my Codrus 8 (he makes verses next to
those of Phoebus) ; or, if we can not all attain to this^here on
this sacred pine my tuneful pipe shall hang.
T. Ye Arcadian shepherds, deck with ivy your rising poet,
that Codrus' sides may burst with envy. Or, if he praise me
beyond what I desire, bind my brow with lady's glove, lest his
evil tongue should hurt your future poet.
C. To thee, Delia, young Mycon [tor me presents] this head
of a bristly boar, and the branching horns of a long-lived stag.
If this success be lasting, thou shalt stand at thy full length in
polished marble, thy legs with scarlet buskin bound.
T. A pail of milk and these cakes, Priapus, 6 are enough
for you to expect [from me] ; you are the keeper of a poor, ill-
furnished garden. Now we have raised thee of marble such
as the times admit ; but, if the breed recruit my flock, thou
shalt be of gold.
C. Galatea, daughter of Nereus, sweeter to me than Hybla's
thyme, whiter than swans, fairer than white ivy ; soon as the
well-fed steers shall return to their stalls, come, if thou hast
any regard for Corydon.
T. May I even appear to thee more bitter than Sardinian
herbs, 7 more rugged than the furze, more worthless than sea-
4 Mincius, the Mincio, a river in the north of Italy, falling into the
Po below Mantua.
6 Codrus, a Latin poet, cotemporary with VirgiL
* Priapus, a deity among the ancients, who presided over gardens.
He was the son of Bacchus and Venus, and was chiefly worshiped at
Lampsacus on the Hellespont.
7 Sardinian herbs, a bitter herb which grew in the island of Sardinia,
said to cause convulsions and death.
22 BUCOLICS. ECL. vii. 4368.
weed cast upon the shore, if this day be not longer to me than
a whole year. Go home, my well-fed steers, if you have any
shame, go home.
C. Ye mossy fountains, and grass more soft than sleep, and
the green arbute-tree that covers you with its thin shade, ward
off the midsummer heat from my flock ; now scorching sum-
mer comes, now the buds swell on the fruitful tendrils.
T. Here is a glowing hearth, and resinous torches ; here is
always a great fire, and lintels sooted with continual smoke.
Here we just as much regard the cold of Boreas, 8 as either
the wolf does the number [of sheep], or impetuous rivers their
banks.
C. Junipers and prickly chestnuts stand thick ; 9 beneath
each tree its apples here and there lie strewn ; now all things
smile ; but, were fair Alexis to go from these hills, you would
see even the rivers dry.
T. The field is parched ; by the intemperature of the air
the dying herbage thirsts ; Bacchus has envied our hills the
shadow of the vine ; [but], at the approach of our Phyllis,
every grove shall look green, and Jove abundantly descend in
joyous showers.
C. The poplar is most grateful to Hercules, 10 the vine to
Bacchus, to lovely Venus 11 the myrtle, to Phoebus his own
laurel ; Phyllis loves the hazels : so long as Phyllis loves them,
neither the myrtle nor the laurel of Phoebus shall surpass the
hazels.
T. The ash is fairest in the woods, the pine in the gardens,
the poplar by the rivers, the fir on lofty mountains : but if,
my charming Lycidas, you make me more frequent visits, the
ash in the woods shall yield to thee, and the pine in the
gardens.
8 Boreas, the name of the north wind. According to the ancient
poets, Boreas was the son of Astraeus and Aurora.
9 Anthon rightly observes that this is the force of " stant." So Luta-
tius Placidus on Stat. Theb. X. 157, interprets "stat furor," by "plenus
est," quoting this line as an example. "B.
10 Hercules, the most celebrated hero of fabulous history, the son of
Jupiter and Alcmena, was, after a life spent in achieving the most in-
credible exploits, ranked among the gods, and received divine honors.
11 Venus, a principal deity among the ancients, the goddess of love
and beauty. She was the wife of Vulcan, but passionately loved Adonis
and Ancbises ; by the latter she became the mother of ^Eneas.
ECL. vil. 69, 70. Tin. 121. BUCOLICS. 23
M. These verses I remember, and that vanquished Thrysis
in vain contended. From that time Corydon, Corydon is our
man.
ECLOGUE VIE.
This Bucolic contains the strains of Damon for the loss of his mistress ;
and Alphesiboeus records the charms of an enchantress.
DAMON, ALPHESIBGEUS.
THE muse of the shepherds, Damon and Alphesiboeus, whom
the heifers, unmindful of their pastures, admired contending,
and by whose song tiie lynxes were astonished, and the rivers,
having changed their courses, stood still ; the muse of Damon
and Alphesiboeus I sing.
Whether thou art now passing for me 1 over the rocks of
broad Timavus, 2 or cruising along the coast of the Ulyrian Sea ; s
say, will that day ever come, when I shall be indulged to sing
thy deeds ? say, shall it come that I may be indulged to diffuse
over the world thy verses, which alone merit comparison with
Sophocles' * lofty style ? With thee my muse commenced ;
with thee shall end. Accept my songs begun by thy command,
and permit this ivy to creep around thy temples among thy
victorious laurels.
Scarce had the cold shades of night retired from the sky, a
time when the dew on the tender grass is most grateful to
the cattle, when Damon, leaning against a tapering olive, thus
began :
D. Arise, Lucifer,* and preceding usher in the cheerful
day ; while I, deceived by the feigned passion of my mistress
Nisa, complain ; and to the gods, now that I die (though I
have availed me nought in taking them to witness), yet in my
last hour appeal. Begin with me, my pipe, Maenalian strains.
1 " Mihi" is the dativus ethicus. B.
J Timavus, the Timavo, a river of Italy, rising at the foot of the Alps,
and falling into the gulf of Trieste. At its mouth are several small
islands containing hot springs.
3 Illyrian Sea, the Adriatic Sea between Italy and Dalmatia, etc.
4 Sophocles, a celebrated tragic poet of Athens, remarkable for sub-
limity of style. He was cotemporary with Pericles and Euripides, and
died B. c. 406.
s . Lucifer, the name of the planet Venus, or morning star ; as Hesperus
was of the same planet, or evening star.
24 BUCOLICS. ECU vin. 22 51.
Maenalus* always has a vocal grove and shaking pines ; he
ever hears the loves of shepherds, and Pan, the first who suf-
fered not the reeds to be 7 neglected. Begin with me, my
pipe, Msenalian strains. Nisa is bestowed on Mopsus ! what
may ~we lovers not expect ? Griffins now shall match with
horses, and in the succeeding age the timorous does with
dogs shall come to drink. Mopsus, cut your fresh nuptial
torches : for thee a wife is on the point of being brought home.
Strew the nuts,* bridegroom ; Hesperus for thee forsakes (Eta.*
Begin with me, my pipe, Msenalian strains. thou matched
to a worthy spouse ! while you disdain all others, and while
you detest my pipe and goats, my shaggy eyebrows, and my
overgrown beard ; nor believe that any god regards the affairs
of mortals. Begin with me, my pipe, Maenalian strains.
When thou wast but a child, I saw thee with thy mother
fathering the dewy apples on our hedges ; I was your guide ;
had then just entered on the year next after eleven, I was
then just able to reach the slender boughs from the ground.
As soon as I saw thee, how was I undone ! O how an evil
error bore me away ! Begin with me, my pipe, Maenalian
strains. Now I know what Love is : Ismarus, or Rhbdope, or
the remotest Garamantes, 10 produced him on rugged cliffs, a
boy not of our race or blood. Begin with me, my pipe, Mse-
nalian strains. Relentless Love taught the mother 11 to stain
her hands in her own children's blood ; a cruel mother too
thou wast : whether more cruel was the mother or more im-
pious the boy ? Impious was the boy ; thou, mother, too, wast
cruel. Begin with me, my pipe, Msenalian strains. Xow let
Masnalus, now Roino, a mountain of Arcadia in Greece, sacred to
Pan. It was covered with pine-trees.
7 "Esse"is elegantly omitted after such words as "pati," "sinere,"
etc. Nemes. Cyn. 70, "Omnia tentantem passL" Apul. de Deo. Socr.
" Sejugam veluti debilem passa est." Seneca, Ined. 182, " Quemve secu-
rum sinit" Virg. JEn. i. 389, " Nee plura querentem Passa Venus." B.
8 On this custom compare Catull. Epith. p. 98. Muret "Da nucis
pueris iners Concubine, satis diu Lucisti nucibus." B.
* (Eta, a celebrated mountain, or, more properly, chain of mountains,
between Thessaly and Greece Proper. It was so high, that the poets
feigned the sun, moon, and stars rose behind it
10 Garamantes, a people in the interior of Africa, now called Zaara.
11 Matrem. This cruel mother is Medea, who to be avenged on Jason
for preferring another mistress to her, slew her sons whom she bore to
Lim, before his eyes.
ECL. viiL 5284. BUCOLICS.
25
the wolf of himself fly from the sheep ; the hard oaks bear
golden apples ; the alder bloom with narcissus ; the tamarisks
distill rich amber from their barks ; let owls with swans con-
tend ; be Tityrus an Orpheus ; an Orpheus in the woods, an
Arion ia among the dolphins. Begin with me, my pipe, Mae-
nalian strains. Let all things become very mid ocean ; ye
woods, farewell. From the summit of yon aerial mountain
will I throw myself headlong into the waves : take this last
present from me dying. Cease, my pipe, now cease Maenah'an
strains.
Thus Damon: Ye Pierian muses, say what Alphesibceus
sung. We can not all do all things.
A. Bring forth the water, and bind these altars with a soft
fillet : burn thereon oily vervain and male 13 frankincense, that
I may try, by sacred magic spells, to dispossess my love of
a sound mind. Only charms are here wanting. My charms,
bring Daphnis from the town, bring him home. Charms
can even draw down the moon from heaven ; by charms
Circe 14 transformed the companions of Ulysses ; the cold snake
is in the meads by incantation burst. My charms, bring
Daphnis from the town, bricg him home. First, these three
threads, with threefold colors varied, I round thee twine ;
and thrice lead thy image round these altars. The gods
delight in the uneven number. My charms, bring Daphnis
from the town, bring him home. Bind, Amaryllis, three
colors in three knots ; bind them. Amaryllis, now ; and
say, I bind the chains of Venus. My charms, bring Daphnis
from the town, bring him home. As this clay hardens,
and as this wax dissolves with one and the same fire ;
so may Daphnis by my love. Sprinkle the salt cake, and
burn the crackling laurels in bitumen. Me cruel Daphnis
burns ; I on Daphnis burn this laurel. My charms, bring
Daphnis from the town, bring him home. May such love
" Arion, a famous lyric poet and musician of the isle of Lesbos. On
his return to Corinth from Italy, the mariners formed a plot to murder
him for his riches, when he threw himself into the sea, and was carried
on the back of a dolphin to Tsenarus in the Morea.
13 i. e. frankincense of the best sort.
11 Circe, a daughter of Sol and Perseis, celebrated for her knowledge
of magic and poisonous herbs. She changed the companions of Ulysses
into swine; but afterward, at his solicitation, restored them to their
former state.
2
25 BUCOLICS. ECL. viii. 85 109. ix. 1,
[seize] Daphnis as when a heifer, tired with ranging after the
bull through lawns and lofty groves, distracted, lies down on
the green sedge by a rivulet, nor is mindful to withdraw from
the late hour of night : let such love seize Daphnis, nor let
his cure be my concern. My charms, bring Daphnis from the
town, bring him home. These garments the faithless one left
with me some time ago, the dear pledges of himself; which
to thee, O earth, on the very entrance, I now commit : these
pledges owe me Daphnis. My charms, bring Daphnis from
the town, bring him home. These herbs, and these baneful
plants, in Pontus 16 gathered, Moeris himself gave me : in Pon-
tus numerous they grow. By these have I seen Mceris trans-
form himself into a wolf, and skulk into the woods ; often from
the deep graves call forth the ghosts, and transfer the springing
harvests to another ground. My charms, bring Daphnis from
the town, bring him home. Bring forth the ashes, Amaryllis ;
throw them into a flowing brook, 16 and over thy head ; look
not back. Daphnis with these I will assail : nought h6
regards the gods, nought my charms. My charms, bring
Daphnis from the town, bring him home. See the very ashes
have spontaneously seized the altars with quivering flames,
while I delay to remove them may it be a happy omen. 'Ti
certainly something or other ; and Hylax " in the entrance
barks. Can I believe ? or do those in love form to themselves
fantastic dreams ? Cease ; for Daphnis comes from the town ;
now cease, my charms.
ECLOGUE IX.
Virgil having .recovered his patrimony through the favor of Augustus.
devotes this pastoral to complain against Arius the centurion, who had
possession of his lands, and laid a plan for his assassination.
LYCIDAS, MCERIS.
L. WHITHER, Mceris, do thy feet [lead] 1 thee? are you for
the town, whither the way leads ? 7"* / :
" Pontus, a country of Asia Minor, bordering on the Euxine : it was
the kingdom of Mithridates the Great
18 Rivoque fluenti, the same as in rivnm fluentem, of which construc-
tion many examples occur in Virgil. See -<n. i. 293; ii. 250; v. 451;
vi. 191; viii. 591; ix. 664; xii. 283.
" Hylax, the name of a dog.
J Supply " ducunt" from the following " ducit." B.
ECL. ix. 232. BUCOLICS. . 27
M. Ah, Lycidas, we have lived to see the day when an
alien possessor of my little farm (what we never appre-
hended) may say : These are mine ; old tenants, begone. Now
vanquished and disconsolate, since fortune confounds all
things, to him I convey these kids, of which I wish him little
good.
L. Surely I heard that your Menalcas had saved by his
verse all that ground where the hills begin to decline, and by
an easy declension to sink down their ridges as far as the
stream and now broken tops of the old beech.
M. Thou heardst it Lycidas, and it was reported ; a but
our verse just as much avails amid martial arms, as they say
the Chaonian 3 pigeons do, when the eagle comes upon them.
But had not the ill-boding raven, from a hollow holm-oak,
warned me by any means to cut short the rising dispute,
neither your Mceris here, nor Menalcas himself, had been
alive.
L. Alas, is any one capable of so great wickedness ? Alas,
Menalcas, the charms of thy poetry were almost snatched from
us with thyself ! Who [then] had sung the nymphs ? who
with flowering herbs had strewn the ground, or covered with
verdant shades the springs ? or who [had sung] those songs
which lately I secretly stole from you, when you used to re-
sort to our darling Amaryllis? "Feed, Tityrus, my goats till
I return, short is the way ; and when they are fed, drive them
Tityrus, to watering ; and while you are so doing, beware of
meeting the he-goat : he butts with the horn."
M. Nay, rather these, which to Varus, and yet unfinished, he
sung : " Varus, the tuneful swans shall raise thy name aloft to
the stars, if Mantua remain but in our possession ; Mantua, alas,
too near unfortunate Cremona !"*
L. If thou retainest any, begin ; so may thy swarms avoid
Cyrnean yews: 5 so may thy heifers, fed with cytisus, dis-
5 I, however, prefer putting a note of interrogation after " audieras,"
with Wagnar. B. .
3 Chaonian pigeons. Chaonia was a mountainous part of Epirus, in
which was the sacred grove of Dodona, where pigeons were said to de-
liver oracles.
4 Cremona, a city of Italy on the northern bank of the Po. Its lands
were divided among the veteran soldiers of Augustus.
6 Cyrnean yews. Cyrnus, now Corsica, an island in the Mediterra-
nean, near the coast of Italy. The honey produced here had a bitter
28 . BUCOLICS. ECL. ix. 3259.
tend their dugs. The Muses have also made me a poet : I too
have my verses ; and the shepherds call me bard : but to them I
give no credit : for as yet methinks I sing nothing worthy of a
Varus or a Cinna,* but only gabble like 7 a goose among sonor-
ous swans.
M. That very thing, Lycidas, is what I am about ; and now
coa it over in silence with myself, if I can recollect it : nor is
it a vulgar song. " Come hither, Galatea : for what pleasure
have you among the waves ? Here is blooming spring ; here,
about the rivers, earth pours forth her various flowers ; here the
white poplar overhangs the grotto, and the limber vines weave
shady bowers. Come hither : leave the mad billows to buffet
the shores."
L. [But] what were those which I heard you singing in a
clear night alone ? I remember the air, if I could recollect the
words.
M. Daphnis, why gaze you on the risings of the signs of
ancient date ? Lo, Dionaean Caesar's 8 star hath entered on its
course ; the star by which the fields were to rejoice with corn,
and by which the grapes on sunny hills were to take their hue.
Daphnis, plant thy pear-tears. Posterity shall pluck the fruit
of thy plantations. Age bears away all things, even the mind
itself. Often, I remember, when a boy, I spent long summer-
days in song. Now all these songs I have forgotten ; now the
voice itself has left Moeris ; the wolves have seen Moeris first. 9
But these Menalcas himself will often recite to you.
L. By framing excuses thou puttest off" for a long time my
fond desire. And now the whole main for thee lies smooth
and still ; and mark how every whispering breeze of wind hath
died away. Besides, half of our journey still remains : for
taste, in consequence of the bees feeding on the yew-trees, with which
the island abounded.
6 Ciuna, a grandson of Pompey, the intimate friend of Augustus, and
patron of Virgil.
7 The poet puns upon the name of Anser, a cotemporary poet The
saying seems proverbial ; as in Symmachus, Ep. L 1, " Licet inter olores
canoros anserem strepere." B.
* Dionsei Caesaris. Caesar of the Julian family, which sprung from
^Eneas the son of Venus, whom Mythology makes the daughter of Ju-
piter and Dione.
* Lupi Mcerim videre priores. Alluding to a superstitious notion, that,
if a wolf saw a man before it was seen by him, it made him lose his voice.
ECL. ix. 60 6t. x. 112. BUCOLICS. 29
Bianor's 10 tomb begins to appear. Here, where the swains are
stripping off the thick leaves, here, Mceris, let us sing. Here lay
down your kids ; yet we shall reach the town. Or if we are
afraid that the night may gather rain before [we arrive], yet we
may still go on singing ; the way will be less tedious. That we
may go on singing, I will ease you of this burden.
M. Shepherd, urge me no more ; and let us mind the busi-
ness now in hand. We shall sing those tunes to more advan-
tage when [Menalcas] himself arrives.
ECLOGUE X.
Gallua, to whom this Eclogue is inscribed, was the patron of Virgil, a sol-
dier and a poet. He was greatly enamored of Cytheris, whom he calls
Lycoris, celebrated for her beauty and intrigues but she forsook him for
Mark Anthony, by whom she was in turn abandoned for Cleopatra,
'-.- ; '. . ' ' ""> !-'**
GALLCS.
GRANT unto me, O Arethusa, 1 this last essay. A few
verses, but such as Lycoris herself may read, I must sing to
my Gallus. Who can deny a verse to Gallus? So, when
thou glidest beneath the Sicilian wave, may the salt Doris*
not intermingle her streams [with thine]. Begin : let us sing
the anxious loves of Gallus, while the flat-nosed goats browse
the tender shrubs. We sing not to the deaf; the woods re-
ply to all. What groves, ye virgin Naiads, or what lawns
detained you, while Gallus pined 3 with ill-requited love ? for
neither any of the tops of Parnassus, nor those of Pindus, 4
nor Aonian Aganippe, did retard you. The very laurels, the
very tamarisks bemoaned him : even pine-topped Msenalus
[bemoaned] him as he lay beneath a lonely rock, and over
10 " The same as Ocnus, of whom Virgil says in the tenth Eclogue,
Fatidicce Mantus, et Thusci jttius Amnis. He was the founder of Man-
tua." SEEVIUS. B.
1 Arethusa, the nymph who presided over the fountain of the same
name hi Sicily.
a Doris, a sea-nymph, the mother of the Nereids ; here used to ex-
press the sea itself. Naiads, nymphs goddesses who presided over
rivers and fountains.
3 Observe that " periret" is used to express the ITUKETO, i. e. " wasted
away," of Theocr. i. 66. B.
4 Pindus, a mountain between Thessaly and Epirus, sacred to Apollo
and the Muses. Aonian Aganippe, a celebrated fountain of Boeotia, of
which Aonia was a district.
30 BUCOLICS. ECL. x. 1347.
him the stones of cold Lycaeus 5 wept. His sheep too stand
around him, nor are they ashamed of us ; nor, divine poet, be
thou ashamed of thy flock; even fair Adonis 8 tended sheep
by the streams. The shepherd too came up ; the slow-paced
herdsmen came; Menalcas came wet from winter-mast. All
question whence this thy love ? Apollo came : Callus, he
says, why ravest thou thy care ? 7 Lycoris is following another
through snows and horrid camps. Silvanus" too came up
with rural honors on his head, waving the flowering fennels
and big lilies. Pan, the god of Arcadia, came ; whcm we
ourselves beheld stained with the elder's purple berries and
vermilion. "What bounds, he says, will you set [to mourning] ?
Love regards not such matters. Nor cruel love with tears,
nor grassy meads with streams, nor bees with cytisus, nor
goats with leaves, are satisfied. But he, overwhelmed with
grief, said, Yet* you, Arcadians, shall sing these my woes on
your mountains ; ye Arcadians, alone skilled in song. Oh how
softly then may my bones rest, if your pipe in future times
shall sing my loves ! And would to heaven I had been one
of you, and either keeper of your flock, or vintager of the
ripe grape! Sure whether Phyllis or Amyntas, or whoever
else, had been my love (what though Amyntas be swarthy ?
the violet is black, and hyacinths are black), they would Lave
reposed with me among the willows under the limber vine ;
Phyllis had gathered garlands for me, Amyntas would have
sung. Here are cool fountains; here, Lycoris, soft mer.ds,
here a grove : here with thee I could consume my whole life
away. Now frantic love detains me in the service of rigid
Mars, in the midst of darts, and adverse foes. Thou, far from
thy native land (let me not believe it), beholdest nothing
but Alpine snows, 10 and the colds of the Rhine, ah, hard-
* Lycseus, a mountain of Arcadia, sacred to Jupiter, and also to Pan.
8 Adonis, a youth, the favorite of Venus : having lost his life by the
bite of a wild boar, he was changed into the flower Anemone.
7 ^Esch. Choeph. 223, u <j>i/.arov peAiyta (i. e. " cura'') rV//e<T/v
arpof. B.
8 Silvanus, a rural deity among the Romans, who presided over woods.
9 But Nonius Marcell. i. s. v. triste est maestum, connects "tamen"
with " ille," which I should almost prefer, the sense being, " But he
(despite ail that even Pan could say) yet replied." etc. B.
1J Alpine snows. The Alps are a chain of mountains, the highest in
Europe, separating Italy from France, Switzerland, and Austria. The
ECL. x. 4877. BUCOLICS. 31
hearted one ! alone, without me. Ah, may neither these colds
hurt thee ! ah, may not the sharp ice wound thy tender feet I
I will go, and warble on the Sicilian shepherd's- reed those
songs which are by me composed in Chalcidian strain. 11 I
am resolved, rather to endure [my passion] in the woods,
among the dens of wild beasts, and to inscribe my loves upon
the tender trees : as they grow up, so you, my loves, will grow.
Meanwhile, in company with the nymphs, over Maenalus will
I range, or hunt the fierce boars. No colds shall hinder me
from traversing with my hounds the Parthenian lawns 12 around.
Now over rocks and resounding groves methinks I roam :
f (leased I am to shoot Cydonian shafts from the Parthian bow :
Fool that I am !] as if these were a cure for the rage of love ;
or as if that god could learn to be softened by human woes.
Now, neither the nymphs of the groves, nor songs themselves,
charm me any more : even ye woods, once more farewell. No
suffering can change him, though amid frosts we drink of
Hebrus, 13 and undergo the Sithonian snows 14 of rainy winter;
or even if we should tend our flocks in Ethiopia, 16 beneath the
sign of Cancer, when the dying rind withers on the stately elm.
Love conquers all ; 16 and let us yield to love. These strains,
ye divine Muses, it shall suffice your poet to have sung, while
he sat and wove his little basket of slender osiers : these you
will make acceptable to Gallus ; to Gallus, for whom my love
grows as much every hour, as the green alder shoots up in the
infancy of spring. Let us arise : the shade is wont to prove
noxious to singers ; the juniper's shade now grows noxious ;
the shades are hurtful even to the corn. Go home, the even-
ing star arises, my full-fed goats, go home.
Rhine, a celebrated river which rises in the Alps, and, after a course of
600 miles, discharges itself into the German Ocean.
u Chalcidian strain, that is, in the elegiac strain of Euphorion, a
Greek poet of Chalcis in Eubcea
" Parthenian lawns. Parthenius was a mountain of Arcadia, for
which it is here .used ; as Cydonian shafts is used for Cretan darts Cy-
don being a city of Crete.
" The cold of the Hebrus in Thrace was celebrated, as we find from
Philippus in Anthol. p. 47, *E/3pou 6pi}iKiov Kpvpti Treiredrifievov i/6up. B.
14 Sithonian snows, from Sithonia, a part of Thrace.
15 Ethiopia, an extensive Country of Africa : by the ancients, this name
was applied to modern Abyssinia, and the southern regions of Africa.
16 Heyne finds fault with the abruptness of this passage, but Anthon
well remarks, that " this line is meant to express a return to a sounder
mind."- B.
VIRGIL'S GEORGICS,
BOOK I.
This admirable Poem was undertaken at the particular request of that great
patron of poetry, Maecenas, to whom it is dedicated, and has justly been
esteemed the most perfect and finished of Virgil's works. Of the Four
Books of which it consists, the First treats of plowing and preparing the
ground ; the Second, of sowing and planting ; the Third, of the manage-
ment of cattle, etc. ; and the Fourth gives an account of bees, and of the
manner of keeping them among the Romans.
WHAT makes the harvests joyous ; under what sign, Maecenas,
it is proper to turn the earth and join the vines to elms ; what
is the care for kine, the nurture for breeding; sheep ;' and
how much experience for managing the frugal bees ; hence
will I begin to sing. Ye brightest lights" of the world, that
lead the year gliding aloug the sky ; Bacchus and fostering
Ceres, if by your gift mortals exchanged the Chaoni:m acorn
for fattening ears of corn, and mingled draughts of Achelous 3
with the invented juice of the grape ; and ye Fauns propitious
to swains, ye Fauns and Virgin Dryads, advance your foot in
tune : your bounteous gifts I sing. Arid thou, O Neptune, to
whom the earth, struck with thy mighty trident, first poured
forth the neighing steed ; and thou, tenant of the groves, for
whom three hundred snow-white bullocks crop Csea's 4 fertile
1 Pecori. Pecus here, as opposed to boves, signifies the lesser cattle,
as sheep and goats, but especially sheep ; as the word, I think, always
signifies in Virgil when it stands by itself. See EcL i. 75 ; iii. 1, 20, 34;
v. 87. Georg. ii. 371.
2 Vos, 6 clarissima mundi, etc. Varro, in his seventh book of Agri-
culture, invocates the sun and moon, then Bacchus and Ceres, as Yirgil
does here ; which sufficiently confutes those who take the words, vos, 6
clarissima lumina, to be meant of Bacchus and Ceres.
* Achelous (Aspro Potamo), a river of Epirus in Greece, said by some
to have been the first river that sprung from the earth after the deluge ;
hence it was frequently put by the ancients, as it is here, for water.
DAVIDSON. Servius observes, " Acheloum generaliter, propter antiquita-
tern fluminis, omnem aquam veteres vocabant." B.
4 Caea (Zea), an island in the Archipelago, one of the Cyclades.
B. i. 1643. GEORGICS. 33
thickets : thou too, Pan, guardian of the sheep, Tegesean*
god, if thy own Maeualus be thy care, draw nigh propitious,
leaving thy native grove, and the dells of Lycaeus : and thou
Minerva, inventress of the olive ; and thou, O boy, teacher of
the crooked plow ; and thou, Sylvanus, bearing a tender
cypress plucked up by the root : both gods and goddesses all,
whose province it is to guard the fields ; both ye who nourish
the infant fruits from no seed, and ye who on the sown fruits
send down the abundant shower from heaven.
And thou too, Caesar, whom it is yet uncertain what
councils of the gods are soon to have ; whether thou wilt
vouchsafe to visit cities, and [undertake] the care of countries,
and the widely extended globe receive thee, giver of the
fruits, and ruler of the seasons, binding thy temples with thy
mother's myrtle : or whether thou comest, god of the un-
measured ocean, and mariners worship thy divinity alone ;
whether remotest Thule 8 is to be subject to thee, and Tethys'
to purchase thee for her son-in-law with all her waves ; or
whether thou wilt join thyself to the slow months, a new con-
stellation, where space lies open between Erigone and the
[Scorpion's] pursuing claws : the fiery Scorpion himself al-
ready contracts his arms and leaves for thee more than an
equal proportion of the sky. Whatever thou wilt be (for let
not Tartarus* expect thee for its king, nor let such dire lust of
sway once be thine ; though Greece admires her Elysian fields,
and Proserpine," redemanded, is not inclined to follow her
mother), grant me an easy course, and favor my adventurous
enterprise ; and pitying me with the swains who are strangers
to their way, commence [the god], and accustom thyself even
now to be invoked by prayers.
In early spring when melted snow glides down from the
* Tegeaean god. Pan is so called, from Tegea^ a town of Arcadia > in
Greece, which was sacred to him.
8 Thule, an island in the most northern parts of the German Ocean, to
which the ancients gave the epithet of Ultima. Some suppose that it is
the island of Iceland, or part of Greenland, while others imagine it to be
the Shetland Isles.
7 Tethys, the chief of the sea-deities, was the wife of Oceanus. The
word is often used by the poets to express the sea.
8 Tartarus, the infernal regions, where, according to the ancients, the
most impious and guilty among mankind were punished.
8 Proserpine, the daughter of Ceres, and wife of Pluto, who stole her
away as she was gathering flowers in the plains of Enna in Sicily.
2*
34 GEORGICS. a. i. 4467.
hoary hills, and the crumbling glebe unbinds itself by the
zephyr; then let my steer begin to groan under the deep-
pressed plow, and the share worn by the furrow [begin] to
glitter. That field at last answers the wishes of the covetous
farmer, which twice hath felt the sun, twice the cold," har-
vests immense are wont to burst his barns.
But, before we cleave an unknown plain with the plow-
share, let it be our care previously to learn the winds, and
various character of the climate, the ways of culture practiced
by our forefathers, and the tillage and habits of the soil ;
what each country is apt to produce, and what to refuse.
Here grain, there grapes, more happily grow ; nurseries of
trees elsewhere, and herbs spontaneous bloom. Do not you
see, how Tmolus 11 sends saffron odors, India ivory, the soft
Sabaeans their frankincense ? But the naked 12 Chalybes [send]
steel, Pontus strong-scented castor, Epirus 13 the prime of the
Olympic mares. These laws and eternal conditions nature
from the beginning imposed on certain places : what time
Deucalion first cast stones into the unpeopled world, whence
men, a hardy race, sprang up. Come then, let your sturdy
steers forthwith turn up a soil that is rich for the first month
of the year ; and let the dusty summer bake the scattered clods
with mature suns. But, if the land be not fertile, it will be
10 Anthon observes, "The usual custom of the Roman farmers was to
plow the land three times, when it fell under the denomination of hard
land. The first plowing was in the spring, the second in the summer,
the third in autumn (tertiabatur, COLUM. ii. 4). In this way the ground
was exposed twice to the heat of the sun, and once to the frost. If, how-
ever, the soil was unusually hard and stubborn, a fourth plowing took
place at the end of autumn or beginning of winter ; and it is to such a
process that the poet here alludes, the land having thus, in the course of
its four upturnings with the plow, twice felt the sun and twice the cold."
11 Tmolus, a mountain of Lydia, in Asia Minor, abounding in vines,
saffron, etc. Sabaeans, the inhabitants of Saba, a town of Arabia, famous
for frankincense, myrrh, and aromatic plants. Chalybes, a people of
Pontus, in Asia Minor ; their country abounded in iron mines.
IJ If "nudi" be correct, Virgil must speak of the Chalys only as
lightly clad (leviter vestiti), as in his direction to husbandmen "to
plow and sow naked." But although this would be a very proper
way of speaking among people acquainted with this limitation of mean-
ing, yet it seems scarcely an apt epithet for a barbarian tribe, dwelling
in a cold region. Some years since, I proposed to read " duri." See the
supplement to my notes on ApuL de Deo Socr. B.
" Epirus (Albania), a country of Greece, famous for its fine breed of
horses.
B. I. 6896. GEOEGICS. 35
enough to raise it up with a light furrow, even toward the
rising of Arcturus : 14 in the former case, lest weeds obstruct
the joyous corn ; in the latter, less the scanty moisture for-
sake the barren sandy soil.
You will likewise suffer your lands after reaping to lie fal-
low every other year, and the exhausted field to harden by
repose. Or, changing the season, you will sow there yellow
wheat, whence before you have taken up the joyful pulse,
with rustling pods, or the vetch's slender offspring and the
bitter lupine's brittle stalks, and rustling grove. For a crop
of flax burns 16 the land: as burn the oats and poppies im-
pregnated with Lethsean sleep." But yet your labor will be
easy [even though you should sow these kinds of grain] every
other year, provided only you be not backward to saturate
the parched soil with rich dung, or to scatter sordid ashes
upon the exhausted lands: thus, too, your land will rest by
changing the grain. Nor, in the meantime, will there be
ungratefulness.
Often, too, it has been of use to set fire to barren lands, and
burn the light stubble in crackling flames : whether the land
thence receives secret strength and rich nourishment from a
field left fallow; or whether every vicious quality is exhaled
by the fire and the superfluous moisture sweats off ; or whether
the heat opens more passages, and secret pores, through which
the sap may come to the tender blades ; or whether it hardens
more, and binds the gaping veins ; that the small showers,
or keen influence of the violent sun, or penetrating cold of
Boreas, may not parch it up.
He, too, greatly benefits the land, who breaks the sluggish
clods with harrows, and drags osier hurdles over them (nor
does yellow Ceres view him from high Olympus, 17 to no
14 Arcturus, a star near the tail of Ursa Major, whose rising and set-
ting was supposed to portend great tempests. In the time of Virgil, it
rose about the middle of September.
15 i. e. exhausts. Virgil does not forbid the sowing of flax and pop-
pies, but explains that, from their exhausting nature, they are bad crops
in rotation after wheat. So Anthon. B.
16 Lethasan sleep. Lethe was one of the rivers of hell, whose waters
had the power of causing forgetfulness.
" Olympus, a lofty mountain on the confines of Thessaly and Mace-
donia, separated from Ossa by the vale of Tempe. The ancients sup-
posed that it touched the heavens with its top, and on that account the
poets made it the residence of the gods.
36 aEORGICS. B. i. 97130.
purpose), and he also who, after the plain has been torn, again
breaks through the land; that raises up its ridges, turning
the plow across, 18 and gives it frequent exercise and rules
his lands imperiously.
Pray, ye swains, for moist summers and serene winters.
In winter's dust most joyful is the corn, joyful is the field.
On no culture does Mysia 19 so much pride herself, and [hence]
even Gargarus admires his own harvest.
What shall I say of him, who, immediately after sowing
the seed, presses on the lands, and levels the heaps of barren
sand ; then on the sown corn drives the stream and ductile
rills? and when the field is scorched with raging heat, the
herbs all dying, lo ! from the brow of a hilly tract he decoys
the torrent ; which falling down the smooth rocks, awakes
the hoarse murmur, and with gurgling streams allays the
thirsty lands ?
What of him who, lest the stalk with over-loaded ears bend
to the ground, feeds down the luxuriance of the crop in the
tender blade, when first the springing corn equals the fur-
rows ; and who drains from soaking sand the collected moist-
ure of the marsh, chiefly when, in the changeable months, the
swelling river overflows, and overspreads all around with slimy
mud, whence the hollow dikes sweat with tepid vapor ?
After all (when the labors of men and oxen have tried
these expedients in cultivating the ground), the voracious
goose, the Strymonian" cranes, and succory with its bitter
roots, and even the shades are in some degree injurious. The
Sire himself willed the ways of tillage not to be easy, and first
aroused the fields by art, whetting the skill of mortals with
care ; nor suffered he his reign to lie inactive in heavy sloth.
Before Jove, no husbandmen subdued the fields ; nor was it
even lawful to mark out, or by limits divide the ground.
They made all things common gain, and earth of herself pro-
duced every thing freely without any one asking. He infused
the noxious poison into the horrid serpent, commanded the
wolves to 'prowl, and the sea to be stirred ; and he shook the
M . A description of " cross-plowing." B.
19 Mysia, a country .of Asia Minor, bordering on Troas. Gargarus, a
mountain, or rather a part of Mount Ida, in Troas.
80 Strymonian cranes. Strymon, a river of Macedonia, the ancient
boundary between that country and Thrace.
B. I. 131164. aEOBGICS. 37
honey from -the leaves, removed fire, and restrained the wine
that ran commonly in rivulets ; that experience, by dint of
thought, might gradually hammer out the various arts, in
furrows seek the blade of corn, and from the veins of flint
strike out the hidden fire. Then first the rivers felt the ex-
cavated alders ; then the seamen gave the stars their numbers
and their names, the Pleiades, 21 Hyades, and the bright
bear of Lycaon. Then were invented [the arts of] catching
wild beasts in toils, deceiving with birdlime, and encom-
passing the spacious lawn with hounds. And now one seek-
ing the depths, lashes the broad river with his casting-net;
and on the sea another drags his humid lines along. Then
[arose] the rigid force of steel, and the flat blade of the grating
saw (for the first mortals cleft the splitting wood with wedges) ;
then various arts ensued. Incessant labor and want, in hard-
ships pressing, surmounted every obstacle. Ceres first taught
mortals with steel to turn the ground : when now the acorns
and arbutes of the sacred wood failed, and Dodona 22 refused
sustenance. Soon too was distress inflicted on the corn ; when
noxious mildew eat the stalks, and the lazy thistle shot up its
horrid spikes in the field. The crops of corn die ; a prickly
wood succeeds, burs and caltrops, and, amid the shining
fields, unhappy darnel and barren wild oats bear sway. But
unless you both vex the ground by continual harrowings, fright
away the birds with a noise, and with the pruning-knife re-
strain the shades of the shaded field, and by prayers call
down the showers; alas, [while thy labor proves] in vain,
thou wilt view another's ample store, and in the woods solace
thy hunger by shaking [acorns] from the oak.
We must also describe what are the instruments used by the
hardy swains, without which the crops could neither be sown
nor spring. First, the share, and the heavy timber of the curved
plow, and the slow-rolling wains of the Eleusinian mother,
Ceres, and sledges and drags, and harrows of unwieldy weight ;
21 Pleiades, a name given to the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione,
made a constellation in the heavens. Hyades, the five daughters of Atlas,
who were also changed into stars, and placed in the constellation Taurus.
Bear of Lycaon. Calisto, the daughter of Lycaon, was changed by Juno
into a bear, but Jupiter made her the constellation Ursa Major.
22 Dodona, an ancient city of Epirus, in Greece, where was a sacred
grove, with a celebrated oracle and temple of Jupiter.
38 GEORGICS. B. i. 165194.
besides the mean osier furniture of Celeus," arbute hurdles,
and the mystic fan of Bacchus ; all which, with mindful care,
you will provide long beforehand, if glory of a blissful coun-
try duly awaits thee. In the first place, 24 in the woods an elm,
bent with vast force, is subdued into the plow tail, and re-
ceives the form of the crooked plow. To this, at the lower
end, are fitted a beam extended to eight feet, two earth-boards,
and share-beams with a double back. The light linden also
is felled beforehand for the yoke, and the tall beech, and the
plow-staff, to turn the bottom of the carriage behind ; and
the smoke seasons" the timber hung up in the chimneys.
I can recite to you many precepts of the ancients, unless
you decline them, and think it not worth while to learn these
trifling cares. The thrashing-floor chiefly must be leveled
with the huge roller, and wrought with the hand, and con-
solidated with binding chalk, that weeds may not spring up,
and that overpowered with drought it may not chap. Then
various pests baffle us ; often the diminutive mouse has built
its cell, and made its granaries ; or the moles, deprived of
sight, have dug their lodges under ground ; and in the cavities
has the toad been found, and vermin which the earth produces
in abundance ; the weevil plunders vast heaps of corn, and
the ant, fearful of helpless old age.
Observe also, when the almond 28 shall clothe itself abund-
antly with blossom in the woods, and bend its fragrant
boughs : if the rising fruit abound, in like quantity the corn
will follow, and a great thrashing with great heat will ensue.
But, if the shady boughs abound with luxuriance of leaves, in
vain the floor shall bruise the stalks, fertile only in chaff.
I have, indeed, seen many sowers artificially prepare their
seeds, and steep them first in saltpeter and black lees of oil,
" Celeus, a king of Eleusis, was the father of Triptolemus, whom Ce-
res instructed in husbandry.
24 The order is, " ulmus flexa in silvis magna vi domatur in burim, et
aceipit formam curvi aratri." ANTHON.
Literally, "explores," "searches," i. e., to see if there be any
chinks. B.
as The term nux is employed by the Roman writers in an extended
sense, to denote the almond, the walnut, the hazel-nut tree, etc. Most
commonly, however, an epithet is added, to make the meaning more
definite ; thus, nuxjuglans, " the walnut ;" nux amygdala, " the almond ;"
nux avellana, " the hazel-nut or filbert," etc. ANTHON.
B. i. 195223. GEORGICS. 39
that the produce might be larger in the fallacious pods. And
though, being hastened, they were soaked over a slow fire,
selected long, and proved with much labor, yet have I seen
them degenerate, unless human industry with the hand culled
out the largest every year. Thus all things, by destiny, hasten
to decay, 27 and gliding away, insensibly are driven backward ;
not otherwise than he who rows hjs skiff with much ado against
the stream, if by chance he slackens his arms, and the tide
hurries him headlong down the river.
Further, the stars of Arc turns, and the days of the Kids,
and the shining Dragon, must be as much observed by us, as
by those who, homeward borne across the main, attempt the
[Euxine] Sea, 28 and the straits of oyster-breeding Abydos. 29
When Libra makes the hours of day and night equal, and
now divides the globe in the middle between light and shades,
work your steers, ye swains, sow barley in the fields, till toward
the last shower of the inclement winter solstice. Then, too, is
the time to hide in the ground a crop of flax, and the poppy
of Ceres, and high time to ply your harrows ; while the ground,
yet dry, you may, while the clouds are yet suspended.
In the spring is the sowing of beans : then thee too, O
Medic plant ! 30 the rotten furrows receive, and millet comes,
an annual care, when the bright Bull with gilded horns opens
the year, and the Dog sets, giving way to the backward star.
But if you labor the ground for a wheat-harvest and sturdy
grain, and are bent on bearded ears alone, let the Pleiades
in the morning be set, and let the Gnosian star 31 of [Ariadne's]
blazing Crown depart, before you commit to the furrows the
97 The infinitive is used absolutely to signify what is wont to hap-
pen. B.
38 The Euxine (or Black) Sea is situated between Europe and Asia,
and communicates with the Mediterranean by the Sea of Marmora and
the Dardanelles.
29 Abydos, a city of Asia Minor, on the Hellespont (Dardanelles),
opposite to Sestos, in Thrace; famous for the bridge of boats which
Xerxes made there across the Hellespont, when he invaded Greece ; and
for the loves of Hero and Leander.
80 Medic plant, a species of trefoil, so called, because introduced from
Media into Greece.
31 Gnosian star, etc., Ariadne's crown, consisting of seven stars, so
called from Gnosus, a city of Crete, where Minos, the father of Ariadne,
reigned. Maia, one of the Pleiades. Bootes, a constellation near the
Ursa Major, or Great Bear.
40 &EORGICS. B. I. 224256.
seed designed, and before you hasten to trust to the unwilling
earth the hopes of the year. Many have begun before the
setting of Maia; but the expected crop hath mocked them
with empty ears. But if you are to sow vetches, and cheap
kidney-beans, nor despise the care of the Egyptian lentil ; set-
ting Bootes will afford thee signs not obscure. Begin, and
extend thy sowing to the middle of the frosts.
For this purpose, the golden sun, through the twelve con-
stellations of the world, rules the globe measured out into
certain portions. Five zones embrace the heavens ; whereof
one is ever glowing with the bright sun, and scorched forever
by his fire ; round which two furthest ones to the right and
left are extended, stiff with cerulean ice and horrid showers.
Between these and the middle zones, two by the bounty of the
gods are given to weak mortals ; and a path is cut through both,
where the series of the signs might revolve obliquely. As
the world rises high toward Scythia and Riphsean" hills ; so
sloping downward it is depressed toward the south winds of
Libya, 3 ' The one pole to us is always elevated ; but the other,
under our feet, is seen by gloomy Styx 34 and the ghosts below. 35
Here, after the manner of a river, the huge Dragon glides
away with tortuous windings, around and through between the
Bears ; the Bears that fear to be dipped in the ocean. There,
as they report, either dead night forever reigns in silence,
and, outspread, wraps all things up in darkness ; or else Au-
rora 3 ' returns thither from us, and brings them back the day ;
and when the rising sun firsts breathes on us with panting
steeds, there ruddy Vesper lights up his late illuminations.
Hence we are able to foreknow the seasons in the dubious
sky, hence the days of harvest, and the time of sowing ; and
when it is proper to sweep the faithless sea with oars, when
to launch the armed fleets, or to fell the pine in the woods in
*' Riphsean hills, in the north of Scythia, near the rivers Tanais and
Rha.
33 Libya, an extensive country of Africa, lying between Egypt and the
Syrtis Major ; by the ancients it was often applied to Africa in general.
34 Styx, one of the rivers of hell, round which it was said to flow nine
times. The gods held the waters of the Styx in such veneration, that
they always swore by them ; an oath which was inviolable.
'* So "profunda Juno," for Proserpine, In Claudian, de Vap. i. 2. B.
38 Aurora, the goddess of the morning. Vesper, the evening star ;
often used for the evening, as Aurora is for the morning.
B. L 257282. GEORGICS. 41
season. Xor in vain do we study the settings and the risings
of the signs, and the year equally divided into four different
seasons.
If at any time a bleak shower confines the husbandman,
then is his time to do many things in season, wnicb, as soon
as the sky is serene, would have to be done with expedition. 37
The plowman sharpens the hard edge- of the blunted share,
scoops little boats from trees, or stamps the mark on the
sheep, or the number on his sacks. Others sharpen stakes
and two-horned forks, and prepare Amerine [osier] bands'*
for the limber vine. Now let the pliant basket of bramble
twigs be woven ; now parch your grain over the fire, now
frind it with the stone : for even on holy-days, divine and
uman laws permit to perform some works. No religion
hath forbidden to clear the channels, to raise a fence before
the corn, to lay snares for birds, to fire the thorns, and plunge
in the wholesome river a flock of bleating sheep. Often the
driver of the sluggish ass loads his ribs with oil, or common
apples ; and, in his return from the town, brings back an in-
dented mill-stone, or a mass of black pitch.
The moon, too, hath allotted days auspicious to works, some
in one order, some in another. Shun the fifth : [on this] pale
Pluto 38 and the Furies were born. Then at an unholy birth
the earth brought forth Coeus, 40 lapetus, and savage Typhoeus,
and the brothers who conspired to tear down the skies. For
thrice did they essay to pile Ossa 41 upon Pelion, and to roll
woody Olympus upon Ossa : thrice the Sire, with his thun-
" So this line appears to be explained by Nonius Marc. L p. 512, and
M acrob. Sat. vL 3. " Maturare" at times is nearly identical with " pro-
perare. " B.
88 Amerine bands, from Ameria, a city of TJmbria, in Italy, which
abounded in osiers.
*' J Pluto, in ancient mythology, was the son of Saturn and Ops, and
brother to Jupiter and Neptune ; in the division of his father's empire,
the kingdom of Hell was allotted to him.
40 Coeus, lapetus, etc., famous giants, sons of Coelus and Terra, who,
according to the poets, made war against the gods ; but Jupiter at last
put them to flight with his thunderbolts, and crushed them under Mount
JEtna, in Sicily.
41 Ossa, Pelion, etc., celebrated mountains of Thessaly, in Greece,
which the giants, in their war against the gods, were feigned to have
heaped on each other, that they might with more facility scale the wall*
of heaven.
42 GEORGICS. B. I. 283313.
der, overthrew the piled-up mountains. The seventh, next
to the tenth, is lucky both to plant the vine, and hreak the
oxen caught, and to add the woof to the warp : the ninth is
better for flight, adverse to thefts. 4 * Many works too have
succeeded better in the cool night ; or when morning sprin-
kles the earth with the rising sun. By night the light stub-
ble, by night the parched meadows, are better" shorn : the
clammy dews fail not by night. And some by the late fires
of the winter light, watch all night, and with the sharp steel
point torches. Meanwhile, his spouse, cheering by song her
tedious labor, runs over the webs with the shrill shuttle ; or
over the fire boils down the liquor of the luscious must, and
skims with leaves the tide of the trembling caldron.
But reddening Ceres is cut down in noontide heat ; and in
noontide heat the floor thrashes out the parched grain. Plow
naked, 44 sow naked : winter is an inactive time for the hind.
In the cold weather the farmers mostly enjoy the fruit of their
labor, and, rejoicing with one another, provide mutual enter-
tainments : the genial winter invites them, and relaxes their
cares ; as when weather-beaten ships have reached the port,
and the joyous mariners have planted garlands on the sterns.
But it then is the time both to strip the mast of oak, and the
bay-berries, the olive, and the bloody myrtle-berries ; then to
set springes for cranes, and nets for stags, and to pursue the
long-eared hares ; and whirling the hempen thongs of the
Baleariau 46 sling, to pierce the does, when the snow lies deep,
when the rivers hurtle down the ice.
Why should I speak of the storms 46 and constellations of
autumn ? and what must be guarded against by swains when
the day is now shorter, and the summer milder ? or when the
41 Anthon remarks, " The ninth day would be favorable for the run-
away, since the moon would then be of sufficient age to give a good light,
and help him on his way. For this very reason, on the other hand, it
would be unfavorable for the thief, who prefers darkness." Voss. ad loc.
41 I think the harmony of this verse will be increased by transposing,
thus, " Nocte leves stipulse melius," as it is quoted by Jul. Rufin. Schem.
Lex. 6. p. 31, ed. Ruhnk. B.
44 i. e., in thin attire. B.
15 Balearian sling, from the Baleares ; a name given to the islands of
Majorca and Minorca, in the Mediterranean, because the inhabitants were
expert slingera.
*" Nonius, i. s. v. tempestas, limits the sense of this word to " turbo
vcntorum," I think, scarcely with reason. B.
B. I. 313346. GEORGICS. 43
showery springs pours down, the spiky harvest bristles in the
fields, and the milky corn swells in the green stalk ? Oft have
I seen, when the farmer had just brought the reaper into the
yellow fields, and was binding up the barley with the brittle
straw, all the battles of the winds engage, which far and wide
tore up the full-loaded corn from the lowest roots, and tossed
it up : just so, with blackening whirlwind, a wintery storm
would drive light straw and flying stubble. Often also an-
immense march of waters gathers in the sky, and clouds, col-
lected from on high, brew thick an ugly storm of black show-
ers : the lofty sky pours down, and with storms of rain sweeps
away the joyful corn, and toils of steers : the ditched are filled,
and the hollow rivers 47 swell with roaring, and in the steam-
ing friths the sea boils. The Sire himself, amid a night of -
clouds, launches the thunders with his flaming right hand :
with the violence of which mighty earth trembles: the beasts
are fled, and through the nations lowly fear hath sunk the
hearts of men. He with his flaming bolt strikes down or
Athos," or Rhodope, or high Ceraunia : 49 the south winds
redouble, and the shower is more and more condensed ; now
woods, now shores, moan 'neath the mighty blast.
This dreading, observe the months and constellations of the
heavens : which way the cold star of Saturn shapes his course,
into what circuits Mercury's fiery planet wanders in heaven.
Above all, venerate the gods ; and renew to great Ceres the
sacred annual rites, 60 offering up thy sacrifice upon the joyous
turf, at the expiration of the last days of winter, when the
spring .is serene. Then the lambs are fat, and then the wines
most mellow ; then slumbers on the hills are sweet, and thick
the shades. For thee let all the rural youths adore Ceres ; to
whom mix thou the honey-comb with milk and gentle wine ;
and thrice let the auspicious victim go round the recent grain ;
which let the whole chorus of thy companions accompany in
47 i. e. the mountain streams. Hesych. 6a?.acaa. Kotf.rj, rj xst^piac. B.
48 Athos, a lofty mountain of Macedonia, in Greece, on a peninsula :
it is now called Monte Santo, from the number of monasteries erected
upon it. Ceraunia, large mountains of Epirus, in Greece, stretching out
far into the Adriatic.
43 " Acroceraunia" is more usual. Servius on ./En. iii. B.
50 The poet here alludes to the Ambarvalia, a festival in honor of
Ceres, and which was so called because the victim was led around the
fields (quod victima ambiret arva) before it was sacrificed. ANTHON.
44 GEORGICS. B. L 347383.
jovial mood, and with acclamation invite Ceres into their
dwellings ; nor let any one put the sickle to the ripe corn,
till, in honor of Ceres, having his temples bound with
wreathed oak, he dance in measure uncouth, and sing hvmns.
And that we may learn these things by certain signs, both
heats and rains, and cold-bringing winds, the Sire himself has
appointed what the monthly moon should betoken ; under
what sign the south winds should fall ; from what common
observations the husbandman should learn to keep his herds
nearer their stalls.
Straightway, when winds are rising, the friths of the sea
with tossirigs begin to swell, and a dry crashing noise to be
heard in the high mountains ; or the far-sounding shores to
be disturbed, and the murmurs of the grove to increase. Now
hardly the billows refrain themselves from the crooked ships,
when the cormorants fly swiftly back from the midst of the sea,
and send their screams to the shore ; and when the sea-coots
sport on the dry beach ; and the heron forsakes the well-
known fens, and soars above the lofty cloud. Often too,
when wind threatens, you will see the stars shoot precipitate
from the sky, and behind them long trails of flame whiten
athwart the shades of night ; often the light chaff and fallen
leaves flutter about ; or feathers swimming on the surface of
the water frisk together.
But when it lightens from the quarters of surly Boreas, and
when the house of Eurus 61 and Zephyrus thunders, all the
fields are floated with full ditches, and every mariner on the
sea furls his damp sails. Showers never hurt any unfore-
warned : either the airy cranes have shunned it in the deep
valleys as it rose ; or the heifer looking up to heaven, hath
snuffed in the air with wide nostrils ; or the chattering swallow
hath fluttered about the lakes ; and the frogs croaked their old
complaint in the mud." And often the ant, drilling her nar-
row path, hath conveyed her eggs from her secret cell ; and
the mighty bow hath drunk deep ; and an army of ravens, on
their return from feeding, have beaten the air and made a
noise, with wings close crowded. Now you may observe the
various sea-fowls, and those that rummage about the Asian
61 Eurus and Zephyrus, the east and west winds.
" Alluding to the metamorphosis of the Lycian peasants into frogf
for insulting Latona, Ovid, Met. vi. 376. ANTHOX. B.
B. I. 384 409. GEORGICS. 45
meads, in Cayster's 63 pleasant lakes, keenly lave the copious
dews upon their shoulders ; now offer their heads to the work-
ing tides, now run into the streams, and, sportive, revel vainly
in their desire of bathing. Then the impudent crow with full
throat invites the rain, and solitary stalks by herself on the
dry sand. Nor were even the maids, carding their nightly
tasks, ignorant of the approaching storm ; when they saw the oil
sputter on the heated sherd, and foul fungous clots grow thick."
Nor with less ease may you foresee, and by certain signs
discern, sunshine succeeding rain, and open serene skies.
For neither are the stars then seen with blunted edge, nor the
moon to rise as if indebted to her brother's beams ; nor thin
fleecy" clouds to be borne through the sky. Nor do the hal-
cyons, beloved by Thetis, 88 expand their wings upon the shore
to the warm sun : the impure swine are not heedful to toss
about with their snouts the loosened wisps. But the mists
seek the lower grounds, and rest upon the plain ; and the owl,
observant of the setting sun from the high housetop, practices
her evening songs in vain. Nisus in the clear sky appears
aloft, and Scylla pays penalty for the purple lock. Wher-
ever she flying cuts the light air with her wings, lo, hostile,
implacable Nisus, 5 ' with loud screams pursues her through the
sky: where Nisus mounts into the sky, she swiftly flying cuts'
the light air with her wings. Then the ravens, with com-
13 Cayster, a river of Asia Minor, which falls into the ^gean Sea,
near Ephesus.
M This was a popular superstition, as we learn from Schol. Aristoph.
Vesp. 260. B.
66 Cf. Lucret. vi. 503, " veluti pendentia vellera lanae." B.
66 Thetis, one of the sea-deities, daughter of Nereus and Doris and
mother of Achilles.
67 Minos having laid siege to Megara, ofwhich Nisus was king, became
master of the place through the treachery of Scylla, the daughter of the
latter. Nisus had a purple or golden lock of hair growing on his head,
and, as long as it remained uncut, so long was his life to last. Scylla,
having seen Minos, fell in love with him, and resolved to give him the
victory. She accordingly cut off her father's precious lock as he slept,
and he immediately died. The town was then taken by the Cretans ; but
Minos, instead of rewarding the maiden, disgusted with her unnatural
treachery, tied her by her feet to the stern of his vessel, and thus dragged
her along till she was drowned. Nisus was changed after death into the
bird called the sea-eagle, (d/>.taerof,) and Scylla into that named ciris
(icelpif)- and the father continually pursues the daughter, says the
legend, to punish her for her crime. ANTHON.
46 GEORGICS. B. I. 410 444.
pressed throat, three or four times repeat their clear notes ;
and often in their nests aloft, affected with I know not what
unusual charm, they rustle togethef among the leaves : the
rains now passed, they are glad to revisit their little offspring
and beloved nests : not, indeed, I am persuaded, as if they had
a spirit of discernment from the gods, or superior knowledge
of things by fate ; but when the storm and fluctuating vapors
of the air have changed their course, and showery Jove by
his south winds condenses those things which just before were
rare, and rarefies what things were dense ; the images of their
minds are altered, and their breasts now receive different im-
pressions (different, while the wind rolled the clouds). Hence
that concert of birds in the fields, and the cattle frisking for
joy, and the ravens exulting in their caws.
But if you give attention to the rapid sun, and the moons
in order following; the hour of ensuing morn shall never
cheat you, nor shall you be deceived by the treacherous aspect
of a serene night. When first the moon collects the returning
rays, if with horns obscure she incloses dusky air, a vast rain
is preparing for swains and mariners. But, if she should
spread a virgin blush over her face, wind will ensue : golden
Phoebe 68 always reddens with wind. But if at her fourth
rising (for that is the most unerring monitor) she passes along
the sky pure and bright, nor with blunted horns ; both that
whole day, and all those that shall come after it, till the month
be finished, will be free from rains and winds : and the mariners
preserved, will pay their vows upon the shore to Glaueus, 6 '
Panopea, and Melicerta, Ino's son.
The sun too, both rising and when he sets in the waves,
will give signs. The surest signs attend the sun, both those
which he brings in the morning, and those when the stars
arise. When he shall checker his new-born face with spots,
hidden in a cloud, and has fled from view with half his orb,
you may then suspect showers : for the south wind, pernicious
to trees and corn and flocks, hastens from the sea. Or when
68 Phoebe, a name of Diana, or Luna (the moon) ; as Phoebus is a
name of Apollo, or Sol (the sun).
** Glaueus, a fisherman of Anthedon, in Bosotia, son of Neptune and
Nais, changed into a sea-deity. Panopea, a sea-nymph, one of the Ne-
reids. Melicerta, the son of Athanas and Ino, changed into a sea-god,
known also by the names of Palembn and Portumnus.
B. I. 445470. GBOEGICS. 47
at the dawn the rays shall break themselves diversely among
the thick clouds ; or when Aurora, leaving the saffron-bed of
Tithonus 60 rises pale ; ah, the vine-leaf will then but ill de-
fend the mellow grapes ; so thick the horrid hail bounds rat-
tling on the roofs. This too it will be more advantageous to
remember, when, having measured the heavens, he is just
setting ; for often we see various colors wander over his face.
The azure threatens rain ; the fiery wind. But if the spots
begin to be blended with bright fire, then you will see all
things embroiled together with wind and storms of rain. Let
none advise me that night to launch into the deep, or to tear
my cable from the land. But, if, both when he ushers in, and
when he shuts up the revolving day, his orb is lucid ; in vain
will you be alarmed by the clouds, aud you will see woods
waved by the clear north wind.
In fine, the sun will give thee signs what [weather] late
Vesper brings, from what quarter the wind will roll the
clouds serene, what wet Auster 61 meditates. Who dares to
call the sun deceiver ? He even forewarns often that hidden
tumults are at hand, and that treachery and secret wars are
swelling to a head. He also pitied Rome at Caesar's death,
when he covered his bright head with murky iron hue, 62 and
the impions age feared eternal night ; though at that time the
earth too, and ocean's plains, ill-omened dogs, and presaging
birds, gave ominous signs. How often have we seen
90 Tithonus, a son of Laomedon, king of Troy, was so beautiful that
Aurora became enamored of him, and carried him away to Ethiopia.
61 Auster, the south wind.
M " When he shrouded his bright head with a dark ferruginous hue."
According to Plutarch (Vit. Cass. c. 90), Pliny (H. N. ii. 30), and Dio
Caasius (xlv. 17), the sun appeared of a dim and pallid hue after the
assassination of Julius Caesar, and continued so during the whole of the
year. It is said, too, that, for want of the natural heat of that luminary,
the fruits rotted without coming to maturity. "What Plutarch calls pale-
ness, Virgil, it will be perceived, denominates by a stronger term, ferrugo.
This, of course, is the license of poetry. The phenomenon mentioned by
the ancient writers is thought by some modern inquirers to have been oc-
casioned by spots on the sun ; and this is the more probable opinion.
There appears, however, to have been an actual eclipse of the sun that
same year, in the month of November. ANTHON.
63 ^Etna (Gibello), a celebrated volcanic mountain of Sicily. This
immense mountain is of a conical form ; it is two miles in perpendicular
height, 100 miles round the base, with an ascent, in some places, of SC
miles, and its crater is a circle of about 3 1-2 miles in circumference.
48 GEORGICS. B. i. 471 498.
from its burst furnaces boil over in waves on the lands of the
Cyclops,'* and shoot up globes of flame, and molten rocks!
Germany heard a clashing of arms over all the sky ; the Alps
trembled with unwonted earthquakes. A mighty voice too
was commonly heard through the silent groves, and specters
strangely pale were seen under cloud of night ; and the very
cattle (O horrid !) spoke ; rivers stopped their courses, the
earth yawned wide ; the mourning ivory weeps in the tem-
ples, and the brazen statues sweat. Eridanus,* 4 king of rivers,
overflowed, whirling in mad eddy whole woods along, and
bore away the herds with their stalls over all the plains.
Nor at the same time did either the fibers fail to appear
threatening in the baleful entrails, or blood to flow from the
wells, and cities to resound aloud with wolves howling by
night. Never did more lightnings fall from a serene sky, or
direful comets so often blaze. For this Philippi 88 twice saw
the Roman armies in intestine war 67 engage ; nor seemed it
unbecoming to the gods, that Emathia 88 and the extensive
plains of Hsemus should twice be fattened with our blood.
Ay, and the time will come, when in those regions the hus-
bandman, laboring the ground with the crooked plow, shall
find javelins all eaten with corrosive rust, or with his cumbrous
harrows shall clash on empty helmets, and marvel at the huge
bones in dug-up graves.
Ye guardian deities of my country, ye Indigetes 69 and thou
04 Cyclops, a gigantic race of men, sons of Ccelus and Terra: they
were Vulcan's workmen in fabricating the thunderbolts of Jupiter, and
were represented having only one eye in the middle of their forehead.
'* Eridanus, called afterward Padus (the Po), the largest river of
Italy, rises in the Alps, after a course of nearly 400 miles, falls into the
Adriatic, to the south of the city of Venice.
" Philippi, a city of Macedonia, on the confines of Thrace, famous
for the defeat of Brutus and Cassius by Antony and Augustus, B. c. 42.
By the other battle at Philippi, mentioned here, Virgil is supposed to
allude to that between Caesar and Pompey on the plains of Pharsalia,
in Thessaly, which was fought near a town also called Philippi, B. c.
48.
67 The force of "paribua telis" is well expressed by Lucan. i. 7,
"pares aquilas, et pila minantia pilis," as remarked by Servius. B.
88 Emathia, an ancient name of Macedonia and Thessaly. Hsemus,
an extensive chain of mountains through Thrace, etc., in length about
four hundred miles.
69 Indigetes, a name given to those deities who were worshiped in
particular places, or to such heroes as were deified.
B. 1. 498514. GEORGICS. 49
O Romulus, 70 and mother Vesta, 71 who guardest the Tuscan
Tiber, 7 * and the palaces of Rome'; forbid not that this youth-
ful hero at least repair the ruins of the age. Long since
enough have we with our blood atoned for the perjuries of
Laomedon's Troy. 73 Long since, O Caesar, the courts of heaven
envy us thee, and complain that thou art concerned about the
triumphs of mortals' since among them the distinctions of
right and wrong are perverted ; so many wars, so many aspects
of crimes, are throughout the world ; the plow has none of its
due honors; the fields lie waste^ their owners being drawn
for service ; and the crooked scythes are forged into rigid
swords. Here Euphrates, 74 there Germany, raises war ; neigh-
boring cities, having broken their mutual leagues, take arms ;
impious Mars 75 rages through all the world. As when the
four-horsed chariots have burst forth from the goal, they add
speed to speed, and the charioteer, stretching in vain the bridle,
is hurried away by the steeds, nor is the chariot heedful of the
70 Romulus, a son of Mars and Rhea, grandson of Numitor, king of Alba,
and twin-brother of Remus. He was the founder and first king of Rome,
which he built on Mount Palatine, B. c. 753. By the triumphs of their
arms, and the terror of their name, the Romans gradually rose, during a
succession of ages, to universal empire, and Rome became, for a time,
mistress of the world. After his death, Romulus was ranked among the
gods, and received divine honors under the name of Quirinus.
71 Vesta, daughter of Rhea and Saturn, called the mother of the gods,
was the goddess of fire, and the patroness of the vestal virgins, among
the Romans.
73 Tiber, a celebrated river of Italy, rises in the Apennines, and falls
into the Mediterranean Sea, sixteen miles below the city of Rome.
73 Laomedon, King of Troy, and the father of Priam. He built the
walls of Troy, with the assistance of Apollo and Neptune ; but, on the
work being finished, he refused to reward them for their labors, and, in
consequence, incurred the displeasure of the gods.
71 Euphrates, a celebrated river of Asia, which rises' in the mountains
of Armenia, and discharges itself into the Persian Gulf.
75 Mars, the god of war. Among the Romans, this deity received
the most unbounded honors.
3
50 GEORGICS. B. n. 126.
BOOK H.
Virgil, having, in the First Book, treated of tillage, proceeds in the Second
to the subject of planting ; describes the varieties of trees, with the best
methods of raising them : gives rules for the management of the vine and
olive, and for judging of the nature of soils ; and, in a strain of exalted
poetry, celebrates the praises of Italy, and the pleasures of a country life.
THUS far of the culture of fields, and of the constellations of
the heavens ; now, Bacchus, will I sing of thee, and with thee
of woodland trees, and of the slow-growing olive's offspring.
Hither, O father 1 Lenjeus" (here is all full of thy bounties:
for thee the field, laden with the viny harvest, flouiishes ; [for
thee] the vintage foams in the full vats) : hither, O father
Lenaeus, come ; and, having thy buskins stripped oif, stain thy
legs, bared of the sandals, with me in new wine.
first, nature is various in producing trees : for some, with-
out any cogent means applied by men, come freely of their
own accord, and widely overspread the plains and winding
rivers; as the soft osier and limber broom, and poplar and
the whitening willows, with sea-green leaves. But some arise
from deposited seed ; as the lofty chestnuts, and the jesculus,
which, in honor of Jove, shoots forth its leaves, the most
majestic of the groves, and the oaks reputed oracular by the
Greeks. To others a most luxuriant wood [of suckers] springs
from the roots ; as the cherries and the elms : thus, too, the
little bay of Parnassus raises itself under its mother's mighty
shade. Nature at first ordained these means [for the produc-
tion of trees] : by these every species blooms, of woods, and
shrubs, and sacred groves. Others there are, which experi-
ence has found out for itself on the way. 3 One, cutting off
the tender suckers from the body of their mother, sets them
in the furrows ; another buries the stocks in the ground, and
stakes split in four, and poles with the wood sharpened to a
point ; and some trees expect the bent-down arches of a layer,
1 The term " pater" is here applied to Bacchus, not with any reference
to advanced years, for the, god is always represented by the ancient art-
ists with the attributes of youth (compare Miiller, Archaeolog. der Kunst,
p. 566), but merely as indicative of his being the beneficent author of
so many good gifts unto men. ANTUON.
3 Lenaeus, a surname of Bacchus, the god of wine, from Aqvof, a
winepress.
8 " Yia" here denotes the " march of intellect." B.
B. n. 2761. GEORGICS. 51
and living nurseries in their native soil. Others have no need
of any root ; and the planter makes no scruple to commit to
earth the topmost shoots, restoring them [to their parent soil].
Even (what is wondrous to relate) after the trunk is cut in
pieces, the olive-tree shoots forth roots from the dry wood.
Often we see the boughs of one tree transformed, with no
disadvantage, into those of another, and a pear-tree, being
changed, bear ingrafted apples, and stony cornels grow upon
plum stocks. 4
Wherefore come on, O husbandmen, learn the culture proper
to each kind, and soften the wild fruits by cultivation : nor let
any lands lie idle : it is worth while to plant Ismarus with vines,
and clothe vast Taburnus 5 with olives.
And thou, O glory mine, O thou deservedly the greatest por-
tion of my fame, be present, Maecenas, pursue with me this task
begun, and flying set sail on this sea, now opening wide. I
choose not to comprise all matters in my verse, even if I had a
hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, and an iron voice ; be
present, and coast along the nearest shore. The earth is near
at hand ; I will not here detain thee with fictitious song, or
with circumlocution and tedious preamble.
Those which spring up spontaneously into the regions of
light are unfruitful indeed ; but they rise luxuriant and strong :
for in the soil lies a native quality. Yet, if any one ingraft
even these, or deposit them transplanted in trenches well pre-
pared, they will put off their savage nature, and by frequent
culture will not be slow to follow whatever modes of culture
you call them to. And [the sucker] also which sprouts up
barren from the low roots, will do the same, 8 if it be distrib-
uted through fields where room : now [in its natural state]
the high shoots and branches of the mother overshadow, and
hinder it from bearing fruit as it grows up, or pinch and
starve it when it bears. The tree, again, that is raised from
fallen seed, grows up slowly, so as to form a shade for late
posterity, and its fruits degenerate, forgetting their former
juices : thus even the vine bears sorry clusters, a prey for
birds. In fact, labor must be bestowed on all, and all must
4 So Martyn. But see Anthon. B.
6 Taburnus, a mountain of Campania, in Italy, which, abounded with
olives.
8 i. e. will lay aside its wild and unproductive nature. ANTHON.
52 GEOBGICS. B. IL 6290.
be forced into the trench, and tamed with vast pains. But
olives answer better [when propagated] by truncheons, vines
by layers, the myrtles of the Paphian [goddess 7 by settings]
from the solid wood. From suckers the hard hazels grow,
the mighty ash, and the shady poplar-tree, a crown for Her-
cules, and the oaks of the Chaonian Sire : thus also the lofty
palm is propagated, and the fir-tree doomed to visit the dangers
of the main.
But the rugged arbute is ingrafted on the offspring of the
walnut, and barren planes have borne stout apple-trees.
Chestnut-trees [have borne] beeches, and the mountain ash
hath whitened with 8 the snowy blossoms of the pear : and
swine have crunched acorns under elms. Nor is the method
of ingrafting the same with that of inoculating. For [inocu-
lating is thus] : where the buds thrust themselves forth from
the middle of the bark, and burst the slender coats, a small
slit is made in the very knot : hither they inclose a bud from
another tree, and teach it to unite with the moist rind. Or
again [in ingrafting] the knotless stocks are cut, and a pas-
sage is cloven deep, into the solid wood with wedges : then
fertile scions are inserted; and in no long time a huge tree
shoots up to heaven with prosperous boughs, and admires its
new leaves and fruits not its own.
Moreover, the species is not single, either of strong elms,
or of willows, of the lote-tree, or of the Idsean cypresses ; fl
nor do the fat olives grow in one form, the orchades, and the
radii, and the pausia with bitter berries ; nor apples, and the
orchards of Alcinous ; nor are the shoots the same of the
Crustumian and Syrian pears, and of the heavy volemi. The
same vintage hangs not on our trees, which Lesbos 10 gathers
7 Paphian goddess. Venus was so called, from Paphos (Bafia), a city
of Cyprus, where she was worshiped.
8 " Incanuit" is an instance of zeugma, for the chestnut hears no
white flower. B.
9 Idsean cypresses, from Mount Ida, in the island of Crete. Orchards
of Alcinous, king of Pha3acia, afterward called Corcyra (Corfu), one of
the Ionian islands ; his gardens, which were greatly famed, are beauti-
fully described by Homer. Crustumian and Syrian pears ; the first were
so called from Crustuminum, a town of Etruria, in Italy ; and the latter
from Syria, a country of Asia, along the eastern shore of the Mediterra-
nean. Phoenicia and Palestine were generally reckoned provinces of
Syria.
10 Lesbos (Mytilene), a largo island in the Archipelago, celebrated,
B. n. 91116. GEORGICS. 53
from the Methymnsean vine. There are the Thasian vines,
and there are the white Mareotides ; these fit for a rich soil,
and those for a lighter one : and the Psythian, more service-
able when dried, and the thin lageos, which will tie the feet
at length, and bind the tongue : the purple and the rath-ripe :
And in what numbers shall I sing of thee, O Rhaetian grape ?
nor therefore vie thou with the Falernian 11 cellars. There are
also Amminean vines, best-bodied wines ; which even Tmolus
and Phanae, king of mountains, honor ; and the smaller Ar-
gitis, which none can rival, either in yielding so much juice,
or in lasting so many years. I must not pass thee over, Rhodian
grape, grateful to the gods and second courses, nor thee,
bumastos, with thy swollen clusters. But we neither can re-
count how numerous the species, nor what are their names, nor
imports it to comprise their number ; which whoever would
know, the same may seek to learn how numerous are the sands
of the Libyan Sea tossed by the zephyr ; or to know how many
waves of the Ionian Sea 14 come to the shores, when Eurus,
more violent, falls upon the ships.
But neither can all soils bear all sorts [of trees]. Willows
' grow along the rivers, and elders in miiy fens ; the barren wild
ashes on rocky mountains ; the shores rejoice most in myrtle
groves : Bacchus, in fine, loves open hills ; the yews, the north
wind and the cold.
Survey, also, the globe subdued by the most distant culti-
vators, both the eastern habitations of the Arabians, 13 and the
tattooed Geloni. Countries are distinguished by their trees.
particularly the city of Methymna, for its excellent wines. Thasian
vines, those of Thasos, also an island hi the Archipelago, near the coast
of Thrace. Mareotides, a vine from Mareotis, a lake hi Egypt, near
Alexandria. Psythian, from Psythia, an ancient town of Greece, famous
for its grapes. Rluetian grape, from Rhsetia (the Tyrol, etc.), a moun-
tainous country to the north of Italy.
u Falernian, etc. Falernus, a fertile mountain and plain of Campania,
in Italy. Amminia, a district of Campania. Phanae, a promontory of
the island of Chios (Scio). Rhodian grape, from Rhodes, a large and
fertile island in the Mediterranean, near the coast of Asia Minor, cele-
brated for a colossal statue of Apollo.
IJ Ionian Sea, a part of the Mediterranean Sea, at the bottom of the
Adriatic, and between Sicily and Greece.
" Arabians, etc., the inhabitants of Arabia, an extensive country of
Asia, forming a peninsula between the Persian and Arabian Gulfs; tb
latter separates it from Africa. Geloni, a people of Scythia.
54 GEORGICS. B. n. 117146.
India alone bears black ebony : the frankincense-tree belongs
to the Sabseans only. -Why should I mention to thee balms
distilling from the fragrant woods, and the berries of the ever-
green acanthus ? why the forests of the Ethiopians whitening
with downy wool? and how the Seres 14 comb the slender
fleeces from the leaves 1 or the groves which India, nearer the
ocean, the utmost skirts of the globe, produces? where no
arrows by their flight have been able to surmount the airy
summit of the tree : and yet that nation is not slow at archery.
Media bears the bitter juices and the permanent flavor of the
happy apple ; than which no remedy comes more seasonably,
and expels the black venom from the limbs, when cruel step-
dames have drugged the cup, and mingled herbs and not in-
noxious spells. The tree itself is stately, and in form most
like a bay ; and if it did not widely diffuse a different scent,
would be a bay. Its leaves fall not off by any winds ; its
blossoms are extremely tenacious. With it the Medes correct
their breaths and unsavory mouths, and cure their asthmatic
old men.
But neither the land of Media, most rich in woods, nor the
beauteous Ganges, 16 and Hermus turbid with golden sands,
can match the praises of Italy : not Bactra, 18 nor the Indians,
and Panchaia, all enriched with incense-bearing soil. Bulls
breathing fire from their nostrils never plowed these regions,
sown with the teeth of a hideous dragon ; nor did a crop of
men shoot dreadful up with helmets and crowded spears ; but
teeming corn and Bacchus' Campanian juice have filled [the
land], olives and joyous herbs possess it. Hence the warrior-
horse with stately port advances into the field ; hence, CH-
tumnus, 1 ' thy white flocks, and the bull, chief of victims, after
14 Seres, a nation of Asia, between the Ganges and Eastern Ocean ;
the modern Tibet, or probably China. Media, a celebrated country of
Asia, to the south of the Caspian Sea.
15 Ganges, a celebrated river of India, which arises in the Himalaya
mountains, and after a course of 1500 miles, falls into the bay of Bengal,
below Calcutta. Hermus (Sarabat), a river of Lydia, in Asia Minor,
whose sands were mingled with gold ; it receives the waters of the Pac-
tolus near Sardis, and falls into the ^Egean, north-west of Smyrna.
18 Bactra (Balkh), the capital of Bactriana, a country of Asia. Pan-
chaia, a district of Arabia Felix.
17 Clitumnus. a river of TJmbria, in Italy, which falls into the Tiber.
It was famous for its milk-white flocks, selected as victims in the cele-
bration of the triumph.
B. H. 141169. GEORGICS. 55
they have been often plunged in thy sacred stream, escort the
Roman triumphs to the temples of the gods. Here is per-
petual spring, and summer in months not her own : twice a
year the cattle are big with young, twice the trees productive
in fruit. But here are no ravening tigers, nor the savage
breed of lions ; nor wolfsbane deceives the wretched gather-
ers ; nor along the ground the scaly serpent sweeps his im-
mense orbs, nor with so vast a train gathers up himself into
coils. And so many magnificent cities, and works of elaborate
art ; so many towns upreared with the hand on craggy rocks ;
and rivers gliding beneath ancient walls. Or need I mention
the sea which washes it above, and that below ? or its lakes
so vast ? thee, Larius, 18 of largest extent ? and thee, Benacus,
swelling with the waves and roaring of the sea ? Or shall I
mention its ports, and the moles raised to dam the Lucrine, 1 '
and the sea raging indignant with loud murmurs, where the
Julian wave far resounds, the sea pouring in, and the Tuscan
tide is let into the straits of Avernus 1 The same land hath
in its veins disclosed rivers of silver and mines of copper, and
copious flowed with gold. The same hath produced a warlike
race of men, the Marsi 20 and the Sabellian youth, and the
Li^urian inured to hardship, and the Volscians armed with
sharp darts ; this same the Decii, 21 the Marii, and the great
18 Larius (Como), a beautiful lake of Cisalpine Gaul, through which
the Adua runs in its course to the Po, above Cremona. Benacus (L. di
Garda), a large lake, from which the Mincius issues, and flows into
the Po.
13 Lucrine Lake, near Cumae on the coast of Campania. During an
earthquake, A. D. 1538, this lake disappeared, and hi its place was formed
a mountain, two miles in circumference, and one thousand feet high, with
a crater hi the middle. Avernus, a lake of Campania, whose waters
were so putrid, that the ancients regarded it as the entrance of the in-
fernal regions. Augustus united the Lucrine and Avernian lakes by
the famous Julian harbor, and formed a communication- between the lat-
ter lake and the sea.
30 Marsi were a people of Germany, who emigrated to Italy, and set-
tled near the lake Fucinus. The Sabellians were descended from the
Sabines, or from the Samnites ; the Ligurians inhabited Piedmont ;
the Volscians were a warlike people of Latium (Campagna di Roma).
21 Decii, a noble family of Rome, who devoted themselves to death
for the safety of their country. Marii, the Marian family, the chief of
whom was Caius Marius, who, from a peasant, became one of the most
powerful and cruel tyrants that Rome ever beheld during her consular
government
56 GEORGICS. B. n. 170198.
Camilli," 3 the Scipios* 3 invincible in war, and thee, most mighty
Caesar ; who, at this 'very time victorious in Asia's remotest
limits, art turning away from the Roman towers the humbled
Indian. Hail, Saturnian' 4 land, great parent of fruits, great
parent of heroes ; for thee I enter, on a subject, of ancient re-
nown and ail, venturing to disclose the sacred springs ; and I
sing an Ascreean strain through Roman cities.
Now it is time to describe the qualities of soils ; what is the
strength of age, what color, and what its nature is most apt to
produce. First, stubborn lands, and unfruitful hills, where lean
clay [abounds], and pebbles in the bushy fields, rejoice in
Pallas' wood of long-lived olives. The wild olive rising copious
in the same soil is an evidence, and the fields strewn with
woodland berries. But, to the ground that is fat, and glad-
dened with sweet moisture, and to the plain that is luxuriant in
grass, and of a fertile soil (such as we are often wont to look
down upon in the hollow valley of a mountain), streams glide
from the high rocks, and draw a rich fattening slime along :
and that which is raised to the south, and nourishes the fern
abhorred by the crooked plows, will in time afford vines ex-
ceedingly strong, and flcv.-ing with abundant wine : this will
be prolific of grapes, this of such liquor as we pour forth in
libation from golden bowls, when the sleek Tuscan has blown
the ivory pipe at the altars, and we offer up the smoking en-
trails in the bending chargers.
But if you are rather studious to preserve herds [of kine]
and calves, or the offspring of the sheep, or kids that kill the
pastures ; seek the lawns and distant fields of fruitful Taren-
tum, aB and plains like those which hapless Mantua hath lost,
aa Camilli, two celebrated Romans, father and son : the latter was
chosen five times dictator, expelled the Gauls under Brennus from Rome,
and, on account of his services to his country, was called a second Ro-
mulus.
83 The Scipios. P. Cornelius Scipio, surnamed Africanus, the con-
queror of Hannibal, and his grandson, P. ^Emilianus Scipio, called Afri-
canus the younger, on account of his victories over Carthage, B. c. 146.
The two Scipios may justly be ranked among the brightest ornaments
of Roman greatness.
84 Saturnian land. Italy was so called, from Saturn, who, on being
dethroned by Jupiter, fled to Italy, where he reigned during the golden
age.
15 Tarentum (Torento), a maritime city of Calabria in Italy, situated
on a noble bay of the same name.
p. n. 199229. GEORGICS. 57
feeding snow-white swans in the grassy stream. Neither limpid
springs nor pastures will be wanting to the flocks : and as much
as the herds will crop in the long days, so much will the cold
dews in the short night restore.
A soil that is blackish and fat under the deep-pressed share,
and whose mold is loose and crumbling (for this we aim at
in plowing), is generally best for corn ; (from no plain will
you see more wagons move homeward with tardy oxen) ; or
that from which the angry plowman has cleared away a
wood, and felled the groves that have been at a stand for
many years, and with their lowest roots grubbed up the an-
cient dwellings of the birds ; they abandoning their nests soar
on high, but the field looks gay when the plowshare is driven
into it. For the lean hungry gravel of a hilly field scarcely
furnishes humble cassia and rosemary for bees : and no other
lands, they say, yield so sweet food to serpents, or afford them
such winding coverts, as the rough rotten-stone, and chalk
corroded by black water-snakes. That land which exhales
thin mists and flying smoke, and drinks in the moisture, and
emits it at pleasure ; and which always clothes itself with its
own fresh grass, nor hurts the plowshare with scurf and
salt-rust ; will entwine thine elms with joyous vines ; that also
is fertile of olives ; that ground you will experience, in manur-
ing, both to be friendly to cattle and submissive to the crooked
share. Such a soil rich Capua 56 tills, and the territory neigh-
boring to Mount Vesuvius," and the Clanius not kind to de-
populated Acerrae."
Now I will tell by what means you may distinguish each.
If you desire to know whether it be loose or unusually stiff
(because the one is fit for corn, the other for wine ; the stiff
is best for Ceres, and the most loose for Bacchus) : first you
99 Capua, a famous city of Italy, the capital of Campania.
27 Vesuvius, a celebrated volcanic mountain of Campania, about six
miles south-east of Naples, and 3780 feet high. The first great eruption
of Vesuvius on record was accompanied by an earthquake, A. D. 79, when
the towns of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabise were overwhelmed
under lava and ashes. The discovery of these towns after having lain
above 1600 years buried and unknown, has furnished the world with
many curious and valuable remains of antiquity.
48 Acerree, a town of Campania, near the city of Naples ; the river
Clanius almost surrounded the town, and by its inundations frequently
depopulated it.
3*
58 GEORGICS. B. n. 230265.
shall mark out a place with your eye, and order a pit to be
sunk deep in solid ground, and again return all the mold into
its place, and level with your feet the sands at top. If they
prove deficient, the soil is loose, and more fit for cattle and
bounteous vines : but, if they deny the possibility of returning
to their places, and there be an overplus of mold after the
pit is filled up, it is a dense soil ; expect reluctant clods, and
stiff ridges, and give the first plowing to the land with sturdy
bullocks.
But saltish ground, and what is accounted bitter, where corn
can never thrive* 9 (it neither mellows by plowing, nor preserves
to grapes their kind, nor to fruits their qualities), will give a
proof to this effect. Snatch from the smoky roofs baskets of
close-woven twigs, and the strainers of thy wine-press. Hither
let some of that vicious mold, and sweet water from the spring,
be pressed brimfull : be sure all the water will strain out, and
big drops pass through the twigs. But the taste will clearly
make discovery ; and in its bitterness will distort the wry faces
of the tasters with the sensation.
Again, what land is fat we briefly learn thus : When
squeezed by the hand, it never crumbles, but, in handling, it
stacks to the fingers like pitch. The moist soil produces herbs
of a larger size, and is itself luxuriant beyond due measure.
Ah, may none of mine be [thus] too fertile, nor show itself too
strong at the first springing of the grain !
That which is heavy betrays itself by its very weight, with-
out my telling you ; and likewise the light It is easy to dis-
tinguish the black at first sight, and what is the color of each.
But to search out the mischievous cold, is difficult : only pitch-
trees, and sometimes noxious yews, or black ivy, disclose its
signs.
These rules observed, remember to dry and bake the soil
long before, and to encompass the spacious hills with trenches,
expose the turned-up clods to the north wind, before you plant
the vine's joyous race. Fields of a loose crumbling soil are
best ; this effect the winds and cold frosts produce, and the
sturdy delver, close plying his acres, tossed and turned upside
down.
But those men, whom not any vigilance escapes, first seek
19 This rule is however scarcely universal, as is shown by Van Goes,
on the Scriptorr. Rei Agrim. p. 137. B.
B. ii. 266303. GEOEGICS. 59
out the same sort of soil, where the first nursery may be pro-
vided for their trees, and whither it may soon be transplanted
in rows ; lest the slips take not kindly to this mother suddenly
changed. They even mark on the bark the quarter of the sky,
that, in whatever manner each stood, in what part it bore the
southern heats, what sides it turned to the northern pole, they
may restore [it to the same position]. Of such avail is cus-
tom in tender years.
Examine, first, whether it is better to plant your vines on
hills or on a plain. If you lay out the fields of a rich plain,
plant thick ; Bacchus will not be less productive in a densely-
planted soil : but if a soil rising with a gentle ascent, and
sloping, hills, give room to your ranks ; yet so that, your trees
being exactly ranged, each path between may be exactly even,
a line being cut. As often in dread war, when the extended
legion hath ranged its cohorts, the battalions stand marshaled
on the open plain, the armies set in array, and the whole
ground wide waves with gleaming brass ; nor yet are they
engaged in horrid battle, but Mars hovers dubious in the
midst of arms : [thus,] let all your vineyards be laid out in
equal proportions, not only that the prospect may idly feed
the mind, but because the earth will not otherwise supply equal
strength to all : nor will the branches be able to extend them-
selves at large.
Perhaps, too, you may ask what depth is proper for the
trenches. I could venture to commit my vine even to a slight
furrow. Trees, again, are sunk deeper down, and far into the
ground : especially the sesculus, which shoots downward to
Tartarus with its roots, as far as [it rises] with its top to the
ethereal regions. Therefore, nor wintery storms, nor blasts of
winds, nor showers, can uproot it : it remains unmoved, and,
rolling many ages of men away, outlasts them in surviving ;
then stretching wide its sturdy boughs and arms this way and
that way, itself in the midst sustains a mighty shade.
Nor let the vineyards h'e toward the setting sun ; nor plant
the hazel among your vines ; neither seek after the extremities
of the shoots ; nor gather your cuttings from the top of the
tree, so much is their love for the earth : nor hurt your shoots
with blunted steel ; nor plant among them truncheons of wild
olive. For fire is often let fall from the unwary shepherds,
which at first secretly lurking under the unctuous bark,
60 GEORGICS. B. n. 304340.
catches the solid wood, and shooting up into the topmost
leaves, raises a loud crackling to heaven ; thence pursuing its
way, reigns victorious among the branches and the lofty tops,
involves the whole grove in flames, and, condensed in pitchy
vapor, darts the black cloud to heaven ; especially if a storm
overhead rests on the woods, and the driving wind rolls round
the flames. When this happens, their strength decays from the
root, nor can they recover, though cut, or sprout up from the
deep earth such as they were : the unblest wild olive with its
bitter leaves [alone] survives.
Let no counselor be so wise in your eyes as to persuade
you to stir the rigid earth when Boreas breathes. Then winter
shuts up the fields with frost ; and when the slip is planted,
suffers not the frozen root to fasten to the earth. The planta-
tion of the vineyard is best, when in blushing spring the white
stork comes in, abhorred by the long snakes ; or toward the
first colds of autumn, when the vehement sun does not yet
touch the winter with his steeds, and the summer is just gone.
The spring, too, is beneficial to the foliage of the groves, the
spring is beneficial to the woods : in spring the lands swell,
and demand the genial seeds. Then almighty father ./Ether 30
descends in fertilizing showers into the bosom of his joyous
spouse, and great himself, mingling with her great body,
nourishes all her offspring. Then the retired brakes resound
with tuneful birds ; and the herds renew their loves on the
stated days. Then bounteous earth is teeming to the birth,
and the fields open their bosoms to the warm breezes of the
Zephyr: in all a gentle moisture abounds ; and the herds dare
safely trust themselves to the infant suns ; nor do the vine's
tender shoots fear the rising south winds, or the shower pre-
cipitated from the sky by the violent north winds ; but put
forth their buds, and unfold all their leaves. No other day,"
I should think, had shone at the first origin of the rising world ;
it was spring, the spacious globe enjoyed spring, and the east
winds spared their wintery blasts ; when first the cattle drew
in the light, and the earthly race of men upreared their heads
80 Virgil here follows the notions of Chrysippua, as delivered in
lus (Fragm. Danaid. fragm. 38, Dind.), but especially by Euripides
(Fragm. Chrysipp. No. vi. Dind.) B.
" It was an ancient supposition, that the world was created in tbo
spring. B.
*
B. IL 341371. GEORGICS. 61
from the ruggid glebe, and the woods were stocked with wild
beasts, and the heavens with stars. Nor could the tender pro-
ductions [of nature] bear this labor, if so great rest did not in-
tervene between the cold and heat, and if heaven's indulgent
season did not visit the earth in its turn.
For what remains, whatever layers you bend down over all
the fields, overspread them with fat dung, and carefully cover
them with copious earth ; or bury about them spongy stones,
or rough shells ; for thus the rains will soak through, and a
subtile vapor penetrate them, and the plants will take cour-
age. Some, too, have been found, who are for pressing them
from above with a stone, and the weight of a great potsherd ;
this is a defense against the pouring rains : this [a defense]
when the sultry dog-star cleaves the gaping fields with
drought.
After your layers are planted, it remains to convey earth
often to the roots, and ply the hard drags ; or to work the soil
under the deep-pressed share, and guide your struggling bul-
locks through the very vineyards ; then to adapt [to the vines]
smooth reeds, and spears of peeled rods, and ashen stakes, and
two-horned forks ; by whose strength they may learn to shoot
up, to contemn the winds, and climb from stage to stage along
the highest elms.
And, while their infant age sprouts with new-born leaves,
you must spare the tender vines ; and while the joyous shoot
raises itself on high, being sent onward through the open air
with loose reins," tie edge of the pruning-knife itself must
not be applied ; but the leaves should be plucked with the in-
bent hands, and culled here and there. Thereafter, when they
have shot forth, embracing the elms with firm stems, then cut
their locks, then lop their arms. Before this they dread the
steel ; then, and not till then, exercise severe dominion, and
check the loose straggling boughs.
Fences, too, should be woven, and all the cattle be kept out ;
especially while the leaves are tender and unacquainted with
w A metaphor taken from horses, in imitation of Lucretius :
Arboribus datum est variis exinde per auras
Crescendi magnum immissis certamen habenis.
Per purum in Virgil signifies the same as per auras in Lucretius. Horace
uses it also for the air :
Per purum tonantes
Egit equos.
.a.,,
.,
. GEORGICS. B. n. 372399.
hardships ; to which, besides the rigorous winters and vehe-
ment sun, the wild bulls 33 and persecuting goats continually do
wanton harm ; the sheep and greedy heifers browse upon them.
Nor do the colds, condensed in hoary frosts, or the severe heat
beating upon the scorched rocks, hurt them so much as the
flocks, and poison of their hard teeth, and a scar imprinted on
the gnawed stem.
For no other offense is the goat sacrificed to Bacchus on
every altar, and the ancient plays come upon the stage ; 34 and
the Athenians proposed for wits prizes about the villages and
crossways ; and, joyous amid their cups, danced in the soft
meadows on wine-skins smeared with oil. [On the same ac-
count,] the Ausonian 35 colonists also, a race sent from Troy,
sport in uncouth strains, and unbounded laughter ; assuming
horrid masks of hollowed barks of trees : and thee, Bacchus,
they invoke in jovial songs, and to thee hang up mild images 58
from the tall pine. Hence every vineyard shoots forth with
large produce ; both the hollow vales and deep lawns are filled
with plenty, and wherever the god hath moved around his
propitious countenance. Therefore will we solemnly ascribe
to Bacchus his due honors in our country's lays, and offer
chargers, and the consecrated cakes ; and the sacred goat led
by the horn shall stand at his altar, and we will roast the fat
entrails on hazel spits.
There is also that other toil in dressing the vines ; on
which you can never bestow pains enough : for the whole soil
must be plowed three or four times every year, and the
83 These must not be confounded with either the bison or the buffalo.
See Anthon. B.
34 Proscenia. In the Roman theater there was first the portions or
gallery for the populace, where the seats were formed like wedges, grow-
ing narrower as they came near the center of the theater, and therefore
called cunei, or wedges. 2. The orchestra, in the center and lowest part
of the theater, where the senators and knights sat, and where the dancers
and musicians performed. 3. The proscenium, or space before the scenes,
which was raised above the orchestra, and where the actors spoke.
85 Ausonian, etc., the inhabitants of Ausonia, an ancient name of Italy,
who were supposed to be descended from ^Eneas.
86 Compare Anthon's remark : " And in honor of thee hang up the
mild oscilla on the tall pine." Oscittum, a diminutive, through osculum,
from os, means, properly, " a little face, and was the term applied to faces
or heads of Bacchus, which were suspended in the vineyards to be turned
in every direction by the wind. "Whichsoever way they looked, they were
supposed to make the vines and other things hi that quarter fruitful."
B. n. 400435. G-EORGICS. 63
clods continually be broken with bended drags; the whole
grove mnst be disburdened of its leaves. The farmer's past
labor returns in a circle, and the year rolls round on itself on
its own steps. And now, when at length the vineyard has
shed its late leaves, and the cold north wind has shaken from
the groves their honors ; 37 even then the active swain extends
his cares to the coming year, and closely plies the forsaken
vine, cutting off [the superfluous roots] with Saturn's crooked
hook, and forms it by pruning. Be the first to trench the
ground, be the first to carry home and burn the shoots, and
the first to return beneath your roof the vine-props : be the
last to reap the vintage. Twice the shade assails the vines ;
twice do weeds overrun the field with thick bushes; each a
hard labor. Commend large farms ; cultivate a small one.
Besides all this, the rough twigs of butcher's-broom are to be
cut throughout the woods, and the watery reed on the banks :
and the care of the uncultivated willow gives new toil. Now
the vines are tied ; now the vineyard lays aside the pruning-
hook ; now the exhausted vintager salutes in song his utmost
rows : yet must the earth be vexed anew, and the mold put
in motion ; and now Jove is to be dreaded by the ripened
grapes.
On the other hand, the olives require no culture ; nor do
they expect the crooked pruning-hook and tenacious harrows,
when once they are rooted in the ground, and have stood the
blasts. Earth of herself supplies the plants with moisture,
when opened by the hooked tooth of the drag, and weighty
fruits, when [opened] by the share. Nurture for thyself with
this the fat and peace-delighting olive. The fruit-trees too,
as soon as they feel their trunks vigorous, and acquire their
strength, quickly shoot up to the stars by their own virtue,
and need not our assistance. At the same time, every grove
is in like manner loaded with offspring, and the uncultivated
haunts of birds glow with blood-red berries: the cytisus is
browsed ; the tall wood supplies with torches ; and our noc-
turnal fires are fed, and shed beamy light. And do men hesi-
tate to plant and bestow care ?
Why should I insist on greater things ? The very willows
and lowly broom supply either browse for cattle, or shade for
Hor. Ep. ii. 5. " December silvis honorem decutit." B.
*
64 GBORGICS. B. n. 436462.
shepherds, fences for the corn, and materials for honey. It is
delightful to behold Cytorus 38 waving with the grove of Na-
rycian pitch : it is delightful to see the fields not indebted to
the harrows, or to any care of men. Even the barren woods
on the top of Caucasus, which the fierce east winds continually
are crushing and tearing, yield each their different produce :
they yield pines, an useful wood for ships, and cedars and cy-
presses for houses. Hence the husbandmen have rounded
spokes for wheels ; hence they have framed solid orbs for
wagons, and bending keels for ships. The willows are fertile
in twigs, the elms in leaves for fodder ; the myrtle again is
useful for sturdy spears, and the cornel for war ; the yews
are bent into Ityraean bows. 89 In like manner the smooth-
grained limes, or box polished by the lathe, receive a shape,
and are hollowed with sharp steel. Thus too the light alder,
launched on the Po, 40 swims the rapid stream ; thus too the
bees hide their swarms in the hollow bark, and in the heart of
a rotten holm. What have the gifts of Bacchus produced so
worthy of record ? Bacchus has given occasion to offense and
guilt : he quelled by death the furious Centaurs, 41 Rhoetus and
Pholus, and Hylaeus threatening the Lapithae with a huge
goblet.
Ah ! the too happy swains, did they but know their own
bliss ! to whom, at a distance from discordant arms, earth, of
herself most liberal, pours from her bosom their easy susten-
ance. If the palace, high raised with proud gates, vomits not
forth from all its apartments a vast tide of morning visitants ;
88 Cytorus (Kidros), a city and mountain of Paphlagonia, on the
Euxine. Narycian pitch, from Narycia, a town of the Locrians in Magna
Graecia, in the neighborhood of which were forests of pine, etc.
89 Ityraean bows, from Ityraea, a province of Syria, whose inhabitants
were famous archers.
40 Po, anciently called also Eridanus, the largest river of Italy, rises
in Mount Vestulus, one of the highest mountains of the Alps, and after an
easterly course of nearly 400 miles, and receiving numerous tributary
streams, discharges its waters into the Adriatic, about 30 miles S. of the
city of Venice.
41 Centaurs, a people of Thessaly, represented as monsters, half men
and half horses. The Lapithse, also a people of Thessaly, who inhabited
the country about Mount Pindus and Othrys. The allusion here is to
the battle of the Centaurs and Lapithae, at the celebration of the nuptials
of Pirithous, king of the latter, who invited not only the heroes of his
age, but also the gods themselves. In the contest that ensued, many
of the Centaurs were slain, and the rest saved themselves by flight.
u. n. 463492. GEORGICS. 65
and they gape not at porticoes variegated with beauteous tor-
toise-shell, and on tapestries tricked with gold, and on Co-
rinthian brass ; and if the white wool is not stained with the
Assyrian ' drug, nor the use of the pure oil corrupted with
Cassia's aromatic bark ; yet [there is] peace secure, and a life
ignorant of guile, rich in various opulence ; yet [theirs are]
peaceful retreats in ample fields, grottoes, and living lakes ;
yet [to them] cool vales, the lowings of kine, and soft slum-
bers under a tree, are not wanting. There are woodlands and
haunts for beasts of chase, and youth patient of toil, and
inured to thrift ; the worship of the gods, and fathers held in
veneration : Justice, when she left the world took her last steps
among them.
But me may the Muses, sweet above all things else, 45 whose
sacred symbols I bear, smitten with violent love, first receive
into favor ; and show me the paths of heaven, and constella-
tions ; the various eclipses of the sun, and labors of the
moon ; whence the' trembling of the earth ; from what influ-
ence the seas swell high, bursting their barriers, and again
sink back into themselves ; why the winter suns make such
haste to dip themselves in the ocean, or what delay retards
the slow-paced [summer] nights.
But if the cold blood about my heart hinders me from
penetrating into these parts of nature ; let fields and streams
gliding in the valleys be my delight ; inglorious may I court
the rivers and the woods. O [to be] where are the plains, 43
and Sperchius, and Taygetus, 44 the scenes of Bacchanalian
revels to Spartan maids ! O who will place me in the cool val-
leys of Hsemus, and shelter me with the thick shade of boughs ?
Happy is he who has been able to trace out the causes of
things, and who has cast beneath his feet all fears, and in-
exorable Destiny, and the noise of devouring Acheron ?"
42 I have followed Wagner in joining "dulcesante omnia," but I have
some doubts whether the old interpretation is not better. B.
43 Thessalian plains. Thessaly, a country of Greece, south of Mace-
donia, in which was the celebrated vale of Tempe. Sperchius, a river
of Thessaly, rises in Mount (Eta, and runs into the Maliac Gulf, near the
pass of Thermopylae.
44 Taygetus, a mountain of Laconia in Peloponnesus (Morea), on which
were celebrated the orgies of Bacchus ; it hung over the city of Sparta,
and extended from Ttenarus to Arcadia.
45 Acheron, one of the rivers of hell, according to the ancient poets ;
66 GEORGICS. B. n. 493521.
Blest too is he who has known the rural deities, Pan and old
Silvanus, and the sister nymphs ! him nor the fasces of the
people, nor the purple of kings ; nor discord persecuting faith-
less brothers, nor the Dacian descending from the conspiring
Danube; 48 nor the revolutions of Rome, or perishing king-
doms, have moved. He neither pined with grief, lamenting
the poor, nor envied the rich. What fruits the boughs, what
the willing fields spontaneously yielded, he gathered ; nor saw
the iron-hearted laws, the madly litigious bar, or the public
courts.
Some vex the dangerous seas with oars, some rush into
arms, some work their way into courts, and the palaces of
kings. One destines a city and wretched families to destruc-
tion, that he may drink in gems, and sleep on Tyrian purple. 47
Another hoards up wealth, and broods over buried gold.
One, astonished at the rostrum, grows giddy ; another, peals
of applause along the rows (for it is redoubled both by the
people and the fathers), have captivated, and set agape ; some
rejoice when stained with their brother's blood ; and exchange
their homes and sweet thresholds for exile, and seek a coun-
try lying under another sun. The husbandman cleaves the
earth with a crooked plow ; hence the labors of the year;
hence he sustains the countiy, and his little offspring; hence
his herds of kine, and deserving steers. Nor is there any in-
termission, but the year either abounds with apples, or with
the breed of the flocks, or with the sheaf of Ceres' stalk ; loads
the furrows with increase, and overstocks the barns. Winter
comes : the Sicyonian* 8 berry is pounded in the oil-presses ;
the swine come home gladdened with acorns ; the woods yield
their arbutes ; and the autumn lays down its various produc-
often taken for hell itself. Virgil here follows Lucretius, i. 37, "Et
metus ille foras praeceps Acheruntis agendus Funditus, humanarn qui
vitam turbat ab imo, Omnia suffundens mortis nigrore." And soon after,
vs. 79, " Quare religio pedibus subjecta." B.
" The Danube rises in the black forest of Suabia, and, after a course
of about 1600 miles, discharges itself into the Euxine Sea. The Dacians
inhabited an extensive country, north of the Danube, now called "ft'alla-
chia, Transylvania, and Moldavia.
41 Tyrian purple, from Tyre, a city of Phoenicia in Asia, celebrated for
its early commerce and numerous colonies, and for the invention of sear-
let and purple colors ; its ancient name was Sarra, now Soor.
48 Sicyonian berry, the olive, with which Sicyonia, a district of Pelo-
ponnesus, in Greece, abounded.
B. n. 521542. in. 13. GEORGICS. 67
tions ; and high on the sunny rocks the mild vintage is
ripened. Meanwhile the sweet babes twine round their pa-
rents' neck : his chaste family maintain their purity ; the cows
hang down their udders full of milk ; and the fat kids wrestle
together with butting horns on the cheerful green. The swain
himself celebrates festal days ; and, extended on the grass,
where a fire is in the middle, and where his companions crown
the bowl, invokes thee, O Lenaeus, making libation ; and on
an elm sets forth to the masters of the flock prizes to be con-
tended for with the winged javelin ; and they strip their hardy
bodies for the rustic ring.
This life of old the ancient Sabines ;" this Remus and his
brother strictly observed ; thus Etruria 60 grew in strength ;
and thus too did Rome become the glory and beauty of the
world, and, single, hath encompassed for herself seven hills
with a wall. This life, too, golden Saturn led on earth, be-
fore the sceptered sway of the Dictsean" kjng, and before an
impious race feasted on slain bullocks. Nor yet had mankind
heard the warlike trumpets blow ; nor yet the swords laid on
the hard anvils clatter.
But we have finished this immensely extended field ; and now
it is time to unloose the smoking necks of our steeds.
BOOK HL
In the third Book, after invoking the rural deities, and eulogizing Augustus,
Virgil treats of the management of cattle, laying down rules for the choice
and breeding of horses, oxen, sheep, etc. The book abounds in admirable
descriptions ; many passages are inimitably fine.
THEE, too, great Pales, and thee, famed shepherd from Am-
phrysus, 1 ye woods and Arcadian rivers, will I sing. Other
themes, that might have entertained minds disengaged from
49 Sabines, an ancient people of Italy, reckoned among the aborigines,
or those inhabitants whose origin was unknown ; their country was situ*
ated between the rivers Tiber, Nar, and Anio, having the Apennines on
the east.
50 Etruria (Tuscany), a country of Italy lying west of the Tiber.
51 Dicta;an king, Jupiter is so called from Mount Dicte in Crete, where
he was worshiped.
1 Amphrysus, a river of Thessaly, on the banks of which Apollo fed
the flocks of king Admetus. Arcadian rivers : Arcadia was a pastoral
district of Peloponnesus in Greece, of which Pan was the tutelary deity.
68 GEORGICS. B. m. 426.
. -
song, are now all trite and common. Who is unacquainted
either with severe Eurystheus, 8 or the altars of infamous
Busiris ? By whom has not the boy Hylas been recorded, and
Latonian Delos ? 3 or Hippodame, 4 and Pelops, conspicuous
for his ivory shoulders, victorious in the race ? I, too, must at-
tempt a way, whereby I may raise myself from the ground, and
victorious hover through the lips of men.
I first returning from the Aonian mount, will (provided
life remain) bring along with me the Muses into my country;
for thee, O Mantua, I first will bear off the Idumaean* palms,
and on thy verdant plains erect a temple of marble, near the
stream where the great Mincius winds in slow meanders, and
fringes the banks with tender reeds. In the middle will I have
Csesar, and he shall command the temple. In honor of him
will I victorious, and in Tynan purple conspicuous, drive a
hundred four-horsed chariots along the river. For me all
Greece, leaving Alpheus' and the groves of Molorchus, shall
contend in races and the raw-hide cestus. I myself, graced
with leaves of the shorn olive, will bear offerings. Even now
I am well pleased to lead on the solemn pomps to the temple,
and to see the bullocks slain ; or how the scene with shifting
front retires ; and how the inwoven Britons lift up the purple
curtain. On the doors will I delineate, in gold and solid
8 Eurystheua, king of Argos and Mycenae, who, at the instigation of
Juno, imposed upon Hercules the most perilous enterprises, well known
by the name of the twelve labors of Hercules. Busiris, a king of
Egypt, noted for his cruelty in sacrificing all foreigners who entered his
country.
3 Delos, a small but celebrated island of the ^Egean Sea, nearly in
the center of the Cyclades, in which Latona gave birth to Apollo and
Diana; hence the former is frequently called Delius, and the latter
Delia.
4 Hippodame, a daughter of (Enomaus, king of Pisa in Elis. Her
father refused to marry her except to him who could overcome him in a
chariot race ; thirteen had already been conquered, and forfeited their
lives, when Pelops, the son of Tantalus, entered the lists, and by bribing
Myrtilus, the charioteer of (Enomaus, insured to himself the victory.
5 Idumasan palms, from Idumasa, a country of Syria, on the south of
Judaea, famed for its palm-trees.
6 Alpheus (Rouphia), a river of Elis in Peloponnesus, where the
Olympic games were celebrated. Molorchus, a shepherd of Argolis, who
kindly received Hercules, and in return the hero slew the Nemsean lion
which laid waste the country ; hence the institution of the Nemscan
games.
B. in. 2145. GEORGICS. 69
ivory, the battle of the Gangarides/ and the arms of conquer-
ing Quirinus ; and here the Nile 8 swelling with 'war, flowing
majestic, and columns rising with naval brass. I will add the
vanquished cities of Asia, and subdued Niphates,' and the
Parthian presuming on his flight and arrows shot backward, 10
and two trophies snatched by the hand from two widely-distant
foes, and nations twice triumphant over on either shore. Here
too shall stand in Parian 11 marble, breathing statues, the off-
spring of Assaracus, 12 and the chiefs of the Jove-descended
race ; both Tros, the great ancestor [of Rome], and Cynthian
Apollo, founder of Troy. Here baneful envy shall dread the
Furies, and the grim river of Cocytus, 13 Ixion's twisted snakes,
the enormous wheel, and the. insurmountable stone.
Meanwhile, let us pursue the woods of the Dryads, and un-
trodden lawns ; thy commands, Maecenas, of no easy import.
Without thee my mind ventures on nothing sublime ; come
then, break off idle delays. Cithseron 14 calls with loud halloo,
and the hounds of Taygetus, and Epidaurus, the tamer of
horses ; and the voice, doubled by the assenting groves, re-
7 Gangarides, a people of Asia, near the mouth of the Ganges.
8 Nile, a great river of Africa, and one of the most celebrated in the
world, is generally supposed to have its sources in that immense chain
of mountains in Central Africa, called the Mountains of the Moon. Its
course runs in a northerly direction, flowing through Nubia and Egypt ;
a little below Cairo it divides itself into two great branches, which en-
close the Delta, and fall into the Mediterranean, the western branch at
Rosetta, and the eastern at Damietta.
9 Niphates, a mountain of Armenia, part of the range of Taurus, from
which the river Tigris takes its rise.
10 Cf. Plutarch, Crass, p. 558, ii-fyevyov yap fifia fiuhlovref .ol
UdpOoi. B.
11 Parian marble, from Paros, an island of the JEgean Sea, one of the
Cyclades, famed for its beautiful white marble.
IJ Assaracus, a Trojan prince, father of Capys, and grandfather of An-
chises. Tros, a son of Erichthonius, king of Troy, which was so named
after him. Cyntliian Apollo : the surname is from Cynthus, a mountain
in the island of Delos, where Apollo and Diana were born, and which
was sacred to them.
13 Cocytus, a river of Epirus in Greece, called by the poets one of the
rivers of hell. Ixion, a king of Thessaly, whom Jupiter is fain to have
struck with his thunder for having attempted to seduce Juno ; he was
bound with serpents to a wheel in hell, which was perpetually in motion.
14 Cithseron, a mountain of Boeotia in Greece, sacred to Jupiter and
the Muses. Epidaurus (Pidavra), a city of Argolis in Peloponnesus,
famed for a temple of Esculapius, and for its fine breed of horses.
70 GEORGICS. B. in. 4680.
echoes. Yet ere long shall I be prepared to sing of Caesar's
ardent battles, and to transmit his name with honor through
as many years as Caesar is distant from the first origin of
Tithonus. . .1
Whether any one, aspiring to the praises of the Olympian
palm, breeds horses, or whether any one [breeds] sturdy bul-
locks for the plow, let him choose with special care the
bodies of the mothers. The stern-eyed heifer's form is best,
whose head is disproportionately large, whose neck is brawny,
and whose dew-laps hang from the chin down to the legs.
Then there is no measure in her length of side ; all her parts
are huge, even her foot ; and her eyes are rough under her
crumpled 16 horns. Nor would she displease me if streaked with
white spots, or if she refuses the yoke, and sometimes is surly
with her horn, and in aspect approaches nearer to a bull, and
if she is stately throughout, and sweeps her steps with the ex-
tremity of her tail, as she goes along.
The age to undergo breeding and proper union ends before
ten, and begins after four years : the other years [cows] are
neither fit for breeding, nor strong for the plow. Mean-
time, while the flocks abound with sprightly youth, let loose
the males ; be the first to indulge thy cattle in the joys of
love : and by generation raise up one race after another. Each
best time of life fly fast away from wretched mortals : dis-
eases succeed, and sad old age, and pain ; and the inclemency
of inexorable death snatches them away. There will always
be some whose bodies you would choose to have changed [for
better]. Therefore continually repair them ; and, that you
may not regret them when lost, be beforehand, and yearly
provide a new offspring for the herd.
The same discriminating care is also requisite for a breed
of horses. But still, on those which you intend to bring up
for the hope of the race, bestow your principal diligence im-
mediately from their tender years. The colt of generous
breed from the very first walks high throughout the fields,
and nimbly moves his pliant legs ; he is the first that dares to
lead the way, and tempt the threatening floods, and trust him-
self to an unknown bridge ; nor starts affrighted at vain
alarms. Lofty is his neck, his head little and slender, his
15 Nonius, Marc, i., explains " caraurum by obtortum." Hesiod, Opp.
452, eAtxaf /toiif. B.
B. in. 81109. GEORGICS. 71
belly short, his back plump, and his proud chest swells luxu-
riant with brawny muscles : (the bright bay and bluish gray
are in most request ; the worst colors are the white and sor-
rel.) Then, if he by chance hears the distant sound of arms,
he knows not how to stand still ; he pricks up his ears, trem-
bles in every joint, and snorting, rolls the collected fire under
his nostrils. Thick is his mane, and, waving, rests on his right
shoulder. A double spine 16 runs along his loins, his hoof
scoops up the ground, and deep resounds with its solid horn.
Such was Cyllarus, broken by the reins of Amyclaean Pollux, 17
and such (which the Grecian poets have described) the har-
nessed brace of Mars, and the chariot-horses 18 of great Achil-
les. Such Saturn too himself, swift at the coming of his wife,
spread out a full mane on his [assumed] horse's neck, and flying
filled lofty Pelion with shrill neighing.
Him too, when with sickness oppressed, or now enfeebled
with years, he fails, shut up in his lodge, and spare his not in-
glorious age. An old horse is cold to love, and in vain drags
on the ungrateful task, and if ever he comes to an engagement,
he is impotently furious, as at times a great fire without
strength among stubble. Therefore chiefly mark their spirit
and age ; then their other qualities, their parentage, and what
is the sorrow of each when vanquished, what the pride when
victorious.
See you not? 19 when in the rapid race the chariots have
seized the plain, and pouring forth rush along; when the
hopes of the youth are elevated, and palpitating fear heaves
their throbbing hearts : they ply with the twisted lash, and
bending forward give full reins : the axle flies glowing with
the impetuosity. And now low, now high, they seem to be
borne aloft through the open air, and to mount up into the
18 In a horse that is in good case, the back is broad, and a fullness of
flesh near the spine is indicated, by which two ridges are formed, one at
each side of the bone. This is what the ancients mean by a double
spine. VALPY.
17 Amyclsean Pollux was the son of Jupiter by Leda, and the twin
brother of Castor ; he was so called from Amiclse, a city of Lyconia,
where he was born.
" With this sense of "currus," compare the similar Greek usage,
Eur. Hipp. 1224, rerpupov iKpaivuv ojov, vs. 1352, ed. Monk, and Ion,
1151. B.
19 This is a formula used in adducing examples. Comp. Georg. i. 56 ;
Lucr. ii. 196. HlCKiE.
72 GEORGICS. B. in. 110137.
skies. No stop, no stay": but a thick cloud of yellow sand is
tossed up : the foremost are wet with the foam and breath of
those that follow. So powerful is the love of praise, so anxious
the desire of victory.
First Erichthonius* dared to yoke the chariot and four
steeds, and upon the rapid wheels victorious to stand. The
Pelethronian Lapithae first mounted on horseback applied the
reins, and turned him in the ring ; taught the horsemen under
arms to spurn the plain, and with proud ambling pace to
prance along. Either toil is equal ; with equal care the mas-
ters in either case seek after a [steed that is] youthful, of
warm mettle, and eager in the race : [they do not make choice
of an old horse,] though often he may have driven before him
the flying foes, may boast of Epirus, or of warlike Mycenae"
for his country, and derive his pedigree even from Neptune's
breed.
These things observed, they are very careful about the time
[of generation], and bestow all their care to plump him up
with firm fat whom they have chosen leader, and assigned
stallion to the herd : they cut downy herbs, and supply him
with plenty of water and corn, that he may be adequate to aa
the soothing toil, and lest the puny sons should declare the
meagemess of their sires. But they purposely attenuate the
brood mares with leanness : and, when now the known pleas-
ure solicits the first enjoyment, they both deny herbs, and
debar them from the springs ; often too they shake them in
the race, and tire them in the sun, when beneath the beaten
grain the barn floor deeply groans, and in the rising zephyr
the empty chaff is tossed about. This they do, that excessive
pampering may not blunt the powers of the genial soil, and
choke up the sluggish passages ; but that it may with eager-
ness drink in the joys of love, and lay them up more deeply
within. *
80 Erichthonius, a son of Vulcan, and king of Athens ; the invention
of chariots is ascribed to him. Pelethronian Lapithae, so called from
Pelethronium, a town of Thessaly at the foot of Mount Pelion, inhabited
by the Lapithae, who were excellent horsemen.
S1 Mycense, a city of Argolis in Peloponnesus, once the capital of a
kingdom, and the residence of Agamemnon.
* a " Superesse" is explained " prsestantior esse" by the Scholiast on
Avianus, Fab. xiii. 10, but more clearly by Gellius, i. 22, " supra laborem
esae, neque opprimi a labore." B.
B. m. 138164. GEOBGICS. 73
Again the cares of the sires begin to fail, and that of the
dams to succeed ; when now, their months elapsed, they rove
about pregnant : let no one suffer them to drag the yokes of
heavy wagons 2 * or to leap across the way, scamper over the
meads with sprightly career, and swim the rapid floods. They
ought then to feed 2 * in spacious lawns, and beside full rivers,
where moss, and grassy banks of prime verdure, and caves may
shelter them, and over them a shady rock project.
About the groves of Silarus," and Alburnus, verdant with
ever-green oaks, abounds a flying thing," 8 which the Romans
name asilus, and the Greeks in their language have rendered
oestros; of angry sting, humming harshly; with which whole
herds affrighted fly dispersed through the woods ; the sky is
furiously shaken with bellowings, and the woods and banks of
dry Tanagrus. With this monster did Juno once exercise her
fell revenge, having meditated a plague for the Inachian"
heifer. This, too (for in the noontide heat it rages more keen-
ly), you must keep off from the pregnant cattle ; and feed your
herds when the sun is newly risen, or when the stars usher in
the night.
After the birth, the whole care is transferred to the calves ;
and from the first they stamp with a hot iron the marks and
names of the race ; and which they choose to bring up for the
increase of the flock, or to keep sacred for the altar, or to cleave
the ground, ami turn up the soil all rugged with broken clods :
the rest of the herd graze amid the green pastures.
Those which you would form for the design and service of
agriculture, train up while calves, and enter on the way to
33 Here wagons stand for any " wheeled vehicle." HICKTE.
" Or rather, "scamper over." Heyne remarks, " proprie via carpitur
per prata." B.
" Silarus (Sele), a river of Italy, separating Lucania from the terri-
tory of the Picentini ; its banks were much infested with the gad-fly.
Alburnus, a lofty mountain of Lucania, at the foot of which rises the
river Tanagros (Negro), remarkable for its cascades and its beautiful
meanderings.
36 " Volitans," as Anthon remarks, is here used as a kind of substan-
tive. Compare "volucri asilo," Yaler. Flacc. iii. 581.
27 Inachian heifer. lo, daughter of Inachus, and priestess of Juno
at Argos, according to the poets, was changed into a heifer by Jupiter,
but afterward restored to her own form, when she married Telegonua
or Osiris, king of Egypt, and after death was worshiped under the name
of Isia.
4
74 GEORGICS. B. m. 165 197.
tame them, while their minds in youth are tractable, while
their age is pliant. And first fasten about their necks loose
collars of slender twigs; next, when they have accustomed
their free necks to servitude, match your bullocks in pairs
joined by those same collars, and make them step together ;
and now let empty wheels be dragged by them along the
ground, and let them print their traces in the surface of the
dust. Afterward let the beechen axle laboring under a pon-
derous load creak, and the brass-girt pole draw the joined
wheels. Meanwhile for the young untamed bullocks you will
crop with your hand not only grass, or the tender 28 leaves of
willows, or a marshy sedge, but also springing corn : nor shall
your suckling heifers, as was the custom of our fathers, fill the
snowy milking-pails, but spend all their udders on their sweet
offspring.
But if thy inclination is to war and martial troops, or with
thy wheels to skim along the brink of Pisa's 29 Alphceau
streams, and drive the flying chariot in Jupiter's grove : the
first task of the horse must be to view the fierceness and the
arms of warriors, to be patient of the trumpet, and to bear the
rumbling of the wheels in their career, and in his stall to hear
the rattling bridles ; then more and more to rejoice in the
coaxing praises of his master, and to love the sound of his
patted neck. 30 And these let him hear as soon as weaned
from the udder of his dam, and now and then yield his mouth
to the soft halters when weak, and yet trembling, and yet not
confident in his years. But, three full years elapsed, when
his fourth summer has arrived, let him forthwith begin to
wheel in the ring, and with regular steps to prance ; and let
him bend the pliant joints of his legs alternately, and seem to
labor. Then let him dare the winds in swiftness, and
through the open plains flying, as loosened from the reins,
scarcely print his steps on the surface of the sand. As when
boisterous Boreas hath rushed forth from the Hyperborean
regions, and drives along the Scythian storms and dry clouds ;
28 " Vescas" is interpreted by Servius, " siccas et teneras." See Gro-
nov. on Liv. xxxiii. 48. intpp. on Lucret. i. 327. B.
S9 Pisa, an ancient city of Elis in Peloponnesus, on the banks of the
Alpheus, and on the ruins of which Olympia is supposed to have been
built.
30 Silius, iv. 265, " stimulans grato plauste cervicis honore, Coruipedeni
alloquitur." B.
B. ra. 198235. GEORGICS. 75
then the high corn and waving fields tremble with the gentle
gusts, the tops of the woods rustle, and the lengthened waves
press toward the shore : he flies, sweeping in his career at
once the fields, at once the seas. Such a courser will either
sweat at the goals and spacious bounds of the Elean plain, and
drive the bloody foam from his mouth, or will better bear the
Belgic cars on his pliant neck. Then at last, when they are
broken, let their ample bodies grow with fattening mash ; for,
[if full fed] before breaking them in, they will swell their
mettle high, and when seized, refuse to bear the limber whip,
and to obey the hard curb.
But no industry more confirms their strength than to avert
Venus from them, and the stings of blind love, whether any
one be more fond of a breed of bullocks or of horses. And
therefore they remove the bulls to a distance, and to lonely
pastures, behind an obstructing mountain, and beyond broad
rivers, or keep them shut up within at full cribs ; for the fe-
male insensibly consumes his vigor, and fires him while in
his eye," nor suffers him to mind his groves and pastures.
Often by her sweet allurements she even impels her haughty
lovers to combat with their horns. The beauteous heifer
feeds in the spacious wood ; they by turns with mighty force
engage with repeated wounds ; black blood laves their bodies ;
and their adverse horns are impelled on the straggling foes
with a vast groan; the woods and spacious skies rebellow.
Nor is it usual for the warriors to dwell together ; but the one
vanquished retires, and becomes an exile in unknown distant
coasts ; much and often bemoaning his disgrace, and the
wounds of the proud victor, in _fine, the loves which un-
avenged he has lost ; and, often gazing at the stalls, departs
from his hereditary realms. Therefore with the utmost care
he exercises his strength, and lies all night among the hard
rocks, on an unspread couch, feeding on prickly leaves and
sharp rushes ; he tries himself, and learns to collect his rage
into his^ horns, butting against the trunk of a tree ; dares the
winds with blows, and preludes to the fight by spurning the
sand. Afterward, when his strength is rallied, and his vigor
Sl Literally, " by their beholding her." Anthon truly remarks, that
it is a mistake to suppose that the gerund is used for the passive. C
"cantando," Eel. viii. 71, "tegendo," Georg. iii. 454, "habendo," Lu-
cret L 313. B.
7<j GEORGICS. B. m. 236271.
recovered, he begins the march," and is borne headlong on his
unmindful foe ; as a wave when it begins to whiten in the
midst of the sea, at distance and from the deep, draws out its
bosom, and as rolling to the land it roars dreadful among the
rocks, nor less than very mountain falls ; while with whirlpools
the water from the bottom boils, and tosses up the blackening
sand on high.
Indeed every kind on earth, both of men and wild beasts,
the fish, the cattle, and painted birds, rush into maddening
fires; love is in all the same. At no other time does the
lioness, forgetful of her whelps, range the plains more fierce ;
nor do the unshapely bears usually spread so numerous ravages
and such havoc in the woods : then ferocious is the boar, then
most fell the tiger. It is then, alas ! unhappy wandering in
the desolate fields of Libya. See you not how tremor thrills
through the horse's whole body, if his smell has but sucked
in the well-known gales ? And now neither bridles of men,
nor cruel whips, nor cliffs, nor hollow rocks, and opposed rivers
that whirl with the torrent even mountains swept away, can
retard him. Even the Sabellian boar rushes, and whets his
tusks, and with his feet tears up the ground, rubs his flanks
against a tree, and on this side and that side hardens his
shoulders to wounds. What does the youth, in whose vitals
relentless love fans the mighty fire ? Why, late in the dark-
some night he swims the frith boisterous with bursting stoims;
over whom the spacious gate of heaven thunders, and the seas
dashing against the rocks remurmur ; nor can his distressed
parents recall him, nor the maiden too, about to perish by a
cruel fete. What do the spotted ounces of Bacchus, and the
fierce race of wolves and dogs ? what the timorous stags ?
what dreadful wars they wage ! Yet know, the fury of the
mares is most of all extraordinary : and this spirit Venus
herself inspired, when four Potnian mares tore the limb of
Glaucus" to pieces with their jaws. Love drives them across
Gargams, and roaring Ascanius :* 4 they climb the mountains,
swim the rivers; and forthwith, when the flame is secretly
s * Literally, " strikes the tents." B.
- 33 Glaucus, a son of Sisyphus, king of Corinth, who was torn to pieces
at Potnia in Breotia, by his own mares.
34 Aecanius, afterward called the Hylas, a river of Bithynia in Asia
Minor, flowing into the Propontis near Cius.
B. m. 272306. GEORGUCS. 77
conveyed into their craving marrow, chiefly in the spring (for
in the spring the heat returns into their bones), they all, with
their mouth turned toward the Zephyr, stand on high rocks,
and catch the gentle gales ; and often, wondrous to relate !
without any mate, impregnated by the wind, over rocks and
cliffs and hollow vales they scour ; not toward thine, O Eurus,
nor the sun's rising, nor toward Boreas and Caurus," or
whence grim Auster arises, and saddens the sky with bleak
rain. Hence at last, what the shepherds call by its true
name, hippomanes, a clammy poison distills from their groins ;
hippomanes, which wicked stepdames often have gathered,
and mixed [therewith] herbs, and not innoxious spells. But
time flies meanwhile, flies irretrievable, while we, enamored
[of the theme], minutely trace particulars.
Thus far of herds. Another part of our care remains, to
manage the fleecy flocks and shaggy goats. A labor this ;
hence hope for praise, ye sturdy swains. Nor am I at all
ignorant how difficult it is to raise such subjects by style, and
add this dignity to things so low. But the sweet love [of the
Muses] transports me along the lonely heights of Parnassus :
it delights me to range those mountain-tops, where no path
trodden by the ancients winds down with gentle descent to
Castalia." 6
Now, adorable Pales, now must I sing in lofty strain. To
begin, I appoint the sheep to be foddered in soft cots, till first
the leafy spring return : and that the hard ground under
them be strewn with plenty of straw, and with bundles of
ferns, lest the cold ice hurt the tender flock, and bring on the
scab and foul foot-rot. Next, leaving them, I order to pro-
vide the goats with leafy arbutes, and to supply them with
fresh streams : and, away from the woods, to oppose their cots
to the winter sun, turned toward the - south : when cold
Aquarius 17 now sets at length, and in the extremity of the
year sheds his dews. Nor are these to be tended by us with
less care : nor will their usefulness be less ; though Milesian
35 Caurus, the north-west wind ; Auster, the south wind. '
36 Castalia, a celebrated fountain of Mount Parnassus, sacred to the
Muses.
37 Aquarius, one of the signs of the Zodiac, rises in January, and, aa
its name imports, frequently accompanied with rain. -
78 GEORGICS. B. ra. 307 339.
fleeces, 38 that have drunk the Tyrian glow, be bartered for a
great price. From these is a more numerous breed, from
these a greater quantity of milk. The more the pail froths
with their exhausted udder, the more will joyous streams flow
from their presjsed dugs. Meanwhile [the shepherds] also
shear the beards, and hoary chins, and long waving hair of
the Cinyphian 3 ' he-goats, for the service of the camp, and for
coverings to the adventurous mariners. And then they find
pasture from the woods, from the summits of Lycseus, from
the rough brambles, and from brakes that love the craggy
rocks. And mindful, the goats of themselves return home,
and bring their young with them, and can scarcely get over
the threshold with their teeming udders. Therefore, the less
they lack the care of mortals, the more careful must you be
to defend them from the ice and snowy winds ; and you must
cheerfully bring them food, and browse of tender twigs ; nor
shut up from them your stores of hay during the whole
winter.
But when the summer, rejoicing in the inviting Zephyrs,
shall send forth both flocks into the lawns and pastures; at
the first rising of Lucifer, let us take to the cool fields ; while
the morning is new, while the grass is hoary, and the dew,
most grateful to the cattle, is on the tender grass. Then, as
soon as the fourth hour of day has brought on thirst, and the
plaintive grasshoppers shall rend the groves with their song ;
order the flocks to drink the water running in oaken troughs,
or at the wells, or at the deep pools ; but in the noontide heats
seek out a shady vale, wherever Jove's stately oak with an-
cient strength extends its huge boughs, or wherever a grove,
embrowned with thick evergreen oaks, projects its sacred
shade. Then give them once more the translucent streams,
and once more feed them at the setting of the sun, when cool
Vesper tempers the air, and now the dewy moon refreshes the
lawns, and the shores resound with Halcyone, and the bushes
with the goldfinch.
Why should I trace for thee in song the shepherds and
33 Milesian fleeces, from Miletus, a city of Asia Minor, the ancient
capital of Ionia : it was famous for its excellent wood.
39 Cinyphian he-goats, from Cinyphus, a river and country of Africa,
near Tripolis.
K in. 340 370. GRORGTCS. 79
pastures of Libya, and their huts with few and straggling
roofs ? Their flocks often graze both day and night, and for a
whole month together, and repair into long deserts without
any shelter ; so wide the plain extends. The African shep-
herd carries his all with him, his house, and household god,
his arms, his Amyclean dog, and Cretan quiver : 40 like the
fierce Roman, when armed for his country, he takes his way
under the unequal load, and, having pitched his camp, stands
in array of battle against the foe, before he is expected.
But not so, where are the Scythian nations, and the Maeotic
waves, 41 and the turbid Ister whirling his yellow sand ; and
where Rhodope returns, 42 stretched out itself under the middle
of the pole : there they keep their herds shut up in stalls ;
nor are either any herbs to be seen in the fields, or leaves on
the trees ; but the country lies deformed with mounts of snow,
and deep ice all around, and rises seven ells in height. It is
always winter, always north-west winds, blowing cold. Then
the sun never dissipates the pale shades, either when borne on
his steeds he climbs the lofty sky, or when he bathes his swift
chariot in the ocean's ruddy plain. Crusts of ice suddenly
are congealed in the running river : now on its back the wave
sustains wheels bound with iron ; the wave hospitable to broad
ships before, to wagons now. Vases of brass frequently burst
asunder, their garments grow stiff when worn, they cut with
axes the liquid wine, whole pools turn to solid ice, and the
horrid icicle hardens on their uncombed beards. Meanwhile
it snows incessantly through all the air ; the cattle perish ; the
large bodies of oxen stand wrapped about with hoar-frost ; and
the deer, crowding all together, lie benumbed under the un-
40 Cretan quiver ; Crete (Candia), one of the largest islands in the
Mediterranean, at the south of the Cyclades. It was anciently famed for
its hundred cities, and for the laws of Minos established there; the
Cretans were excellent archers, but infamous for falsehood and other
vices. The island was subdued by the Eomans, B. c. 66.
41 Mceotic waves, now the Sea of Asoph, a large lake, or more properly
part of the sea between Europe and Asia, north of the Euxine, with
which it communicates by the Cimmerian Bosphorus.
42 Hickie compares Georg. ii. 271, "quae terga obverterit axo," with,
the following remark : " Rhodope is a chain of mountains in Thrace, which
extends eastward, and is then joined with Hsemus, and parting from it,
returns northward." I need hardly remind the reader that Virgil is par-
tial to assigning verbs of motion to phenomena which only appear to
exercise it. B.
80 GEORGICS. B. m. 371 404.
usual load, and scarcely appear with the tips of their horns.
These they pursue not with hounds let loose, nor with any
toils, nor scare them with the terror of the crimson plume ; 4S
but as in vain they are shoving with their breasts the opposed
mountain [of snow], they stab them with the sword close at
hand, and put them to death piteously braying, and with loud
acclamation bear them off triumphant. The inhabitants them-
selves, in caves dug deep under ground, enjoy undisturbed
rest, and roll to their hearths piled oaks, and whole elms,
and give them to the flames. Here they spend the night in
play ; and joyous, imitate the juice of the grape with their
beer and acid service. Such is that savage race of men lying
under the northern sign of Ursa Major, buffeted by the
Ripha?an east wind, and whose bodies are clothed with the
tawny furs of beasts.
If the woolen manufacture be thy care ; first let prickly
woods, and burs, and caltrops, be far away : shun rich pas-
tures : and from the beginning choose flocks that are white
with soft wool. And that ram, though he himself be of the
purest white, under whose moist palate there lurks but a black
tongue, reject, lest he should sully the fleeces of the new-born
lambs; and look out for another over the well-stocked field.
Thus Pan, the god of Arcadia (if the story be worthy of
credit), deceived thee, O moon, captivated with a snowy offering
of wool, inviting thee into the deep groves : nor didst thou
scorn his invitation.
But let him who is studious of milk, carry to the cribs with
his own hand the cytisus, and plenty of water-lilies, and salt
herbs. Hence [the animals] are both more desirous of the
river, and distend their udders the more, and in their milk
return a faint savor of the salt.
Many restrain the kids as soon as grown up from their
dams, and fasten muzzles with iron spikes about their snouts.
What they milk at the sun-rising and the hour of morn, they
press at night : what they milk now in the evening and at
sun-setting, the shepherd at daybreak carries to town in bas-
kets ; or they season it with a small quantity of salt, and lay
ft up for winter.
Nor let your care of dogs be your last : but feed at once with
43 On the "formido" here spoken of, see my note on ^En. iv. 121. B.
B. m. 405437. GEORGICS. 81
fattening whey the swift hounds of Sparta, 44 and the fierce
mastiff of Molossis. While these are your guards, you need
never fear the nightly robber to your stalls, the incursions of
the wolves, or the restless Iberians 45 coming upon you by
stealth. Often too in the chase you will pursue the timorous
wild asses, and with hounds you will hunt the hare, with
hounds the hinds. Often, driving on with full cry, you will
give chase to the boar roused from his sylvan soil ; and over
the lofty mountains with shouts pursue the stately stag into
the toils.
Learn also to burn fragrant cedar in the folds, and to drive
away the rank water-snakes with the scent of galbanum. Often
under the mangers, when not moved, either the viper of per-
nicious touch lies concealed, and affrighted flies the light; or
that snake, the direful pest of kine, which is wont to shelter it-
self under a roof and shade, and shed its venom on the cattle,
keeps close to the ground. Snatch up stones, shepherd, snatch
up clubs ; and while he rears his threatening gorge, and swells
his hissing neck, knock him down : and now in fright he has
deeply hidden his dastardly head, while his middle-knots and
the wreaths in his tail's extremity are unfolded, and his last
tortuous joint now drags its slow spires along. There is also
that baneful snake in the Calabrian lawns, 46 winding up his
scaly back, with breast erect, and a long belly speckled with
broad spots ; who, while any rivers burst from their fountains,
and while the lands are moist with the dewy spring and rainy
south winds, haunts the pools, and, lodging in the banks, in-
temperate gorges his horrid maw with fishes and croaking frogs.
When the fen is burned up, and the earth gaps with drought,
he darts forth on dry ground, and rolling his inflamed eyes,
rages in the fields, exasperated with thirst, and aghast with
heat. Let me not then choose to indulge soft slumbers in the
open air, or to lie along the grass in the slope of a wood, when v
44 Sparta, called also Lacedaemon (Misitra), a famous city of Pelopon-
nesus in Greece, the capital of Laconia, and long the rival of Athens.
Molossis, a district in the south of Epirus, celebrated for its fierce breed
of dogs.
44 Iberians, the Spaniards were so called, from Iberus (the Ebro), a
large river of Spain.
46 Calabrian lawns. Calabria is a country in the south of Italy, an-
ciently part of Magna Greecia.
4*
82 GEORGICS. B. m. 438 473.
renewed and sleek with youth by casting his slough, he rolls
along leaving either his young or eggs in his den, reared to the
sun f and in his mouth quivers a three-forked tongue.
I will also teach thee the causes and the signs of their dis-
eases. The filthy scab infects the sheep, when the raw shower
hath pierced deep into the quick, and winter, rough with hoary
frost; or, when the sweat unwashed away adheres to them
after shearing, and prickly briers have torn their bodies. On
this account, the shepherds drench .the whole flock in sweet
streams, and the ram with damp fleece is plunged into the pool,
and sent to float along the stream ; or they besmear their bodies
after shearing with bitter lees of oil, and mix with it litharge
of silver, native sulphur, Idaean pitch, and fat unctuous wax, and
the sea-leek, rank hellebore, and black bitumen. But there is
not any more effectual remedy for their sufferings, than to lance
the head of the ulcer with steel : the distemper is nourished
and lives by being covered ; while the shepherd refuses to ap-
ply the healing hand to the wound, or sits still, praying the
gods for better omens.
Moreover, when the malady, penetrating into the inmost
bones of the bleating sheep, rages, and the parching fever preys
upon their limbs, it has been of use to drive out the kindled
inflammation, and between the under parts of the feet to open
a vein spouting with blood ; in such manner as the Bisaltae 47
use, and the fierce Gelonian, when he flies to Rhodope, and the
deserts of the Getae, and drinks milk thickened with the blood
of horses.
Whatever sheep thou seest either creep away at a distance
from the rest, under the mild shade, or listlessly crop the tops
of the grass, and follow in the rear, or lie down as she is feed-
ing in the middle of the plain, and return by herself late in the
evening ; forthwith check the evil by the steel, before the dire
contagion spreads among the unwary flock.
The whirlwind, that brings on a wintery storm, rushes not
so frequent from the sea, as the plagues of cattle are numerous.
Nor do diseases only sweep away single bodies, but also whole
folds suddenly, the offspring and the flock at once, and the
47 Bisaltae, a people of Macedonia or Thrace. Getae. a people of Eu-
ropean Scythia, inhabiting that part of Dacia near the mouths of thelster
(Danube).
B. m. 4t4 505. GEORGICS. 83
whole stock from the first breed. Whoever views the aerial
Alps, and the Noric castles on the hills, and the fields of lapi-
dian Timavus, and the realms of the shepherds even now after
so long a time deserted, and the lawns lying waste far and
wide, may then know this. Here, in former times, a doleful
sweeping plague 48 arose from the distemper of the air, and
grew more and more inflamed through the whole heat of au-
tumn ; and delivered over to death all the race of cattle, all
the savage race ; poisoned .the lakes, and tainted the pastures
with contagion. Nor was the way of their death simple;* 9
but when the burning fever, reveling in every vein, had
shrunk up their wretched limbs, again the dropsical humor
overflowed, and converted into its substance all the bones
piecemeal consumed by the disease. Often amid the service
of the gods, the victim standing at the altar, while the woolen
wreath is entwined with snowy fillet, has dropped down gasp-
ing to death 60 in the hands of the lingering ofBciators. Or, if
the priest had stabbed any one before [it fell], neither do its
entrails, when laid on the altars, burn, nor is the augur, when
consulted, able thence to give responses ; and the knives ap-
plied are scarcely tinged with blood, and the surface of the
sand hardly stained with the meager gore. Hence the calves
every where expire in the luxuriant pastures, and render up
their sweet lives at the full cribs. Hence the fawning dogs are
seized with madness ; and wheezing cough shakes the diseased
swine, and suffocates them with tumors in the throat. The
unfortunate horse, [once] conqueror, forgetful of his exercises
and his pasture, pines away, loathes the springs, and often
paws the ground with his foot ; his ears hang down ; an in-
termitting sweat [breaks out] about them, and that too cold
at the approach of death ; his withered skin feels hard, and
in handling resists the touch. These symptoms they give be-
fore death in the first days. But if in process of time the
disease begins to rankle, then are their eyes inflamed, and the
48 It is almost unnecessary to remind the reader that Virgil is indebted
to Thucydides and Lucretius throughout the following description. B.
48 Nee for et non : " And various were the forms of death." HICKIE.
" Nor was the path of death one and the same." ANTHON.
60 " Moribundus," according to "Wagner, has three significations in
Yirgil: l.=Moriens, Georg. iii. 488. 2.=Moriturus, uEn. iv. 323. 3.
Mortalis, ^En. vi. 732. B.
84 GEORGUCS. L. m. 506544.
breath fetched from the bottom of the breast is sometimes
mixed with a heavy groan ; and with a long sob they distend
their lowest flanks: black blood gushes from their nostrils,
and the rough tongue clings to their choked-up jaws. At first
it proved of service to pour the tensean draught down their
throats; this appeared the sole remedy for the dying: soon
after, this very thing proved their destruction ; and being re-
cruited, they burned with furious rage, and they themselves,
now in the agonies of death (may the gods award better things
to the good, and such frenzy to our foes !) tore their own man-
gled limbs with their naked teeth. Lo, the bull too, smoking
under the oppressive share, drops down, and vomits out of his
mouth blood mingled with foam, and fetches his last groans,
the plowman, unyoking the steer that mourns his brother's
death, goes away sad, and in the midst of his work leaves the
plow fixed in the earth. Neither the shades of the deep
groves, nor the soft meadows, can affect his mind, nor the
river which rolling over the rocks, glides to the plain more
pure than amber : but his deep sides grow lank, deadness rests
upon his heavy eyes, and his neck with unwieldy weight drops
to the ground. What do their labors or good offices now
avail them ? what [avails it] to have turned the heavy lands
with the share ? Yet they were never injured by the rich
gifts of Bacchus, or by banquets of many courses. They feed
on leaves and the nourishment of simple herbs; the crystal
springs and running rivers are their drink ; and no care breaks
their healthful slumbers. At no other time, they tell us that
kine were wanting in those regions for Juno's sacred rites, and
that the chariots were drawn to their lofty shrine by wild-bulls
ill-matched. Therefore, with difficulty they tear the ground
with harrows, and with their very nails set the corn, and over
the high mountain drag the croaking wagons with their
strained necks. The wolf meditates no ambuscades around
the folds, nor prowls about the flock by night ; a sharper care
subdues him. The timorous deer and fugitive stags saunter
among the dogs, and about the houses. Now, too, the waves
wash out upon the extremity of the shore the breed of the
immense ocean, and all the race of swimmers, like shipwrecked
bodies; and the unwonted sea-calves fly to the rivers. The
viper, too, in vain defended by her winding den, expires, and
B. m. 545 5G6. iv. 17. GEORGICS. 85
the astonished water-snakes, erecting their scales. To the very
birds the air becomes pernicious ; and falling headlong, they
leave their lives beneath the lofty cloud.
Nor, moreover, avails it now for their pasture to be changed ;
the arts to which they had recourse prove noxious : the mas-
ters failed, Chiron," the son of Phillyra, and Melampus, the
son of Amythaon. Pale Tisiphone, 53 sent from the Stygian
glooms to light, rages: drives before her diseases and dismay:
and daily rising, higher erects her baleful head. With bleat-
ing of the flocks, and frequent lowings, the rivers, the withered
banks, and sloping hills resound ; and now by droves and
flocks she deals destruction, and in the very stalls heaps up
carcasses rotting away with foul contagion, till they learn to
bury them in the ground, and hide them in pits. For neithei
was there use for their hides, nor could any cleanse their flesh
with water, or purge it by fire ; nor durst they so much as
shear the fleece corrupted with disease and filthy sores, or
touch the infected yarn. But yet, if any one tried the odious
vestments, fiery pustules and filthy sweat overspread his
noisome body ; and then, no long time intervening, the sacred
fire preyed upon his infected limbs.
BOOK IV.
The snbject of the Fourth Book is the management of bees ; their habits,
economy, polity, and government, are described with the utmost fidelity,
and with all the charm of poetry. The Book concludes with the beauti-
ful episode of Aristeeus recovering his bees.
NEXT will I set forth the heavenly gift of aerial honey.
Vouchsafe, Maecenas, thy regard to this part also of my work. 1
I will sing spectacles to you marvelous of minute things : the
magnanimous leaders, the manners and employments, the
tribes and battles of the whole race in order. My labor is
upon an humble theme, but not mean the praise, if the adverse
deities permit one, and Apollo invocated hear.
11 Chiron, one of the Centaurs, son of Saturn and Phillyra, was famous
for hia skill in music, physic, and shooting. Melampus, a celebrated
soothsayer and physician of Argos.
M Tisiphone, one of the Furies, who was the minister of Divine venge-
ance, and punished the wicked in Tartarus.
' Probably in imitation of Aratus, Phsen. 29, poxdof ptv r* 6/Uyof , TO
62 pvpiov avriic' dvetap. B.
86 GEORGICS. B. iv. 8 42.
First, a seat and station must be sought for the bees, where
neither winds may have access (for the winds hinder them
from carrying' home their food), uor sheep and frisky kids may
trample down the flowers, or heifer, straying in the plain, spurn
off the dews, and bruise the rising herbs.
And let the lizards with speckled scaly backs be far from
the rich hives, and woodpeckers, and other birds; and Progne, 8
whose breast is stained with her bloody hands. For they lay
all things waste around, and in their mouths bear away the
bees themselves while on the wing, a sweet morsel for their
merciless young. But let clear springs, and pools edged with
green moss, be near, and a gentle rivulet swiftly junning
through the meads ; and let a palm or stately wild olive over-
shade the entrance : that, when the new kings lead forth the
first swarms in their own spring, and the youth, issuing from
the hives, indulge in sport, the neighboring bank may invite
them to withdraw from the heat, and the tree just in their
way may receive them with its leafy shelter. Into the midst
of the water, whether it stagnates idle or purling runs, thiow
willows across, and huge stones, that they may rest upon
frequent bridges, and spread their wings to the summer sun,
if the impetuous east wind has by chance dispersed those that
lag behind, or immersed them in the flood. Around these
places let green cassia, and far-smelling wild thyme, and
plenty of strong-scented savory, flower ; and let beds of violet
drink an irrigating 3 fountain.
But as for your hives themselves, whether they be compacted
of hollow bark, or woven with limber osier, let them have their
inlets narrow ; for winter congeals the honey with its cold,
and the heat melts and dissolves the same : either force is
equally dreaded by the bees: nor is it in vain that they smear
with wax* the slender crevices in their houses, and fill up the
edges with fucus and flowers, and preserve for those very uses
collected glue, more tenacious than bird-lime, or the pitch of
Phrygian Ida." Often, too, if fame be true, they have
* Progne, the wife of Tereus, king of Thrace, was feigned to have
been changed into a swallow. See note " on Eel. 6.
s Observe the active force of " irriguos." B.
4 i. e. propolis. See Anthon.
6 Phrygian Ida, a celebrated mountain, or ridge of mountains, in the
vicinity of Troy, covered with pine-trees, etc., and commanding an es*
tensive view of the Hellespont and the adjacent countries. From Mount
s. rv. 4377. GEORGICS. 87
cherished their families in cells dug under ground, and have
been found deep down in hollow pumice-stones, and the cavity
of a rotten tree. But do thou, carefully cherishing, daub
their chiuky chambers round with smooth mud, and strew it
thinly over with' leaves ; and suffer not a yew near their
lodges, nor burn in the fire the reddening crabs, nor trust
them to a deep fen, or where there is a noisome smell of mire,
or where the hollow rocks resound on being struck, and the
struck image of the voice rebounds.
For what remains, when the golden sun has driven the
winter under ground, and opened the heavens with summer
light ; they forthwith traverse the lawns and woods, crop the
bright-hued flowers, and lightly skim the surface of the streams.
Hence, gladdened with I know not what agreeable sensation,
they grow fond of their offspring and young breed : hence
they labor out with art new waxen cells, and form the
clammy honey. After this, when now you see the swarm,
after emerging from the hives into the open air, swim through
the serene summer sky, and marvel at the blackening cloud
driven about by the wind, mark well : they always seek the
waters and leafy coverts : here sprinkle the juices prescribed,
bruised balm and the common herb of honey-wort : awake the
tinkling sounds, and beat around the cymbals of the mother.'
They of themselves will settle on the medicated seats ; they
of themselves, after their manner, will retreat into the in-
most cells.
But if they should go forth to battle (for often discord with
huge commotion seizes two kings), you may straightway
know long beforehand both the animosity of the populace,
and their hearts in trepidation for war : for that martial clang
of hoarse brass rouses the loiterers, and a voice is heard re-
sembling the broken sounds of trumpets. Then in a hurry
they assemble, quiver with their wings, sharpen their stings
upon their beaks, prepare their sinews, crowd thick around
their king and to his pavilion, and with loud hummings chal-
lenge the foe.
As soon, therefore, as they find the spring serene, and the
Ida issued the Simois, Scamander, and other rivers, and here it was that
Paris adjudged the prize of beauty to the goddess Venus.
6 Cybele, called the Mother of the Gods, was the daughter of Coalus
and Terra, and wife of Saturn. DAVIDSON.
88 GEORGICS, B. iv. 78113.
fields of air open, forth they rush from their gates ; they join
battle : buzzing sounds arise in the sky aloft : mingled they
cluster in a mighty round, and fall headlong : hail rains not
thicker from the air, nor such quantities of acorns from the
shaken oak. The kings themselves amid the hosts, distin-
guished by their wings, exert mighty souls in little bodies ;
obstinately determined not to yield till the dread victor has
compelled either these or those to turn their backs in flight.
These commotions of their minds, and this so mighty fray,
checked by the throw of a little dust, will cease.
But when you have recalled both leaders from the battle,
put him to death that appears the worse, lest by prodigality
he do hurt ; and suffer the braver to reign in the court with-
out a rival. The one will glow with refulgent spots of gold ;
for there are two sorts : this is the better, distinguishable both
by his make, and conspicuous with glittering scales: the
other is horribly deformed with sloth, and ingloriously drags
a large belly.
As the kings are of two figures, so are the bodies of their
people. 7 For the one looks hideously ugly; as when a
parched traveler comes from a very dusty road, and spits the
dirt out of his dry mouth : the others shine and sparkle with
brightness, glittering with gold, and their bodies spangled
with equal drops. This is the better breed : from these at
stated season of the sky you will press the luscious honey ;
yet not so luscious as pure, and fit to correct the hard relish
of the grape.
But when the roving swarms fly about and sport in the air,
disdain their hives, and leave the cold habitations, you will*
restrain their unsettled minds from their vain play. Nor is
there great difficulty in restraining them : do you but clip the
wings of their kings ; not one will dare, while they stay be-
hind, to fly aloft, or pluck up the standard from the camp.
Let gardens fragrant with saffron flowers invite them; and
the protection of Hellespontaic Priapus, the averter of thieves
and birds, with his willow scythe preserve them. Let him
who makes such things his care, himself bring thyme and
pines from the high mountains, to plant them far and wide
7 This, like many other of Virgil's statements respecting bees, is er-
roneous. The reader will find much information in Anthon's entertain-
ing notes. B.
B. rr. 114146. GEORGICS. 89
about their hives : let him wear his hands with the hard labor,
set himself the fruitful plants in the ground, and water them
with kindly showers.
And indeed, were I not just furling my 'sails at the last pe-
riod of my labors, and hastening to turn my prow to land, per-
haps I might both sing what method of culture would adorn
rich gardens, and the rose-beds of twice-blooming Pastum ; 8
and how endive and banks green with parsley delight in drink-
ing the rills ; and how the cucumber winding along the grass
swells into a belly : nor had I passed in silence the late-flower-
ing daffodil, or the stalks of the flexile acanthus, or the pale
ivy, and the myrtles that love the shores. For I remember
that, under the lofty turrets of (Ebalia, 9 where black Galsesus 10
moistens the yellow fields, I saw an old Corycian, 11 to whom
belonged a few acres of neglected land ; nor was that soil rich
enough for the plow, proper for flocks, or commodious for vines.
Yet here among the bushes, planting a few pot-herbs, white
lilies, vervain, and esculent poppies all around, he equaled in.
disposition the wealth of kings ; and returning late at night,
loaded his board with unbought dainties. He was the first to
gather the rose in spring, and fruits in autumn : and, even when
sad winter split the rocks with cold, and bridled up the current
of the rivers with ice, in that very season he was cropping the
locks of the soft acanthus, chiding the late summer, and the
lingering zephyrs.
He, therefore, was the first to abound with pregnant bees
and numerous swarms, and to strain the frothing honey from
the pressed combs ; he had limes and pines in great abund-
ance ; and as many fruits as the fertile tree had been clothed
with in early blossoms, so many it retained ripe in autumn.
He too transplanted into rows the late [far-grown] elms, and
hard pear-trees, and sloe-trees now bearing damascenes, and
the plane now ministering shade to drinkers. But these I for
8 Passtum (Pesto), a town of Lucania, on the Gulf of Salerno, where
the roses blossom twice a year.
(Ebalia, Tarentum, in the south of Italy, was so called because built
by a colony under Phalanthus. who came from (Ebalia, or Laconia, in
Greece. Galaesus, a river of Calabria, flowing into the Bay of Tarentum.
1U Cf. "umbrosus Galsesus," Propert. ii. 25, 67. B.
11 Corycius, a contented old man of Tarentum, whose time was em-
ployed in taking care of his bees. Some suppose that by Corycius, Virgil
meant a native of Corycus (a town of Cilicia), who had settled in Italy,
90 GEORGICS. B. iv. 147177.
my part pass over, restrained by the narrow bounds I have pre-
scribed to myself, and leave to others hereafter to record.
Come, now, I will unfold the qualities which Jupiter himself
has implanted in the bees; for which reward accompanying the
shrill sounds and tinkling brass of the Curetes," they fed the
king of heaven under the Dictsean cave. They alone have
their offspring in common, share the building of a city in com-
mon, and pass their lives under powerful laws ; and they alone
have a country of their own, and a fixed abode. And, mindful
of the coming winter, they experience toil in summer, and lay
up their acquisitions into the common stock. For some are
provident for food, and by fixed compact are employed in the
fields ; some within the inclosure of their hives lay Narcissus"*
tears, and clammy gum from the bark of trees, for the first
foundation of the combs, then build downward the viscid wax ;
others bring up to their full growth the young, the hope of the
nation ; others condense the purest honey, and distend the
shells with liquid nectar. Some there are to whose lot has
fallen the watching of the gates, and these by turns observe the
waters and clouds of heaven ; or receive the loads of those who
return ; or, forming a band, drive from the hives the drones, a
sluggish horde. The work is warmly plied, and the honey
smells fragrant of thyme.
And as when the Cyclops urge on the thunderbolts from
the stubborn masses, some receive and render back the air in
the bull-hide bellows ; some dip the sputtering brass in the
trough : ./Etna groans under the weight of their anvils : they
alternately with vast force lift their arms in time, and turn
the iron with the griping pincers. Just so, if we may compare
small things with great, the innate love of gain prompts the
Cecropian bees, 14 each in his proper function. The elder have
12 Cnretes, or Corybantes, the priests of Cybeje, who inhabited Mount
Ida in Crete ; they were intrusted with the education of the infant Jupi-
ter, and to prevent his being discovered by his father, who sought to de-
stroy him, they invented a kind of dance, and drowned his cries by the
noise of their cymbals.
13 Narcissus, a beautiful youth, who, on seeing his image reflected in
a fountain, became enamored of it, thinking it to be the nymph of the
place. He died of grief, and was changed into a flower, which still bears
his name. -
14 Cecropian bees, that is, Attic or Athenian bees, from Cecrops, the
founder and first king of Athens.
B. IT. 178212. GEORGICS. 91
the care of their towns, and to fortify the combs, and frame
the artificial cells. But the younger return fatigued late at
night, their thighs laden with thyme ; they feed at large on
arbutes, and gray willows, on cassia, and glowing crocus, on
the gummy lime, and deep-colored hyacinths. All have one
rest from work, all one common labor. In the morning they
rush out of the gates without any delay. Again, when the
evening at length has warned them to return from feeding in
the fields, then they seek their habitations, and then refresh
their bodies : the hum arises, and they buzz about the borders
and entrance of their hives. Soon after, when they have com-
posed themselves in their cells, ah 1 is hushed for the night ;
and their proper sleep seizes their weary limbs. Nor do they
remove to a great distance from their hive when rain im-
pends, or trust the sky when east - winds approach; but in
safety supply themselves with water all around under the walls
of their city, and attempt but short excursions ; and often take
up little stones, as unsteady vessels do ballast in a tossing
sea; with these they poise themselves through void airy re-
gions.
Chiefly you will marvel at this custom peculiar to the bees,
that they neither indulge in conjugal embrace, nor softly dis-
solve their bodies in the joys of love, nor bring forth young
with a mother's throes. But they themselves cull their progeny
with their mouths from leaves and fragrant herbs ; they them-
selves raise up a new king and little subjects, and build new
palaces and waxen realms.
Often, too, in wandering among the flinty rocks, have they
torn their wings, and voluntarily yielded up their lives under
their burden : so mighty is their love for flowers, and such their
glory in making honey. Therefore, though a narrow term of
life is their lot (for it is not prolonged beyond the seventh sum-
mer), yet the race remains immortal, and through many years
the fortune of the family subsists, and grandsires of grandsires
are numbered.
Besides, not Egypt's self, nor great Lydia, 15 nor the nation
of the Parthians, nor Median Hydaspes, are so observant of
their king. While the king is safe, there is one mind among
15 Lydia, a country of Asia Minor, south of Mysia, now part of Ana-
tolia, Hydaspes, a river of Persia, supposed to be the Choaspes, or the
Araxes.
92 GEORGICS. B. rv. 213245.
all : when he is dead, they sever their allegiance ; they them-
selves tear to pieces the fabric of their honey, and demolish the
structure of their combs. He is the guardian of their works :
him they admire, and all encircle him with thick humming,
and guard him in a numerous body ; often they lift him up on
their shoulders, expose their bodies in war, and through wounds
seek a glorious death.
From these appearances, and led by these examples, some
have alleged that a portion of the divine mind, and a heavenly
emanation, may be discovered in bees ; for that the Deity per-
vades the whole earth, the tracts of sea, and depth of heaven ;
that hence the flocks, the herds, men, and all the race of beasts,
each at its birth, derive their slender lives. Accordingly [they
affirm], that all of them, when dissolved, return and are brought
back thither hereafter ; nor is there any room for death ; but
that they mount up alive each into his proper order of star, and
take their seat in the high heaven.
When you intend to rifle the narrow mansions [of the bees],
and their honey preserved in their treasures, first, sprinkled
[as to your body], 18 gargle your mouth with a draught of
water, and bear in your hand before you the searching smoke.
Twice they press the teeming cells ; there are two seasons of
that harvest ; one, as soon as the Pleiad Taygete 17 has displayed
her comely face to the earth, and spurns with her foot the de-
spised waters of the ocean ; or when the same star, flying the
constellation of the watery Fish, descends in sadness from the
sky into the wintery waves. They are Avrathful above measure,
and when provoked, breathe venom into their stings, and leave
their hidden darts fixed in the veins, and lay down their lives
in the wound.
i lf, however, fearing 18 a hard winter, you both be sparing
for the future, and have pity on their drooping spirits and
shattered state ; yet who will hesitate to fumigate [their hives]
with thyme, and cut away the empty wax ? for often the
lizard preys unseen upon the combs, and the cells are stuffed
with cockroaches that shun the light ; the drone also that sit*
exempt from duty at another's repast, or the fierce hornet has
16 See Anthon's note. C.
" Taygete, a daughter of Atlas and Pleione, who became one of tha
Pleiades after death.
18 The older editions read " metues." B.
B. iv. 245282. GEORGICS. 93
engaged them with unequal arms ; or the moth's direful
breed ; or the spider, hateful to Minerva, has suspended her
loose nets in their gates.
The more they are exhausted, the more vigorously will
they all labor to repair the ruins of their decayed race, to fill
up the rows of cells, and weave their magazines of flowers.
But since life has on bees too entailed our misfortunes, if
their bodies shall languish with a sore disease, which you may
know by undoubted signs ; immediately the sick change
color ; horrid leanness deforms the countenance ; then they
carry the bodies of the dead out of their houses, and lead the
mournful funeral processions ; or clinging together by the feet,
hang about the entrance, and loiter all within their houses
shut up, both listless through famine, and benumbed with
contracted cold. Then a hoarser sound is heard, and in
drawling hums, they buzz ; as at times the south wind mur-
murs through the woods; as the ruffled sea creaks hoarsely
with refluent waves ; as rapid fire in the pent furnace roars.
In this case now I would advise to burn gummy odors, and
to put in honey through pipes of reed, kindly tempting and
inviting the enfeebled bees to their known repast. It will be
of service also to mix with it the juice of pounded galls, and
dried roses, or inspissated must 19 thickened over a strong fire,
or raisins from the Psythian vine, Cecropian thyme, and
strong-smelling centaury. There is also in the meadows a
flower, to which the husbandmen have given the name of
amellus ; an herb easy to be found ; for from one root it
shoots a vast luxuriance of stalks, itself of golden hue ; but on
the leaves, Avhich are spread thickly around, the purple of the
dark violet sheds a gloss. The altars of the gods are often
decked with plaited wreaths [of this flower]. Its taste is
bitterish in the mouth; the shepherds gather it in new-shorn
valleys, and near the winding streams of Mella. 20 Boil the
roots thereof in fragrant wine ; and present it as food [for the
bees] in full baskets at their door.
But if the whole stock should suddenly fail any one, and
he should have no means to recover a new breed ; it is time
19 " When must was inspissated to one half, it acquired the name of
defrultm." ANTHON.
20 Mella, a small river of Cisalpine Gaul, falling into the Ollius, and
with it into the Po.
94 GEORGICS. R rv. 283317.
both to unfold the memorable invention of the Arcadian mas-
ter, and how the tainted gore of bullocks slain has often pro-
duced bees : I will disclose the whole tradition, tracing it high
from its first source. For where the happy nation of Pellaean
Canopus 21 inhabit the banks of the Nile, floating [the plains]
with his overflowing river, and sail around their fields in
painted gondolas ; and where the river, that rolls down as far
as from the swarthy Indians, presses on the borders of quivered
Persia, and fertiles verdant Egypt with black silt, and pouring
along divides itself into seven different mouths ; all the coun-
try grounds infallible relief on this art. First a space of
ground of small dimensions, and contracted for this purpose,
is chosen ; this they strengthen with the tiling of a narrow
roof and confined walls ; and add four windows of slanting
light in the direction of the four winds. Then a bullock, just
bending the horns in his forehead, two years old, is sought out :
while he struggles exceedingly, they close up both his nostrils,
and the breath of his mouth ; and when they have beaten him
to death, his battered entrails are crushed within the hide that
remains entire. When dead, they leave him pent up, and lay
under his sides fragments of boughs, thyme, and fresh cassia.
This is done when first the zephyrs stir the waves, before the
meadows blush with new colors, before the chattering swal-
low suspend her nest upon the rafters. Meanwhile the juices,
warmed in the tender veins, ferment : and animals, wonderful
to behold, first short of their feet, and in a little while buzzing
with wings, swarm together, and more and more take to the
thin air : till they burst away like a shower poured down from
summer clouds; or like an arrow from the whizzing string,
when the swift Parthians first begin the fight.
What god, ye Muses, what god disclosed to us this art?
whence took this new experience of men its rise ?
The shepherd Aristaeus, 1J flying from Peneian Tempe,"
21 Canopus (near Aboukir), a city of Egypt, 12 miles east from Alex-
andria. It is here called Pellaean, having been founded by a colony from
Pella, a city of Macedonia, or in allusion to the conquest of the country
by Alexander the Great, who was born at Pella.
22 Aristaeus was the son of Apollo and Gyrene. He became enamored
of Eurydice, the wife of Orpheus, and was the first who taught mankind
the culture of Olives, and the management of bees ; after death he was
worshiped as a god.
83 Peneian Tempe, a celebrated vale in Thessaly, between Mount Olym-
B. IT. 318350. GEORGICS. 95
having lost his bees, as it is said, by disease and famine, stood
mournful by the sacred source of the rising river, much and
oft complaining : and with these accents addressed his parent :
Mother Gyrene, mother, who inhabitest the depth of this
flood, why hast thou brought me forth of the illustrious race
of gods (if indeed, as you pretend, Thymbrgean Apollo be my
sire), thus abhorred by destiny ? or whither is thy love for me
banished ? why didst thou bid me hope for heaven ? Lo, I,
though thou art my mother, am even bereft of this very glory
of my mortal life, which, amid my watchful care of flocks
and agriculture, I, after infinite essays, with much difficulty
achieved. Why then, go on ; root up with thine own hands
my happy groves ; bear the hostile flame into my stalls, and
kill my harvests; burn up my plantations, and wield the
sturdy bill against my vineyards ; if such strong aversion to
my praise hath seized thee.
But his mother heard the sound beneath the chambers of
the deep river ; her nymphs around her were carding the Mile-
sian fleeces, dyed with rich glass-green tincture ; Drymo" and
Xantho, Ligea and Phyllodoce, their comely hair flowing down
their snow-white necks ; Nescsee and Spio, Thalia and Cy-
modoce, Cydippe and golden Lycorias ; the one a virgin, the
other just experienced in the first labors of Lucina ; Clio,
and her sister Beroe, both daughters of Oceanus, both in gold,
both in spotted skins arrayed ; Ephyre and Opis, and Asian
Deiopeia ; and swift Arethusa, having at length laid her darts
aside : among whom Clymene was relating Vulcan's unavail-
ing care, the tricks and pleasant thefts of Mars, and recounted
the frequent amours of the gods down from Chaos. While
the nymphs, charmed with this song, wind off their soft task
from the spindles, the lamentations of Aristseus again struck
his mother's ears, and all were amazed in their crystal beds :
pus and Ossa, through which the river Peneus flows into the JEgean.
Tempe was about five miles in length, but very narrow, in few places
above a quarter of a mile broad. The ancient poets have described it as
one of the most delightful spots in the world : hence all valleys that are
pleasant are by the poets called Tempe. Thymbra, a plain in Troas,
through which the river Thymbrius flowed in its course to the Scaman-
dcr. Apollo had there a temple, and thence it is called Thymbrsean.
24 Drymo, etc. These were sea-nymphs, the attendants of Gyrene,
daughter of the river Peneus, who was carried by Apollo to that part
of Africa which was called Cyrenaica, where she became the mother of
Aristaeua.
96 GEORGICS. B. IT. 351378.
but Arethusa upreared her golden head before her other sis-
ters, darting her eyes abroad ; and afar [she cried], O sister
Gyrene, not in vain alarmed with such piteous moaning, thy
own Aristaeus, overwhelmed with sorrow, thy darling care,
stands weeping by the water of Peneus thy sire, and calls thee
cruel by name. To her the mother, her soul seized with un-
usual concern, cries, Conduct, conduct him quickly to us ;
to him it is permitted to tread the courts of the gods. At
the same time she commands the deep floods to divide on all
sides, that the youth might make his approach. And the
water, bent into the shape of a mountain, stood round about
him, received him into its ample bosom, and let him pass un-
der the river. And now admiring his mother's palace, and
humid realms, the lakes pent up in caverns, and the sounding
groves, he passed along, and amazed at the vast motion of the
waters, surveyed all the rivers gliding under the great earth in
different places ; Phasis" and Lycus, and the source whence
deep Enipeus first bursts forth, whence father Tiberinus,
and whence AnioV streams, and Hypanis" roaring down
the rocks, and Mysian Caicus, and Eridanus, his bull-front
decked with two gilt horns, than whom no river pours along
the fertile fields with greater violence into the dark, troubled"
sea.
After he had arrived under the roof of her bed-chamber,
hung with pumice-stones, Gyrene was informed of the vain la-
mentations of her son ; the sisters in order serve up the crystal
streams for the hands, and bring smooth towels. Some load
the board with viands anl plant the full cups. The altars
25 Phasis (Phaz or Rhion), a river of Colchis, rising in Mount Cauca-
sus, and falling into the Euxine. Lycus, a river of Armenia. Enipeus,
a river of Theesaly, falling into the Peneus.
86 Tiber, a celebrated river of Italy, on whose banks the city of Rome
was built. It was originally called Albula, from the whiteness of its
waters, and afterward Tiber, from Tiburinus, king of Alba, who was
drowned in it The Tiber rises in the Apennines, and after dividing La-
tium from Etruria, falls into the Mediterranean 16 miles below Rome.
87 Anio (Teverone), a river of Italy which falls into the Tiber.
" Hypania (Bog), a river of European Scythia, which runs into the
Euxine. Caicus (Grimakli), a river of Mysia, falling into the ^Egean.
29 Compare Anthon, who observes, " We have preferred rendering
purpureum here by a double epithet. It is analogous to the Greek jro
tf'peof, as said of the troubled sea, whence fiiof iropfvpoiif
" a seaman's troublous life*"
B. iv. 379413. GEOEGICS. 97
blaze with Panchasan fires. Then the mother thus speaks :
Take bowls of Maeonian wine, let us offer a libation to Ocean.
At the same time she herself addresses Ocean, the parent of
things, and the sister nymphs, a hundred of whom preside over
woods, a hundred over rivers. Thrice she sprinkled glowing
Vesta with the liquid nectar : thrice the flame, mounting to
the top of the roof, brightened : with which omen encouraging
her soul, she thus begins : In Neptune's Carpathian gulf there
dwells a seer, coernlean Proteus, 30 who measures the great sea
with fishes, and in a chariot yoked with two-legged steeds.
He now revisits the ports of Emathia and his native Pal-
lene : 31 him both we nymphs, and old Nereus 34 himself adore ;
for the prophet knows all things that are, that have been, and
what is being drawn on as about to be. For such is the will
of Neptune ; whose unwieldy droves, and ugly sea-calves, he
feeds under the deep. He, my son, must first be surprised
with chains, that he may explain to you the whole cause of
the disease, and make the issue prosperous. For BO instruc-
tions Avill he give without compulsion, nor can you move him
by entreaty : ply him, when taken, with rigid force and
chains : all his tricks to evade these, proving vain, will at
length be baffled. I myself, as soon as the sun has inflamed
his noon-tide heats ; when the herbs thirst, and the shade be-
comes more grateful to the cattle, will conduct you into the
old god's retreats, whither he retires from the waves when fa-
tigued ; that you may easily assail him overpowered with
sleep. But when you shall hold him fast' confined within
your arms and chains, then various forms and features of wild
beasts will mock your grasp. For suddenly he will become a
bristly boar, a fell tiger, a scaly dragon, and a lioness with a
tawny mane : or he will emit the roaring of flame, and escape
the chain ; or, liquefied into fluid waters, glide away. But the
more he shall transform himself into all shapes, still closer
draw, my son, the hampering chains, till, rechanged, he shall
30 Proteus, a sea-deity, son of Oceanus and Tethys. He is represented
by the poets as usually residing in the Carpathian Sea between Crete and
Rhodes : he possessed the gift of prophecy, and also the power of as-
suming different shapes.
31 Pallene, a small peninsula of Macedonia, on the .^Egean Sea.
32 Nereus, a sea-god, son of Oceanus and Terra, and husjband of Doris,
by whom he had fifty daughters, the Nereids.
5
98 GEORGICS. B. rv. 414452.
become such as you saw him when he closed his eyes in sleep
commenced. She spoke ; and shed around the liquid odor of
ambrosia, wherewith she sprinkled over the whole body of her
son. Now from his trimmed locks a delicious fragrance
breathed, and active vigor was infused into his limbs. In the
side of a hollowed mountain is a spacious cave, whither many
a wave is driven by the wind, and divides itself into receding
curves ; at times a station most secure for weather-beaten
mariners. Within Proteus hides himself behind the barrier of
a huge rock. Here the nymph places the youth in ambush
remote from view ; she herself takes her station at a distance,
shrouded in a misty cloud. Now the sultry dog-star, scorch-
ing the thirsty Indians, blazed in the sky, and the fiery sun
had finished half his course : the herbs withered ; and the rays
made the shallow over-heated rivers boil, their channels being
drained to their slimy bottom ; when Proteus, repairing to his
accustomed den, advanced from the waves. The watery race
of the vast ocean, gamboling around him, scatter the briny
spray far and near. The sea-calves apart lay themselves
down to sleep along the shore. He himself (as at times the
keeper of a fold upon the mountains, when evening brings
home the bullocks from the pasture, and the lambs with noisy
bleatings whet the hunger of the wolves) sits in the center on
a rock, and counts over their numbers. Of [seizing] whom
since so favorable an opportunity offered itself to Aristaeus,
scarcely suffering the aged god to compose his weary limbs, he
rushes upon him* with a great shout, and surprises him with
chains reclining. He, on the other hand, not forgetful of his
art, transforms himself into all the wondrous shapes in nature ;
fire, and a fierce savage, and flowing river. But when no
shifts could find him an escape, overpowered he returned to
himself, and at length thus spoke in human accent : Who,
most presumptuous youth, enjoined thee (he said) to approach
my habitation ? or what demandest thou here ? But he [re-
plied], Thou knowest, O Proteus, thou knowest of thyself;
nor is it in any one's power to deceive thee ; but do thou cease
to try [to escape me]. In pursuance of divine command, I
come hither to consult thy oracle about my ruined aifairs.
Thus much he spoke. Then the prophet at length, with
mighty force, rolled his eyes flashing with azure light, and
gnashing his teeth fiercely, thus opened his mouth to disclo.se
B. IV. 453485. GEOEGICS. 99
the Fates : It is the vengeance of no mean deity that pursues
thee : thou art making atonement for heinous crimes : these
sufferings, by no means proportioned to thy guilt, unhappy
Orpheus entails upon thee, unless the Fates oppose ; and he
sorely rages for his ravished queen. She, indeed, rushing
headlong along the river's bank, provided she could only
escape thee, the maid doomed to death saw not the hideous
water-snake before her feet, guarding the banks in the tall
grass. But her fellow choir of Dryads filled the highest
mountains with shrieks : the rocks of Rhodope wept ; so did
lofty Pangaea, 33 and the martial land of Rhesus, the Getae, and
Hebrus, and attic Orithyia. Orpheus 34 himself, soothing the
anguish of his love with his concave shell, sang of thee, sweet
spouse, of thee by himself on the lonely shore ; thee when the
day arose, thee when the day declined, he sang. He entering
even the jaws of Taenarus, Pluto's gates profound, and the
grove overcast with gloomy horror, visited the Manes, and
their tremendous king, and hearts unknowing to relent at
human prayers. But the airy shades and phantoms of the
dead, moved at his song, stalked forth from the deep re-
cesses of Erebus, 35 in such throngs, as birds that shelter
themselves by thousands in the woods, when evening, or a
wintery shower drives them from the mountains ; matrons, and
men, and ghosts of gallant heroes deceased, boys and unmarried
virgins, and youths laid on the funeral piles before the faces
of their parents ; whom the black mud and unsightly reeds
of Cocytus, and the lovely lake with sluggish wave, inclose
around, and Styx, nine times poured between, confines. The
very habitations and deepest dungeons of death were aston-
ished, and the Furies, with whose hair blue snakes were inter-
woven ; and yawning Cerberus repressed his three mouths ;
and the whirling of Ixion's wheel was suspended by the song.
And now retracing his way, he had overpassed all dangers ;
33 Pangsea, a. mountain on the confines of Macedonia and Thrace.
34 Orpheus was feigned by the poets to have descended into the infernal
regions to recover his wife Eurydice, when he so charmed Pluto and
Proserpine with the music of his lyre, that they consented to restore her,
provided he forbore looking behind until he had gained the upper regions ;
but he forgot his promise and his Eurydice instantly vanished.
33 Erebus, a god of hell ; often used to signify hell itself. Cerberus,
represented as a dog with three heads, that watched the entrance into
the infernal regions.
100 GEORGICS. B. iv. 486521.
and restored Eurydice was just approaching the regions above,
following him ; for Proserpina had given him that law ; when
a sudden frenzy seized the unwary lover, pardonable, indeed,
if the Manes knew to pardon. He stopped, and on the very
verge of light, ah ! unmindful, and not master of himself,
looked back on his Eurydice : there was all his labor wasted,
and the law of the relentless tyrant broken ; and thrice a dis-
mal groan was heard through the Avernian lake. Orpheus,
she says, who hath both unhappy me and thee undone : what
so great frenzy is this ? see once more the cruel Fates call me
back, and sleep closes my swimming eyes. And now fare-
well : I am snatched away, encompassed with thick night, and
stretching forth to thee my feeble hands ! ah, thine no more.
She spoke ; and suddenly fled from his sight a different way, 38
like smoke blended with the thin air : nor more was seen by
him grasping the shades in vain, and wishing to say a thou-
sand things ; nor did the ferryman of hell suffer him again to
cross the intervening fen. "What should he do ? whither
should he turn himself, his love twice snatched away ? with
what tears move the Manes, with what words the gods I She,
already cold, was sailing in the Stygian boat. For seven whole
months, it is said, he mourned beneath a weather-beaten rock,
by the streams of desert Strymon, and unfolded these his woes
under the cold caves, softening the very tigers, and leading
the oaks with his song ; as mourning Philomel under a poplar
shade bemoans her lost young, which the hard-hearted clown
observing in the nest has stolen unfledged ; but she weeps
through, the night, and, perched upon a bough, renews her
doleful song, and fills the place all around with piteous wail-
ings. No loves, no hymenial joys, could bend his soul. Alone
he traversed the Hyperborean tracts of ice, the snowy Tanais,
and fields never free from Riphaean frosts, deploring his rav-
ished Eurydice, and Pluto's useless gifts ; for which despised
rite" the Ciconian matrons, amid the sacred sen-ice of the
38 I have always felt satisfied with this participle " diversa," al-
though, I believe, Servius and all MSS. support it. I think " dilapsa" is
more Virgilian. Cf. Georg. iv. 410. So Lucan, in an evident imitation of
this passage, iii. 34, " Sic fata, refugit Umbra per amplexus trepidi dilapsa
mariti." So " delapsa," Ovid, Art. Am. L 43 ; " relapsa," Met. x. 57. B.
37 The attempts to explain this passage are confessedly hopeless. See
Anthon. " Munere " probably arose from a gloss upon the preceding
" dona," Can " quo nomina" ( = on what pretext) be the true reading ? B.
B. iv. 521559. GEORGICS. 101
gods and nocturnal orgies of Bacchus, having torn the youth
in pieces, scattered his liinbs over the wide fields. And even
then, whilst (Eagrian Hebrus rolled down the middle of its
tide, his head torn from the alabaster neck, the voice itself,
and his chilling tongue, invoked Eurydice, ah, unfortunate
Eurydice \ with his fleeting breath ; the banks re-echoed Eu-
rvdice all along the river. Thus Proteus sang, and plunged
with a bound into the deep sea ; and, where he plunged, he
tossed up the foaming billows under the whirling tide.
But not so Gyrene : for kindly she bespoke the trembling
[Aristeas] : My son, you may ease your mind of vexatious
cares. This is the whole cause of your disaster ; hence the
nymphs, with whom she used to celebrate the mingled dances
in the deep groves, have sent this mournful destruction on
your bees : but suppliant bear offerings, beseeching peace, and
venerate the gentle wood-nymphs ; for at your supplications
they will grant forgiveness, and mitigate their wrath. But
first will I show you in order what must be your manner of
worship. Single out four choice bulls of beauteous form,
which now graze for you the tops of green Lycseus ; and as
many heifers, whose necks are untouched [by the yoke]. For
these erect four altars at the lofty temples of the goddesses':
from their throats emit the sacred blood, and leave the bodies
of the cattle in the leafy grove. Afterward, when the ninth
morn has displayed her rising beams, you may offer Lethsean
poppies as funeral rites to Orpheus, venerate appeased Eury-
dice with a slain calf, sacrifice a black ewe, and revisit the
grove.
Without delay, he instantly executes the orders of his
mother ; repairs to the temple ; raises the altars as directed ;
leads up four chosen bulls of surpassing form, and as many
heifers, whose necks were untouched. Thereafter, the ninth
morning having ushered in her rising beams, he offers the
funeral rites to Orpheus, and revisits the grove. But here
they behold a sudden prodigy, and wonderful to relate ; bees
through all the belly hum amid the decomposed bowels of
the cattle ; pour forth with the fermenting juices from the
burst sides, and in immense clouds roll along ; then swarm
together on the top of a tree, and hang down in a cluster from
the bending boughs.
Thus of the culture of fields, and flocks, and of trees, I
102 GEORGICS. B. IT. 660566.
sung; while great Caesar at the deep Euphrates was thun-
dering in war, was victoriously dispensing laws among the
willing nations, and pursuing the path to Olympus. At that
time, me, Virgil, sweet Parthenope 3 * nourished, flourishing in
the studies of inglorious ease ; who warbled pastoral songs,
and, adventurous through youth, sung thee, O Tltyrus, under
the covert of a spreading beach.
33 Parthenope, afterward called Neapolia (Naples), a celebrated city
of Campania, in Italy, seated on a beautiful bay, from which it rises like
an amphitheater. It received the name of Parthenope from one of the
Sirens who was buried there.
BOOK I.
The subject of the JEneid is the settlement of _<Eneas in Italy. This noble
Poem, on the composition of which Virgil was engaged eleven years, con-
sists of twelve books, and comprehends a period ot eight years. In the
First Book, the hero is introduced, in the seventh year of his expedition,
sailing from Sicily, and shipwrecked upon the coast of Africa, where he
is kindly received by Dido, queen of Carthage. The description of the
storm in this book is particularly admired.
ARMS I sing, 1 and the hero, who first, exiled by fate, came from
the coast of Troy to Italy, and the Lavinian 3 shore : much was
he tossed both on sea and land, by the power of those above,
on account of the unrelenting rage of cruel Juno : much too he
suffered in war till he founded a city, and brought his gods
into Latium : from whence the Latin progeny, the Alban
fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome.
Declare to me, O Muse ! the causes, in what* the deity being
offended, by what the queen of heaven was provoked to drive a
man of distinguished piety to struggle with so many calamities,
to encounter so many hardships. Is there such resentment in
heavenly minds ?
An ancient city there was, Carthage* (inhabited by a colony
of Tyrians), fronting Italy and the mouth of the Tiber, far
remote ; vast in riches, and extremely hardy in warlike ex-
ercises ; which [city] Juno is said to have honored more
1 Respecting the four verses usually prefixed to the ^Eneid, see Anthon. B
2 Lavinium (Pratica), a city of Latium, built by ^Eneas. and called
by that name in honor of Lavinia.
3 i. e. " quo modo." It is a mistake to suppose that we should join
" quo numine," since Juno has been already mentioned. B.
4 Carthage, a powerful city of ancient Africa, on a peninsula, 12 miles
north-east of Tunis, was built by a colony of Tyrians under Dido, about
100 years before the foundation of Rome. After having been long mis-
tress at sea, and the rival of Rome, Carthage was totally destroyed by
Scipio Africanus the younger, in the third Punic war, B. c. 146, an event
to which the memorable words, "Delenda est Carthago," of the elder
Cato, mainly contributed.
104 ^ENEID. B. i. 1633.
than any other place of her residence, Samos* being set aside.
Here lay her arms; here was her chariot; here the goddess
even then designs and fondly hopes to establish a seat of
universal empire, would only the Fates permit. But she had
heard of a race to be descended from Trojan blood, that was
one day to overturn the Tyrian towers : that hence a people
of extensive regal sway, and proud in war, would come to the
destruction of Libya : so the destinies ordained. This the
daughter of Saturn dreading, and mindful of the old war
which she had the principal hand in carrying on before Troy, 6
in behalf of her beloved Argos ; T nor as yet were the causes
of her rage and keen resentment worn out of her mind ; the
judgment of Paris dwells deeply rooted in her soul, the affront
offered to her neglected beauty, the detested [Trojan] race,
and the honors conferred on ravished Ganymede : 8 she, by
these things fired, having tossed on the whole ocean the
Trojans, whom the Greeks and merciless Achilles had left,
drove them far from Latium ; 9 and thus, for many years, they,
driven by fate, roamed round every sea : so vast a work it was
to found the Roman state.
6 Samop. an island in the ^Egean Sea, near the coast of Io;i!a. It is
extremely fertile, producing the most delicious fruits, and iti iamous as
being the birth-place of Pythagoras. Samos was sacred to Juno, who
had here a most magnificent temple.
Troy, or Ilium, one of the most renowned cities of antiquity, the
capital of Troas in Asia Minor, was built on a small eminence near Mount
Ida, between the Simois and Scamander, a short distance above their
confluence, and about four miles from the ^Egean shore. Of all the wars
that have been carried on among the ancients, that of Troy is the most
famous, whether we regard the celebrity of the chiefs engaged in it, or
the deeds in arms which it called forth. According to the generally re-
ceived account, the Trojan war was undertaken by the Greeks to recover
Helen, the wife of Menelaus, whom Paris, the son of Priam, king of
Troy, had carried away. All Greece united to avenge the cause of Me-
nelaus, and Troy, after a siege of ten years, was taken and burnt, B. c.
1184. No vestige now remains of ancient Troy; and even its site has
become matter of uncertainty.
1 Argos, the capital of Argolis, a district of Peloponnesus, of which
Juno was the chief deity. During the Trojan war, Agamemnon was king
of the united kingdom of Argos and Mycenae.
8 Ganymede, the son of Tros, king of Troy, feigned to have been taken
tip to heaven by Jupiter, and there became the cupbearer of the gods in
the place of Juno's daughter Hebe.
' Latium (Campagna di Roma), a country of Italy, on the east of the
Tiber. The Latins rose into importance when Romulus had founded the
city of Rome in their country.
B . i. 3454. -(ENEID. 105
Scarcely had the Trojans, losing sight of Sicily, 10 with joy
launched out into the deep, and were plowing the foaming
billows with their brazen prows, when Juno, harboring ever-
lasting rancor in her breast, thus with herself: 11 Shall I
then, baffled, desist from my purpose, nor have it in my power
to turn away the Trojan king from Italy? because I am re-
strained by fate ! Was Pallas able to burn the Grecian ships,
and bury themselves in the ocean, for the offense of one, and
the frenzy of Ajax, 12 Oileus' son ? She herself, hurling from the
clouds Jove's rapid fire, both scattered their ships, and upturned
the sea with the winds : him too she snatched away in a whirl-
wind, breathing flames from his transfixed breast, and dashed
him against the pointed rock. But I, who move majestic, 13 the
queen of heaven, both sister and wife of Jove, must maintain a
series of wars with one single race for so many years. And
who will henceforth adore Juno's divinity, 14 or humbly offer
sacrifice on her altars ?
The goddess by herself revolving such thoughts in her in-
flamed breast, repairs to ^Eolia, 15 the native land of storms,
regions 16 pregnant with boisterous winds. Here, in a vast
cave, king JEolus controls with imperial sway the reluctant
winds and sounding tempests, and confines them with chains
10 Sicily, the largest and most celebrated island in the Mediterranean
Sea, to the south of Italy, and separated from it by the Straits of Messina.
It is of a triangular form, and from its three promontories was anciently
called Trinacria. Its name Sicily was derived from the Siculi, a people
of Italy who settled in it.
11 Cf. interpp. on Ter. Andr. L 1. 55, " Egomet qontinuo mecum," B.
12 Ajax, the son of Oileus, king of Locris, one of the Grecian chiefs in
the Trojan war. He was surnamed Locrian, to distinguish him from
Ajax the son of Telamon.
13 Such is the proper sense of " incedere." C -Sn. i. 493. Tibull.
ii. 6, 34 Propert. ii. 1, 5. More particularly Seneca, Nat. Q. vii. 31,
" non ambulamus, sed incedimus." Propert. ii. 2, 58, " incedit vel
Jove digna soror." B.
14 Some MSS. of Quintilian, ix. 2, p. 772, give "nomen." Cf. Drak.
on Sil. i. 93. B.
15 The jEolian Islands, situated between Italy and Sicily, which were
seven in number. Here .JSolus, the son of Hippotas, reigned, reputed
king of the winds, because, from a course of observations, he had ac-
quired some knowledge of the weauier, and was capable of foretelling
at times what wind would blow for some days together, as we learn from
Diodorus and Pliny.
16 For the change of number, " patriam .... loca," c ^n. vi. " Itur
in antiquam silvam, stabula alia ferarum." B.
5*
106 xENEID. fi. I. 5588.
in prison. They roar indignant round their barriers, filling the
mountain with loud murmurs. JEolus is seated on a lofty
throne, wielding a scepter, and assuages their fury, and moder-
ates their rage. For, unless he did so, they, in their rapid
career, would bear away sea and earth, and the deep heaven,
and sweep them through the air. But the almighty Sire,
guarding against this, hath pent them in gloomy caves, and
thrown over them the ponderous weight of mountains, and ap-
pointed them a king, who, by fixed laws, and at command,
knows both to curb them, and when to relax their reins ; whom
Juno then in suppliant words thus addressed : vEolus (for the
sire of gods and the king of men hath given thee power both
to smooth the waves, and raise them with the wind), a race by
me detested sails the Tuscan Sea, transporting Ilium and its
conquered gods, into Italy. Strike force into thy winds, over-
set and sink 17 the ships; or drive them different ways, and
strew the ocean with carcasses. I have twice seven lovely
nymphs, the fairest of whom, Dei'opeia, I will join to thee in
firm wedlock, and assign to be thine own forever, 18 that with
thee she may spend all her years for this service, and make thee
father of a beautiful offspring.
To whom ^Eolus replies: 'Tis thy task, queen, to con-
sider what you would have done : on me it is incumbent to
execute your commands. You conciliate to me whatever of
power I have, my scepter, and Jove. You grant me to sit at
the tables of the gods: 19 and you make me lord of storms and
tempests.
Thus having said, whirling the point of his spear, he struck
the hollow mountain's side : and the winds, as in a formed
battalion, rush forth at every vent, and scour over the lands in
a hurricane. They press upon the ocean, and at once, east,
and south, and stormy south-west, plow up the whole deep
from its lowest bottom, and roll vast billows to the shores.
The cries of the seamen succeed, and the cracking of the cord-
age. In an instant clouds snatch the heavens and day from
17 i. e. "obrue, ut submergantur." So in Greek, as Soph. (Ed. T. 165,
Tjvvaai' inroTriav 0/loya, i. e. uare slvai eKToniav. Eur. Ph. 446, JiaA-
l.d!;aaav 6/noyevel^ tyihovf. B.
18 This is the complete sense of " propriam," expressing the Homeric
r/v ativ iehfcai ijfiara TTUVTO. (II. E. cap. 269.) Cf. Westerhov. on Ter.
Andr. iv. 3, 1. B.
19 Festus, " maxima enim fuit honos, Divum epulis accumbere." B.
B. i. 89110. ^NEID. 107
the eyes of the Trojans : sable night sits brooding on the sea,
thunder roars from pole to pole, the sky glares with repeated
flashes, and all nature threatens them with immediate death.
Forthwith ^Eneas' 20 limbs are relaxed with cold shuddering
fear. He groans, and, spreading out both his hands to heaven,
thus expostulates : O thrice and four times happy they, who
had the good fortune to die before their parent's eyes, under
the high ramparts of Troy ! O thou, the bravest of the Grecian
race, great Tydeus" 1 son, why was I not destined to fall on the
Trojan plains, and pour out this soul by thy right hand ? where
stern Hector" lies prostrate by the sword of Achilles ; where
mighty Sarpedon 23 [lies] ; where Simois" 4 rolls along so many
shields, and helmets, and bodies of heroes snatched away be-
neath its waters.
While uttering such words a tempest, roaring from the
north, strikes across the sail, and heaves the billows to the
stars. The oars are shattered: then the prow turns away,
and exposes the side to the waves. A steep mountain of
waters follows in a heap. These hang on the towering surge ;
to those the wide-yawning deep discloses the earth between
two waves: the whirling tide rages with [mingled] sand.
Three other ships the south wind hurrying away, throws on
hidden rocks; rocks in the midst of the ocean, which the
Italians call Altars, 85 a vast ridge rising to the surface of the
20 tineas, a Trojan prince, son of Anchises and Venus, who, after the
fall of Troy, came to Italy, where he married Lavinia, the daughter of
Latinus, whom he succeeded in his kingdom.
21 Tydeus' son, Diomedes, the son of Tydeus and Deiphyle, was king
of JEtolia, and one of the most renowned of the Grecian chiefs in the
Trojan war, where he performed many heroic deeds.
22 Hector, the son of Priam and Hecuba, was the most valiant of all
the Trojan chiefs. For a long time he gloriously sustained the destinies
of Troy, till at last he fell by the hand of Achilles, who dragged the body,
with insulting triumph, three times round the tomb of Patroclus and the
walls of Troy.
23 Sarpedon, a son of Jupiter by Europa, and brother to Minos, went
to the Trojan war to assist Priam, and was slain by Patroclus. Accord-
ing to some authors, the Sarpedon who assisted Priam was king of Lycia,
and son of Jupiter by Laodamia, the daughter of Bellerophon.
2* Simois, a river of Troas, which rose in Mount Ida^ and fell into the
Scamander below Troy.
25 Altars ; these were the Agates, three small islands opposite Car-
thage, near which the Roman fleet, under L. Catulus, obtained a de-
cisive victory over that of the Carthaginians, which put an end to the
108 JESE1D. B. I. Ill 139.
sea. Three from the deep the east wind drives on shoals and
flats, a piteous spectacle! and dashing on the shelves, it in-
closes them with mounds of sand. Before the eyes of JGneas
himself, a mighty billow, falling from the height, dashes against
the stern of one which bore the Lycian crew, and faithful
Orontes :"' the pilot is tossed out and rolled headlong, prone
[into the waves] ; but her the driving surge thrice whirls
around in the same place, and the rapid eddy swallows up in
the deep. Then floating here and there on the vast abyss, are
seen men, their arms and planks, and the Trojan wealth among
the waves. Now the storm overpowered the stout vessel of
Bioneus, 57 now that of brave Achates, and that in which Abas
sailed, and that in which old Alethes : all, at their loosened
and disjointed sides, receive the hostile stream, and gape with
chinks.
Meanwhile Neptune perceived that the sea was in great
uproar and confusion, a storm sent forth, and the depths over-
turned from their lowest channels. He, in violent commo-
tion, and looking forth from the deep, reared his serene coun-
tenance above the waves ; sees ^Eneas's fleet scattered over
the ocean, the Trojans oppressed with the waves and the ruin
from above. Nor were Juno's wiles and hate unknown to
her brother. He calls to him the east and west winds ; then
thus addresses them: And do you thus presume upon your
birth ? dare you, winds ! without my sovereign leave, to em-
broil heaven and earth, and raise such mountains. Whom
I " 8 But first it is right to assuage the tumultuous waves.
A chastisement of another nature from me awaits your next
offense. Fly apace, and bear this message to your king : That
not to him the empire of the sea, and the awful trident, but
to me by lot are given : his dominions are the mighty rocks,
first Punic war, B. c. 241. DAVIDSON. Heyne would condemn this
line as spurious. It is, however, quoted by QuintiL viii. 2, p. 675. Cf.
"Wyttenb. on Plat. Phsedon, 135. B.
26 Orontea commanded the Lycian fleet, which, after the fall of Troy,
accompanied ./Eneas in his voyage to Italy.
87 Ilioneus, son of Phorbas, was distinguished for hig eloquence.
Achates, a friend of J^neas, whose fidelity was so exemplary, that Fidus
Achates became a proverb.
28 This dTroaiuTrrjai^ or. sudden break in speaking, is remarked by
Bonatus on Ter. Eun. i. 1, 20. Aquila Romanus, fig. rhet. p. 147. ed.
Ruhnk. and Quintil. ix. 2, p. 781. B.
B. i. 140171. J3NEID. 109
your proper mansions Eurus : in that palace let king JEolus
proudly boast, and reign in the close prison of the winds.
So he speaks, and, more swiftly than his speech,** smooths
the swelling seas, disperses the collected clouds, and brings
back the day. With him Cymothoe,* and Triton with exerted
might, heave the ships from the pointed rock. He himself
raised them with his trident ; lays open the vast sandbanks, and
calms the sea ; and in his light chariot glides along the surface
of the waves. And as when a sedition has perchance 31 arisen
.among a mighty multitude, and the minds of the ignoble
vulgar rage : now firebrands, now stones fly ; fury supplies
them with arms: if then, by chance, they espy a man re-
vered in piety and worth, they are hushed, and stand with ears
erect; he, by eloquence, rules thejr passions, and calms their
breasts. Thus all the raging tumult of the ocean subsides, as
soon as the sire, surveying the seas, and wafted through the
open sky, guides his steeds, and flying, gives the reins to his
easy chariot.
The weary Trojans direct their course toward the nearest
shores, and make the coast of Libya. In a long recess, a station
lies ;,an island forms it into a harbor by its jutting sides, against
which every wave from the ocean is broken, and divides itself
into receding curves'. On either side vast cliffs, and two
twin-like rocks, threaten the sky ; under whose summit the
waters all around are calm and still. Above is a sylvan scene
with waving woods, and a dark grove with awful shade hangs
over. Under the opposite front a cave is of pendant rocks,"
within which are fresh springs, and seats of living stone, 3 '
the recess of nymphs. Here neither cables hold, nor anchors
with crooked fluke moor the weather-beaten ships. To this
retreat ^Eneas brings seven ships, collected from all his fleet ;
and the Trojans, longing much for land, disembarking, enjoy
29 See Anthon. So Aoyov GU.TTOV, Heliodor. Eth. i. 15. iv. 10. B.
30 Cymothoe, one of the Nereids. Triton, a powerful sea deity, son of
Neptune and Amphitrite. Many of the sea-gods were called Tritons, but
the name was generally applied to those only who were represented half
men and half fishes.
31 "Ssepe." like the Greek -KO/^MKI^ is often used in this sense, as ob-
served by Abresch. Diluc. Thucyd. p. 174, and Heindorf on Plat. Phse-
don. 11. B.
32 My interpretation is justified by Ennius, Scriver. p. 20, "per spe-
luncas saxis structas asperis pendentibus." B.
33 OVTOTIKT' uvrpa, JEsch. Prom. 309. In English, " natural cavee." B.
110 ^ENEID. B. L 172205.
the wished-for shore, and stretch their brine-drenched limbs
upon the beach. Then first Achates struck spark from a flint,
received the fire in leaves, round it applied dry combustible
matter, and instantly blew up a flame from the fuel. Then,
spent with toil and hunger, they produce their grain, damaged
by the sea-water, and the instruments of Ceres ; and prepare
to dry over the fire, and to grind with stones, their rescued
corn. Meanwhile ^Eneas climbs a rock, and takes a prospect
of the wide ocean all around, if, by any means, he can descry
any [man like] Antheus tossed by the wind, and the Phrygian
galleys or Capys," or the arms of Caicus, on the lofty deck.
He sees no ship in view, but three stags straying on the shore ;
these the whole herd follow, and are feeding through the valley
in a long-extended train. Here he stopped short, and snatch-
ing his bow and swift arrows (weapons which the faithful
Achates bore), first prostrates the leaders, bearing their heads
high with branching horns ; next the vulgar throng ; and dis-
perses the whole herd, driving them with darts through the
leafy woods. Nor desists he, till conqueror he stretches seven
huge deer on the ground, and equals their number with his
ships. Hence he returns to the port, and shares them among
all his companions. Then the hero divides the wine which
the good Acestes 3 ' had stowed in casks on the Sicilian shore,
and given them at parting, and with these words cheers their
saddened hearts : O companions, who have sustained severer
ills than these (for we are not strangers to former days of
adversity), to these, too, God will grant a termination. You
have approached 36 both Scylla's fury, and those deep roaring
rocks ; you are unacquainted with the dens of the Cyclops :
resume then your courage, and dismiss your desponding fears ;
perhaps hereafter it may delight you to remember these suf-
ferings. Through various mischances, through so many peril-
ous adventures, we steer to Latium, where the Fates give us
the prospect of peaceful settlements. There Troy's kingdom
34 Capys. This brave Trojan was one of those who, against the advice
of Thymcetes, wished to destroy the wooden horse, which proved the
destruction of Troy.
35 Acestes, a king of Sicily, who assisted Priam in the Trojan war,
and who afterward kindly entertained ^Eneas when he landed upon the
coast of Sicily.
35 " Accedere,"="to encounter," is properly used of any thing dan-
gerous. Cf. Burm. B.
B. I. 206240. JEXEID. Ill
is allowed once more to rise. Persevere, and reserve yourselves
for prosperous days. So he says in words ; and oppressed with
heavy cares, wears the looks of hope, buries deep anguish in
his breast.
They address themselves to the spoil and future feast ; tear
the skin from the ribs, and lay the flesh bare. Some cut into
parts, and fix on spits the quivering limbs ; others place the
brazen caldrons on the shore, and prepare the fires. Then they
repair their strength with food, and, stretched along the grass,
regale themselves with old wine and fat venison. After hunger
was taken away by banquets, and the viands removed, in long
discourse they inquire after their lost companions, in suspense
between hope and fear, whether to believe them yet alive, or
that they have finished their destiny, and no longer hear when
called. Above the rest, the pious /flneas, within himself, be-
moans now the loss of the active Orontes, now of Amycus, and
then the cruel fete of Lycus, with valiant Gyas, and valiant
Cloanthus.
And now there was an end [of discourse] ; when Jove,
looking down from the lofty sky upon the sail-flown sea, and
the lands lying at rest, with the shores and the nations dis-
persed abroad ; thus stood on the pinnacle of heaven, and
fixed his eyes on Libya's realms. To him, revolving such
cares in his mind, Venus, in mournful mood, her bright eyes
bedirnmed with tears addresses herself: O thou, who with eter-
nal sway rulest, and with thy thunder overawest, the affairs of
both gods and men, what so high offense against thee could
my ^Eneas or the Trojans be guilty of, that, after having suf-
fered so many deaths, they must be shut out from all the world
on account of Italy ? Surely you promised, that in some future
age, after circling years, the Romans should descend from
them, powerful leaders spring from the blood of Teucer" re-
stored, who should rule the sea, the nations with absolute
sway. Father ! why is thy purpose changed ? I, indeed, was
solacing myself with this promise under Troy's fall and sad
ruin, with fates balancing contrary fates. Now the same
fortune still pursues them, after they have been driven with
such variety of woes. Great king, what end to their labors
37 Teucer, a king of Phrygia, son of Scamander. Troy was called
from him Teucria, and the Trojans Teucri.
112 ^ENELD. B. I. 241 270.
wilt thou give ?" Antenor, escaped from amidst the Greeks,
could with safety penetrate the Illyrian gulf, and the inmost
realms of Liburnia, 3 ' and overpass the springs of Timavus ;
whence, through nine mouths, with loud echoing from the
mountain, it bursts away a sea impetuous, and sweeps the fields
with a roaring deluge. Yet there he built the city of Padua, 40
established a Trojan settlement, gave the nation a name, and
set up the arms of Troy. Now in calm peace composed he
rests : we, thy own progeny, whom thou by thy nod ordainest
the throne of heaven, (oh woe unutterable !) having lost our
ships, are betrayed, driven hither and thither far from the Italian
coast, to gratify the malice of one. Are these the honors of
piety ? is it thus thou replacest us on the throne ?
The sire of gods and men, smiling upon her with that as-
pect wherewith he clears the tempestuous sky, gently kissed
his daughter's lips ; then thus replies ; Cytherea, 41 cease from
fear : immovable to thee remain the fates of thy people.
Thou shalt see the city and promised walls of Lavinium, and
shalt raise magnanimous ^Eneas aloft to the stars of heaven ;
nor is my purpose changed. In Italy he (for.I will tell thee,
since this care lies gnawing at thy heart, and tracing further
back, I will reveal the secrets of fate) shall wage a mighty war,
crush a stubborn nation, and establish laws and cities to his
people, till the third summer shall see him reigning in Latium,
and three winters pass after he has subdued the Rutulians."
But the boy Ascanius," who has now the surname of lulus
(Dus he was, while the empire of Hium flourished), shall meas-
ure with his reign full thirty great circles of revolving months,
transfer the seat of his empire from Lavinium, and strongly
38 Eur. Alcest. 214, i> Zei), rlq av KU. Tropof KCLKUV TKVOITO, nal Mate
39 Liburnia (Croatia), a province of Illyria, at the head of the Adri-
atic.
40 Padua, a city of Italy, celebrated as the birth-place of Livy.
41 Cytherea, a surname of Venus, from Cythera (Cerigo), an island on
the southern coast of Laconia in Peloponnesus, which was sacred to her.
42 Rutulians, a people of Latium, anciently known, as well as the
Latins, by the name of Aborigines. They supported Turnus their king
in the war which he waged against ^Eneas.
43 Ascanius, called also lulus, was the son of JEneas by Creusa; ho
accompanied his father to Italy, succeeded him in the kingdom of
Latinus, and built the city of Alba Longa.
B. I. 271 299. ^INEID. 113
fortify Alba Longa. Here again, for full three hundred years,
the scepter shall be swayed by Hector's line, until Ilia, 44 a
royal priestess, impregnated by Mars, shall bear two infants
at a birth. Then Romulus, exulting in the tawny hide of the
wolf his nurse, shall take upon him the rule of the nation,
build a-city sacred to Mars, and from his own name call the
people Romans. To them I fix neither limits nor duration of
empire ; dominion have I given them without end. And even
sullen Juno, who now, through jealous fear, creates endless
disturbance to sea, and earth, and heaven, shall change her
counsels for the better, and join with me in befriending the
Romans, lords of the world, and the nation of the gown. Such
is my pleasure. An age shall come, after a course of years,
when the house of Assaracus shall bring under subjection
Phthia 45 ' and renowned MycenaB, and reign over vanquished
Argos. A Trojan shall be born of illustrious race, Caesar,
who shall bound his empire by the ocean, his fame by the
stars, Julius his name, from great lulus derived. Him, loaded
with the spoils of the East, you shall receive to heaven at
length, having seen an end of all your cares : he too shall be
invoke 1 by vows and prayers. Then, wars having ceased,
fierce nations shall soften into peace. Hoary Faith, Vesta,
and Quirinus, 4 ' with his brother Remus, shall administer jus-
tice. The dreadful gates of war 47 shall be shut with close
bolts of iron. Within impious Fury, sitting on horrid arms,
and his hands bound behind him with a hundred brazen chains,
in hideous rage shall gnash his bloody jaws.
He said, and from on high sent down Maia's son, 48 that the
coasts of Libya and the new towers of Carthage might be open
hospitably to receive the Trojans ; lest Dido, 49 ignorant of heav-
en's decree, should shut them out from her ports. He, on the
44 Ilia, or Rhea, priestess of Vesta, was a daughter of Numitor, king
of Alba, and the mother of Romulus and Remus by Mars.
45 Phthia, a city of Thessaly, celebrated as the birth-place of Achilles ;
it gave name to the surrounding district.
46 Quirinus, a name given to Romulus, after he was deified.
47 i. e. of Janus. War is here personified.
48 Maia's son ; Mercury, a celebrated god of antiquity, the son of Ju-
piter and Maia ; he was the messenger of the gods, and of Jupiter in
particular.
48 Dido, called afso Elisa, the daughter of Belus king of Tyre, and
the wife of Sichaeus, whom her brother Pygmalion murdered for his
.*'
114 jENEID. B. I. 300332,
steerage of his wings, fiit-s through the expanded sky, and
speedily alighted on the coasts of Libya. And now he puts
his orders in execution ; and, at the will of the god, the Car-
thagenians lay aside the fierceness of their hearts : the queen,
especially, entertains thoughts of peace, and a benevolent dis-
position toward the Trojans.
But pious ^Eneas, by night revolving many things, resolved
as soon as cheerful day arose, to set out, and to reconnoiter
the unknown country, on what coasts he was driven by the
wind ; who are the inhabitants, whether men or wild beasts,
(for he sees nothing but uncultivated grounds), and inform
his friends of his discoveries. Within a winding grove, under
a hollow rock, he secretly disposed his fleet, fenced round with
trees and gloomy shades : himself marches forth, attended by
Achates alone, brandishing in his hand two javelins of broad-
pointed steel. To whom, in the midst of a wood, his mother
presents herself, wearing the mien and attire of a virgin, and
the arms of a Spartan maid ; or resembling Thracian Harpa-
lyce, 60 when she tires her steeds, and in her course outflies the
swift Hebrus : for, huntress-like, she had hung from her
shoulders a light bow, and suffered her hair to wanton in the
wind ; bare to the knee, with her flowing robes gathered in a
knot. Then first, Pray, youths, she says, inform me if by
chance ye have seen any of my sisters wandering this way,
equipped with a quiver, and the skin of a spotted lynx, or with
full cry urging the chase of a foaming boar. Thus Venus, and
thus Venus' son replied : Of your sisters not one has been
heard or seen by me. O virgin, by what name shall I address
thee ? for thou wearest not the looks of a mortal, nor sounds
thy voice human. thou a goddess surely ! Are you the sister
of Phoebus, or one of the race of the nymphs ? O ! be propi-
tious, and whoever you are, ease our anxious minds, and in-
form us under what climate, on what region of the globe, we
at length are thrown. We wander strangers both to the
country and the inhabitants, driven upon this coast by furious
winds and swelling seas. So shall many a victim fall a sacri-
riches. Dido was the founder of the city of Carthage, where she hos-
pitably entertained ^Eneas, who had been shipwrecked upon the coast
50 Harpalyce, a daughter of Harpalycus, king of Thrace, a woman of
the most undaunted courage.
'.*
B. i. 333 368. JBNEID. 115
fice at thine altars by our right hand. Then Venus : I, indeed,
deem not myself worthy of such honor. It is the custom for
the Tyrian virgins to wear a quiver, and bind the leg thus
high with a purple buskin. You see the kingdom of Car-
thage, a Tyrian people, and Agenor's city." But the country
is that of Libya, a race invincible in war. The kingdom is
ruled by Dido, who fled hither from Tyre, to shun her bro-
ther's hate ; tedious is the relation of her wrongs, and intri-
cate the circumstances ; but I shall trace the principal heads."
Her husband was SichaBus, the richest of the Phoenicians in
land, and passionately beloved by his unhappy spouse. Her
father had given her to him in her virgin bloom, and joined
her in wedlock with the first connubial rites : but her brother
Pygmalion then possessed the throne of Tyre ; atrociously
wicked beyond all mortals. Between them hatred arose.
He, impious, and blinded with the love of gold, having taken
Sichseus by surprise, secretly assassinates him before the
altar, regardless of his sister's great affection. Long he kept
the deed concealed, and wicked, forging many lies, amused the
heart-sick, loving [queen] with vain hope. But the ghost of
her unburied husband appeard to her in a dream, lifting up
his visage amazingly pale and ghastly : he opened to her view
the bloody altars, and his breast transfixed with the sword,
and detected all the hidden villainy of the house ; then exhorts
her to hasten flight, and quit her native country ; and, to aid
her flight, reveals treasures ancient in the earth, an unknown
mass of gold and silver. Dido, roused by this awful mes-
senger, provided friends, and prepared to fly. They assem-
ble, who either had mortal hatred or violent dread of the
tyrant ; what ships by chance are ready, they seize in haste,
and load with gold. The wealth of the covetous Pygmalion
is conveyed over sea. A woman is guide of the exploit.
Thither they came, where now you will see the stately walls
and rising towers of a new-built Carthage, .and bought as
much ground as they could cover with a bull's hide, called
Byrsa,, 53 in commemoration of the deed. But [say] now, who
51 Agenor's city ; Carthage is so called, as being built by Dido, who
was a descendant of Agenor, king of Phoenicia.
i2 Literally, " the chief footsteps." B.
53 Byrsa is also a citadel in the middle of Carthage, on which was the
temple of JSsculapius.
116 vENEID. B. I. 369 400.
are you ? or from what coasts you came, or whither are you
bending your way ? To these her demands, the hero, with
heavy sighs, and slowly raising his words from the bottom of
his breast, [thus replies,] If I, O goddess ! tracing from their
first source, shall pursue, and you have leisure to hear, the
annals of our woes, the evening star will first shut heaven's
gates upon the expiring day." Driven over a length of seas
from ancient Troy (if the name of Troy hath by chance
reached your ears), a tempest, by its wonted chance, threw
us on this Libyan coast. I am ^Eneas the pious, renowned
by fame above the skies, who carry with me in my fleet the
gods I snatched away from the enemy. I seek my country,
Italy ; and my descendants sprang from Jove supreme. With
twice ten ships I embarked on the Phrygian Sea, having fol-
lowed the destinies vouchsafed me, my goddess-mother point-
ing out the way ; seven, with much ado, are saved, torn and
shattered by waves and wind. Myself, a stranger, poor and
destitute, wander through the deserts of Africa, banished from
Europe and from Asia. Venus, unable to bear his further
complaints, thus interrupted in the midst of his grief : Who-
ever you may be, I trust you live" not unbefriended by the
powers of heaven, who have arrived at a Tyrian city. But
do you forthwith bend your course directly to the palace of
the queen ; for, that your friends are returned, and your ships
saved, and by a turn of the north wind wafted into a secure
harbor, I pronounce to thee with assurance, unless my pa-
rents, fond of a lying art, have in vain taught me divination.
See these twelve swans exulting in a body, whom the bird of
Jove, 68 having glided from the ethereal region, was chasing
through the open air : now, in a long train, they seem either
to choose their ground, or to hover over the place they have
already chosen. As they, returning, sportive clap their
rustling wings, wheel about the heavens in a troop, and raise
their melodious notes ; just so your ships and youthful crew,
either are possessed of the harbor, or are entering the poit
64 See Anthon. Demosth. de Cor. 91, l-i?.efyet fie teyovra % fi/Litpa
T& riJv TrpodoTuv ovofiara. B.
" Ruhnk. on Xen. Mem. iv. 3, 8, most appositely illustrates the
phrase, " auras vitales carpere," from a passage of ^Elian in Suidas, KOI
depof airuv, nal IXCLV Tpo$r)v fw^f TO i avrov irvevpa.
** Bird of Jove, *. e., the eagle.
B. 1.401 434. ^ENEID. H7
with full sail. Proceed, then, and pursue your way where this
path directs.
She said, and turning away, shone radiant with her rosy
neck, and from her head ambrosial locks breathed divine fra-
grance : her robe hung flowing to the ground, and by her gait
the goddess stood confessed. The hero, soon as he knew his
mother, with these accents pursued her as she fled : Why so
oft dost thou too cruelly mock thy son with vain shapes?
why is it not granted me to join my hand to thine, and to hear
and answer thee by turns in words sincere and undissembled ?
Thus he expostulates with her, and directs his course to the
walls. But Venus screened them on their way with dim
clouds, and the goddess spread around them a thick vail of
mist, that none might see, or touch, or cause them interrup-
tion, or inquire into the reasons of their coming. She herself
wings her way sublime to Paphos, and with joy revisits her
seats ; where, sacred to her honor, is a temple, and a hundred
altars smoke with Sabean incense, and are fragrant with fresh
garlands.
Meanwhile they urged their way where the path directs.
And now they were ascending the hill that hangs over a great
part of the town, and from above surveys its opposite towers,
./Eneas admires the mass of buildings, once cottages :" he ad-
mires the gates, the bustle, and the paved streets. The Tyri-
ans warmly ply the work : some extend the walls, and raise a
tower to push along unwieldy stones ; some choose out the
ground for a private building, and inclose it with a trench.
Some choose [a place for] the courts of justice, for the magis-
trates' [halls] and the venerable senate. 68 Here some are
digging ports ; there others are laying the foundations for
lofty theaters, and hewing huge columns from the rocks, the
lofty decorations of future scenes. Such their toil as in sum-
mer's prime employs the bees amid the flowery fields under
the sun, when they lead forth the full-grown swarms of their
race, or when they press close the liquid honey, and distend
the cells with sweet nectar ; 69 or when they disburden those
67 i. e. "movable huts." See Anthon.
68 But it is perhaps better to regard "legunt" as joined with "jura,"
by a zeugma, in this sense ; " they [institute] laws, and choose magis-
trates." B.
av vsKrapi, Eur. Bacch. 148.
118 JSNEID. B. 1. 434 467.
that come home loaded, or in formed battalion, drive the in-
active flock of drones from the hives. The work is hotly
plied, and the fragrant honey smells strongly of thyme. O
happy ye, whose walls now rise ! ^Eneas says, and lifts his
eyes to the turrets of the city. Shrouded in a cloud (a marvel
to be told !) he passes amid the multitude, and mingles with
the throng, nor is seen by any. 80 In the center of the city
was a grove, most delightful in shade, where first the Cartha-
ginians, driven by wind and wave, dug up the head of a
sprightly courser, an omen which royal Juno showed : for
by this [she signified], that the nation was to be renowned
for war, brave and victorious through ages. Here Sidonian
Dido built to Juno a stately temple, enriched with gifts, and
the presence of the goddess ; whose brazen threshold rose on
steps, the beams were bound with brass, and the hinge creaked
beneath brazen gates. In this grove the view of an unex-
pected scene first abated the fear [of the Trojans] : here
^Eneas first dared to hope for redress, and to conceive better
hopes of his afflicted state. For while he surveys every ob-
ject in the spacious temple, waiting the queen's arrival ; while
he is musing with wonder on the fortune of the city ; and
[compares] the skill of the artists and their elaborate works,
he sees the Trojan battles [delineated] in order, and the war
now known by fame over all the world ; the sons of Atreus,"
Priam," and Achilles implacable to both. He stood still ; and,
with tears in his eyes, What place, Achates, what country on
the globe, is not full of our disaster ? See Priam ! even here
praiseworthy deeds 63 meet with due reward : here are tears
for misfortunes, and the breasts are touched 64 with human
woes. Dismiss your fears : this fame of ours will bring thee
some relief. Thus he speaks, and feeds his mind with the
empty representations, heaving many a sigh, and bathes his
visage in floods of tears. For he beheld how, on one hand,
the warrior Greeks were flying round the wal^s of Troy, while
the Trojan youth closely pursued ; on the other hand, the
60 A Grecism for "ab ullo." Ovid, Trist. v. 10, 38, non intelligor
ulli." B.
81 Sons of Atreus, Agamemnon and Menelaus.
M Priam, the son of Laomedon, and the last king of Troy, was slain by
Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, the same night on which Troy was taken.
53 For this sense of " laus," cf. CatulL Ixi. 102. Cicer. in Verr. 47. R
* 4 So OavdvTuv oMev ul.yof dTrrerai. Soph. (Ed. C. 955. B.
B. L 468490. yENEID. 119
Trojans [were flying],- while plumed Achilles, in his chariot,
pressed on their rear. Not far from that scene, weeping, he
espies the tents of Rhesus, 65 with their snow-white vails ;
which, betrayed by the first sleep, 66 cruel Diomede plundered,
drenched in much blood, and led away his fiery steeds to the
[Grecian] camp, before they had tasted the pasture of Troy,
or drank of A^nthus. 67 In another part, Troilus,* 8 flying
after the loss of his arms, ill-fated youth, and unequally
matched with Achilles ! is dragged by his horses, and from
the empty chariot hangs supine, yet grasping the reins ; his
neck and hair trail along the ground, and the dusty plain is
traced by the inverted spear. Meanwhile the Trojan matrons
were marching to the temple of adverse Pallas, with their
hair disheveled, and were bearing the robe, suppliantly mourn-
ful, and beating their bosoms with their hands. The goddess
turned away, kept her eyes fixed on the ground. Thrice had
Achilles dragged Hector round the walls of Troy, and was
selling his breathless corpse for gold. Then, indeed, ./Eneas
sent forth a deep groan from the bottom of his breast, when
he saw the spoils, the chariot, and the very body of his friend,
and Priam stretching forth his feeble hands. Himself, too, he
recognized mingled with the Grecian leaders, and the Eastern
bands, and the arms of swarthy Memnon. 69 Furious Pen-
thesilea 70 leads on her troops of Amazons, with their crescent
65 Rhesus, a warlike king of Thrace, who marched to the assistance of
Priam. The oracle having foretold that Troy should never be taken if
the horses of Rhesus drank the waters of Xanthus, and fed upon the
grass of the Trojan plains ; the Greeks, however, surprised him on the
night of his arrival, slew him in his tent, and carried away his horses in
triumph to then- camp.
68 "Primo somno, ut graviorem ostenderet somnum." SERVTOS.
Sleep is poetically said to have betrayed him, because he was surprised
while at rest. B.
87 Xanthus (Mendere), a river of Troas, in Asia Minor, rising in Mount
Ida, and falling into the sea at Sigaeum. It is the same with the Sca-
mander ; according to Homer, it was called Xanthus by the gods, and
Scamander by men.
68 Troilus, a son of Priam and Hecuba, slain by Achilles.
68 Memnon, a king of Ethiopia, son of Tithonus and Aurora. He came
with a body of 10,000 men to assist his uncle Priam in the Trojan war,
where he displayed great courage, and killed Antilochus, Nestor's son,
but was himself afterward slain by Achilles in single combat.
70 Penthesilea, a queen of the Amazons, daughter of Mars, who assisted
Priam, and was slain by Achilles.
120 -<ENErD. B. i. 491529.
shields, and burns amid the thickest ranks. Below her exposed
breast the heroine had girt a golden belt, and the virgin warrior
dares even to encounter with men.
These wondrous scenes while the Trojan prince surveys,
while he is lost in thought, and in one gaze stands unmoved ;
Queen Dido, of surpassing beauty, advanced to the temple,
attended by a numerous retinue of youth. As on the banks
of Eurotas, or on Mount Cynthus' top, Diana leads the circu-
lar dances, round whom a numerous train of mountain nymphs
play in rings; she bears her quiver on her shoulder, and
moving majestic, she towers above the other goddesses, while
silent raptures thrill Latona's 71 bosom ; such Dido was, and
such, with cheerful grace, she passed amid her train, urging
forward the labor and her future kingdom. Then at the
gate of the goddess, in the middle of the temple's dome, she
took her seat, surrounded with her guards, and raised aloft on
a throne. [Here] she dispensed justice and laws to her sub-
jects, and, in equal portions, distributed their tasks, or settled
them by lot ; when suddenly .JSneas sees, advancing with a
vast concourse, Antheus, Sergestus, brave Cloanthus, and other
Trojans, whom a black storm had tossed up and down the sea,
and driven to other far-distant shores. At once he was
amazed, at once Achates was struck, and between joy and fear
both ardently longed to join hands ; but the uncertainty of the
event perplexes their minds. They carry on their disguise,
and, shrouded under the bending cloud, watch to learn the for-
tune of their friends ; on what coast they left the fleet, and on
what errand they came : for a select number had come from all
the ^hips to sue for grace, and, with mingled voices, approached
the temple.
Having gained admission and liberty to speak in the presence,
Ilioneus their chief, with mind composed, thus began : O
queen, to whom Jove has granted to found this rising city,
and to curb proud nations with just laws, we Trojans forlorn,
tossed by winds over every sea, implore thee : keep from OUT
ships the. merciless flames ; spare a pious race, and propitiously
regard our distresses. We are not come either to ravage with
the sword the Libyan abodes, or to seize and bear away the plun-
der to our ships. We have no such hostile intention, nor does
such pride of heart become the vanquished. There is a place
71 Latona, the mother of Apollo and Diana.
6. i. 530560. J5NEID, 121
called by the Greeks Hesperia, an ancient land, renowned
for martial .deeds and fruitful soil ; the CEnotrians" possessed
it once : now fame is that their descendants call the nation
Italy, from their leader's name ; hither our course was bent,
when suddenly tempestuous Orion 74 rising from the main,
drove us on hidden shallows, and with southern blasts fiercely
sporting, tossed us hither and thither over waves, and over path-
less rocks, overwhelmed by the briny deep : hither we few have
floated" to your coasts. What a race of men is this ? what
country so barbarous to allow such manners ? We are denied
the hospitality of the shore. In anus they rise, and forbid our
setting foot on the first verge of land. If you set at nought the
human kind, and the arms of mortals, yet know the gods have
a mindful regard to right and wrong. We had for our king
^Eneas, than whom no one was more just in piety, none more
signalized in war and in martial achievements ; whom, if the
Fates preserve, if he breathe the vital air, and do not yet rest
with the ruthless shades, neither shall we despair, nor you re-
pent your having been the first in challenging to acts of kind-
ness. We have likewise cities and arms in Sicily, and the illus-
trious Acestes is of Trojan extraction. Permit us to bring to
shore our wind-beaten fleet, and from your woods to choose
[trees for] planks, and to refit our oars ; that, if it be granted
to bend our course to Italy, upon the recovery of our prince and
friends, we may joyfully set out thither, and make the Latian
shore. But if our safety has perished, and thou, O father of the
Trojans, the best of men ! now liest buried in the Libyan sea,
and no further hope of lulus remains, we may at least repair to
the straits of Sicily, and the settlement there prepared for us
(whence we were driven hither), and visit king Acestes. So
spoke Eioneus ; at the same time, the others Trojans murmured
their consent
72 Hesperia, a name applied to Italy by the Greeks, and to Spain by
the Romans.
73 (Enotrians, the inhabitants of CEnotria, or that part of Italy which
was afterward called Lucania. (Enotria is sometimes applied to Italy
in general.
74 Orion, one of the constellations, generally supposed to be accom-
panied at its rising (in March), with great storms and rains.
75 "Adnavimus" is employed to show that they had a bare escape.
So "vix enatavimus," Apul. Met. il p. 30; ijevjjl-dpeda, Lucian, Ver.
Hist iL and de Merc. Cond. B.
6
122 ^ENEID. B. i. 561594.
Then Dido, with downcast looks, thus in brief replies : Tnx
jans, banish fear from your breasts, lay your cares aside. My
hard fate, and the infancy of my kingdom, force me to take such
measures and to secure my frontiers with guards around. AVho
is stranger to the ^Eneiau race, the city of Troy, her heroes, and
their valorous deeds, and to the devastations of so renowned a
war ? We Carthaginians do not possess hearts that are so ob-
durate and insensible, nor yokes the sun his steeds so far away
from our Tyrian city. Whether Hesperia the greater, and the
country where Saturn reigned, or ye choose [to visit] Eryx' 78
coast and king Acestes, I will dismiss you safe with assistance,
and support you with my wealth. Or will you settle with me
in this realm ? The city which I am building shall be yours :"
draw your ships ashore ; Trojan and Tyrkin shall be treated by
me with no distinction. 78 And would that your prince ^Eneas
too were here, driven by the same wind ! However, I will send
trusty messengers along the coasts, with order to search Libya's
utmost bounds, if he is thrown out to wander in some wood or
city.
Animated by these words, brave Achates and father ^Eneas
had long impatiently desired to break from the cloud. Achates
first addressed /flneas : Goddess-born, what purpose now
arises in your mind ? You see all is safe ; your fleet and
friends restored. One alone is missing, whom we ourselves
beheld sunk in the midst of the waves : every thing else agrees
with your mother's prediction. He had scarcely spoken, when
suddenly the circumambient cloud splits asunder, and dissolves
into open air. ^Eneas stood forth, and in the clear light shone
conspicuous, in countenance and form resembling a god : for
Venus herself had breathed upon her son graceful locks, and
the radiant bloom of youth, and breathed a sprightly luster
on his eyes : such beauty as the hand superadds to ivory,
or where silver or Parian marble is enchased with yellow
gold.
Then suddenly addressing the queen, he, to the surprise of
78 Eryx, a king of Sicily, son of Butes and Venus; also a town and
mountain of Sicily, near Drepanum. On the summit of Mount Eryx
(Giuliano) stood a famous temple of Venus, who is hence called Erycina.
71 A common construction. Cf. Ter. Eun. iv. 3. 11. Plaut. Epid. iii.
4, 12. B.
78 Cf. JEn. x. 108, " Tros Tyriusve fuat, nullo discrimine habebo." B.
B. I. 595 629. ^NEID. 123
all, 79 thus begins : I, whom you seek, am present before you ;
Trojan ./Eneas, snatched from the Libyan waves. thou, who
alone hast commisserated Troy's unutterable calamities ! who
in thy town and palace dost associate us, a remnant saved from
the ^Greeks, who have now been worn out by woes in every
shape, both by sea and land, and are in want of all things ! to
repay thee due thanks, great queen, exceeds the power not
only of us, but of all the Dardan race, 80 wherever dispersed
over the world. The gods (if any powers divine regard the
pious, if justice any where exists, and a mind conscious of its
own virtue) shall yield thee a just recompense. What age
was so happy as to produce thee ? who were the parents of
so illustrious an offspring ? While rivers run into the sea,
while shadows move round the convex mountains, while
heaven feeds the stars ; your honor, name, and praise [with me]
shall ever live, to whatever climes I am called. This said, he
embraces his friend Ilioneus with his right hand, and Serestus
with his left : then the rest, the heroic Gyas, and heroic Cloan-
thus.
Sidonian Dido stood astonished, first at the presence of the
hero, then at his signal sufferings and thus her speech ad-
dressed : What hard fate, O goddess-born, pursues thee
through such mighty dangers ! what power drives thee on
this barbarous coast ? Are you that ^Eneas, whom, by
Phrygian Simois' stream, fair Venus bore to Trojan Anchises ?
and now, indeed, I call to mind that Teucer, expelled from his
native country, came to Sidon in quest of a new kingdom,
by the aid of Belus. My father Belus then reaped the soil of
wealthy Cyprus, 81 and held it in subjection to his victorious
arms. Ever since that time I have been acquainted with the
fate of Troy, with your name, and the Grecian kings. The
enemy himself extolled the Trojans with distinguished praise,
and with pleasure traced his descent from the ancient Trojan
race. Come then, youths, enter our walls. Me, too, through
a series of labors tossed, a like fortune has at length doomed
79 Mamertinus Pan. Jul. vi. 3, " In medio IHyrici sinus improvisus
apparuit." " Improvisus" ="de improvise," "unexpectedly." B.
80 Dardan race ; the Trojans, as descended from Dardanus, the son of
Jupiter and Electro, who fled to Asia Minor, where he built the city of
Dardania, and became the founder of the kingdom of Troy.
81 Cyprus, a large and fertile island in the eastern part of the Medi-
terranean Sea, sacred to Venus, who had here two celebrated temples.
124 JENEID. B. L 630661.
to settle in this land. Not unacquainted with misfortune
[in my own person], I have learned to succor the dis-
tressed.
This said, she forthwith leads ^Eneas into the royal apart-
ments, and at the same time ordains due honors for the tem-
ples of the gods. Meanwhile, with no less care, she sends
presents to his companions on the shore, twenty bulls, a hun-
dred bristly backs of huge boars, a hundred fat lambs, with
the ewes, as gifts and pleasure for the day. 85 But the inner
rooms are splendidly furnished with regal pomp, and banquets
are prepared in the middle of the hall. Couch draperies
wrought with art, and of proud purple : massy silver plate on
the table, and, embossed in gold, the brave exploits of her
ancestors, a lengthened series of history traced down through
so many heroes, from the first founder of the ancient race.
,/Eueas (for paternal affection suffered not his mind to rest)
with speed sends on Achates to the ships, to bear those tidings
to Ascanius, and bring [the boy] himself to the city. All the
care of the fond parent centers in Ascanius. Besides, he bids
him bring presents, saved from the ruins of Troy, a mantle stiff
with gold and figures,and a vail woven round with saffron-
colored acanthus, the ornaments of Grecian Helen, 83 which she
had brought with her from Mycenae, when bound for Troy, and
lawless nuptials ; her mother Leda's wondrous gift ; a scepter,
too, which once Ilione, Priam's eldest daughter, bore, a neck-
lace strung with pearl, and a crown set with double rows of
gems and gold. This message to dispatch, Achates directed his
course to the ships.
But Venus revolves in her breast new plots, new designs ;
that Cupid 84 should come in place of sweet Ascanius, assum-
ing his mean and features, and by the gifts kindle in the queen
all the rage of love, and enwrap the flame in her very bones ;
for she dreads the equivocating race, and the double-tongued
M The readings vary between "die," "dii," and "dei" See Serviua.
I have, with "Wagner, preferred "dii," which has the additional authority
of Gellius, ix. 14. B. .. 4-
8S Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, was the most beautiful
woman of her age. In the absence of her husband, Paris, son of king
Priam, carried her away, which was the cause of the ten years' war
against Troy, and the destruction of that celebrated city.
84 Cupid, in the heathen mythology, was the god of love, and the eon
of Yenua.
B. i. 662701. ^NEID. 125
Tyrians. Fell Juno torments her, and with the night her care
returns. To winged Love, therefore, she addresses these
words : O son, my strength, my mighty power ; my son, who
alone defiest the Typhcean bolts of Jove supreme, to thee I
fly, and suppliant implore thy deity. 'T is known to thee how
round all shores thy brother _^Eneas is tossed from sea to
sea, by the spite of partial Juno, and in my grief thou hast
often grieved. Him Phoenician Dido entertains, and amuses
with smooth speech ; and I fear what may be the issue of
Juno's acts of hospitality : she will not be idle in so critical
a conjuncture ; wherefore, I propose to prevent the queen by
subtle means, and to beset her with the flames of love, that
no power may influence her to change, but that with me she
may be possessed by great fondness for ^neas. How this
thou mayest effect, now hear my plan. The royal boy, my
chief care, at his father's call, prepares to visit the Sidonian
city, bearing presents saved from the sea and flames of Troy.
Him having lulled to rest, I will lay down in some sacred re^
treat on Cythera's tops, or above Idalium,** lest he should
discover the plot, or interfere with it. Do you artfully coun-
terfeit his face but for one night, and, yourself a boy, assume
a boy's familiar looks ; that when Dido shall take thee to her
bosom in the height of her joy, amid the royal feasts, and
Bacchus' stream, when she shall give thee embraces and im-
print sweet kisses, thou mayest breathe into her the secret
flame, and by stealth convey the poison. Love obeys the dic-
tates of his dear mother, and lays aside his wings, and joyful
trips along in the gait of lulus. Meanwhile Venus pours the
dews of balmy sleep on Ascanius' limbs, and in her bosom
fondled, conveys him to Idalia's lofty groves, where soft mar-
joram, perfuming the air with flowers and fragrant shade,
clasps him round.
Now, in obedience to his instructions, Cupid went along,
and bore the royal presents to the Tyrians, pleased with
Achates for his guide. By the time he arrived, the queen
had placed herself on a golden couch, under a rich canopy,
and had taken her seat in the middle. Now father ^Eneas,
and now the Trojan youth, join the assembly, and couch them-
selves on the strawn purple. The attendants supply water
96 Idalium (Dalin), a town of Cyprus, at the foot of Mount Idalus,
with a grove sacred to Venus, who was hence called Idalia,
126 ^NEID. B. i. 701731.
for the hands, dispense the gifts of Ceres from baskets, and
furnish them with the smooth-shorn towels. Within are fifty
handmaids, whose task it was to prepare provisions in due
order, and do honor" to the household gods. A hundred
more, and as many servants of equal age, are employed to
load the boards with dishes, and place the cups. In like
manner the Tyrians, a numerous train, assembled in the joy-
ful courts, invited to recline on the embroidered beds. They
view with wonder the presents of ^Eneas : nor with less
wonder do they view lulus, the glowing aspect of the god,
his well-dissembled words, the mantle and vail figured with
leaves of the acanthus in saffron colors. Chiefly the unhap-
py queen, henceforth devoted to love's pestilential influence,
can not satisfy her feelings, and is inflamed with every
glance, and is equally moved by the boy and by his gifts. He
on JEneas' neck having hung with embraces, and having fully
gratified his fictitious father's ardent affections, makes for 87
the queen. She clings to him with her eyes, her whole soul,
and sometimes fondles him in her lap, Dido not thinking what
a powerful god is settling on her, hapless one. Meanwhile
he, mindful of his Acidalian mother, begins insensibly to ef-
face the memory of Sichaeus, and with a living flame tries to
prepossess her languid affections, and her heart, chilled by long
disuse.
Soon as the first banquet ended, and the viands were re-
moved, they place large mixers, and crown the wines. A
bustling din arises through the hall, and they roll through
the ample courts the bounding voice. Down from the gold-
fretted ceilings 88 hang the flaming lamps, and torches over-
power the darkness of the night. Here the queen called for
a bowl, heavy with gems and gold, and with pure wine filled
it to the brim, which Belus, 89 and all her ancestors from Belus,
used ; then, having enjoined silence through the palace [she
thus began] : O Jove (for by thee, it is said, the laws of hospi-
tality were given), grant this may be an auspicious day both
.as " Adolere"="augere," i. ,e. "to increase the power of the gods
who presided over the hearth, by due attention to culinary offices." See
Anthon. Davidson's note is founded upon an old mistake. B.
81 t. e. " insidiatur." SERVIUS. See Burm. on Petron. p. 490. B.
88 So Sidon. Apoll. Ep. ix. 13, " laquearibus coruscis camera} in su-
perna lychnus." B.
** Belus, a king of Tyre, from whom Dido waa descended.
a IL 132-756. IT. 1, 2. ^NEID. 127
to the Tyrians and my Trojan guests, and may this day be
commemorated by our posterity. Bacchus, the giver of joy,
and propitious Juno, be present here ; and you, my Tyrians,
with good will, solemnize this meeting. She said, and on the
table poured an offering; and, after the libation, first gently
touched [the cup] with her lips, then gave it to Bitias 90 with
a challenge : he quickly drained the foaming bowl, and laved
himself with the brimming gold. After him the other lords
[drank]. Long-haired lopas [next] tunes his golden lyre to
what the mighty Atlas taught, lie sings of the wandering
moon, and the eclipses of the sun ; whence the race of men
and beasts, whence showers and fiery meteors arise : of Arc-
turus, the rainy Hyades, and the two northern wains ; why
winter suns make so much haste to set in the ocean, or what
retarding cause detains the slow [summer] nights. The Tyrians
redouble their applauses and the Trojans concur.
Meanwhile unhappy Dido, with varied converse, spun out
the night, and drank long draughts of love, questioning much
about Priam, much about Hector ; now in what arms Aurora's
son had come ; now what were the excellences of Diomede's
steeds ; now how mighty was Achilles. Nay come, my guest,
she says ; and from the first origin relate to us the stratagems
of the Greeks, the adventures of your friends, and your own
wanderings ; for now the seventh summer brings thee [to our
coasts], through wandering mazes roaming o'er every land and
sea.
BOOK H.
In the Second Book, JSneas. at the desire of Queen Dido, relates the fall
of Troy, and his escape, through the general conflagration, to Mount Ida.
A comparison with the poems of Petronius and Tryphodorus will repay
the reader.
ALL became silent, and fixed their eyes upon him, eagerly
attentive ; then father JEneas thus from his lofty 1 couch began :
90 Bitias and lopas, African chiefs and suitors of Queen Dido.
1 Anthon is wrong in supposing that " alto" has no positive meaning.
It was customary to pile up the cushions and draperies of the couches,
in order to form a favorable position for the speaker to be heard. Of.
Apul. Met. ii. p. 27, " Aggeratis in tumulum strajrulis, ct cffultis in cu-
bitum, suberectisquo in torum inflt Telephon." B.
128 jENEID. B. n. 330.
Unutterable woes, O queen, you urge me to renew : to tell
how the Greeks overturned the power of Troy, and its de-
plorable realms : both what scenes of misery I myself beheld
and those wherein I was a principal party. What Myrmidon,*
or Dolopian, or who of hardened Ulysses' 3 band, can, in the
very telling of such woes, refrain from tears ? Besides, humid
night is hastening down the sky, and the setting stars invite
to sleep. But since you are so desirous of knowing our mis-
fortunes, and briefly hearing the last effort of Troy, though my
soul shudders at the remembrance, and hath shrunk back with
grief, yet will I begin. The Grecian leaders, now disheartened
by the war, and baffled by the Fates, after a revolution of so
many years, [being assisted] by the divine skill of Pallas,
build a horse the size of a mountain, and interweave its ribs
with planks of fir. This they pretend to be an offering, in
order to procure a safe return ; which report spread. Hither
having secretly conveyed a select band, chosen by lot, they
shut them up into the dark sides, and fill its capacious caverns
and womb with armed soldiers. In sight [of Troy] lies Te-
nedos, 4 an island well known by fame, and flourishing while
Priam's kingdom stood : now only a bay, and a station unfaith-
ful for ships. Having made this island, they conced them-
selves in that desolate shore. We imagined they were gone,
and that they had set sail for Mycenae. In. consequence of
[this], all Troy is released from its long distress : the gates
are thrown open ; with joy we issue forth, and view the Gre-
cian camp, the deserted plains, and the abandoned shore.
Here were the Dolopian bands, there stern Achilles had
pitched his tent ; here were the ships drawn up, there they
1 The Myrmidons and Dolopians inhabited Thessaly, and the borders
of Epirus,
* Ulysses, the son of Laertes and Anticlea, king of the islands of Ithaca
and Dulichium, and the husband of Penelope, was distinguished among
the Grecian chiefs for superior prudence and cunning. After the fall of
Troy, setting sail for his native country, he was exposed to incredible
dangers and misfortunes, and at last reached home, without a single com-
panion, after an absence of twenty years. The adventures of Ulysses, in
his return to Ithaca from the Trojan war, are beautifully depicted by
Homer, in the first twelve books of the Odyssey.
4 Tenedos, a small but fertile island of the JEgean Sea. opposite Troy.
Here the Greeks concealed themselves, to make the Trojans believe that
they had abandoned the siege.
B. IL 3156. ^ENEID. 129
were wont to contend in array. 6 Some view with amaze-
ment that baleful offering of the virgin Minerva, and won-
der at the stupendous bulk of the horse ; and Thymoetes' first
advised that it be dragged within the walls and lodged in the
tower, whether with treacherous design, or that the destiny
of Troy now would have it so. But Capys, and all whose 7
minds had wiser sentiments, strenuously urge either to throw
into the sea the treacherous snare and suspected oblation of the
Greeks ; or by applying flames consume it to ashes ; or to lay
open and ransack the recesses of the hollow womb. The fickle
populace is split into opposite inclinations. Upon this, Lao-
coon, 8 accompanied with a numerous troop, first before all, with
ardor hastens down from the top of the citadel ; and while
yet a great way off, [cries out,] O wretched countrymen, what
desperate infatuation is this? Do you believe the enemy
gone ? or think you any gift of the Greeks can be free from
deceit ? Is Ulysses thus known to you ? Either the Greeks lie
concealed within this wood, or it is an engine framed against
our walls, to overlook our houses, and to come down upon our
city; or some mischievous design lurks beneath it. Trojans,
put no faith in this horse. Whatever it be, I dread the
Greeks even when they bring gifts. Thus said, with valiant
strength he hurled his massy spear against the sides and belly
of the monster, where it swelled out with its jointed timbers ;
the weapon stood quivering, and the womb be;ng shaken, the
hollow caverns rang, and sent forth a groan. And had not the
decrees of heaven [been adverse], if our minds had not been
infatuated, he had prevailed on us to mutilate with the sword
this dark recess of the Greeks ; and thou, Troy, should still
have stood, 9 and thou, lofty tower of Priam, now remained !
5 " Acie." Some MSS. and Rufin. de Schem. lex. p. 33, have " acies."
Cf. Oudendorp on Frontin. ii. 2. B.
6 Thymcetes, a Trojan prince, whose wife and son were put to death
by Priam ; in revenge, he persuaded his countrymen to bring the wooden
horse into the city.
T On the ellipse of the pronoun, cf. Oudend. on Lucan, x. 347. B.
8 Laocoon, a son of Priam and Hecuba, and priest of Apollo, who,
with his two sons, were destroyed by two enormous serpents, while he
was sacrificing to Neptune. The punishment was believed to be inflicted
upon him for his temerity in dissuading the Trojans to bring into the
city the fatal wooden horse, and also for his impiety in hurling a javelin
against its sides as it entered within the walls.
9 But Wagner prefers " staret." B.
6*
130 ^ENEID. B. n. 5782.
In the mean time, behold, Trojan shepherds, with loud accla-
mations, came dragging to the king a youth, whose hands were
bound behind him ; who, to them a mere stranger, had volun-
tarily thrown himself in the way, to promote this same de-
sign, and open Troy to the Greeks; a resolute soul, and
prepared for either event, whether to execute his perfidious
purpose, or submit to inevitable death. The Trojan youth
pour tumultuously around from every quarter, from eagerness
to see him, and they vie with one another in insulting the
captive. Now learn the treachery of the Greeks, and from
one crime take a specimen of the whole nation. 10 For as he
stood among the gazing crowds perplexed, defenseless, and
threw his eyes around the Trojan bands, Ah ! says he, what
land, what seas can now receive me ? or to what further ex-
tremity can I, a forlorn wretch, be reduced, for whom there is
no shelter any where among the Greeks ? and to complete my
misery, the Trojans too, incensed against me, sue for satisfac-
tion with my blood. By which mournful accents our affec-
tions at once were moved toward him, and all our resentment
suppressed : we exhort him to say from what race he sprurg,
to declare what message he brings, what confidence we may
repose in him, now that he is our prisoner. Then he, having
at length laid aside fear, thus proceeds: I indeed, O king,
will confess to you the whole truth, says he, be the event
what will ; nor will I disown that I am of Grecian extraction :
this I premise ; nor shall it be in the power of cruel fortune,
though she has made Sinon 11 miserable, to make him also
false and disingenuous. If accidentally, in the course of re-
port, the name of Palamedes," the descendant of Belus, and
10 Literally, " from one of their tricks learn what they all are." B.
*l Sinon, a crafty Greek, who prevailed on the Trojans to admit into
the city the wooden horse, which was filled with armed Greeks.
M Palamedes was the son of Nauplius, king of Euboea, descended from
Belus, king of Africa, by his grandmother Amymone, the daughter of
Danaus. The story here referred to, is briefly thus : When Ulysses, to
be exempt from going to the Trojan war, under pretense of madness, was
plowing up the shore, and sowing it with salt, Palamedes laid down his
son Telemachus in his way, and observing him to turn his plow aside,
that he might not hurt the boy, by this stratagem discovered his madness
to be counterfeit For this Ulysses never could forgive him, and at last
wrought his ruin, by accusing him of holding intelligence witli the enemy :
to support which charge he forged letters from Priam to Palamedes,
which he pretended to have intercepted, and conveyed gold into his tent,
B. II. 83109. ^ENELD. 131
his illustrious renown, ever reached your ears (who, though
innocent, the Greeks sent down to death, under a false accusa-
tion of treason, upon a villainous evidence, because he gave
his opinion against the war ; [but whom] now they mourn
bereaved of the light) ; with him my poor father sent me in
company to the war, from my earliest years, being his near
relative. While he remained safe in the kingdom, and had
weight in the counsels of the princes, I too bore some reputa-
tion and honor : [but] from the time that he, by the malice
of the crafty Ulysses (they are well-known truths I speak),
quitted the regions above, I distressed dragged out my life in
obscurity and grief, and secretly repined at the fate of my
innocent friend. Nor could I hold my peace, fool that I was,
but vowed revenge, if fortune should any way give me the
opportunity, if ever I should return victorious to my native
Argos ; and, by my words, I provoked bitter enmity. Hence
arose the first symptom 13 of my misery ; henceforth Ulysses
was always terrifying me with new accusations ; henceforth
he began to spread ambiguous surmises among the vulgar, and,
conscious [of his own guilt], sought the means of defense.
Nor did he give over, till, by making Calchas 14 his tool But
why do I thus in vain unfold these disagreeables ? or why do
I lose time ? If you place all the Greeks on the same footing,
and your having heard that be enough [to undo me], this very
instant strike the fatal blow : this the prince of Ithaca wishes,
and the sons of Atreus would give large sums to purchase.
Then, indeed, we grow impatient to know and to find out the
causes, unacquainted with such consummate villainy and
Grecian artifice. He proceeds with palpitation, and speaks
in the falsehood of his heart. After quitting Troy, the Greeks
sought often to surmount the difficulties of their return, and,
tired out with the length of the war, to be gone. And I wish
alleging it was the bribe given him for his treason. Upon this presump-
tion Palamedes was condemned by a council of war, and stoned to death.
Vide Ovid. Met. xiii. 56. That Palamedes was thus taken off through a
stratagem of Ulysses, was a fact probably well known to the Trojans,
though they might be ignorant of the color for his being taken off.
Sinon, therefore, to secure the attention and belief of his hearers, very
artfully pretends that Palamedes was murdered, because he had dis-
suaded the Greeks from continuing the war against Troy.
13 Literally, "plague-spot." B.
14 Calchas, a famous soothsayer, who accompanied the Greeks to the
Trojan war.
232 ^ENEID. B. n. 110136.
they had ! Often did the rough tempest on the ocean bar
their flight, and the south wind deterred them in their setting
out. Especially when now this horse, framed of maple planks,
was reared, storms roared through all the regions of the air.
In perplexity we send Eurypylus 15 to consult the oracle of
Apollo ; and from the sacred shrine he brings back this dis-
mal response : Ye appeased the winds, O ye Greeks, with the
blood of a virgin slain, 16 when first you arrived on the Trojan
coast ; by blood must your return be purchased, and atone-
ment made by the lite of a Greek. Which intimation no
sooner reached the ears of the multitude, than their minds
were stunned, and freezing horror thrilled through their very
bones ; [anxious to know] whom the Fates destined, whom
Apollo demanded. Upon this Ulysses drags forth Calchas
the seer, with great bustle, into the midst of the crowd ; im-
portunes him to say what that will of the gods may be ; and,
by this time, many presaged 17 to me the cruel purpose of the
dissembler, and quietly foresaw the event. He, for twice five
days, is mute, and close shut up, refuses to give forth his dec-
laration against any person, or doom him to death. At length,
with much ado, teased by the importunate clamors of Ulysses,
he breaks silence by concert, and destines me to the altar. All
assented, and were content to have what each dreaded for
himself, turned off to the ruin of one poor wretch. And now
the rueful day approached ; for me the sacred rites were pre-
pared, and the salted cakes, and fillets [to bind] about my tem-
ples. From death, I own, I made my escape, and broke my
bonds ; and in a slimy fen all night I lurked obscure among
the weeds, till they should set sail, if by chance they should
15 Eurypylus, also a soothsayer in the Grecian camp before Troy.
16 When the Grecian army was arrived at Aulis, ready to sail over the
Hellespont to the siege of Troy, Diana, incensed against Agamemnon
for killing one of her iavorite deers, withheld the wind. Calchas, hav-
ing consulted the oracles, reported that Iphigenia, Agamemnon's daughter,
must fall a victim to appease Diana's wrath. Ulysses went and fetched
the innocent fair, from the tender embraces of her mother, under color
of her being to be married to Achilles. She was brought to the altar,
and on the point of being sacrificed, when Calchas informed that Diana
was satisfied with this act of submission, and consented to have a deer
substituted in room of Iphigenia ; but that she must be transported to
Tauris, there to serve the goddess for life in quality of priestess.
" Canebant. C "Westerhov. on Ter Heut. ii. 3, 19, who remarks that
it is an augurial word. B.
B. ii. 137-^169. ^ENEID. 133
do so. Nor have I now any hope of being blessed with the
sight of my ancient country, nor of my sweet children, and my
much-beloved sire ; whom they, perhaps, will sue to vengeance
for my escape, and expiate this offense of mine by the death
of those unhappy innocents. But I conjure you, by the powers
above, by the gods who are conscious to truth, by whatever
remains of inviolable faith are any where among mortals, com-
passionate such grievous afflictions, compassionate a soul suffer-
ing unworthy treatment.
At these tears we grant him his life, and pity him from our
hearts. Priam himself first gives orders that the manacles
and strait bonds be loosed from the man, then thus addresses
him in the language of a Mend : Whoever you are, now hence-
forth forget the Greeks you have lost ; ours you shall be ; and
give me an ingenuous reply to these questions : To what
purpose raised they this stupendous bulk of a horse ? who
was the contriver ? or what do they intend ? what was the
religious motive ? or what warlike engine is it ? he said. The
other, practiced in fraud and Grecian artifice, lifted up to
heaven his hands, loosed from the bonds : To you, ye ever-
lasting orbs of fire, he says, and your inviolable divinity ; to
you, ye altars, and horrid swords, which I escaped ; and ye
fillets of the gods, which I a victim wore ; to you I appeal,
that I am free to violate all the sacred obligations I was under
to the Greeks ; I am free to hold these men in abhorrence,
and to bring forth to light all their dark designs ; nor am I
bound by any of the laws of my country. Only do thou, O
Troy, abide by thy promises, and, being preserved, preserve
thy faith ; provided I disclose the truth, provided I make thee
large amends.
The whole hope of the Greeks, and their confidence in the
war begun, always depended upon the aid of Pallas : but when
the sacrilegious Diomede, and Ulysses the contriver of wicked
designs, in their attempt to carry off by force from her holy
temple the fatal Palladium, 18 having slain the guards of her
high tower, seized her sacred image, and with bloody hands
dared to touch the virgin fillets of the goddess ; from that day
the hope -of the Greeks began to ebb, and, losing footing, to
18 Palladium, a celebrated statue of Pallas, said to have fallen from
heaven upon Troy, and on the preservation of which depended the safety
f that city.
134 ^ENEID. B. l* 170202.
decline : their powers were weakened, the mind of the god-
dess alienated : nor did Tritonia 19 show these indications [of
her wrath] by dubious prodigies ; for scarcely was the statue
set up in the camp, when bright flames flashed" from her staring
eyeballs, and a briny sweat flowed over her limbs ; and (won-
derful to hear) she herself sprung thrice from the ground,
armed as she was, with her shield and quivering spear. Forth-
with Calchas declares, that we must attempt the seas in flight,
and that Troy can never be razed by the Grecian sword, un-
less they repeat the omens at Argos, and carry back the god-
dess whom they had conveyed over the sea in their curved
ships. And now, that they have sailed for their native Mycenae
with the wind, they are providing themselves with arms, and
gods to accompany them ; and, having measured back the sea,
they will come upon you unexpected : so Calchas interprets the
omens. This figure, being warned, they reared in lieu of the
Palladium, in lieu of the violated goddess, in order to atone
for their direful crime. But Calchas commanded to build this
enormous mass, and raise it to the skies, that it might not be
admitted into the gates, or dragged into the city, nor protect
the people under their ancient religion. For [he declared
that] if your hands should violate this offering sacred to
Minerva, then signal ruin (which omen may the gods rather
turn on himself!) awaited Priam's empire and the Trojans.
But, if by your hands it mounted into the city, that Asia,
without further provocation given, would advance with a
formidable war to the very walls of Pelops, and our posterity
be doomed to the same fete. By such treachery and artifice
of perjured Sinon, the story was believed : and we, whom
neither Diomede, nor Larissaean Achilles, nor [a siege of]
ten years, nor a thousand' 1 ships, had subdued, were insuared
by guile and constrained tears. Here another greater scene,
and far moje terrible, is presented to our wretched sight, and
disturbs our unexpecting breasts. Laocoon, ordained Xep-
tune's priest by lot, was sacrificing a stately bullock at the
19 Tritonia, a surname of Minerva, from Tritonis, a lake and river of
Africa, near \vhich she had a temple.
** Larissaean. an epithet applied to Achilles, from Larissa, the capital
city of Thessaly.
11 See the commentators on ^Esch. Ag. 45. Virgil speaks in roun<l
numbers, for the number of ships somewhat exceeded a thousand, but 13
variously stated. B.
B. u. 203238. ^ENEID. 135
altars set apart for that solemnity ; when, lo ! from Tenedos
(I shudder at the relation) two serpents, with orbs immense,
bear along on the sea, and with equal motion shoot forward
to the shore ; whose breasts erect amid the waves, and
crests bedropped with blood, tower above the flood ; their
other parts sweep the sea behind, and wind their spacious
backs in rolling spires. A loud noise is made by the briny
ocean foaming : and now they reached the shores, and, suf-
fused with fire and blood as to fheir glaring eyes, with quiver-
ing tongues licked their hissing mouths. Half-dead with the
sight, we fly different ways. They, with resolute motion,
advance toward Laocoon ; and first both serpents, with close
embraces, twine around the little bodies of his two sons,
and with their fangs mangle their wretched limbs. Next
they seize himself, as he is coming up with weapons to their
relief, and bind him fast in their mighty folds ; and now
grasping him twice about the middle, twice winding their
scaly backs around his neck, they overtop him by the head
and lofty neck. He strains at once with his hands to tear
asunder their knotted spires, while his fillets are stained with
gore and black poison : at the same time he raises hideous
shrieks to heaven ; such bellowing as when a bull has fled
wounded from the altar, and has eluded with his neck the
missing ax. Meanwhile, the two serpents glide off to the
high temple, and repair to the fane of stern Tritonia, and are
sheltered under the feet of the goddess, and the orb of her
buckler. Then, indeed, new terror diffuses itself through the
quaking hearts of all ; and they pronounce Laocoon to have
deservedly suffered for his crime, in having violated the sacred
wood with his pointed weapon, and hurled his profane spear
against its sides. They urge with general voice to convey
the statue to its proper seat, and implore the favor of the
goddess. We make a breach iu the walls, and lay open the
bulwarks of the city. All keenly ply the work : and under
the feet apply smooth-rolling wheels ; stretch hempen ropes
from the neck. The fatal machine passes over 52 our walls,
pregnant with arms ; boys and unmarried virgins accompany
" As it were " scales" the walls. Thus Ennius in Macr. Sat. vi. 2,
"Nam maximo saltu superavit gravidus armatis equus." Cf. Stat. Silv.
i. 1, 11 sqq. I need scarcely remark that the whole description has been
copied by Tryphiodorus. B.
136 ^ENEID. B. n. 239 272.
i L with sacred hymns, and are glad to touch the rope with
their hands. It advances, and with menacing aspect slides
into the heart of the city. O country, O Ilium, the habitation
of gods, and ye walls of Troy by war renowned ! Four times
it stopped in the very threshold of the gate, and four times
the arms resounded in its womb : yet we, heedless, and blind
with frantic zeal, urge on, and plant the baneful monster in
the sacred citadel. Then, too, Cassandra," by the inspiration
of the god, opens her lips to our approaching doom, never be-
lieved by the Trojans. Unhappy we, to whom that day was
to be the last, adorn the temples of the gods throughout the
city with festive boughs. Meanwhile, the heavens change, 84
and night advances rapidly from the ocean, wrapping in her
extended shade both earth and heaven, and the wiles of the
Myrmidons. The Trojans, dispersed about the walls, were
hushed : deep Sleep fast binds them weary in his embraces.
And now the Grecian host, in their equipped vessels, set out
from Tenedos, making toward the well-known shore, by the
friendly silence of the quiet moonshine, as soon as the royal
[galley] stern had exhibited the signal fire ; and Sinon, pre-
served by the will of the adverse gods, in -a stolen hour un-
locks the wooden prison to the Greeks shut up in its womb :
the horse, from his expanded caverns, pours them forth to the
open air ; and with joy issue from the hollow wood Thessan-
drus and Sthenelus the chiefs, and dire Ulysses, sliding down
by a suspended rope, with Athamas and Thoas, Neoptolemus,
the grandson of Peleus, and Machaon who led the way, with
Menelaus, and Epeus the very contriver of the trick. They
assault the city buried in sleep and wine. The sentinels are
beaten down ; and with opened gates they receive all their
friends, and join the conscious bands. It was the time when
the first sleep invades languid mortals, and steals upon them,
by the gift of the gods, most sweet. In my sleep, lo ! Hector,
extremely sad, seemed to stand before my eyes, and to shed
floods of tears ; dragged, as formerly by the chariot, and black
93 Cassandra, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. According to the
poets, she had the gift of prophecy, while none believed her predictions.
24 This is according to the astronomy of the ancients, who supposed
the heavens revolved round the earth, which remained stationary. On
the time in which Troy was taken, cf. Petron. 89, p. 435. Tryph. 452
sqq. B.
B. n. 273307. ^ENEID. 137
with, gory dust, and his swollen feet bored through, with
thongs. Ah me ! in what piteous plight he was ! how changed
from that Hector who returned clad in the armor of Achilles,
or darting Phrygian flames against the ships of Greece!
wearing a grizzly beard, hair clotted with blood, and those
many wounds which he had received under his native walls.
I, methought, in tears addressed the hero first, and poured
forth these mournful accents : O light 2 * of Troy, O Trojans'
firmest hope ! what tedious causes have detained thee so
long 3 Whence comest thou, my long-looked-for Hector ?
With what joy we behold thee after the many deaths of thy
friends, after the various disasters of men and city ! What
unworthy cause has deformed the serenity of thy looks ? or
why do I behold these wounds I He [said] not a word ; nor
regards me, questioning of what nought availed ; but heavily,
from the bottom of his heart, drawing a groan ! Ah ! fly,
thou goddess-born, he says, and snatch thyself from these
flames : the enemy is in possession of the walls ; Troy falls
from its towering tops. To Priam, to my country, all duty
has been done. Could those walls have been saved by the
hand, by this same hand had they been saved. Troy com-
mends to thee her sacred things, her gods : these take com-
panions of thy fate ; for these go in quest of a city, which, in
process of time, you shall erect, larger of size, after a wander-
ing voyage. He said, and with his own hands brings forth,
from the inner temple, the fillets, the powerful Vesta, and tho
fire which always burned.
Meanwhile the city is filled with mingled scenes of woe f
and though my father Anchises' house stood retired, and in-
closed with trees, louder and louder the sounds rise on the ear,
and the horrid din of arms assails. I start from sleep, and,
by hasty steps, gain the highest battlement of the palace, and
stand with erect ears : as when a flame is driven by the furi-
ous south winds on standing corn ; or as a torrent impetuously
bursting in a mountain-flood desolates the fields, desolates the
rich crops of corn, and the labors of the ox, and drags woods
headlong down : the unwary shepherd, struck with the sound
"A beautiful imitation of Ennius, as quoted by Macrob. Sat. vL 2,
" lux Troj'as, germane Hector. Quid ita cum tuo lacerate corpore
miser ? Aut qui te sic respectantibus Tractavere nobis ?" So Quintua
Calaber i. 12, calls Hector ;} pap Tro/.rjuv. B.
138 -<ENEHX B. u. 308336.
from the top of a high rock, stands amazed. Then, indeed,
the truth is confirmed, and the treachery of the Greeks dis-
closed. Now Deiphobus' 2 " spacious house tumbles down,
overpowered by the conflagration ; now, next to him, Ucale-
gon 37 blazes : the straits of Sigaeum 38 shine far and wide with
the flames. The shout of men and clangor of trumpets arise.
My arms I snatch in mad haste : nor is there in arms enough
of reason : but all my soul burns to collect a troop for the
war, and rush into the citadel with my fellows : fury and rage
hurry on my mind, and it occurs to me how glorious it is to
die in arms. Lo ! then Pantheus, escaped from the sword of
the Greeks, Pantheus, the son of Othrys, priest of the citadel
and of Apollo, is hurrying away 29 with him the holy utensils,
the conquered gods, and his little grandchild, and makes for
the shore in distraction. How is it, Pantheus, with the main
affair ? what fortress do we seize ? I had scarcely spoken,
when, with a groan, he thus replies : Our last day is come,
and the inevitable doom of Troy : we are Trojans no more :
adieu to Eium, and the high renown of Teucer's race : fierce
Jupiter hath transferred all to Argos : the Greeks bear rule
in the burning city. The towering horse, planted in the
midst of our streets, pours forth armed troops ; and Sinon vic-
torious with insolent triumph scatters the flames. Others are
pressing at our wide-opened" gates, as many thousands as
ever came from populous Micenai : others with arms have
blocked up the lanes to oppose our passage ; the edged sword,
with glittering point, stands unsheathed, ready for dealing
death : hardly the foremost wardens of the gates make an
effort to fight, and resist in the blind encounter. By these
words of Pantheus, and by the impulse of the gods, I hurry
46 Deiphobus, a son of Priam and Hecuba, eminently distinguished
himself in the Trojan war, and after the death of his brother Paris, mar-
ried Helen.
" Ucalegon, a Trojan chief, praised for the soundness of his counsels,
and his good intentions, though accused by some of betraying his coun-
try to the Greeks.
88 Sigaeum, a famous promontory of Troas, at the entrance of the Hel-
lespont, where the Scamander fell into the sea. Here was the tomb of
Achilles, and near it were fought many of the battles between the Greeks
and the Trojans.
29 But "trahere" ia properly used of little children, who follow with
difficulty. Curt. iii. 13, 12. B.
* f. e. " having both valves open." B.
B. n. 337365. ^ENEiD 139
away into flames and arms ; whither the grim Fury, whither
the din and shrieks that rend the skies, urge me on. Ripheus,"
and Iphitus, mighty in arms, join me ; Hypanis and Dymas
coming up with us by the light of the moon, and closely ad-
here" to my side ; and also young Correbus, 33 Mygdon's son,
who at that time had chanced to come to Troy, inflamed with
a mad passion for Cassandra, and [in prospect, his] son-in-
law, brought assistance to Priam and the Trojans. Ill-fated
youth, who heeded not the admonitions of his raving spouse !
Whom, close united, soon as I saw resolute to engage, to ani-
mate them the more I thus begin : " Youths, souls magnani-
mous in vain ! if it is your determined purpose to follow me
in this last attempt, you see what is the situation of our affairs.
All the gods, by whom this empire stood, have deserted their
shrines and altars abandoned [to the enemy] : you come to
the relief of the city in flames : let us meet death, and rush 34
into the thickest of our armed foes. The only safety for the
vanquished is to throw away all hopes of safety." Thus the
courage of each youth is kindled into fury. Then, like raven-
our wolves" in a gloomy fog, whom the f.'ll rage of hunger hath
driven forth, blind to danger, and whose whelps left behind
long for their return with thirsting jaws ; through arms, through
enemies, we march up to imminent death, and advance through
the middle of a city : sable Night hovers around us with her
hollow shade. Who can describe in words the havoc, who the
deaths of that night ? or who can furnish tears equal to the dis-
asters ? Our ancient. city, having borne sway for many years,
tails to the ground : great numbers of sluggish carcasses are
31 Ripheus was distinguished for his love of justice ; having joined
JEneas the night that Troy was burned, he was, after a brave resistance,
slain by the Greeks. Dymas : this brave Trojan also joined ^Eneas ; but,
being dressed hi Grecian armor, was, through mistake, killed by his
countrymen.
" i. e. "implicare." Ninus i. a v. " agglomerare." B.
33 Coroebus, a Phrygian, son of Mygdon, the brother of Hecuba. He
assisted Priam in the Trojan war, with the hopes of being rewarded with
the hand of Cassandra, who advised him in vain to retire from the war.
He was slain by Peneleus.
34 On the supposition that the gods deserted a captured city, c -<33sch.
Sept. c. Th. 204, a/.?.' ovt> i?eot)f rovf TJ/C aTurvaijc, rro/lfof M.ei^eiv
/.oyof. See the notes, and Northmore on Tryphiod. 508. B.
36 varepov irpbrepov, as Servius rightly remarks. So in Eur. Hec. 50,
TOVTOV Trot* Irenov Kutiepov .uvr\<; v-o. B.
140 ^ENEID. B. n. 366 40L
strewn up and down, both in the streets, in the houses, and the
sacred thresholds of the gods. Nor do the Trojans alone pay
the penalty with their blood : the vanquished too, at times, re-
sume courage in their hearts, and the victorious Grecians fall :
every where is cruel sorrow, every where terror and death in
thousand shapes. 36 Androgeos first comes up with us, accom-
panied by a numerous band of Greeks, unadvisedly imagining
that we were confederate troops ; and he introduces himself to
us with this friendly address : Haste, men ; what so tardy
sloth detains you ? Others tear and plunder the blazing towers
of Troy : are you but just come from your lofty ships ? He
said, and instantly perceived (for we returned him no very
trusty answer) that he had stumbled 87 into the midst of foes.
He was confounded, and with his words recalled his step. As
one who, in his walk, hath trodden upon a snake unseen in the
rough thorns, and in fearful haste hath started back from him,
while he is collecting all his rage, and swelling his azure
crest ; just so Androgeos, terrified at the sight [of us], began
to withdraw. We rush in, and pour around with arms close
joined, and knock them down here and there, strangers as
they were to the place, and possessed with fear : fortune
smiles upon our first enterprise. Upon this Coroebus, exult-
ing with success and courage, cried out, My fellows, where
fortune thus early points out our way to safety, and where
she shows herself propitious, let us follow. Let us exchange
shields, and fit to ourselves the badges of the Greeks : whether
stratagem or valor, who questions in an enemy ? they them-
selves will supply us with arms. This said, he puts on the
crested helmet of Androgeos, and the rich ornament of his
shield, and buckles to his side a Grecian sword. The same
does Ripheus, the same does Dymas too, and all the youth
well pleased : each arms himself with the recent spoils. We
march on, mingling with the Greeks, but not with heaven on
our side ; and in many a skirmish we engage during the dark
night : many of the Greeks wo send down to Hades. Some
fly to the ships, and hasten to the trusty shore ; some, through
dishonest fear, scale once more the bulky horse, and lurk
38 Thucyd. L 81, iru.au, re idea Karearri davurov. C Trjphiodor.
673, sqq. B.
" For the construction compare Muret. on CatulL iv. 2, " Ait fuisse
navium celerrimus." Soph. Ant 87. Trach. 5.
B. IL 402438. ^BNEID. 141
within the well-known womb. Alas ! on nothing ought man
to presume, while the gods are igainst him ! Lo ! Cassandra,
Priam's virgin daughter, with her hair disheveled, was
dragged along from the temple and shrine of Minerva, raising
to heaven her glaring eyes in vain ; her eyes for cords
bound her tender hands. Coroebus, in the madness of his
soul, could not bear this spectacle, and, resolved to perish,
threw himself into the midst of the band. We all follow, and
rush upon them in close array. Upon this we are first over-
powered with the darts of our friends from the high summit
of the temple, and a most piteous slaughter ensues, through
the appearance of our arms, and the disguise of our Grecian
crests. Next the Greeks, through anguish and rage for the
rescue of the virgin, fall upon us in troops from every quarter ;
Ajax, most fierce, both the sons of Atreus, and the whole
band of the Dolopes : as, at times, in a burst hurricane, op-
posite winds encounter, the west and south, and Eurus, proud
of his eastern steeds ; the woods creak, foaming Nereus rages
with his trident, and rouses the seas from the lowest bottom.
They, too, whom, through the shades, in the dusky night, we
by stratagem had routed, and driven all over the city, make
their appearance ; they are the first who discover our shields
and counterfeit arms, and mark our voices in sound discordant
with their own. In a moment we are overpowered by
numbers ; and first Coroebus sinks in death by the hand of
Peneleus, at the altar of the warrior-goddess : Ripheus, too,
falls, the most just among the Trojans, and of the strictest .
integrity ; but to the gods it seemed otherwise. 38 Hypanis and
Dymas die by the cruel darts of their own friends, nor did thy
signal piety, nor the fillets of Apollo, save thee, Pantheus, in
thy dying hour. Ye ashes of Troy, ye expiring flames of my
country ! witness, that in your fall I shunned neither darts nor
any deadly chances 39 of the Greeks ; and, had it been fated that
I should fall, I deserved it by my hand. Thence we are forced
away, Iphitus, Pelias, and myself (of whom Iphitus was
now unwieldy through age, and Pelias disabled by a wound
from Ulysses), forthwith to Priam's palace called by the
outcries. Here, indeed, [we beheld] a dreadful fight, as
38 i. e. "contra," as explained by Donatus on Ter. Andr. Prol. 4.
There is an ellipse ofj "such should have been his fate, but," etc. B.
* 9 i. e. " prenas," says Burm. on Proper! i. 13, 10. B.
142 uENEID. B. n. 439 475.
though this had been the only seat of the war, as though none
had been dying in all the city besides ; with such ungoverned
fury we see Mars raging and the Greeks rushing forward to
the palace, and the gates besieged by an advancing testudo.
Scaling ladders are fixed against the walls, and by their steps
they mount to the very door-posts, and protecting themselves
by their left arms, oppose their bucklers to the darts, [while]
with their right hands they grasp the battlements. On the
other hand, the Trojans tear down the turrets and roofs of
their houses ; with these weapons, since they see the ex-
tremity, they seek to defend themselves now in their last
death-struggle, and tumble down the gilded rafters, those
stately ornaments of their ancestors : others with drawn swords
beset the gates below ; these they guard in a firm, compact
body. Our ardor is restored to relieve the royal palace, sup-
port our friends with aid, and impart fresh strength to the
vanquished. There was a passage, a secret entry, a free com-
munication between the palaces of Priam, a neglected postern-
gate, by which unfortunate Andromache, 40 while the kingdom
stood, was often wont to resort to her parents-in-law without
retinue, and to lead the boy Astyanax to his grand-sire. I
mount up to the roof of the highest battlement, whence the
distressed Trojans were hurling unavailing darts. With our
swords assailing all around a turret, situated on a precipice,
and shooting up its towering top to the stars (whence we were
wont to survey all Troy, the fleet of Greece, and all the Gre-
cian camp), where the topmost story made the joints more apt
to give way, 41 we tear it from its deep foundation, and -push
it on [our foes]. Suddenly tumbling down, it brings thunder-
ing desolation with it, and falls with wide havoc on the Gre-
cian troops. But others succeed : meanwhile, neither stones,
nor any sort of missile weapons, cease to fly. Just before the
vestibule, and at the outer gate, Pyrrhus exults, glittering in
arms and gleamy brass ;, as when a snake [comes forth] to
light, having fed on noxious herbs, whom, bloated [with pois-
on], the frozen winter hid under the earth, now renewed, and
sleek with youth, after casting his skin, with breast erect he
rolls up his slippery back, reared to the sun, and brandishes a
40 Andromache, the daughter of JEtion, king of Thebes, in Mysia,
and the wife of Hector, by whom she bad Astyanax.
41 It must be remembered that this tower was of wood. See Anthou.
B. II. 475506. ^ENEID. 143
three-forked tongue in his mouth. At the same time bulky
Periphas and Automedon, charioteer to Achilles, [now Pyr-
rhus'] armor-bearer ; at the same all the youth from Scyros
advance to the wall, and toss brands to the roof. Pyrrhus
himself in the front, snatching up a battle-ax, beats through
the stubborn gates, aud labors to tear the brazen posts from
the hinges ; and now, having hewn away the bars, he dug
through the firm boards, and made a large, wide-mouthed
breach. The palace within is exposed to view, and the long
galleries are discovered ; the sacred recesses of Priam and the
ancient kings are exposed to view ; and they see armed men
standing at the gate.
As for the inner palace, it is filled with mingled groans
and doleful uproar, and the hollow rooms all throughout howl
with female yells : their shrieks strike the golden stars. Then
the trembling matrons roam through the spacious halls, and
in embraces hug the door-posts, and cling to them with their
lips." Pyrrhus 43 presses on with all his father's violence :
nor bolts, nor guards themselves, are able to sustain. The gate,
by repeated battering blows, gives way, and the door-posts,
torn from their hinges, tumble to the ground. The Greeks
make their way by force, burst a passage, and, being admitted,
butcher the first they meet, and fill the places all about with
their troops. Not with such fury a river pours on the fields
its heavy torrent, and sweeps away herds with their stalls over
all the plains, when foaming it has burst away from its broken
banks, and borne down opposing mounds with its whirling
current. I myself have beheld Neoptolemus raving with bloody
rage, and the two sons of Atreus at the gate : I have beheld
Hecuba, and her hundred daughters-in-law, and Priam at the
altar, defiling with his blood the fires which himself had
consecrated. 44 Those fifty bed-chambers, so great hopes of de-
scendants, those doors, that proudly shone with barbaric gold
and spoils, were leveled with the ground : where the flames
relent, the Greeks take place.
Perhaps, too, you are curious to hear what was Priam's
45 Cf. Soph. Phil. 535, lupev, u not, irpooKvaarre TI/V laa ' kotnov
elvoiKijaiv. B.
43 Pyrrhus, also called Neoptolemus, was the son of Achilles and Dei-
damia daughter of King Lycomedes. His cruelty exceeded even that of
his father.
44 Ennius in Cicer. T. Q. iii. in Scriver. Coll. p. 19, i; Haec omnia vidi
inflammari : Priamo vi vitam evitari : Jovis aram sanguine turpari." B.
144 uEXEID. B. n. 507539.
fete. As soon as he beheld the catastrophe of the taken city,
and his palace-gates broken down, and the enemy planted in
the middle of his private apartments, the aged monarch,
with unavailing aim, buckles on his shoulders (trembling with
years) arms long disused, girds himself with his useless sword,
and rushes into the thickest of the foes, resolute on death. In
the center of the palace, 4 * and under the bare canopy of heav-
en, stood a large altar, and an aged laurel near it, overhang-
ing the altar, and encircling the household gods with its
shade. Here Hecuba and her daughters (like pigeons flying
precipitantly from a blackening tempest) crowded together,
and embracing the shrines of the gods, vainly sat round the
altars. But as soon as she saw Priam clad in youthful ai ins,
unhappy spouse, she cries, What dire purpose has piompted
thee to brace on these arms? or whither art thou hurrying!
The present conjuncture hath no need of such aid, nor such
defense : though even my Hector himself were here [it would
not avail]. Hither repair, now that all hope is lost: this
altar will protect us aU, or here you [and we] shall die to-
gether. Having thus said, she took the old man to her em-
braces, and placed him on the sacred seat. But lo ! Polites,
one of Priam's sons, who had escaped from the sword of
Pyrrhus, through darts, through foes, flies along the long
galleries, and wounded traverses the waste halls. Pyrrhus,
all on fire, pursues him with the hostile weapon, is just
grasping him with his hand, and presses on him with the
spear. Soon as he at length got into the sight and presence
of his parents, he dropped down, and poured out his life with
a stream of blood* Upon this, Priam, though now held in the
very midst of death, yet did not forbear, nor spared his tongue
and passion : But 4 ' may the gods, he cries, if there be any
justice in heaven to regard such events, give ample retribu-
tion and due reward for this wickedness, for these thy auda-
cious crimes, to thee who hast made me to witness 47 the death
of my own son, and defiled a father's eyes with the sight of
4i The imptwnmn Is meant, Priam's palace forming a square court
C Athen. v. 3, 'Ofaipdf Si r^v av/jjv del rarrti bxl TUV v-al0puv rcnruv,
tv0a ijv 6 TOV 'Epiciov Zifvof ffufio^. R
" For this use of " at" in reproaches, cf. Ovid. Her. xii 1, "At tibi
Cokhorom (memini) regina vacavL" CatolL iii. 13, " At vobis male sit,
malae tenebrae." R
" " Cernere fecisti" is a Lucretian form of expression. C Lucr. UL
101 ; "lariat vivere," 302, vi 261. B.
B. n. 539 573. ,<ENEn>. 145
blood : yet he from whom you folsely claim your birth, even
Achilles was not thus barbarous to Priam, 4 * though his enemy,
but paid some reverence to the laws of nations, and a sup-
pliant's right, restored my Hector's lifeless corpse to be buried,
and sent me back into my kingdom. -Thus spoke the old man,
and, without any force, threw a feeble dart: which was in-
stantly repelled by the hoarse brass, and hung on the highest
boss of the buckler without any execution. To whom Pyrrhus
replies, These tidings then yourself shall bear, and go with
the message to my father, the son of Peleus : forget not to
inform him of my cruel deeds, and of his degenerate son
Xeoptolemus: now die. With these words he dragged him
to the very altar, trembling and sliding in the streaming gore
of his son : and with his left hand grasped his twisted hair,
and with his right unsheathed his glittering sword, and
plunged it into his side up to the hilt. Such was the end of
Priams's fate : this was the final doom allotted to him, having
before his eyes Troy consumed, and its towers laid in ruins ;
once the proud monarch over so many nations and countries of
Asia : now his mighty trunk h'es extended on the shore, the
head torn from the shoulders, and a nameless corpse. 4 ' Then,"
and not till then, fierce horror assailed me round: I stood
aghast ; the image of my dear father arose to my mind, when
I saw the king, of equal age, breathing out his soul by a cruel
wound ; Creusa,** forsaken, came into mind, my rifled house,
and the fate of the little lulus. I look about and survey
what troops were to stand by me. All had left me through
despair, and flung their fainting bodies to the ground, or gave
them to the flames. And thus now I remained all alone,
when I espy Helen keeping watch in the temple of Vesta,
and silently lurking in a secret corner : the bright flames give
me light as I am roving on, and throwing my eyes around on
every object She, the common Fury of Troy and her
country, dreading the Trojans, her deadly foes, upon account of
their ruined country, and the vengeance of the Greeks, with
" In hoste" is for " erga hostem." See Broukh. on TibulL iii. 6,
19. B.
49 See my note on JEsch. Choeph. 437. B.
50 Creusa, daughter of Priam, and the wife of JEneas, who was lost
in the streets of Troy, when ^Eneas made his escape with his father
Anchises and his son Ascanius.
7
146 ^XEID. B. n. 514610.
the fierce resentment of her deserted lord, had hidden herself,
and was sitting near the altars, an odious sight. Flames were
kindled in my soul : rage possessed me to avenge my falling
country, and take the vengeance her guilt deserved. Shall
she then with impunity behold Sparta and her country My-
cenae, and go off a queen, after she has gained her triumph ?
shall she see her marriage-bed, her home, her fathers, her sons,
accompanied with a retinue of Trojan dames and Phrygian
women her slaves ? shall Priam have fallen by the sword,
shall Troy have burned with the flame, shall the Trojan shore
so often be drenched in blood ? It must not be so : for though
there be no memorable name in punishing a woman, nor any
honor in such a victory, yet shall I be applauded for having
extinguished a wicked wretch, and for inflicting on her the
punishment she deserves: besides, it will be a pleasure to
gratify my desire of burning revenge, and to give satisfaction
to the ashes of my friends. Thus was I rapidly reflecting,
and furiously agitated in my soul, when my benign mother
presented herself to my view with such brightness as I had
never seen before, and amid the night shone forth in pure
light, displaying all the goddess, with such dignity, such sta-
ture, as she is wont to show to the immortals : she restrained
me fast held by the right hand, and besides, let fall these
words from her rosy lips : My son, what high provocation
kindles thy ungoverned rage? why art thou raving? or
whither art thy regards to me fled? Will you not first see
in what situation you have left your father Anchises, encum-
bered with age ? whether your spouse Creiisa be in life, and
the boy Ascanius, around whom the Grecian troops from
every quarter reel ? and, do not my care oppose, the flames
will have already carried off, or the cruel sword imbibed their
blood. Not the features of Lacedaemonian Helen, odious in
your eyes, nor Paris blamed ; but the gods, the unrelenting
^ods, overthrow this powerful realm, and level the towering
tops of Troy with the ground. Turn your eyes; for I
wuU dissipate every cloud which now, intercepting the view,
bedims your mortal sight, and spreads a humid vail of mist
around you : fear not you the commands of a parent, nor re-
fuse to obey her orders. Here, where you see scattered ruins,
and stones torn from stones, and smoke in waves ascending
with mingled dust, Neptune shakes the walls and foundations
B. ii. 611639. -.ENEID. 147
loosened by his mighty trident, and overturns the whole city
from its basis. Here Juno, extremely fierce, is posted in the
front to guard the Scsean" gate, and girt with the sword,
with furious summons calls from the ships her social band.
Tritonian Pallas (see !) hath now planted herself on a lofty tur-
ret, refulgent in a cloud, and with her Gorgon 52 terrible. The
Sire himself supplies the Greeks with courage and strength
for victory : himself stirs up the gods against the arms of
Troy. Speed thy flight, my son, and put a period to thy toils.
In every danger I will stand by you, and safe set you down
in your father's palace. She said, and hid herself in the thick
shades of night. Direful forms appear, and the mighty powers
of the gods, adverse to Troy. Then, indeed, all Ilium seemed
to me at once to sink in the flames, and Troy, built by Nep-
tune, to be overturned from its lowest foundation : even as
when with emulous keenness the swains labor to fell an
ash that long hath stood on a high mountain, hewing it about
with iron and many an ax, ever and anon it threatens, and
waving its locks, 63 nods with its shaken top, till gradually by
wounds subdued, it hath groaned its last, and torn from the
ridge of the mountain, draws along with it ruin. Down I
come, and under the conduct of the god, clear my way amid
flames and foes : the darts give place, and the flames retire.
And now, when arrived at the gates of my paternal seat and an-
cient house, my father, whom I was desirous first to remove to
the high mountains, and whom I first sought, obstinately re-
fuses to prolong his life after the ruin of Troy, and to suffer exile.
You, says he, who are full of youthful blood, and whose powers
si Scaean gate, one of the gates of Troy, where the tomb of Laomedon
was seen.
52 Gorgon, Medusa, whose head Perseus cut off and presented to
Minerva, who placed it on her aegis, with which she turned into stone
all such as fixed their eyes upon it. The Gorgons were the three
daughters of Phorcys and Ceto ; their hair, according to the ancients,
was entwined with serpents. Medusa was the only one of them who
was subject to mortality.
53 Comam nutat. Virgil, considering a tree in analogy to the hu-
man body, calls the extended boughs its arms, brachia, Georg. ii. 296,
368, and here its leaves, comam,'hair, or locks. So also Milton, Parac
dise Lost, x. 1065,
while the winds
Blow moist and keen, shattering the graceful locks
Of those fair spreading trees
148 ^ENEID. B. n. 640673.
remain firm in all their strength, do you attempt your flight.
As for me, had the powers of heaven designed I should pro-
long my lite, they had preserved to me this house : enough
it is, and more than enough, that I have seen one catastrophe,
"and outlived the taking of this city. Thus, oh leave me thus
with the last farewell to my body laid in its dying posture.
With this hand will I find death myself. The enemy will
pity me, and lust for my spoils. Trivial is the loss of sepul-
ture. I have long since been lingering out a length of
years, hated by the gods, and useless from the time when the
father of gods, and sovereign of men, blasted me with the
winds of his thunder, and struck me with lightning.
Such purpose declaring, he persisted, and remained un-
alterable. On the other hand, I, my wife Creiisa, Ascanius,
and the whole family bursting forth into tears, [besought] my
father not to involve all with himself, nor hasten our impend-
ing fate. He still refuses, and perseveres in his purpose, and
in the same settled position. Once more I fly to my arms,
and, in extremity of distress, long for death : for what expedi-
ent had I left, or what chance of hope ? Could you hope, sire,
that I could stir one foot while you were left behind? could
such impiety drop from a parent's lips ? If it is the will of
the gods that nothing of this great city be preserved ; if this
be your settled purpose, and you will even involve yourself
and yours in the wreck of Troy ; the way lies open to that
death of which you are so fond. Forthwith Pyrrhus, [reek-
ing] from the effusion of Priam's blood, will be here, who
kills the son before the father's eyes, and then the father at
the altar. Was it for this, my benign mother, you saved me
through darts, through flames, to see the enemy in the midst
of these recesses, and to see Ascanius, my father, and Creiisa
by his side, butchered in one another's blood? Arms, my
men, bring arms ; this day, which is our last, calls upon us,
vanquished as we are. Give me back to the Greeks : let me
visit once more the fight renewed : never shall we all die un-
revenged this day."
Thus I again gird on my sword : and I thrust my left hand
into my buckler, bracing it fitly on, and rushed out of the
palace. But lo ! my wife clung to me in the threshold, grasp-
54 Donatus quotes this line to illustrate the threatening use of " hodie,"
on Ter. Andr. i. 2, 25 ; ii. 4, 7, etc. So Plaut. Cure. v. 3, 11. B.
B. II. 614709. J3NEID. 149
ing my feet, and held out to his father the little lulus: If,
[says she,] you go with a resolution to perish, snatch us with
you to share all : but if, from experience you repose con-
fidence in those arms you have assumed, let this house have
your first protection : To whom are you abandoning the ten 1
der lulus, your sire, and me once called your wife ? Thus
loudly expostulating, she filled the whole palace with her
groans, when a sudden and wondrous prodigy arises : for amid
the embraces and parting words of his mourning parents, lo !
the fluttering tuft from the top of lulus' head is seen to emit
light, and with gentle touch the lambent flame glides harmless
along his hair, and feeds around his temples. We, quaking,
trembled for fear, brush the blazing locks, and quench the
holy fire with fountain-water. But father Anchises" joyful
raised his eyes to the stars, and stretched his hands to heaven
with his voice ; Almighty Jove, if thou art moved with any
supplications, vouchsafe to regard us ; we ask no more : and
O sire, if by our piety we deserve it, grant us then thy aid,
and ratify these omens. Scarcely had my aged sire thus
said, when, with a sudden peal, it thundered on the left, and a
star, that fell from the skies, drawing a fiery train, shot
through the shade with a profusion of light. We could see
it, gliding over the high tops of the palace, lose itself in the
woods of Mount Ida, full in our view, and marking out the
way : then all along its course an indented path shines, and
all the place, a great way round, smokes with sulphureous
steams. And now my father, overcome, raises himself to
heaven, addresses the gods, and pays adoration to the holy star :
Now, now is no delay : I am all submission, and where you
lead the way I am with you. Ye gods of my fathers, save
our family, save my grandson. From you this omen came,
and Troy is at your disposal. Now, son, I resign myself in-
deed, nor refuse to accompany you in your expedition. He said,
and now throughout the city the flames are more distinctly
heard, and the conflagration rolls the torrents of fire nearer.
Come then, dearest father, place yourself on my neck ; with
these shoulders will I support you, nor shall that burden op-
press me. However things fall out, we both shall share either
55 Anchises, the son of Capys, by Themis, daughter of Ilus. His son
yEneas saved his life by carrying him on his shoulders through the
flames, when Troy was on fire.
150 ^JNEID. B. n. 710747.
one common danger or one preservation : let the boy lulus be
ray companion, and my wife may trace my steps at some dis-
tance. Ye servants, needfully attend to what I say. In your
way from the city is a rising ground, and an ancient temple
of deserted Ceres;*' and near it an aged cypress, preserved
for many years by the religious veneration of our forefathers.
To this one seat by several ways we will repair. Do you,
father, take in thy hand the sacred symbols, and the gods of
our country. For me, just come from war, from so fierce and
recent bloodshed, to touch them would be profanation, till I
have purified myself in the living stream. This said, I spread
a garment and a tawny lion's hide over my broad shoulders
and submissive neck ; and stoop to the burthen : little lulus
is linked in my right hand, and trips after his father with
unequal steps : my spouse comes up behind. We haste away
through the gloomy paths : and I, whom lately no showers of
darts could move, nor Greeks inclosing me in a hostile band,
am now terrified with every breath of wind ;" every sound
alarms me anxious, and equally in dread for my companion
and my burthen. By this time I approached the gates, and
thought I had overpassed all the way, when suddenly a thick
sound of feet seems to invade my ears just at hand ; and my
father, stretching his eyes through the gloom, calls aloud,
Fly, fly, my son, they are upon you : I see the burnished
shields and glittering brass. Here, in my consternation, some
unfriendly deity or other confounded and bereaved me of my
reason; for while in my journey I traced the by-paths, and
forsake the known beaten tracks, alas ! I know not whether
my wife Creiisa was snatched from wretched me by cruel fate,
or lost her way, or through fatigue stopped short; nor did
these eyes ever see her more. Nor did I observe that she
was lost, or reflect with myself, till we were come to the rising
ground, and the sacred seat of ancient Ceres : here, at length,
when all were convened, she alone was wanting, and gave
disappointment to all our retinue, especially to her son and
husband. Whom did I frantic not accuse, of gods or men ?
or of what more cruel scene was I a spectator in all the
desolation of the city ? To my friends I commended Ascanius,
s $ i. e. neglected during the war. See Anthon. B.
57 Siliua vi. 58, "Sonus omnia et aura Exterrent, pennaque levi com-
mota volucris." B.
R n. 748781. ^ENEID. 151
iny father Anchises, with the gods of Troy, and lodge them
secretly in a winding valley. I myself repair back to the
city, and brace on my shining armor. I am resolved to re-
new every adventure, revisit all the quarters of Troy, and
expose my life once more to all dangers. First of all, I re-
turn to the walls, and the dark entry of the gate by which I
had set out, and backward unravel my steps with care amid
the darkness, and run them over with my eye. Horror on all
sides, and at the same time the very silence affrights my soul.
Thence homeward I bent my way, lest by chance, by any
chance, she had moved thither : the Greeks had now rushed
in, and were masters of the whole house. In a moment the
devouring conflagration is rolled up in sheets by the wind to
the lofty roof; the flames mount above; the fiery whirlwind
rages to the skies. I advance, and revisit Priam's royal seat,
and the citadel. And now in the desolate cloisters, Juno's
sanctuary, Phoenix and the execrable Ulysses, a chosen guard,
were watching the booty : hither, from all quarters, the pre-
cious Trojan movables, saved from the conflagration of the
temples, the tables of the gods, the massy golden goblets,
and plundered vestments, are amassed : boys, and timorous
matrons, stand all around in a long train. Now adventuring
even to dart my voice through the shades, I filled the streets
with outcry, and in anguish, with vain repetition, again and
again, called on Creiisa. While I was in this search, and with
incessant fury ranging through all quarters of the town, the
mournful ghost and shade of my Cretisa's self appeared be-
fore my eyes, her figure larger than I had known it. I stood
aghast! my hair rose on end, and my voice clung to my jaws.
Then thus she bespeaks me, and relieves my cares with these
words: My darling spouse, what pleasure have you thus to
indulge in grief which is but madness ? These events do not
occur without the will of the gods. It is not allowed you
to carry Creusa hence to accompany you, nor is it permitted
by the great ruler of heaven supreme. In long banishment
you must roam, and plow the vast expanse of the ocean : to
the land of Hesperia you shall come, where the Lydian 5 *
Tiber, with his gentle current, glides through a rich land of
53 Lydian Tiber ; the epithet is applied to the Tiber, because it passes
along the borders of Etruria, whose inhabitants were once a Lydian
colony.
152 jENEID. B. n. 782804. m. 18.
heroes. There, prosperous state, a crown, and royal spouse,
await you : dry up your tears for your beloved Creiisa. I, of
Dardanus' noble line, and the daughter-in-law of divine Venus,
shall not see the proud seats of the Myrmidons and Dolopes,
nor go to serve the Grecian dames ; but the great mother of
the gods detains me upon these coasts. And now farewell, and
preserve your affection to our common son.
With these words she left me in tears, ready to say many
things, and vanished into thin air. There thrice I attempted
to throw my arms around her neck; thrice the phantom,
grasped in vain, escaped my hold, swift as the winged winds,
and resembling most a fleeting dream. Thus having spent
the night, I at length revisit my associates. And here, to my
surprise, I found a great confluence of new companions : mat-
rons, and men, and youths, drawn together to share our exile,
a piteous throng ! From all sides they convened, resolute [to
follow me] with their souls and fortunes, and whatever coun-
try I was inclined to conduct them over the sea. By this time,
the bright morning star was rising on the craggy tops of lofty
Ida, and ushered in the day : the Greeks held the entrance of
the gates blocked up; nor had we any prospect of relief.
I gave way, r.nd bearing up my father, made toward the
mountain.
BOOK HI.
In the Third Book, ^neas continues his narration, by a minute account of
his voyage, the places he visited, and the perils he encountered, from the
time of leaving the shores of Troas, until he landed at Drepanum. in
Sicily, where he buried his father. This Book which comprehends a
period of about seven years, ends with the dreadful storm, with the de-
scription of which the First Book opened.
AFTER it had seemed fit to the gods to overthrow the power
of Asia, and Priam's race, undeserving [of such a fate], and
stately Ilium fell, and while the whole of Troy, built by Nep-
tune, smokes on the ground ; we are determined, by revelations
from the gods, to go in quest of distant retreats in exile, and
unpeopled lands ; we fit out a fleet just under the walls of
Antandros 1 and the mountains of Phrygian Ida ; and draw
our forces together, uncertain whether the Fates point our way,
where it shall be given us to settle. Scarcely had the first
1 Antandros, a city of Troas, in the Gulf of Adramyttium.
B. in. 9 40. ^ENEID. 153
summer begun, when my father Anchises gave command to
hoist the sails, in accordance with the Fates. Then with tears
I leave the shores and ports of my country, and the plains
where Troy once stood : an exile I launch forth into the deep,
with my associates, my son, my household gods, and the great
gods [of my country].
At a distance lies a martial land, peopled throughout its
wide-extended plains (the Thracians cultivate the soil), over
which in former times fierce Lycurgus 8 reigned : an ancient
hospitable retreat for Troy, and whose gods were leagued with
ours, while fortune was with us. Hither I am carried, and
erect my first walls along the winding shore, entering with
Fates unkind ; and from my own name I call the citizens
^Eneades. I was performing sacred rites to my mother Venus,
and the gods, the patrons of my works begun ; and to the ex-
alted king of the immortals I was sacrificing a sleek bull on
the shore. Near at hand there chanced to be a rising ground,
on whose top were young cornel-trees, and a myrtle rough
with thick spear-like branches. I came up to it, and attempt-
ing to tear from the earth the verdant wood, that I might
cover the altars with the leafy boughs, I observe a dreadful
prodigy, and wondrous to relate. For from that tree which
first is torn from the soil, its rooted fibers being burst asunder,
drops of black blood distill, and stain the ground with gore :
cold terror shakes my limbs, and my chill blood is congealed
with fear. I again essay to tear off a limber bough from an-
other, and thoroughly explore the latent cause :-and from the
rind of that other the purple blood descends. Raising in my
mind many an anxious thought, I with reverence besought the
rural nymphs, and father Mars, who presides over .the Thra-
cian territories, kindly to prosper the vision 8 and avert evil
from the omen. But when I attempted the boughs a third
time with a more vigorous effort, and on my knees struggled
against the opposing mold (shall I speak, or shall I forbear ?)
a piteous groan is heard from the bottom of the rising ground,
and a voice sent forth reaches my ears : ^Eneas, why dost thou
2 Lycurgus, a king of Thrace, son of Dryas, who, it is said, drove
Bacchus out of his kingdom.
3 For " visa," which is used in the same phrase by Silius, viiL 124.
Ducan. i. 635. On the myrtle-tomb of Polydore, compare Auson.
Epitaph. Her. xix.
7*
154 ^ENEID. B. m. 41 68.
tear an unhappy wretch ? Spare me, now that I am in my
grave ; forbear to pollute with guilt thy pious hands : Troy
brought me forth no stranger to you ; nor is it from the trunk
this blood distills. Ah, fly this barbarous land, fly the ava-
ricious shore ! For Polydore 4 am I : here an iron crop of
darts hath overwhelmed me, transfixed, and over me shot up in
pointed javelins. Then, indeed, depressed at heart with per-
plexing fear, I was stunned ; my hair stood on end, and my -
voice clung to my jaws. This Polydore unhappy Priam had
formerly sent in secrecy, with a great weight of gold, to be
brought up by the king of Thrace, when he now began* to
distrust the arms of Troy, and saw the city with close siege
blocked up. He, as soon as the power of the Trojans were
crushed, and their fortune gone, espousing Agamemnon's in-
terest and victorious arms, breaks every sacred bond, assas-
sinates Polydore, and by violence possesses his gold. CurteJ
thirst of gold, to what dost thou not drive the hearts of men !
After fear left my bones, I report the portents of the gods to
our chosen leaders, and chiefly to my father, and demand what
their opinion is. All are unanimous to quit that accursed
land, abandon the polluted society, and spread the sails to the
winds. Therefore we renew funeral ceremonies to Polydore,
and a large mound of earth is heaped up for the tomb : an
altar is reared to his manes, mournfully decked with lead-
en-colored wreaths and gloomy cypress ; and round it the
Trojan matrons stand with hair disheveled, according to cus-
tom. We offer the sacrifices of the dead, bowls foaming with
warm milk, and goblets of the sacred blood : we give the soul
repose in the grave, and with loud voice address to him the
last farewell."
4 Polydorus, the youngest son of Priam and Hecuba, was assassinated
by Polymnestor, king of Thrace, who had been intrusted with the care
of the young prince.
5 Eur. Hec. ii. lv', el TCOT' 'IXiav TE'IXTJ irtGoi. I need scarcely refer
the reader to the whole passage. B.
6 I have illustrated this custom in my notes on Eurip. Alcest. 610.
Ausonius Parent. 159, 10, "Yoce ciere animas funeris instar habet.
Gaudent compositi cineres sua nomina dici .... Nomine ter dicto, pane
sepultus erit." On the funeral offerings here described, see my notes
on ^Esch. Pers. p. 83, ed. Bohn. Statius, Theb. vi. 209, " Spumantesque
mero patera verguntur, et atri Sanguinis, et rapti gratissima cymbia lac-
tis." Alcaeus Mess, in Brunck. AnnaL i. p. 490, /cat rdfyov vfy
yuTiaKTi 6 Koi/ievff alydv 'Efifiavav, av6$ fu^dnevot /JLE/.CTI. B.
B. m. 69101. 2GNEID. 155
This done, when first we durst confide in the main, when
the winds present peaceful seas, and the south wind in soft
whispering gales invites us to the deep, my mates launch the
ships and crowd the shore. We are wafted from the port, and
the land and cities retreat.
Amid the sea there lies a charming spot of land, sacred
to [Doris] (the mother of the Nereids), and ^Egean Neptune ;
which once wandering about the coasts and shores, the pious
god who wields the bow fast bound with high Gyaros 7 and
Mycone, and fixed it so as to be habitable, and mock the
winds. Hither I am led : this most peaceful island receives us
to a safe port after our fatigue. At landing we pay vener-
ation to the city of Apollo. King Anius, 8 both king of men
and priest of Phoebus; his temples bound with fillets and
sacred laurel, comes up, and presently recognizes his old friend
Anchises. We join right hands in amity, and come under his
roof. I venerated the temple of the god, a structure of ancient
stone [and thus began] : Thymbraean Apollo, grant us, after
all our toils, some fixed mansion ; grant us walls of defense,
offspring, and a permanent city : preserve those other towers
of Troy, a remnant left by the Greeks and merciless Achilles.
Whom are we to follow ; or whither dost thou bid us go ?
where fix our residence ? Father, grant us a prophetic sign,
and glide into our minds. Scarcely had I thus said, when sud-
denly all seemed to tremble, both the temple itself, and laurel
of the god ; the whole mountain quaked around, and the sanc-
tuary being exposed to view, the tripod moaned. In humble
reverence we fall to the ground, and a voice reaches our ears :
Ye hardy sons of Dardanus, the same land which first pro-
duced you from your father's stock, shall receive you in its
fertile bosom after all your dangers ; search out your ancient
mother. There the family of JEneas shall rule over every
coast, and his children's children, and they who from them
shall spring.
Thus Phoebus. Emotions of great joy, with mingled tu-
mult, arose ; and all were seeking to know what city is de-
signed ; whither Phoebus calls us wandering, and wills us to
7 Gyaros and Mycone, two of the islands called the Cyclades, in the
jEgean Sea. .
8 Anius, the son of Apollo and Rhea, was king of Delos, and father
of Andrus.
156 ' ^ENEID. B. ni. 102127.
return. Then my father, revolving the historical records of
ancient heroes, says, Ye leaders, give ear, and learn what yon
have to hope for. In the middle of the sea lies Crete, the
island of mighty Jupiter, where is Mount Ida, and the nursery
of our race. The Cretans inhabit a hundred mighty cities,
most fertile realms : whence our mighty ancestor Teucrus, if
I rightly remember the tradition, first arrived on the Rhcetean
coasts, 9 and chose the seat of his kingdom. No Ilium then
nor towers of Pergamus 10 were raised ; in the deep vales they
dwelt. Hence came mother Cybele, the patroness of the earth,
and the brazen cymbals of the Corybantes, 11 and the Idaean
grove ; hence that faithful secrecy in her sacred rites : and
harnessed lions were yoked in the chariot of her queen. Come,
then, and, where the commands of the gods point out our way,
let us follow ; let us appease the winds, and seek the Gnossian
realms. Now lie they at the distance of a long voyage : pro-
vided Jove be with us, the third day will land our fleet on the
Cretan coast.
This said, he offered the proper sacrifices on the altars, a
bull to Neptune, a bull to thee, O fair Apollo : a black sheep
to the Winter, and a white one to the propitious zephyrs. A
report flies abroad, that leader Idomeneus 1 " banished, hath
quitted his paternal kingdom, and that the shore of Crete is
deserted ; that its mansions are free from the enemy, and
palaces stand forsaken. We leave the port of Ortygia, 13 and
scud along the sea : we cruise along Naxos (on whose mount-
ains the Bacchanals revel), green Donysa, 14 Olearos, snowy
Paros, and the Cyclades scattered up and down the main, and
narrow seas thick-sown with clustered islands. With various
9 Rhcetean coasts; Trojan coasts, from Rhoeteum, a promontory of
Troas, on the Hellespont, near which the body of Ajax was buried.
1 Pergamus, the citadel of Troy, often used for Troy itself
11 Corybantes, the priests of Cybele.
12 Idomeneus, king of Crete, the son of Deucalion. Having left Crete
after his return from the Trojan war, he came to Italy, and founded the
city of Salentum on the coast of Calabria.
13 Ortygia, an ancient name of the island of Delos, where was a famous
temple and oracle of Apollo. Naxos, a celebrated island of the ^Egean
Sea, the largest and most fertile of all the Cyclades.
14 Donysa, one of the Cyclades famed for producing green marble, as
Paros was for white marble. Olearos (Antiparos), one of the Cyclades,
south-west of Paros. Cyclades, islands in the JEge&n Sea, about fifty in
number, encircling Delos.
B. m. 128 162. ^ENEID. 157
emulation the seamen's shouts arise. The crew animate one
another : For Crete and our ancestors let us speed our course.
A "wind springing up astern, accompanies us on our way, and
we at length skim along to the ancient seats of the Curetes.
Therefore, with eagerness, I raise the walls of the so-much-
wished for city, and call it the city of Pergamus ; and I exhort
my colony, pleased with the name, to love their hearths,
and erect turrets on their roofs. And now the ships were
mostly drawn up on the dry beach : the youth were engaged
in their nuptials and new settlements : I was beginning to
dispense laws and appropriate houses ; when suddenly, from
the infection of the climate, a wasting and lamentable plague
seized our limbs, the trees, and corn ; and the year was
pregnant with death. Men left their sweet lives, or dragged
along their sickly bodies : at the same time the dog-star
burned up the barren fields : the herbs were parched, and the
unwholesome grain denied us sustenance. My father ad-
vises, that, measuring back the sea, we again apply to the
oracle of Ortygia, and Apollo, and implore his grace, [to
know] what end he will bring to our forlorn state ; whence he
will bid us attempt a redress of our calamities, whither turn
our course.
It was night, and sleep reigned over all the animal world.
The sacred images of the gods, and the tutelar deities of
Phrygia, whom I had brought with me from Troy and the
midst of the flames, were seen to stand before my eyes while
slumbering, 16 conspicuous by a glare of light, where the full
moon darted her beams through the inserted windows. Then
they thus [seemed to] address me, and dispel my cares with
these words : What Apollo would announce to you, were you
wafted to Ortygia, he here reveals, and lo ! unasked, he sends
us to your dwelling. We, after Troy was consumed, followed
thee and thy arms ; under thy conduct we have crossed the
swelling sea in ships ; we, too, will exalt thy future race to
heaven, and give imperial power to thy city. Do thou prepare
walls mighty for mighty inhabitants, and shrink not from
the long labors of thy voyage. You must change your
place of residence : these are not the shores that Delian Apollo
advises for you ; nor was it in Crete he commanded you to
13 I read " in soirmis," not " insomnis." See Anthon. B.
158 jENEID. B. ra. 163195.
settle. There is a place (the Greeks call it Hesperia by name),
an ancient country, powerful in arms and fertility of soil : the
(Enotrians peopled it once ; now there is a report, that their
descendants have called the nation Italy, from the founder's
name. These are our proper settlements . hence Dardanus
sprang, and father lasius, 18 from which prince our race is de-
rived. Haste, arise, and with joy report to thy aged sire these
intimations of unquestionable credibility : search out Coritus 17
and the Ausonian lands ; Jupiter forbids thee the Cretan ter-
ritories.
Astonished by this vision and declaration of the gods (nor
was that a sound sleep, but methought I clearly discerned their
aspect before me, their fillet-bound locks, and their forms full
in my view ; then a cold sweat flowed over my whole body) ;
I snatch my frame from the couch, and lift up my hand supine
to heaven with my voice, and pour hallowed offerings on the
fires. Having finished the sacrifice, with joy I certify Anchises,
and disclose the fact in order. He recognized the double
stock, and the double founders [of the Trojan race], and
that he had been deceived by a modern mistake respecting
ancient countries ; then he thus bespeaks me : My son, prac-
ticed in woe by the fates of Troy, Cassandra alone predicted
to me that such was to be our fortune. Now I recollect that
she foretold this should be the destiny of our race, and
that she often spoke of Hesperia, often of the realms of Italy.
But who could believe that the Trojans were to come to the
Hesperian shore ? or whom then did the prophetic Cassandra
influence ? Let us resign ourselves to Phoebus, and, since
we are better advised, let us follow. He said ; and, exulting,
we all obey his orders. This realm we likewise quit, and,
leaving a few behind, unfurl our sails, and bound over the
spacious sea in our hollow barks.
When the ships held possession of the deep, and no land is
any longer in view, sky all around, and ocean all around ; then
an azure rain-cloud stood over my head, bringing on night and
wintery storm ; the waves grew rough in the gloom ; 18 the winds
16 lasius, a son of Jupiter and Electra, and brother to Dardanus ; ho
was one of the Atlantides, and reigned over part of Arcadia.
17 Coritus (Cortona), a town and mountain of Etruria, so called from
Coritus, a king of Etruria, father to lasius.
li Compare Pacuvius, " Inhorrescit mare, tenebrae conduplicantur, noc-
tisque et nubium occaecat nigror." B.
B ra. 196 227. ^ENEID. 159
overturn the sea, and mighty surges rise : we are tossed to and
fro on the face of the boiling deep : clouds enwrapped the day,
and humid night snatched the heavens [from our view] ; from
the bursting clouds flashes of lightning redouble. We are
driven from our course, and wander in unknown waves. Pa-
linurus 1 * himself owns he is unable to distinguish day and
night by the sky, and that he has forgotten his course in the
mid sea. Thus for three days, that could hardly be distin-
guished by reason of the dark clouds, as many starless nights,
we wander up and down the ocean. At length, on the fourth
day, land was first seen to rise, to disclose the mountains from
afar, and roll up smoke : the sails are lowered, we ply hard
the oars ; instantly the seamen, with exerted vigor, toss up the
foam, and swe'ep the azure deep.
The shores of the Strophades 20 first receive me rescued from
the waves. The Strophades, so called by a Greek name, are
islands situated in the great Ionian Sea ; which direful Celaeno 21
and the other Harpies inhabit, from what time Phineus' palace
was closed against them, and they were frighted from his table,
which they formerly haunted. No monster more fell than they,
no plague and scourge of the gods more cruel, ever issued from
the Stygian waves. They are fowls with virgin faces, most
loathsome is their bodily discharge, hands hooked, and looks,
ever pale with famine. Hither conveyed, as soon as we en-
tered the port, lo ! we observe joyous herds of cattle roving
up and down the plains, and flocks of goats along the meadows
without a keeper. We rush upon them with our swords, and
invoke the gods and Jove himself to share the booty. Then
along the winding shore we raise the couches, and feast on the
rich repast. 'But suddenly, with direful swoop, the Harpies
are upon us from the mountains, shake their wings with loud
din, prey upon our banquet, and defile every thing with their
- 19 Palinuras, a skillful pilot of the ship of ./Eneas. He fell overboard
while asleep, and after being three days exposed to the tempests, he
reached the shore near Velia, a town of Lucania, when he was murdered
by the inhabitants. A promontory, on which a monument was raised to
him, received the name of Palinurus.
20 Strophades (Stamphane), two small islands in the Ionian Sea, south
of the island of Zacynthos (Zante).
21 Celaino, one of the Harpies : these were fabulous monsters, with
wings, three hi number, daughters of Neptune and Terra. They were
sent by Juno to plunder the tables of Phineus, king of Thrace, whence
they were driven to the Strophades, where ^Eneas found them.
160 ^EMTEID. B. in. 228257.
touch : at the same time, together with a rank smell, hideous
screams arise. Again we spread our tables in a long recess,
under a shelving rock, inclosed around with trees and gloomy
shade ; and once more we plant fire on the altar. Again the
noisy crowd, from a different quarter of the sky, and obscure
retreats, flutter around the prey with hooked claws, taint our
viands with their mouths. Then I enjoin my companions to
take arms, and wage war with the horrid race. They do no
otherwise than bidden, dispose their swords secretly among the
grass, and conceal their shields out of sight.** Therefore,
as soon as stooping down they raised their screaming voices
along the bending shores, Misenus" with his hollow trumpet
of brass gives the signal from a lofty place of observation : my
friends set upon them, and engage in a new kind of fight, to
employ the sword in destroying obscene sea-fowls. But they
neither suffer any violence on their plumes, nor wounds in the
body ; and, mounting up in the air with rapid flight, leave
behind them their half-eaten prey, and the ugly prints of
their feet Celaeno alone alighted on a high rock, the proph-
etess of ill, and from her breast burst forth these words :
War too, ye sons of Laomedon, is it your purpose to mako
war for our oxen which you have slain, for the havoc you
have made upon our bullocks, and to banish the innocent
Harpies from their hereditary kingdom ? Lend them an ear,
and in your minds fix these my words : what the almighty
Sire revealed to Phoebus, Phoebus Apollo to me, I the chief of
the furies disclose to you. To Italy you steer your course, and
Italy you shall reach after repeated invocations to ' the winds,
and you shall be permitted to enter the port : but you shall
not surround the given city with walls, till dire famine and
disaster, for shedding our blood, compel you first to gnaw
around and eat up your tables" with your teeth.
22 Cf. Silius ix. 99, "condit membra occultata." B.
23 Hisenus was a son of ^Eolus, and the trumpeter of Hector, after
whose death he followed ^Eneas to Italy, and was drowned on the coast
of Campania, because he had challenged one of the Tritons,
24 The sense of this prediction is seen from its accomplishment in the
Seventh Book, verse 116. This is not merely poetical invention, it was
an historical tradition, related by Dionysius and Strabo, that ^Eneas had
received a response from an oracle, foretelling that, before he came to his
settlement in Italy, he should be reduced to the necessity of eating his
trenchers. Varro says he got it from the oracle of Dodona. Virgil puts
B. m. 258285. JENEID. 161
She said, and on her wings upborne flew into the wood.
As for my companions, their blood, chilled with sudden fear,
stagnated : their minds sunk : and now they are no longer for
arms, but urge me to solicit peace by vows and prayers,
whether they be goddesses, or cursed and inauspicious birds.
My father Anchises, with hands spread forth from the shore,
invokes the great gods, and enjoins due honors to be paid
them : Ye gods, ward off these threatenings ; ye gods, avert
so great a calamity ; and propitious save your pious votaries.
Then he orders to tear the ropes from the shore, loose and dis-
engage the cables. The south winds stretch our sails : we
fly over the foaming waves, where the wind and pilots urged
our course. Now amid the waves appear woody Zacynthos,"
Dulichium, Same, and Nerito*) with its steep rocks. We
shun the cliffs of Ithaca," Laertes' realms, and curse the land
that bred the cruel Ulysses. Soon after this the cloudy tops
of Mount Leucate," and [the temple of} Apollo, the dread of
seamen, open to our view. Hither we steer our course op-
pressed with toil, and approach the little city. The anchor
is thrown out from the prow : the ships are ranged on the
shore. Thus at length possessed of wished-for land, we both
perform a lustral sacrifice to Jupiter, and kindle the altars in
order to perform our vows, and signalize the promontory of
Actium 2 * by celebrating the Trojan games. Our crew, hav-
ing their naked limbs besmeared with slippery oil, exercise
the wrestling matches of their country : it delights us to have
escaped so many Grecian cities and pursued our voyage
through the midst of our enemies.
Meanwhile the sun finishes the revolution of the great year,
and frosty winter exasperates the waves with the north winds.
this prophecy in the mouth of the harpies, as being both suitable to their
nature, and more apt to raise surprise when coming from them.
23 Zacynthos, etc. These are islands in the Ionian Sea, on the western
coast of Greece. Zacynthos is now called Zante. Dulichium was part
of the kingdom of Ulysses. Same, now called Cephalonia, the inhabit-
ants of which went with Ulysses to the Trojan war. Neritos, a mount-
am in the island of Ithaca, often applied to the whole island.
26 Ithaca, an island in the Ionian Sea, where Ulysses reigned.
27 Leucate (Cape Ducato), a high promontory of Leucadia (St. Maura),
an Island in the Ionian Sea, where was a famous temple of Apollo.
23 Actium (Azio), a town, and (Cape Figalo) a promontory of Epirus,
celebrated for the naval victory of Augustus over Antony and Cleopatra,
B. c. 31.
162 -3ENEID. B. HL 286317-
On ' the front door-posts [of the temple] I set up a buckler of
hollow brass, which, mighty Abas wore, and notify the action by
this verse : " These arms ^Eneas [won] from the victorious
Greeks." Then I ordered [our crew] to leave the port, and
take their seats on the benches. They with emulous ardor
lash the sea, and sweep the waves. In an instant we lose
sight of 39 the airy towers of the Phseacians, cruise along the
coast of Epirus, and enter the Chaonian port, and ascend the
lofty city of Buthrotus. 30 Here a report of facts scarce cred-
ible invades our ears, that Helenus, 31 Priam's son, was reign-
ing over Grecian cities, possessed of the spouse and scepter of
Pyrrhus, the grandchild of ^Eacus, and that Andromache had
again fallen to a lord of her own country. I was amazed, and
my bosom glowed with strangg desire to greet the hero, and
learn so signal revolutions of fortune. I set forward from the
port, leaving the fleet and shore. Andromache, as it chanced,
was then offering to [Hector's] ashes her anniversary 32 feast
and mournful oblations before the city in a grove, near the
stream of the fictitious Simois, and invoked the manes at
Hector's tomb ; an empty tomb which she had consecrated of
green turf, and two altars, incentives to her grief. As soon
as she saw me coming up, and to her amazement beheld the
Trojan arms around me, terrified with a prodigy so great, she
stiffened at the very sight ; vital warmth forsook her limbs :
she sinks down, and at length, after a long interval, with fal-
tering accent speaks : Goddess-born, do you present yourself
to me a real form, a real messenger ? Do you live ? or, if
from you the benignant light has fled, where is Hector ? She
said, and shed a flood of tears, filling all the place with cries.
To her, in this transport, I with difficulty make even a brief
reply, and in great perturbation open my mouth in these few
broken words : I am alive indeed, and spin out life through
all extremes. Doubt not ; for all you see is real. Ah ! what
accidents of life have overtaken you, since you were thrown
29 So KpvTTTsiv is elegantly used in Greek. Plat. Protag. 70, Qevyeiv
elf TO TreAoyof, dnoK.pwl>avTa y^v. See Herndorf s note. B.
30 Buthrotus (Butrinto), a seaport town of Epirus, opposite Corfu.
31 Helenas, a celebrated soothsayer, the only one of Priam's sons who
survived the ruin of his country; he was king of Chaonia when he re-
ceived JEneas on his way to Italy.
32 So Serviua. In the same manner Kara KTOC tuaaTov. Thucyd. iii.
58. B.
B. m. 318349. jENEID. 163
down from [the possession of] your illustrious lord ? or what
fortune, some way suited to your merit, hath visited you once
more ? Is then Hector's Andromache bound in wedlock to
Pyrrhus ? Downward she cast her eyes, and thus in humble
accents [spoke] : O happy, singularly happy, the fate of Priam's
virgin-daughter, who, compelled to die at the enemy's tomb
under the lofty walls of Troy, suffered not in having any lots
cast for her, nor as a captive ever touched the bed of a victor
lord ! We, after the burning of our country, being trans-
ported over various seas, have in thraldom borne with a mo-
ther's throes the insolence of Achilles' heir, and a haughty,
imperious youth ; who afterward, attaching himself to Her-
mione," the granddaughter of Leda, and a Lacedaemonian
match, delivered me over a slave into the possession of a slave,
Helenus. But Orestes, 34 inflamed by the violence of love to
his betrothed snatched from him, and hurried on by the Furies
of his crimes, surprises him in an unguarded hour, and assas-
sinates him at his paternal altar. By the death of Neoptole-
mus, a part of his kingdom fell to Helenus ; who denominated
the plains Chaonian, and the whole country Chaonia, from the
Trojan Chaon, and built on the mountains [another] Perga-
mus and this Trojan fort. But what winds, what fates, have
guided your course ? or what god hath landed you on our
coasts without your knowledge ? What is become of the boy
Ascanius ? Lives he still, and breathes the vital air ? whom
to your care, when Troy was Has the boy now any con-
cern for the loss of his mother ? Is he incited, by both his
father ^Eneas and his uncle Hector, to ancient valor and
manly courage ?
Thus bathed in tears she spoke, and heaved long unavailing
eobs ; when the hero Helenus, Priam's son, advances from the
city with a numerous retinue, knows his friends, with joy
conducts them to his palace, and sheds tears in abundance
between each word. I set forward, and survey the little
33 Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen, was married to
Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus), the son of Achilles ; but having been previously
promised to Orestes, Pyrrhus was assassinated, when she became the
wife of Orestes.
34 Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, and the faithful friend of Pylades.
Having slain his mother Clytemnestra and her paramour Egisthus, because
they had murdered his father, Orestes was tormented by the Furies, and
exiled himself to Argos, the throne of which he afterward filled.
164 vENEID. B. ra. 350377.
Troy, the castle of Pergamus resembling the great original,
and a scanty rivulet bearing the name of Xanthus ; and I
embrace the threshold of a Scaean gate. The Trojans too, at
the same time, enjoy the friendly city. The king entertained
them in his spacious galleries. In the midst of the court
they quaffed brimmers of wine, while the banquet was served
in gold, and each stood with a goblet in his hand.
And now one day, and a second, passed on, when the gales
invite our sails, and the canvas bellies by the swelling south
wind. In these words I accost the prophet, [Helenus,] and
question him thus : Son of Troy, interpreter of the gods, who
knowest the divine will of Phoebus, the tripods, the laurels
of the Clarian 3 * god; who knowest the stars, the ominous
sounds of birds, and the prognostics of the swift wing," come,
declare (for [hitherto the omens of] religion have pronounced
my whole voyage to be prosperous, and all the gods, by their
divine will, have directed me to go in pursuit of Italy, and
attempt a settlement in lands remote : the Harpy CelaBno
alone predicts a prodigy strange and horrible to relate, and
denounces direful vengeance and foul famine) what are the
principal dangers I am to shun ? or by the pursuit of what
means may I surmount toils so great ? Upon this Helenus
first solicits the peace of the gods by sacrificing bullocks in
due form, then unbinds the fillets of his consecrated head,
and himself leads me by the hand to thy temple, O Phoebus,
anxious with great awe of the god ;. then the priest, from his
lips divine, delivers these predictions : Goddess-born (for that
you steer through the deep under some higher auspices, is un-
questionably evident ; so the sovereign of the gods dispenses
his decree ; thus he fixes the series of revolving events ; such
a scheme of things is coming to its accomplishment), that you
may with greater safety cross the seas to which you are a
33 Clarian god, a name of Apollo, from Glares, a city of Ionia, where
he had a famous temple and oracle.
36 Volucrum linguas, et prajpetis omina pcnnse. Some birds were sub-
servient to divination by the sounds they uttered, and these were called
"Oscines;" of which kind were the crows, ravens, etc. Hor. iii. Carm.
Ode xxvii. 2,
Oscinem corvum prece suscitabo
Soils ad ortu.
Others, again, answered the same end by their manner of flying, and
were called " Prapetes."
B.m. 378 410. uENEID. 165
stranger, and settle in the Ausonian port, I will unfold to you
% few particulars of many ; for the Destinies" prevent you
from knowing the rest, and Saturnian Juno forbids Helenus
to reveal it. First of all, a long intricate voyage, with a
length of lands, divides [you from] Italy, which you unwit-
tingly deem already near, and whose ports you are preparing
to enter, as if just at hand. You must both ply the bending
oar in the Trinacrian wave, and visit with your fleet the
plains of the Ausonian Sea, the infernal lakes, and the isle of
/Eaean Circe, before you can build a city in a quiet, peaceful
land. I will declare the signs to you : do you keep them
treasured up in your mind. When, thoughtfully musing by
the streams of the secret river, you shall find a large sow that
bas brought forth a litter of thirty young, reclining on the
ground, under -the holms that shade the banks, white [the
dam], the offspring white around her dugs : that shall be the
station of the city ; there is the period fixed to thy labors.
Nor be disturbed at the future event of eating your tables :
the Fates will find out an expedient, and Apollo invoked will
befriend you. But shun those coasts, and those nearest limits
t>f the Italian shore, which are washed by the tide of our sea :
/ill those cities are inhabited by the mischievous Greeks. Here
the Narycian Locrians have raised their walls, and Cretan
[domeneus with his troops has possessed the plains of Salen-
tum : here stands that little city Petilia, defended by the walls
of Philoctetes 38 the Meliboean chief. [Remember] also (when
your fleet, having crossed the seas, shall come to a station,
and you shall pay your vows at the altar raised on the shore)
to cover your head, muffling yourself in a purple vail, lest
the face of an enemy, amid the sacred fires in honor of the
gods, appear, and disturb the omens. This custom, in sacri-
fice, let your friends, this yourself observe ; to this religious
institution let your pious descendants adhere. But when,
after setting out, the wind shall waft you to the Sicilian coast,
37 The Destinies, or Fates, deities who presided over the birth and
the life of mankind. They were three in number, Clotho, Lachesis, and
Atropos, daughters of Nox and Erebus, or, according to others, of Jupiter
and Themis.
33 Philoctetes, the son of Poean, king of Meliboea in Thessaly. After
his return from the Trojan war, he settled in Italy, where he built the
town of Petilia (Strongoli) in Calabria.
166 -.ENEID. B. ni. 411447.
and the straits of narrow Pelorus" shall open wider to the
eye, veer to the land on the left, and to the sea on the left, by
a long circuit ; fly the right both sea and shore. These lands,
they say, once with . violence and vast desolation convulsed,
(such revolutions a long course of time is able to produce),
slipped asunder ; when in continuity both lands were one, the
sea rushed impetuously between, and by its waves tore the
Italian side from that of Sicily ; and with a narrow frith runs
between the fields and cities separated by the shores. Scylla
guards the right side, implacable Charybdis 40 the left, and thrice
with the deepest eddies of its gulf swallows up the vast billows,
headlong iu, and again spouts them out by turns high into the
air, and lashes the stars with the waves. But Scylla a cave
confines within its dark recesses, reaching forth her jaws, and
sucking in vessels upon the rocks. First she presents a human
form, a lovely virgin down to the middle ; her lower parts are
those of a hideous sea-monster, with the tails of dolphins
joined to the wombs of wolves. It is better with delay to
coast round the extremities of Sicilian Pachynus, 41 and steer
a long winding course, than once to behold the misshapen
Scylla under her capacious den, and those rocks that roar
with her sea-green dogs. Further, if Helenus has any skill,
if any credit is due to him as a prophet, if Apollo stores his
mind with truth, I will give you this one previous admonition,
this one, O goddess-born, above all the rest, and I will incul-
cate it upon you again and again : Be sure you, in the first
place, with supplications worship great Juno's divinity ; to Juno
cheerfully address your vows, and overcome the powerful queen
with humble offerings : thus, at length, leaving Trinacria,
you shall be dismissed victorious to the territories of Italy.
When, wafted thither, you reach the city Cumae, the hallowed
lakes, and Avernus resounding through the woods, you will
see the raving prophetess, who, beneath a deep rock, reveals
the fates, and commits to the leaves of trees her characters
and words. Whatever verses the virgin has inscribed on the
leaves, she ranges in harmonious order, and leaves in the
cave inclosed by themselves : uncovered they remain in their
39 Pelorus (Cape Peloro), one of the three principal promontories of
Sicily, separated from Italy. by the straits of Messina.
40 Charybdis, a dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily, opposite
Scylla, on the coast of Italy.
41 Pachynus (Cape Passaro), the south-eastern promontory of Sicily.
B. m. 448481. JENEID. 167
position, nor recede from their order. But when, upon
turning the hinge, a small breath of wind has blown upon
them, and the door [by opening] hath discomposed the tender
leaves, she never afterward cares to catch the verses as they
are fluttering in the hollow .cave, nor to recover their situation,
or join them together. Men depart without a response, and
detest the Sibyl's" grot. Let not the loss of some time there
seem of such consequence to you (though your friends chide,
and your voyage strongly invite your sails into the deep, and
you may have an opportunity to fill the bellying canvas with
a prosperous gale), as to hinder you from visiting the proph-
etess, and earnestly entreating her to deliver the oracles
herself, and vouchsafe to open her lips ' in vocal accents. She
will declare to you the Italian nations, and your future wars,
and by what means you may shun or sustain each hardship ;
and, with reverence addressed, will give you a successful voy-
age. These are all the instructions I am at liberty to give
you. Go then, and by your achievements raise mighty Troy
to heaven. Which words when the prophet had thus with
friendly voice pronounced, he next orders presents to be
carried to the ships, heavy with gold and ivory ; and within
the sides of my vessel stows a large quantity of silver plate,
and caldrons of Dodonean brass, a mail thick set with rings,
and wrought in gold of triple tissue, together with the cone
and waving crest of a shining helmet, arms which belonged
to Neoptolemus : my father too has proper gifts conferred on
him. He gives us horses besides, and gives us guides. He
supplies us with rowers, and at the same time furnishes our
crew with arms. Meanwhile Anchises gave orders to equip
our fleet with sails, that we might not be late for the favor-
ing gale. Whom the interpreter of Apollo accosts with much
respect : Anchises, honored with the illustrious bed of Venus,
thou care of the gods, twice snatched from the ruins of Troy,
lo ! there the coast of Ausonia lies before you ; thither speed
your way with full sail : and yet you must needs steer your
course beyond. That part of Ausonia which Apollo opens lies
remote. Go, says he, happy in the pious duty of your son : why
do I further insist, and by my discourse retard the rising gales ?
42 The Sibyls were certain women supposed to be inspired, who flour-
ished in different parts of the world. According to Varro, the number
of the Sibyls was ten, of whom the most celebrated was that of Cuma?
in Italy.
168 2ENEID. B. in. 482517.
In like manner Adromache, grieved at our final departure,
brings forth for Ascanius vestments wrought in figures of
gold, and a Phrygian cloak ; nor falls short of his dignity :*'
she loads him also with presents of her labors in the loom,
and thus addresses him, Take these too, my child, which may
be memorials to you of my handiwork, and testify the per-
manent affection of Andromache, the spouse of Hector : ac-
cept the last presents of thy friends. O image, which is all
that I have now left of my Astyanax ! just such eyes, such
hands, such looks he showed ; and now of equal age with you,
would have been blooming into youth. I, with tears in my
eyes, thus addressed them at parting : Live in felicity, ye
whose fortune is now accomplished : we are summoned from
fate to fate. To you tranquillity is secured ; no expanse of
sea have you to plow, or to pursue the ever-retreating lands
of Ausonia. You behold the image of Xanthus, and the Troy
which your own hands have built: Heaven grant it be with
happier auspices, and be less obnoxious to the Greeks. If
ever I shall enter the Tiber, and the lands that border on the
Tiber, and view the walls allotted to my race, we will here-
after make of our kindred cities an allied people, [yours] in
Epirus, [and mine] in Italy, who have both the same founder,
Dardanus, and the same fortune ; [we will, I say, make] of
both one Troy, in good-will. Be this the future care of our
posterity.
We pursue our voyage near the adjacent Ceraunian mount-
ains ; whence lies our way, and the shortest course by sea to
Italy. Meanwhile the sun goes down, and the dusky mount-
ains are wrapped up in shade. On the bosom of the wished-
for earth we throw ourselves down by the waves, having
distributed the oars by lot, and all along the dry beacli we re-
fresh our frames [with food] ; sleep diffuses its dews over our
weary limbs. Night, driven by the hours, had not yet reached
her mid-way course, when Palinurus springs alert from his
bed, examines every wind, and lends his ears to catch the
breeze. He marks every star gliding in the silent sky, Arc-
turus, the rainy Hyades, and the two northern Bears, and
throws his eyes round Orion armed with gold. After having
43 i. e. "her presents are such as his merits deserve." Scaurus, as
we learn from Servius, read " honore," which certainly seems more
simple. B.
p. m. 518553. J3NELD.
169
seen all appearances of settled weather in the serene sky, he
gives the loud signal from the stern : we decamp, attempt our
voyage, and expand the wings of our sails. And now the
stars being chased away, blushing Aurora appeared, when far
off we espy the hills obscure, and lowly Italy. Italy ! Achates
first called aloud; Italy the crew with joyous acclamations
hail. Then father Anchises decked a capacious bowl with a
garland, and filled it up with wine; and invoked the gods,
standing on the lofty stern : Ye gods who rule sea, and land,
and storms, grant us a prosperous voyage by the- wind, and
breath propitious. The wished-for gales begin to swell; and
now the port opens nearer to our view, and on a height ap-
pears the temple of Minerva. Our crew furl the sails, and
turn about their prows to the shore. Where the wave breaks
from the east, the port bends into an arch ; the jutting cliffs
foam with the briny spray ; [the port] itself lies hidden : two
turret-like rocks stretch out their arms in a double wall, and
the temple recedes from the shore. Here, on the grassy
meadow, I saw, as our first omen, four snow-white steeds
grazing the plain at large. And father Anchises [calls out],
War, O hospitable land, thou betokenest ; 44 for war steeds are
harnessed ; war these cattle threaten : but yet, the same quad-
rupeds having long been used to submit to the chariot, and
in the yoke to bear the peaceful reins, there is hope, also, of
peace, he says. Then we address our prayers to the sacred
majesty of Pallas, with clashing arms arrayed, who first- re-
ceived us elated with joy ; and before her altars we vailed our
heads with a Phrygian vail; and according to the instructions
of Helenus, on which he laid the greatest stress, in due form
we offer up to Argive Juno the honors enjoined. Without
delay, as soon as we had regularly fulfilled our vows, we turn
about the extremities of our sail-yards, and quit the abodes
and suspected territories of the sons of Greece. Next is seen
the bay of Tarentum, sacred to Hercules, if report be true ;
and the Lacinian 45 goddess rears herself opposite : the towers
of Caulon 43 [also appear], and Scylaceum infamous for ship-
44 Cf. Mu. iv. 840, "tristia omnia portans." Petron. 124, "incendia
portat." See also "Westerhov. on Ter. Andr. i. 1, 46. B.
45 Lacinian goddess ; that is, Juno Lacinia, who had a celebrated tem-
ple near Crotona, a city of Calabria in Italy.
48 Caulon and Scylaceum (Squillace), both towns of Calabria, south
pf Crotona.
8
170 ^ENEID. B. ra. 554 588.
wrecks. Then, far from the waves, is seen Trinacrian ^Etna ;
and from a distance we hear a loud growling of the ocean,
the beaten rocks, and the murmurs of breakers on the coast :
the deep" leaps up, and sands are mingled with the tide. And,
[says] father Anchises, Doubtless this is the famed Charybdis ;
these shelves, these hideous rocks Helenus foretold. Kescue
us, my friends, and with equal ardor rise on your oars. They
do no otherwise than bidden; and first Palinurus whirled
about the creaking prow to the left waters. The whole crew,
with oars and sails, bore to the left. We mount up to heaven
on the arched gulf, and down again we settle to the shades
below, the wave having retired. Thrice the rocks bellowed
amid their hollow caverns ; thrice we saw the foam dashed up,
and the stars drenched with its dewy moisture.
Meanwhile the wind when the sun forsook us spent with
toil ; and not knowing our course, we near the coasts of the
Cyclops. The port itself is ample, and undisturbed by the
access of the winds ; but, near it, JEtna thunders with horri-
ble ruins, and sometimes sends forth to the skies a black cloud,
ascending in a pitchy whirlwind of smoke and glowing em-
bers; throws up balls of flame, and kisses the stars: some-
times, belching, hurls forth rocks and the shattered bowels of
the mountain, and with a rumbling noise wreaths aloft the
molten rocks, and boils up from its lowest bottom It is said
that the body of Enceladus, 43 half consumed with lightning, is
pressed down by this pile, and that cumbrous ^tna, laid
above him, spouts forth flames from its burst furnaces ; and
that, as often as he shifts his weary side, all Trinacria, 49 with
a groan, inly trembles, and overshades the heavens with smoke.
Lying that night under covert of the woods, we suffer from
those hideous prodigies; nor see what cause produced the
sound. For neither was there the light of the stars, nor was
the sky enlightened by the starry firmament ; but gloom was
over the dusky sky, and a night of extreme darkness muffled
up the moon in clouds.
And now the next day with the first dawn was rising, and
^> " Vada" must not be rendered "shallows." See Heyne. B.
2 Enceladus, the son of Titan and Terra, and the most powerful of all
the giants, who conspired against Jupiter. According to the poets, he was
struck with Jupiter's thunders, and overwhelmed under Mount JEtna.
49 Trinacria, an ancient name of tho Island of Sicily, from its three
promontories.
B. ni. 589626. .ENEID. 171
Aurora had dissipated the humid shades from the sky ; when
suddenly a strange figure of a man unknown to us, emaciated
to the last degree, and in a lamentable plight, stalks from the
woods, and, with the air of a suppliant, stretches forth his
hands to the shore. We look back : he was in horrid filth,
his beard overgrown, 60 his garment tagged with thorns ; but,
in all besides, he was a Greek, and had formerly been sent to
Troy accompanying the arms of his country. As soon as he de-
scried our Trojan dress and arms, struck with terror at the
sight, he paused awhile, and stopped his progress : a moment
after, rushed headlong to the shore with tears and prayers. I
conjure you, [says he,] by the stars, by the powers above, by
this celestial light of life, ye Trojans, snatch me hence ; con-
vey me to any climes whatever, I shall be satisfied. It is true,
I am one who belonged to the Grecian fleet, and, I confess, I
bore arms against the walls of Troy : for which, if the demerit
of my crime be so heinous, scatter my limbs on the waves,
and bury them in the vast ocean. If I die, I shall have the
satisfaction of dying by the hands of men. He said, and clasp-
ing our knees, and wallowing [on the ground], clung to our
knees. We urge him to tell who he is, of what family born ;
and next to declare what fortune pursues him. My father
Anchises frankly gives the youth his right hand, and re.-assures ^
his mind, by that kind pledge. At length, fear removed, he
thus begins : I am a native of Ithaca ; a companion of the un-
fortunate Ulysses, Achaemenides my name. I went to Troy,
my father Adamastus being poor, but would that my state of
life had remained as it was : Here, in the huge den of the
Cyclop, my unmindful companions deserted me, while in con-
sternation they fled from his cruel abodes. It is an abode of
gore and bloody banquets, gloomy within, and vast ; [the Cy-
clop] himself, of towering height, beats the stars on high, (ye
gods, avert such a pest from the earth !) fiercely scowling in
his aspect, and inaccessible to every mortal : he feeds on the
entrails and purple blood of hapless wretches. I myself be-
held, when, having grasped in his rapacious hand two of our
number, as he lay stretched on his back in the middle of the
cave, he dashed them against the stones, and the bespattered
pavement floated with their blood : I beheld, when he ground
5 Cf. Sisenna apud Non. ii. 471, "Complures menses barba immissa,
et intonso capillo." B.
172 ^ENEID. B. ill. 627661.
their members distilling black gore, and their throbbing limbs
quivered under his teeth." Not with impunity, it is true ; such
barbarity Ulysses suffered not [to pass unrevenged], nor was
the prince of Ithaca forgetful of himself in that critical hour.
For as soon as, glutted with his banquet, and buried in wine,
he reposed his reclined neck to rest, and lay at his enormous
length along the cave, disgorging blood in his sleep, and gob-
bets intermixed with gory wine ; we, having implored the
great gods, and distributed our several parts by lot, pour in
upon him on all hands at once, and with our pointed javelins
bore out the huge single eye which was sunk under his lower-
ing front, like a Grecian buckler, or the orb of Phoebe ; and
at length we joyfully avenge the manes of our friends. But
fly, ah wretches ! fly, and tear the cables from the shore. For
such and so vast Polyphemus 52 [is, who] pens in his hollow
cave the fleecy flocks, and drains their dugs, a hundred other
direful Cyclops commonly haunt these winding shores, and
roam on the lofty mountains. The horns of the moon are now
filling up with light for the third time, while in these woods,
among the desert dens and holds of wild beasts, I linger out
my life, and descry from the rock the vast Cyclops, and quake
at the sound of their feet and voice. The berries and the
stony cornels, which the branches supply, form my wretched
sustenance, and the herbs feed me with their plucked-up roots.
Casting my eyes around on every object, this fleet I espied
first steering to the shore ; to it I was resolved to give up my-
self, whatever it had been ; it suffices me that I have escaped
from that horrid crew. Do you rather destroy this life by
any sort of death. Scarcely had he spoken this, when on
the summit of the mountain we observe the shepherd Poly-
phemus himself, stalking with his enormous bulk among his
flocks, and seeking the shore, his usual haunt; a horrible
monster, misshapen, vast, of sight deprived. The trunk of a
pine guides his hand, and makes firm his steps ; his fleecy
sheep accompany him ; this is his sole delight, and the solace
of his distresses : [from his neck his whistle hangs.] After
51 The reader may compare Horn. Od. I. 288 ; Eur. Cycl. 3T9 sqq. ;
Ovid Met. xiv. 205 sqq. B.
52 Polyphemus, a son of Neptune, and king of the Cyclops. He is
represented as a monster of great strength, with one eye in the middle
of the forehead, which Ulysses put out as he was asleep.
53 A spurious attempt to fill up the verse. B.
B. m. 662694 -&3NEID. 173
he touched the deep floods, and arrived at the sea, he therewith
washes away the trickling gore from his quenched orb, gnash-
ing his teeth with a groan : and now he stalks through the
midst of the sea, while the waves have not yet wetted his
gigantic sides. We, in consternation, hasten our flight far
from that shore, having received our suppliant, who thus
merited our favor ; we silently cut the cable, and bending for-
ward, sweep the sea with struggling oars, He perceived, and
at the sound turned his steps. But when no opportunity is af-
forded him to reach us with his eager grasp, and he is unable
in pursuing us to equal the Ionian waves, he raises a prodigious
yell, wherewith the sea and every wave deeply trembled, and
Italy, to its utmost bounds, was affrighted, and JEtna bel-
lowed through its winding caverns. Meanwhile the race of
the Cyclops, roused from the woods and lofty mountains, rush
to the port, and crowd the shore. We perceive the ^Etnean
brothers, standing side by side in vain, with lowering eye, bear-
ing their heads aloft to heaven ; a horrid assembly : as when
aerial oaks, or cone-bearing cypresses, Jove's lofty wood, 01
Diana's grove, together near their towering tops. Sharp fear
impels our crew to tack about to any quarter whatever, and
spread their sails to any favorable wind. On the other hand,
the commands of Helenus warn them not to. continue their
course between Scylla and Charybdis, a path which borders on
death on either hand : our resolution [therefore] is, to sail back-
ward.
And lo ! the north-wind sent from the narrow seat of Pelorus
comes to our aid. I am wafted beyond the mouth of Panta-
gia," formed of natural rock, the bay of Megara, and low-lying
lapsus. These Achaemenides, the associate of accursed Ulysses,
pointed out to us, as backward he cruised along the scenes of
his wanderings.
Before the Sicilian bay outstretched lies an island opposite
to rough Plemmyrium ; 65 the ancients called its name Orty,
gia. 60 It is said, that Alpheus, a river of Elis, hath hither
54 Pantagia, a small but rapid river on the eastern coast of Sicily, be-
tween Catana and Syracuse. Tapsus, a peninsula in the bay of Megara,
north of Syracuse.
55 Plemmyrium, a promontory in the bay of Syracuse.
56 Ortygia, a small island within the same bay, in which was the cele /
brated fountain Arethusa.
174 jENEID. B.m. 695 718.
worked a secret channel under the sea ; which, by thy mouth,
Arethusa, is now blended with the Sicilian waves. We
venerate the great divinities of the place, as commanded ; and
thence I pass the too luxuriant soil of the overflowing Helo-
rus." Hence we skim along the high cliffs and prominent
rocks of Pachynus ; and at a distance appears Camarina, by
fate forbidden to be ever removed ; the Geloian plains and
huge Gela, called by the name of the river. Next lofty Acra-
gas* 8 shows from far its stately walls, once the breeder of
generous steeds. And thee, Selinus, fruitful in palms, I leave,
by means of the given winds ; and I trace my way through
the shallows of Lilybeum, 69 dangerous through its hidden
rocks. Hence the port and joyless coast of Drepanum receive
me. Here, alas ! after being tossed by so many storms at sea,
1 lose my sire Anchises, my solace in every care and suffer-
ing. Here thou, best of fathers, whom in vain, alas ! I saved
from so great dangers, forsakest me spent with toils. Neither
prophetic Helenus, when he gave me many fearful warnings,
nor dire Celaeno, predicted to me this mournful stroke. This
was my finishing disaster, this the termination of my long
tedious voyage. Parting hence, a god directed me to your
coasts.
Thus father ^Eneas, while all sat attentive, alone recounted
the destiny allotted to him by the gods, and gave a history of
his voyage. He ceased at length, and, having here finished
his relation, rested.
57 Helorua (Abisso), a river of Sicily, south of Syracuse, which over-
flowed its banks at certain seasons. Camarina, a lake" and Gela, a city
on the southern coast of Sicily.
53 Acragas, called also Agrigentum (Girgenti), a celebrated city of
Sicily, built on a mountain of the same name, Selinus, a city in the
south-west of Sicily, the vicinity of which abounded with palm-trees.
59 Lilybeum (Cape Boee), one of the three famous promontories of
Sicily. Drepanum (Trapani), a town on the western coast of Sicily,
near Mount Erix, where Anchises died.
B. iv. 128. 2ENEID. 175
BOOK IV.
In the Fourth Book, Queen Dido becomes deeply enamored of .<Eneas, to '
whom she proffers her hand and her crown ; but, on finding him deter-
mined, in obedience to the command of the gods, to leave Carthage, rage
and despair took possession of the unhappy queen. At last, the sudden
departure of tineas led to the fatal catastrophe of her death, by her own
hand, on the funeral pile which she had erected.
Bur the queen, long since pierced with painful care, feeds the
wound in her veins, and is consumed by unseen flames. 1 The
many virtues of the hero, the many honors of his race, recur
to her thoughts : his looks and words dwell fixed in her soul :
nor does care allow calm rest to her limbs. Returning Aurora
now illuminated the earth with the lamp of Phoebus, and had
chased away the dewy shades from the sky, when she, half-
frenzied, thus addresses her sympathizing sister : Sister Anna,
what dreams terrify and distract my mind ! What think you
of 3 this wondrous guest who has come to our abodes ? In mien
how graceful he appears ! in manly fortitude and warlike deeds
how great! I am fully persuaded (nor is my belief ground-
less) that he is the offspring of the gods. Fear argues a de-
generate mind. Ah ! by what fatal disasters has he been
tossed ! what toils of war he sang, endured to the last ! 3 Had
I not been fixed and steadfast in my resolution, never to join
myself to any in the bonds of wedlock, since my first love by
death mocked and disappointed me ; had I not been thoroughly
tired of the marriage-bed and nuptial torch, to this one frailty
I might perhaps give way. Anna (for I will own it), since
the decease of my unhappy spouse Sicha3us, and since the house-
hold gods were stained with his blood shed by a brother, this
[stranger] alone has warped my inclinations, and interested
my wavering mind : I recognize the symptoms of my former
flame. But sooner may earth from her lowest depths yawn
for me, or the almighty Sire hurl me by his thunder to the
shades, the pale shades of Erebus and deep night, than I vio-
late thee, modesty, or break thy laws. He who first linked
1 Of. Aristenet. Ep. ii. 5, eKpoaKerai yap ps rif dvspfujvevTof odvv?]. B.
2 Davidson has better expressed the force of this Greek construction
than Anthon. CC Soph. Ant 7 ; EL 328 ; ^Esch. Ch. 8. B.
3 Literally, " drained to the dregs," Cf. Mn. x. 67. B.
176 ^ENEID. B. rv. 28 GO.
me to himself hath borne away my affection ; may he possess
it still, and retain it in his grave. This said, she filled her
bosom with trickling tears. Anna replies -. O dearer to your
sister than the light, will you thus in mournful solitude waste
your bloom of youth, nor know the dear delights of children,
the rewards of love ? Think you that ashes and the buried
dead care for that ? 4 What though no lovers moved you before,
when your sorrows were green, either in Libya, or before in
Tyre? what though larbas* was slighted, and other princes
whom Afric, fertile in triumphs, maintains ? Will you also re-
sist a flame which you approve ? Will you not reflect in whose
country you now reside ? Here the Getulian 8 cities, a race
invincible in war, unrestrained Numidians, and inhospitable
quicksands, inclose you round ; there, a region, by thirst
turned into a desert, and the wide-raging Barcseans. Why
should I mention the kindling wars from Tyre, and the men-
aces of your brother? It .was surely, I think, under the
auspices of the gods, and by the favor of Juno, that the Tro-
jan ships steered their course to this our coast. O sister, how
flourishing shall you see this city, how potent your kingdom
rise from such a match ! ]3y what high exploits shall the Car-
thaginian glo;y be advanced, when the Trojan's aims join
them ! Do thou but supplicate the favor of the gods, and,
having performed propitiating rites, indulge in hospitality,
and devise one pretense after another for detaining [your
guest], while winter's fury rages on the sea, and Orion charged
with rain; while his ships are shattered, and the sky is in-
clement.
By this speech she fanned the fire of love kindled in Dido's
breast, buoyed up her wavering mind with hope, and banished
her scruples. First to the temples they repair, and by sacri-
fice the peace of heaven implore: to Ceres the lawgiver, to
Phoebus, and to father Bacchus, they offer ewes of the age of
two years, according to custom; above all to Juno, whose
province is the nuptial tie. Dido herself, in all her beauty,
4 Petron. iii. "Id cineres, aut manes credis sepultos sentire?" B.
5 larbas, a son of Jupiter and Garamantis, and king of Getulia, from
whom Dido bought land to build Carthage. He was a lover of the
queen at the time ./Eneas came to Carthage.
6 Getulians, Numidians, etc., the inhabitants of countries in Northern
Africa, now Algiers, Barbary, etc.
u. jr. 61 100. ^ENEID. 1^7
holding in her right hand the cup, pours it between the horns
of a white heifer,; or before the images of the gods in solemn
pomp around the* rich-loaded altars walks, renews one offering
after another all the day long, and, gaping over the disclosed
breasts of the victims, consults their panting entrails. Alas !
how ignorant the minds of seers ! what can prayers, what can
temples, avail a raging lover ? The gentle flame preys all the
while upon her vitals, and the secret wound rankles in her
breast. Unhappy Dido burns, and frantic roves over all the
town ; like a wounded deer, whom, off her guard, a shepherd
pursuing with his darts has pierced at a distance among the
Cretan woods, and unknowingly [in the wound] hath left the
winged steel : she flying bounds over the Dictaean woods and
glades : the fatal shaft sticks in her side. Now she conducts
^Eneas through the midst of her fortifications ; shows him both
the treasures brought from Tyre, and her new city : she begins
to speak, and stops short in the middle of a word. When day
declines, she longs to have the same banquets renewed ; and,
fond even to madness, begs again to hear the Trojan disasters,
and again hangs on the speaker's lips. Now, when they had
severally retired, while the fading moon in her alternate course
withdraws her light, and the setting stars invite sleep, she
mourns alone in the desert hall, presses the c'ouch which he had
left, and in fancy hears and sees the absent hero ; or, captivated
with the father's image, hugs Ascanius in her bosom, if possibly
she may divert her unutterable love. The towers which were
begun cease to rise ; her youth practice not their warlike ex-
ercises, nor prepare ports and bulwarks for war ; the works and
the huge battlements on the walls, and the engines that mate
the skies, are discontinued.
Whom when Jove's beloved wife perceived to be thus pos-
sessed with the blighting passion, and that even sense of honor
could not resist its rage, Saturnia thus artfully addresses Venus :
Distinguished praise, no doubt, and ample spoils, you and your
boy carry off, high and signal renown, if one woman is over-
come by the wiles of two deities. Nor am I quite ignorant,
that you apprehend danger from our walls, and view the struc-
tures of lofty Carthage with a jealous eye. But where will
all this end ? or what do we now propose by such hot conten-
tion ? Why do not we rather promote an eternal peace, and
nuptial contract ? You have your whole souTa desire ; Dido
8*
178 -<NEID. B. rv. 101 129.
burns with love, and has sucked the fury into her very bones.
Let us therefore rule this people in common, and under equal
sway ; let Dido be at liberty to bind herself in wedlock to a
Trojan lord, and into thy hand deliver over the Tynans by way
of dowry.
To whom Venus (for she perceived that she spoke with an
insincere mind, with a design to transfer the seat of empire
from Italy to the Libyan coasts) thus in her turn began :
Who can be so mad as to reject these terms, and rather choose
to engage in war with you, would fortune but concur with the
scheme which you mention ? But I am driven to an uncertainty
by the Fates, [not knowing] whether it be the will of Jupiter
that the Tynans and Trojans should dwell in one city, or if he
will approve the union of the two nations, and the joining of
alliance. You are his consort : to you it belongs by entreaty
to work upon his mind. Lead you the way ; I will follow.
Then imperial Juno thus replied ; That task be mine : mean-
while (mark my words) I will briefly show by what means our
present design may be accomplished. ^Eneas and most un-
happy Dido are preparing to hunt together in the forest, soon
as to-morrow's sun shall have brought forth the early dawn,
and enlightened the world with his beams. While the [brigJit-
hued] plumage flutters, 7 and they inclose the thickets with
toils, I will pour on them from above a blackening storm of
rain with mingled hail, and with peals of thunder make heav-
en's whole frame to shake. 'Their retinue shall fly different
ways, and be covered with a dark night [of clouds]. Dido and
the Trojan prince shall repair to the same cave : there will I
be present, and, if I have your firm consent, I will join them
in the lasting bonds of wedlock, and consecrate her to be his for-
ever. The god of marriage 8 shall be there. Venus, without
any opposition, agreed to her proposal, and smiled at the fraud
she discovered.
Meanwhile Aurora rising left the ocean. Soon as the beams
7 This is the proper meaning of "alae." Of. Ovid. Met. i. 106. In
hunting, nets were drawn around a considerable space, within which the
beasts were driven. In order to scare them thither, a number of bright-
colored feathers were hung to strings at a little distance, called the
'formido." It was chiefly employed in hunting deer. C Ulit. on
Gratius Cyneg. 77 and 85. B.
Hymen, the god of marriage, was the son of Bacchus and Venus,
or, according to others, of Apollo and one of the Muses.
B. IT. 130 157. JENEID. 179
of day shot forth, the chosen youth issue through the gates :
the fine nets, the toils, the broad-pointed hunting spears, the
Massylian 9 horsemen, and a pack of quick-scented hounds,
pour forth together. Before the palace-gate the Carthaginian
nobles await the queen lingering in her alcove : her steed,
richly caparisoned with purple and gold, ready stands, and
fiercely champs the foaming bit. At length she comes at-
tended by a numerous retinue, attired in a Sidonian chlamys
with embroidered border : she has a quiver of gold ; her
tresses are tied in a golden knot ; a golden buckle binds up her
purple robe. The Trojan youth, too, and sprightly lulus,
accompany the procession. ^Eneas himself, distinguished in
beauty above all the rest, mingles with the retinue, and adds
his train to hers : as when Apollo, leaving Lycia, 10 his winter
seat, and the streams of Xanthus, revisits his mother's island
Delos, and renews the dances : the Cretans, Dry opes, 11 and
painted Agathyrsi, 12 mingle their acclamations around his
altars : he himself moves majestic on Cynthus' top, and ad-
justing his waving hair, crowns it with a soft wreath, and in-
folds it in gold ; his arrows rattle on his shoulders. With no
less active grace ^Eneas moved ; such comeliness shines forth
in his matchless mien. Soon as they reached the high mount-
ains, and pathless lairs, lo ! from the summit of the craggy
cliff the wild goats dislodged skip down the rocks : on the
other side the stags scour along the open plains, and gather
together in flight their dust-covered squadrons, and forsake
the mountains. Now the boy Ascanius delights in his
sprightly courser through the inclosed vales ; and now these,
The Massylians, a warlike people of Mauritania in Africa, near
Mount Atlas : when they went on horseback, they never used saddles
or bridles but only sticks.
10 As Dido is before compared to Diana, JEn. i. 498, so ^Eneas here to
Apollo, the brother of Diana. It was a common opinion, that the gods
at certain times of the year changed their places of residence ; and Ser-
vius says it was firmly believed that Apollo gave responses at Patara, a
city of Lycia, during the six months of winter, and at Delos in the sum-
mer months. Hence Apollo is called Delius and Patareus, Hor. Carm.
iil 4, 62.
qui Lyciae tenet
Dumeta, natalemque silvam,
Delius et Patareus Apollo.
11 Dryopes, a people of Greece, in the vicinity of Mount (Eta and
Parnassus.
13 Agathyrsi, an effeminate nation of Scythia.
180 -rfENEID. B. iv. 158190.
now those lie outrides, and devoutly wishes that a foaming boar
would cross his way amid the feeble flocks, or 'a tawny lion
descend from the mountain.
Meanwhile the air begins to be disturbed with loud murmur-
ings ; a deluge of rain with mingled hail succeeds. And here
and there the Tyrian train, the Trojan youth, and Venus'
grandchild of Dardanian line, for fear sought different shelters
through the fields. Whole rivers from the mountains come
pouring down. Dido and the Trojan prince repair to the
same cave. [Then] first the Earth, and Juno who presides
over marriage, gave the signal : lightnings flashed, the sky
was a witness to the alliance, and the nymphs were heard to
shriek on the mountain tops. That day first proved the
source of death, the source of woes : for [now] Dido is neither
influenced by appearance or character, nor is she now studious
to carry on clandestine love : she calls it marriage : she vails 13
her guilt under that name.
Forthwith Fame 1 * through the populous city of Libya runs :
Fame, than whom no pest is more swift, by exerting her
agility grows more active, and acquires strength on her way :
small at first through fear ; soon she shoots up into the skies,
and stalks along the ground, while she hides her head among
the clouds. Parent Earth, enraged by the vengeance of the
gods, produced her the youngest sister, it is said of Coeus, and
Enceladus, swift to move with feet and persevering wings : a
monster hideous, immense ; who (wondrous to relate !) for as
many plumes as are in her body, numbers so many wakeful
eyes beneath, so many tongues, so many babbling mouths,
pricks up so many listening ears. By night, through the mid
region of the sky, and through the shades of earth, she flies
buzzing, nor inclines her eyes to balmy rest. Watchful by
day, she perches either on some high house-top, or on lofty
turrets, and fills mighty cities with dismay; as obstinately
bent on falsehood and iniquity as on reporting truth. She
then, delighted, with various rumors filled the people's ear,
and uttered facts and fictions indifferently ; [namely,] that
18 More literally, " she weaves over her fault with this title." D'Orvillo
on Chariton, p. 82, compares Ovid Her. v. 131, " vim licet appelles, et
culpam nomine veles." Aristoph. Plut. 159, ovojuari wspiiTETovai rf/v
.
14 Fame was worshiped by the ancients as a powerful goddess, and
generally represented blowing a trumpet, etc.
B. IV. 191216. JENEID. 181
^Eneas, sprung from Trojan blood, had arrived, whom Dido,
with all her charms, vouchsafed to wed ; that now in reveling
with each other they enjoyed the winter, throughout its length,
unmindful of their kingdoms, and enslaved by a base passion.
With such news the foul goddess fills the mouths of the
people. To king larbus straight she turns her course; in-
flames his soul by her rumors, and aggravates his rage. This
larbus, the son of Ammon by the ravished nymph Gara-
mantis, raised to Jove a hundred lofty temples within his
extensive realms, a hundred altars ; and there had he conse-
crated the wakeful fire, with a sacred watch to keep eternal
guard, a piece of ground, fattened with victims' blood, and
the gates ' adorned with wreaths of various flowers. He,
maddened in soul, and inflamed by the bitter tidings, is said,
before the altars, amid the very presence of the gods, to have
[thus] importunately addressed Jupiter in suppliant form
with uplifted hands : Almighty Jove, to whom the Maurusian
race, that feast on painted couches, now honor thee with a
libation of wine, seest thou these things? or do wo vainly
dread thee, when thou, O father ! dartest thy thunder-bolts ?
and are those lightnings in the clouds that terrify our minds
blind and fortuitous, and do they mingle mere idle sounds?
A wandering woman, who hath built in our dominions a small
city [on a spot] she purchased ; to whom we assigned a tract
of shore for tillage, and upon whom we imposed the laws of
the country, hath rejected our proffered match, and hath taken
^Eneas into her kingdom for her lord : and now this other
Paris, 1 * with his unmanly 16 train, bound under the chin with
a Lydian cap," and with his locks bedewed [with odors], en-
15 He calls ^Eneas Paris, both to denote him effeminate, and a ravisher,
one who had carried off from him that princess whom he looked upon as
his property, and thought he had a right to marry. In allusion to which
rape, he says at the end of the sentence, rapto potitur.
18 Is said in allusion to the manner of the Phrygians, who were great
worshipers of the goddess Cybele, whose priests were eunuchs.
11 Mseonian or Lydian miter, a sort of bonnet wore by the Lydian and
Phrygian women, a part of dress which would have been quite infamous
in a man, especially when it had the redimicula or fillets, wherewith it
was tied under the chin, mentum subnexus :
Vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis ;
Desidise cordi ; juvat indulgere choreis ;
Et tunicas manicas et habent redimicula nitrae :
O vere Phrygise, neque enim Phryges ! Mn. ix. 14.
182 ^ENEID. B. IV. 217 247, . ,,. ,
joys the ravished prize : [this we have deserved forsooth,] be-
cause we bring offerings to thy temples, and cherish an idle
glory, 1 '
While in such terms he addressed his prayer, and grasped
the altar, the almighty heard, and turned his eyes toward
the royal towers [of Carthage], and the lovers regardless of
their better fame. Then thus he bespeaks Mercury, and gives
him these instructions : Fly quick, my son, call the zephyrs,
and on thy pinions glide : and to the Trojan prince, who now
loiters in Tyrian Carthage, nor regards the cities allotted him
by the Fates, address yourself ; and bear [this] my message
swiftly through the skies. Not such a one did his fairest
mother promise us, nor was it for this she saved him twice
from the Grecian sword: but that he should be one who
should rule Italy, big with [future] empire, and fierce in war,
who should evince his descent from Teucer's noble blood, and
bring the whole world under his sway. If he is not fired
by the glory of such deeds, nor will himself attempt any
laborious enterprise for his own renown, will he, the father,
envy Ascanius Rome's imperial towers ? What does he pro-
pose 2 or with what prospect lingers he so long among an un-
friendly race, nor regards his Ausonian offspring, and Lavin-
ian fields ? Bid him set sail. No more : be this our mes-
sage.
He said : Mercury prepared to obey his mighty father's
will : and first to his feet he binds his golden sandals, which
by their wings waft him aloft, whether over sea or land, swift
as the rapid gales. Next he takes his wand ; with this he
calls from hell the pale ghosts, dispatches others down to sad
Tartarus, gives sleep, or takes it away, and unseals the eyes
from death. 1 ' Aided by this, he drives along the winds, and
breasts the troubled clouds. And now in his flight he espies
the top and lofty sides of hardy Atlas, 20 who with his summit
18 i. e. of being thy descendants. B.
19 This explanation is neatly supported in Anthon's note. B.
20 Atlas, one of the Titans, son of Japetus and Clymene. He was king
of Mauritania, and upon Perseus showing him the head of Medusa, was
changed into the mountain which bears his name. Mount Atlas runs
across the deserts of Africa, east and west, and is so high that the an-
cients imagined that the heavens rested on its top, and that Atlas sup-
ported the world on his shoulders.
'.. . , ' /tf -
a. XT. 248 282. JENEID. 183
supports the sky ; Atlas, whose head, crowned with pines, is
always encircled with black clouds, and lashed by wind and
rain : large sheets of snow enwrap his shoulders ; from his
aged chin torrents headlong roll, and his grizzly beard is stiff
with icicles. Here first Cyllenius, 21 poising himself on even
wings, alighted ; hence with the weight of his whole body he
flings himself headlong to the floods; like the fowl, which
[hovering] about the shores, about the fishy rocks, flies low
near the surface of the seas : just so Maia's son, shooting
down from his maternal grandsire betweeen heaven and earth,
[skimmed along] the sandy shore of Libya, and cut the
winds. 2 * As soon as he touched the cottages [of Afric] with
his winged feet, he views ^Eneas founding towers, and rais-
ing new structures ; and at his side he wore a sword studded
with yellow jasper, and a cloak hanging down from his
shoulders, glowed with Tyrian purple : presents which wealthy
Dido had given, and had interwoven the stuff with threads of
gold. Forthwith he accosts him : Is it for you now to be lay-
ing the foundations of stately Carthage, and the fond slave of
a wife, be raising a city [for her], regardless, alas ! of your
kingdom and nearest concerns? The sovereign of the gods,
who governs heaven and earth by his nod, himself sends me
down to you from bright Olympus. The same commanded
me to bear these his instructions swiftly through the air. What
dost thou propose, with what prospect dost thou waste thy
peaceful hours in the territories of Libya? If no glory from
such deeds move thee, and thou wilt attempt no laborious en-
terprise for thy own renown ; have some regard [at least] to
the rising Ascanius, and the hopes of thine heir lulus, for
whom the kingdom of Italy and the Roman territories are
destined. When Cyllenius had spoken thus, he left mortal
vision in the very midst of the conference, and far beyond sight
vanished into thin air.
Meanwhile ^Eneas, entranced by the vision, was struck
dumb ; his hair with horror stood erect, and his tongue
cleaved to his jaws. He burns to be gone in flight, and leave
the darling land, awed by the message and dread command of
21 Cyllenius, a name of Mercury, from Cyllene, a mountain of Arca-
dia, where he was born.
22 This whole passage is probably spurious. See Anthon. The zeug-
ma in the last line is intolerable. B.
184 vENEID. B. IT. 283 313.
the gods. Ah ! what can he do ? in what terms can he now
presume to solicit the consent of the" raving queen ? With
what words shall he introduce the subject? And now this
way, now that, he swiftly turns his wavering mind, snatches
various purposes by starts, and roams uncertain through all.
Thus fluctuating, he fixed on this resolution as the best : he
calls to him Mnestheus," 4 Sergestus, and the brave Cloanthus;
[and bids them] with silent care equip the fleet, summon their
social bands to the shore, prepare their arms, and artfully con-
ceal the cause of this sudden change : [adding,] that he him-
self, in the mean time, while generous Dido was in ignorance,
and had no apprehension that their so great loves could be dis-
solved, would try the avenues [to her heart], what may be
the softest moments of address, what means might be most fa-
vorable to their design. With joyful speed they all obey the
commands, and put his orders in execution.
But the queen (who can deceive a lover ?) was beforehand
in perceiving the fraud, and the first who conjectured their
future motions, dreading even where all seemed to be safe :
the same malignant fame conveyed the news to her frantic,
that the fleet was being equipped, and preparing to set sail.
She rages even to madness, and inflamed, she wildly roams
through all the city ; like a Bacchanal wrought up into en-
thusiastic fury in celebrating the sacred [mysteries of her
god], when the triennial orgies stimulate her, at hearing the
name of Bacchus, and the nocturnal howlings on Mount
Citheron invite her. At length, in these words she first ac-
costs ./Eneas : And didst thou hope, too, perfidious one, to be
able to conceal from me so wicked a purpose, and to steal
away in silence from my coasts ? Can neither our love, nor
thy once plighted faith, nor Dido resolved to die by a cruel
death, detain thee ? Nay, you prepare your fleet even in the
wintery season, and haste to launch into the deep amid
northern blasts ! Cruel one ! suppose you were not bound
for a foreign land and settlements unknown, and old Troy
was still remaining ; should you set sail for Troy on this tem-
as Literally, " to get around." ANTHOH.
24 Mnestheus, a Trojan, descended from Assaracus: he obtained a
prize at tHfe funeral games of Anchises, and was the progenitor of the
Memmii at Rome. Sergestus, a sailor in the fleet of ./Eneas, from whom
the family of the Sergii at Rome were descended. Cloanthus, one of
the companions of ./Eneas, the ancestor of the Cluentii family at Rome.
B. iv. 314346. ^EJiTEID. 185
pestuous sea ? Wilt thou fly from me \ By these 24 tears, by
that right hand (since I have left nothing else to myself now,
a wretch forlorn), by our nuptial rites, by our conjugal loves
begun ; if I have deserved any thanks at thy hand, or if ever
you saw any charms in me, take pity, I implore thee, on a
tailing race, and, if yet there is any room for prayers, lay
aside your resolution. For thy sake have I incurred the
hatred of the Libyan nations, of the Numidian princes, and
made the Tynans my enemies ; for thy sake have I sacrified
my shame, and, what alone raised me to the stars, my former
fame : to whom dost thou abandon Dido, soon about to die,
my guest ! since, instead of a husband's name, only this re-
mains ? 2G What wait I for I is it till my brother Pygmalion
lay this city of mine in ashes, or larbas, the Getulian, carry mo
away his captive ? Had I but enjoyed offspring by thee before
thy flight ; did a young /flneas play in my hall, were it but to
give me thy image in his features, I should not indeed have
thought myself quite a captive and forlorn.
She said. He, by the commands of Jove, held his eyes
unmoved, and with hard struggles suppressed the anxious
care i:i his heart. At length he briefly replies, That you, O
queen, have laid on me numerous obligations, which you may
recount at large, I never shall disown ; and I shall always re-
member Elisa with pleasure, while I have any remembrance
of myself, while I have a soul to actuate these limbs. But to
the point in debate I shall briefly speak : believe me, I neither '
thought by stealth to have concealed this my flight, nor did I
ever pretend a lawful union, or enter into such a contract.
Had the Fates left me free to conduct my life by my own di-
rection, and ease my cares according to my own choice ; my
first regards had been shown to Troy and the dear relics of
my country ; Priam's lofty palace should [now] remain, and
with this hand I would have repaired for the conquered the
walls of Pergamus, raised again from ruin. But now to great
Italy Grynaean Apollo, to Italy the Lycian oracles have com-
" For this collocation of words, compare Eur. Andr. 892, irpof c rtiv
d yovvdruv. Hipp. 601, Trpdf a Tijf ay? digidf. ^En. x. 369. Ter.
Andr. iii. 3, 6. Tibull. i. 5, 7. B.
26 Valpv well remarks, that, as ^Eneas disowns the nuptial tie, Dido
addresses him by the title of guest, which he can not reject. Seneca has
expressed the same idea, Here. Fur. 1, " Soror Tonantis, hoc enim solum
mini nomen rehctum est." B.
186 ^ENEID. B. iv. 347377.
manded me to repair. This is the object of my love, this my
country. If the towers of Carthage and the sight of a
Libyan city engross you, a Phoenician born, why should you
be dissatisfied that we Trojans settle in the land of Ausonia ?
Let us too have the privilege to go in quest of foreign realms.
Whenever the night overspreads the earth with humid shades,
as often as the fiery stars arise, the troubled ghost of my
father Anchises visits me in my dreams, and with dreadful
summons urges [my departure] : my son Ascanius [calls] me
[hence], and the injury done to one so dear, whom I defraud
of the Hesperian crown, and his destined dominions. Now 27
also the messenger of the gods, dispatched from Jove himself,
(I call them both to witness !) swift gliding through the air,
bore to me his high commands : myself beheld the god in con-
spicuous brightness entering your walls, and with these ears
I received his voice. Cease to torment yourself and me by
your complaints : the Italian coasts I pursue, not out of
choice. 118
Thus while he speaks, she views him all along from the
beginning with averted looks, rolling her eyes hither and
thither, and with silent glances surveys his whole person, then
thus inflamed with wrath breaks forth : Nor goddess gave
thee birth, perfidious one ! nor is Dardanus the founder of
thy race, but frightful Caucasus on flinty clifis brought thee
forth, and Hyrcanian tigers gave thee suck. For why should
'I dissemble ? or for what greater injuries can I be reserved ?
Did he so much as sigh at my distress ? did he once move his
eyes ? Did he, overcome, shed a tear, or compassionate me in
my love ? Where shall I begin my complaint ? Now neither
mighty Juno nor the Saturnian sire, considers these things
with impartial eyes. Finn faith nowhere subsists. An
outcast on my shores, an indigent wretch, I received him, and
fool that I was, settled him in partnership of my crown ; his
wrecked fleet [I renewed], his companions from death I saved.
Ah ! I am all on fire, I am distracted with fury ! " Now" the
prophetic voice of Apollo ; now the Lycian lots ; and now the
:T This sophistical defense of ^Eneas has been partly copied by Silius,
viii. 109 sqq. B.
On this abruptly finished passage, seo Weichart, de vers. spur, p-
71. B.
29 Dido ironically repeats his words.
B. iv. 378410. ^NEID. 187
messenger of the gods, dispatched from Jove himself, through
the air conveys tne horrid mandate." A worthy employ-
ment, forsooth, for the powers above, a weighty concern to
disturb them in their peaceful state ! I neither detain you,
nor argue against what you have said. Go, speed your way
for Italy with the winds, pursue this kingdom of yours, over
tie waves. I hope, however (if the just gods have any power),
thou mayest suffer punishment amid the rocks, and often
[vainly] call on Dido's name. I, though absent, will pursue
thee with black flames : and, when cold death shall have
separated these limbs from my soul, as a shade will I haunt 30
thee in every place : Wretch ! thou shalt make atonement : I
shall hear it ; even in the deep shades these tidings will reach
me. With these words she breaks off in the middle of the
conference, and sickening shuns the light : she turns about,
and flings away out of his sight, leaving him greatly perplexed
through fear, and preparing to say a thousand things. Her
maids raise her up, bear her fainting limbs into her marble bed-
chamber, and gently lay her on a couch.
Meanwhile pious ^Eneas, though by solacing means he
desires to ease her grief, and by words to divert her anguish,
heaving many a sigh, and staggered in his mind by mighty
love, yet gives obedience to the commands of the gods, and
revisits his fleet. Then, indeed, the Trojans intensely ply their
work, and launch the ships all along the shore. The pitchy
keel floats ; through eager haste to sail, they bring from the
woods ours not cleared of leaves, and uniashioned timber.
You might have seen them removing, and pouring from all
quarters of the town, as when ants, mindful of winter, plunder
a large granary of corn and hoard it up in their cell ; the
black battalion marches over the plains, and along the narrow
track they convey their booty through the meadows ; some,
shoving with their shoulders, push forward the cumbrous
grain ; some rally the [straggling] bands, and chastise those
that lag : the path all glows with the work.
Dido, how wast thou then affected with so sad a prospect ?
What groans didst thou utter, when from thy lofty tower thou
beheldest the shore in its wide extent glowing [with bustle],
30 Ovid, Ibis, 146. " Turn quoque factorum veniam memor umbra
tuorum, Insequar et vultus ossea forma tuos. Quse vis Deorum est
manium." B.
188 -(ENEID. B. iv. 411 442.
and didst also observe, full in thy view, the whole watery
plain resounding with such mingled shouts? Unrelenting
love, how irresistible is thy sway over the mind of mortals !
She is constrained once more to have recourse to tears, once
more to assail him by prayers, and suppliant to subject the
powers of her soul to love, lest, by leaving any means uuat-
tempted, she should throw away her life rashly, and without
cause. Anna, thou seest over all the shore how they are
hastening : the whole bauds are drawn together, the canvas
now invites the gales ; and the joyful mariners have crowned
their sterns with garlands. O sister, since I was able to fore-
see this so sad a blow, I shall be able to bear it. Yet, Anna,
perform this one request for your wretched sister : for that
perfidious man made you the sole object of his esteem, even
intrusted you with the secrets of his soul, you alone knew the
occasions and soft approaches to his heart. Go, sister, and in
suppliant terms bespeak the haughty foe : I never conspired
with the Greeks at Aulis 31 to extirpate the Trojan race, or
sent a fleet to Troy ; nor did I disturb the ashes and manes
of his father Anchises. Why does he stop his unrelenting
ears to my words ? whither does he fly ? Let him grant but
this last favor to his unhappy lover ; to defer his flight till it
be safe, and till the winds blow fair." I plead no more for
that old-promised wedlock, which he has betrayed ; nor that
he should deprive himself of fair Latium, and relinquish a
kingdom. I ask a trifling moment ; a respite and interval from
distracting pain, till, subdued by fortune, I learn to sustain my
woes. This favor I implore as the last, (pity thy sister !) which,
when he has granted, I shall send him away completely happy
in my death.
To this effect she prayed ; and her sister, deeply distressed,
bears once and again this mournful message to JEiieas ; but by
none of her mournful messages is he moved, nor listens with
calm regard to any words. The Fates stand in his Avay ; and
heaven renders his ears deaf to compassion. And as the
Alpine north winds by their blasts, now on this side, now on
Sl Aulis, a seaport town of Boetia, in Greece, where the Grecian forces
assembled in the expedition against Troy.
13 Ventosque ferentes, i. e. Ventosque secundos, as in Seneca de B. V.
c. 21, Navigantem secundus et ferens veutus exhilarat. So Pliny in his
panegyric, Venti ferentes et brevis cursus optentur.
B. IV. 443 i73. .<ENEID. 189
that, strive with joint force to overturn a sturdy ancient oak :
a loud howling goes forth, and the leaves strew the ground in
heaps, while the trunk is shaken ; the tree itself cleaves fast to
the rocks ; and as high as it shoots up to the top in the ethereal
regions, so deep it descends with its root toward Tartarus :
just so the hero on this side and that side is plied with impor-
tunate remonstrances, and feels deep pangs in his mighty soul ;
his mind remains unmoved ; unavailing tears are shed.
Then, indeed, unhappy Dido, struck to the heart by her
fate, longs for death ; she sickens of beholding the canopy of
heaven. The more to prompt her to execute her purpose,
and to part with the light, while she was presenting her
offerings upon the altar that smoked with incense, she beheld,
horrid to relate ! the sacred liquors grow black, and the out-
poured wine turn into inauspicious blood. This vision she
revealed to none, not even to her sister. Besides, there was in
the palace a marble shrine in honor of her former husband,
to which she paid extraordinary veneration, [having] it en-
circled with snowy fillets of wool and festal garlands. Hence
voices, and the words of her husband calling her, seemed to
be heard, 33 when dim night shrouded the earth ; and on the
house-tops the solitary owl often complained in doleful ditty,
and spun out his long notes in a mournful strain. Besides,
many predictions of pious prophets terrify her with dreadful
forebodings. ^Eneas himself, now stern and cruel, disturbs
her raving in her sleep ; and still she seems to be abandoned
in solitude, still to be going a long tedious journey, with no
attendance, and to be in quest of her Tynans in some desert
country : as frantic Pentheus" sees troops of Furies, two
suns, and Thebes appear double; or like Orestes, Agamem-
non's son, with distraction hurried on the stage, when he flies
from his mother armed with firebrands* 6 and black snakes
and the avenged Furies are planted at the gate."
33 Compare Silius, viii. 122 sqq., and Grid, Her. viL 100 sqq. Such
prodigies are great favorites with the Greek romancists. Thus in
Heliodor. iL 70, e/c fiv^uv rov aTTTjhaiov, Quvf/f rif sfoof I^KOVCTO,
dtuyevef, KaZovarjf. And Chariton, i. p. 12, tycxpos owe iarlv, U/.TM $UVT)
K.0.7.OVVTUV fj. TUV VKOxOoVlUV TTpdf ailTOVf. B.
34 Pentheus, son of Echion and Agave, was king of Thebes in Bceotia.
In consequence of his refusal to acknowledge the divinity of Bacchus,
he was torn to pieces by the Bacchanals.
35 There is an evident reference to the stage costume of the Furies. B
35 According to Servius, Virgil follows a tragedy of Pacuvius, in which
190 -&ETEID. B. iv. 474501.
When, therefore, overpowered with grief, she had taken
the Furies 37 into her breast, and determined to die, she pon-
ders the time and manner with herself; and thus accosting
her sister, the partner of her grief, covers her intention in her
looks, and puts on a serene air of hope. Rejoice, O sister,
with thy sister ! I have found an expedient, which will restore
him to me, or set my love-sick soul at liberty from him.
Near the extremity of the ocean and the setting sun, the utmost
boundary of ^Ethiopia lies, where mighty Atlas on his shoul-
der whirls about the globe, spangled with refulgent stars :
hence appeared to me a priestess of the Massylian nation, the
guardian of the temple of the Hesperides, 88 who supplied the
dragon with food, and watched the sacred branches on the
tree, infusing liquid honey and the sleepy poppy. She un-
dertakes, by charms, to release any souls, whom she will,
[from the power of love,] and to entail on others irksome
cares : to stop the course of rivers, and turn the stars back-
ward : she summons up the ghosts by night. You shall see
the earth bellow under her feet, and the wild ashes descend
from the mountains. My dear sister, I call the gods, and you,
and that dear person of thine, to witness, that it is against my
will I set about these magic arts. Do you in secrecy erect a
funeral pile in the inner court, under the open air, and lay
upon it his arms, which he, impiously base, left fixed in my
bed-chamber, with all his clothes, and the nuptial bed in
which I was undone. The priestess orders and directs me to
destroy every monument of that execrable man. Having thus
said, she ceases : at the same time, paleness overcasts her
whole complexion. Yet Anna imagines not that her sister
aimed at death under pretext of these unusual rites ; nor
once suspects that she had formed such a desperate purpose,
Orestes was represented taking refuge in the temple of Apollo, while the
Furies kept watch for him at the gate. For the more usual stage arrange-
ment, see my notes on .ZEscb. Lum. p. ISO, note 4, ed. Bohn. B.
S7 The Furies, daughters of Acheron and Nox: they were three hi
numbeJfTTsiphone, Megara, and Alecto, and were supposed to be the
ministers of the vengeance of the gods.
38 Hesperides, three celebrated nymphs, daughters of Hesperus: they
presided over the garden which contained the golden apples that Juno
gave to Jupiter on the day of their nuptials. This garden, according to
the ancients, was situated near Mount Atlas, in Africa, and the tree
bearing the golden apples was guarded by a huge dragou.
B. IT. 502535. yENEID. 191
nor dreads any thing worse than had happened at the death of
Sichseus. Therefore she makes the desired preparations.
But the queen, as soon as the vast pile was erected under
the open air in the inner court, with torches and faggots
of oak, encircles the ground with garlands, and crowns it with
funeral boughs : upon the bed she lays his clothes, the sword
he left, and his image, well knowing of the future. Altars
are raised around; and the priestess, her hair disheveled,
with thundering voice, invokes three hundred gods, and Ere-
bus, and Chaos, and threefold Hecate, 39 virgin Diana's triple
form. She sprinkled also water counterfeiting that of the
lake Avernus : 40 full-grown herbs, cut by moonlight with
brazen sickles, are searched out, together with the juice of
black poison : the [mother's] love, 41 too, torn from the fore-
head of a new-foaled colt, and snatched away from the dam,
is sought out. The queen herself, now resolute on death,
having one foot bare, her robe ungirt, standing by the altars,
with the salt cake and pious hands, makes her appeal to the
gods, and to the stars conscious of her fate : then, if any deity,
both just and mindful, regards lovers unequally yoked, him she
invokes.
It was night, and weary bodies over the earth were enjoy-
ing a peaceful repose : the woods and raging seas were still ;
when the stars roll in the middle of their gliding course ;
when every field is hushed : the beasts, and speckled birds,
both those that far and wide haunt the liquid lakes, and those
that possess the fields with rough bushes overgrown, all
stretched under the silent night, allayed their cares with sleep,
and every heart forgot its toil. But not so the soul-distressed
queen ; not one moment is she lulled to rest, nor enjoys the
night with eyes or mind. Her cares redouble ; and love, again
arising, rages afresh, and fluctuates with a high tide of pas-
sions. Thus then she persists, and revolves these secret re-
flections in her breast : Lo ! what shall I do ? Baffled as I am,
shall I, in my turn, apply to my former suitors? shall I
humbly sue for a match with one of the Numidians, whom I
83 Hecate, the daughter of Perses and Asteria, or rather of Jupiter
and Latona : she was called Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and He-
cate, or Proserpine, in hell.
10 "Avernales aquas." Hor. Ep. v. 15. C Macrob. iii. 1. B.
41 On the "hippomanes," here meant, see Anthon. B.
192 ^JNEID. B. IV. 636573.
have so often disdained as lords ? Shall I then attend the fleet
of Hium, and submit to the basest commands of the Trojans ?
and that, because I am well rewarded for having lent them my
assistance, and in their grateful hearts a just sense of my
former kindness remains ? But, suppose I had the will, who
will put it in my power, or receive into their proud ships me,
the object of their hate ? Ah ! lost one, art thou unacquainted
with, art thou still to learn, the perfidiousness of Laomedoii's
race ? What then ? Shall I steal away by myself to accom-
pany the triumphant crew 2 or, attended by my Tyrians, and
all my people in a body, shall I pursue them, and again lead
out to sea, and order those to spread their sails to the winds,
whom, with much ado, I forced from Tyre 1 Nay, rather die,
as you deserve, and end your woes with the sword. You,
sister, subdued by my tears, you first oppressed my distracted
mind with these woes, and exposed me to the enemy. Might
I not have led an innocent unwedded life, like a savage of the
field, and have avoided such cares ? I have violated the faith I
plighted to the manes of Sichaeus.
Such heavy complaints she poured forth from her heart.
^Eneas, determined to depart, was enjoying sleep in the lofty
stern, all things being now in readiness. The form of the god,
returning with the same aspect, appeared to him in his sleep,
thus again seemed to admonish him; in every thing re-
sembling Mercury, in voice, complexion, golden locks, and
comely youthful limbs: "Goddess-born, can you indulge in
sleep at this conjuncture ? Infatuated, not to see what dangers
in a moment may beset you, nor listen to the breathing of the
friendly zephyrs! She, bent on death, is revolving guileful
purposes and horrid wickedness in her breast, and fluctuates
with a tide of angry passions. Will you not fly hence with
precipitation, while thus to fly is in your power? Forthwith
you shall behold the sea in commotion with her oars, and
torches fiercely blaze; forthwith the shore lighted up with
flames, if the morning reach you lingering on these coasts.
Come then, quick, break off delay : woman is a fickle and
ever changeable creature." This said, he mingled with the
sable night.
Then, indeed, ./Eneas, in consternation at this sudden ap-
parition, snatches his frame from the couch, and rouses his
companions: Awake, my mates, in haste, and plant your-
B. iv. 574 609. ^BNEID. 193
selves on the benches ; instantly unfurl the sails. A god, dis-
patched from the high heavens, once more prompts me to
hasten my departure, and cut the twisted cables. We follow
thee, O holy power, whoever thou art, and once more with joy
obey thy commands. Ah ! be present, lend us thy propitious
aid, and light up friendly stars in the heavens. He said, and
snatches his keen flashing sword from the sheath, and cuts the
halsers with the drawn steel. The same eagerness at once
seizes them all : they hale, they hurry away : they have quitted
the shore; the sea lies hidden under the fleet; they with
exerted vigor upturn the foaming billows, and sweep the azure
deep.
And now Aurora, leaving Tithonus' saffron bed, first sowed
the earth with new-born light : ""soon as the queen from her
watch-towers marked the dawn whitening, and the fleet set-
ting forward with balanced sails, and perceived the shore and
vacant port without a rower ; thrice and four times smiting
her fair bosom, and tearing her golden locks : O Jupiter !
shall he go ? she says : and shall this stranger mock my king-
dom ? Will they not make ready arms, and pursue from all
the city ? and will not others tear my ships from the docks ?
Run quick, fetch flames, unfurl the sails, ply the oars. What
am I saying ? or where am I ? what madness turns my brain ?
Unhappy Dido ! art thou then at length stung with the sense
of his foul impious deeds 1" Then it had become thee so to
act, when thou impartedst [to him] thy scepter. Is this the
honor, the faith ! this [the man] who, they say, carries with
him his country's gods ! who bore on his shoulders his father
spent with age ! Might I not have torn in pieces his mangled
body, and strewn it on the waves ? might I not with the sword
have destroyed his friends, and Ascanius himself, and served
him up for a banquet at his father's table ? But the fortune
of the fight was doubtful. Grant it had been so : thus reso-
lute on death, whom had I to fear ? I might have hurled fire-
brands into his camp, filled the hatches with flames, extirpated *
the son, the sire, with the whole race, and flung myself upon
the pile. Thou Sun, who with thy flaming beams surveyest
all works on earth, and thou, Juno, the author" and witness
of these my cares ; Hecate, with howlings invoked through
" "facta," not "fata." B.
43 " interpres," i. e. " media et conciliatrix." SEBVIUS. B.
9
194 jENEUX B. IV. 610632.
the cities in the crossways by night ; and ye avenging Furies,
and gods of dying Elisa ! receive these my words ; in justice
to my \vrongs, turn to me your divine regard, and hearken to
my prayers. If it must be, and Jove's decrees so require, if
this be his determination, that the execrable traitor reach the
port, and get safe to land : yet harassed, at least, by war, and
the hostilities of an audacious people, expelled from his own
territories, torn from the embraces of lulus, may lie sue to
others for relief, and see the ignominious deaths of his friends ;
and, after he shall have submitted to the terms of a disadvan-
tageous peace, let him neither enjoy his crown, nor the wished-
for light, but die before his time, and [lie] unburied in the
midst of the sandy shore. These are my prayers ;" these the
last words I pour forth with my blood. You, too, Tynans,
with iireconcilable enmity, pursue his offspring and all his
future race, and present these offerings to my shade : let no
amity or leagues between the two nations subsist. Arise some
avenger 45 from my ashes, who may persecute those Trojan
fugitives with fire and sword, now, hereafter, at whatever time
power shall be given. Let them take this curse from me, 48
that their shores, their waves, their arms, and ours, may still be
opposed to one another ; and may their posterity too [and ours]
be still in war engaged.
She said, and every way turned her shifting soul, seeking,
as soon as possible, to bereave herself of the hated light.
Then briefly thus she bespoke Barce, the nurse of Sichaeus
44 Respecting their mythical fulfillment, see Servius, and the satisfac-
tory notes of Anthon. B.
45 Such as Hannibal proved. B.
46 It was an opinion very prevailing among the ancients, that the pray-
ers of the dying were generally heard, and that their last words were
prophetic. Thus Yirgil makes Dido imprecate upon ^Eneas a series of
misfortunes, which actually had their accomplishment in bis own person,
or in his posterity. 1. He was harassed with war in Italy by Turnus.
2. He was necessitated to abandon his son, and go into Etruria to beg
for assistance, .^En. viii. 80. 3. He saw his friends cruelly slain in battle,
especially Pallas, .^En. x. 489. 4. He died before his time, being slain
by Mezentius, according to the most authentic tradition, and was left
unburied on the banks of the Numicus, by whose waters his body was at
length carried off, and never more appeared. 5. The Romans and Car-
thaginians were irreconcilable enemies to one another, and no leagues,
no ties of religion, could ever bind the two nations to peace. 6. Han-
nibal was Dido's avenger, who arose afterward to be the scourge of the
Romans, and carried fire and sword into Italy.
B. IV. 633666. ^NEID. 195
(for the dark grave lodged her own in her native country) :
Dear nurse, call hither to me my sister Anna ; bid her make
haste to sprinkle her body with running water, and bring
with her the victims and the things for expiation of which
I told her : thus let her come ; and you yourself cover your
temples with a holy fillet. I have a mind to finish the sacrifice
begun with proper rites, which I have prepared for Jupiter
Stygius, 47 to put a period to my miseries, and to commit to the
flames the pile of the Trojan. She said :*the other quickened
her pace with an old woman's officiousness. 48
But Dido, trembling with agitation, and maddened on ac-
count of her horrid purpose, rolling her blood-red eyeballs,
her throbbing cheeks suffused with spots, and all pale with
approaching death, burst into the gate of the inner palace,
and frantic mounts the lofty pile, and unsheaths the Trojan
sword ; a present not provided for such purposes as these. 48
Here, after she had viewed the Trojan vestments and the con-
scious bed, having wept and mused awhile, she threw herself
on the bed, and spoke her last words : Ye dear remains, while
god and the fates permitted, receive this soul, and free me
from these cares. I have lived, and finished the race which
fortune gave me. And now my ghost shall descend illustrious
to the shades below : I have raised a glorious city, have seen
the walls of my own building, have avenged my husband,
punished an unnatural brother ; happy, ah ! too happy, had
but the Trojan ships never touched my shores ! She said,
and pressing her lips to the bed, Shall I die unrevenged ?
But let me die, 50 she says : thus, thus with pleasure I descend
to the shades below. Let the cruel Trojan from the sea feed
his eyes with these flames, and bear with him the omens of
my death. She said; and while she spoke, her attendants
perceive her fallen on the sword, and the weapon stained with
foaming gore, and her hands besmeared. The outcry reaches
the lofty palace ; fame wildly flies through the alarmed city ;
47 *. e. Pluto. Cf. Macrob. Sat. iii. 3. &sch. Suppl. 164, ZTJVO. ruv
KEK/J.TJKOTUV. B.
48 With Anthon, I prefer "anili" to "anilem." B.
49 i. e. "quaesitum in pignus amoris," as Silius, viii. 50, says, with an
evident reference to this passage. Cf. Ovid Her. vii. 195. B.
50 Happily imitated by Propert. ii. 7, 79 :
"Sic igitur prima moriere aetate, Properti?
Sed morere, interitu gaudeat ilia tuo." B.
196 -<ENEID. B. IV. 667 694.
the houses ring with lamentations, groans, and female yells,"
and the sky resounds with loud shrieks : just as if all Carthage,
or ancient Tyre, in the hands of the invading enemy, were fall-
ing to the ground, and the furious flames were rolling over the
tops of houses and temples.
Her sister was breathless at the news, and with trembling
haste, all aghast, tearing her face with her nails, and [beating]
her bosom with her hands, rushes through the midst of the
crowd, and calls her dying [sister] by name : O sister, was
this your meaning ? did you practice thus to deceive me ? was
this what I had 'o expect from that pile, those fires and altars ?
Abandoned ! where shall I begin to complain ? Did you dis-
dain a sister for your companion in death ? Had you invited
me to the same fate, one distress and one hour had snatched
us both away by the sword. Did I raise [that pile] .with
these very hands, and with my voice invoke our country's
gods, that I should cruelly absent myself from you, thus
stretched upon it. Ah sister ! you have involved yourself
and me, your people, your Tyrian nobles, and your city, in
one common ruin. Let me bathe her wounds with water,"
and catch with my lips, if there be yet any straggling remains
of breath." This said, she mounted the high steps, and in
her bosom embracing, cherished her expiring sister with
sighs, and dried up the black blood with her robe. She
essaying to lift her heavy eyes, again sinks down. The wound
deep fixed in her breast, emits a bubbling noise. Thrice
leaning on her elbow, she made an effort to raise herself up ;
thrice she fell back on the bed, and with swimming eyes
sought the light of heaven, and having found jt, heaved a
groan.
Then all-powerful Juno, in pity to her lingering pain and
uneasy death, sent down Iris" from heaven, to release the
51 Synes. Ep. p. 164, C. dv6puv ot/zoy^, jwaiKuv 61.o3.vyij. B.
52 I read "date, [i.e. "aquam,"] vulnera." See Anthon, who renders,
" give me it, I will wash." B.
53 This was the ancient custom. Cf. Bion, i. 47, uxP l C "^ fax^C ^f
ifibv crofia Keif ffibv rrxap Trvev/na rebv fiEvay. B.
54 Iris, daughter of Thaumus and Electra, was one of the Oceanides,
and messenger of the gods, more particularly of Juno. Her office was
to cut the thread which seemed to detain the soul in the body of those
that were expiring. She is represented with all the variegated and beau-
tiful colors of the rainbow.
B. IV. 695705. v. 119. ^NEID. 197
struggling soul and the tie that bound it to the body : for,
since she neither fell by fate, nor by a deserved death, but un-
happily before her time, and maddened with sudden rage,
Proserpina had not yet cropped the yellow hair from the crown
of her head, and condemned her to Stygian Pluto. There-
fore dewy Iris, drawing a thousand various colors from the op-
posite sun, shoots downward through the sky on saffron wings,
and alighted on her head : I, by command, bear away this lock
sacred to Pluto, and disengage you from that body. She said,
and cut the lock with her right hand : at once all the vital heat
was extinguished, and life vanished into air.
BOOK V.
Sook.JSneas sails from Carthage for Italy, bat is forced by a
nsit Drepanum in Sicily, where he celebrates the anniversary
In the Fifth Book,
storm to revisit J
of his father's death by various games and feats at arms. Here the Tro-
jan women set fire to the fleet, which is saved by the interposition of
Jupiter, with the loss of four ships. After this event, JSneas pursues
his voyage to Italy.
MEANWHILE, ./Eneas, in direct course, was now fairly on his
route with the fleet, 1 and was cutting the black billows before
the wind, looking back to the walls which now glare with the
flames of unfortunate Elisa. What cause may have kindled
such a blaze is unknown ; but the thought of those cruel
agonies that arise from violent love when injured, and the
knowledge of what frantic women can do, led the minds of the
Trojans through dismal forebodings.
As soon as their ships held the main, and no more land
appears, sky all around, and ocean all around ; a dark lead-
colored watery cloud stood over his head, bringing on night,
and storm ; and the waves became horrid in the gloom. The
pilot Palinurus himself from the lofty stern [exclaims] : Ah !
why have such threatening clouds begirt the sky ? or what, O
father Neptune, hast thou in view ? Thus having spoken, he
next commands to furl the sails, and ply the sturdy oar ; the
bellying canvas he turns askance to the wind, and thus
speaks : Magnanimous ^Eneas, should Jupiter on his authority
assure me, I could not hope to reach Italy in this weather.
The winds changed roar across our path, and arise thick from
1 See Anthon, whom I have closely followed. B.
198 JENEID. B. V. 2051.
the darkening west, and the air is condensed into cloud. We
are neither able to make head against [the storm], nor even
to withstand it: since fortune overpowers us, let us follow
her, and turn our course where she invites us : the trusty
shores of your brother Eryx, and the Sicilian ports, I deem
not far off, if I but rightly remembering review the stars I
observed before. Then the pious ^Eneas [said], I indeed
have observed long ago that the winds urge us to this, and
that your contrary efforts are in vain. Shift your course by
the sails. Can any land be more welcome to me, or where I
would sooner choose to put in my weather-beaten ships, than
that which preserves for me Trojan Acestes, and in its womb
contains the bones of my father Anchises? This said, they
make toward the port, and the prosperous zephyrs stretch the
sails : the fleet swiftly rides on the flood ; and at length the
joyous crew are wafted to the well-known strand. But
Acestes, from a mountains lofty summit, struck with the dis-
tant prospect of their arrival, and at the friendly ships, comes
up to them, all rough with javelins, 4 and the hide of an
African bear : whom, begotten by the river Crinisius, 3 a Tro-
jan mother bore. He, not unmindful of his origin, congratu-
lates them on their safe arrival, and cheerfully entertains them
with rude magnificence, and refreshes them fatigued with
friendly cheer.
When with the early dawn the ensuing bright day had
chased away the stars, ^Eneas summons to council his follow-
ers from all the shore, and from the summit of a rising ground
addresses them : Illustrious Trojans, whose descent is from
the exalted blood of the gods, the annual circle is completed,
by the fulfillment of months, since we lodged in the earth the
relics .and bones of my godlike sire, and consecrated to him
the altars of mourning. And now the day, if I mistake not,
is at hand, which I shall always account a day of sorrow, al-
ways a day to be honored : such, ye gods, has been your
pleasure. Were I to pass this day in exile among the Syrtes
9 It is strange that Heyne should have found any difficulty in this
phrase. The preposition is merely redundant. Cf. Val. Flacc. i. 641,
" subitus in hasta." Lucan, i. 423, " leves in armis." See "\Yagner, and
TVeichart on Val. Flacc. viiL 136.
* Crinisius, a river on the western side of the island of Sicily, near
the city Segesta.
B. Y. 5285. ^NEJD. 199
of Getulia, or overtaken [by it] on the Grecian Sea, or in the
city of Mycene, yet would I regularly perform my annual vows,
and the solemn funeral processions, and heap the altars with
their proper offerings. Now, without premeditated design,
though not, I judge, without the will or the influence of the
gods, we are come to the ashes and bones of my own father,
and are wafted to the friendly port which we are now entering.
Come then, and let us all celebrate the joyous rites. Let us
pray for [prosperous] winds, and that, when our city is built,
he will permit me to offer to him these rites annually in tem-
ples consecrated to his honor. Acestes, a son of Troy, gives
you two oxen for each ship : invite to the feast your household
and country gods, and those whom our host Acestes worships.
Further, if the ninth morning shall bring forth the day fair
and serene to mortals, and brighten up the world with its
beams, I will propose to the Trojans the first trial of skill to
be with the swiftest of their ships. And whoever excels in
running, in strength who boldly dares, or moves superior in
the javelin,* and the light arrows, or who has courage to en-
counter with the bloody cestus ; let all such be ready at hand,
and expect prizes of victory suitable to their merit. Do ye all
keep religious guard over your lips, and encircle your temples
with boughs.
This said, he crowns his temples with his mother's myrtle.
The same does Elymus : 5 the same Acestes ripened in years ;
the same the boy Ascanius, whose example the other youths
follow. He went from the assembly to the tomb with many
thousands, in the center of a numerous retinue attending.
Here in due form, by way of libation, he pours on the ground
{o Bacchus two bowls of wine, two of new milk, two of sacred
blood ; then scatters blooming flowers, and thus speaks : Hail,
holy sire ! once more hail, ye ashes revisited in vain ! ye ghosts
and shades of my father ! Heaven would not allow us to go
together in quest of the bounds of Italy, and of the lands allotted
to me by fate, or the Ausonian Tiber, whatever river that is.
He said ; when from the bottom of the shrine a huge slippery
snake trailed along, seven circling spires, seven folds, gently
4 "Wyttenbach on Julian, p. 161, condemns this as corrupt. I do not
see any substantial grounds of objection. B.
6 Elymus, a youth at the court of Acestes, who engaged in the foot-
races at the tomb of Anchises.
200 ^ENEID. B. V. 86120.
twining round the tomb, and gliding over the altars ; whose
back azure streaks, and whose scales drops of burnished gold
brightened up ; as the bow in the clouds draws a thousand
various colors from the opposite sun. ./Eneas stood amazed
at the sight. At length the reptile, creeping with his long
train between the bowls and smooth-polished goblets, gently
tasted the banquet, and harmless retired again into the bottom
of the tomb, and left the altars on which he had fed. JEueas
with the more zeal pursues the sacrifice begun in honor of his
father, in doubt whether to think it the genius of the place, or
the attendant of his parent. He sacrificed five ewes, two years
old, according to custom ; as. many sows, as many bullocks
with sable backs : and he poured out wine from the goblets,
and invoked the soul of the great Anchises, and his ghost from
Acheron released. In like manner his companions offer gifts
with joy, each according to his ability ; they load the altars,
and sacrifice bullocks. Others place the brazen caldrons in or-
der, and stretched along the grass, apply burning co^ls under
the spits, and roast the flesh. 6
/ Now the wished-for day approached, and the steeds of the
sun ushering in the ninth morning with a serene sir} 7 ; fame,
and the renov/a of illustrious Acestes, had drawn togciher the
neighborhood. They filled the shore with joyous crowd,
some to see the Trojans, some too prepared to try their skill.
The prizes first are set before their eyes in the midst of the
circus ; sacred tripods, green garlands, and palms, the reward
of the conquerors ; arms, and vestments of purple dye, two
talents, one of gold and one silver : and the trumpet from
the midst of the rising ground gives the signal that the games
are begun
Four ships selected from the whole fleet, equally matched
with ponderous oars, first enter the lists. Mnestheus manages
the swift-sailing Pristis, with stout rowers, [destined] soon
[to be] the Italian Mnestheus, from which name the family
c f Meinmius is derived ; Gyas, 7 the huge Chimera of stupend-
ous bulk, a work like a city, which with a triple tier the Tro-
jan youth impel ; the oars rise together in a triple row. Ser-
6 "Viscera," i. e. all that is contained in the skin of the animal. See
Anthon, on ^En. i. 211. So " visceratio" is "a distribution of meat." B.
7 Gyas, one of the companions of ^Eneas, who distinguished himself at
the naval games exhibited by JEneas in honor of his father Anchises.
Gyaa commanded the ship Chimera, of which Mencetes was the pilot.
B. v. 121154. ^ENEID. 201
gestus, from whom the Sergian family has its name, rides in
the bulky Centaur ; and Cloanthus in the sea-green Scylla,
from whom, O Roman Cluentius, is thy descent. Far in the
sea there lies a rock opposite to the foaming shore, which
sometimes overwhelmed is buffeted by the swelling surges, 8
when the wintery north-west winds overcloud the stars : in a
calm it lies hushed, and rises above the still waves as a plain,
and a delightful station for the cormorants basking in the sun.
Here father ./Eneas erected a verdant goal of branching oak
for a signal to the mariners ; whence they might know to turn
back, and whence to wind about the long circuits. Then they
choose their places by lot ; and on the poops the leaders,
adorned with gold and purple, shine from afar with distin-
guished luster. The rest of the youth are crowned with pop-
lar wreaths, and glitter, having their naked shoulders be-
smeared with oil. They sit down side by side on the benches,
and their arms are stretched to the oars : with eager attention
they wait the signal, and their throbbing hearts beat heavily
with the impulse of fear, and the generous thirst of praise.
Then, as soon as the loud trumpet gave the signal, all (there
is no delay) started from their barrier : the seamen's clamor
strikes the skies; and the seas, upturned by their in-bent
arms, foam. At once they plow the watery furrows ; and
the whole deep opens, convulsed with oars and trident beaks.
Not with such violent speed the coursers in the two-yoked
chariot-race spring to the field, and start with full career from
the goal ; nor with such ardor do the charioteers shake the
waving 9 reins over the flying steeds, and, bending forward,
hang to [give] the lash. 10 Then, with the applause and up-
roar of the seamen, and the eager acclamations of the favor-
ing crowd, every grove resounds : the bounded shores roll the
voices on ; the lashed hills re-echo the sound. Amid the
bustle and uproar, Gyas flies out before the rest, and scuds
away the foremost on the waves : whom next Cloanthus fol-
lows, a more skillful rower, but the vessel, sluggish through its
bulk, retards him. After these, at equal distance, the Pristis
8 The reading quoted by Agrsetius de Serm. Lat. p. 1346, "tumidis
quod fluctibus olim Tunditur," is far more harmonious than the usual ar-
rangement. B.
9 Of. Tryphiod. 67, emKV/xaivovaa fierr/opQ', ai<%KVi Kvpry. B.
10 For this construction, cf. Sil. viii. 283, " trepida pendens in verbera
planta " B.
9*
202 jENEID. B. v. 155190.
Vx
and Centaur strive to gain the foremost place. And now the
Pristis has the advantage, now the huge Centaur gets before
her vanquished [antagonist] ; anon both advance together with
united fronts, and with their long keels plow the briny
waves. And now they were approaching the rock, and had
reached the goal, when Gyas the foremost, and [hitherto] vic-
torious, thus in mid-sea accosts Menoetes, the pilot of his ship :
Whither, I pray, are you going so far to the right ? this way
steer your course ; keep to the shore, and let the oar graze
upon the rocks to the left : let others stand out to sea. He
said : but Menoetes, dreading the hidden rocks, turns out his
prow toward the waves. Gyas with loud voice called to him
again, Menoetes, whither are you steering opposite ? once more,
I say, keep to the rocks : And lo ! he espies Cloanthus
pressing on his rear, and keeping a nearer compass. He, be-
tween Gyas' ship and the roaring rocks, brushes along the
left-hand path on the inside, and suddenly gets ahead of him
who was before, and leaving the goal, gains the safe seas.
Then indeed severe grief blazed up in the inmost vitals of the
youth : nor were his cheeks free from tears ; and regardless
both of his own dignity and the safety of his friends, he hurls 11
dastardly Mencetes headlong from the lofty stern into the sea.
Himself succeeds to the helm, both as pilot and commander ;
encourages his men, and turns his rudder to the shore. But
when encumbered Menoetes with difficulty at length had risen
from the deep bottom being now in years, and languid by
reason of his wet garments, he crawls up to the summit of the
rock, and sat down on the dry cliff. The Trojans laughed
both to see him fall, and to see him swimming ; and they re-
new their laughter when from his breast he vomits up the
briny wave. Here Sergestus and Mnestheus, the two last,
were fired with joyous hope to outstrip Gyas lagging behind.
Sergestus gets the start, and makes up to the rock, nor yet
had he the advantage by the whole length of the ship, only by
a part : the rival Pristis partly presses him with her beak.
But Mnestheus, on the mid-deck walking among his crew, ani-
mates them : My Hectorean 1 " bands, whom I chose associates
iu Troy's last fatal hour, now, now with keenness ply your
11 " Deturbare, dejicere, demovere." Nonius ii. p. 540, ed. GothoE B.
11 Instead of " Hectorei socii," Rufinianus, 35, p. 221, ed. Ruhnk.,
reads, "hortor voa socii." B.
B. V. 191225. ^ENEID. 203
oars ; now exert that vigor, now that soul of which you were
masters in the quicksands of Getulia, in the Ionian Sea,
and on Malea's 13 coast, where waves succeeding waves pur-
sued us. Your Mnestheus aspires not now to the foremost
place, nor contends for the victory : though would to heaven !
but may those conquer to whom thou, O Neptune, hast given
that boon. Let us be ashamed to come in the last. Sur-
mount, my countrymen, and repel that criminal disgrace. They
bend to the oar with the greatest emulation : the brazen-
beaked galley trembles with the vast strokes, and the [watery]
surface flies from under them. Then thick panting shakes
their limbs and parched jaws : sweat flows from every pore in
rivulets. Mere chance procured the men the wished-for honor :
for while Sergestus, between Mnestheus and the goal, in his
furious career, is pressing up the head of the ship to the
rocks, and steers in a disadvantageous place, he unluckily
stuck among the jutting rocks. The cliffs are shaken, and 'on
a sharp reef the struggling oars were loudly snapped, and the
prow dashed against [the rocks] stood suspended. The marin-
ers arise together, and with great clamor desist ; and apply
stakes shod with iron, and poles with sharpened points, and
gather up their shattered oars on the stream. Meanwhile
Mnestheus rejoiced, and more animated by this same success,
with the nimble march of the oars, and winds called to his aid,
cuts the easy waves, and scuds away on the open sea. As
a pigeon, whose nest and darling young are in some harbor-
ing rock, suddenly scared from 'her covert, flies away into the
fields, ^and, starting in a fright, gives a loud flapping with her
wings against the nest ; then, shooting through the calm still
air, skims 1 * along the liquid way, nor moves her noble pin-
ions : thus Mnestheus, thus the Pristis herself in her career,
cuts the utmost boundary of the watery plain ; thus the mere
vehemence of her motion carries her forward in her flying
course. And first she leaves behind her Sergestus strug-
gling against the high rocks and scanty shallows, in vain
imploring aid, and trying to row on with shattered oars. Then
he overtakes Gyas, and Chimera's self of mighty bulk : she
yields, because she is deprived of her pilot. And now, in the
very end of the course, Cloanthus alone is before him ; whom
13 Malea, a promontory of Peloponnesus, on the southern coast o.
Laconia, dangerous to navigators.
14 ?ivpbv oifiov aideopf ^aipei x-fpolf. JEsch. Prom. 394. B.
204 -rfENEID. B. V. 226258.
he endeavors to reach, and, straining, -with the utmost vigor,
pursues. Then, indeed, the shouts redouble, and all, with
uearty applauses, stimulate him in the pursuit, and the sky
resounds with roaring acclamations. These are fired with in-
dignation, lest they should lose their possession of glory and
the honor they have won ; and they are willing to barter life
for renown. Those success cherishes ; they are able because
they seem to be able. And, perhaps, they had both gained
the prize with equaled beaks, 14 had not Cloanthus, stretching
out his hands to the sea, poured forth prayers and invoked the
gods to his vows : Ye gods, to whom belongs the empire of
the main, over whose seas I sail, I, bound by vow, 10 will
joyously present before your altars a snow-white bull on this
shore, and cast forth the entrails on the briny wave [as an
offering to you], and make a libation of pure wine. He said :
and the whole choir of the Nereids and Phorcus, 17 and the
virgin Panopea, heard him from the bottom of the waves ; and
father Portunus 1 * himself, with his mighty hand, pushed on
the galley in her course. She flies to land swifter than the
south wind, and the winged arrow, and lodged herself in the
harbor's deep recess. Then Anchises' son, having assembled
all in form, proclaims Cloanthus conqueror, by the loud voice
of the herald, and crowns his temples with verdant laurel ;
allows him the choice of three bullocks as presents for the
galleys, and gives him wine and a great talent of silver to
carry away. On the leaders themselves he confers peculiar
honors : to the conqueror he presents a mantle embroidered
with gold, round which a thick fringe of Melibean purple ran
in a double maze, and where the royal boy [Ganymede] in-
woven pursues, with darts and full career, the fleet stags on
woody Ida, eager, seeming to pant for breath ; whom Jove's
swift armor-bearer, with his crooked talons, snatched aloft
from Ida. The aged keepers in vain stretch out their hands
to the stars, and the baying of the hounds rages to the skies.
To him who by his merit won the second place, he gives to
18 i. e. " they would have both come in together." B.
16 He is said to be reus voti who has undertaken a vow on a certain
condition ; and when that condition is fulfilled, then he is damnatua
voti, or votis, i. e. the gods condemn and sentence him to pay his vow.
" Phorcus, a sea-deity, son of Pontus and Terra, and father of the
Gorgons.
18 Portunus, a name of Melicorta.
a v. 259294 wENEID. 205
wear a coat of mail, thick set with polished rings, and wrought
in gold with a triple tissue, which he himself victorious had
torn from Demoleus by rapid Simoi's under lofty Ilium : to be
his ornament and defense in war. The servants, Phegeus
and Sagaris, with united force, scarcely bore the cumbrous
[armor] oa their shoulders : but Demoleus, formerly clad
therein, used to chase before him the straggling Trojans. For
the third present he bestows two caldrons of brass, and silver
bowls of finished work, and rough with figures. And thus
now all rewarded, and elated with their wealth, were moving
along, having their temples bound with scarlet fillets, when
Sergestus brought up his hooted galley without honor, hardly
with much art disentangled from the cruel rock, with the loss
of her oars, find in one tier quite disabled. As often a ser-
pent surprised in the highway (which a brazen wheel hath
gone athwart, or a traveler, coming heavy with a blow, hath
left half dead and mangled by a stone), attempting in vain to
fly, shoots his body in long wreaths ; in one part fierce, dart-
ing fire from his eyes, and rearing aloft his hissing neck ; the
other part, maimed with the wound, retards him, twisting [his
body] in knots, and winding himself up on his own limbs :
with such kind of steerage the ship slowly moved along : her
sails, however, she expands, and enters the port with full sail.
^Eneas gladly confers on Sergestus the promised reward for
preserving the vessel, and bringing the crew safe back. To
him is given a female slave, not unskillful in the works of
Minerva, Pholoe, a Cretan by extraction, with her two chil-
dren on the breast )
This game being over, pious ^Eneas advances to a grassy
plain, which woods on winding hills inclosed around ; and in
the mid valley was the circuit of a theater, whither the hero,
in the midst of many thousands, repaired, and took a high
seat. Here he offers inviting rewards to those who chanced
to be inclined to enter the lists in the rapid race, and exhibits
the prizes. The Trojans and Sicilians, in mingled throngs,
convene from every quarter ; Nisus and Euryalus 19 the first :
" Nisus and Euryalus, two Trojans who accompanied JEneas to Italy,
and immortalized themselves by their mutual friendship. They fought
with great bravery against the Rutulians, but at last Nisus perished in
attempting the rescue of his friend Euryalus, who had fallen into the
enemy's hands.
206 -(ENEID. B. V. 295333.
Euryalus, distinguished by his lovely form and blooming
youth ; Nisus, by his true affection for the boy : whom next
Diores followed, a royal youth of Priam's illustrious line.
After him Salius, and with him Patron ; of whom the one
was an Arcarnanian, the other from Arcadia, of the blood of
the Tegaean race. Next two Sicilian youths, Elymus and
Panopes, trained to the woods, the companions of aged
Acestes ; and many more besides, whom fame hath buried in
obscurity. In the midst of whom thus ^Eaeas spoke : Mark
these my words, and attend with joy : none of this throng
shall go unrewarded by me. Two bright Gnossian 20 darts of
polished steel, and a carved battle-ax of silver, I will give
[each man] to bear away. This honor shall be conferred
equally on all. The first three shall receive prizes, and shall
have their heads bound with swarthy olive. Let the first con-
queror have a steed adorned with rich trappings ; the second
an Amazonian 21 quiver full of Thracian arrows, which a broad
belt of gold around embraces, and a buckle clasps with a
tapering gem: and let the third content himself with this
Grecian helmet. When he had thus said, they take their re-
spective places, and upon hearing the signal, start in a trice,
and quit the barrier, darting forward like a tempest : at the
same time they mark the goal. Nisus gets the start, and
springs away far before the rest, outflying the winds and
winged lightning. Next to him, but next by a long interval,
follows Salius : then after him Euryalus, with some space left
[between them] ; and Elymus follows Euryalus ; close by
whose side, lo ! next Diores flies, and now jostles heel with
heel, pressing on his shoulder ; and, had more stages remained,
he had skipped away before him, or left the victory dubious.
And now they were almost in the utmost bound, and, ex-
hausted, were approaching toward the very goal; when un-
happy Nisus slides in a slippery puddle of blood, as by chance
it had been shed on the ground from victims slain, and soaked
the verdant grass. Here the youth, already flushed with the
joy of victory, could not support his tottering steps on the
ground he trod, but fell headlong amid the noisome filth and
30 Gnossian darts, *'. e. Cretan darts, from Cnossus, or Gnossus, a city
of Crete.
21 Amazonian quivers : the Amazons were a warlike nation of women,
who lived near the river Thermodon in Pontus.
B. v. 334370. ^ENEID. 207
sacred gore. He, however, was not then forgetful of Eury-
alus, nor of their mutual affection ; for, as he rose from the
slippery mire, he opposed himself to Salius : he again, tum-
bling backward, lay prostrate on the clammy sand. Euryalus
springs forward, and victorious by the kindness of his friend,
holds the foremost place, and flies with favoring applause
and acclamation. Elymus comes in next ; and Diores, now
[entitled to] the third prize. Here Salius fills the whole as-
sembly of the ample pit, and the front seats of the fathers,
with loud outcries, and demands the prize to be given to him-
self, from whom it was snatched away by unfair means. The
favor [of the spectators] befriends Euryalus, and his graceful
tears, and merit that appears more lovely in a comely per-
son. Diores aids him, and exclaims with bawling voice ; who
succeeded to a prize, and had a claim to the last reward in
vain, if the first honors be given to Salius. Then father
^Eueas said: Your rewards, youths, stand fixed, and none
shall turn the prize out of its due course : give me leave to
compassionate the disaster of my innocent friend. This said,
he gives to Salius the huge hide of a Getulian lion, ponderous
with shaggy fur and gilt claws. Upon this Nisus says, If to
the vanquished such rewards be given, and your pity be ex-
tended to those that fell, what gifts are due to Nisus? [to
me,] who by my merit won the first prize, had not the same
unkind fortune which bore Salius down overpowered me.
And with these words he at the same time showed his face
and limbs besmeared with oozy filth. The excellent father
smiled on his plight, and ordered the buckler to be produced,
Didymaon's ingenious work, torn down by the Greeks from
the sacred posts of Neptune's temple. With this signal pres-
ent he rewards the illustrious youth.
Next, when the race was finished, and the prizes -were dis-
tributed : Now, [says he,] whoever he may be in whose breast
courage and resolution dwell, let him stand forth, and raise
aloft his arms, having his hands bound [with the cestus.] He
said, and proposes a double prize for the combat : to the con-
queror a bullock decked with gold and fillets ; a sword and
shining helm, the solace of the vanquished. Without delay,
Dares shows his face with strength prodigious, and rears him-
self amid the loud murmurs of the spectators ; he who alone
was wont to enter the lists with Paris ; the same at the tomb
208 ^ENEID. R T. 371403.
where mighty Hector lies, struck down victorious Butes" of
mighty frame, who boasted his descent from the race of
Amycus, king of Bebrycia, and stretched him gasping on the
tawny sand. Such Dares uprears his lofty head first in the
lists, and presents his broad shoulders, and in alternate throws
brandishes his arms around, and beats the air with his fists.
For him a match is sought ; nor dares one of all that numerous
crowd encounter him, and draw the gauntlets on his hands.
Elated, therefore, and imagining that all had quitted preten-
sion to the prize, he stood before ^Eneas' feet : and then, with-
out further delay, with his left hand he seizes the bull by the
horns, and thus speaks : Goddess-born, if no one will dare to
trust himself to the combat, where will be the end of hanging
on ? how long must I be detained ? Order the presents to
be brought. At the same time all the Trojans murmured their
consent, and ordered the promised prizes to be delivered to
him. Then venerable Acestes thus chides Entellus, as he sat
beside him on the verdant grassy couch : Entellus, in vain
[reputed] the stoutest of champions once, will you then suffer
so great prizes to be carried off without any contest ? Where
is now that god of ours, Eryx, whom you in vain gave out to
be your master ? where is your fame through all Trinacria ?
where the spoils that used to hang from your roof? He to this
immediately [replies] : It is not that my thirst of praise is
gone, or my glory has departed, driven away by fear : but my
frozen blood languishes through enfeebling age, and the strength
worn out in my body is benumbed. Did I but now enjoy that
youth which once I had, and wherein that varlet triumphs
with vain confidence, then would I have taken the field : not
indeed induced by the prize of this fair bullock, for I regard
not rewards. Thus having spoken, he then throws into the
midst a pair of gauntlets 23 of huge weight ; wherewith fierce
Eryx was wont to engage in the fight, and to brace his arms
with the stubborn hide. Amazement seized their minds. Seven
22 Butes, a descendant of Amycus, king of Bebrycia (Bithynia), killed
by Dares at the tomb of Hector. At the funeral games of Anchises in
Sicily, Dares was overcome at the combat of the cestus, by Entellus, a
friend of Acestes.
** Caestus. The csestus was a sort of leathern guards for the hands,
composed of thongs, and commonly filled with lead or iron, to add force
and weight to the blow : though others, indeed, will have them to have
been a kind of whirlbats or bludgeons of wood, with lead at one end.
* >'
B . v. 404 429. ^ENEID. 209
huge thongs of such vast oxen lay stiffening with lead and iron
sewed within. Above all Dares himself stands aghast, and
utterly declines the combat: and the magnanimous son of
Anchises this way and that way poises the weight and the
complicated folds of the gauntlets. Then the aged champion
thus spoke from his soul : What if any [of you] had seen the
gauntlet and arms of Hercules himself, and the bloody 34 com-
bat on this very shore ? These arms your brother Eryx form-
erly wore. You see them yet stained with blood and shat-
tered brains. With these he stood against great Alcides ; with
these I was wont [to combat], while better blood supplied me
with strength, nor envious age as yet had scattered gray hairs
over my temples. But if Trojan Dares decline these our
arms, and if the pious ^Eneas be so determined, and Acestes,
who prompts me [to the fight], approve, let us be equally
matched : To oblige you, I lay aside the weapons of Eryx ;
dismiss your fears, and do you put off your Trojan gauntlets.
This said, he flung from his shoulders his double vest, and
bared his huge limbs, his big bones and sinewy arms, and
stood forth of mighty frame in the middle of the field. Then
the sL-j, sprung from Anchises, brought forth equal gauntlets,
and bound both their hands with equal arms. Forthwith
each on his tiptoes stood erect, and undaunted raised his arms
aloft in the air. Far from the blow they backward withdrew
their towering heads : now hand to hand they join in close
encounter, and provoke the fight ; the one having the advan-
But the description Virgil gives of these weapons, particularly when he
calls them immensa volumina vinclorum, 408, and says, 425,
Et paribus palmas amborum innexuit armis,
agrees to the former idea, but by no means to the latter. They were tied
about the arm as high as the elbow, both as a guard to the arm, and to
keep them from sliding off Some derive the name from KE^-OV, a girdle
others from casdo, to kill ; which last answers well enough to the nature
of the combat, which was so cruel and bloody, that Lycurgus made a
law forbidding the Lacedaemonians to practice it.
24 The combat is called tristis, woeful, or bloody, because Eryx was
slain in it by Hercules. The occasion of the combat is thus related.
Hercules having put to death Geryon, king of Spain, was returning with
his booty, which was a herd of fine oxen : and having visited Sicily in his
way, received a challenge from Eryx, king of the island, to fight him with
the gauntlet. If the victory fell to Eryx, he was to have Hercules's
oxen ; but if he was vanquished, then the whole island of Sicily was to
bo Hercules's property. Thus Eryx lost both his life and his crown.
210 ^ENEID. B. v. 430465.
tage in agility of foot, and relying on his youth ; the other
surpassing in limbs and bulk ; but his feeble knees sink under
his trembling body : his difficult breathing shakes his vast
frame. The heroes deal many blows to one another with
erring aim, and many on the hollow sides redouble; from
their breasts [the thumps] resound aloud, and round their
ears and temples thick strokes at random fly ; their jaws
crackle under the heavy blow. Entellus stands stiff and un-
moved in the same firm posture, only with his body and
watchful eyes evades the strokes. The other, as one who
besieges a lofty city with batteries, or under arms besets a
mountain fortress, explores now these, now those approaches,
and artfully traverses the whole ground, and pursues his
attack with various assaults, still baffled. Entellus, rising on
tiptoe, extended his right arm, and lifted it on high : the
other nimbly foresaw the blow descending from above, and
with agility of body shifting, slipped from under it. Entel-
lus spent his strength on the wind ; and, both by the force of
his own natural weight, and the violence of the motion, falls
to the ground of himself with his heavy bulk ; as sometimes,
on Erymanthus" or spacious Ida, a hollow pine torn from the
roots tumbles down at once. The Trojan and Sicilian youth
rise together with eager feelings : these acclamations pierce
the skies ; and Acestes first advances in haste, and in pity
raises from the ground his friend of equal age. But the hero,
not disabled nor daunted by his fall, returns to the combat
more fierce, and indignation rouses his spirit : then shame and
conscious worth set all the powers of his soul on fire ; and
inflamed he drives Dares headlong over the whole plain, re-
doubling blows on blows, sometimes with the right hand,
sometimes with the left. No stop, no stay : as thick showers
of hail come rattling down on the housetops, so with thick
repeated blows, the hero thumps Dares with each hand, and
tosses him hither and thither. Then father ./Eneas suf-
fered not their fury longer to exert itself, nor Entellus to
rage with such fierce animosity : but put an end to the com-
bat, and rescued Dares quite overpowered, soothing him with
words, and bespeaks him in these terms : Unhappy ! what
strong infatuation possessed your mind ? Are you not sensible
85 Erymanthus, a mountain of Arcadia, where Hercules slew the
famous Eiymanthian boar.
B. v. 466 504. JENEID. 211
of [his having] foreign assistance, and that the gods have
changed sides ? Yield to the deity. He said, and by his word
put an end to the combat. As for Dares, his trusty com-
panions conduct him to the ships, dragging his feeble limbs,
and tossing his head to either side, disgorging from his throat
clotted gore, and teeth mingled with his blood ; and, at ./Eneas'
call, they take the heimet and sword, leave the palm and bull
to Entellus. At this the conqueror, in soul elated, and proud
of the bull, says : Goddess-born, and ye Trojans, hence know
both what strength I have had in my youthful limbs, and from
what death you have saved Dares. He said, and stood against
the front of the opposite bull that was set for the prize' of the
combat, and rearing himself up, with his right hand drawn
back, leveled the cruel gauntlets directly between the horns,
and, battering the skull, drove through the bones. Down
drops the ox, and, in the pangs of death, falls sprawling to the
ground. Over him he utters these words : This life, more
acceptable, O Eryx, I give thee in exchange for Dares' death ;
here, victorious, I lay down the gauntlets with my art.
^Eneas forthwith invites such as may be willing to try their
skill with the swift arrow, and sets prizes ; and with his
mighty hand raised a mast taken from Serestus' ship, and from
the high mast hangs a fluttering dove by a rope thrust through
at which they may aim their shafts. The competitors assem-
ble ; and a brazen helmet received the shuffled lots. The lot
of Hippocoon, ae the son of Hyrtacus, comes out first of all
with favoring shouts ; whom follows Mnestheus, lately victor
in the naval strife, Mnestheus, crowned with green olive. The
third is Eurytion, the brother, illustrious Pandarus, of thee,
who, once urged to violate the treaty, didst first hurl thy dart
into the midst of the Greeks. Acestes remained the last, and
in the bottom of the helmet; he too adventuring with his
[aged] hand to essay the feats of youth. Then with stout
force they bend their pliant bows, each man according to his
ability, and draw forth their arrows from their quivers. And
first the arrow of young Hyrtacus' son, shot through the sky
from the whizzing string, cleaves the fleeting air, both reaches
[the mark], and fixes in the wood of the opposite mast. The
25 Hippocoon was brother to Xisus, and the friend of ./Eneas. Eury-
tion and Pandarus were sons of Lycaon ; the latter was slain by Dio-
mede, in the Trojan war.
212 -S3NEID. B. T. 505542.
mast quivered ; and the frighted bird, by its wings, showed
signs of fear ; and all quarters rang with loud applause. Next
keen Mnestheus stood with his bow close drawn, 37 aiming on
high, and directed his eye and arrow both together. But it
was his misfortune not to be able to hit the bird itself with his
shaft; he burst the cords and hempen ligaments, to which it
hung tied by the foot from the high mast. She with winged
speed shot into the air and dusky clouds. Then Eurytion in
eager haste, having his arrow long before extended on the
ready bow, poured forth a vow to his brother [Pandarus], as
he now beheld the joyful dove in the void sky, and pierced
hdr under a dark cloud as she was clapping her wings. She
dropped down dead, and left her life among the stars of heaven;
and, falling to the ground, brings back the arrow fastened
[in the wound]. Acestes alone remained after the prize was
lost ; who, notwithstanding, discharged his shaft into the
aerial regions, the sire displaying both his address and twang-
ing bow." Here is unexpectedly presented to view a prodigy,
designed to be of high portent ; this the important event after-
ward declared, and the alarming soothsayers predicted the
omens late. For the arrow, flying among the watery clouds,
took fire, and with the flames marked out a path, till, being
quite consumed, it vanished into thin air ; as often stars loos-
ened from the firmament shoot across, and flying draw [after
them] a train of light. The Sicilians and Trojans stood fixed
in astonishment, and besought the gods ; nor does mighty
JEneas reject the omen, but, embracing Acestes overjoyed,
loads him with ample rewards, and thus bespeaks him : Ac-
cept these, O sire, for the great king of heaven, by these
omens, has signified his will, that you receive the honor [of
the victory, though] out of course. This gift, which belonged
to aged Anchises' self, you shall possess; a bowl embossed
with figures, which Thracian Cisseus formerly gave for a
magnificent present to my sire, as a monument and pledge of
his love. This said, he crowns his temples with verdant
laurel, and in view of all pronounces Acestes the first con-
queror. Nor does good Eurytion envy him the preference in
honor, though he alone struck down the bird from the ex-
27 This is the force of " adducto," denoting that the bow was fully
drawn. C SiL i. 334. Ovid Met i. 435. B.
23 f. e. having lost the mark, he showed to what height he could shoot
4
B. v. 543577. .iBNEID. 213
alted sky. He next comes in for a prize, who broke the cords ;
the last is he who pierced the mast with his winged shaft.
But father JEneas, the games not being yet ended, calls to
him the son of Egyptus, young lulus' guardian and companion,
and thus whispers in his trusty ear : Go quick, says he, desire
Ascanius (if he has now gotten ready with him his company
of boys, and has arranged the movements of the horses) to
bring up his troops, and show himself in arms in honor of his
grandsire. He himself orders the crowd to remove from the
extended circus, and the field to be cleared. The boys advance
in procession, and uniformly shine on the bridled steeds full
in their parents' sight ; in admiration of whom, as they career
along, the whole Trojan and Trinacrian youth join in acclama-
tions. All in due form had their hair pressed with a trim
garland. They bear two cornel spears pointed with steel ;
some have polished quivers on their shoulders. A pliant circle
of wreathed gold goes from the upper part of their breasts
about their necks. Three troops of horsemen, and three
leaders, range over the plain : twelve striplings following
each, shine in a separate body, and with commanders equally
matched. One band of youths young Priam, bearing his
grandsire's name, leads triumphant ; thy illustrious offspring,
O Polites, 29 who shall one day do honor to the Italians, whom
a Thracian courser bears, dappled with white spots ; the fet-
locks of his foremost feet are white, and, tossing his head
aloft, he displays a white front. The second is Atys, 30 from
whom the Attii of Rome have derived their origin ; little
Atys, a boy beloved by the boy lulus. lulus the last, and in
beauty distinguished from all the rest, rode on a Sidonian
steed which fair Dido had given him as a monument and
pledge of her love. The rest of the youths ride on Trinacrian
horses of aged Acestes. The Trojans with shouts of applause
receive them anxious [for honor], 31 and are well-pleased
with the sight, and recognize the features of the aged sires.
Now when the joyous youths had paraded on horseback round
29 Polites, a son of Priam and Hecuba, whose son, also named Priam,
accompanied JEneas to Italy, and was one of the friends of young
Ascanius.
3U Atys, who also accompanied JEneas, is supposed to have been the
progenitor of the family of the Attii at Rome.
31 i. e. " eager with excitement." So Servius, " glorias cupiditate sol-
licitos." B.
J3NEID. B. v. 578 603.
the whole ring, and full in their parents' view, Epytus' son,
from afar, gave a signal to them by a shout, as they stood
ready, and clanked with the lash. They broke away in parted
order, keeping the same front, and broke up the troops into
separate bands by threes ; and again, upon summons given,
they wheeled about, and bore their hostile spears [on one
another.] 32 Then they again advance, and again retreat in
their opposite grounds, and alternately involve intricate circles
within circles, and call up the representation of a fight in
arms. And now flying they expose their defenseless backs ;
now in hostile manner turn their darts [on each other] : now,
peace being made up, they are borne along together. As of
old in lofty Crete was a labyrinth famed for having had an
alley formed by dark intricate walls, and a puzzling maze
with a thousand avenues, where a [single] mistake, unob-
served, but not to be retraced, frustrated the marks for guiding
one on the way ; in just such course the sons of the Trojans
involve their motions, and with intricate movement represent
fighting and flying in sport; like dolphins, that, swimming
through the watery deep, cut the Carpathian or Libyan Sea,
and gambol amid the waves. This manner of tilting, and
these mock fights, Ascanius first renewed, and taught the
ancient Latins to celebrate, when he was inclosing Alba
Longa with walls : as he himself, when a boy, as the Trojan
youth with him [had practiced them], so the Albans taught
their posterity ; hence, in after times, imperial Rome received
them, and preserved the same in honor of her ancestors : and
at this day it is called [the game of] Troy, 33 and the boys [that
perform it], the Trojan band.
Thus far the trials of skill were exhibited [by ^Eneas in
32 I have followed Anthon. The student will find an excellent ex-
planation of the maneuvers in his notes. B.
33 This game, commonly known by the name of the Lusus Trojee, is
purely of Virgil's own invention, he had no hint of it from Homer. This
he has substituted in the room of three of his, the wrestling, the single
combat, and the discus, and, in the opinion of a very judicious modern,
it is worth all those three in Homer. This game Virgil added to please
Augustus, who had at that time renewed the same. Suetonius tells us,
Trojae ludum edidit (Augustus) frequentissime, majorum mmorumve
puerorum delectu : prisci decorique moris existimans, clarce stirpis indo-
lem sic innotescere, etc. Suet, in August, cap. 43. Julius Csesar had also
exhibited the same before, as we learn from the same author, Trojam
lusit turma duplex, majorum minorumve puerorum. In JuL cap. 36.
*.*. ,
B. V. 604 638.
honor] of his sanctified sire. Here shifting Fortune, changing,
first altered her faith. While they are celebrating the anni-
versary festival at the tomb with various games, Saturnian
Juno dispatched Iris from heaven to the Trojan fleet, and with
the fanning winds speeds her on her way, forming many plots,
and having not yet glutted her old revenge. The virgin god-
dess accelerating her way, seen by none, amid the bow with
a thousand colors, shoots down the path with nimble motion.
She descries the vast concourse ; then, surveying the shore,
sees the port deserted, and the fleet deserted. But at a dis-
tance the Trojan dames apart were mourning the loss of An-
chises on the desolate shore, and all of them with tears in
their eyes viewed the deep ocean : Ah ! that so many shoals,
such a length of sea should still remain for us after all our
toils ! was the sole complaint of all. They pray for a city,
are sick of enduring the hardships of the main. Therefore
she, not unpracticed in mischief, throws herself into the midst
of them, and lays aside the mien and vesture of a goddess.
She assumes the figure of Beroe, the aged wife of Thracian
Doryclus, 34 who was of noble birth, and once had renown, and
offspring. And thus she joins in discourse with the Trojan
matrons : Ah ! unhappy we, who were not dragged forth to
death in the war by the Grecian host under our native walls !
Ill-fated race ! for what miserable doom does fortune reserve
you ? The seventh summer since the destruction of Troy is
already rolled away, while we, having measured all lands and
seas, so many inhospitable rocks and barbarous climes, are
driven about : while along the wide ocean we pursue an ever-
fleeing Italy, and are tossed on the waves. Here are the
realms of his brother Eryx, and his friend Acestes : who pre-
vents our founding walls, and giving our citizens a city ? Ah,
my country, and our gods in vain saved from the enemy !
shall a city never more arise to be named from Troy ? Shall I
never see the Hectorean rivers, Xanthus and Simois ? Nay,
rather come, and burn with me our cursed ships. For in my
sleep the ghost of the prophetess Cassandra seemed to pre-
sent me with flaming brands : Here, says she, seek for Troy,
here is your fixed residence. Now is the time for action.
34 Doryclus, a brother of Phineas, king of Thrace, and the husband of
Beroe, whose form was assumed by Iris, when she advised the Trojan
women to burn the fleet of ^Eneas in Sicily.
216 -(ENEID. B. V. 639673.
Nor let there be delay after such signs from heaven. Lo !
here are four altars to Neptune : the god himself supplies us
with fire-brands, and with courage [for the attempt]. With
these words, she violently snatches the destroying fire, and,
lifting up her right hand with exerted force, waves it at a
distance, throws it. Roused are the minds and stunned the
hearts of the Trojan matrons. Then one of the number,
Pyrgo, 3 * the most advanced in years, the royal nurse to
Priam's numerous sons, [said,] Matrons, this is not Beroe
whom you have here, it is not she from Rhgeteum, the wife of
Doryclus : mark the characters of divine beauty, eyes bright
and sparkling ; what breath, what looks ; or the accents of
her voice, or her gait as she moves. Myself lately, as I came
hither, left Beroe sick, in great anguish that she alone was cut
off from such a solemnity, and was not to pay the honors due
to Anchises. She said. But the matrons first began to view
the ships with malignant eyes, dubious and wavering between
their wretched fondness for the present land, and the realms
that summoned them by the Fates; when on equal poised
wings the goddess mounted into the sky, and in her flight cut
the spacious bow beneath the clouds. Then, indeed, con-
founded at the prodigy, and driven by madness, they shriek
out together, and snatch the flame from the inmost hearths."
Some rifle the altars, and fling the boughs, and saplings, and
brands together : the conflagration rages with loose reins
amid the rowers' seats, and oars, and painted sterns of fir.
Eumelus conveys the tidings to Anchises' tomb, and to the
benches of the theater, that the ships were burned ; and they
themselves behold the sparks of fire flying up in a pitchy
cloud. And first, Ascanius, as joyous he led the cavalcade,
just as he was, with full speed rode up to the troubled camp ;
nor was it in the power of his guardians, half-dead for fear, to
check him. What strange frenzy this ? whither, he cries, ah !
my wretched countrywomen, whither would you now ? It is
not the enemy, or the hostile camp of the Greeks, but your
own hopes ye burn. Here am I, your own Ascanius. He
threw at their feet the empty helmet, which he wore while
33 Pyrgo, the nurse of Priam's children, who followed jEneas in his
flight from Troy.
36 i. e. from the neighboring dwellings. The fire on the altars was
not sufficient B.
r &
B. v. 6T4 706. ^ENEID. 217
calling forth the images of war in sport. At the same time
./Eneas and the bands of the Trojans came up in haste. But
the matrons for fear fly different ways up and down the shore,
and skulking repair to the woods and hollow rocks wherever
there are any. They loathe the deed, the light, and penitent
recognize their friends ; and Juno, is dislodged from their
breasts. j But the flames and conflagration did not therefore
abate their ungovernable fury. The tow lives under the
moistened boards, disgorging languid smoke; the smothered
fire gradually consumes the keel, and the contagious ruin
spreads through the whole body of the vessel. Neither the
efforts of the heroes, nor outpoured streams, avail. Then
pious JEneas tore his robe from his shoulders, and invoked
the gods to his aid, and stretched out his hands : Almighty
Jove, if thou dost not yet abhor all the Trojans to a man, if
thy ancient goodness regards human disasters with commiser-
ation, grant now, O father, that our fleet may escape from
these flames, and save from desolation the humbled state of
the Trojans. Or, to complete thy vengeance, hurl me down
to the death with thy vindictive thunder, if I so deserve, and
crush me here with thy right hand. Scarce had he spoken
these words, when a black tempest of bursting rain rages with
uncommon fury : both hills" and valleys quake with thunder ;
the shower in turbid rain, and condensed into pitchy dark-
ness by the thick-beating south winds, pours down from the
whole atmosphere. The ships are filled from above ; the half-
burned boards are drenched, till the whole smoke is extin-
guished, and all the ships, with the loss of four, are saved from
the pest.
But father JEneas, struck with the bitter misfortune, turned
his anxious thoughts now this way, now that, pondering with
himself whether she should settle in the territories of Sicily,
or, regardless of the Fates, or steer his course to the Italian
coast. Then aged Nautes, 38 whom above others Tritonian
Pallas taught, and rendered illustrious for deep science, gave
forth these responses, what either the great displeasure of the
37 More literally, " the steeps of land." Cf. Symmach. Epist. vii. 69,
" ardua clivi." ApuL Met. L, " ardua montium." Varro, R. R. ii. 10,
" montium arduitatem." Hieron. Epist. 22, "aspera montium." B.
38 Nautes, a Trojan soothsayer, who consoled JEneas when his fleet
had been burned in Sicily. He was the progenitor of the Nautii, at Rome,
a family to whom the Palladium of Troy was afterward intrusted.
10
218 ^BNEID. B. y. 707739.
gods portended, or what the series of the Fates required.
And thus, solacing ^Eneas, he begins : Goddess-born, let us
follow^he Fates, whether they invite us backward or forward :
come what will, every fortune is to be surmounted by pa-
tience. You have Trojan Acestes of divine origin : admit
him the partner of your counsels, and unite yourself to him
your willing friend : to him deliver up such as are supernumer-
ary, now that you have lost some ships ; choose out those who
are sick of the great enterprise, and of your fortunes ; the old
with length of years oppressed, and the matrons fatigued with
the voyage ; select the feeble part of your company, and such
as dread the danger, and, since they are tired out, let them
have a settlement in these territories : they shall call the city
Acesta 39 by a licensed name.
Then indeed ^Eneas, fired by these words of his aged friend,
is distracted in his mind amid a thousand cares. Now sable
Night, mounted on her chariot with two horses, held the skies,
when the form of his father Anchises, gliding down from the
skies, suddenly seemed to pour forth these words : Son, once
dearer to me than life, while life remained ; my son, severely
tried by the fates of Troy ; hither I come by the command of
Jove, who averted the fire from your fleet, and at length
showed pity from the high heaven. Comply with the excel-
lent counsel which aged Nautes now offers : carry with you
to Italy the choice of the youths, the stoutest hearts. In
Latium you have to subdue a hardy race, rugged in manners.
But first, my son, visit Pluto's infernal mansions, and, in
quest of an interview with me, cross the deep floods of Aver-
nus : for not accursed Tartarus, nor the dreary ghosts, have
me in their possession : but I inhabit the delightful seats of
the blest, and Elysium. 40 Hither the chaste Sibyl shall con-
duct thee after shedding profusely the blood of black victims.
Then you shall learn your whole progeny, and what walls are
assigned to you. And now farewell : humid Night wheels
about her mid course, 41 and the dawning light, which fiercely
summons me away, hath breathed upon me with panting steeds.
39 Acesta, or Segesta, a city of Sicily, built by JEneas in honor of
king Acestes.
40 Elysium, a place in the infernal regions, where, according to the
mythology of the ancients, the souls of the virtuous were placed after
death. The Elysian fields, according to Virgil, were situated in Italy.
41 The reader will call to mind the words of the ghost in " Hamlet." B.
B. v. 740 7U. ^ENEID. 219
He said ; and vanished like smoke into the fleeting air.
Whither so precipitant ? says then ^Eneas ; whither dost thou
whirl away ? whom fliest thou ? or who debars me from my
embraces ? So saying, he awakes the embers and dormant fire,
and suppliant pays veneration to his Trojan domestic god, and
the shine of hoary Vesta, with a holy cake and full censer.
Forthwith he calls his followers, and first of all Acestes, and
informs them of Jove's command, and the instructions of hia
beloved sire, and of the present settled purpose of his soul.
No obstruction is given to his plans ; nor is Acestes averse
to the proposals made. They enroll 42 the matrons for the city,
and set on shore as many of the people as were willing, souls
that had no desire of high renown. Themselves renew the
benches, and repair the timbers half consumed by the flames;
fit oars and cables to the ships ; in number small, but of ani-
mated valor for war.
Meanwhile yEneas marked ouk a city with the plow, and
assigns the houses by lot : here he orders a [second] Ilium
to arise, and these places to be called after those of Troy.
Trojan Acestes rejoices in his kingdom ; institutes a court of
justice ; and having assembled his senators, dispenses laws.
Then on the top of Mount Eryx a temple approaching the
stars is raised to Idalian Venus ; 4S and a priest is assigned to
the tomb of Anchises, with a grove hallowed far and wide.
And now the whole people had kept the festival for nine clays,
and sacrifices had been offered on the altars, peaceful breezes
have smoothed the seas, and the south wind in repeated gales
invites into the deep. Loud lamentations along the winding
shores arise : in mutual embraces they linger out both night
and day. Even the matrons, and those to whom the face of the
sea lately seemed horrid, and its divinity 44 intolerably severe,
would willingly go, and submit to all the toil of the voyage ;
whom good ^Eneas solaces in friendly terms, and, weeping,
commends to his kinsman Acestes. Then he orders to sacri-
fice to Eryx three calves, and a female lamb to the tempests,
and to weigh anchor after the due rites were performed. He
himself, having his head bound with a trim garland of olive
< J " Transcribere" is a word properly used of colonizing. See Servius
C Seneca, Episc. 4, " te in viros philosophia transcripseris." B.
43 So called from Mount Ida
" But "nomen" seems simpler. See Anthon. B.
220 JENEID. B. v. 775809.
leaves, standing on the extremity of the prow, holds the cup,
and casts forth the entrails on the briny waves, and pours the
limpid wine. A wind arising from the stern accompanies them
in their course. The crew, with emulous vigor, lash the sea
and brush its smooth surface.
Meanwhile Venus, harassed with cares, addresses Neptune,
and pours forth these complaints from her breast : The heavy
resentment and insatiable passion of Juno compel me, Nep-
tune, to descend to all entreaties ; Juno, whom neither length
of time or any piety softens ; and who is not quelled and sub-
dued even by Jove's imperial sway, or by the Fates. It is not
enough for her to have effaced the city from among the Phryg-
ian race by her unhallowed hate, nor to have dragged its relics
through all sorts of suffering ; she persecutes the ashes and
bones of ruined Troy. The causes of such furious resentment
are to her best known. Yourself can witness for me what a
heaving tempest she suddenly raised of late on the Libyan
waves. The whole sea she blended in confusion with the sky,
vainly relying on ^Eolus' storms; this presuming [even] in
your realms. Lo also (O wickedness !) by acting upon the
Trojan matrons, she hath shamefully burned the ships, and
forced their friends, now that they have lost their fleet, to
abandon them in an unknown land. As to what remains, may
they be allowed, I pray, to sail over the waves secure by thy
protection : may they be allowed to reach Laurentian Tiber ;* 6
if I ask what may be granted, if the Destinies assign those set-
tlements. Then the Saturnian ruler of the deep ocean thus
replied : Cytherea," it is perfectly just that you confide in my
realms, whence you derive your birth : besides, I have a just
claim ; [for] often have I checked the furious rage and mad-
dening tumult of sea and sky. Nor was I less careful of your
./Eneas on earth (I call Xanthus and Simois to witness).
When Achilles, pursuing the breathless troops of Troy, dashed
them against their walls, gave many thousands to death, and
the choked rivers groaned, and Xanthus could not find his
way, nor disembogue himself into the sea ; then in a hollow
cloud I snatched away ^Eneas, while encountering the mighty
Achilles with strength and gods unequal ; though I was de-
43 Laurentian Tiber, so called from Laurentum (Paterno), the capital
of Latium in the reign of Latinus.
48 Cytherea. A surname of Venus.
B. v. 810842. JENEID. 221
sirous of overthrowing from the lowest foundation the walls
of perjured Troy, reared by my hands. And still I am of the
same disposition : banish your fear ; he shall arrive safe at the
port of Avernus, which you desire. One only, lost in the deep,
shall he seek for : one lite shall be given for many. 47 The sire,
having by these words soothed and cheered the heart of the
goddess, yokes his steeds to his golden car, puts the foaming
bit into their fierce mouths, and throws out all the reins.
Along the surface of the seas he nimbly glides in his azure
car. The waves subside, and the swelling ocean smooths its
liquid pavement under the thundering axle : the clouds fly off
the face of the expanded sky. Then [appear] the various forms
of his retinue, unwieldy whales, 48 and the aged train of Glaucus,
and Palemon," Ino's son, the swift Tritons, and the whole
band of Phorcus. On the left are Thetis, Melite, and the vir-
gin Panopse, Nesaee, Spio, Thalia, and Cymodoce. Upon this,
soft joys in their turn diffuse themselves through the anxious
soul of father JEneas. Forthwith he orders all the masts to be
set up, and the yards to be stretched along the sails. At once
they all tacked together, and together let go sometimes the
left-hand sheets, sometimes the right : at onee they turn and
turn back the lofty end of the sail yards : friendly gales waft
the fleet forward. Palinurus, the master-pilot, led the closely-
united squadron : toward him the rest were ordered to steer
their course.
And now the dewy night had almost reached the middle of
her course ; the weary sailors, stretched along the hard benches
under the oars, relaxed their limbs* in peaceful repose ; when
the god of sleep, gliding down from the ethereal stars, parted
the dusky air, and dispelled the shades ; to you, O Palinurus,
directing his course, visiting you, though innocent, with dismal
dreams : and the god took his seat on the lofty stern, in the
similitude of Phorbas," and poured forth these 'words from
47 i. e. Palinurus. Cf. Eur. Electr. 1026, lureive TTO^AUV fiiav imep. B.
48 i. e. fish of large size. Nonius, v. "cetariij" remarks ="cete in
mari majora sunt piscium genera." B.
49 Palemon, the same with Melicerta and Portumnus. See note 59,
Georgics, B. I. page 46. Tritons, etc., sea-deities. The name Tritons
wag generally applied to those only who were half men and half fishes.
50 Cf. Homer's /Mmpelije vxvo?, Od. *. 342. Orph. in Somn. 5. B.
51 Phorbas, a son of Priam, killed in the Trojan war by Menelaus.
The god Somnus, by assuming his shape, deceived Palinurus, and threw
him into the sea.
222 ^ENEID. B. T. 843871.
his lips : Palinurus, son of las'ius, the seas themselves cany
forward the fleet ; the gales blow fair and steady, the hour for
rest is given. Recline your head, and steal your weary eyes
from labor. Myself awhile will discharge your duty. To
whom Palinurus, with difficulty lifting up his eyes, answers :
Do you then bid me be a stranger to the aspect of the calm
sea and its quiet waves ? Shall I confide in this extraordinary
apparition ? Why should I trust /Eneas to the mercy of the
fallacious winds,* 2 after having been so often deceived by the
treacherous aspect of a serene sky ? These words he uttered,
while fixed and clinging he did not part with the rudder,
and held his eyes directed to the stars ; when, . lo ! the god
shakes over both his temples a branch drenched in the dew of
Lethe, and impregnated with soporific Stygian influence ; and,
while he is struggling against sleep, dissolves his swimming
eyes. Scarcely had unexpected slumber begun to relax his
limbs, when the god, leaning on him, with part of the stern
broke off, together with the helm, plunged him headlong into
the limpid waves, often calling on his friends in vain : taking
flight, raised himself on his wings aloft into the thin air.
Meanwhile, the fleet runs its watery course on the plain with
equal security, and fearless is conducted by father Neptune's
promises. And now wafted forward, it was even coming up to
the rocks of the Sirens," once of difficult access, and white
with the bones 64 of many (at that time the hoarse rocks re-
sounded far by the continual buffeting of the briny waves) ;
when father JEneas perceived the fluctuating galley to reel,
having lost its pilot ; and he himself steered her through the
darkened waves, deeply affected and wounded in his soul for
the misfortune of his friend. Ah, Palinurus [says he], who
has too much confided in the fair aspect of the skies and sea !
naked wilt thou lie on unknown sands !
5 2 On this general use of " austri," cf. ^En. I 51, 536 ; ii. 304 ; v.
396, etc. B.
53 Sirens ; these were three fabulous sisters who usually resided in a
small island near Cape Pelorus in Sicily, and by their melodious voices
decoyed mariners to their destruction on the fatal coast. Ulysses hav-
ing, by an artifice, escaped their fascination, the disappointed Sirens
threw themselves into the sea. and perished.
54 Statius Silv. ii. 7, 65, " albos ossibus Italis Philippos." Senec. (Ed.
914. C Pric. on Apul p. 436. B.
B. vi. 121. ^ENEID. 223
BOOK VL
In the Sixtli Book, JSneas, on reaching the coast of Italy, visits, as he had
been forewarned, the Sibyl of Cumae, who attends him in his descent into
the infernal regions, and conducts him to his father Anchises, from whom
he learns the fate that awaited him and his descendants the Romans.
The book closes with the well-known beautiful panegyric on the younger
Marcellus, who was prematurely cut off in the flower of his youth.
THUS he speaks with tears, and gives his ship full sail, 1
and at length he reaches the Euboean coast 2 of Cumae; They
turn their prows out to the sea: then the anchor with its te-
nacious fluke moored the ships, and the bending sterns fringe*
the margin of the shore. The youthful crew spring forth
with ardor on the Hesperian strand : some seek for the seeds
of fire latent in the veins of flint ; some plunder the copses,
the close retreat of wild beasts, and point out rivers newly
discovered. But the pious ./Eneas repairs to the towers over
which Apollo presides on high, and to the spacious cave, the
cell of the Sibyl awful at a distance ; into whom the prophetic
god of Delos breathes an enlarged mind and spirit, and dis-
closes to her the future. Now they enter Diana's groves,
and [Apollo's] golden roofs. Daedalus, 4 as is famed, flying
the realms of Minos, adventuring to trust himself to the sky
on nimble wings, sailed through an untried path to the cold
regions of the north, and at length gently alighted on the
tower of Chalcis. Having landed first on those coasts, to thee,
O Phoebus, he consecrated his hoary wings, and reared a
spacious temple. On the gates the death of Androgeos* [was
represented] : then the Athenians, doomed, as an atonement
1 Literally, "gives a loose rein." Cf. Ritterh. on Oppian, Hal. 229. B.
2 Euboean coast, applied to Cumse in Italy, as having been built by a
colony from Chalcis, a city of Eubcea (Negropont), an island in the
Archipelago.
3 i. e. with the " aplustria." See Anthon. B.
4 Dajdalus, a most ingenious artist of Athens, who, with his son Icarus,
fled, by the help of wings, from Crete, to escape the resentment of Minos ;
but Icarus fell into that part of the ^Egean Sea which bears his name.
5 Androgeos, the son of Minos and Pasiphae, famous for his skill in
wrestling, was put to death by JEgeus, king of Athens, who became
jealous of him ; to revenge his death, Minos made war upon the Athe-
nians, and at last granted them peace, on condition that they sent yearly
seven youths and seven virgins, from Athens to Crete, to be devoured
by the Minotaur, a fabulous monster, half a man and half a bull
224 ^ENEID. B. vi. 2252.
(a piteous case !) to pay yearly the bodies of their children by
sevens : there stands the urn whence the lots were drawn. In
counterview answers the land of Crete raised above sea ; here
Pasiphae's fierce passion for the bull is seen, and she [is intro-
duced] by artifice humbled [to his embrace], with the Minotaur,
that mingled birth, and two-formed offsprings, monuments of
execrable lust. Here [are seen] the labored work of the Laby-
rinth, and the inextricable mazes. But Daedalus, pitying the
violent love of queen [Ariadne], unravels [to Theseus] 8 the in-
tricacies and windings of the structure, himself guiding his dark
mazy steps by a thread. You too, O Icarus, should have borne a
considerable part in that great work, had [thy father's] grief
permitted. Twice he essayed to figure the disastrous story in
gold ; twice the parent's hand misgave him. And now [the
Trojans] would survey the whole work in order, were not
Achates, who had been sent on, just at hand, and with him the
priestess of Phoebus and Diana, Deiphobe, 7 Glaucus' daughter,
who thus bespeaks the king : This hour requires not such
amusements. At present it will be more suitable to sacrifice
seven bullocks from a herd unyoked, and as many chosen ewes,
with usual rites. The priestess having thus addressed ^Eneas
(nor are they backward to obey her sacred orders), (alls the
Trojans into the lofty temple. The huge side of an Eubcean
rock is cut into a cave, whither a hundred broad avenues
lead, a hundred doors ; whence rush forth as many voices,
the responses of the Sibyl. They had come to the threshold, 8
when thus the virgin exclaims : Now is the time to consult
your fate : the god, lo the god ! While thus before the gate
she speaks, on a sudden her looks change, her color comes
and goes, her locks are disheveled, her breast heaves, and her
fierce heart swells with enthusiastic rage ; she appears in a
larger form, her voice speaking her not a mortal, now that
she is inspired with the nearer influence of the god. Do you
delay, 9 Trojan ^Eneas, she says, do you delay with thy vows
6 Theseus, king of Athens, and son of ^Egeus, was, next to Hercules,
the most celebrated of the heroes of antiquity. He slew the Minotaur,
and escaped from the Labyrinth of Crete, by means of a clue of thread
given to him by Ariadne, daughter of Minos.
7 Deiphobe, the Cumasan Sibyl, daughter of Glaucus, who conducted
^Eneas into the infernal regions.
8 i . to the entrance nearest Cumse. B.
9 On this construction, see Markland on Stat. Silv. i. 2, 195. B.
B. vi. 52 89. ^ENEID. 225
and prayers ? [Instantly begin] : for not till then shall the
ample gates of this awe-stricken mansion unfold to the view.
And having thus said, she ceased. Chill horror ran thrilling
cold through the bones of the Trojans ; and their king poured
forth these prayers from the bottom of his heart : Apollo, who
hast ever pitied the troubles of Troy, who guidedst the Trojan
darts and the hand of Paris to the body of Achilles ; under
thy conduct I have entered so many seas encompassing coun-
tries, and the Massylian nations far remote, and regions vast
stretched in front by the Syrtes. Now, at length, we grasp of
the coast of Italy that flies from us. Let it suffice that the
fortune of Troy has persecuted us thus far. Now it is just that
you too spare the Trojan race, ye gods and goddesses, all,
to whom Ilium and the high renown of Dardania were obnox-
ious. And thou, too, most holy prophetess, skilled in futur-
ity, grant (I ask no realms but what are destined to me by
fate) that the Trojans, their wandering gods, and the perse-
cuted deities of Troy, may settle in Latium. Then will I ap-
point to Phoebus and Diana a temple of solid marble, and festal
days, called by the name of Apollo. Thee too a spacious sanc-
tuary awaits in our realms ; for there, benignant one, I will de-
posit thy oracles, and the secret fates declared to my nation,
and will consecrate chosen men. Only commit not thy verses
to leaves, lest they fly about in disorder, the sport of the rapid
winds : I beg you yourself will pronounce them. He ended
his address.
Put the prophetess, as yet not suffering the influence of
Phoebus, raves with wild outrage in the cave, struggling if
possible to disburden her soul of the mighty god : so much
the more he wearies her foaming lips, subduing her ferocious
heart, and, by bearing down her opposition, molds her to his
will. And now the hundred spacious gates of the abode were
opened of their own accord, and pour forth the responses of
the prophetess into the open air : O thou whcv hast at length
overpassed the vast perils of the ocean ! yet more afflicting
trials by land await thee. The Trojans shall come to the
realms of Lavinium (dismiss that concern from thy breast),
but they shall wish too they had never come. Wars, horrid
wars, I foresee, and Tiber foaming with a deluge of blood.
Nor Simois nor Xanthus, nor Grecian camps, shall be wanting
to you there. Another Achilles is prepared in Latium : he
10*
226 JENEID. B. vi. 90121.
too the son of a goddess. Nor shall Juno, added to the Tro-
jans [as their scourge], leave them wherever they are ; while
in your distress, which of the Italian states, which of its cities,
shall you not humbly supplicate for aid ? Once more shall a
consort, a hostess, once more shall a foreign match, be the
cause of so great calamity to the Trojans. Yield not under
your sufferings, but encounter them with greater boldness
than your fortune shall permit. 10 What you least expect,
your first means of deliverance shall be unfolded from a
Grecian city. Thus from her holy cell the Camaean Sibyl
delivers her mysterious oracles, and, wrapping up truth in
obscurity,' bellows in her cave : Such reins Apollo shakes
over her as she rages, and deep in her breast he plies the
goads.
As soon as her fury ceased, and her raving tongue was silent,
the hero ^Eneas begins : To me, O virgin, no shape of sufferings
can arise new or unexpected ; I have anticipated all things,
and acted them over beforehand in my mind. My sole re-
quest is (since here the gate of the infernal king is said to
be, and the darksome lake [formed] from the overflowing
Acheron), that it may be my lot to come into the sight and
presence of my dear father ; that you would show the way,
and open to me the sacred portals. On these shoulders I
rescued him, through flames and. a thousand darts pursuing,
and saved him from the midst of the enemy. He accompanied
my path, attended me in all my voyages, and, though infirm,
bore all the terrors both of the sea and sky, beyond the power
and condition of old age. Nay more, he it was who earnestly
requested and enjoined me to come to thee a suppliant, and
visit thy temple. Benignant one, pity, I pray, the son and the
sire ; for thou canst do all things ; nor hath Hecate in vain
given thee charge of the Avernian groves. If Orpheus had
power to recall his consort's ghost, relying on his Thracian
harp and harmonious strings; if Pollux 11 redeemed his brother
10 I prefer " quam," with Wagner, notwithstanding Anthon's defense
of " qua." B.
11 Pollux and Castor were twin brothers: according to ancient my-
thology, Pollux was the son of Jupiter, and so tenderly attached to his
brother Castor, that he entreated Jupite'r he might share his immortality,
which being granted, they alternately lived and died every day. They
were made constellations under the name of Gemini, which never ap-
pear together, but when one rises the other sets.
B. vi. 122-160. JENEID. 227
by alternate death, and goes and comes this way so often : [I
hope I may also be allowed to go and return :] why need I
mention Theseus, or great Alcides ? I too derive my birth
from Jove supreme.
In such terms he prayed, and held the altar, when thus the
prophetess began to speak : Offspring of the gods, thou Tro-
jan son of Anchises, easy is the path that leads down to hell ;
grim Pluto's gate stands open night and day ; but to retrace
one's steps, and escape to the upper regions, this is a work, this
is a task. Some few, whom favoring Jove loved, or illustri-
ous virtue advanced to heaven, the sons of the gods, have
effected it. Woods cover all the intervening space, and Co-
cytus gliding with his black winding flood surrounds it. But
if your soul be possessed with so strong a passion, so ardent a
desire, twice to swim the Stygian lake, twice to visit a gloomy
Tartarus, and you will needs fondly pursue the desperate enter-
prise, learn what first is to be done. On a tree of deep shade
there lies concealed a bough, with leaves and limber twigs of
gold, pronounced sacred to infernal Juno ; this the whole
grove covers, and shades in dark valleys inclose. But to none
is it given to enter the hidden recesses of the earth, till from
the tree he pluck the bough with its golden locks. Fair Pros-
erpine hath ordained this to be presented to her as her pe-
culiar present. When the first is torn off, a second of gold
soon succeeds; and a twig shoots forth leaves of the same
metal. Therefore, search out for it on high with thine eyes,
and, when found, pluck it with the hand in a proper manner ;
for, if the Fates invite you, itself will come away willing and
easy ; otherwise, you will not fee able to master it by any
strength, or to lop it off by the stubborn steel. Besides, the
body of your friend lies breathless (whereof you, alas ! are not
aware), and pollutes the whole fleet with death, while you are
seeking counsel, and hang lingering at my gate. First convey
him to his place of rest, and bury him in the grave. Bring
black cattle ; let these first be the sacrifices of expiation. So
at length you shall have a view of the Stygian groves, realms
inaccessible to the living. She said, and closing her lips, was
silent.
^Eneas, his eyes fixed on the ground with sorrowing looks,
takes his way, leaving the cave, and muses the dark event in
his mind ; whom faithful Achates accompanies, and steps on
228 --ENEID. B. vi. 161197.
with equal concern. Many doubts they started between them
in the variety of their conversation ; who was the lifeless friend
designed by the prophetess, what corpse was to be interred.
And as they caine, they saw Misenus 12 on the dry beach,
slain by an unworthy death ; Misenus, son of JEolus, whom
none excelled in rousing warriors by the brazen trump, and
kindling the rage of war by its blast He had been the com-
panion of great Hector, and about Hector he fought, distin-
guished both for the clarion and spear. After victorious
Achilles had bereaved Hector of life, the valiant hero asso-
ciated with Dardanian ./Eneas, following no inferior chief. But,
at that time, while madly presumptuous he makes the seas re-
sound with his hollow trump, and with bold notes challenges
the gods to a trial of skill, Triton, jealous (if the story be
worthy of credit), having inveigled him between two rocks,
had overwhelmed him in the foaming billows. Therefore all
murmured their lamentations around him with loud noise,
especially pious ^Eneas ; then forthwith weeping they set about
the Sibyl's orders, and are emulous to heap up the altar of the
funeral pile with trees, and raise it toward heaven. They re-
pair to an ancient wood, the deep lairs of the savage kind :
down drop the firs : the holm crashes, felled by the axes ; and
the ashen logs and yielding oak are cleft by wedges ; down from
the mountains they roll the huge wild ashes. ^Eneas, too,
chief amid these labors, animates .his followers, and is equip-
ped with like implements.
Meanwhile, he thus ruminates in his distressed breast, sur-
veying the spacious wood, and thus prays aloud : O if that
golden branch on the tree now present itself to our view amid
this ample forest ; since, Misenus," all that the prophetess de-
clared of thee is true, alas ! too true. Scarcely had he spoken
these words, when it chanced that two pigeons, in their airy
flight, cnm ' directly into the hero's view, and alighted on the
verdant ground. Then the mighty hero knows his mother's
birds, and rejoicing, prays : Oh ! be the guides of the way, if
any way there is, and steer your course through the air into
the groves, where the precious branch overshades the fertile
soil. And thou, my goddess-mother, oh be not wanting to me
in this my perplexity ! Thus having said, he paused, ob-
11 Misenus, a son of ^Eolus, the trumpeter of Hector, after whese death
he followed JEneas to Italy, and was drowned on the coast of Campania.
B. VI. 198232. J3NEID. 229
serving what indications they offer, whither they bend their
way. They, feeding and flying by turns, advanced before only
as far as the eyes of the followers could trace them with their
ken. Then, having come to the mouth of noisome 13 Avernus,
they mount up swiftly, and, gliding through the clear air, both
alight on the wished-for place, on that tree from whence the
gleam of the gold, of different hue, shone through the boughs.
As in the woods the mistletoe, which springs not from the tree
from whence it grows, is wont to bloom with new leaves in the
cold of winter, and to twine around the tapering trunk with its
yellow offspring ; such was the appearance of the gold sprout-
ing forth on the shady holm : in like manner the metallic leaf
tinkled with the gentle gale. Forthwith ^Eneas grasps, and
eagerly tears off the lingering branch, and bears it to the grotto
of the prophetic Sibyl.
Meanwhile the Trojans were no less assiduously employed
in mourning Misenus on the shore, and in paying the last
duties to his senseless 14 ashes. First, they rear a large pile
unctuous with pines and split oak, whose sides they inter-
weave with black boughs, and place in the front deadly cy-
presses, and deck it above with glittering arms. Some get
ready warm water, and caldrons bubbling from the flames ;
and wash and anoint his cold limbs. The groan is raised :
they then lay the bewailed body on a couch, and throw over
it the purple robes, his wonted apparel. Others bore up the
cumbrous bier, a mournful office ; and with their faces turned
away, after the manner of their ancestors, under it they held
the torch. Amassed together, blaze offerings of incense,
viands, whole goblets of oil poured [on the pile]. After the
ashes had sunk down, and the flames relented, they drenched
the relics and soaking embers in wine ; and Chorinaeus in-
closed the collected bones in a brazen urn. Thrice too he
made the circuit of the company with holy water, sprinkling
them with the light spray, and a branch of the prolific olive ;
and he purified them, and pronounced the last farewell. But
13 Nonius, i. 46, quoting these verses, observes, " Avernus iccirco ap-
pellatus est, quia est odor ejus avibus infestissimus." This is probably
a mistaken etymology. For the expression, compare Georg. iv. 270,
" grave olentia Centaurea." B.
14 ' Ingrato, gratiam non sentienti," is Servius's last and correct ex-
planation. Cf. Copa, vs. 35 (in Anth. Lat. T. i. p. 74), " Quid cineri in-
grato servas bene olentia serta." B.
230 ^ENBID. B. VI. 233266.
pious ^Eneas erects a spacious tomb for the hero, with his
arms upon it, and an oar aud trumpet, beneath a lofty mount-
ain, which now from him is called Misenus, and retains a name
eternal through ages.
This done, he speedily executes the Sibyl's injunctions. There
was a cave profound and hideous with wide yawning mouth,
stony, fenced by a black lake, and the gloom of woods ; over
which none of the flying kind were able to wing their way
unhurt : such exhalations, issuing from its grim jaws, ascended
to the vaulted skies : [for which reason the Greeks called the
place by the name of the Aoruus.] 1S Here first the priestess
places four bullocks, with backs of swarthy hue, and pours 16
wine on their foreheads, and cropping the topmost hairs be-
tween the horns, lays them on the sacred flames as the first of-
ferings, by voice invoking Hecate, whose power extends both
to heaven and hell. Others employ the knives, 17 and receive the
tepid blood in bowls. ^Eneas himself smites with his sword
a ewe-lamb of sable fleece in honor of the mother of the
Furies, and her great sister, and in honor of thee, Proserpina,
a barren heifer. Then he sets about the nocturnal sacrifices to
the Stygian king, and lays on the flames the soljd carcasses of
bulls, pouring fat oil on the broiling entrails. /" Lo now, at the
early beams and rising of the sun, the ground beneath their
feet began to rumble, the wooded heights to quake, and dogs
were seen to howl through the shade of the woods, at the ap-
proach of the' goddess. Hence, far hence, O ye profane, ex-
claims the prophetess, and begone from all the grove ; and do
you, JEneas, boldly march forward, and snatch your sword from
its sheath : now is the time for fortitude, now for firmness of
resolution. This said, she raving plunged into the open cave.
He, with intrepid steps, keeps close by his guide as she leads
the way.
Ye gods, to whosi the empire of ghosts belong, and ye silent
shades, and Chaos, and Phlegethon, places where silence
reigns around in night ! permit me to utter the secrets I have
15 This line is probably the work of a grammarian. B.
18 Literally, " tilts the vessel," the verb probably meaning the action
of bending the cup as the liquid is poured out. So Lucret. v. 1007, " Illi
imprudentes ipsi sibi saspe venenum Vergebant." Cf. Gronov. Obs. iL
7. B.
17 i. e. cut the throats of the victims. B.
B. vi. 267298. ^ENEID. 231
heard ; may I by your divine will disclose things buried in
deep earth and darkness. They moved along amid the gloom
under the solitary night through the shade, 18 and through the
desolate halls and empty realms of Pluto ; such as is a journey
in woods beneath the unsteady moon, under a faint, glimmer-
ing light, when Jupiter hath wrapped the heavens in shade,
and sable night had stripped objects of color.
Before the vestibule itself, and in the first jaws of hell,
Grief and vengeful Cares have placed their couches, and pale
Diseases dwell, and disconsolate Old Age, and Fear, and the
evil counselor Famine, and vile deformed Indigence, forms
ghastly to the sight ! and Death, and Toil ; then Sleep, akin
to Death, and criminal Joys of the mind ; and in the opposite
threshold murderous War, and the iron bed-chambers of the
Furies, and frantic Discord, having her viperous locks bound
with bloody fillets.
In the midst a gloomy elm displays its boughs and aged
arms, which seat vain Dreams are commonly said to haunt,
and under every leaf they dwell. Many monstrous savages,
moreover, of various forms, stable in the gates, the Centaurs
and double-formed Scyllas, and Briareus 19 with his hundred
hands, and the enormous snake of Lerna 20 hissing dreadful,
and Chimera armed with flames ; Gorgons, Harpies, and the
form of Geryori's three-bodied ghost. Here .^Eneas, discon-
certed with sudden fear, grasps his sword, and presents the
naked point to each approaching shade : and had not his skill-
ful guide put him in mind that they were airy unbodied phan-
toms, fluttering about under an empty form, he had rushed in,
and with his sword struck at the ghosts in vain.
Hence is a path, which leads to the floods of Tartarean
Acheron : here a gulf turbid and impure boils up with mire
and vast whirlpools, and disgorges all its sand into Cocytus.
13 Observe the accumulation of epithets, all denoting the excessive
darkness; "obscuri" i; solanocte" " per umbram." B.
13 Briareus, a famous giant, son of Coelus and Terra. The poets
feigned he had one hundred arms and fifty heads, and was thrown under
Mount ./Etna for having assisted the giants against the gods.
2U Lerna, a lake of Argolis in Greece, where Hercules killed the
famous hydra. Chimaera, a fabulous monster, represented with three
heads, that of a lion, of a goat, and of a dragon. Gteryon, a celebrated
monster, whom Hercules slew. He was represented by the poeta as
having three bodies and three heads.
232 JSNEID. B. vi. 299337.
A grim ferryman guards these floods and rivers, Charon," of
frightful slovenliness ; on whose chin a load of gray hair neg-
lected lies ; his eyes are flame : his vestments hang from his
shoulders by a knot, with filth overgrown. Himself thrusts
on the barge with a pole, and tends the sails, and wafts over
the bodies in his iron-colored boat, now in years: but the
god is of fresh and green old age. Hither the whole tribe in
swarms come pouring to the banks, matrons and men, the
souls of magnanimous heroes who had gone through life, boys
and unmarried maids, and young men who had been stretched
on the funeral pile before the eyes of their parents ; as numer-
ous as withered leaves fall in the woods with the first cold of
autumn, or as numerous as birds flock to the land from deep ocean,
when the chilling year 21 drives them beyond sea, and sends
them to sunny climes. . They stood praying to cross the flood
the first, and were stretching forth their hands with fond de-
sire to gain the further bank : but the sullen boatman admits
sometimes these, sometimes those : while others to a great
distance removed, he debars from the banks.
^Eneas (for he was amazed and moved with the tumult)
thus speaks : O virgin, say what means that flocking to the
river ? what do the ghosts desire ? or by what distinction must
these recede from the banks, those sweep with oars the livid
flood ? To him the aged priestess thus briefly replied : Son
of Anchise's, undoubted offspring of the gods, you see the deep
pools of Cocytus, and the Stygian lake, by whose divinity the
gods dread to swear and violate [their oath]. All that crowd,
which you see, consists of naked and unburied persons : that
ferryman is Charon : these, whom the stream carries, are in-
terred; for it is not permitted to transport them over the
horrid banks, and hoarse waves, before their bones are quietly
lodged in a final abode. They wander a hundred years, and
flutter about these shores : then at length admitted, they visit
the wished-for lakes.
The offspring of Anchises paused and repressed his steps,
deeply musing, and pitying from his soul their unkind lot.
There he espies Leucaspis, 2 ' and Cronies, the commander of
21 Charon, a god of hell, son of Erebus and Nox, who conducted the
souls of the dead in a boat over the river Styx to the infernal regions.
22 i. e. "season." See Broukh. on TibulL'i. 1, 17. B.
43 Leucaspis, one of ./Eneas' companions, lost during a storm in the
Tyrrhene Sea.
B. VI. 338370. ^NEID. 233
the Lycian fleet, mournful, and bereaved of the honors of
the dead : whom as they sailed from Troy, over the stormy
seas, the south wind sunk together, whelming both ship and
crew in the waves. Lo ! the pilot Palinurus slowly advanced,
who lately in his Libyan voyage, while he was observing the
stars, had fallen from the stern, plunged in the midst of the
waves. When with difficulty, by reason of the thick shade,
^Eneas knew him in this mournful mood, he fhus first accosts
him : What god, O Palinurus, snatched you from us, and
overwhelmed you in the middle of the ocean ? Come tell me.
For Apollo, whom I never before found false, in this one re-
sponse deceived my mind, declaring that you should be safe on
the sea, and arrive at the Ausonian coasts : Is this the amount
of his plighted faith ?
But he [answers] : Neither the oracle of Phoebus beguiled
you, prince of the line of Anchises, nor a god plunged me in
the sea ; for, falling headlong, I drew along with me the helm,
which I chanced with great violence to tear away, as I clung
to it, and steered our course, being appointed pilot. By the
rough seas I swear, that I was not so seriously apprehensive
for myself, as that thy ship, despoiled of her rudder, dispos-
sessed of her pilot, might sink while such high billows were
rising. The south wind drove me violently on the water over
the spacious sea, three wintery nights : on the fourth day I de-
scried Italy from the high ridge of a wave [whereon I was]
raised aloft. I was swimming gradually toward land, and should
have been out of danger, had not the cruel people fallen upon
me with the sword (encumbered with my wet garment, and
grasping with crooked hands the rugged tops of a mountain),
and ignorantly taking me for a rich prey. Now the waves
possess me, 2 * and the winds toss me about the shore. But by
the pleasant light of heaven, and by the vital air, by him who
gave thee birth, by the hope of rising liilus, I thee implore,
invincible one, release me from these woes : either throw on
me some earth (for thou canst do so), and seek out the Veline
port ; or, if there be any means, if thy goddess mother point
out any (for thou dost not, I presume, without the will of the
gods, attempt to cross such mighty rivers and the Stygian
lake), lend your hand to an unhappy wretch, and bear me
24 i. e. " my body." So avroOf is used l/y Horn. II. A. 4. Cf. below
vi. 507. B.
234 ^ENEID. R YL 371402.
with you over the waves, that in death at least I may rest in
peaceful seats.
Thus he spoke, when thus the prophetess began : Whence,
O Palinurus, rises in thee this so impious desire ? Shall you
unburied behold the Stygian floods, and the grim river of the
Furies, or reach the bank against the command [of heaven] ?
Cease to hope that the decrees of the gods are to be altered by
prayers ; but mindful take these predictions as the solace of
your hard fate. For the neighboring people," compelled by
portentous plagues from heaven, shall through their several
cities far and wide offer atonement to thy ashes, erect a tomb,
and stated anniversary offerings on that tomb present; and
the place shall forever retain the name of Palinurus. By
these words his cares were removed, and grief was for a time
banished from his disconsolate heart : he rejoices in the land
that is to bear his name.
They therefore accomplish their journey begun, and ap-
proach the river: whom when the boatman soon from the
Stygian wave beheld advancing through the silent grove, and
stepping forward to the bank, thus he first accosts them in
words, and chides them unprovoked: Whoever thou mayest
be, who art now advancing armed to our rivers, say quick for
what end thou comest ; and from that very spot repress thy
step. This is the region of Ghosts, of Sleep, and drowsy
Night : to waft over the bodies of the living in my Stygian
boat is not permitted. Nor indeed was it joy to me that I re-
ceived Alcides on the lake when he came, or Theseus and Pi-
rithous, 1 " 1 though they were the offspring of the gods, and in-
vincible in might. One with his hand put the keeper of Tar-
tarus in chains, and dragged him trembling from the throne
of our king himself; the others attempted to carry off our
queen from Pluto's bed-chamber.
In answer to which, the Amphrysian prophetess spoke :
No such plots are here, be not disturbed, nor do these weapons
bring violence : the huge porter may bay in his den forever,
terrifying the incorporeal shades: chaste Proserpine may re-
83 This befell the Lucanians. See Servius. B.
28 Pirithous, a son of Ixion, and king of the Lapithse r whose friendship
with Theseus, king of Athens, was proverbial. According to the poets,
the two friends descended into the infernal regions to carry away Pros-
erpine, but Pluto, who was apprised of their intention, bound Pirithous
to his father's wheel, and Theseus to a huge stone.
B. vi. 403436. ^ENEID. 235
main in her uncle's palace. Trojan ./Eneas, illustrious for piety
and arms, descends to the deep shades of Erebus to his sire.
If the image of such piety makes no impression on you, own
a regard at least to this branch (she shows the branch that was
concealed under her robe). Then his heart from swelling rage
is stilled : nor passed more words than these. He with wonder
gazing on the hallowed present of the fatal branch, beheld
after a long season, turns toward them his lead-colored
barge, and approaches the bank. Thence he dislodges the
other souls that sat on the long benches, and clears the
hatches ; at the same time, receives into the hold the mighty
^Eneas. The boat of sewn hide 27 groaned under the weight,
and, being leaky, took in much water from the lake. At
length he lands the hero and the prophetess safe on the other
side of the river, on the foul slimy strand and sea-green weed.
Huge Cerberus makes these realms to resound with barking
from his triple jaws, stretched at his enormous length in a den
that fronts the gate. To whom the prophetess, seeing his
neck now bristle with horrid snakes, flings a soporific cake of
honey and medicated grain. He, in the mad rage of hunger,
opening his three mouths, snatehes the offered morsel, and,
spread on the ground, relaxes his monstrous limbs, and is ex-
tended at vast length over all the cave. ./Eneas, now that the
keeper [of hell] is buried [in sleep], seizes the passage, and
swift overpasses the bank of that flood whence there is no
return.
Forthwith are heard voices, loud waitings, and weeping
ghosts of infants, in the first opening of the gate : whom, be-
reaved of sweet life out of the course of nature, and snatched
from the breast, a black day cut off, and buried in an untimely
grave.
Next to those, are such as had been condemned to death by
false accusations. Nor yet were those seats assigned them with-
out a trial, without a judge. Minos, 28 as inquisitor, shakes the
urn : he convokes the council of the silent, and examines their
lives and crimes.
The next places in order those mournful ones possess,
27 i. e. formed of hides sewn across wicker ribs. See Anthon. B.
23 Minos, a celebrated king and lawgiver of Crete, son of Jupiter and
Europa. He was rewarded for his equity, after death, with the office
of judge in the infernal regions, with _33acu3 and Rhadamanthus.
236 -&NEID. B. vi. 437460.
who, though free from crime, procured death to themselves with
their own hands, and, sick of the light, threw away their lives.
How gladly would they now endure poverty and painful toils
in the upper regions ! Fate opposes, and the hateful lake im-
prisons them with its dreary waves, and Styx, nine times rolling
between, confines them.
Not far from this part, extended on every side, are shown
the fields of mourning : so they call them by name. Here by-
paths remote conceal, and myrtle-groves cover those around,
whom unrelenting love, with his cruel venom, consumed
away. Their cares leave them not in death itself. In these
places he sees PhaBdra and Procris, so and disconsolate Eri-
phyle pointing to the wounds she had received from her cruel
son ; Evadne 51 also, and Pasiphae : these Laodamia accom-
panies, and CaBneus, once a youth, now a woman, and again
by fate transformed into his pristine shape. Among whom
Phoenician Dido, fresh from her wound, was wandering in a
spacious wood ; whom as soon as the Trojan hero approached,
and discovered faintly through the shades (in like manner as
one sees, or thinks he sees, the moon rising through the clouds
in the beginning of her monthly course), he dropped tears,
and addressed her in love's sweet accents : Hapless Dido, was
it then a true report I had of your being dead, and that you
had finished your own destiny by the sword ? Was I, alas !
the cause of your death ? I swear by the stars, by the powers
above, and by whatever faith may be under the deep earth,
that against my will, O queen, I departed from thy coast.
29 Phaedra, a daughter of Minos and Pasiphao, who married Theseus ;
her criminal passion for Hippolytus, and the tragical end of that young
prince, by his chariot being overturned and dragged among rocks, so
stung her with remorse, that she hanged herself.
30 Procris, a daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and wife of
Cephalus. Eriphyle, a sister of Adrastus, king of Argos, and the wife
of Amphiaraus : she was murdered by her son Alcmseon, for having
discovered where Amphiaraus was concealed, that he might not accom-
pany the Argives in their expedition against Thebes.
31 Evadne, the wife of Capaneus, one of the seven chiefs who went
against Thebes ; she threw herself on his funeral pile, and perished in
the flames. Laodamia, a daughter of Acastus, and the wife of Protesi-
laus, whose departure for the Trojan war, and subsequent fall by the
hand of Hector, caused her death from excessive grief. Caeneus, a Thes-
salian woman, feigned by the poets to have had the power of changing
her sex.
B. vi. 461489. ./ENEID. 237
But the mandates of the gods, which now compel me to travel
through these shades, through noisome dreary regions and
deep night, drove me from you by their authority ; nor could
I believe that I should bring upon you such deep anguish by
my departure. Stay your steps, and withdraw not thyself
from my sight. Whom dost thou fly ? This is the last time
fate allows me to address you. With these words JEneas
thought to soothe her soul inflamed, and eying him with
stern regard, and provoked his tears to flow. She, turned
away, kept her eyes fixed on the ground ; nor alters her looks
more, in consequence of the conversation he had begun, than
if she were fixed immovable like a stubborn flint or rock of
Parian marble. At length, she abruptly retired, and in de-
testation fled into a shady grove, where Sichaeus," her first
lord, answers her with [amorous] cares, and returns her love
for love, ^neas, nevertheless, in commotion for her disastrous
fate, with weeping eyes, pursues her far, and pities her as she
goes.
Hence he holds on his destined way ; and now they had
reached the last fields, which by themselves apart renowned
warriors frequent. Here Tydeus" appears to him, here Par-
thenopoeus illustrious in arms, and the ghost of pale Adrastus.
Here [appear] those Trojans who had died in the field of
battle, much lamented in the upper world : whom when he
beheld all together in a numerous body, he inwardly groaned ;
Glaucus," Medon, Thersilochus, the three sons of Antenor,
and Polybsetes devoted to Ceres, and Idaeus still handling his
chariot, still his armor. The ghosts in crowds around him
stand on the right and left: nor are they satisfied with
seeing him once ; they wish to detain him long, to come
into close conference with him, and learn the reasons of his
32 Sichaeus, the husband of Dido, and the priest of Hercules, whom
Pygmalion, his brother-in-law, murdered, to obtain his riches.
33 Tydeus, the son of (Eneus, king of Calydon, was one of the seven
chiefs of the army of Adrastus, king of Argos, in the Theban war, where
he behaved with great courage, but was slain by Melanippus. He was
father to Diomedes, who was therefore called Tydides. Parthenopceus,
a son of Meleager and Atalanta, was also one of the seven chiefk who
accompanied Adrastus in his expedition against Thebes.
34 Glaucus, a son of Hippolochus, and grandson of Bellerophon. He
assisted Priam in the Trojan war, and was slain by Ajax. Thersilochus,
a son of Antenor, and leader of the Paeonians, was slain by Achilles.
238 ^BNEID. a vi. 490523.
visit. But as soon as the Grecian chiefs and Agamemnon's"
battalions saw the hero, and his arms gleaming through the
shades, they quaked with dire dismay : some turned their
backs, as when they fled once to their ships ; some raise their
slender voices ; the scream begun dies in their gasping
throats."
And here he espies Deiphobus, the son of Priam, mangled
in every limb, his face and both his hands cruelly torn,
his temples bereft of the ears cropped off, and his nostrils
slit with a hideously deformed wound. Thus he hardly knew
him quaking for agitation, and seeking to hide the marks of
his dreadful punishment ; and he first accosts him with well-
known accents : Deiphobus, great in arms, sprung from Teu-
cer's noble blood, who could choose to inflict such cruelties ?
Or who was allowed to exercise such power over you ? To
me, in that last night, a report was brought that you, tired
with the vast slaughter of the Greeks, had fallen at last on a
heap of mingled carcasses. Then, with my own hands, I raised
to you an empty tomb on the Rhcetean shore, and thrice with
loud voice I invoked your manes. Your name and arms pos-
sess the place. Your body, my friend, I could not find, or,
at my departure, deposit in thy native land. And upon this
the son of Priam said : Nothing, my friend, has been omitted
by you ; you have discharged every duty to Deiphobus, and
to the shadow of a corpse. But my own fate, and the cursed
wickedness of Helen, plunged me in these woes : she hath left
me these monuments [of her love]. For how we passed that
last night amid ill-grounded joys you know, and must re-
member but two well, when the fatal horse came bounding
over our lofty walls, and pregnant brought armed infantry in
its womb. She, pretending a dance, led her train of Phrygian
matrons yelling around the orgies : herself in the midst held a
large flaming torch, and called to the Greeks from the lofty
tower. I, being at that time oppressed with care, and over-
powered with sleep, was lodged in my unfortunate bed-cham-
ber : rest, balmy, profound, and the perfect image of a calm,
peaceful death, pressed me as I lay. Meanwhile my incom-
parable spouse removes all arms from my palace, and had
33 Agamemnon was king of Mycenae and Argos. He was chosen
commander-in-chief of the Greeks in the Trojan war.
35 Literally, " fails them as they open their mouths to utter it." B.
B. vi. 524555. ^ENEID. 239
withdrawn my trusty sword from my head : she calls Mene-
laus 37 into the palace, and throws open the gates ; hoping, no
doubt, that would be a mighty favor to her amorous husband,
and that thus the infamy of her former wicked deeds might
be extinguished. In short, they burst into my chamber : that
traitor of the race of ^Eolus, 38 the promoter of villainy, is
joined in company with them. Ye gods, requite these cruel-
ties to the Greeks, if I supplicate vengeance with pious lips !
But come now, in thy turn, say what adventure hath brought
thee hither alive. Dost thou come driven by the casualties of
the main, or by the direction of the gods ? or what fortune
compels thee to visit these dreary mansions, troubled regions,
where the sun never shines ?
In this conversation the sun in his rosy chariot had now
passed the meridian in his ethereal course ; and they perhaps
would in this manner have passed the whole time assigned
them ; but the Sibyl, his companion, put him in mind, and
thus briefly spoke : ./Eneas, the night comes on apace, while
we waste the hours in lamentations. This is the place where
the path divides itself in two : the right is what leads beneath
great Pluto's walls ; by this our way to Elysium lies : but the
left carries on the punishments of the wicked, and conveys to
cursed Tartarus. On the other hand, Deiphobus [said] : Be
not incensed, great priestess ; I shall be gone ; I will fill up
the number [of the ghosts] and be rendered back to dark-
ness. Go, go, thou glory of our nation ; mayest thou find
fates more kind ! This only he spoke, and at the word turned
his steps.
^Eneas on a sudden looks back, and under a rock on the
left sees vast prisons inclosed with a triple wall, which Tar-
tarean Phlegethon's rapid flood environs with torrents of
flame, and whirls roaring rocks along. Fronting is a huge
gate, with columns of solid adamant, that no strength of men,
nor the gods themselves, can with steel demolish. An iron
tower rises aloft ; and there wakeful Tisiphone, with her
37 Menelaus, the brother of Agamemnon, and the husband of Helen,
the daughter of Tyndarus, with whom he received the crown of Sparta.
This, however, he had enjoyed only a short time, when Helen was car-
ried away by Paris, the son of Priam, which laid the foundation of the
Trojan war, where Menelaus behaved with great spirit and courage.
3S Race of -<Eolus ; Ulysses is here meant, Sisyphus, the son of ^Eolus,
being, according to some, his father.
240 . ^ENEID. B. VL 556586.
bloody robe tucked up around her, sits to watch the vestibule
both night and day. Hence groans are heard ; the cruel
lashes resound ; the grating too of iron, and clank of drag-
ging chains. ^Eneas stopped short, and starting listened to
the din. What scenes of guilt are these ? O virgin, say ; or
with what pains are they chastised ? what hideous yelling
[ascends] to the skies ! Then thus the prophetess began :
Renowned leader of the Trojans, no holy person is allowed to
tread the accursed threshold : but Hecate, when she set me
over the groves of Avernus, herself taught me the punish-
ments appointed by the gods, and led me through every part.
Cretan Rhadamanthus 39 possesses these most ruthless realms ;
examines and punishes frauds ; and forces every one to con-
fess what crimes committed in the upper world he had left
[unatoned] till the late hour of death, hugging himself in
secret crime of no avail. Forthwith avenging Tisiphone, armed
with her whip, scourges the guilty with cruel insult, and in her
left hand shaking over them her grim snakes, calls the fierce
troops of her sister Furies.
Then at length the accursed gates, grating on their dread-
ful-sounding hinges, are thrown open. See you what kind
of watch sits in the entry ? what figure guards the gate ? An
overgrown Hydra, 40 more fell [than any Fury], with fifty
black gaping mouths, has her seat within. Then Tartarus
itself sinks deep down, and extends toward the shades twice
as far as is the prospect upward to the ethereal throne of
heaven. Here Earth's ancient progeny, the Titanian youth,
hurled down with thunderbolts, welter in the profound abyss.
Here too I saw the two sons of Aloeus, 41 gigantic bodies, who
attempted with their might to overturn the spacious heavens,
and thrust down Jove from his exalted kingdom. Salmoneus"
39 Rhadamanthus, a son of Jupiter and Europa, who reigned over the
Cyclades and many of the Greek cities in Asia, and for his justice and
equity was made one of the judges of hell.
40 Hydra, a fabulous monster of the serpent tribe : that which in-
fested the neighborhood of the lake Lerna, in Peloponnesus, was killed
by Hercules.
41 Two sons of Aloeus, the giants Otus and Ephialtes, who made war
against the gods, and were killed by Apollo and Diana,
48 Salmoneus, a king of Elis, who for his impiety in imitating the
thunder of Jupiter, was feigned to have been struck by a thunderbolt,
and placed in the infernal regions, near his brother Sisyphua.
B. VI. 586618. ^ENEID.
24rl
likewise I beheld suffering severe punishment, for having imi-
tated Jove's flaming bolts, and the sounds of heaven. He,
drawn in his chariot by four horses, and brandishing a torch,
rode triumphant among the nations of Greece, and in the
midst of the city Elis, and claimed to himself the honor of
the gods : infatuate ! who, with brazen car, and the prancing
of his horn-hoofed steeds, would needs counterfeit the storms
and inimitable thunder. But the almighty Sire amid the
thick clouds threw a bolt (not firebrands he, nor smoky light
from torches), and hurled him down headlong in a vast whirl-
wind. Here too you might have seen Tityus," the foster-
child of all-bearing Earth: whose, body is extended over nine
whole acres ; and a huge vulture, with her hooked beak, peck-
ing at his immortal liver, and his bowels, the fruitful source
of punishment, both searches them for her banquet, and dwells
in the deep recesses -of his breast ; nor is any respite given to
his fibers still springing up afresh. Why should I mention
that Lapithae, Ixion, and Pirithous, over whom hangs a black
flinty rock, every moment threatening to tumble down, and
seeming to be actually falling? Golden pillars [supporting]
lofty genial couches shine, and full in their view are banquets
furnished out with regal magnificence ; the chief of the Furies
sits by them, and debars them from touching the provisions
with their hands; and starts up, lifting her torch on high,
and thunders over them with her voice. Here are those 44
who, while life remained, had been at enmity with their bro-
thers, had beaten a parent, or wrought deceit against a client ;
or who alone brooded over their acquired wealth, nor assigned
a portion to their own ; which class is the most numerous :
those too who were slain for adultery, who joined in impious
wars, aud did not 'scruple to violate the faith they had plighted
to their masters : shut up, they await their punishment. But
what kind of punishment seek not to be informed, in what
shape [of misery], or in what state they are involved. Some
roll a huge stone, and hang fast bound to the spokes of wheels.
There sits, and to eternity shall sit, the unhappy Theseus:
43 Tityus, a celebrated giant, son of Terra, or according to others, of
Jupiter and Elara.
44 Cf. Aristoph. Ban. 146, and my notes on JEsch. Bum. p. 188, n. 2,
ed. Bohn. B.
11
V
242 -&NEID. B. VI. 619 650
and Phlegyas 45 most wretched is a monitor to all, and with
loud voice proclaims through the shades : " Warned [by ex'
ample], learn righteousness, and not to contemn the gods."
One sold his country for gold, and imposed on it a domineer'
ing tyrant; made and unmade laws for money. Another in'
vaded his daughter's bed, and an unlawful wedlock : all of
them dared some heinous crime, and accomplished what they
dared. Had I a hundred tongues, and a hundred mouths, ?
voice of iron, I could not comprehend all the species of their
crimes, nor enumerate the names of all their punishments.
When the aged priestess of Phoebus had uttered these words,
she adds, But come now, set forward, and finish the task you
have undertaken ; let us haste on : I see the walls [of Pluto],
wrought in the forges of the Cyclops, and the gates with their
arch full in our view, where our instructions enjoin us to
deposit this our offering. She said ; and with equal pace
advancing through the gloomy path, they speedily traverse
the intermediate space, and approach the gates. ^Eneaa
springs forward to the entry, sprinkles his body with fresh
water, and fixes the bough in the fronting portal.
Having finished these rites, and performed the offering to
the goddess, they came at length to the regions of joy, delight-
ful green retreats, and blessed abodes in groves, where happi-
ness abounds. A freer 46 and purer sky here clothes the fields
with sheeny light : they know their own sun, their own stars.
Some exercise their limbs on the grassy green, in sports con-
tend, and wrestle on the tawny sand : some strike the ground
\vith their feet in the dance, and sing hymns. [Orpheus,]
too, the Thracian priest, in his long robe, replies 47 in melodi-
ous numbers to the seven distinguished notes ; and now strikes
the same with his fingers, now with his ivory quill. Here
may be seen Teucer's ancient race, a most illustrious line,
magnanimous heroes, born in happier times, Bus, 48 Assaracus,
45 Phlegyas, a son of Mars, king of the Lapithse in Thessaly, who
plundered and burnt the temple of Apollo at Delphi ; for this impiety he
was killed by Apollo, who placed him in hell where a huge stone was
suspended over his head, which kept him in continual alarms.
46 Compare Anthon's note. B.
47 See Anthon. B.
4 * Ilus, the fourth king of Troy, was son of Tros and Callirhoe, and
father of Themis and Laomedon.
B. vi. 650-6Sfi JENEID. 243
and Dardanus, the founder of Troy. From afar, [^Eneas]
views with wonder the arms and empty chariots of the chiefs.
Their spears stand fixed in the ground, and up and down
their horses feed at large through the plain. The same fond-
ness they had when alive for chariots and arms, the same con-
cern for training up shining steeds, follow them when deposited
beneath the earth.
Lo ! he beholds others on the right and left feasting upon
the grass, and singing the joyful paean to Apollo in concert,
amid a fragrant grove of laurel ; whence from on high the
river Eridanus rolls in copious streams through the wood.
Here is a band of those who sustained wounds in fighting for
their country ; priests who preserved themselves pure and
holy, while life remained ; pious poets, who sung in strains
worthy of Apollo ; those who improved life by the invention,
of arts, and who by their worthy deeds made others remember
them : all these have their temples crowded with a snow-
white fillet. Whom, gathered around, the Sibyl thus ad-
dressed, Musa3us 49 chiefly ; for a numerous crowd had him in,
their center, and looked up with reverence to him raised above
them by the height of his shoulders : Say, blessed souls, and
thou, best of poets, what region, what place contains Anchises ?
on his account we have come, and crossed the great rivers of
hell. And thus the hero briefly returned her an answer:
None of us have a fixed abode ; in shady groves we dwell, or
lie on couches all along the banks, and on meadows fresh with
rivulets : but do you, if so your heart's inclination leads, over-
pass this eminence, and I will set you in the easy path. He
said, and advanced his steps on before, and shows them from
a rising ground the shining plains, then they descend from
the summit of the mountain. But father Anchises, deep in a
verdant dale, was surveying with studious care the souls
there inclosed, who were to revisit the light above ; and hap-
pened to be reviewing the whole number of his race, his dear
descendants, their fates and fortunes, their manners and
achievements. As soon as he beheld JEneas advancing toward
him across the meads, he joyfully stretched out both his hands,
and tears poured down his cheeks, and these words dropped
49 Musaeua, an ancient Greek poet, supposed to have been the son or
disciple of Linus or Orpheus, and to have lived about 1410 years B. c.
244 -lENEID. B. vi. 687-722.
from his mouth : Are you come at length, and has that piety,
experienced by your sire, surmounted the arduous journey ?
Am I permitted, my son, to see thy face, to hear and return
the well-known accents ? So indeed I concluded in my mind,
and reckoned it would happen, computing the time ; nor have
my anxious hopes deceived me. Over what lands, O son,
and over what immense seas have you, I hear, been tossed !
with what dangers harassed ! how I dreaded lest you had
sustained harm from Libya's realms! But he [said], Your
ghost, your sorrowing ghost, my sire oftentimes appearing,
compelled me to set forward to these thresholds. My fleet
rides in the Tyrrhene Sea. Permit me, father, to join my
right hand [with thine]; and withdraw not thyself from my
embrace. So saying, he at the same time bedewed his cheeks
with a flood of tears. There thrice he attempted to throw his
arms around his neck ; thrice the phantom, grasped in vain,
escaped his hold, like the fleet gales, or resembling most a fugi-
tive dream.
Meanwhile ./Eneas sees in the retired vale, a grove situate
by itself, shrubs rustling in the woods, and the river Lethe
which glides by those peaceful dwellings. Around this un-
numbered tribes and nations of ghosts were fluttering ; as in
meadows on a serene summer's day, when the bees sit on the
various blossoms, and swarm around the snow-white lilies, all
the plain buzzes with their humming noise. ./Eneas, con-
founded, shudders at the unexpected sight, and asks the causes,
what are those rivers in the distance, or what ghosts have in
such crowds filled the banks? Then father Anchises [said],
Those souls, for whom other bodies are destined by fate, at
the stream of Lethe's flood quaff care-expelling draughts and
lasting oblivion. Long indeed have I wished to give you a
detail of these, and to point them out before you, and enu-
merate this my future race, that you may rejoice the more
with me in the discovery of Italy. O father, is it to bo
imagined that any souls of an exalted nature will go hence to
the world above, and enter again into inactive bodies ? What
direful love of the light possesses the miserable beings ? I,
indeed, replies Anchises, will inform you, my son, nor hold
you longer in suspense : and thus he unfolds each particular in
order.
B. Yl. Y23 *?56.
In the first place, the spirit within nourishes the heavens,
the earth, and watery plains, 60 the moon's enlightened orb, and
the Titanian stars ;" and the mind, diffused through all the
members, actuates the whole frame, and mingles with the vast
body [of the universe]. Thence the race of men and beasts,
the vital principles of the flying kind, and the monsters which
the ocean breeds under its smooth plain. These principles
have the active force of fire, and are of a heavenly original,
so far as they are not clogged by noxious bodies, blunted by
earth-born limbs and dying members. Hence they fear and
desire, grieve and rejoice ; and shut up in darkness and a
gloomy prison, lose sight of their native skies." Even when
with the last beams of light their life is gone, yet not every
ill, nor all corporeal stains, are quite removed from the unhappy
beings ; and it is absolutely necessary that many imper-
fections which have long been joined to the soul, should be
in marvelous ways increased and riveted therein. Therefore
are they afflicted with punishments, and pay the penalties of
their former ills. Some, hung on high, are spread out to the
empty winds ; in others, the guilt not done away is washed
out in a vast watery abyss, or burned away in fire. We each
endure his own manes," thence are we conveyed along the
spacious Elysium, and we, the happy few, possess the fields
of bliss ; till length of time, after the fixed period is elapsed,
hath done away the inherent stain, and hath left the pure
celestial reason, and the fiery energy of the simple spirit.
All these, after they have rolled away a thousand years, are
summoned forth by the god in a great body to the; river
Lethe ; to the intent that, losing memory [of the past], they
may revisit the vaulted realms above, and again become will-
ing to return into bodies. Anchises thus spoke, and leads his
son, together with the Sibyl, into the midst of the assembly and
noisy throng ; thence chooses a rising ground, whence he may
survey them all as they stand opposite to him in a long row,
and discern their looks as they approach.
60 i.e. "maria." SERYIUS. Of. Ovid. Met. i. 315, "campus aqua-
ruin." B.
51 The sun is particularly meant, " Sol, quern et supra unum fuiaao dc
Titanibus diximus." SERVICS.
M . e. of their proper nature. Cf. Plato Phsedon. 24 and 25 B
63 See Servius, and Anthon's note. B.
246 ^ENEID. B. vi. 151 781.
Now come, I will explain to you what glory shall hence-
forth attend the Trojan race, what descendants await them of
the Italian nation, distinguished souls, and who shall succeed
to our name ; yourself too I will instruct in your particular
fate. See you that youth who leans on his pointless spear?
He by destiny holds a station nearest to the light ; he shall
ascend to the upper world the first [of your race] who shall
have a mixture of Italian blood in his veins, Sylvius," an
Alban name, your last issue ; whom late your consort Lavinia
shall in the woods bring forth to you in .your advanced age,
himself a king, and the father of kings; in whom our line
shall reign over Alba Longa. 65 The next is Procas, 58 the
glory of the Trojan nation ; then Capys and Numitor follow,
and ^Eaeas Sylvius, who shall represent thee in name, equally
distinguished for piety and arms, if ever he receive the crown
of Alba. See what youths are these, what manly force they
show ! and bear their temples shaded with civic oak ; these to
thy honor shall build Nomentum," 'Gabii, and the city Fi-
dena ; these on the mountains shall raise the Collatine towers, 68
Pometia, the fort of Inuus, Bola, and Cora. These shall then
be famous names ; now they are lands without names. Fur-
ther, martial Romulus, whom Ilia of the line Assaracus shall
bear, shall add himself as companion to his grandsire [Numi-
tor]. See you not how the double plumes stand on his head
erect, and how the father of the gods himself already marks
54 Sylvius, a son of ^Ene.is by Lavinia, from whom afterward the
kings of Alba were called Sylvii. Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus and
Amata, who was betrothed to her relation, king Turnus, but was, after
his death, given to ^Eneas.
55 Alba Longa, a city of Latium, built by Ascanius.
68 Procas, a king of Alba, father of Numitor and Amulius. Numitor,
the father of Rhea Silvia, and grandfather of Romulus and Remus, who
restored him to his throne, from which he had been expelled by Amulius,
his younger brother.
67 Nomentum (La Mentana), a town of the Sabines in Italy. Cabii,
a city of the Volsci, between Rome and Pranesta, where Juno was wor-
shiped, who was hence called Gabina. Fidena, a town of the Sabines,
on the Tiber, north of Rome.
68 Collatine towers : Collatia, a town of the Sabines, on the river Anio,
built on an eminence. Pometia, a town of the Volsci, which was totally
destroyed by the Romans because it had revolted. Inuus, a town of
Latium, on the shores of the Tyrrhene Sea, Bola, a city between Tibur
and Prajneste. Cora, a town of Latium, on the confines of the Volsci,
built by a colony of Dardanians before the foundation of Rome.
B. TI. 782 812. ^ENEID. 247
him out with his distinguished honors ! Lo, my sou, under
his auspicious influence Rome, that city of renown, shall meas-
ure her dominion by the earth, and her valor by the skies,
and that one city shall for herself wall around seven strong
hills, happy in a race of heroes ; like mother Berecynthia,
when, crowned with turrets, she rides in her chariot through
the Phrygian towns, joyful in a progeny of gods, embracing a
hundred grandchildren, all inhabitants of heaven, all seated in
the high celestial abodes. This way now bend both your
eyes ; view this lineage, and your own Romans. This is
Caesar, and these are the whole race of lulus, 69 who shall one
day rise to the spacious axle of the sky. This, this is the
man whom you have often heard promised* to you, Augustus
Caesar, the offspring of a god ; who once more shall establish
the golden age in Latium, through those lands where Saturn
reigned of old, and shall extend his empire over the Gara-
mantes and Indians : their land lies without the signs [of the
zodiac], beyond the sun's annual course, where Atlas, sup-
porting heaven on his shoulders, turns the axle studded with
flaming stars. Against his approach even now both the Cas-
pian 60 realms and the land about the Palus Mseotis are dread-
fully dismayed at the responses of the gods, and the quaking
mouths of seven-fold Nile hurry on their troubled waves.
Even Hercules did not run over so many countries, though he
transfixed the brazen-footed hind, quelled the forests of Ery-
manthus, and made Lerna tremble with his bow : nor Bac-
chus, who in triumph drives his car with reins wrapped about
with vine leaves, driving the tigers from Nyssa's" lofty top.
And doubt we yet to extend our glory by our deeds ? or is fear
a bar to our settling in the Ausonian land ?
But who is he at a distance, distinguished by the olive
boughs, bearing the sacred utensils ? I know the locks and
hoary beard of the Roman king, who first shall establish this
city by laws, sent from little Cures 02 and a poor estate to vast
** lulus, a name given to Ascanius.
00 Caspian realms, the Scythian nations inhabiting the borders of the
Caspian Sea. Palus Maeotis, Sea of Asoph.
61 Nyssa, the name of several cities in various quarters of the world,
sacred to Bacchus.
61 Cures, a town of the Sabines : it was the birth-place of Numa Pom-
pilius, the second king of Rome, a monarch distinguished by his love of
peace. Numa was succeeded by Tullus Hostilius, who was of a warlike
248 JENEID. B. vi. 815831
empire. Whom Tullus shall next succeed, who shall break
the peace of his country, and rouse to arms his inactive sub-
jects, and troops now unused to triumphs. Whom follows
next vain-glorious Ancus, even now too much rejoicing in the
breath of popular applause. Will you also see the Tarquin
kings, and the haughty soul of Brutus, 83 the avenger [of his
country's wrongs], and the recovered fasces ?" He first shall
receive the consular power, and the ax of justice inflexibly
severe ; and the sire shall, for the sake of glorious liberty,
summon to death his own sons, raising an unknown 65 kind of
war. Unhappy he ! however posterity shall interpret that
action, love to his country, and the unbounded desire of
praise, will [prevail over paternal affection.] 06 See besides at
some distance the Decii, Drusi," Torquatus," inflexibly se-
vere with the ax, 68 and Camillus recovering the standards.
But those [two] ghosts whom you observe to shine in equal
arms, in perfect friendship now, and while they remain shut
up in night, ah ! what war, what battles and havoc will they
between them raise, if once they have attained to the light of
life ! the father-in-law descending from the Alpine hills, and
the tower of Monoecus ; 70 the son-in-law furnished with the
disposition. Ancus Martius, the grandson of Numa, was tho fourth king
of Rome after the death of Tullus : ho inherited the valor of Romulus,
with the moderation of Numa, and after a reign of twenty-four years,
was succeeded by Tarquin the elder.
83 Brutus (L. Junius), son of M. Junius and Tarquinia, second daugh-
ter of Tarquin Priscus. He was the chief instrument in expelling the
Tarquins from Rome, thus avenging Lucretia's violated honor, to which
he had sworn,
64 i. e. the government. B.
65 Civil war being previously unknown in Rome. B.
68 Alluding to the punishment of his sons for attempting the restora-
tion of Tarquin.
67 Drusus, the surname of the Roman family of the Livii, of which
was Livia Brasilia, the wife of Augustus.
6 " Torquatus, a surname of Titus Manlius, a celebrated Roman, whose
severity in putting to death his son, because he had engaged the enemy
without his permission, though he had gained an honorable victory, has
been deservedly censured.
89 i. e. strict in exacting justice. B.
70 Monoecus, a maritime town on the south-west coast of Liguria,
where Hercules had a temple. The two warriors here referred to are
Julius Cassar and his son-in-law, Pompey the Great. The civil war be-
tween Caesar and Pompey, which terminated with the battle of Pharsalia,
B. c. 48, led to the overthrow of the Roman republic.
B. vi. 832847. ^NEID. 249
troops of the east to oppose him. Make not, my sons, make
not such [unnatural] wars familiar to your minds ; nor turn
the powerful strength of your country against its bowels.
And thou [Caesar], first forbear, thou who derivest thy ori-
gin from heaven ; fling those arms out of thy hand, O thou,
my own blood ! That one, having triumphed over Corinth, 71
shall drive his chariot victorious to the lofty Capitol, illus-
trious from the slaughter of Greeks. The other shall over-
throw Argos, and Mycenae, Agamemnon's seat, and Eacides
himself, the descendant of valorous Achilles ; avenging his
Trojan ancestors, and the violated temple of Minerva. "Who
can in silence pass over thee, great Cato, 73 or thee, Cossus ? 74
who the family of Gracchus,'* or both the Scipios," those two
thunderbolts of war, the bane of Africa, and Fabricius in low
fortune exalted?" or thee, Serranus, 78 sowing in the furrow
[which thy own hands had made] ? Whither, ye Fabii, 79 do
you hurry me tired? Thou art that [Fabius justly styled]
the Greatest, who alone shall 'repair our state by delay.
71 Corinth, the capital of Achaia in Greece, was situated on the isthmus,
between the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs. This famous city was totally
destroyed by L. Mummius the Eoman consul, B. c. 146.
7a ^Eacides is here applied to Perseus, king of Macedon, who was de-
scended from Achilles, the grandson of ^Eacus. Perseus was totally de-
feated and taken prisoner by Paulus ^Emilius, the Roman consul, in the
battle of Pydna, B. c. 168. Soon after this period, the whole of Greece
fell under the Roman power.
73 Cato, surnamed Uticensis, great-grandson of Cato the censor, was
distinguished for his integrity and justice. To prevent his falling into
the hands of Caesar, he stabbed himself after he had read Plato's treatise
on the Immortality of the Soul, at Utica, in Africa, whither he had fled,
B. C. 46.
74 Cossus, a military tribune, who killed Tolumnus, king of Veii, in
battle, and was the second who obtained the spolia opima, which he
offered to Jupiter.
75 Gracchus, T. Sempronius, was distinguished both in the senate and
the field ; he was the father of Tiberius and Caius Gracchus.
70 Scipios; both the father and son are meant.
77 Fabricius, C. L., a celebrated Roman, the conqueror of Pyrrhus,
king of Epirus, was remarkable for the great simplicity of his manners
and contempt of luxury and riches. DAVIDSON. Cf. Lucan, x. 161,
"et nomina pauperis sevi Fabricios Curiosque graves." B.
78 Serranus, a surname given to Cincinnatus, who was found sowing
his fields when informed that the Senate had chosen him dictator.
79 Fabii, a noble and powerful family at Rome, of whom sprung Quin-
tus Fabius, the opponent of Hannibal.
11*
250 2ENEID. B. vi. 848883.
Others, I grant indeed, shall with more delicacy mold the
breathing brass ; from marble draw the features to the life ;
plead causes better ; describe with the rod the courses of the
heavens, and explain the rising stars : to rule the nations with
imperial sway be thy care, O Romans ; these shall be thy arts ;
to impose terms of peace, to spare the humbled, and crush the
proud.
Thus father Anchises, and, as they are wondering, sub-
joins : Behold how adorned with triumphal spoils Marcellus 80
stalks along, and shines victor above the heroes all ? He,
mounted on his steed, shall prop the Roman state in the rage
of a formidable insurrection ; the Carthaginians he shall hum-
ble, and the rebellious Gaul, and dedicate to father Quirinus
the third spoils. And upon this ^Eneas [says] ; for he beheld
marching with him a youth distinguished by his beauty and
shining arms, but his countenance of little joy, and his eyes
sunk and dejected : (What youth is he, O father, who thus
accompanies the hero as he walks ? is he a son, or one of the
illustrious line of his descendants ? What bustling noise of
attendants round him ! How great resemblance in him [to
the other] ! but sable Night with her dreary shade hovers
around his head. Then father Anchises, while tears gushed
forth, began : Seek not, my son, [to know] the deep disaster
of thy kindred ; him the Fates shall just show on earth, nor
suffer long to exist. Ye gods, Rome's sons had seemed too
powerful in your eyes, had these your gifts been permanent.
What groans of heroes shall that field near the imperial city
of Mars send forth ! what funeral pomp shall you, O Tiberinus,
see, when you glide by his recent tomb ! Neither shall
any youth of the Trojan line in hope exalt the Latin fathers
so high ; nor shall the land of Romulus ever glory so much
in any of her sons. Ah piety ! ah that faith of ancient
times ! and that right hand invincible in war ! none with
impunity had encountered him in arms, either when on foot
he rushed upon the foe, or when he pierced with his spur his
foaming courser's flanks. Ah youth, meet subject for pity !
80 Marcellus, Marcus Claudius, a famous Roman general, signalized
himself against the Gauls, having obtained the spolia opima, by killing
with his own hand their king, Viridomarus. After achieving the con-
quest of Syracuse, he was opposed in the field to Hannibal, but perished
in an ambuscade.
B. vi. 884 902. vil. 1,2. ^BNEID. 251
if by any means thou canst burst rigorous fate, thou shalt be
a Marcellus. 81 Give me lilies in handfuls ; let me strew the
blooming flowers ; these offerings at least let me heap upon
my descendant's shade, and discharge this unavailing duty./
Thus up and down they roam through all the [Elysian] re-
gions in spacious airy fields, and survey every object : through
each of whom when Anchises had conducted his son, and fired
his soul with the love of coming fame, he next recounts to the
hero what wars he must hereafter wage, informs him of the
Laurentine people, and of the city of Latinus, 82 and by what
means he may shun or surmount every toil.
Two gates there are of Sleep, whereof the one is said to
be of horn ; by which an easy egress is given to true visions ;
the other shining, wrought of white ivory ; but [through it]
the infernal gods send up false dreams to the upper world.
When Anchises had addressed this discourse to his son and the
Sibyl together, and dismissed them by the ivory gate, 83 the hero
speeds his way to the ships, and revisits his friends ; then steers
directly along the coast for the port of Cai'eta : 84 where [when
he had arrived], the anchor is thrown out from the forecastle,
the sterns rest upon the shore.
BOOK VH.
In the Seventh Book, JSneas reaches the destined land of Latium, and
concludes a treaty with the king Latinus, who promises him his only
daughter Lavinia in marriage ; the treaty is, however, soon broken by the
interference of Juno, whose resentment still pursues the Trojans. The
goddess excites Turnus to war, who calls to his aid the neighboring princes ;
and the book concludes with an animated description of the enemy's forces^
and their respective chiefs.
THOU, too, Caieta, nurse to ^Eneas, gavest to our coasts
immortal fame by thy death ; and now thy honor here re-
81 Marcellus, the son of Octavio, the sister of Augustus. He married
Julia, the emperor's daughter, and was intended for his successor, but
died suddenly at the early age of eighteen. Virgil procured himself great
favors by celebrating the virtues of this amiable prince.
82 City Of Latinus ; Laurentum (Paterno), which was the capital of
Latium in the reign of Latinus.
83 Hence "Warburton concluded that Virgil meant the whole episode
to be regarded only as a dream of the initiated. Too much ingenuity has
been wasted on the subject. B.
84 Caieta (Gseta), a seaport town of Latium in Italy.
252 ^ENEID. B. vn. 336.
sides, 1 and thy name marks thy remains [interred] in Hesperia
the great, if that be any title to renown. And now that her
funeral obsequies in due form were paid, and the mound of
the tomb raised, pious yneas, soon as the swelling seas were
hushed, sails on his course, and leaves the port. The gales
breathe fair toward the approach of night ; nor does the silver
moon "oppose his voyage ; under her trembling light the ocean
shines. They skim along the coasts adjacent to Circe's 2 land :
where with incessant song the wealthy daughter of the Sun
makes her inaccessible groves resound, and in her proud pal-
ace burns fragrant cedar for nocturnal lights, running over
the slender web with her shrill-sounding shuttle. Hence were
distinctly heard groans, the rage of lions reluctant to their
chains, and roaring at the late midnight hour : bristly boars
and bears were raging in their stalls, and wolves of prodigious
form howled ; whom Circe, cruel goddess, had by her power-
ful herbs transformed from human shape into the features
and limbs of wild beasts : which monstrous changes that the
pious Trojans might not undergo, if carried to that poit, nor
land on those accursed shores, Neptune filled their sails with
favoring winds, and sped their flight, and wafted them be-
yond the boiling shoals. And now the sea began to reddtn
with the beams of the sou, and from the lofty sky the ssffrou-
colored morn shone in her rosy car, when on a sudden the
winds grew still, every breath of air died away, and the oars 3
struggle on the smooth surface of the lazy main. And here,
from the deep, ^Eneas espies a spacious grove. Through this
Tiberinus, [god] of the pleasant river Tiber, with rapid whirls
and vast quantities of yellow sand discolored, bursts forwaid
into the sea. All around, and over-head, various birds, accus-
tomed to the banks and channel of the river, charmed the skies
with their songs, and fluttered up and down the grove. [Hither
^Eneas] commands his mates to bend their course, and turn
their prows toward land ; and with joy he enters the shady
river.
1 Literally, "thy honor preserves its abiding-place." Others take
" sedens" as equivalent to " sepulchrum." B.
3 Quos hominum ex facie. Circe is said to have transformed men into
wild beasts, by means of certain herbs, with a magical wand, with which
she touched them. The fable is taken from Homer, Odyss. x. 135.
* "tonsae,"scil. " arbores," used for oars. B.
B VIL 3762. ufENEID. 253
Come now, Erato ; 4 I will unfold, who were the kings,
what the complexion 5 of the times, what the state of things in
ancient Latium, when this foreign army first landed their fleet
on the Ausonian coasts ; and trace back the original of the
rising war. Do thou, O goddess, do thou instruct thy poet,
I will sing of horrid wars, and kings by their fierce pas-
sions driven to destruction, the Tuscan troops, and all Hes-
peria in arms combined. A greater series of incident lises to
my view ; in a more arduous task I engage. King Latinus,'
now full of days, ruled the country and its cities quiet in a
lasting peace. This prince, as we traditionally receive, was
the ofl'spring of Faunus and Marica, a Laurentine nymph.
Faunus had Picus 7 for his sire ; and he, Saturn, claims
thee for his : thou art the remotest author of the line. To
him (Latinus), by the appointment of the gods, no son, no
male issue remained ; but one, just as he grew up, was
snatched away in the opening bloom of youth. An only
daughter was to preserve his line, and so large possessions,
now arrived at maturity, and fully ripe for marriage. Many
from wide Latium, and throughout Ausonia, sought her hand :
Turnus 8 makes his addresses, in charms far surpassing all the
rest, and powerful in ancestors for many generations ; whom
the royal consort, with wonderful eagerness, urged to have unit-
ed to the family as her son-in-law : but prodigies from heaven,
with various circumstances of terror, oppose. In the center of
the palace, within the deep recesses of the inner court, stood a
laurel, with sacred locks, and for many years preserved with
awe : which king Latinus having discovered when he was
raising the first towers of his palace, was said to have conse-
4 Erato, one of the Muses, who presided over lyric, tender, and ama-
tory poetry.
5 " tempera" refers to the condition of the different states in their
mutual relations ; " status " to the independent condition of each respect-
ively. B.
6 Latinus, the son of Faunus, and king of the aborigines in Italy, who
from him were called Latins. He was succeeded on the throne of Latium
by JEneas, who married his daughter Lavinia.
7 Picus, a son of Saturn, and father of Faunus, reigned in Latium, and
was feigned to have been changed by Circe into a woodpecker.
6 Turnus, son of Daunus and Venilia, and king of the Rutuli, in Italy.
He made war against Mneas, who was his rival for the hand of Lavinia,
daughter of king Latinus, but was defeated, and at last slain by _<Eneaa
in single combat.
254 ^ENEID. B. vii. 6398.
crated to Phoebus, and from it to have given the name of
Laurentines to the inhabitants. On the high summit of this
tree thick clustering bees, strange to hear, wafted athwart the
liquid sky with a great humming noise, planted themselves ;
and, having linked their feet together by a mutual hold, the
swarm hung in a surprising manner from the leafy bough.
Forthwith the prophet said, We behold a foreign hero hither
advancing, and an army making toward the same parts
[where the bees alight], from the same parts [whence they
came], and bearing sway in the lofty palace. Again, while
with holy torches the virgin Lavinia kindles the altars, and is
standing by her sire, she seemed, O horrid ! to catch the fire
in her long flowing hair, and to have her whole attire con-
sumed in the crackling flames, all in a blaze both as to her
royal locks and crown rich with gems : then in clouds of
smoke, [she seemed] to be involved in ruddy light, and to
spread the conflagration over the whole palace. As to this, it
was reputed terrible, and of astonishing aspect : for [the
soothsayers] foretold, that Lavinia herself would be illustrious,
both in fame and fortune, but threatened her people with a great
war.
But the king, anxious at these portentous signs, repairs to
the oracle of prophetic Faunus, his sire, and consults his grove
beneath lofty Albunea, 9 which, of woods the chief, resounds
with a sacred fountain, and from its dark retreats sends forth a
pernicious stream. Hence the Italian nations, and the whole
land of CEnotria, seek responses when in perplexity. Hither
\rhen the priest had brought offerings, and in the deep silence
of night laid himself down on the outspread skins of slain sheep,
and disposed himself to sleep ; he observes many visionary
forms fluttering about in a wondrous manner, hears various
sounds, and enjoys interviews with the gods, and converses with
the manes in the infernal regions. Here even father Latinus
himself, being then in quest of a response, with due rites sac-
rificed an hundred fleecy ewes, and lay supported on their skins
and outspread fleeces. From the deep grove a sudden voice
was delivered : Seek not, my son, to join thy daughter in Latin
wedlock, nor rest thy hopes on the match now designed. A
foreigner comes, thy [future] son-in-law, who, by his blood,
" Albunea, a wood near the city Tibur and the river Anio, sacred to
the Musea.
B. vn. 98133. ^ENEID. 255
shall exalt our name to the stars, and from whose race our de-
scendants springing, shall see all things reduced under their
feet, and ruled by their sway, where the revolving sun visits
either ocean.
These responses of father Faunus, and intimations given in
the silence of night, Latinus himself shuts not up within his
lips : but fame, fluttering all around, had now wafted the
tidings through the Ausonian cities, when Laomedon's sons
had moored their fleet to 10 the grassy rising bank. ^Eneas,
the chief leaders, and blooming liilus, rech'ne their bodies at
ease under the branches of a tall tree ; prepare their repast,
and under their banquet spread cakes of fine wheat along
the grass (so Jove himself admonished), and load the wheaten
board with woodland fruits. Here, as it chanced, having con-
sumed their other provisions, as want of food compelled them
to turn their teeth to the scanty cake, and violate with hands
and daring jaws the orb of the fated bread, nor spare its broad
quarters : What ! liilus says, are we eating up tables too ?
nor carried his pleasantry further. No sooner was this remark
heard than it announced the termination of their toils ; and
instantly from the speaker's mouth his father snatched the
word, and transported with admiration at the fulfillment of the
oracle, mused awhile. Forthwith he spoke : Hail, O land,
destined to me by the Fates ! and hail, ye gods, ye faithful
tutelar gods of Troy. This is our home, this our country.
My sire Anchises (for now I recollect) bequeathed to me these
secrets of Fate : When famine shall compel thee, my son,
wafted to an unknown shore, to eat up your tables after your
provisions fail, then be sure you hope for a settlement after
your toils, and there with your own hand found your first city,
and fortify it with a rampart. This was that hunger [to
which he alluded] : these our last calamities awaited us, which
are to put a period to our woes. Come then, and with the
sun's first light let us joyously explore what places are these,
or what men are the inhabitants, or where are the cities of
the race ; and from the port let us pursue different ways. At
present pour forth bowls in libation to Jove, and by prayers in-
10 Wo must observe that the preposition. "ab" is used in reference to
the place whence the fastening proceeds. It is omitted in Ovid Met. 13,
439, " Litore Threicio classem religarat Atrides." In Greek the con-
struction is with a dative, as Apoll. Eh. ii. 177, yaii) iraa/iar' avrj^av. B.
256 ^ENEID. B. vn. 135163.
voke my father AncMses, and replace 11 the wine profusely on
the boards.
Thus having said, he binds his temples next with a verdant
bough, and supplicates the Genius of the place, and Earth,
the eldest of the gods, together with the nymphs and rivers yet
unknown ; ia then Night, and the night's rising constellations,
Bnd Idaean Jove, and Phrygian mother Cybele, he invokes in
due form, and both his parents, the one in heaven, and the oth-
er in Erebus. 18 Upon this the almighty Sire thrice from the
lofty heavens thundered aloud, and from the sky displays a
cloud refulgent with beams of golden light, brandishing it in his
hand.
Here suddenly the rumor spreads through the Trojan bands,
that the day was arrived whereon they were to build the
destined city. With emulation they renew the banquet,
and, rejoicing in the mighty omen, place the bowls, and crown
the wines. Soon as the next day arisen had enlightened the
earth with its first beams, by different ways they explore the
city, the boundaries and the coasts of the nation : [they learn
that] these are the standing waters of the fountain Numicus, 14
this the river Tiber, that here the valiant Latins dwell. Then
the son of Anchises orders a hundred embassadors, selected
from every rank, 15 to repair to the imperial palace of the king,
all of them decked 1 * with Minerva's boughs; and carry gifts
to the hero, and implore his peace toward the Trojans.
Forthwith, commanded, they hasten and set forward with
quick pace. ./Eneas himself marks out the walls with a low
trench, and builds upon the spot, and incloses the first settle-
ment on the shore, in the form of a camp, with a parapet and
rampart. And now the youths, having measured out their
way, beheld the towers, and lofty structures of the Latins,
and approached the wall. Before the city, boys and youths
in the bloom of early life are exercised on horseback, and
1 i. e. " renew the banquet." AXTHON.
J So Silius, vi. 171, "Intramus tamen, et nymphas numenque preca-
mur Gurgitis ignoti." B.
3 i. e. Venus and Anchises. B.
* Now the Stagno di Levante. "We must not understand the river
Numicus near Lavinium. B.
1 Not "from all the people." See Anthon B.
8 Compare the Greek e>EfiftEvoi. The garlands were carried in the
hand. B.
B. vil. 163188. jEimD. 257
tame the yoked steeds on the dusty plain ; or bend the stiff
bows, or, with the exerted strength of their arms, hurl the
quivering dart, and challenge one another in the race or to
pugilism : when a messenger riding before, bears the news to
the aged king, that men of huge dimensions, in a strange garb,
were arrived. He orders them to be invited into the palace,
and seated himself in the midst on his ancient throne. On
the highest part of the city stood a magnificent capacious
structure, raised aloft on a hundred columns, the palace of
Picus of Laurentum, awful for its sacred woods, and the re-
ligious veneration of ancestors. It was [considered] a good
omen for the kings here to receive the scepter, and raise the
first badges of royalty ; this temple was their senate-house,
this their apartment allotted for sacred banquets : here, after
the sacrifice of a ram, the fathers were wont to take their seats
together at the long tables. Besides, in the vestibule, accord-
ing to their order, the statues of their ancestors in antique
cedar stood; Italus, 17 and father Sabinus, and old Saturn, 18
the planter of the vine, holding a crooked scythe under his
figure, and the image of double-faced Janus ; 19 and other
monaiclis from the origin [of the race], who sustained martial
wounds in fighting for their country. Besides, on the sacred
door-posts many arms, captive chariots, and crooked cimeters,
are suspended, helmet-crests, and massy bars of gates, and
darts and shields, and beaks torn from ships. Picus himself,
the breaker of steeds, sat with his augural wand, 20 dressed in
17 Italus, an Arcadian prince, who is said to have established a king-
dom in Italy, which received its name from him. Sabinus, from whom
the Sabines were named. He received divine honors after death, and
was one of those deities whom JEneas invoked when he entered Italy.
1S Saturn, the son of Coalus and Terra, married his sister Ops, who is
also called Rhea and Cybele. He was dethroned and imprisoned by his
brother Titan, but was restored to liberty and to his throne, by his son
Jupiter, who, however, afterward banished him from his kingdom, which
he divided with his brothers Neptune and Pluto. Saturn fled to Italy,
where his reign was so mild, that mankind have called it the golden age.
19 Janus, the most ancient king of Italy, was a native of Thessaly, and,
according to some, the son of Apollo ; after death he was ranked among
the gods, and is represented with two faces. His temple at Rome, where
he was chiefly worshiped, was always shut in time of peace, and open
in tune of war.
20 This is the ablative of manner. Gellius, however, v. 8, supposes
an ellipse ; others regard " succinctus lituo" as a zeugma. B.
258 ^ENEHX B. vn. 189222.
his scanty tucked-up robe, and in his left hand wielded a little
target ; whom Circe, his concubine, stung with desire, having
struck with her golden rod, and by her spells transformed,
made a bird, and interspersed his wings with colors.
Within such a temple of the gods, and on his ancestral
throne, Latinus, seated, called to him the Trojans into the
palace ; to whom, when they had entered, he, in mild accent,
first these words addressed : Say, ye sons of Dardanus (for we
are not unacquainted with your city or with your race, nor
hither have you steered your course unheard of), what seek
ye? what cause, or pressing exigency, has wafted your fleet
to the Ausonian coast, over such an extent of azure seas 1
Whether you have entered the banks of our river, and sta-
tioned yourself in our port, by wandering from your way, or
driven by stress of weather (such things as in many shapes
seamen suffer in the deep), decline not hospitality, nor remain
strangers to the Latins, Saturn's race, who practice equity,
not by constraint or laws, but from spontaneous choice, and
regulating themselves by the conduct of that ancient god.
And, indeed, I call to mind (the tradition is somewhat obscure
through length of time), that the old Aurunci" thus reported ;
how Dardanus, a native of this country, reached the Ic'sean
cities of Phrygia, and Thracian Samos, which now is called
Samothracia," Hence he had set out from his Tuscan seat in
Corythus ; now enthroned, he sits in the golden palace of the
starry heavens, and adds to the number of the altars of the
gods.
He said ; and Hioneus made the following reply : O king,
illustrious offspring of Faunus, neither a grim storm forced us,
by billows harassed, to enter your realms ; nor did the stars
or the coast mislead us from the course of our voyage. We
all with design, and willing minds, are brought to this city ;
expelled from a kingdom, once the most powerful which the
sun coursing from the extremity of heaven surveyed. From
Jove is the origin of our race ; the sons of Dardanus rejoice
in Jove their ancestor. Our king himself, ^Eneas the Tro-
jan, sprung from Jove's exalted line, sent us to your courts.
What a terrible storm, bursting from cruel Mycena?, hath
21 Aurunci, an ancient people of Latium, south-east of the Yolsci.
22 Samothracia, an island in the Archipelago, off the coast of Thrace.
B. vii. 223259. ^ENEID. 259
overrun the plains of Ida, under the influence of what fates
both worlds of Europe and Asia engaged ; even those have
heard, if such there are, whom earth's extremity removes afar,
the expanded ocean intervening ; and those, if such there are,
whom the regions of the intemperate sun, extended in the
midst of the other four, divides [from the rest of mankind].
From that deluge borne over so many vast oceans, we beg for
our country's gods a small settlement, and a harmless shore,
and water and air, which are open to all. "We shall be no dis-
honor to your realm ; nor shall trivial fame redound to you, or
our grateful . sense of so generous an action ever be effaced;
nor shall the Ausonians repent that they received Troy into
their bosom. I swear by the fates of ^Eneas, and by his right
hand that excels, whether any one has experienced it in faith,
or in war and martial deeds ; many people, many nations (con-
temn us not, because of ourselves we bring in our hands the
wreaths, and [in our mouths] the words of suppliants), have
not only been willing, but courted us to associate with them.
But the destiny of the gods, by their commanding influence,
compelled us to go in quest of your territories. Dardanus, who
sprang from this country, hither redemands his offspring ; and
Apollo, by his mighty summons, urges us to the Tuscan Tiber,
and the sacred streams of the fountain Numicus." JEneas of-
fers you, besides, some small presents, remnants of his former
fortune, saved from the flames of Troy. From this golden
bowl father Anchises performed libations at the altar : this was
borne by Priam, when he gave laws in form to the assembled
people, the scepter, and sacred diadem, and the robes, the work
of the Trojan dames.
At these words of Hioneus, Latinus keeps his countenance
fixed in steady regard, and remains unmoved on the ground,
rolling his eyes intent. Neither the embroidered purple, nor
Priam's scepter, move him so much, as he muses on his daugh-
ter's nuptials, and deep in his breast revolves the oracles
of ancient Faunus : [concluding] that this is he who, come
from foreign parts, by the Fates was ordained his son-in-law,
and called to the regal power with equal sway : that from him
a race would come in valor eminent, and who, by their
power, should master the whole world. At length, with joy,
he says : May the gods crown with success our enterprise and
23 See vs. 151, with the note.
260 ^ENEID. B. vil. 2GO 292.
their own presage. Trojan, what you demand shall be given :
nor do I reject your present. While Latinus is king, not the
fatness of a luxuriant soil, nor the opulence of Troy, shall be
wanting to you. Only let ^Eneas come in person, if he has so
great affection to us, if he longs to be joined with us in hospi-
table league, and to be called our ally ; nor let him dread our
friendly presence. . To me it will be an advance toward peace
to touch the hand of your prince. Do you now, on your part,
report these my instructions to your king : I have a daughter,
whom neither the oracles from my father's shrine, nor numer-
ous prodigies from heaven, permit me to match with a husband
of our own nation ; they foretell that this destiny awaits Lat-
ium, that its sons-in-law shall come from foreign coasts, who, in
their descendants, shall to the stars exalt our name. That this
is he whom the Fates ordain I both judge, and (if aught of
truth my mind divines) I wish it too.
This said, the sire chooses out steeds from his whole num-
ber : in lofty stalls, three hundred of them stood in sleek ap-
pearance. Forthwith for all the Trojans he commands the
winged coursers, caparisoned with purple and embroidered
trappings, to be led forth in order. Golden poitrels hang low
down from their breasts ; arrayed in gold, they champ the
yellow gold under their teeth. For the absent hero [he orders]
a chariot, and a pair of harnessed steeds of ethereal breed,
from their nostrils snorting fire, of the race of those whom
crafty Circe produced, when, having stolen [horses] from her
father [the Sun], she raised up a spurious breed by a substi-
tuted mare. With these presents and speeches from Latinus,
the Trojans, mounted on their steeds, return, and bring back
peace.
But lo ! the unrelenting wife of Jove was on her return
from Inachian Argos, 84 and, wafted in her chariot, possessed
the aerial regions ; and, from on high, at the distance of
Sicilian Pachynus, far off she spied ./Eneas full joyous, and
the Trojan fleet. She sees [the Trojans] already laboring
on the buildings, already settled in the land, and that they
have abandoned their ships. Pierced with sharp grief she
stood ; then tossing her head, she poured forth these words
24 Inachian Argos, the capital of Argolis, in Peloponnesus, was so
called from Inachus, a son of Oceanus and Tethys, who founded the
kingdom of Argos.
13. vii. 293319. J3NEID. 261
from her breast : Ah ! race detested, and Fates of Troy op-
posed to ours ! Was it in the compass of my power to over-
throw them to the plains of Sigseum ?" made captives, could
they be kept in captivity? when Troy was burned to ashes,
were they consumed ? through the midst of armies, through
the midst of flames, have the}" then found their way ? But,
I suppose, the power of my divinity, tired out now, lies inac-
tive ; or glutted [with full revenge], I have dropped my re-
sentment. Yet, with hostile intention, I dared to pursue
them over the waves, when they had been driven out of their
country, and on the vast wide ocean to oppose myself to the
exiles. The powers of heaven and sea have been spent on the
Trojans. Of what avail to me were the Syrtes, or Scylla, or
the vast Charybdis ? In Tiber's wished-for channel they are
lodged, secure against the seas and me. Mars was able to
destroy the gigantic race of the Lapithae ; the father of the
gods himself gave up his beloved Calydon 55 to Diana's re-
sentment : what crime, either of the Lapitha?, or of Calydon,
had deserved such severe punishment ? But I, the great con-
sort of Jove, who had power to leave no means untried, who
had recourse to all expedients, unhappy ! am vanquished by
^Eneas. But if my own divinity is not powerful enough,
surely I need not hesitate to implore whatever deity any
where subsists : if I can not move the powers above, I will
solicit those of hell. Grant I be not pernVlted to bar him
from the kingdom of Latium, and Laviuia be unalterably
destined his spouse by fate ; yet I may protract, and throw
obstacles in the way of those mighty events ; yet I may cut
off the subjects of both kings. With this costly price of their
people's blood, let the father and son-in-law unite. Thy
dowry, virgin, shah 1 be paid in Trojan and Rutulian blood ;
and Bellona" waits thee for thy bride's-maid : nor did teem-
25 Sigaeum, see note 29 , JEneid, Book II. p. 138.
28 Calydon, a city of jEtolia in Greece, where CEnens, the father of
Meleager, reigned. The king having neglected to pay homage to Diana,
the goddess sent a wild boar to ravage the country, which at last was
killed by Meleager. All the princes of the age assembled to hunt this
boar, which event is greatly celebrated by the poets, under the name of
the Chase of Calydon, or of the Calydonian Boar.
27 Bellona, the goddess of war, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, and,
according to some, the sister and wife of Mars.
262 ^ENEID. B. VIL 320350.
ing Hecuba* 8 alone, impregnated with a firebrand, bring forth
a blazing nuptial torch ; to Venus too this production of hers
shall prove the same, even a second Paris, and a firebrand fatal
to Troy again tottering to its fall.
Having uttered these words, dreadful down to earth she
plunged. From the mansions of the dire sisters, and the in-
fernal glooms, she calls up baleful Alecto ; whose heart's de-
light are rueful wars, strifes, and deceits, and noxious crimes.
Her even her father, Pluto's self, abhors, her hellish sisters
abhor the monster ; into so many shapes she turns herself, so
hideous are her forms, with so many snakes the grim Fury
sprouts up. Whom Juno stimulates with these words, and
thus addresses : Virgin, offspring of Night, perform me this
task, this service, your own peculiar province ; that our honor
and wounded fame be not quite baffled, nor the JEnean race
be able fawningly to circumvent Latinus by this match, or
take possession of the Italian territories. Thou canst arm
to war the most cordial brothers, and by animosities embroil
families : thou canst introduce into houses scourges and fire-
brands of death ; with thee are a thousand specious pretexts, a
thousand arts of doing mischief : ransack thy fruitful bosom,
unhinge the established peace, sow crimes that lead to war ;
let the youth incline to, and at once demand and snatch up
arms.
Forthwith Alecto, infected with Gorgonian poisons, repairs
first to Latium, and the lofty palace of the Laurentine mon-
arch, and took possession of Amata's 29 silent gate ; in whose
inflamed breast female cares and angry commotions kept dis-
quieting 30 on account of the arrival of the Trojans and the
match with Turnus. At her the goddess flings from her dark
locks one of her snakes, and plunges it deep in her bosom
down to its inmost recesses, that, by the monster, driven to
fury, she may embroil the whole family. He, sliding between
her robes and smooth breast, rolls on with imperceptible touch,
23 Hecuba, daughter of Dymas, a Phrygian prince, or, according to
others, of Cisseus, a Thracian king, was the second wife of Priam, king
of Troy, and the mother of Paris.
89 Amata, the wife of king Latimus : she zealously favored the in-
terest of Turnus against JSneas.
30 So " coquit" is used in Ennius apud Cic. de Sen. i. " curamve le-
vasso, Quse nunc te coquit. B.
B. vii. 351383. ^ENEID. 263
and, in the transport of her rage, steals on her unawares, in-
fusing into her a viperish soul : the huge snake becomes a
chain of wreathed gold around her neck, he becomes a long
winding fillet, and entwines her hair, and in slippery mazes
creeps over her limbs. And while the first infection, down-
ward gliding, with its humid poison attacks her senses, and
blends the mingling fire with her bones/, and while her mind
has not yet felt the flame throughout her bosom ; she spoke
Avith softer accents, and in the wonted manner of mothers,
making many a heavy lamentation about her daughter and the
Phrygian match : And is Lavinia given in marriage to Trojan
exiles ? and have you, her father, no pity on your daughter,
or on yourself, or on her mother, whom with the first fair
wind 31 the perfidious pirate will abandon, and return to sea,
carrying off the virgin ? And did not the Phrygian shepherd
thus steal into Lacedaemon, and bear away Leda's daughter,
Helen, to the Trojan city ? What becomes of your solemnly
plighted faith, your ancient regard for your people, and your
right hand so often plighted to your kinsman Turnus ? If the
Latins must have a son-in-law from a foreign nation, and this
be determined, and the commands of your father Faunus press
you, for my part I reckon every land foreign, which, inde-
pendent, is disjointed from our dominion, and that thus the
gods intend. And (if the first origin of his family be traced
back) Turnus has Inachus and Acrisius 33 for his progenitors,
and Mycenae, the heart [of Greece for his country].
When, having tried him by these words in vain, she finds
Latinus resolutely fixed against her, and the serpent's infuri-
ated poison had now sunk deep into her bowels, and crept
through all her frame ; then, indeed, in wretched disorder,
startled by hideous monsters, she rages frantic with unex-
ampled fury through the ample bounds of the city : as at times
a whip-top whirling under the twisted lash, which boys intent
on their sport drive in a large circuit round some empty court ;
the engine driven about by the scourge is hurried round and
round in circlii.; courses ; the unpracticed throng and beard-
less band are lost in admiration of the voluble box-wood :
31 The north wind would be favorable to a departure from Italy. B.
32 Acrisius, king of Argos, was descended from Inachus, its founder,
and was one of Turnus' ancestors. He was accidently slain by hia grand-
son Perseus.
264 J3NEID. B. vn. 384 420
they lend their souls to the stroke. With no less impetuous
career is the queen driven through the midst of cities, and
among crowds all in fierce commotion. Aiming even at a
more atrocious deed, and ushering in a higher scene of mad-
ness, having counterfeited the enthusiasm of Bacchus, she
flies out into the forest, and conceals her daughter in the
woody mountains, that from the Trojans she may wrest the
match, and retard the nuptials: exclaiming, Evoe Bacchus,
and bawling out, that thou alone art worthy of the virgin ;
for that, in honor of thee, she wields the tender ivy-wands,
round thee she moves in the dance, for thee she feeds her
sacred locks. The rumor flies ; and the same enthusiasm at
once actuates all the matrons, inflamed by the furies in their
breasts, to seek new habitations : they instantly abandon their
homes ; to the winds they expose their necks and hair. Others
again fill the skies with tremulous yells, and, wrapped in skins,
wield their vine-dressed spears. She herself, in the midst of
them, all on fire sustains a blazing pine, and sings the nuptial
song for her daughter and Turnus, whirling her bloody eye-
balls round ; and suddenly, with a stern air, she cries, lo !
ye Latin matrons, hear, whatever you may chance to be : if
any affection for unhappy Amata dwells in your humane
souls, if concern for a mother's right touches you to the
quick, unbind the fillets of your hair, with me take up the
orgies. In this manner among the woods, among the deserts
of wild beasts, Alecto, with the stimulating fury of Bacchus,
all around goads on the queen.
After she seemed sufficiently to have kindled 'the first trans-
ports of rage, and embroiled the counsel and the whole family
of Latinus ; forthwith the baleful goddess hence is borne on
dusky wings to the walls of the bold Rutulian ; which city
Danae," wafted by the impetuous south wind, is said to have
founded for her the Acrisian colony. The place was formerly
called Ardea by the ancient inhabitants, and now Ardea it
remains, an illustrious name : 34 but its fortune has departed.
Here, in his lofty palace, was Turnus enjoying repose at the
black hour of midnight. Alecto lays aside her hideous aspect,
and Fury's limbs ; she transforms herself into the shape of an
33 Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos : she fled to Italy,
and founded the city of Ardea, the capital of the Rutuli.
34 i.e. " a name, and nothing more." See Drakenb. on Silius L 293. B.
E. VIL 421 453. ^ENEID. 265
old bag, plows with wrinkles her loathsome front, assumes
gray hairs with a fillet, and binds on them an olive bough :
she takes the form of Calybe, the aged priestess of Juno's
temple, and with these words presents herself to the youth full
in his view : O Turnus, will you suffer so many toils to be lost
and thrown away, and your scepter to be transferred 36 to a-
Trojan colony'? The king absolutely refuses you the match
and dowry you have purchased with your blood ; and a
foreigner is sought to inherit his kingdom. Go now, thus
baffled, expose yourself to thankless dangers ; go, overthrow
the Tuscan armies ; in peace protect the Latins. And now,
in these very terms, the all-powerful queen of heaven herself
commanded me plainly to address you, reclining in the still
silent night. Wherefore dispatch, and with alacrity order the
youth to be armed, and march forth to war ; in flames con-
sume both the Phrygian leaders, who are stationed in the fair
river, and their painted vessels. So the awful majesty of
heaven commands. Let king Latinus himself, unless he con-
sents to grant the match, and stand to his word, know, and at
length experience Turnus in arms.
Upon this the youth, deriding the prophetess, thus in his
turn replies : The intelligence has not escaped my ears, as
you imagine, that a fleet is arrived in the Tiber's channel.
Forge not to me such grounds of fear : for of us imperial Juno
is not unmindful. But old age, O dame, oppressed with
dotage, and barren of the truth, in vain harasses thee with
cares ; and with false alarms deludes thee a prophetess, amid
the warlike affairs of kings. Your province is to guard the
statues and temples of the gods : let men have the management
of peace and war, by whom war ought to be managed.
By these words Alecto kindled into rage. As for the
youth, while yet speaking, a sudden trembling seized his
limbs ; his eyes stiffened : with so many snakes the Fury hisses,
and a shape so horrid discloses itself: then, as he hesitates,
and purposes more to say, rolling her fiery eyeballs, she re-
pelled [his words], and reared the double snakes in her hair,
clanked her whip, and thus further spoke in outrageous
accent : Lo, here am I oppressed with dotage, whom old age,
barren of the truth, deludes with false alarms amid the arm*
35 Cf. JEu. v. 750, aad the note. B.
12
206 oGNEID. B. vn. 454 490.
of kings. Turn thy eyes to these signs : I came from the
abode of the dire sisters ; wars and death in my hand I bear.
Thus having spoken, she flung a firebrand at the youth, and
deep in his breast fixed the torch smoking with grim light.
Excessive terror broke his rest, and sweat bursting from every
pore drenched his bones and limbs. Frantic for arms he
ravee, for arms he searches the bed and the palace : a passion
for the s^vord, a cursed madness after war, and indignation
besides rage [in his breast]. As when with loud crackling a
fire of twigs is applied to the sides of a bubbling caldron, and
by the heat the water dances ; within, the violence of the
water rages, and high the smoky fluid in foam overflows ; nor
can the wave now contain itself; in pitchy steam it flies all
abroad. Therefore, now that the peace is profanely violated,
he enjoins the chief of the youth to repair to king Latinus, and
orders arms to be prepared to defend Italy, to expel the
enemy from their territories : [adding], that he is a sufficient
match foe Trojans and Latins both. When he had thus
spoken, and in vows had addressed the gods, the Rutulians
with emulous ardor animate one another to arms. One is
incited by his distinguished gracefulness of form and youth ;
another by his regal ancestors ; a third by his right hand, with
its glorious deeds.
While Turnus inspires the Rutulians with courageous souls,
Alecto on Stygian wings against the Trojans speeds her flight :
having with fresh artifice espied the place where on the shore
fair lulus was by snares and chase pursuing beasts of prey.
Here the virgin of hell throws on his. hounds a sudden mad-
ness, and affects their nostrils with the well-known scent, with
keen ardor to pursue a stag ; which was the first source of
calamities, and inflamed the rustic minds to war. The stag
was of exquisite beauty, and large horns; which, snatched
from its mother's dugs, the sons of Tyrrhus nursed up, and
Tyrrhus, the father, to whom the royal herds are in. subjec-
tion, and the charge of the fields all around intrusted. The
animal-, trained to discipline, their sister Sylvia'* with her
utmost care was wont to deck, interweaving his horns with
soft garlands ; she combed and washed him in the clear stream.
38 Sylvia, the daughter of Tyrrhus, shepherd of king Latinus, whose
favorite stag was killed by Ascanius, which was the cause of war be-
tween JEneaa and the Latins.
B. TIL 491524. -^NEID. 267
He, patient of the touch, and accustomed to his master's
board, would range in the woods ; and again at night, how-
ever late, to his home, his familiar retreat, of himself repaired.
Him at a distance, while roving, the mad hounds of the hunts-
man lulus roused, when 'by chance he was floating down with
the stream, and on the verdant bank was allaying his heat.
Ascanius himself too, fired with the love of distinguished
praise, from his bended bow aimed arrows [at him] ; nor was
the god unaiding to his erring hand ; 37 and with a loud [whiz-
zing] sound the shaft impelled, pierced his belly and his flanks.
The wounded animal fled homeward to his own habitation,
and groaning entered his stall ; and all bloody, and like one
imploring [pity], filled the house with moans. Sylvia, the
sister, first, beating her arms with her palms, implores aid,
and calls together the hardy swains. They (for the fierce
fiend lurks in the secret woods) suddenly appear ; one armed
with a brand hardened in the fire, one with a sturdy knotted
club ; whatever by each in rummaging was found, his rage
makes a weapon. Tyrrhus, as by chance with driven wedges
he was cleaving an oak in four, breathing fury, snatches up
his ax, and summons his rustic bands. But the savage god-
dess, having from her place of observation found the oppor-
tunity of executing her mischievous plot, mounts the high
roof of the stall, and from the lofty summit sounds the shep-
herd's signal, and in the winding horn strains her hellish
voice ; with which every grove forthwith quaked and the
deep woods inly trembled. Even the lake of Diana heard it
from afar ; the Nar," white with sulphureous water, heard it, as
well as the springs of Velinus ; and frightened mothers press-
ed their infants to their breasts. Then, indeed, wherever the
cornet direful gave the alarm, the wild unpolished swains,
snatching up arms, hasten in concert from every quarter;
and, in like manner, from their open tents the Trojan youth
pour forth supplies to Ascanius. They ranged their battalions.
Nor now in rustic skirmish are they engaged with hardened
clubs, and stakes burned at the point ; but with the doubtful
37 i. e. " his hand which would otherwise have erred." See Anthon. B.
33 Nar (Nera), a river of Italy, rises in the Apennines, and forming a
junction with the Velino, flows with great rapidity, and falls into the
Tiber. Its waters are celebrated for their sulphureous properties.
Velino also rises in the Apennines, and, by its stagnant waters, forms a
lake near the town of Eeate, and falls into the Nar, near Spoletium.
268 ^ENEID. B. vn. 525 555.
steel** they encounter, and a hideous crop of drawn swords
shoot up with horrid aspect, far and wide, and the arms of
brass struck with the sunbeams glitter, and dart their radi-
ance to the clouds ; as when with the first breath of wind the
wave begins to whiten, the sea rises by degrees, and higher
and higher heaves its billows, then from the lowest bottom
swells up together to the skies. Here, before the foremost
line of battle, young Almon, the eldest of the sons of Tyrrhus,
is by a whizzing arrow shun ; for deep in his throat the
wounding weapon stuck fast, and with the blood choked up
the passage of the humid voice 40 and slender breath of life.
Round him many bodies of heroes fall, and aged Galaesus,
while he is offering to mediate peace ; a man who was of all
others the most upright, and formerly the richest in Ausonian
lands. Five flocks of bleating sheep with five herds of cattle
returned home [from his pastures] ; 41 and with a hundred
plows he turned the soil.
Now while through the plains these actions are going on
with equal fury, the goddess, having accomplished her prom-
ise, when she had drenched the field of war in blood, and
began the havoc of the first encounter, leaves Hesperia, and
turning away through the aerial sky in triumph, addresses
Juno with haughty speech : See discord brought for you to its
consummation by baleful war ! Bid them combine in friend-
ship, and contract alliances, since I have imbrued the Trojans
with Ausonian blood! To these will I add this also; if I be
assured of your consent, the neighboring towns by rumors
will I urge on to the war, and inflame their minds with the
passion of furious Mars, that from all hands they may come
as auxiliaries ; war will I spread over all the country. Then
Juno [said] in return : Of terrors and fraud tkere is enough :
fixed are the causes of the war ; in arms they combat hand to
hand; those arms, which chance first gave, recent blood hath
stained. Such espousals and such nuptial rites let Venus'
peerless offspring and king Latinus himself celebrate. Father
39 Referring to the equality of forces on both sides. So " dubia cua-
pide," Silius iv. 188. B.
* Cf. Silius iv 171, "Haesit barbaricum sub anhelo gutture telum;
Et clausit raucum letali vulnere murmur." B.
41 Davidson prefers taking " redeo" in its sense " of being one's in-
come, stock, or revenue." B. .% . ,
B. vir. 556590. ^ENEID. 269
Jove, the great ruler of heaven supreme, permits you not to
roam with further license in the higher regions. Retire from
these places. Whatever turn of fortune our labors may .
henceforth take, myself will manage. These words Saturnia
uttered. At which the Fury lifts up her wings hissing with
snakes, and hies to the mansion of Cocytus, leaving the high
places in this upper world. In the center of Italy, under lofty
mountains, lies a place of high renown, and celebrated by fame
in many regions, the valley of Amsanctus :" the side of a
grove, gloomy with thick boughs, hems it in on either hand,
and in the midst a torrent, in hoarse murmurs and with whirl-
ing eddies, roars along the rocks. Here are shown a horrible
cave and the breathing-holes 43 of grizzly Pluto ; and a vast
gulf, having burst hell's barriers, expands his pestilential jaws :
into which the Fury, abhorred demon, having plunged out of
sight, disburdened heaven and earth.
Not less active meanwhile is the imperial daughter of Sat-
urn, in putting the last hand to the war begun. The whole
body of the shepherds rush from the field of battle into the
city ; and bring back their slain, the young Almon, and the
corpse of Galaesus with ghastly wounds dishonored : they
implore the gods, and call Latinus to witness. Turnus too
comes up, and in the midst of the charge of fire and sword,
aggravates the terror; [complains] that the Trojans are in-
vited to share the crown, and the Phrygian race incorporated
[with the Latins], and he himself driven from the threshold.
Then those, whose mothers, struck with Bacchanal fury,
bound over the pathless groves in choirs, collected from every
quarter combine, and importunately urge the war ; for not
inconsiderable is the influence of Amata's name. All these
forthwith against the omens, against the decrees of the gods,
in defiance of the thwarting power of heaven, crave the im-
pious war. Emulously they beset the palace of king Latinus.
He, like a rock in the sea unmoved, withstands them : like a
rock in the sea, which, when the mighty shock comes on, while
numerous waves around it roar, supports itself by its own
huge weight ; in vain the cliffs and foamy rocks rage around,
and the sea-weed dashed against its sides is driven back. But
/ - 2 Amsanctus, a pestilential lake near Capua, in Italy, supposed, ty
the poetg, to be the entrance to the infernal regions.
43 i. c. the vents, through which the mephitic vapor exhales. B.
270 ^ENEID. B. ni. 691626.
when no means avail to defeat their blind resolution, and
things go on by the direction of fierce Juno, the aged monarch,
having poured forth many protestations to the gods and skies
in vain, exclaims, Alas ! by the Fates are we overpowered,
and borne down by the storm. Yourselves, O wretches ! with
your sacrilegious blood shall pay the atonement ; and thee, O
Turnus, the impious promoter of this war, thee dire vengeance
shall in time overtake ; and thou shalt supplicate the gods by
vows too late. For, as to me, my rest is provided, and all my
security is near 44 at hand : I am only deprived of a happy end.
Nor more he said, but shut himself up in his palace, and quitted
the reins of government.
In Hesperian Latium it was a custom, which the Alban
cities all along have observed as sacred, and which Rome, the
mistress of the workl, now religiously observes, when first they
rouse Mars to battle; whether with the Getes" they intend
to wage the disastrous war, or with the Hyrcanians, or the
Arabs, or to march against the Indians, and pursue the morn-
ing, and from the Parthians re-demand the standards. There
are two gates of War (for so they are called) deemed sacred
from religious association, and the dread of cruel Mars : a
hundred brazen bolts, and the eternal strength of iron, shut
them fast ; and guardian Janus stirs not from the threshold.
When the fathers have fixed the firm sentence of war, the
consul himselt, distinguished by his royal robe and Gabine
cincture, unlocks the jarring portals ; himself rouses the com-
bat : then all the youth follow, and the brazen cornets with
hoarse assent conspire. In this fashion Latinus then too was
urged to declare war against the Trojans, and unfold the
dreary gates. The aged prince refrained from touching them,
and with abhorrence shrunk from the shocking office, and shut
himself up in the dark shades. Then Saturnia, the queen of
the gods, shooting from the sky, herself with her own hand
pushed the lingering doors, and, turning the hinge, burst the
brazen portals of war.
Ausonia, before at rest and unmoved, is all on fire. Some
prepare to take the field on foot; some, mounted on lofty
steeds, amid clouds of dust, rush with fury [to the war] : all
4 * Literally, " my port is wholly in view." B.
43 The Getea were a people of European Scythia, inhabiting that part
of Dacia near the mouth of the Danube.
B. VII. 626653. ^ENEID. 271
are importunate for arms. Some with fat lard cleanse their
smooth bucklers and glittering spears, and on the whetstone
grind their axes ; well pleased to bear the standards, and hear
the trumpets sound. Moreover, five great cities renew their
arms, on anvils raised, namely, the powerful Atina, 4 * and proud
Tivoli, Ardea, and Crustumeri, and Antemnse, with turrets
crowned. They hollow trusty coverings for their heads, and
bend the osier hurdles for the bosses of their bucklers : others
hammer out the brazen corselets, or from ductile silver mold
the smooth greaves. To this all regard of the share and
scythe, for this all love for the plow gave way. In furnaces
they forge their fathers' swords anew. And now the trumpets
sound : the watchword, the signal for the war, is issued forth.
One in eager haste snatches a helmet from the roof; another
joins his neighing steeds to the yoke, and braces on his buckler
and habergeon wrought in gold of triple texture, and girds
himself with his trusty sword.
Now open Helicon, 47 ye goddesses, and inspire me while I
sing : what kings were incited to the war ; what troops follow-
ing each leader filled the plain ; with what heroes the auspicious
land of Italy flourished even in those early days, with what
arms it blazed. For you, O goddesses, both remember, and
can record : to us a slight breath of fame scarcely glides.
First enters on the war, fierce from the Tuscan coasts, Me-
zentius, 48 the contemner of the gods, and arms his troops.
Next to him Lausus his son, to whom no one was more grace-
ful, except the person of Laurentine Turnus. Lausus, the
breaker of horses, and a mighty huntsman, leads from the
city Agylla a thousand followers in vain ; 49 worthy to have
had more joy in [obeying] a father's commands, and to whom
46 Atina, a city of the Volsci. Tivoli, the ancient Tibur, a city of the
Sabines, about 16 miles north-east of Rome, delightfully situated on
the banks of the Anio : it was the favorite country residence of the
Romans. Ardea, the capital of the Rutuli. Crustumerium and Antem-
nse, towns of the Sabines : the latter was situated near the confluence
of the Anio and Tiber.
47 Helicon, a celebrated mountain of Bceotia, sacred to Apollo and the
Muses, from which issued the fountains Hippocrene and Aganippe.
48 Mezentius, king of the Tyrrhenians, was expelled by his subjects
on account of his cruelties, when he fled to Turnus, who employed him
in his war against the Trojans. He and his son Lausus were slain by
49 Because he was never to return. B.
272 JENEID. B. vn. 654684.
Mezentius ought not to have been the father. Next to these
fair Aventinus, sprung from renowned Hercules, 60 proudly
displays upon the grassy plain his chariot distinguished by the
palm, and his victorious steeds ; and on his buckler wears his
paternal ensign, a hundred snakes, and a hydra environed
with serpents : whom in a wood on the Aventine hill the
priestess Rhea brought forth, her furtive offspring, into the re-
gions of light, a woman mixing with a god ; at the time when
the victorious Tirynthian 51 hero, having slain Geryon, reached
the Laurentine fields, and washed his Iberian heifers in the
Tuscan river [Tiber]. Javelins in their hands, and cruel pikes,
they bear into the field of war ; and fight with the tapering
point of the Sabine spike-dart. Himself [appeared] on foot,
shaking a lion's enormous hide, shaggy with fearful bristles, its
white tusks displayed, having it thrown over his head : thus he
entered the royal palace, a horrid figure, and his shoulders man-
tled with the attire of Hercules. Two brothers next, Catillus 52
and fierce Coras, Argive youths, forsake the walls of Tibur, its
people called by their brother Tiburtus' name ; and before the
van, amid thick flying darts, are hurried along : as when two
cloud-born Centaurs from the high mountain's top descend,
with impetuous career, leaving Omole 63 and snowy CKhrys ; the
spacious wood gives way to them as they move, and the shrubs
with loud rustling noise give way. Nor did the founder of
the city Praeneste" absent himself; king Caeculus, whom
every age believed to have been begotten by Vulcan amid
the rural herds, and to have been found near the fire. Him
a rustic band accompanies from all the neighborhood around :
both those who inhabit high Praeneste, and those who culti-
vate the fields of Gabine Juno, or the cool Anio, and the
mountainous towns of the Hernicians," dewed with rills:
50 Anthon's version is, " Aventinus, of heroic mien, sprung from Her-
cules, type of heroic beauty." B.
51 Tirynthian hero, a name of Hercules, from Tirynthus, a town of
Argolis in Peloponnesus, where he generally resided.
52 Catillus, a son of Amphiaraus, who, with his brothers Coras and
Tiburtus, assisted Turnus against JSneas.
83 Omole and Othrys, two lofty mountains in Thessaly, once the resi^
dence of the Centaurs.
54 Praeneste (Palestrina), a city of Latium, about 24 miles east from
Rome, supposed to have been built by Ca3culus, the son of Vulcan.
> 5 Heraicians, a people of Campania, who were inveterate enemies of
B. vn. 684711. jENEID. 273
whom thou, rich Anagnia, whom thou, father Amasenus,
feedest. These are not all supplied with rattling arms, or
shields, or cars : the greatest part sling balls of livid lead :
some wield two javelins in the hand, and for covering to their
heads wear tawny beavers of the fur of wolves : with the left
foot naked they tread the ground ; a shoe of unwrought
leather covers the other. Messapus" next, a gallant horse-
man, Neptune's offspring, whom none had power to prostrate
by fire or steel, suddenly calls to arms his people long sunk in
indolence, and his troops disused to war, and handles the
sword once more. These command the Fescennine troops,
and the Falisci" famed for equity ; those possess the strengths
of Soracte, 68 and the Flavinian land, and the lake and mount-
ain of Ciminus, and Capena's groves. Uniformly they moved
in harmonious order, and sang the praises of their king : as
when at times the snow-white swans through the liquid sky
are homeward borne from pasture, and through their long
necks pour melodious notes ; the river [Cayster] and the
Asian lake, struck from far, return the sound. Nor would
any one have taken them for armed troops of such a vast body
promiscuously joined, but for an airy cloud of hoarse-voiced
fowls driven to the shore from the deep abyss. Lo ! Clausus,' 9
of the ancient blood of the Sabines, [came,] leading a mighty
host ; [Clausus,] from whom the Claudian tribe and clan are
now through Latium. diffused, since Rome has been shared
with the Sabines. With them Amiterna's 60 numerous bands,
and the ancient Quirites, 81 the whole power of Eretum, and
olive-bearing Mutuscae : those who inhabit the city Nomen-
the Romans. Anagnia, a city of the Hernici. Amasenus (La Toppia),
a river of Latium, falling into the Tyrrhene Sea.
56 Messapus, a son of Neptune, who left Boeotia, and came to settle
in Italy, where he assisted Turnus against ^Eneas.
57 Falisci, a people of Etruria, originally a Macedonian colony. Fes-
cennia, also a town of Etruria.
5 s Soracte (M. S. Oreste), a mountain of Etruria, about 26 miles north
of Rome, sacred to Apollo. Flavinia and Copena, towns of Etruria.
Ciminus, a mountain and lake of Etruria.
59 Clausus, king of the Sabines, who assisted Turnus against JEneas :
he was the progenitor of Ap. Claudius, the founder of the Claudian family.
60 Amiterna, Eretum, and Mutuscse, towns of the Sabines.
61 Quirites ; the Sabines were so called from the town of Cures, which
they inhabited ; the name was also given to the citizens of Rome, after
their union with the Sabines.
12*
274 JENEID. B. m. 712 734.
turn, and the dewy fields of Velino, the horrid rocks of Te-
trica," and Mount Severus, Casperia, and Foruli, and the river
of Himella :" those who drink the Tiber and the Fabaris ;
those whom cold Nursia sent, the Hortine squadrons and the
Latin nations ; and those whom 'Allia, 6 * an inauspicious name,
dividing runs between : in such numbers as the billows are
rolled on the surface of the Libyan main, when surly Orion
sets in the wintery waves ; or as numerous as are the thick
ears of corn, scorched by the first heat of the [summer's] sun,
either on the plain of Hermus, or in Lycia's yellow fields.
Their bucklers ring, and earth, struck with the trampling of
their feet, trembles. Next Halesus," of Agamemnon's race,
foe to the Trojan name, yokes his steeds in the chariot, and
hurries to Turnus' aid a thousand fierce tribes ; those who
with harrows turn the soil of Massicus fertile in vines, and
whom the Auruncan fathers sent from their lofty hills, and
the adjacent plains of Sidicinum ;'* those who march from
Gales, and who border on the fordable river Vulturnus ; to-
gether with the hardy inhabitants of Saticula, 87 and the troops
of the Osci. Short tapering darts are their weapons ; but
their fashion is to fit them with a limber thong. A short
target covers their left arms ; and hand to hand [they fight
with] crooked falchions. Nor shall you, CEbalus, 68 be in my
numbers left unnamed, whom Telon is said to have begotten
from the nymph Sebethis, when, now advanced in years, he
62 Tetrica and Severus, mountains in the country of the Sabines, near
the river Fabaris. Casperia and Foruli, towns of the Sabines.
s 3 Himella and Fabaris (Farfa), rivers of the Sabines ; the former falls
into the Tiber below Cures. Nursia and Hortu, towns of the Sabines.
61 Allia (Aia), a river of Italy falling into the Tiber. On its" banks
the Romans were defeated with great slaughter by the Gauls under
Brennus, B. c. 387. Hence it was deemed inauspicious.
63 Halesus, a son of Agamemnon and Briseis or Clytemnestra. Hav-
ing been driven from home, he came to Italy, where he settled on Mount
Massicus, in Campania, and was killed by Pallas in the war between
Turnus and ./Eneas.
66 Sidicinum and Cales, towns of Campania, in Italy. Vulturnus, a
river of Campania, rising in the Apennines, and falling into the Tyr-
rhene Sea, after passing near the city of Capua.
67 Saticula, a town of the Samnites, in Italy, east of Capua. Osci, a
people between Campania and the country of the Yolsci.
6J CEbalus, a son of Telon, king of the Teleboans, a people of ^Etolia,
in Greece, and the nymph Sebethis. The Teleboans under CEbalus set-
tled in Caprea? (Capri), an island on the coast of Campania in Italy.
B. VIL 735762. JENEID. 275
possessed Capreae, the realms of the Teleboans ; and the son
likewise, not content with his paternl lands, even then ex~
tended his dominion far and wide over the Sarrastes, 6 ? and
the plains which Sarnus waters. Those also who inhabit
Rufae and Batulurn, and the fields of Celenna, and those whom
the walls of fruit-bearing Abella overlook; who, after the
Teutonic fashion, are wont to sling the Cateian darts, 70 whose
helmets are the rind torn from the cork-tree, and whose half-
rnoon shields 'and swords are formed of glittering brass. And
thee too, Ufens, 71 mountainous Nursse sent forth to battle,
signalized by fame and happy feats of arms : whose subjects
are the ^quicolae, a race peculiarly rough, bred in a hardened
soil, and inured to frequent hunting in the woods. In arms
they harass the earth, and ever take delight to carry off fresh
spoils, and live by plunder. And Umbro" too, of singular
fortitude, came by permission from his prince Archippus,
priest of the Marrubian nation, his helmet decked with a
wreath of the auspicious olive ; who by enchantment and
dexterity was wont to sprinkle sleep on the viper's race, and
the noxious-breathing hydras ; their fury he assuaged, and by
his art their stings he healed. But to cure the hurt of pointed
Dardanian steel surpassed his power and skill ; nor soporific
charms, nor herbs gathered on the Marsian mountains, availed
him aught against those wounds. For thee, Angitia's grove,
for thee, Fucinus, with his crystal flood, for thee the glassy
lakes did mourn. Virbius," too, the beauteous offspring of
Hippolytus, marched to the war; whom his mother Aricia 74
69 Sarrastes, a people of Campania on the river Sarnus, which divides
that country from the Picentini, and falls into the Bay of Naples. Rufas,
etc., towns of Campania.
70 Perhaps resembling the <: aclydes" in vs. 730. See Anthon. B.
71 Ufens, a river of Latium, falling into the Tyrrhene Sea near Tarra-
cina. Nursae, a town of Umbria in Italy. JEquicoli, a people of Lat-
ium near Tibur.
72 Umbro, a general of the Marsi, whose capital, Harrubium, was
situated on the banks of the lake Fucinus. Angitia, a wood in the coun-
try of the Marsi, between Alba and the lake Fucinus (L. di Celano).
73 Virbius, a name given to Hippolytus after he had been restored to
life by ./Esculapius at the instance of Diana, who pitied his unfortunate
end. Virgil makes him the son of Hippolytus.
74 Aricia, an Athenian, whom Hippolytus married, after he had been
restored to life by ^Esculapius. Egeria, a nymph of Aricia in Italy,
where Diana was particularly worshiped.
276 ^ENTEID. B. VII. 763793.
sent forth illustriously accomplished, having been educated in
the groves of Egeria, near the humid shores, where, rich
[with offerings], and not implacable, Diana's altar stands.
For they report that Ilippolytus, when by his step-dame's art
he had fallen, and with his blood had satiated his father's
vengeance, having been torn in pieces by his frighted steeds,
again visited the ethereal stars, and the superior regions of
this world, recalled [to life] by medicinal herbs, and Diana's
love. Then the almighty father, incensed that any mortal
should rise to the light of life from the infernal shades, him-
self with thunder hurled down to the Stygian floods Apollo's
offspring, the inventor of such medicine and art. But pro-
pitious Diana conceals Hippolytus in a secret recess, and
consigns him to the nymph of the Egerian grove ; where in
solitude and obscurity he passed his life in the Italian woods,
and changing his name was called Virbius : whence too from
Trivia's" temple and sacred groves horn-hoofed steeds are
debarred, because, frightened by sea-monsters, they overturned
the chariot and the youth on the shore. Yet not the less
eagerly his son managed his fiery steeds on the level plain,
and in his chariot rushed on to the war. Turnus himself, a
comely personage, moves on in the van, wielding his arms,
and by a full head overtops the rest ; whose towering helmet,
plumed with a triple crest of hair, sustains a Chimasra breath-
ing from her jaws ^Etnean fires. The more outrageous was
she, and tremendous with baleful flames, in proportion as with
the effusion of blood the combat grows more fierce. An lo,
wrought in gold with horns erect, adorned his polished steel ;
lo, now overgrown with fur, now a heifer (a mighty device),
and Argus 78 the virgin's keeper, and Inachus her sire, pouring
the river from his embossed urn. A cloud" of infantry suc-
ceeds, and shielded battalions in condensed array overspread
the whole plain ; the Argive youth, the Ausonian bands, the
Rutuli, and ancient Sicanians, the Sacranian hosts, and the
Labici with their painted bucklers : those, Tiberinus, who
cultivate thy glades, and the sacred banks of Numicus, and
75 Trivia, a name given to Diana, because she presided over all places
where three roads met.
76 Argus, feigned to have a hundred eyes, of which only two were
asleep at once. Juno sent him to watch To.
77 Cf. Horn. II. A. 274. Apoll. Rh. iv. 397, tvo/teveuv dvtpuv vfoof. B.
E. vn. 798 817. Tin. 17. jENEID. 277
with the plowshare labor the Rutulian hills and Circe's
mount ; over which fields presides Jupiter of Anxur, 78 and Fe-
ronia rejoicing in her verdant grove, where lie Saturn's gloomy
fen, and where chill Ufens through deep valleys seeks his way,
and sinks into the sea. Besides these came Camilla 79 of the
Volscian nation, leading a squadron of horse, and troops gorge-
ously arrayed in brass ; a virgin-warrior. Not to the distaff
or the work-baskets of Minerva had she accustomed her fe-
male hands ; but, though a virgin, [was inured] to bear the
hardships of war, and in swiftness of foot to outstrip the
winds. Even over the topmost stalks of standing corn she
could have lightly skimmed, nor once had hurt the tender
ears in her career ; or along the main, suspended on the heav-
ing surge, could glide, nor in the liquid plain dip her nimble
feet. Her all the youth, pouring from city and country, and
the crowd of matrons, view with wonder, and gaze after her
as she goes, gaping with minds aghast to see how the regal
ornament of purple mantles her smooth neck ; how the buckle
interlaces her hair in gold ; with what grace she bears her
Lycian quiver, and her pastoral myrtle-spear tipped with
steel.
BOOK vm.
In the Eighth Book, ^Eue.is forms an alliance with Evander, who sends to
hia assistance a chosen body of men under his son Pallas. Venus pre-
sents JSneas with a suit of armor, fabricated by Vulcan ; on the shield
are represented the future glory and triumph of the Bomaus.
SOON as from the citadel of Laurentum Turnus had dis-
played the signal, and with hoarse clangor the trumpets rat-
tled; soon as he roused the sprightly coursers, and clashed
the arms ; forthwith their minds are driven to high commo-
tion ; all Latium at once with hurrying tumultuous haste com-
bine, and the frantic youth burn with fury. The chief leaders,
Messapus and Ufens, and that contemner of the gods, Mezen-
73 Anxur, a city of the Volsci in Latium, sacred to Jupiter. Feronia,
a Roman goddess, the mother of Herilus ; she had the care of woods
and orchards.
79 Camilla, queen of the Volsci, was the daughter of Metabus and
Casmilla. She assisted Turnus in the war against .(Eneas, and signalized
herself by undaunted bravery.
278 JENEID. B. mi. 8 42.
tius, draw together their succors from every quarter, and
of their laborers depopulate the lands around. Venulus 1
too is sent to the city of great Diomede to crave a supply,
and to bear -word that the Trojans were settled in Latium ;
that ^Eiieas was arrived with a fleet, and was introducing
his conquered gods, and gave out that he was designed by
Fate to be the king [of Latium] ; that many nations joined
themselves to the Trojan, and his fame began to be spread
abroad all through Latium. What he proposes by these
measures, what result of the war he longs to bring about (if
fortune attend him), appear more obvious to [Diomede] himself
than to king Turnus, or king Latinus.
Such in Latium was the state of affairs : all which the Tro-
jan hero perceiving, fluctuates with a high tide of anxious
care ; and now this way, now that, he swiftly turns his wa-
vering mind, snatches various purposes by starts, and shifts
himself every way : as when in brazen caldrons 2 of water the
tremulous light, reflected from the sun, 3 or from the image of
the radiant moon, swiftly glances over every place around, and
now is darted up on high, and strikes the ceiling of the lofty
roof. It was night, and profound sleep held fast the wearied
animals, the cattle and flying kind over all the earth, when on
the bank, and beneath the axis of the chill sky, father yueas,
disturbed in mind with the thought of disastrous war, laid
himself down, and indulged his weary limbs in late repose.
To his view Tiberinus himself, the old god of the place, from
his smooth gliding stream, was seen to lift up his head among
the poplar boughs : a fine robe of lawn enwrapped his limbs
in its sea-green folds, and shady reeds covered his locks.
Then thus he addressed [^Eneas], and with these words eased
him of his cares : O thou, sprung from the race of gods, who
to us bringest home Troy saved from its foes, and preservest
Pergamus, destined to stand forever, an expected [guest] to
the Laurentine soil and lands of Latium ; here is thy sure
abode, thy sure dwelling-place : flinch not, nor be dismayed
by the threats of war. All indignation and anger of the gods
1 Venulus, an embassador sent by Turnus to demand the assistance
of Diomedes.
2 Literally, " the lips of the caldrons." B.
3 By " sole" I think is to be understood the image of the sun reflected
in the water, as in the next words, the image of the moon.
B. vm. 4378. ^ENEID. 279
are overpast. And now, that you may not imagine sleep forms
these as visionary images, under the elms on the banks of the
river you will find a sow lying, that has faiTowed a litter of
thirty young, white the dam, reclining on the ground, her off-
spring white around her dugs. That place shall be the station
for your city, a sure rest from your toils ; in consequence of
which, after a revolution of thrice ten years, Ascanius shall
build the city Alba of illustrious name. Events I foretell not
uncertain. Now attend ; I will briefly show by what means
you may accomplish with success the work in hand. On
these coasts the Arcadians, a race from Pallas descended
(who, hither accompanying their king Evander and his stand-
ard, have chosen their place [of residence], and in the mount-
ains built a city [called] Pallanteum, 4 from the name of their
ancestor Pallas), perpetually carry on war with the Latin na-
tion : admit them as confederates of your camp, and with
them join league. Myself will conduct you along my banks
and river straight on your way, that borne up [by my aid]
you may with oars surmount the adverse stream. Arise, be-
stir yourself, O goddess-born, and with the first-setting stars
offer prayers to Juno in due form, and by suppliant vows over-
come her resentment and threats. To me you shall pay
honor when victorious. I am he whom you behold gliding
along the banks with my full stream, and dividing the fertile
lands ; the azure Tiber, a river highly favored by heaven.
Here is my spacious mansion ; near lofty cities my fountain
springs. He said, then in the deep pool the river-god
plunged, diving to the bottom : from ^Eneas night and sleep
departed. He started up, and viewing the rising beams of the
ethereal sun, in his hollow palms with pious form he raised
water from the river, and poured forth to heaven these words :
Ye nymphs, ye Laurentine nymphs, whence rivers have their
origin ! and thou, O father Tiber, with thy sacred river ! re-
ceive ^Eneas, and defend him at length from dangers. In
whatever source thy lake contains thee compassionate to our
4 Evander, an Arcadian, and the grandson of Pallas, left his native
city, Pallanteum, probably in consequence of parricide, committed at the
instigation of his mother Nicostrata, or Carmentis (Servius on vs. 51),
and founded a city in Latium, called after the mother state. Dionys.
Hal. L p. 25, ed. Sylb. Aurel. Victor de or. Rom. Gent. v. 3. Afterward
the Romans called it the Palatium. It was the most sacred and hal-
lowed part of Rome, as Mamertinus remarks, Paneg. Vett. i. B.
280 ^ENEID. B. vni. 79110.
misfortunes, from whatever soil thou springest forth most
beauteous. Horn-bearing river, monarch of the Italian
streams, ever shalt thou be honored with my veneration, 6
ever with my offerings : Oh grant us by thy present aid, and
by nearer aid confirm thy divine oracles. Thus he speaks ;
and from his fleet singles out two galleys, and furnishes them
with implements for rowing ; at the same time supplies his"
friends with arms. But lo ! a prodigy sudden and strange to
sight, a milk-white sow of similar color with her white
young, lay along the wood, and was seen on the verdant
bank ; which to thee, O sovereign Juno, even to thee, pious
JEaeas devotes as an offering, and presents before thy altar
with her offspring. The Tiber, all that night long, calmed
his swelling river, and refluent with a silent stream subsided
to such a degree, that, like a mild pool and peaceful lake, he
smoothed his watery plain, that there might be no need of
struggling with the oar. Therefore with auspicious cheers
they speed their commenced voyage: the well-pitched fir
glides along the stream : the waves admire, the woods, unac-
customed to the sight, survey with wonder the far-gleaming
shields of heroes, and the painted keels floating on the river.
Their steerage night and day they laboring ply, overpass
the long windings [of the river], are screened with various
trees,' and cut the green woods, as they move along the
smooth glassy plain.
The scorching sun had ascended the mid region of the
sky, when at a distance they descry the walls, the fort, and
the roofs of houses here and there, which now the Roman
power hath raised to heaven : Evander then possessed the
scanty domains. They turn their prows to land without de-
lay, and approach the city. On that day the Arcadian king
chanced to be offering a solemn sacrifice before the city in a
grove to the great [Hercules], Amphitryon's son,* and to the
gods. At the same time his son Pallas," and with him all the
5 " Honor" refers to acts of worship, " donis" to offerings made
therein. So lav. viii. 33, "arae sacrificiis fument, honore, donis cumu-
lentur." B.
6 Which overhung the banks on both sides. B.
7 i. e. reputed son, being really the son of Jove. B.
^ Pallas, the son of Evander, was sent with a body of troops to assist
-<Eneas, and, after performing many gallant deeds, was killed by Turnus.
B. vin. 111148. yENEID. 281
youth of quality, and the poor 9 senate, were offering incense ;
and the tepid blood smoked at the altars. Soon as they ob-
serve the tall vessels gliding toward them amid the shady
grove, and that [the crew] were bending to the silent oars,
they are startled at the sudden sight, and leaving their ban-
quets, all rise up at once ; whom Pallas boldly forbids to in-
terrupt the sacred rites, and snatching up a javelin flies him-
self to meet them, and at a distance speaks from a rising
ground : Youths, what motives have induced you to attempt
an unknown way ? whither are you bound ? who are you by
descent ? whence came you ? peace bring you hither or war ?
Then father .^Eneas thus from the lofty deck replies, and in his
hand before him extends a branch of peaceful olive.: The
sons of Troy you see, and arms hostile to the Latins, who have
exiled and driven us out by haughty war. To Evander we
repair. Bear him these tidings, and -say, Dardania's chosen
chiefs are come, imploring his confederate arms. Pallas, struck
with so great a name, stood amazed : Land, he says, whoever
thou art, address my father in person, and come under our
roof as a guest. Then he grasped him by the hand, and clung
closely to his right hand. Advancing, they enter the grove,
and leave the river. Then with courteous accents JEneas
addresses the king : Worthiest of the sons of Greece, to whom
fortune hath led me to make my supplication, and to spread
forth these boughs, with suppliant wreaths adorned ; I truly
had no apprehension from your being a Grecian leader and an
Arcadian, or from your being originally allied to the two sons
of Atreus ; but my own uprightness, the holy oracles of the
gods, the affinity of our ancestors, and your fame propagated
over the earth, have bound you to me in friendship, and by
fate urged me hither a willing guest. Dardanus, the first
father and founder of the city Ilium, 1 born of Electra, the
daughter of Atlas, as the Greeks record, to the Trojans steered
his course : the mighty Atlas, who on his shoulders props the
celestial orbs, gave to the world Electra. Your father is
Mercury, whom bright Maia having conceived, on Cyllene's
9 This phrase elegantly expresses the humble resources of the times.
The observation of Servius deserves notice, " libri veterum tradunt a
majoribus sacrificando parsimoniam observatam esse." B.
10 Ilium, the citadel of Troy, generally taken for the city itself, so
named from Ilus, one of the Trojan kings.
282 ^ENEID. B. vm. 149179
frozen top brought forth. But Atlas, if we may give any
credit to tradition, the same Atlas who supports the stars of
heaven, begot Maia. Thus from one stock both our stems
divide. Relying on these circumstances, I had not recourse
to embassies, nor artfully employed preliminary means of
sounding your inclination : myself and my own life I have
exposed, and am come a suppliant to your threshold. The
same Daunian nation, 11 which pursues you with cruel Avar,
if they once expel us, nothing they presume will hinder them
from entirely reducing all Hesperia under their yoke, and
from being masters of the sea, both that above, and that which
washes it below. 12 Take, and give pledges of faith. With
us are stout hearts for war, with us are valiant souls, and youth
tried and approved in action.
^Eneas said. Evander had all along with attention sur-
veyed his mouth and eyes, and whole body as he spoke. Then
thus he briefly replies : Most gallant of the Trojan race, how
gladly do I receive and recognize you ! how well I recollect
the words, the voice, and features of your great sire Anchises !
For I remember that Priam, Laomedon's son, in his way to
Salamis, 13 to visit the realms of his sister Hesione, [continuing
his progress] forward, visited likewise Arcadia's frozen coasts.
Then manhood first shaded my cheek with down : I admired
the Trojan chiefs ; Laomedon's son in particular 14 I admired ,
but Anchises walked more majestic than all of them : my soul
burned with youthful desire to accost the hero, and join hand
in hand. I came up and fondly led him to the walls of Phe-
neus. 1 * He at departing gave me a splendid quiver, and
Lycian arrows, a mantle interwoven with gold, and two
bridles with golden bosses, of which my son Pallas is now
possessed. Therefore I both join my right hand with you in
11 Daunian nation : Daunus, a son of Pilumnus and Danae, and father
of Turnus, came from Illyricum into Apulia, where he reigned over part
of the country, from him called Daunia.
12 i. e. the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Seas. B.
13 Salamis (Coulouri), an island of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, near
the coast of Attica, Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, king of Troy,
and sister to Priam. Hercules, having delivered her from a sea-monster
to which she was exposed, gave her in marriage to Telamon, king of
Salamis.
" Ipsum" is emphatic, in opposition to " duces Teucros." B.
13 Pheneus (Phonia), a town of Arcadia, near Mount Cyllene.
B. vnL 180206. -iENEID. 283
league as you desire : and, when first the morrow's light shall
to earth return, I will dismiss you joyful with supplies, and
aid you with my power. Meanwhile, since hither you are
come as our friends, with willing minds celebrate with us this
anniversary festival, which to defer is impiety, and even now
accustom yourselves to the banquets of your allies. Thus
having said, he orders the dishes and cups which had been
removed, to be replaced, and himself plants the heroes on the
grassy seat : and JEneas in chief he compliments with a couch
and the fur of -a shaggy lion, and invites him to share his
maple throne. Then with earnestness the chosen youths and
priest of the altar bring forward the roasted joints of the
bullocks, heap in canisters the gifts of labored Ceres 18 and
dispense the joys of Bacchus. ^Eneas, and at the same time
the Trojan youth, feast on the chine and hallowed entrails of an
entire ox.
As soon as hunger was assuaged, and the lust of eating
stayed, king Evander says : Not superstition vain, and ignor-
ant of the ancient gods, hath imposed on us these solemn rites,
these banquets in due form, this altr.r to so great a -deity :
from cruel dangers saved, my Trojan guest, we perform these
rites, 17 and renew merited honors. Now first observe this
rock suspended on crags ; how the huge piles are scattered
far abroad, and the mountainous abode stands desolate, and
the cliffs have dragged down mighty ruin [in .their fall].
Here, in a vast recess, far removed from sight, was a cave,
which the hideous figure of the but half-human Cacus 18 pos-
sessed, inaccessible to the sunbeams; and ever with recent
bloodshed the pavement smoked; and affixed to the haughty
entrance hung the heads of men all pale with piteous gore.
Vulcan was this monster's father ; whose sooty flames belch-
ing from his mouth, he stalked with bulk enormous. Time
at length to us also brought the wished-for aid and presence
of a god : for Hercules, the illustrious avenger, seasonably
arrived, proud from the death and spoils of three-bodied
Greryon ; and victorious drove his stately bulls this way : and
15 i. e. " of Ceres wrought for use," a periphrasis for " bread." B.
17 Anthon renders: "we do all this." But it seems better to give
" facimus" its sacrificial sense. B.
H Cacus, the son of Vulcan and Medusa, a notorious robber, slain by
Hercules.
284 JENEID. B. viii. 207 242.
the heifers possessed the valley and the river. But the mind
of Cacus, maddened by the Furies, lest any villainy or fraudu-
lent practice might be undevised or unattempted, he abstracts
from their stalls four bullocks of exquisite make, and as many
heifers of form surpassing: and these, lest there should be
any prints of their feet direct, having dragged toward the
cave by the tail, and hurried along with the traces of their
way reversed, he concealed in his gloomy den. No signs 19
led the searcher to the cave. Meanwhile, when now the hero
was moving from their stalls his full-fed herds, and preparing
to be gone, the heifers, at parting, began to low, the whole
grove was filled with their plaintive notes, and the hills with
clamorous din were cleft. One of the heifers returned the
sound, and pent up in the spacious cave rebellowed, and frustrated
the hope of Cacus. Then, indeed, from his black gall the hero's
indignation kindled into fury : in his hand he snatches up arms,
and his oak ponderous with knots, and with speed seeks the
summit of the airy mountain. Then first our men beheld Cacus
dismayed, and by his eyes betraying confusion. Instantly he
flies swifter than the east wind, and seeks the cave : fear
added wings to his feet. Soon as he had shut himself in, and
bursting the chains in haste, let down the enormous rock,
which, by iron" wrought by his father's art, was suspended,
and on bolts relying made fast the gates ; lo ! the Tirynthian
hero transported with fury was upon him, and, examining
every passage, hither and thither rolled his eyes, gnashing
with his teeth. Boiling with ire, he thrico surveys the whole
Aventine mount ; thrice in vain essays the gates of rock ;
thrice in the vale fatigued he sat down to rest. A sharp flinty
rock stood forth, with broken cliiFs in the points around ; on
the ridge of the cave rose, towering to the sight, a convenient
shelter for the nests of inauspicious birds. This, where,
bending forward with its brow, it overhung the river on the
left, [the hero], opposite to it o i ths right, with strained effort
shook, and from the deep roots uptorn disjoined ; then on a
sudden impelled it : with which impulse the sky in its wide
extent resounds, the banks leap hither and thither, and the
affrighted river runs back. And now the den and spacious
hall of Cacus, bared of covering, appeared, and his gloomy
:B Because the footprints pointed the wrong way. B.
? I consider this as an hendiadys. P.
B. Tin. 243272. uENEID. 285
caverns in their inmost recesses were laid open ; just as if by
some violence the earth, in her deep recesses yawning wide,
should unlock the infernal mansions, and disclose those pale
realms abhorred by the gods, and from above the hideous gulf
be seen, and the ghosts be terrified at the light" darted in
upon them. Him, therefore, suddenly surprised in the unex-
pected light, imprisoned in his excavated rock, and in strange
manner braying, Alcides from above galls with darts, calls
every weapon to his aid, and plies him with boughs of trees
and ponderous stones. 22 But he (for now no refuge from the
danger remains) from his jaws vomits up vast quantities of
smoke, wondrous to tell! and involves the cave in pitchy
vapor, snatching all power of sight from the eye ; and deep
in his cave shoots up in wreaths a night of smoke, inter-
mingling fire with darkness. Alcides in his rage could not
endure this, but with an impetuous spring threw himself
amid the flame, where the smoke drives its waves thickest,
and the capacious den fluctuates with pitchy vapor. Here,
in his darkened cell, he seizes Cacus disgorging unavailing
flames, grasping him like a knot ; then, griping fast, keeps
choking him until his eyes start from their sockets, and his
throat is drained of blood. Forthwith, the doors being
wrenched, the grim mansion is laid open ; the heifers that had
been filched away, and the stolen effects abjured, 23 are exposed
to the sky ; and the deformed carcass is dragged forth by the
feet. They are unable to satiate their curiosity with gazing
on his haggard eyes, his countenance, and the breast of the
half-savage shaggy with bristly hair, and the extinguished
fires in his throat. From that time the honors [of the hero]
have been celebrated, and posterity with joy have observed
the day : and Potitius, 24 the first founder, and the Pinarian
family, the guardian of this institution sacred to Hercules,
erected this altar in the grove, which shall both be styled by
us the Great, and the Great shall be forever. 26 Wherefore
21 Compare Silius v. 618, "Manesque profundi Antiquum expavere
diem." B.
22 Literally, "millstones." B.
23 i. e. which he had denied the possession of, on oath. B.
24 Potitius and Pinarius, Arcadians who came with Evander to Italy,
and were intrusted with the sacrifices of Hercules.
25 Concerning this altar Livy puts the following words in the mouth of
Evander, addressing himself to Hercules: "Jove nate, Hercules salve,
286 ^NEID. B. vm. 273 295.
come, youths, in celebrating virtue so illustrious, encircle
your locks with a garland, and stretch forth your goblets in
your hands, invoke our common god, and offer the wine with
good will. He said : when with its Herculean shade the
poplar of varying hue both decked his locks, and with its leaves
entwined hung down ; and a sacred goblet filled his right
hand. Quickly all with joy pour libations on the table, and
supplicate the gods. Meanwhile the sphere of day declining,
evening draws nearer on ; and now the priests, and Potitius
at their head, marched in procession, clad in skins, according
to custom, and bore flaming torches. They renew the feast,
and introduce the grateful offerings of the second service, 28
and heap the altars with loaded chargers. Then round the
altars smoking with perfumes, the Salii" amid songs ad-
vance, having their temples bound with poplar boughs; [in
two bands they divide,] the one a choir of youths, the other of
aged men ; who celebrate the praises of Hercules and his
deeds in verse : how with his hand he slew the first [sent]
monsters of his step-mother [Juno], and squeezing strangled
her two snakes ; how in war the same hero overthrew illus-
trious cities, both Troy and QEchalia ; 58 how, under king Eu-
rystheus,"' by the destination of unfriendly Juno, he endured a
thousand grievous toils. Thou, invincible, dost with thy arm
[subdue] the cloud-born, double-membered Centaurs, Hylaeus
and Pholus; thou subduest Cretan monsters, and the huge
overgrown lion under the rock of Nemea. 30 For fear of thee
te mihi mater veridica interpres Deum aucturum coelestium numerum
cecinit, tibique aram hie dicatum iri, quam opulentissima in terris gens
maximam vocet, tuoque ritu colat." The reason of the name is given by
Dionysius, that this being the altar whereon Hercules himself offered
the tithes of his spoils, it became on that account the object of chief
veneration, and was called Maxima to distinguish it from the numerous
other altars which that hero had in Italy.
* t. e. the evening repast, as shown by "Weichart. The other had
taken place at mid-day. B.
87 Salii, an order of priests at Rome, who had the charge of the
sacred shields called Ancilia, which they carried every year, on the first
of March, in a solemn procession round the walls of Rome, dancing and
singing praises to the god Mars.
88 (Echalia, a country of Laconia in Peloponnesus, with a town of the
same name, where Eurytus reigned, and which was destroyed by Hercules.
29 Eurystheus, the brother and taskmaster of Hercules.
30 Nemea, a town of Argolis in Peloponnesus, near which Hercules per-
formed his first labor by killing the celebrated Nemean lion.
B. vin. 296326. ^ENEID. 287
the Stygian lakes, for fear of thee the porter of hell did trem-
ble, cowering down in his bloody den upon his half-gnawed
bones : nor did any forms throw thee into consternation ; not
Typhoeus 31 himself, of towering height, with arms in hand :
thee, not perplexed, the Lernaean snake, many-headed monster,
around beset. Hail, undoubted offspring of Jove, added to
the gods as a glory : visit both us and these thy sacred rites
with thy auspicious presence. Such deeds they celebrate in
song : above all, they subjoin the den of Cacus, and himself,
breathing flames. The whole grove rings with the din, and
the hills resound.
Then, having finished the divine service, all hie back to the
city. The king, oppressed with age, sets forward ; and, as he
walked along, had ^Eneas to accompany him, and his son by
his side, and with various discourse relieved [the tediousness
of] the way. ^Eneas admires, and turns his rolling" eyes
around on every object ; is charmed with the different places ;
and inquires and learns the several monuments of the men of
antiquity.
Then king Evander, the founder of the Eoman power, [thus
began] : These groves the native Fauns and Nymphs pos-
sessed, and a race of men sprung from the trunks of trees and
stubborn oak ; who had neither laws nor refinement ; knew
neither to yoke the steer, nor to gather wealth, nor to use their
acquisitions with moderation ; but the branches, and hunting,
a rough source of sustenance, supplied them with food. From
the ethereal sky Saturn first came, flying from the arms of
Jove, and an exile dispossessed of his realms. He formed
into society a race undisciplined and dispersed among the high
mountains," and introduced laws ; and chose to have the coun-
try named Latium, because in these regions he had lurked se-
cure. Under his reign was the golden age which they
celebrate : in such undisturbed tranquillity he ruled his sub-
jects ; till by degrees an age more depraved, and of an inferior
31 Typhoeus, a famous giant, son of Tartarus and Terra, said to have
had a hundred heads like those of a serpent or a dragon. He made war
upon the gods, but Jupiter put him to flight with his thunderbolts, and
crushed him under Mount JEtna, in Sicily, or, according to some,
the island Inarime (Ischia).
33 "faciles," i. e. easily bending and turning hi all directions.
288 .<ENEID. B. vm. 32t 337.
hue, and the fury of war, and love of gain, 33 succeeded.
Then came the Ausonian bands, and the Sicilian nations ; and
the Saturnian land often changed its name. Then [came a
succession of] kings, and fierce Tybris of gigantic make, from
whom we Italians in after times named the river Tiber ; an-
cient Albula lost its true name. Me, from my country driven,
and tracing the remote tracks of the sea, almighty fortune and
uncontrollable destiny fixed in these regions : and the awful
predictions of my mother, the nymph Carmentis, 34 and the god
Apollo by his authority urged me [hither].
Scarcely had he spoken, when setting forward he shows
him next both the altar, and the gate filled by a Roman"
name Carmentalis, which they record to be the ancient memo-
rial in honor of the prophetic nymph Carmentis, who first fore-
told the future grandeur of the JSnean race, and the renown of
Pallanteum. Next he points out the spacious grove which
Romulus reduced into a sanctuary, and under a cold rock the
Lupercal, 3 *-so called, according to the Arcadian manner, from
Lycaean Pan. He likewise shows the grove of Argiletum, 37
sacred [to Argus] ; and calls the place to witness his inno-
cence and relates the death of Argus his guest. He leads him
next to the Tarpeian Rock and the Capitol, now of gold, once
rough and horrid with wild bushes. Even then the religious
horrors of the place awed the minds of the timorous swains ;
even then they revered the wood and rock. This grove, says
he, this wood-topped hill, a god inhabits, but what god is un-
certain : the Arcadians believe they have seen Jove himself,
when often with his right hand he shook the blackening aegis,
and roused the clouds of thunder. Farther, [says he,] yon
two towns you see with theif walls demolished, the remains
and monuments of ancient heroes : this city father Janus, that
33 Literally, "of having," as in Hor. Ep. L 7, 85. So "habendi
fames," Pacatus Paneg. 25 ; " finis habendi," Prudent. Hamart. 255. B.
3< Carmentis, a prophetess of Arcadia, mother of Evander, with whom
she came to Italy. One of the gates of Rome was named after her.
35 But Wagner and Anthon read '' Romani," I think, with little rea-
son. B.
38 Lupercal, a place at the foot of Mount Aventine, sacred to Pan,
whose festivals, called Lupercalia, were celebrated annually.
37 Argiletum, a place at Rome near the Palatium, where tradesmen
had their shops.
B. VIIL 357383. J5NEID. 289
Saturnus built ; the one was named Janiculiun," the other
Saturuia. In such mutual talk they came up to the palace
of poor Evander; and in [that place where now are] the
Roman forum and magnificent streets, they beheld around
herds of cattle lowing. Soon as they reached his abode,
This threshold, he says, the victorious 38 Alcides entered ;
him this palace received: dare then, my guest, to under-
value magnificence, and do you too mold yourself [into a
temper] becoming a god, and come not disgusted with these
our mean accommodations. He said, and under the roof of
his narrow mansion conducted the magnanimous ^Eneas, and
set him down to rest on a bed of leaves, and the fur of a Libyan
bear.
Night comes on apace, and with her dusky wings mantles
the earth. Meanwhile Venus, the parent-goddess, not without
cause alarmed in mind, and disturbed both by the threats
and fierce uproar of the Laurentines, addresses Vulcan, 40 and
in her husband's golden bedchamber thus begins, 'and by
her accents breathes into him love divine : While the Grecian
kings by war were bringing fated Troy to desolation, and its
towers doomed to fall by hostile flames, not any succor to the
wretches, nor arms of thy art and power, I craved ; nor, my
dearest spouse, was I willing to employ you or your labors
in vain ; though I both owed much to the sons of Priam, and
often mourned the severe sufferings of JEneas. Now, by
Jove's command, he hath settled on the coast of the Rutulians :
therefore I the self-same [fond wife] appear as a suppliant,
and implore arms from thy divinity to me adorable, a mother
for a son. Thee the daughter of Nereus, thee the wife of Ti-
33 Janiculum, one of the Seven hills at Home, on which Janus built a
town of the same name. Saturnia, an ancient town of Italy, supposed
to have been buil by Saturn on the Tarpeian Rock.
39 Prom this circumstance Hercules probably derived his surname of
"Victor," having been received into "parvaregia, sed summaTeligione,"
as Mamertinus says, Pan. 1. See Macrob. Sat iiL 6. B.
4U Vulcan, the son of Jupiter and Juno, or of Juno alone, and the hus-
band of Venus, was the god of fire, and the patron of all artists who
worked in iron and metals. He is said to have been cast down from
heaven, and by his fall in the island of Lemnos, to have broke his leg,
and ever after remained lame of one foot. The Cyclops in Sicily were
his workmen, and with him they fabricated, in his forges, which were
supposed to be under Mount ^Etna, not only the thunderbolts of Jupiter,
but also arms for the gods and most celebrated heroes.
13
B. VIII. 384 415.
thonus, by tears could persuade. See what nations combine,
what towns, having shut up their gates, whet their swords
against me, and for the extirpation of my people ! The god-
dess said, and, [throwing] her snowy arms around him,
in soft embrace caresses him, hesitating : suddenly he caught
the wonted flame; and the accustomed warmth pierced his
marrow, and ran thrilling through his trembling bones : just
as when at times, with forked thunder burst, a chinky stream
of fire in flashy lightning shoots athwart the skies. This his
spouse, well pleased with her wiles, and conscious of her charms,
perceived.
Then father [Vulcan], fast bound in eternal love, thus
speaks : Why hast thou recourse to far-fetched reasons 1 whith-
er, goddess, hath thy confidence in me fled? Hadst thou
been under the like concern before, then too it had been a
righteous thing in me, [at thy desire,] to arm the Trojans.
Nor did almighty father Jove, or the Fates, 41 forbid that
Troy should stand, or Priam survive for ten years more.
And now if war you meditate, and this be your resolution ;
whatever zeal in my art I can promise ; whatever can be
done by steel or liquid electrum," as far as the power of fire
and breathing engines reach, [you may depend on me ;] for-
bear, by solicitation, to bring your power in question. Having
spoken these words, he gave her the wished embrace, and, on
the bosom of his spouse dissolved away, courted soft repose to
every limb.
Then, soon as the first [interval of] rest, now that the mid-,
career of night had rolled away, had chased away sleep [fron\
his eyes] ; what time the housewife, whose chief concern it is
to earn her living by the distaff and poor handiwork,* 3 awakea
the heaped-up embers and the dormant fires, adding night to
her labor, and by the lighted tapers employs her maids in their
long tasks, that chaste she may preserve her husband's bed, and
bring up her little ones : not otherwise, nor at that time less
industrious, the mighty god of fire rises from the soft couch to
his mechanic labors.
41 The ancients supposed that the will of the Fates could not be ulti-
mately overcome, but that its execution might be delayed. See Ser-
viua. B.
42 A mixture of gold and silver. B.
43 " The loom yielding but a scanty reward." ANTHON. B.
B. vni. 416 451. ^ENEID. 291
Near the side of Sicily and ^Eolian Lipari 4 ' an island is
upraised of steep ascent, with smoking rocks ; under which a
den, and the caves of ^Etna, eaten out by the forges of the
Cyclops, thunder, and from the anvils the sturdy strokes in
echoing groans resound, the bars of steel hiss in the caverns,
and the fire pants in the furnaces : Vulcan's habitation, and the
land Vulcanium called. Hither then he of fiery power de-
scended from the lofty sky. The Cyclops in their capacious
cave were working the steel, Brontes, and Steropes, and
naked-limbed Pyracmon. In their hands half-formed, with one
part already polished, was a thunderbolt, [such as those] which
in profusion the eternal father from all quarters of the sky
hurls on the earth : the other part unfinished remained.
Three shafts they had added of the wreathed hail, three of
watery cloud, three of glaring fire and winged wind. Now
they were mingling in the work alarming flashes, noise and
terror, and the wrath of heaven with its vengeful flames. In
another part they were hastening forward a chariot and nimble
wheels of Mars, by which he uprouses men and cities ; and
were polishing amain the tremendous aegis, the armor of en-
raged Pallas, with serpent's scales of gold, and the snakes in
mutual folds entwined, and (to be worn on the breast of the
goddess) the Gorgon's self, rolling her eyes 46 after decapita-
tion.
Away with all, he says, ye ^Etnean Cyclops, and set aside
your begun labors, and hither turn your minds. Arms for a
valiant hero must be forged ; now it is requisite to ply your
strength, now your nimble hands, now all your masterly skill.
Shake off all delay. Nor more he said, and all instantly be-
gan to work, and equally the labor shared. Brass and mines
of gold in rivulets flow ; and wounding steel in the capacious
furnace melts. They mark out the form of a spacious shield,
alone sufficient against all the weapons of the Latins, and orbs
in orbs seven-fold involve. Some with the puffing bellows
receive and explode the air by turns ; others dip the sputter-
ing metals in the trough ; the cave groans with the incumbent
44 Lipari, anciently the JSolian Islands, on the northern coast of Sicily;
they are evidently of volcanic origin,
45 The eyes moved by a mechanical contrivance, according to "Wagner.
But I should simply understand the expression of the eye as meant. B.
292 J3NEID. B. Tin. 452489.
anvils. They with vast force alternately lift their arms in equal
time, and with the griping pincers turn the mass.
While in the ^Eolian regions the Lemnian sire is urging on
these works, the cheering light, and the morning songs of
birds under his roof, rouse Evander from his humble mansion.
The veteran arises, and in his tunic clothes his limbs, and
binds the Tuscan* sandals round his feet ; then to his side and
shoulders girds his Arcadian sword, doubling back [on the
right shoulder] a panther's skin that hung down from his left.
Two guardian-dogs too from the lofty gate march forth, and
accompany their master's steps. The hero, mindful of their
conversation, and the service he had promised, hies to the
apartment and recess of his guest tineas. [Meanwhile]
JEneas no less early was on his way. With the one his son
Pallas, with the other Achates came in company. At meeting
they join hands, seat themselves in the midst of the court, and
at length enjoy unrestrained conversation. The king thus
first [begins] : Most mighty leader of the Trojans, during
whose life I truly will never admit that the power and realms
of Troy are overthrown ; small are our abilities to support the
war in proportion to so great a name : on the one hand we
are bounded by the Tuscan river [Tiber] ; on the other hand
the Rutulians press upon us, and beset our walls around with
clashing arms. But I intend to join with you mighty nations
and camps rich and royally magnificent, which saving relief
unexpected fortune opens to our view : hither you come in-
cited by the Fates. Not far from this spot stands inhabited
jhe city of Agylla, 48 of ancient foundation, where heretofore
ihe Lydian nation, illustrious in war, planted a settlement on
the Tuscan mountains. This city, having flourished for many
years, Mezentius at last came to rule with imperious sway and
cruel arms. Why should I mention his unutterable barbari-
ties ? or why the tyrant's horrid deeds ? May the gods rec-
ompense them on his own head, and on his race ! He even
bound to the living the bodies of the dead, joining together
hands to hands, and face to face, a kind of torture : and [the
rictims] pining away with gore and putrefaction in this
loathed embrace, he thus with lingering death destroyed. But
t length his subjects, weary [of his cruelties], in arms around
afterward called Caere, a town of Etruria,
B. vnr. 490523.
beset both the tyrant himself raging past utterance, and all
his house : they assassinate his adherents, hurl flames against
his roof. He, amid the massacre making his escape, flies
for shelter to the territories of the Rutulians, and finds pro-
tection from the arms of Turnus, his hospitable friend.
Therefore all Etruria rose jtvith just fury; and the people by
present war redemand their king for punishment. Over these
thousands, ^Eneas, I will assign you leader.- For all along
the shore the vessels ranged in thick array resound with
clamor ; and crave to urge on the banners. Them an aged
soothsayer restrains, this oracle in prophetic strains deliver-
ing : Ye chosen youths of Lydia, the flower and excellence of
ancient heroes, whom just indignation urges against the foe,
and Mazentius fires with due resentment ; no native of Italy
is destined to subdue that powerful nation : make choice of
foreign leaders. Then, overawed by the declaration of the
gods, the Tuscan army, respiting their fury, encamped on
this plain. Tarchon" himself hath sent embassadors with
the royal crown and scepter, and to me commends these en-
signs ; [imploring me] to repair to the camp, and assume the
Tuscan administration. But life with frozen blood benumbed,
and worn out with years, and my capacity for heroic deeds
superannuated, deny me empire. My son I would urge to it,
were it not that, being of mixed race by reason of a Sabine
mother, he derived a portion of his country from this land. Do
you, most gallant leader of the Trojans and Italians, to whose
years and lineage also fate is indulgent, you whom the oracles
invite, enter upon the task. Him too, my hope and solace,
Pallas, to thee I will join ; under thee his master let him prac-
tice to endure warfare, and the laborious service of Mars, be
spectator of thy deeds, and from his earliest years make thee
the object of his admiration. To him I will give two hun-
dred Arcadian horsemen, the chosen strength of the youth ;
and as many more will Pallas give thee in his own name.
Thus he had scarcely spoke, when ^Eneas, the offspring of
Anchises, and trusty Achates, held their eyes fixed on the
ground, and with heavy hearts began to revolve many hard
thoughts, 48 had not Cytherea displayed a sign in the open air :
47 Tarchon, an Etrurian chief, who assisted ^Eneas against the Rutulians.
43 C Propert. i. 15, 1, " Saepe ego mutta tua? levitatis dura time-
bam." -B.
294 J3NEH). B. Tin. 524 554.
for unexpectedly a flash of lightning, darted from the sky,
came with a peal; 49 and suddenly all things seemed to threate'n
ruin, and the blast of the Tuscan trumpet rattled through the
skies. Upward they gaze : again and again in dreadful peals
it thunders ; in a serene quarter of the heavens, among the
clouds they observe arms blaze athwart the clear expanse, and
clashed peal with thunder. The rest were astounded with
amazement ; but the Trojan hero knew the sound and prom-
ised signs of his goddess-mother. Then [to Evander] he
addressed his speech : By no means, my hospitable friend, by
no means be anxious to explore what crisis these prodigies
portend: I am called by heaven. My divine parent foretold
that she was to send this signal, if war should assail me, and
that she would bring Vulcan-wrought arms through the aerial
regions to my aid. Ah ! what havoc awaits the hapless Lau-
rentines ! what ample satisfaction shalt thou, O Turnus, give
me ! what numerous shields, and helmets, and bodies of gal-
lant heroes, shalt thou, father Tiber, roll down thy streams !
Let them challenge our armies, and violate their leagues.
Having said these words, he raised himself from his lofty
throne : and first of all he wakes the dormant altars with fires
in honor of Hercules, and visits with joy the Lar, whom
yesterday he had first worshiped, and the little household
gods: with accustomed rites he offers a sacrifice of chosen
ewes: in like manner Evander, in like manner the Trojan
youth. After this he repairs to the ships, and revisits his
friends ; from whose number he chooses out such as excelled
in. valor, to accompany him to the war: the rest by the de-
scending stream are borne along, and without effort glide
down with the current of the river, to bring Ascanius tidings
of his father, and of the affaire in hand. The Trojans, re-
pairing to the Tuscan territories, are supplied with steeds :
for .(Eneas they led forth one distinguished from the rest,
which a lion's tawny hide, shining before with gilded claws,
completely covers.
Suddenly through the little city, the rumor, made public,
T * D'Orville, Critic. Vann. p. 594. compares Quintus Cal. xiv. 457,
otov ore arepOTryaiv irtj3pfiei uaireroc aiBijp. B.
50 Lar : the Lares wjere two in number, sons of Mercury and Lara, one
of the Naiads. The Romans paid them divine honors, and they pre-
sided over houses and families.
B. VIIL 555591. ^ENEED. 295
flies, that a band of horses were swiftly marching to the court of
the Tuscan king. Through fear the matrons redoubled their
vows ; and the nearer to the danger, the more the terror grows,
and the image of Mars appears enlarged. Then father Evander,
grasping the hand [of his son] as he was going away, clings
to him, weeping beyond measure, and utters these words : Oh
that Jupiter would recall my past years ! [or that I were now]
what I was when, under the very walls of Praeneste, I mowed
down the foremost ranks, and victorious set heaps of shields
on fire, and with this right hand sent king Herilus" down to
Tartarus ; to whom at his birth, dreadful to relate, his mother
Feronia had given three lives, and triple arms to wield ; thrice
by death was he to be overthrown : whom nevertheless this
light hand then bereft of all these lives, and stripped of as
many suits of armor ! nothing now, my son, should part me
from your loved embrace : nor had ever our neighbor Mezen-
tius, insulting over this person of mine, by the sword effected
so many cruel deaths, bereaved the city of so many inhabitants.
But, O ye powers, and thou Jupiter* great ruler of the gods,
compassionate, I pray, an Arcadian king, and hear a father's
prayers ; if your providence divine, if the Fates reserve Pal-
las for me in safety, if I live destined to see him again, and
to have a meeting with him, I pray for life ; I will submit to
endure any hardship whatever. But if, O fortune, thou
threatenest him with some disaster not to be named, now, oh !
now, let me break off my cruel life, while my cares are hover-
ing in suspense, while I have hope of the future, [however]
uncertain ; while thee, dear boy, my late, my only joy, I hold
in my embrace : lest more mournful tidings wound my ears.
These words the father poured forth at the final parting : his
attendants bear him to the palace fainting away.
And now the" horse had gone forth by the expanded gates :
among the foremost ./Eneas and his faithful Achates ; then
other peers of Troy. Pallas himself, in the center of his
troop, appears conspicuous in his mantling robe and painted
arms; such as when, bathed in the ocean's waves, Lucifer,
whom Venus loves beyond the other starry lights, hath dis-
played his holy visage in the heaven, and dispersed the dark-
51 Herilus, king of Prseneste, was son of Feronia, the goddess of woods
and orchards : as he is said to have received three lives from his mother,
he was killed three times by Evander.
296 -<ENEID. B. vni. 592 625.
ness. On the walls the timorous matrons stand, and follow
with their eyes the dusty cloud, and troops gleaming -with
brass. Through the thickets, where nearest lies the boundary
of their way, they march in arms. Their acclamations rise ;
and, a squadron formed, the hoof beats with the trampling din
the moldering plain.
Near the cold river of Caere 6 * is a spacious grove, sacred
all around by the religion of the fathers; hollow hills on
every side have inclosed, and encompass the grove with
gloomy fir. There is a tradition, that to Sylvanus, god of
the fields and flocks, the ancient Pelasgi," who were once the
first possessors of the Latin territories, consecrated this grove
and a festival-day. Not far from this, Tarcho and the Tuscans
kept their camp, defended by the ground ; and now from the
hill the whole legion could be surveyed, and had pitched their
tents upon the spacious plains. Hither father ./Eneas and his
youthful band, chosen for the war, advance, and fatigued they
tend their horses and themselves.
Meanwhile the goddess Venus in bright beauty among the
ethereal clouds, drew nigh, bearing her gifts ; and soon as at
a distance she espied htr son in a recluse valley, rpart by
the cold river, she voluntarily presented herself, and a idressecl
him in these words : Behold, my son, the presents finished by
my consort's promised skill ; that so this instant you need not
demur to challenge either the insolent Laurentines or fierce
Turnus to the combat. Cytherea said, and rushed into the
embraces of her son : under an oak, full in his view, she
placed the radiant arms. He, overjoyed with the presents of
the goddess, and such signal honor, gazes on them with in-
satiable fondness, and rolls his eyes over them one by one ; he
admires, and in his hands or arms shifts about the helmet
terrible with its crest and shooting flames, and the sword
fraught with death, the corselet stiff with brass, immense, of
sanguine hue; as when the azure cloud by the sunbeams grows
more and more inflamed, and shines afar ; then the polished
greaves of electrum and gold refined, the spear and the tex-
ture of the shield beyond expression. There the god of fiery
52 Caere, anciently Agylla, a city of Etruria, once the capital of the
whole country, situated on a small river east of Rome.
53 Pelasgi, the ancient inhabitants of Greece, supposed to be one 01
the most ancient people in the world.
jj. vm. 626651. 2ENEID. 297
power, not unskilled of prophecies, or ignorant of futurity, had
represented the Italian history and triumphs of the Romans j
there all the descendants of the future race from Ascanius,
and their battles fought in order. There, too, he had figured
the fostering wolf lying in the verdant cave of Mars : the twin
boys, hanging about her dugs, to play, and fearless suck their
dam ; while she, with tapering neck reclined, fondly licked
them by turns, and molded their bodies with her tongue.
Not far from this he had added Rome, and the Sabine virgins
lawlessly ravished from the assembly of the circus at the great
Circensian" games, and suddenly a new war bursting upon the
sons of Rome, and aged Tatius," and the rigid Cures. Next
the same princes, now that mutual hostilities are laid aside,
sheathed in armor, and with the goblets in their hands, stood
before Jove's altars, and, having sacrificed a sow, struck a
league. Not far from thence rapid chariots had torn Metius" 8
limb from limb asunder (but thou, Alban, shouldst have ad-
hered to thy stipulations), and Tullus was dragging the trai-
tor's entrails through the wood; and the bushes, sprinkled
with his blood, were dripping wet. Here, too, Porsenna"
was commanding [the Romans] to receive expelled Tarquini-
us, and invested the city with close siege. The Romans in
defense of liberty were rushing on the sword. Him [Por-
senna] you might have seen like one enraged, and like one
breathing threats, because Codes had dared to beat down the
bridge, and Clcelia, 118 having burst her chains, swam across
54 Circensian games were first established by Romulus, and performed
in the circus at Rome. The Romans, having invited their neighbors
the Sabines to the celebration of these games, forcibly carried away all
their females who had attended.
55 Tatius, king of Cures among the Sabines, made war against the
Romans after the rape of the Sabine women. Peace having been made
between the two nations, Tatius shared the royal authority with Romulus.
56 Metius, dictator of Alba in the reign of Tullus Hostilius. He be-
came subject to the Romans by the combat of the Horatii and Curiatii,
but afterward proving faithless, Tullus put him to death by placing him
between two chariots, which were drawn by four horses different ways.
57 Porsenna, king of Etruria, who made war upon the Romans in
favor of Tarquin, and attempted in vain to replace him on the throne.
Codes (Pub. Horat), a noble Roman, who greatly signalized himself by
alone opposing for a time the whole army of Porsenna.
53 Cloelia, a Roman virgin, who having been given with other maidens
as hostages to Porsenna, escaped from her confinement, and swam across
the Tiber to Rome.
13*
298 ^ENTSID. B. vra. 652 682.
the river. On the summit [of the shield] Manlius," guardian
of the Tarpeian tower, before the temple stood, and defended
the lofty Capitol ; and the palace, as newly thatched with
Romulean straw, appeared rough. And here a goose in silver,
fluttering athwart the gilded galleries, gave warning that the
Gauls were just at hand : the Gauls were advancing along the
thickets, and were seizing the fort, protected by the darkness
and benefit of dusky night. Of gold their tresses were, and
of gold their vestments ; in striped mantelets they shine ; then
their milk-white necks are girt with gold : two Alpine javelins
each in his hand brandishes, having their bodies protected with
long bucklers. Here he had embossed the dancing Salii, and
the naked priests of Pan, the caps tufted with wool, and the
shields that fell from heaven : chaste matrons in soft carriages
were conducting the sacred pageants through the city. To
these in remoter prospect he likewise adds the Tartarean man-
sions, Pluto's profound realms, the sufferings of the damned ;
and thee, Catiline, 80 suspended from a threatening rock, and
trembling at the faces of the Furies ; and the good apart [from
the wicked, with] Cato' 1 dispensing laws to them. Amid these
scenes the image of the swelling ocean was widely dif-
fused in gold ; but the seas foamed with hoary waves, and all
around conspicuous in silver the wheeling dolphins swept the
seas with their tails, and cut the tide. In the midst were
to be seen fleets with brazen prows, the fight of Actium ;"
and you could discern Leucate all in a ferment with the
marshaled war, and the billows brightly displayed in gold.
On one side is Augustus Caesar conducting the Italians to the
engagement, with the senators and people, the domestic dei-
ties, and the great gods, standing on the lofty stern ; whose
auspicious temples dart forth two flames, and on whose crest
his father's star is displayed. In another part Agrippa,"
59 Manlius (Marcus), a celebrated Roman, surnamed Capitolinus, for
his gallant defense of the Capitol against the Gauls under Brennus.
Manliu3 was afterward accused of ambitious designs, and having been
condemned, he was thrown down from the Tarpeian Rock.
v> Catiline, a noble Roman, but cruel, and of the most depraved habits.
He conspired against the liberties of his country, and perished in battle,
B. c. 63.
61 Cato the major is meant.
52 Actium, the seat of the final victory of Augustus.
53 Agrippa, a celebrated Roman, who fevored the interest of Augustus
B. vin. 682 706. JENEID. 299
with winds and gods propitious, stands aloft 64 leading his
squadron ; for whom, proud badge of warfare, his brows are
adorned with a naval crown's refulgent beak. On the other
side victorious Antony, 65 with barbarian supplies and various
troops, brings up with him, from the nations of the morning,
and the coasts of the Red Sea, Egypt," the strength of the
east, and Bactra, the boundary of his empire ; and him fol-
lows, oh foul disgrace ! his Egyptian spouse Cleopatra.' 7 All
are rushing on together, and the whole watery plain foams
convulsed with the laboring oars and trident-beaks. They
make for the deep : you would have imagined, that the Cy-
clades uptorn were floating on the main, or lofty mountains
encountering mountains : with such force the warriors in their
turreted ships urge on the attack. From their hands flaming
balls of tow, and from missile-engines the winged steel is
flung : Neptune's fields redden with the first slaughter. In
the midst the queen rouses her squadrons with her country's
sistrum ; nor as yet regards the two snakes behind her. 68 Her
monstrous gods of every form, and barking Anubis, 69 opposed
to Neptune, Venus, and Minerva, are wielding their weapons.
In the midst of the combat Mars sculptured in iron storms,
and the grim Furies from the sky ; and Discord, with her
mantle rent, stalks well pleased, whom Bellona follows with
her bloody scourge. Apollo of Actium, viewing these things
from above, was bending his bow : with the terror thereof all
Egypt and the Indians, the Arabs and Sabajans, all were
at the battles of Actium and Philippi, where he behaved with great
valor.
64 "arduus" refers to his position on the stern of his ship. B.
65 Mark Antony, the Roman triumvir. After his defeat in the battle
of Actium, he fled to, Alexandria in Egypt, where he stabbed himself,
B. C. 30.
66 Egypt, a celebrated country of Africa, watered by the Nile ; bound-
ed by the Red Sea (Arabian Gulf) on the east, and by Libya on the west
67 Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, was cele-
brated for her beauty and mental acquirements, as also for her intrigues
and licentious life. Cleopatra supported the cause of her favorite An-
tony against Augustus at the battle of Actium, but by flying with sixty
sail, contributed to his defeat ; she then retired to Egypt, where, to
avoid falling into the hands of Augustus, she destroyed herself by the
bite of an asp, B. c. 30. At her death Egypt became a Roman province.
68 i. e. she does not foresee her end. B.
69 Anubis, an Egyptian god, represented with the head of a dog.
300 ^ENEID. B. viii. 707 731.
turning their backs. The queen herself, invoking the winds,
seemed to sail, and with eager haste to be letting loose the
uncoiled cables. Her, the god of fire, had represented arnid
the slaughter, driven along by waves and winds, pale with the
[terrors of] approaching death ; and opposite [he had sculp-
tured] the Nile with his gigantic form in deep distress, ex-
panding his skirts, and with all his robe displayed, calling the
vanquished into his azure bosom and sheltering streams.
Caesar again, having in triple triumph entered the walls of
Rome, was consecrating through all the city three hundred
stately temples, his immortal vow to the Italian gods. The
streets rung with joy, and games, and acclamations. In all
the temples are choirs of matrons ; and in all the temples al-
tars. Before the altars the sacrificed bullocks cover the
ground. Augustus himself, seated in the snow-white porch of
shining Phoebus, reviews the offerings of the people, and fits
them to the stately pillars. In long orderly procession the
vanquished nations march, as various in the fashion of their
garb and arms as in their language. Here Mulciber had
figured the Numidian race, and the Africans loose in their
attire ; here the Leleges, 70 the Carians, and Geloni armed with
arrows. Euphrates now flowed with gentler streams ; the
Morini," remotest of the human race, [appeared,] and the two-
horned Rhine, the untamed Dahse, and the Araxes, that dis-
dained a bridge.
Such scenes on Vulcan's shield, the present of his parent-
goddess, the hero views with wonder, and [though] a stran-
ger to the events, rejoices in their representation, and on
his shoulder bears aloft the fame and fortune of his descend-
ants.
70 Leleges, a wandering people who originally inhabited Caria, in Asia
Minor, and who fought in the Trojan war under their king Altes.
" Morini, a people of Belgic Gaul, on the shores of the British Ocean.
7* Araxes (Arras), a large river of Asia, falling into the Caspian Sea ;
it swept away a bridge which Alexander the Great built over it.
B. IX. 126. ^ENEID. 301
BOOK IX.
In the Ninth Book, Turnus, availing himself of ^Eneas' absence, makes a
furious assault upon his camp. The Trojans, reduced to the utmost ex-
tremity, dispatch to JEneas, Nisus and Euryalus, whose immortal friend-
ship in this perilous adventure, is painted in the most glowing language.
Turnus attacks the city, but is forced, after making a great slaughter,
to save himself by swimming the Tiber.
AND while these transactions were carrying on in a far dif-
ferent quarter, Saturnian Juno sent Iris from heaven to daring
Turnus. Turnus then by chance was sitting at rest in the
grove of his progenitor Pilumnus, in a consecrated vale ;
whom thus the daughter of Thaumas 1 with rosy lips bespoke :
What none of the gods, O Turnus, could dare to promise to
thy wishes, lo ! revolving time hath of itself brought about !
JEneas, having abandoned his city, his friends, and fleet, hath
repaired to the realms and abode of Palantine Evander. And,
not content with that, he hath penetrated to the remotest cities
of Corythus,* and arms a band of Lydians, rustics, whom he
has drawn together. Why do you demur ? now is the time
to call for your steeds, now your chariots. Break off all delay,
and seize his camp while in disorder. She said, and on poised
wings raised herself to heaven, and in her flight cut the spa-
cious bow beneath the clouds. The youth knew [the goddess],
and, stretching forth both hands to heaven, with these accents
pursued her flying : Iris, thou glory of heaven, who sent thee
down to me on earth shot from the clouds ? whence arises,
on a sudden, this so bright a sky ? I see heaven in the midst
cleave asunder, 3 and stars wandering athwart the firmament.
Signs so illustrious will I obey, whoever thou art who sum-
monest me to arms. . And thus having said, he repaired to
the river, and from the surface of the stream drew water, in-
voking the gods at large ; and loaded heaven with vows.
And now on the open plains his whole army marched, rich
in steeds, rich in embroidered vests and gold. Messapus
1 Thaumas, a son of Neptune and Terra, who married Electro, one 01
the Oceanides, by whom he had Iris, the Harpies, etc.
2 The mythic founder of Cortona, here put for the city itself. B.
3 " Discedere" is a customary term in describing this prodigy, as in
Cicer. de Div. i. 43. Jul. Obseq. de Prod. p. 60. Compare Plutarch.
Timol. p. 239, eSot-ev al<t>vi6ewc payevra rbv oiipavbv inrtp rf/f viut,
noTiv nal nepi<f>av( TO irvp. B.
302 ^ENEID. B. ix. 2765.
commands the van, the sons of Tyrrhus in the rear ; in the
center king Turnus moves along, wielding his arms, and over-
tops the rest by the whole head. 4 As the deep Ganges, fed
with seven peaceful rivers, in silence [flows] ; or, as the Nile,
with its fertilizing waters, when from the plains he has re-
tired, and now lodges himself within his channel. Here the
Trojans descry a sudden cloud condensed in wreaths of black-
ening dust, and darkness rising on the plains. Caicus first
from the opposite rampart calls forth : What numerous bands,
O citizens, are hither rolling in a black cloud of dust ? Quick,
bring arms, give darts, mount the walls: haste, the foe is at
hand. With loud outcry the Trojans block themselves up
within all their gates, and man the walls : for thus JEneas,
most accomplished in arms, at departing had ordered ; that,
if any accident should befall in the interim, they would not
venture to set their army in array, nor trust to the field ; only
guard their camp and walls secured by a rampart. There-
fore, though shame and indignation prompt them to engage,
yet they barricade their gates against [the foe], execute the
orders [of their chief], and in arms expect the enemy within
their holy turrets.
Turnus, flying out before, had got the start of his sturdy
band, accompanied with twenty chosen horse, and unexpected
comes upon the city ; whom a Thracian steed with white spots
bears, and a golden helmet with crimson crest defends.
Which of you youths first will join me to attack the foe ? See
here, he cries, and brandishing his javelin, darts it into the air,
the prelude of the fight ; and mounted aloft he rushes to the
field. With shouts his friends second the motion, and follow
with dreadful-sounding din: they wonder at the faint-heart-
edness of the Trojans, that they venture not themselves in the
equal field, nor oppose arms [to arms], but lie loitering in the
camp. Turbulent with ire, hither and thither on his steed he
surveys the walls, and by every pathless pass explores access.
As when a wolf, in ambush for a full cot of sheep, lies growl-
ing at the folds, enduring winds and rains at midnight ; under
their dams the lambkins in safety bleat ; he, fierce and ruth-
less with ire, rages against the absent prey : his ravenous
hunger by length of time contracted, and his blood-thirsty
jaws, pinch him incessantly: just so the Rutulian's anger
4 This line is a spurious repetition from JEu. vii. 784. B.
B. ix. 65-100. ^JNEID. 303
kindles, while he views the walls and camp ; and within his
hard bones anguish burns, [exploring] by what means he may
tempt access, and now force the inclosed Trojans from their
intrencbment, and pour them forth into the plain. Their fleet,
which, adjoining the side of their camp, lay concealed, fenced
around with ramparts and the streams of the river, he assails ;
loudly calls for flames from his triumphing followers; and
ardent fills his hand with a blazing pine. Then indeed they
exert themselves strenuously : the presence of Turnus urges
them on, and the whole youth are armed with black torches.
They pillage the hearths : the smoky brand send up a pitchy
light, and the flames hurl mingled ashes to the stars.
Ye muses, say, what god averted from the Trojans so fierce
a conflagration ? who from the ships repelled such mighty
flames ? Ancient h the testimony of the fact, but immortal is
its- fame.
At the time when ./Eneas first formed his fleet on Phrygian
Ida, and prepared to launch into the deep, Bereeynthia 5 her-
self, the mother of the gods, is said to have addressed great
Jove in these words : At my request, O son, bestow what
thy dear parent from thee craves, now that Olympus is sub-
dued. On a lofty mountain stood a piny wood by me many
years beloved, shaded with gloomy firs, and the maples'
boughs, whither they brought me sacred offerings : these
trees I with pleasure gave to the young Trojan hero, when
he wanted a fleet : now anxious dread [on their account]
presses my unquiet mind. Dissipate my fears, and let a
parent by her prayers obtain, that by no voyage they may be
shattered, or by whirling blast of wind subdued : let it avail
them that from our mountains, they sprung. To her in reply
her son, who rolls the stars of the universe, said : " Whither,
my parent-goddess, art thou urging destiny ? or what is thy
aim in this request? Shall vessels built by mortal hands
enjoy an immortal privilege, and ./Eneas, insured of safety,
run the round of dubious peril ? in what god is so great power
lodged ? However, when, having finished their course, they
shall reach the goal and the Ausonian ports, whichever of
them hereafter shall have escaped the waves, and carried the
Dardanian chief to the Laurentian fields, I will divest them
5 Berecynthia, a name of Cybele, from Mount Berecynthus in Phrygia,
where she was worshiped.
304 ^ENEID. B. rx. 101133
of their mortal form, and command to be goddesses of the
spacious ocean ; such as the daughters of x Nereus, Doto, and
Galatea, who cut with their breasts the foaming deep. He
said: and in sign of its being ratified by the rivers of his
Stygian brother, by those banks that roll with torrents of
pitch and black whirlpools, nods his head ; and with that nod
he made heaven's whole frame to tremble.
The promised day was therefore come, and the Fates had
filled up the destined periods of time, when the outrage of
Turnus called on the mother [of the gods] to repel the fire-
brands from her sacred ships. Here first an unusual light
flashed forth on the eyes [of the Trojans], and from the east
a vast refulgent cloud was seen to shoot athwart the sky, and
[in it] her choirs of priests ;* then through the air a tremen-
dous voice drops from above, and fills the hosts both of Tro-
jans and Rutulians : Be in no hurry, 7 ye Trojans, to protect
my ships, nor arm your hands ; sooner to Turnus it shall be
given to burn up the seas than those sacred pines. Glide on
at your liberty, glide ye on, goddesses of the main ; the parent
[of the gods] commands. And forthwith from the banks the
ships break each away her halsers, and dolphin-like diving
with their beaks plunge to the bottom of the sea. Thence,
wondrous prodigy, so many virgin-forms rise up, and ride
along the main, as brazen prows had before stood ranged
along the shore. The Rutulians stoop astonished in their
minds ; Messapus himself, his steeds being startled, is seized
with consternation ; the river too makes a pause, resounding
hoarsely, and Tiberinus recalls his current 8 from the deep.
But the confidence of daring Turnus abated not ; he briskly
raises their spirits with his words, and briskly chides [their
fears] : Against the Trojans are these portents aimed ; from
them even Jove himself hath withdrawn his wonted aid ;
[their ships] wait not the darts or fires of the Rutulians.
Therefore the seas are inaccessible to the Trojans, nor have
they any hopes of flight ; from one half of the globe they are
cut off; ancTthe land [the other half] is in our hands; so
many armed thousands the Italian nations bring to our aid.
To me the fatal responses of the gods, whatever they are to
6 i. e. the Corybantes, Curetes, and the Idaei Dactyli. B.
7 " trepidate" is explained as equivalent to " festinate" by Nonius i. 7. 13.
8 Literally, " his foot." B.
B. ix. 134 16f. JENEID. 305
which the Phrygians pretend, give no concern. ' To the Fates
and Venus enough is given, that the Trojans have reached
the lands of fruitful Ausonia. I too, on the other hand, have
my destiny, to extirpate with the sword the accursed race,
being robbed of my spouse : nor does the painful sense of
that indignity move only the sons of Atreus, 9 nor to Mycenae
alone is license given to take up arms [in such a cause].
But [perhaps] it is enough that they fell once : [doubtless],
had they thought it enough to commit the same crime but
once before, having conceived almost a total aversion toward
the whole race of women. They whom this confidence in
their intervening rampart, whom the temporary defenses of
their trenches, narrow partitions from death, inspire with so
much courage ; have they not seen the walls of Troy, built by
the hand of Neptune, sink down in flames ? But, my chosen
warriors, who prepares to storm their ramparts sword in hand,
and with me invades their disordered camp ? To me there
is no need of Vulcan-wrought armor, or of a thousand ships
against the Trojans. Let all the Tuscans this instant, con-
nect themselves with them in alliance : they need not fear the
night, and the dastardly theft of the Palladium, slaying the
guards of [Minerva's] lofty tower; 10 nor will we hide our-
selves in the dark womb of a horse ; we are resolved openly by
day to surround their walls with fire. I shall make them
sensible that they have not to do with Greeks and Argive
striplings, whom Hector kept at bay till the tenth year. Now
then, since the better part of the day is past, for what remains,
my men, as things have [thus far] succeeded well, cheerfully
refresh your bodies, and prepared expect the fight. Mean-
while to Messapus is assigned the charge to beset their gates
with sentinels, and inclose their ramparts with watch-fires.
Twice seven Rutulians are chosen out to guard the walls ;
and those are followed each by a hundred youths Avaving their
purple plumes, and glittering with gold ; they patrol around,
and mount guard by turns, and by turns stretched along the
grass they indulge the wine, and drain 11 the brazen bowls.
The fires together shine ; in play the guards spend the sleep-
9 Alluding to the abduction of Helen. B.
10 Turnus sneers at the conduct of Ulysses and Diomede. See ./En. ii.
164 sqq. B.
11 Compare Virgil's use of " vergere." B.
306 -/ENEID. B. DC. 168199.
less night These things the Trojans above from the ramparts
survey, and in arms guard their high posts ; their gates, too, in
hurrying consternation they strictly watch, and with bridges
join the outworks : they stand to their arms. Mnestheus and
fierce Serestus urge them on ; whom father ^Eneas appointed
directors of the youthful bands, and managers of affairs, if at
any time cross accidents should call them. The whole legion,
having shared the danger, by lot keep guard along the walls,
and perform the alternate duties of the post which each has
assigned him to maintain. 13
Nisus, the son of Hyrtacus, in arms most fierce, stood sen-
tinel of the gate ; whom Ida, famed for hunting, sent the at-
tendant of ^Eneas, nimble at the javelin and fleet arrows : and
by his side his companion Euryalus, than whom of all the
followers of ^Eneas no one was more comely, and none [more
graceful] wore the arms of Troy ; a stripling whose cheeks
were streaked with the first bloom of youth. Their love was
one, and with equal eagerness they rushed to the war : then,
too, they were posted in common to guard the gate. Nisus
says, Do the gods, Euryalus, infuse this ardor into our
minds? or is each one's earnest inclination his god? 13 Long
has my mind been instigating me either to attempt the fight,
or some great enterprise ; for it is not content with peaceful
inaction. You see what confidence in the state of their
affairs possess the Rutuliaus ; their lights twinkle here and
and there ; buried in sleep and wine they have laid themselves
down; the places all around are hushed in silence. Learn
further what my doubting thoughts suggest, and the purpose
which now rises in my soul. That ^Eneas should be invited
home, all, both the people and the higher orders, impor-
tunately crave ; and that messengers be dispatched to inform
him of the true state of our affairs. If to thee they will promise
what I demand (for, to myself the glory of the exploit is
enough), I think I can find a way under the brow of yon hill
to the walls and fortifications of Pallanteum. Euryalus,
stung with violent desire of praise, stood astonished ; at the
same time he thus addresses his ardent friend : Do you then,
Nisus, decline to admit me as your companion in those high
!2 Literally, " take turns as to what is to be defended." B.
13 " Dime nostris mentibus cupiditates injiciunt et desideria ? An deua
sit ipse mentis cupiditas ?" SEEVIUS. B.
B. ix. 200232. -rENBID. 307
enterprises ? Shall I send you away alone on such perilous
adventures 1 It was not thus my warlike father Opheltes
instructed me, bred up amid the alarms of Greece and the
disasters of Troy ; nor have I acted such a part in your com-
pany, following the magnanimous ^Eneas and his fortune in all
extremities. This soul, this soul of mine, contemns the light,
and deems that honor, to which you aspire, well bought, even
at the expense of life itself. To this Nisus [replied] : Believe
me, I had no such apprehensions of you ; nor have I reason.
No, so may great Jove, or whatever god with a favoring eye
regards what we aje about, return me to you triumphant.
But if any chance (as many such you see in an enterprise of
this hazardous nature), or deity hurry me on to adverse fate, I
Avish that you may survive : your age has a juster claim to
life. Let me leave one who may deposit me in the earth
among the dead, snatched from the field, or redeemed by ran-
som ; or who (if any fortune shall stand in the way of this)
may pay funeral obsequies to my absent corpse, and honor me
with an empty tomb : nor let me be the cause of such deep
anguish to thy wretched mother, who, my boy, of many
mothers alone adventurous follows thee, nor minds the walls 14
of the great Acestes. But he rejoined : In vain you weave
fruitless remonstrances, nor is my resolution now staggered
from its first position ; let us dispatch : at the same time he
awakes the guard. They succeed, and take their turns of duty :
having resigned his post, he sets forward in company with
Nisus, and they seek the king.
All other creatures over the whole earth with sleep relaxed
their cares, and lost their toils in sweet oblivion. But the
Trojan chiefs and select youth were holding consultation about
the important concerns of the state ; what they ought to do,
or who should be the messenger to ^Eneas. Leaning on their
long spears they stand, wielding their targets, in the center
of the camp and plain. Then Nisus, and with him Euryaltis,
with prompt alacrity, beg to be admitted ; [alleging] that
their business was important, and would compensate the de-
lay. 15 In this their hurry and trepidation lulus first re-
ceived them, and ordered Nisus to speak. Then thus Hyrta-
14 i. e. nor cares to tarry at Segesta with the other matrons. B.
15 i. e. the delay of their Counsels. B.
308 -(ENEID. B. IX. 233265.
cides 16 [spoke] : Ye followers of ./Eneas, listen with unbiassed
minds ; nor be these our proposals judged of by our years.
The Rutulians, buried in sleep and wine, have composed them-
selves to rest ; we ourselves have observed a place fit for our
secret design, that lies obvious in the double way from the
gate which is nearest the sea. Their fires are dying away,
and a pitchy smoke ascends to heaven. If you give us leave
to 'embrace the fortunate occasion, you shall soon see JEneas,
in quest of whom we go to the walls of Pallanteum, here pres-
ent with spoils, and after vast havoc made : nor set we out
strangers to the way ; often in the shady vales at hunting have
we seen the skirts of the to.wn, and have surveyed the whole
river.
At this, Alethes, loaded with years and matured in judgment,
[said] : Ye gods of my country, under whose divine protection
Troy always is, [though you have been angry with us for a
time], yet you do not intend utterly to destroy the Trojans,
since you have produced such souls, and such resolute hearts
in our youth. So saying, he grasped the shoulders and hands
of both, and with tears his face and cheeks bedewed. What
rewards, brave youths, what rewards of worth proportioned to
such enterprises can I judge possible to be conferred upon you ?
the fairest shall the gods in the first place and your own virtues
give ; then the rest the pious ./Eneas shall anon bestow, and
Ascanius, in his prime of life, who never will forget so high an
obligation.
But, subjoins Ascanius, I, whose sole happiness depends on
my father's safe return, conjure you, Nisus, by our great do-
mestic gods, by the tutelar deity of Assaracus, and the shrines
of hoary Vesta (whatever fortune or confident hope 17 I have,
I rest in your own bosoms), recall my parent, give back his
presence ; at his return all our sorrows will disappear. Two
goblets of silver will I give of finished work, and rough with
embossed figures, which my father won from sacked Arisba ; lft
and a pair of tripods, two great talents of gold, a bowl of an-
16 Hyrtacides, Nisus and Hippocoon are so styled, from their father
Hyrtacus, who was a Trojan of Mount Ida
17 i. e. of my father's safety. B.
18 Arisba, a colony of the Mityleneans in Troas, destroyed by the
Trojans.
B. it 266306. JBXEID. 309
tique cast, which Sidonian Dido gave me. But if it shall be
my fortune to be victorious, possess myself of Italy, enjoy the
crown, and divide the spoils by lot ; saw you on what steed,
in what arms Turnus rolled all in gold ? that very shield and
crimson-crested helmet I will choose out from the lot ; prizes,
Nisus, which are already your own. Besides the persons
of twelve select matrons my sire shall give, and as many cap-
tives of the other sex, and the arms that to them all belong ;
beside these, that ground which king Latinus himself pos-
sesses. And as for you, idolized boy, whom my age follows
in the nearer stages of life, I now receive you with my whole
soul, and embrace you for my companion in all events. With-
out thee no glory shall be sought by my exploits, whether I
am engaged in peace or war ; to thee 'chiefly I will intrust
my acts and counsels. To whom Euryalus thus replies : No
day shall evince me unfit for enterprises so heroic ; let fortune
fall out prosperous or adverse. But one thing above all favors
1 of thee implore : I have a mother of Priam's ancient
race, whom unhappy neither the land of Ilium, nor the city of
king Acestes, could withhold from going along with me. Her
now I leave a stranger to this perilous adventure, whatever it
/s, and without taking farewell ; night, and this right hand of
thine, be witness [for me, that it was not for want of duty,
but] that I can not bear a mother's tears ; but comfort her for-
lorn, I beg, and succor her in her desolation. Let me bear
away this hope from thee ; so shall I go with greater intrepidity
on all adventures. The Trojans with minds deeply affected
shed tears ; above all, comely lulus ; and the image of parental
affection touched his soul to the quick. Then thus he addresses
[Euryalus] : Expect all that is due to your glorious under-
takings. For that mother of thine shall be mine, and only the
name Creiisa shall be wanting ; nor small gratitude awaits
her for giving birth to such a son, whatever fortune may at-
tend the deed. I swear by this head of mine, by which my
father before me was wont to [swear], whatever I promise to
yourself, if you return in safety, and the event be prosperous,
the same shall be made good to your mother and kindred.
Thus weeping over him he speaks ; at the same time divests
his shoulder of his gilded sword, which Cretan Lycaon with
marvelous art had made, and dexterously fitted to the ivory
sheath. On Nisus, Mnestheus bestows the skin and spoil of
310 ^ENEID. B. ix. 307338.
a grim shaggy lion ; trusty Alethes exchanges with him his
helmet. Forthwith they march thus armed ; whom the whole
body of the nobles, both young and old, with ardent prayers
accompany in their way to the gates ; and the comely lulus,
too, endued with a soul and manly concern beyond his years,
gave them many instructions to carry to his sire ; but the
winds disperse them all, and fruitless give them to the clouds
away. 19
Having set out, they overpass the trenches, and amid the
shades of night advance to the hostile camps ; destined, how-
ever, first to be 20 the death of many. In loose disorder they
beheld bodies under the influence of wine and sleep, stretched
along the grass, chariots with their poles erect 21 along the
banks, men between the traces and the wheels ; arms together
lying, together wine. First the son of Hyrtacus thus spoke :
The right hand, Euryalus, must be boldly exerted ; now the oc-
casion itself invites us. Here lies our way : watch you, and
keep guard that no hand be able to lift itself against us ft cm
behind. These fields I will render waste, and lead thee along a
broad pathway. This said, he suppresses his speech ; at the
same time with his sword attacks proud Rhamnes ; who, as it
chanced, raised high on lofty carpets, was snoring forth sleep
from his whole breast ; at once a king himself, and an augur
in highest favor with king Turnus ; but not by his augur's
art could he ward off the stroke of death. Three servants by
his side lying at random among the arms, and the aimor-
bearer of Remus, and (whom he found beneath the very horses'
feet) the charioteer he stabs, and with his sword cuts off their
reclining necks; then from the master himself takes off the
head, and leaves the trunk gulping with blood ; in purple
gore the reeking earth and beds are drenched. Add to these
Lamyrus, Lamus, and young Serranus, who, of distinguished
beauty, bad been much engaged that night in play, and was
lying overpowered in every limb with the fullness of the god ;
happy if, without intermission he had equaled that play with
the night, and lengthened it out till day. As a famished lion
19 Because both the messengers perished by the way. B.
20 " Destined to be." This sense of " futurus," and similar participles,
is very common in Virgil. " Inimica" seems to contain the notion that
the camps would prcve fatal to themselves. B.
21 The horses being unharnessed. B.
T f-' *;
* ->- ,*
B. ix. 339370. JENEID. 3H
making wild havoc amid a sheep-fold (for ravenous hunger
prompts him on), grinds and tears the flock, feeble and dumb
with fear, and gnashes his bloody jaws : nor less was the car-
nage made by Euryalus : he too ah 1 on fire rages throughout,
and in the middle falls upon a vulgar nameless throng. Fadus
and Hebesus, Rhcetus and Abaris, not dreaming of their fate ;
Rhcetus broad awake, and viewing all ; but who, for fear, was
hiding himself behind a capacious jar ; in whose opposed
breast now close at hand he plunges the whole blade as he
rises, and withdrew it amid abundant death. He vomits up
the purple stream of life, and in death renders back his wine
mingled with blood. The other, with ardor at [the success
of his] stratagem, presses on, and now was advancing toward
the social bands of Messapus, where he saw the fire just in
its extremity dying away, and the horses in order tied crop-
ping the grass ; when Nisus thus briefly says (for he per-
ceived that they were hurried on by too eager love of slaughter),
Let us desist ; for the unfriendly light approaches. We have
glutted ourselves with vengeance to the full ; a passage is
made through our foes. Many arms of the heroes [slain], of
solid silver elaborately wrought, they leave behind, and, to-
gether with them, goblets and beautiful carpets. Euryalus
[seized] the rich trappings of Rhamnes, and the belts with
golden bosses ; presents which opulent Caedicus of old had
sent to Tiburtine Remulus," when in absence he plighted with
him a league of hospitality (he at death bequeaths the same
to his grandson to possess ; and after his death the Rutulians,
masters of the field and booty) : M these he seizes, and adjusts
to his valiant shoulders, but in vain. 24 Then he puts on the
well-fitting helmet of Messapus, with plumes adorned. They
quit the camp, and take possession of safe ground.
Meanwhile, three hundred horse, all shielded, with Volscens"
22 Remulus, a chief of Tibur, whose arms were seized by the Rutulians,
and became part of the plunder which Euryalus obtained.
23 We must understand, " gave them to Rhamnes." Wagner with
reason considers this line spurious. B.
24 "Nequidquam" must be joined with "aptat," not with "fortibus,"
as is remarked by Servius. Compare vss. 312 sq. B.
25 Volscens, a Latin chief, who attacked Nisus and Euryalus as they
returned from the plunder of the Rutulians. He killed Euryalus, but
was himself immediately slain by Nisus.
-<ENEID. B. ix. 371 404.
at their head, dispatched before from the city of Latinus,
(while the rest of the legion in battle-array slowly on the plains
advance), were marching up, and bore an answer to king
Turnus. And now they were approaching the camp, and
just entering the rampart, when at a distance they espy them
turning away on the left-hand path ; and in the glimmering
shade of night the helmet betrayed the unwary Euryalus, and
opposed to the beams of the moon, shot a gleamy light. Scarce-
ly was the object seen, Volscens from the troop exclaims
aloud : Stand, fellows ; what motive brings you hither ? or
who are ye thus in armor ? or whither are ye bound ? They
aimed not at making a reply ; but hastened their flight into
the woods, and trusted to the night. On each side the horse-
men plant themselves at the known passes, and encircle every
avenue with a guard. There was a wood wide overgrown
with stiff underwood and gloomy holms, which thick bram-
bles had choked up on every side ; here and there a path led
through hidden tracks. The thick shade of boughs and cum-
brous booty embarrass Euryalus, and fear misleads him from
the straight way. Nisus retires ; and now unawares had
escaped from the foe, and from the lakes which in after times
were called Albanian from Alba's name ; then king Latinus
had there his lofty stables. Soon as he stopped, and for his
absent friend looked back in vain, [he exclaimed :] Unfortu-
nate Euryalus, in what quarter have I left thee ? or whither
shall I follow thee ? Again measuring back the whole per-
plexed path of the mazy wood, he at once with accurate sur-
vey retraces his steps, and ranges over the silent thickets : he
hears the steeds, he hears the bustling noise, and signals of the
pursuers. Nor long time intervened, when a shout assails
his ears, and he sees Euryalus, whom the whole band are
now dragging along with sudden tumultuous uproar, betrayed
and intercepted by the treachery of the place and night, and
struggling hard in vain. What shall he do ? by what power,
by what arm shall he attempt the youth to rescue ? shall he,
resolute on death, fling himself into the midst of his foes, and
through wounds open a quick passage to a glorious death ?
Straight with his contracted arm brandishing a javelin, thus
to the moon on high with eyes upturned he addresses his
prayer : Do thou, O goddess, do thou propitious aid my enter-
-
, '
.. yri^ JF _-, ^
B. IX. 405 140. JENEID. 313
prise, thou glory of the stars, 58 and daughter of Latona, guard-
ian of the groves : if ever my father Hyrtacus for me brought
offerings to thy altars ; if ever I added to the number by my
sylvan spoils, or suspended any in thy vaulted ceiling, or af-
fixed to thy sacred roof ; suffer me to confound this congre-
gated rout, and guide my weapons through the air. He said,
and straining at once with his whole body, hurls the steel.
The flying spear cuts the shades of night, and lights on the
back of Sulmo, who stood opposite to him ; and there is
shivered, and with the splintered wood pierces through his
vitals. Down he falls cold [in death], discharging from his
breast the warm stream of lite, and with long sobs beats his
flanks. They throw their eyes around different ways. Lo,
he, animated the more with this, poised from the tip of his
ear 37 another weapon, while they are bustling about. The
whizzing spear pierced through both the temples of Tagus,
and warmed in his transfixed brain stuck fast. Volscens
furious storms, nor any where discerns the owner of the wea-
pon, or one on whom in his burning rage he may wreak his
vengeance. But you, meanwhile, he says, with your warm
blood, shall pay the forfeit of both : at the same time with
sword unsheathed he rushed on Euryalus. Then indeed in
terrible agony Nisus frantic screams aloud ; nor longer was
able to conceal himself in darkness, or to support such deep
distress : On me, on me, here am I who did the deed, O turn
your swords on me, Rutulians : mine is all the offense : he
neither durst nor could do aught : this heaven and conscious
stars I call to witness ; only he loved his unhappy friend too
much. Thus he spoke ; but the sword with force driven
home pierces through his sides, and bursts his snow-white
breast. Euryalus is overwhelmed in death, the blood flows
down his beauteous limbs, and on his shoulders the drooping
neck reclines : as when a purple flower, cut down by the
plow, pines away in death, or the poppies on their weary
necks drop down their heads, when with rain they chance to
be overcharged. But Nisus rushes into the midst of them,
and seeks Volscens alone through all : on Volscens alone he
fixes his attention ; whom (Nisus) the foes encircling close,
26 So Hor. Carm. See. 1, " Phoebe, lucidum coeli decus." Moschus,
vii. 2, Kvavectf lepov <j>i%s WKTeq uya.tya. B.
27 Virgil expresses the napd ^alrav ptyai of Eurip. Hippol. 220. B.
314 JENEID. B. E. 441 4?8.
this way and that way drive off. He not less keenly -presses-
on, and whirls his flashing sword, till he plunged it into the
mouth, full opposite, of the bawling Rutulian, and dying,
bereft his foe of life. * Then covered with wounds, he flung
himself on his lifeless friend, and there at length in peaceful
death reposed. .Happy pair ! if my verses can aught avail, no
day shall ever erase you from the records of time ; while the
race of ./Eneas shall inhabit the immovable Capitoline rock, and
a Roman monarch hold the empire [of the world].
The victorious Rutulians, masters of the prey and spoils,
in mournful procession bore lifeless Volscens to the camp.
Nor in the camp was the mourning less, when they found
Rhamnes pale in death, and so many chiefs slain by one
slaughter, and Serranus, and Kuma. There is a great con-
course about the bodies, about the expiring warriors, the
ground recent with warm slaughter, and rivulets full of foam-
ing blood. They recognize the spoils, and among themselves
Messapus' shining helmet, and the trappings with much sweat
regained.
And now early Aurora, leaving Tithonus' saffron-colored
bed, sprinkled the earth with new-born light ; the sun having
now shed his beams [on the world], and objects by his light
being again revealed ; Turnus rouses his men to arms, him-
self with arms begirt around, and each leader rallies to the
battle his troops arrayed in brass ; and by various rumors
they stimulate their martial rage. Even the heads of Nisus
and Euryalus, a piteous spectacle, on spears erect they in the
front affix, and with vast acclamation follow. On the left
side of the walls the hardy Trojans opposed to them their
host (for the right is bounded by the river) ; and they maintain
their ample trenches, and on their lofty turrets mournful stand,
as soon as the heads of the youths fixed up to view, but too
well known to the unhappy spectators, distilling black 'gore,
excited [their grief].
Meanwhile the winged messenger Fame, flying through the
affrighted city, rushes along, and glides to the ears of the
mother of Euryalus ; then suddenly, with misery over-
whelmed, the vital warmth forsook her bones. The weaving
instruments dropped from her hands, and her labors were
unraveled. The hapless woman flies out, and with female
shrieks, tearing her hair, frantic" takes her way with speed to
B. ix. 479511. ^ENEID. 315
the walls and nearest bands. Not of men, or of darts, or of
danger, is she heedful : then with these complaints she fills
the sky : Is this you" I see, Euryalus ? art thou that late
solace for my old age ? Cruel one ! couldst thou leave me all
alone ? and to thy wretched mother didst thou not allow ac-
cess to address to thee her last farewell, when on such peril-
ous adventures sent ? Alas ! in a strange land, given a prey
to Latian dogs and fowls, thou liest ! nor I, thy own mother,
laid thee out for thy funeral obsequies, nor closed thy eyes,
nor bathed thy wounds, covering thee with the robe, which
for thee in haste I forwarded both night and day, and with
the loom solaced my aged cares. Whither shall I go in pur-
suit of thee ? or what land now holds thy limbs, thy mangled
members, and lacerated corse ? Is this all of thee, my son,
thou bringest me back ? is this what I have followed both by
land and sea ? Pierce me, O Rutulians (if yOu have any
tenderness), at me hurl all your darts ; me first cut off with
the sword : or thou, great father of the gods, compassionate
me, and with thy bolts thrust down to Tartarus this detested
head, since I can by no other means shake off cruel life. By
these doleful lamentations the minds [of the Trojans] are
deeply struck^ and a sorrowful groan is heaved from every
breast ; quite broken and benumbed are all their powers for
battle. Idaeus and Actor, by the direction of Hioneus and
deeply afflicted lulus, seize her while she is thus inflaming the
general grief, and in their arms bear her back to her dwelling.
Meanwhile the trumpet from afar, with its shrill-sounding
brass, chided with dreadful peal. 2 * Shouts follow, and heaven
echoes back the sound. The Volscians with uniformity ad-
vance, a testudo being formed. 80 They prepare both to fill up
the trenches and demolish the rampart. Some explore access,
and by scaling-ladders [seek] to mount the walls, where the
troops are but thin, and where, not so thick of men, the cir-
cling band is seen through. On the other hand, the Trojans,
practiced -by long war to defend their walls, poured on them
every kind v of missile weapons, and pushed them down with
28 "Hanc" is used for "talem."- See Pierius. B.
29 " lucrgpuit" Is elegantly used. Servius well explains it thus : "et
insonuit, et segnitiam increpuit." B.
30 Cf. Sallust, Jug. 94, " turn vero cohortatus milites, et ipse extra
valum egressus, testudine acta, succedere." B.
316 ^ENBID. B. IX. 512 543.
sturdy poles. They rolled down rocks too of destructive
weight, trying whether they could break, through their fenced
battalion : while [the Rutulians] notwithstanding, under the
close fence of their shields, are willing to sustain all dangers.
Nor now are they able to stand the shock ; for, where thick
embodied ranks press on the attack, the Trojans roll and hurl
down an enormous pile, which made wide havoc among the
Rutulians, and broke the fence-works of their shields. Nor
care the bold Rutulians longer to contend in covered fight, but
by missile weapons strive to beat them from the rampart. In
another quarter Mezentius, horrid to be seen, brandished a
Tuscan pine, and hurls smoky firebrands. Again, Messapus,
a horseman brave, the progeny of Neptune, makes a breach
in the rampart, and calls for ladders against the walls.
Ye [sacred Nine, and thou], Calliope, [in chief] 31 aid me
while I sing what desolations, what deaths there Turnus then
with the sword effected, what hero each sent down to Pluto ;
and trace with me the vast outlines of the war : for ye, O
goddesses, both remember, and can rehearse them.
Of height prodigious, and with lofty communications, 32
there stood a tower, commodious in its situation, which with
their utmost efforts all the Latins strove to storm, and with
the full extent of their resources to overthrow : the Trojans,
on the other hand, defended it with stones, and flung darts in
thick volleys through the hollow loop-holes. Turnus in the
foremost tossed a blazing brand, and to the sides [of the tower]
fixed the flame, which by the wind diffusely spread, seized the
boards, and to the pillars clung until they were consumed. 33
[The Trojans], all aghast, raised a fearful bustle within, and
shelter from the disaster sought in vain. While they crowd
together, and'retreat into that part which is free from the con-
tagious ruin, then suddenly the tower, with the weight [over-
burdened], tumbled down, and with the crash all heaven thun-
ders : down to the ground half dead they come, an immense
pile of ruins following, pierced with their own weapons, and
31 I have retained Davidson's translation of this bold syllepsis, for
which, as Servius remarks, correct language would require, "vbs Musae,
aut tu, Calliope." B.
3 2 i. e. from the walls.
33 Anthon renders " partially consumed." But the other sense seems
borne out by Silius i. 363, "pluteis Vulcanus exercet adesis." B.
B. ix. 544581. .&NEID. 31 Y
their breasts transfixed with the iron-pointed wood. Helenor
alone and Lycus with great difficulty escaped : whereof the
elder Helenor (whom the slave Licymnia by a stolen embrace
had borne to the Lydian king, and sent to Troy in forbidden
arms) was lightly armed with a naked sword, and inglorious
with his escutcheon blank. And as soon as he saw himself
amid Turnus' thousands, and on either hand around him
ranged the Latin troops ; as a beast of chase, which, hemmed
in by a thick band of huntsmen, rages against their darts, will-
fully flings herself on death, and with a bound springs on the
hunters' spear; just so the youth, certain to die, rushes on
his foes, and where he sees the darts thickest, advances. But
Lycus, far more swift of foot, through foes and through arms,
by flight reaches the walls, and strives with his hand to grasp
their high summits, and reach the arms of his friends :' whom
victorious Turnus at once with swift career and dart pursuing,
thus upbraids : Fool, didst thou hope thou wouldst be able to
escape our hands ? At the same time he gripes him hanging,
and with a great fragment of the wall pulls him down : as
when Jove's armor-bearer, soaring on high, hath in his
crooked talons raised aloft either a hare, or snow-white swan ;
or, sacred to Mars, the wolf hath snatched from the folds a
lambkin, by the dam with many a bleating sought. The shout
from every quarter rises. They fall on, and with heaps of
earth fill up the trenches ; others to the battlements toss the
blazing brands. With a rock, and vast fragment of a mount-
ain, Bioneus overthrows Lucetius, approaching to the gate,
and armed with flames ; Liger Emathion, Asylas Chorinaeus,
the one skilled in the javelin, the other in the far-deceiving
arrow ; Caeneus [overthrows] Ortygius, Turnus the victorious
Caeneus : with Itys, plonius, Dioxippus, Promulus, Sagaris,
and Idas standing in defense of the lofty turrets : Capys
Privernus. Him the spear of Themilla at first had grazed ;
[on which he], infatuate, throwing away his shield, applied
his hand to the wound ; up to him then the arrow glides on
its wings, and to the left side his hand was nailed : and deep
lodged within, with a deadly wound, it burst the breathing
engines 34 of the soul. In arms illustrious the son of Arcens 3 *
34 " Definitio pulmonum, qui dicuntur a spirando." SERVIUS. B.
33 Arcens, a Sicilian? who permitted his son to accompany ^Eneas into
Italy, where he was killed by Mezentius.
318 jENEID. B. ix. 582612.
stood, clad in an embroidered chlamys, and shining in Iberian
purple, of distinguished form ; whom his father Arcens sent,
in the grove of Mars bred up about the streams of Simaethus,"
where, fat [with offerings] and placable, the altar of Palicus"
stands. Mezentius himself, having laid aside his arms, thrice
whirling around his head the thong, discharged a hissing
sling, and with the half-melted lead clove his temples asunder
as he stood full opposite to him, and stretched him at his full
length on a large space of the sandy plain. Then for the first
time in war Ascanius is said to have directed a fleet arrow,
having been wont before only to fright the fugitive beasts of
chase, and by his hand to have prostrated brave Numanus,
whose surname was Remulus, and who had to wife the
younger sister of Turnus, in wedlock lately joined. Before
the van, bawling aloud [whatever first occurred, whether]
decent or indecent to hear, and in heart puffed up with his new
regal honor, he stalked, and thus with vast clamor made
his vaunt : Ye Phrygians, twice enslaved, are you not ashamed
to be a second time shut up by blockade and entrenchments,
and to screen yourselves from death within your walls ? Lo,
these are they, who by force of arms claim to themselves our
brides ! What god, what madness drove you to Italy ? They
are not the sons of Atreus you have here, nor the crafty-
tongued Ulysses ; but a race hardy from their original. Our
infants soon as born to the rivers we first convey, and in the
rigid icy stream we harden. In the chase our boys are keen,
and harass 38 the woods : their pastime is to manage steeds, and
dart the arrow from the bow. Our youth again of labor
patient, and to frugality inured, either by the harrow subd le
the ground, or batter towns in war. Our whole lifetime is
worn out in arms, and with the inverted spear we goad the
backs of our steers ; nor does slow age impair our strength of
mind, or alter our vigor. Our gray hairs we with the helmet
36 Simaethus (Giaretti), a river of Sicily which falls into the sea be-
tween Catana and Leontini. In its neighborhood the gods Palici were
born, and particularly worshiped. ',-
37 As the Palici (sons of Jove by the nymph ^Etna, or the muse Tha-
lia) were two in number, we should perhaps read "Palicum" with
Cerda. I myself prefer " Palicis," which might be more easily corrupted
from ignorance of this use of the dative. B.
33 For this use of "fatigare," compare Yal. Flacc. iii. 26. So "fatigat
Hebrum," Silius ii. 74. B.
B. ix. 612644 ^INEID. 319
press ; and still 't is our delight to sweep together fresh booty,
and to live on plunder. Your very dress is embroidered with
saffron-hues and gaudy purple ; indolence is your heart's de-
light ; to indulge in dances you love ; your vests have sleeves,
and your miters ribbons. O Phrygian women, surely, for Phryg-
ian men you can not be ! go range along the lofty tops of
Dindymus, 30 where the pipe sounds the discordant 40 note to you
accustomed. The timbrels and Berecynthian flute 41 of the
Idaean mother Cybele invite you : leave arms to men, and from
the sword refrain. Him blustering thus in words, and proclaim-
ing horrid indignities, Ascanius could not bear ; and, fronting
him full, on the horse-hair string extended his arrow, and draw-
ing both his arms to a wide distance, paused, first suppliant ad-
dressing Jove in vows : Almighty Jove, assist my daring enter-
prise. So to thy temples will I bring thee solemn offerings,
and before thy altars present a bullock with a gilded forehead
of snowy whiteness, and bearing his head of equal stature with
his dam, who already butts with his horn, and spurns the sand
with his feet. The sire gave ear, and from a serene quarter of
the sky thundered on the left. At the same time twangs the
deadly bow ; and Avhizzing dreadful flies the drawn-back arrow,
and passes through the head of the Rutulian, and with the steel
point transfixes his hollow temples. Go, insult valor in haughty
terms. To the Rutulians your twice subdued Phrygians send
back this answer. Ascanius said no more. The Trojans second
him with acclamation, ring with joyous applauses, and extol his
valor to the stars.
In. the ethereal region fair-haired Apollo was then by
chance surveying from above the Ausonian troops and city,
seated on a cloud, and thus he bespeak victorious lulus : Go
on, increase in early valor, O boy ! Such is the pathway to
the stars, O descendant of the gods, and from whom gods are
to descend. Under the line of Assaracus all wars by fate or-
dained in justice shall subside ; nor is Troy capable of con-
taining thee. At the same time, having pronounced these
39 Dindymus, a mountain of Galatia in Asia Minor, where Cybele was
worshiped.
40 Literally, " its twofold tone." " Biforis" simply means that it had
but two perforations. B.
41 These flutes were formed of box. B.
320 -rfENEID. B. ix. 645679.
words, he throws himself from the lofty sky, divides the whis-
pering gales, and seeks Ascanius ; then in the features of his
face he is transformed into aged Butes. To Dardanian Anchises
this man had formerly been armor-bearer, and faithful guardian
at the gate : then father ^Eneas assigned him the companion
of Ascanius. Thus marched Apollo, in every thing resembling
the aged sire, both in voice and complexion, in silver locks, and
arms fierce of rattling din : and in these words he addresses
the ardent lulus : Offspring of ^Eneas, let it suffice that by thy
shafts Numanus hath fallen, thyself unhurt : to thee this first
glory great Apollo vouchsafes, and envies not thy similar feats
of arms. For what remains, O boy, abstain 42 from fight. This
said, Apollo dropped his human appearance, in the midst of
the interview, and into thin air far vanished out of sight. The
Dardanian chiefs knew the god and his divine shafts, and
in his flight perceived his rattling quiver. Therefore, by the
mandate and divine authority of Phoebus, they restrain As-
canius greedy for the fight: themselves once more to the
combat advance, and on apparent dangers throw their lives.
Along the battlements round the whole compass of the walls
their acclamations run : they bend the rapid bows, and
whirl the slings. All the ground is strewn with dari.s ; then
shields and hollow helmets in the conflict ring : a fierce en-
gagement ensues ; with such fury as a shower by the influ-
ence of the rainy Kids 48 arising from the west lashes the
ground ; or as thick as storms of hail come down headlong
into the floods, when Jupiter in the south wind tremendous
hurls down a watery tempest, and bursts the hollow clouds in
the sky.
Pandarus and Bitias, sprung from Alcanor of Mount Ida,
whom sylvan Hiera trained up in Jupiter's sacred grove,
youths tall as their native firs and mountains, on their arms
relying, throw open the gate which by their general's com-
mand was intrusted to their charge, and from the ramparts
voluntarily challenge the foe. Themselves within, on right
and left, before the turrets stand, armed with steel, and their
towering heads with plumes adorned : as about the crystal
42 Homer IL A. 422, TroAe/zou 6' dworraveo irufnrav. B.
43 These stars rise in October, and are always attended with rain.
They are seated in the constellation Auriga. See Servius. B.
B. DC. 680714. JENEID. 321
streams, whether on the banks of Po, or by the pleasant
Adige" two aerial oaks together rise, and shoot up to heaven
their unshorn heads, and nod with their towering tops. The
Rutulians, soon as they saw a passage, opened, rush in.
Forthwith Quercens, Aquicolus graceful in arms, and Tmarus
in mind precipitant, and martial Hsemon, with all their troops,
either routed turned their backs, or at the very threshold of
the gate laid down their lives. Then the hostile minds
[within] grow more fierce with rage ; and thither now the
Trojans flock in thick embodied troops, and dare to encounter
hand to hand, and make sallies 4 ' [on the foe]. To Turnus the
leader, in a different quarter raving, and throwing the troops
into disorder, intelligence is brought that the enemy rages
with fresh slaughter, and had set the gates wide open. He
quits his present enterprise, and stirred with hideous rage,
rushes forward to the Trojan gate, and the haughty brothers ;
and first Antiphates (for he presented himself the first), the
spurious issue of noble Sarpedon by a Theban mother, with a
javelin hurled he overthrows. The Italian shaft 4 " flies
through the thin air, and, piercing the stomach, sinks deep
into his breast; the gaping aperture of the wound emits a
foamy tide of black blood, and in his transfixed lungs the steel
is warmed. Then Merops, Erymas, and Aphidnus with his
hand he stretches on the plain; next Bitias, flashing fire from
his eyes, and in soul outrageous ; not by a javelin, for to the
javelin he would not have resigned his life ; but a brandished
fiery dart loud hissing flew, like a bolt of thunder shot, which
neither the two bulls' hides [which formed his shield], nor his
trusty corselet with double scales of gold, were able to sus-
tain : his enormous -limbs fall prostrate on the ground. Earth
gives a groan, and over him his buckler thunders loud. As on
Baia's 47 Euboean shore there falls at times a rocky pile, which
before built of enormous bulk they in the ocean place ; thus
tumbling headlong it draws ruin with it, and dashed against the
shallows, sinks to its rest quite down : the seas are all embroiled,
44 Adige, the ancient Athesis, a river of Cisalpine Gaul; it rises in the
Rhoetian Alps, and falls into the Adriatic.
43 Such is the sense of " procurrere." See Drakenb. on Silius, vii.
566. B.
46 Literally " cornel-wood." B.
47 Baia, a city of Campania, on a small bay west of Naples, and oppo-
site Puteoli, said to have been founded by Baius, a companion of Ulysses.
14*
322 ^NEID. B. ix 714747.
and tbe black sands are heaved on high ; then at the roaring
noise high Prochyta 48 trembles, and Inarime's hard bed, thrown
on Typhoeus by Jove's command. Here Mars potent in arms
inspired the Latins with additional courage and prowess, and
deep in their breast plies his sharp goad ; and on the Trojans
he threw flight and grim terror. [The Latins] from every
quarter gather, now that opportunity of a battle is offered,
and the warrior god hath fallen upon their minds. Pandarus,
soon as he perceives his brother stretched at his length, in
what situation their fortune stands, and what an unexpected
turn is given to their affairs, hurls the gate with vast force on
the turned hinge, shoving it along with his broad shoulders,
and leaves many of his friends shut out from the city in the
hard combat ; but others with himself he incloses, and admits
them a? they pour forward : infatuate ! who did not mark the
Rutulian prince amid the troops rushing upon him, or eagerly
confined him within the city, as a hideous tiger among the fee-
ble flocks. Instantly an unusual light flashed from his eyes, and
his arms sounded dreadful ; his flaming crests tremble on his
head, and from his shield the gleamy lightning darts. The
Trojans suddenly discover his detested face and hideous limbs,
and are confounded. Then mighty Pandarus springs out,
and, inflamed with rage for his brother's death, addresses him
aloud : Not Amata's palace thy promised dowry this, nor is it
the heart of Ardea that contains Turnus within his native
walls. The hostile camps you see ; there is no possibility of
your escaping hence. Turnus with mind sedate smiling on
him [says] : Begin, if any courage be in thy soul, and hand
to hand with me engage ; to Priam you shall report that here
too you found an Achilles. He said. The other, exerting
his utmost force, hurls at him a spear rough with knots and
the green rind. The air received the wound; Saturnian
Juno interposing turned it aside, and the spear fixes in the
gate. But not so this weapon, which my rigrht hand wields
with might, shall you escape ; for not [so feeble is 49 ] he who
. .
43 Prochyta (Procida), an island of Campania, between the island of
Inarime and the coast, Inarime (Ischia). an island near the coast of
Campania, with a mountain, under which Jupiter is feigned to have con-
fined the giant Tiphoeus.
" "Is" is here used for "talis," as "hune" for "talem" in vs.
481. B.
B. ix. 74=8781. jENEID. 323
owns the weapon, or who inflicts the wound. Thus he said ;
and rises to his sword lifted high, and in the middle between
the temples, his forehead with the blade cleaves asunder, and
[pierces] his beardless cheeks with a hideous wound. A sound
ensues ; with his mighty weight earth receives a shock. In
death he stretches on the ground his stiffening limbs, and arms
bespattered with blood and brains ; and on this side and that
side his head in equal parts from either shoulder hung. In
tumultuous consternation the Trojans turning their backs, fly
hither and thither; and had the conqueror immediately con-
ceived the thought of tearing away the bolts with his hands,
and admitting his comrades by the gates, that day both to the
war and [Trojan] race had been the last : but fury and mad de-
sire of slaughter drove him on the foes now full in his view.
First Phalaris and Gyges (having smitten on the ham) 60 he
catches up ; then seizing their spears, darts them into the backs
of the fugitives : Juno supplies him with force and courage.
He joins Halys their companion [in death], and Phegeus, hav-
ing transfixed his shield ; next Alcander and Halius, Noemon
and Prytanis on the walls, unapprised [of his admission], and
rousing the martial spirit [of their friends]. Lynceus advancing
against him, and calling on his friends, he from the rampart
dexterously with his glittering sword assails, straining every
nerve : his head, together with the helmet, at one close blow
struck off, was laid far off ; the next [attacks and kills] Amy-
cus, that destroyer of the savage kind, than whom no one was
more skillful to anoint" the dart, and arm the steel with poison ;
and Clytius, a son of ^Eolus, and Creteus, a friend to the Mu-
ses ; Creteus, the Muses' companion, who in the song and lyre
still took delight, and to adapt poetic numbers to the strings :
of steeds, and arms, and combats of heroes he forever
sang.
At length the Trojan leaders, Mnestheus and fierce Se-
restus, apprised of the slaughter of their troops, assemble ;
and perceive their friends dispersed and the enemy within the
citv. And Mnestheus calls: Whither, whither next bend ye
so The nature of this wound shows that he was flying with the rest,
as Anthon observes. C Ovid. Met. viii. 364, "succiao liquerunt pop-
lite nervi." B.
51 i. e. to poison. So " ungere" is used in Hor. Od. ii. 1. Lucan ill
266. B.
324 ^LNEID. B. ix. 782819.
your flight? what other walls, what other fortifications have
you now beyond this ? Shall one man, O citizens, by ramparts
every way hemmed in, spread such vast havoc through the
city with impunity ? shall he dispatch to Pluto so many of
the most illustrious of our youths ? Can neither shame nor
pity toward your unhappy country, your ancient gods, and
great ./Eneas, touch your recreant breasts? Fired by these
words they are fortified [with courage], and in a close body
stand firm. Turnus begins by slow degrees to retreat from the
fight, and make toward the river, and that part [of the wall]
which is bounded by the stream. So much the -more keenly
the Trojans press upon him with loud acclaim, and form a
clustering band : as with annoying darts a troop [of hunters]
press on after a fierce lion ; while the appalled savage, surly,
lowering stern, flinches back ; nor rage, nor courage, sufier him
to fly ; nor can he, for darts and men (though fain indeed he
would), make head against them ; just so Turnus hovering in
suspense backward withdraws his lingering steps ; and his
soul with rage tumultuous boils. Even then twice had he at-
tacked the enemy in the center; twice along the walls he
chased the troops in confusion routed. But [issuing] from the
camp in haste, the whole host against him alone combine ;
nor dares Saturnian Juno supply him with strength against
them, for Jupiter sent down from heaven aerial Iris, bearing no
mild mandates to his sister, unless Turnus quit the lofty walls
of the Trojans. Therefore, neither with his shield nor arm is
the youth able to withstand so great a shock : he is so over-
whelmed on all hands with showers of darts. With incessant
clang the helmet round his hollow temples rings, and the solid
arms of brass are riven with battering stones ; from his head
the plumes are struck off; nor is his buckler's boss sufficient
to support the blows : The Trojans, and thundering Mnestheus
himself at their head, with spears redouble thrust on thrust.
Then all over his body the sweat comes trickling down, and
pours a black clammy tide; nor has he power to breathe;
languid, panting heave his weary limbs. Then at length in all
his arms with a bound he flung himself headlong into the
river. He, expanding his yellow bosom, received him at com-
ing up, and upbore him on his peaceful streams; and, having
washed away his stains of blood, returned him joyous to his
friends.
B. x. 128. ^ENEID. 325
BOOK X.
In the Tenth Book, Jupiter calls a council of the gods, and attempts in
vain a reconciliation between Juno and Venus, who favor the opposite
parties. The fight is renewed. ^Eneas returns and joins battle with the
Latins, when Pallas is killed bjr Turnus. who is saved from the avenging
hand of uEneas by the interposition of Juno.
.<.-...
MEANWHILE the palace of all-powerful heaven is opened,
and the parent of the gods, the' sovereign of men, summons a
council into the starry mansion, whence, from aloft, he views
all lands, the Trojan camp, and Latin nations. In the abode
with its two-valved gates, they take their seats ; Jove himself
begins : Ye high celestials, why is your purpose backward
turned ; and why so fiercely do ye with hostile minds con-
tend ? It was my will that with the Trojans Italy should not
engage in war : what means this dissension against my prohi-
bition ? what jealousy hath prompted these or those to pursue
hostilities, and rouse the sword ? The just time for fight will
come (anticipate it not), when hereafter fierce Carthage shall
on Roman towers pour down mighty ruin, and the opened
Alps : then shall leave be given you to fight with mutual
animosities, then to plunder. 1 At present forbear, and cheer-
fully ratify the destined league. Thus Jupiter briefly said ;
but bright Venus on the other hand not briefly replies : O
Sire, O eternal powers of gods and men ! (for what other sub-
sists whom now we can implore ?) seest thou how the Rutu-
lians insult, and how Turnus on his steed conspicuous is hur-
ried through the ranks, and swollen with successful war pours
along ? now not even their fenced bulwarks protect the Tro-
jans ; even within the gates, and on the very turrets of the
walls, they join battle, and the trenches are deluged with blood.
^Eneas unwittingly is absent. Will you never suffer them
from blockade to be relieved ? Once more our enemies, another
army too, are hovering over the walls of Troy just rising anew
into life ; and once more Tydides from ^Etolian Arpi* rises
1 f. e. to cany on war after the early fashion. Servius well refers this
to the "clarigatio," or public challenge offered by the Feciales (see Diet
Antiq.), observing that "Caedere" was equivalent to "res rapere," "sa-
tisfacere" to " res reddere." B.
2 Arpi, called also Argyripa, a city of Apulia in Italy, built by Dio-
mede after the Trojan war.
326 uENEID. B. X. 2963.
against the Trojans. I truly believe new wounds are reserved
for me ;' and I, your own progeny, await a contest with a
mortal. If without thy permission, and in defiance of thy
will, the Trojans have come to Italy, let them atone for their
offense ; and do not support them with thy aid : but if [they
came] in pursuance of so many responses, which powers celes-
tial and infernal both delivered, why now has any one the
power to pervert thy commands, or to frame new schemes of
fate ? What need have I to recall to mind the firing of their
fleet on the Sicilian shore ? or'why the king of storms and his
furious winds raised from JEolia, or Iris sent down from the
clouds ? Now, even to the powers of hell (that quarter
of the universe [alone] unsolicited remained) she has re-
course ; and Alecto, suddenly let loose upon the upper world,
infuriate hath roamed through the midst of these Italian
cities. For empire I am no further solicitous ; these hopes we
entertained while fortune was ours ; let those prevail whom
thou wilt rather have prevail. If there be no spot on earth
which thy rigid spouse will vouchsafe to the Trojans, thee
I conjure, O father, by the smoking ruins of demolished Troy,
permit me to dismiss Ascanius safe from arms ; permit my
grandchild to survive. For ^Eneas, truly let him on seas
unknown be tossed, and pursue whatever course fortune shall
giv-e him : let me but have power to protect the boy, and
rescue him from the horrid fray. Amathus is mine : lofty
Paphos, and Cythera, and the mansion of Idalia, are mine :
here, laying arms aside, let him inglorious spend his days.
Command Carthage to rule Ausonia with powerful sway;
from him no opposition shall arise to the Tyrian cities. What
hath it availed ./Eneas to escape the ravages of war, and to
have fled through the midst of Grecian flames ; and to have
drained to the dregs so many dangers both by sea and land
immense, while the Trojans are in quest of Latium, and of
another Pergamus again tottering to its fall ? Would it not
have been better for them to settle on the last ashes of their
country, and the soil where Troy once was ? Give back, I
pray, to the hapless ones their Xanthus and Simois : and,
further, permit the Trojans to struggle once more with the
disasters of Troy. Then imperial Juno, stung with fierce rage,
thus spoke : Why do you compel me to break my profound
3 Venus had been previously wounded by Diomede. B.
B.X. 64 93. , jENEED. 327
silence, and by words proclaim my smothered grief ? Did any
of the gods or human race constrain ^Eneas to pursue war, and
present himself as a foe to king Latinus ?* He set out for Italy,
by the authority of the Fates ; I grant it ; impelled by Cas-
sandra's mad predictions. Did we advise him to abandon his
camp, or to commit his life to the winds ? or to trust a boy
with the chief administration of the war, or with the city ;
or [to solicit] the protection of the Tuscan monarch, and
embroil nations that were at peace ? What god, or what rigid
power of mine, urged him to these guileful measures ? Where
was Juno on this occasion, or Iris, who, [you tell us,] has
been dispatched from above ? A high indignity, [no doubt,]
it is, that the Latins should surround your infant Troy with
flames, and that Turnus should settle in his native land ; he
whose grandsire is Pilumnus, 1 whose mother is the goddess
Venilia. 6 What is it then for the Trojans to assault the
Latins with the gloomy brand, or to inthrall kingdoms not
their own, and bear away the plunder ? What is it for them to
suborn iathers-in-law, and carry off betrothed spouses from
the bosoms [of their plighted lords] ? What is it for them to
sue for peace like suppliants, while on their ships they dis-
played the ensigns of war ? You can privately convey ^Eneas
from the hands of the Greeks, and in his stead spread before
their eyes a misty cloud and empty air : you too can trans-
form his ships into so many nymphs ; for us to have aided the
Rutulians against him ever so little is a heinous crime. ./Eneas,
[you say,] in ignorance is absent : and absent let him remain
in ignorance. Paphos is yours, Idalium also, and lofty Cythera ;
why then do you solicit a city big with war, and 'hearts a
rough mold ? Do we attempt to overturn from its foundation
thy frail Phrygian state ? is it we ? or rather he who to the
Greeks exposed the wretched Trojans ? Who' was the cause
that Europe and Asia rose together in arms, and by a perfidi-
ous crime violated their league ? Was it under my conduct that
the Trojan adulterer stormed Sparta ? or did I supply him
with arms, or foment the war by lust ? Then it became you to
4 Pilumnus, a deity worshiped at Rome, from whom Turnus boasted
of being lineally descended.
s Venilia, a nymph, sister to Amata, and mother of Turnus by Daunus.
6 "Quae" must not be joined with " causa," but taken independently,
as is evident from the imitation of Propert. ii. 2, 45, " Olim mirabar, quse
tanti ad Pergama belli Europae atque Asiae causa puella fuit." B.
328 jENEID. B. X. 94130.
be in fear for your minions ; now too late you rise with un-
just complaints, and throw out reproaches of no avail. Thus
Juno pleaded her cause ; and all the celestials murmured out
various assent ; as when the rising gales, pent in the woods,
begin to mutter, and roll along soft whispers, that to mariners
betoken approaching winds. '
Then the almighty Sire, whose is the chief command of the
universe, begins. While he speaks, the sublime mansion of
the gods is hushed, and earth from its foundation trembles ;
the lofty sky is silent; then the zephyrs are still ; the sea levels
its peaceful surface. Listen, therefore, and fix in your minds
these my words : since it is not permitted that with the Tro-
jans the Ausonians be joined in league, and your dissensions
receive no end ; whatever fortune to-day is for each, whatever
hope each cuts out for himself, be he Trojan or Rutulian, I
will regard them both without distinction ; whether the camp
[of the Trojans] be now besieged by the Latins, through the
decrees of fate, or in consequence of Troy's fatal error, and
inauspicious presages. 7 Nor do I exempt the Rutulians. To
each his own enterprise shall procure disaster or success.
Sovereign Jove shall be to all the same. The Fates shall take
their course. Bowing his head, he confirmed the promise by
the streams of his Stygian brother, by the banks that roll
with torrents of pitch and black whirlpools, and by his nod
made heaven's whole frame to tremble. Here the consultation
ended : then Jupiter rises from his golden throne, whom in
their center the celestial powers conduct to his palace.
Meanwhile the Rutulians at all the gates are keenly em-
ployed in slaughtering the troops, and encompassing the walls
with flames. On the other hand, the host of the Trojans
within their ramparts are closely shut up ; nor have they any
hope of escape. Forlorn they stand on the lofty turrets to no
purpose, and with thin bands beset the walls. Asius, the son
of Imbracus, and Thymoetes, the son of Hicetaon, the two
Assaracci, and aged Tybris, with Castor, lead the van : those
both the brothers of Sarpedon and Clarus, and Haemon, from
lofty Lycia, accompany. Acmon of Lyrnessus, inferior
neither to his father Clytius, nor to his brother Mnestheus,
7 i. e. " or through their wrongly interpreting the uncertain presages
which had been sent as a warning." Servius refers the remark to
" Cassandrae impulaus furiis" in vs. 68. B.
B.x.131 163. ^ENEID. 329
straining with his whole body, bears a huge rock, no incon-
siderable portion of a mountain. Some with darts, some
with rocks, strive to defend [the town] ; others hurl fire-
brands, and fit their arrows to the string. Lo, in the midst,
Venus' most worthy care, the young prince of Troy, with his
comely head uncovered, sparkles like the diamond which
divides the yellow gold, an ornament either for the neck or
for the head : or as shines the ivory by art enchased by box-
wood, or Orician ebony ;* whose spreading locks his milk-
white neck receives, and a circle of ductile gold upbinds.
Thee too, O Ismarus, the magnanimous nations saw aiming
wounds, and arming thy shafts with poison ; [Ismarus,] de-
scended from a noble Lydian family, where the swains till,
and Pactolus 9 waters with his golden streams, rich fertile
lands. Mnestheus too lent his aid, whom his former glory of
having beaten Turnus from the bastion greatly exalts : and
Capys : from him the name of the Campanian 10 city is
derived. They were mutually engaged in the combats of
rugged war : ^Eneas at midnight was plowing the waves.
For soon as having left Evander, entering the Tuscan camp,
he repairs to the king, and lays before him his name and
nation ; informs him what is his demand, what proposals he
brings ; what troops Mezentius is procuring for himself ; the
outrageous temper of Turnus ; reminds him how little confi-
dence there is in human affairs, and intermixes prayers : no
delay ensues. Tarchon joins his forces, and . strikes a league.
Then to the Lydian nation, disengaged from the restraint of fate,
enter the fleet, by order of the gods put under the conduct of
a foreign leader. ^Eneas' galley leads the way, under whose
beak are Phrygian lions yoked : Ida towers above, most grate-
ful to the Trojan exiles. Here great ^Eneas sits, and revolves
with himself the various events of war ; and Pallas attached
to his left side, now questions him of the stars, their path amid
the darksome night ; now of the sufferings he sustained both
by land and sea.
8 Orician ebony, from Oricum, a town of Epirus in Greece, on the
Adriatic.
9 Pactolus. a river of Lydia in Asia Minor, issuing from Mount Tmo-
lus, and falling into the Hermus below Sardes. The sands of the Pac-
tolus, like those of the Hermus, were mingled with gold.
10 i. e. Capua. B.
330 -iENEID. B. X 164159.
Now open Helicon, ye goddesses, and me inspire to sing ;
what troops meanwhile accompany j^Eneas from the Tuscan
coasts, man his ships, and are borne on the main.
First Massicus in the brazen-beaked Tigris plows the
waves, under whom is a band of a thousand youths, who left
the walls of Clausium, 11 and who the city Cosse ; 12 whose
weapons are arrows and light quivers on their shoulders, and
the deadly bow. With him stern Abas goes : his whole
squadron with burnished arms, and his stern with a gilded
Apollo shone. To him Populonia, his mother-city, had given
six hundred youths expert in arms ; but Ilva, 13 an island en-
nobled by inexhaustible mines of steel, three hundred. The
third, Asylas, the famed interpreter of gods and men, to whom
the fibers of victims, to whom the stars of heaven, are in sub-
jection, and the languages of birds, and the flashes of presag-
ing thunder, pours along his thousand close-ranged in battle-
array, and with erect spears. These Pisa, 14 a Tuscan city in
its territory, Alphean . in origin, to him put in subjection.
Astur follows, a most comely hero, Astur confiding in his
steed and parti-colored arms. Those who in Ca3re, 16 who in
the plains of Minio 18 dwell, and ancient Pyrgi, and unwhole-
some Graviscae, join [with him] three hundred (all have one
resolution to follow). Thee, Cycnus, 17 chief of the Lugurians,
most valorous in war, I can not pass over ; nor thee, Cupavo,
by few troops accompanied, on whose crest a swan's plumes
arise (your crime was love), the ensign of your father's trans-
11 Clausium, the ancient Clusium, a town of Etraria, on the banks of
the Clanis, where Porsenna was buried.
'2 Cosse and Populonia, maritime towns of Etruria.
13 Ilva (Elba), an island of the Tyrrhene Sea, between Italy and Cor-
sica; it was famous for its iron mines. DAVIDSON. Compare Butil.
Itin. i. 351, " Chalybum memorabilia Ilva metallis." B.
14 Pisa, a town of Etruria, at the mouth of the Arnus, built by a col-
ony from Pisa in Elis.
15 Csere, a city of Etruria, of which Mezentius was king when ./Eneas
came to Italy.
16 Minio (Mignone), a river of Etruria, falling into the Tyrrhene Sea.
Pyrgi and Grayiscae, maritime towns of Etruria.
17 Cycnus, a son of Sthenelus, king of Liguria, who was deeply af-
fected at the death of his friend Phaeton, and was metamorphosed into a
swan. Phaeton, the son of Phoebus and Clymene, according to the poets,
was intrusted by his father with the chariot of the sun for one day,
when, by his unskillful driving, he nearly set the world on fire, upon which
Jupiter struck him with a thunderbolt, and he fell into the river Po.
B. x. 190220. jENEID. 331
formation. 18 For they tell us that Cycnus, while for grief of
his beloved Phaeton he sings among the poplar boughs, his
sisters' shade, and with music soothes his disconsolate love,
[by transformation clothed] with downy plumes, brought upon
himself 18 hoary age, leaving the earth, and soaring to the stars
with his song. The son, in the fleet accompanying his coeval
troops, with ours impels the bulky Centaur : the monster stands
on the flood, and reared high threatens the waves with an
enormous rock, and with his long keel plows the deep seas.
The famed Ocnus so too leads on a squadron from his native
coasts, son of the prophetic Manto and the Tuscan river
[Tiber], who gave thee walls, O Mantua, and his mother's
name; Mantua rich in ancestors:" but they are not all of
one lineage. Three clans to her belong : under each clan are
four communities ; of those communities she herself is the
capital city. The strength [of her inhabitants are] of Tuscan
blood. Hence too Mezentius arms five hundred against him-
self, whom Mincius, sprung from the parent-lake Benacus,
crowned with azure reed, conveyed to the sea in hostile ships
of pine. The stern Aulestes advances, and, rising [to the
stroke], lashes the waves with a hundred oars; the surface
overturned, the billows foam. The enormous Triton bears
him with his shell-trumpet affrighting the azure floods : whose
hairy front, as he swims along, displays a human form down
to the waist, his belly terminates in a pristis, under his half-
savage breast the foamy surges murmur. So many chosen
chiefs in thirty vessels went to the aid of Troy, and plowed
with prows of brass the briny plains.
And now day had withdrawn from the heavens, and auspi-
cious Phoebe in her night- wandering car was shaking the
mid-region of the sky. JEneas (for anxiety gives not sleep
to his limbs) himself, seated at the helm, both steers and man-
ages the sails. And lo ! in his mid-course there came up to
him a choir of those who were his attendants before, nymphs
13 Put a comma after " pennse," taking the words " crimen amor ves-
trum" in a parenthesis. See "Wagner. B.
19 I have followed Heyne. The whiteness of his plumage made him
appear like an aged person. B.
20 Ocnus, the son of Tiber and Manto, who assisted ^Eneas against
Turnus. He built a town which he called Mantua, after his mother's
name.
2' So Statius Theb. i. 391, " Adrastus dives avis." B.
332 J3NEID. B. x 221253.
whom propitious Cybele had appointed to enjoy divinity in
the sea, and from ships to become nymphs : with equal motion
they swam along, 1 * and cut the waves ; as numerous as the
brazen-beaked vessels which had before been drawn up on
the shore. Their king at a distance they descry, and in
circling dances him surround : of whom the most accomplished
speaker, Cymodocea, following, with her right hand grasps
the stern, while with her back she rises [above the flood], and
with her left hand gently rows her way along the silent waves.
Then him unknowing she thus addresses: Wakest thou,
^Eneas, offspring of the gods ? awake and give your ship full
sails. We are the pines of Ida, from that mountain's sacred
top [once] thy fleet, now nymphs of the sea. When the per-
fidious Rutulian pressed us with fire and sword till we were
on the brink of ruin, constrained we burst thy cables, and go
in quest of thee through the ocean. The mother [of the
gods] in pity -new-fashioned in form, and permitted us to be-
come goddesses, and to pass our life under the waves. But
[know that] the boy Ascanius is blocked up in the wall and
trenches, amid darts, and amid the Latins arrayed in all
the terrors of Mars. Now the Arcadian horse, united with
the valiant Tuscans, have reached the place appointed : It is
the determined resolution of Turnus to intercept their march
with his troops, that they may not join the camp. Come,
arise, and at the approach of morn first command thy troops
to arms ; and take thy shield, which, of unconquerable might,
the god of fire gave to thee, and encircled its borders with
gold. To-morrow's sun (if you deem not my words vain)
shall behold vast heaps of Rutulian slaughter. She said ; and
parting, with her right hand shoved forward the lofty stern,
not unskillful in the art : the vessel flies along the waves
swifter than the javelin, and the arrow that keeps pace with
the winds. The rest then speed their course. The Trojan
son of Anchises, himself not knowing [the cause], is lost in
wonder, yet by the omen raises the spirits of his men. Then
surveying the high vault of heaven, he briefly prays : Boun-
teous parent of the gods, Ida?an Cybele, whose dear delight is
Dindymus, and turret-bearing cities, and lions yoked in pairs
22 So Oppian Hal. i. 565, laavro Buaaov oiarov. v. 477,
oiarof icpanrva 6euv. " Modo" refers to the keeping the ship properly
poised, while the impulse was given, as is remarked by Anthon. B.
B. X 254289. uENEID. 333
Under thy reins, be thou now my leader in the fight ; do thou,
O goddess, in due form render the omen propitious, and with
thy propitious influence aid the Trojans.
This only he said, and meanwhile the day revolved, was
now with perfect light advanced, and had chased away the
night. First he enjoins his troops to observe the signal, and
to dispose their minds for arms, and prepare themselves for
the combat. And now he has the Trojans and his camp in
view, standing on his lofty deck. Then next on his left arm
he raised aloft his flaming buckler. The Trojans from their
walls raise acclamations to the stars. Additional hope rouses
up their fury. Darts from their hands they hurl : as under
the gloomy clouds Strymonian cranes give the signal, and
swim along the skies with din, and from the south winds with
joyous clamor fly. But to the -Rutulian prince and Ausonian
leaders this seemed amazing ; till looking back they observed
the fleet turned toward the shore, and the whole channel of
the river gliding along with vessels. The tufted helmet on
his head blazes, and from the top of his crest a flame is poured
forth, and the golden boss of his buckler darts copious fires ;
just as when in a clear night the sanguine comets baleful
glare ; or, as Sirius, that blazing star, when he brings droughts
and diseases on sickly mortals, rises and saddens the sky with
inauspicious light. Yet daring Turnus dropped not his bold
purpose to preoccupy the shore, and, as they approached, .beat
them from the land. Then eagerly addressing his men, he
raises their courage, and briskly chides their fears :" That
which you ardently wished is come, by dint of valor to crush
[the foe]; Mars, himself, brave men, is in your power. 24 Now
each man be mindful of his wife and home ; now let him re-
flect on the mighty deeds, the glory of his ancestors. Let us
of ourselves make head against them by the stream, while they
are in disorder, and their first steps at landing stagger. Fortune
assists the daring. He said, and ponders within himself whom
to lead against [the enemy], or to whom he may instrust the
siege of the town.
Meanwhile ^Eneas by bridges lands his troops from their
lofty ships. Many watched the retreat of the ebbing sea, and
23 There seems little doubt that this line is a spurious introduction
from JEn. ix. 12T. B.
i. e. you cafc bring them to an open fight. B.
334 JENEED. B. x. 289316.
with a spring committed themselves to the shallows ; others
row themselves ashore. Tarchon having surveyed the strand
where there is no surf," and where no dashing wave remur-
murs, but the sea unbroken glides along with" the swelling
tide, suddenly turns hither his prow, and addresses his asso-
ciates : Now, my select band, ply the sturdy oars ; push
briskly, urge on your vessels ; cleave with your beaks this
. hpstile soil, and let the keel plow a way for itself. Nor
shall I refuse to dash my ship in pieces in such a port, if we
but once seize the land. Which as soon as Tarchon thus had
said, his mates rose to their oars at once. And full on the Latin
coast their foaming galleys bear, till the beaks rest on the dry
dock, and all the keels without harm are moved : but not so
thy vessel, Tarchon ; for while against the shallops dashed
she hangs on the fatal ridge, long balanced in suspense, and
tires the waves, she is staved, and exposes the crew in the
midst of the waves ; whom fragments of oars and floating
benches embarrass, while the tide retreating draws back their
steps.
Then no supine delay withholds Turnus ; but impetuous he
hurries on his whole host against the Trojans, and on the
shore ranges them full opposite. They sound the alarm.
^Eneas first attacked the rustic troops, an omen 26 of the fight ;
and routed the Latins, having slain Theron, their giant chief,
who boldly makes up to ^Eneas : through the brazen texture
[of his buckler], and through . his tunic rough" with gold, he
with the sword drains 28 his transfixed side. Next he smites
Lycas, who was cut out of his mother when dead, and to thee,
O Phoebus, devoted, because in infancy he was permitted to
escape the perilous chances of steel." Not far onward he
23 But others read " aperat" for " spirant." B.
26 Servius observes : " omen, quia, sicut nunc, sic ubique vincet
^Eneas." B.
27 Or " dull to the view." ANTHOX. But I prefer the explanation
of Gellius ii 6, " significat copiam densitatemque auri in summarum
speciem intexti." B.
23 i. e. " drinks the blood from his side." But it may also be taken
as equivalent to " transfodit." Servius observes : " cum enim a latere
quis aliquem adortus gladio occidit, hausit ittum dicunt." So Ovid Met.
v. 126, "Herenti latus haurit Abas." Sijius i. 392, "Et rapto nudum
clypeo latus haurit Hiberi." B.
29 Such children were consecrated to Apollo. See Servius. B.
B. x. 317353. ^ENEID. 33$
overthrows in death hardy Cisseus, and gigantic Gyas, a
they were felling the troops with clubs. Neither the weap-
ons of Hercules, nor their strength of arm, aught availed
them ; tor did they profit by having Melampus for their
father, the companion of Alcides, as long as earth- supplied
him with toilsome labors. Lo, at Pharus hurling a javelin,
he fixes it full in his bawling mouth, while he vaunts das-
tardly speeches. Thou, too, Cydon (while thou hapless art
pursuing Clytius, thy new charmer, shading his cheeks with
the first yellow down), overthrown by the Trifjafr arm, rre/
gardless of those loves which thou ever didst' .entertain fol
boys, hadst lain an object of compassion, had not-- a bend ef
brothers, the progeny of Phorcus, in close array made head"
against him : seven in number, and seven darts they fling ;
part from his helm and shield ineffectual rebound ; part just
grazing on his skin indulgent Venus turned aside. JEneas
thus bespeaks his trusty Achates : Supply me with darts (not
one against the Rutulians shall my right hand hurl in vain),
[of those] which on the Trojan plains once stood in the bodies
of the Greeks. 30 Then he grasps at once and tosses a mighty
spear ; it flying pierces through the brazen plates of Mseon ? s
shield, and his cuirass together with his breast transfixes.
To him comes up his brother Alcanor, and with his right
hand sustains his falling brother ; piercing whose arms the
darted spear flies straightly on, and drenched in blood, holds on
its course ; and from the shoulder by the nerves the arm hung
lifeless. Then Numitor, from his brother's body having
snatched a javelin, aims it at ^Eneas : but to him it is not
.permitted in his turn to transfix [the hero], and it grazed on
the thigh of great Achates. Here Clausus of Cures, confiding
in his youthful person, comes up, and wounds Dryops at a
distance with a rigid spear, under his chin with force driven
home ; and, transfixing his throat while the word is in his
mouth, at once of speech and life bereaves him : but he with
his front beats the ground, and at his mouth disgorges clotted
blood. Three Thracians, too, of Boreas' exalted line, and
three whom their father Idas and Ismara their parent soil
sent, by various fate he overthrows. Halsesus runs up, and
the Auruncian bands ; Messapus, too, the son of Neptune,
with his steeds conspicuous comes up : now these, now those,
30 Which had been plucked from the bodies of the slain. B.
336 ^ENEID. B. x. 354392.
strive 'to beat off each other. In the very confines of Ausonia
the contest rages. As in the spacious sky jarring winds with
equal rage and force raise war ; nor they to one another, nor
clouds, nor sea, [on either side] give way : long is the com-
bat dubious ; all things stand struggling against each other :
just so the Trojan and the Latin hosts encounter ; foot to foot
is fixed, and man to man closely joined. But in another quar-
ter, where the torrent had far and wide dispersed whirling
stones, and thickets uptorn from the banks, as soon as Pallas
saw the Arcadians, unused to combat on foot, turning their
backs to Latium fierce in the pursuit, since the rugged nature
of the ground induced them to let go their steeds ; now with
entreaty, now with bitter expostulation (the sole expedient left
in this distress), he rouses their valor : Whither, my fellow-
soldiers, do you fly ? By yourselves and your own gallant
deeds, by the name of Evander your chief, by the battles you
have won, and by my hopes, which now, emulating my father's
glory, trust not to your heels. With the sword you must
burst a passage through your foes, where that globe of men in
thickest array press on us : this way your ennobled country
calls you and Pallas your leader. They are not gods who
pursue us : mortal ourselves, by a mortal foe are we urged :
to us as many souls, as many hands, [as to them] belong.
Lo ! the ocean with his immense barrier of sea hems us in :
now land too is wanting for us to fly to : whither, into the
deep, or for Troy, shall we bend our course ? He said, and
into the midst of thick-embodied foes bursts a way. Him
Lagus first opposes impelled by his inauspicious fate ; him,
while he is tugging a stone of enormous weight, he transfixes,
with a whirled lance, where along the middle [of the back]
the spine divided the ribs ; and forces away the spear fast
sticking in the bones : whom, [while thus employed,] Hisbon
fails in striking from above, though this, indeed, he hoped ;
for, as he rushes on unguarded, while, by the cruel death of
his companion, he is driven to madness, Pallas surprises him
first, and buries the sword in his swollen lungs. Next Sthe-
nelus he attacks, and, of the ancient race of Rhcetus, Anche-
molus, who dared to violate, by incest, his step-dame's bed.
In the Rutulian plains, likewise, you twin-brothers fell, Lari-
dus and Thymber, Daucus' exactly similar offspring, undis-
tinguished by your own parents, and [the objects of] their
*
<*
B. x. 339 429. ^ENEID. 337
pleasing error. But now Pallas on you fixed cruel marks of
distinction ; for from thee, O Thymbras, the Evandrian blade
lopped off the head ; and thy dismembered hand, O Laridus,
seeks for thee its owner ; the dying fingers quiver, and gripe
once more the steel. Against their foes mixed indignation
and shame arm the Arcadians fired by this warning, and view-
ing the hero's glorious deeds. Then Pallas transfixes Rho2teus
flying across [him] in his chariot. This gave Eus space [to
live], and just so long respite : for at Dus he had aimed from
far the sturdy spear; which Rhoatus coming between inter-
cepts, as thee he flies, most valiant T_euthras, and thy brother
Tyres ; and, rolled from his chariot, half-dead, he spurns the
Rutulian fields. And, as in summer, the winds having risen
to his wish, the shepherd lets loose scattered fires among the
woods ; in a trice Vulcan's squadrons, having seized the in-
termediate trees, are at once extended in horrid, array over all
the spacious plains ; victorious he sits viewing the triumphant
flames : just so the whole valor of thy troops in one com-
bines, and supports thee, O Pallas. But Halaesus, fierce in
war, advances against the hostile bands, and within the covert
of his arms himself collects. Ladon, Pheres, and Demodocus
he knocks down ; from Strymonius with his shining blade he
strikes off the right hand raised against his throat ; with a
rock he batters Thoas' front, and scatters the bones mingled
with bloody brains. His father in the woods had concealed
Halsesus, presaging his fate. Soon as the aged sire in death
relaxed his aged eyes, the Destinies laid hands on him, and
devoted him to the arms of Evander, whom Pallas approaches,
first addressing his prayer thus : Grant now, O father Tiber,
to this missile steed I poise, success, and a passage through the
breast of stern Halaesus ; so shall thy oak possess these arms
and spoils of the hero. To this address the god gave ear ;
while Halaesus screened Imaon, in an unhappy hour he ex-
poses his defenseless breast to the Arcadian dart. But Lau-
sus, no small portion of the war, suffers not his troops to be
dispirited by the vast havoc which the hero made. First
Abas to him opposed he Mils, the knot and stay 31 of the battle.
Down drop Arcadia's sons, down drop the Tuscans, and
31 " Nodum" is a metaphor derived from the difficulty with which
knots are unfastened. On " mora" compare Silius L 479, "Eomani belli
inora" So Senec. Ag. 211. Troad. 124. Phoen. 458. B.
15
338 -ENEID. B. x. 430466.
you, ye Trojan's, frames undestroyed by the Greeks. Both
hosts in encounter join, with leaders and with forces equal ;
those in the rear press on the ranks before ; nor does the
throng leave room to wield their hands or weapons. Here
Pallas drives on and urges the attack ; there, in opposition to
him, Lausus ; nor is there great difference in their ages ; in
comeliness they are distinguished ; but their return to their
country fortune had denied. Yet he who reigns in heaven
supreme permitted not that with each other they should en-
gage ; their destiny awaits them soon from a superior foe.
Meanwhile Turnus, who through the midst of the host in
his fleet chariot cuts his way, his gentle sister warns to fly to
Lausus' relief. Soon as his friends he viewed, [he exclaimed],
It is time to desist from battle : against Pallas I alone am
bound : to me alone is Pallas doomed : would to heaven his
sire himself were spectator. He said ; and from the plain the
troops at his command retired. But the youth, struck with
the retreat of the Rutulians, and the imperious orders, gazes
on Turnus with astonishment ; over his huge body he rolls his
eyes, and with ferocious visage all the man aloof surveys.
Then with these words in return to the tyrant's speech moves
up : Now, or by bearing away triumphal spoils, or by illus-
trious death, shall I be signalized. For either chance my sire
is equal. Away with your threatenings. This said, he advances
into the middle of the plain. Round the Arcadian hearts the
cold blood congeals. Down from his chariot Turnus sprang ;
on foot prepares to meet him hand to hand. And as a lion,
when from his lofty place of observation he hath espied a bull
standing on the plains aloof, meditating the fight, flies up to
him ; such is the image of Turnus rushing [to the combat].
Soon as Pallas supposed him to be within reach of the darted
lance, he makes the first advance with strength unequal,
[trying] if fortune by any means will aid his bold enterprise ;
and thus to the lofty heavens himself addresses : By my father's
hospitality, and those boards which thou his guest didst visit,
Alcides, aid, I thee implore, my arduous attempt : may the
dying eyes of Turnus behold me strip him expiring of his
bloody armor, and let his dying eyes endure the sight of a
victorious foe. Alcides heard the youth, and deep in the bottom
of his heart a heavy groan suppresses, and pours forth unavail-
ing tears. Then the Sire with these kind words his son be-
B. x 467504. JENEID. 339
speaks : To every one his day is fixed : a short and irretrievable
term of life is given to all : but by deeds to lengthen out fame,
this is virtue's task. Under the lofty walls of Troy so many
sons of gods have fallen : with them even Sarpedon, my own
offspring, fell ; Turnus too his destiny calls, and to the utmost
verge of life he is arrived. He said ; and from the fields of the
Rutulians he averts his eye.
But Pallas Avith mighty force hurls the spear, and from the
hollow scabbard tears his shining blade. The weapon flying
lighted where the armor rises high on the shoulder, and, open-
ing a way through the extremity of the shield, at length too
on the great body of Turnus grazed. At this, Turnus, long
poising a javelin tipped with sharpened steel, darts it at Pallas,
and thus speaks : See whether ours be not the more penetrat-
ing dart. He said ; and with a quivering stroke the point
pierces through the mid-shield, through so many plates of iron,
so many of brass, while the bull's hide so many times encom-
passes it, and through the corselet's cumbrous folds transfixes
his breast with a hideous gash." He in vain wrenches out the
reeking weapon from the wound : at one and the same passage
the blood and soul issue forth. Down on his wound he falls :
over him his armor gave a clang ; and in death with bloody
jaws he bites the hostile ground. Whom Turnus bestriding,
says, Ye Arcadians, to Evander faithfully these my words re-
cord : in such plight as he deserved I send his Pallas back.
Whatever honor is in a tomb, whatever solace is in interment,
I freely give him. His league of friendship with ^Eneas shall
cost him not a little. And thus having spoken, he pressed
with his left foot the breathless corpse, tearing away his belt's
enormous weight, and the horrid story with which it was em-
bossed (in one nuptial night- a band of youths barbarously
murdered, and their bridal beds bathed in blood), 33 which
Clonus, Eurytion's son, had carved in abundant gold : in which
spoil Turnus now triumphs, and exults in the possession. How
blind is the mind of man to fate and future events ! how un-
willing to practice moderation, and how with prosperity elated !
The time will come when Turnus shall wish that it had been
purchased at a dear price, that Pallas had not been touched,
and when these spoils and this day he shall detest. But Pallas,
32 Servius, and I think more correctly, refers " ingens" to " cuspis." B.
C3 i. e. tho story of the daughters of Danaus. B.
340 JENEHX B. X 505542.
stcetched on his shield, a numerous retinue of his friends, with
many a groan and tear, back convey. O thou that art about
to return to thy parent, his grief and ample glory both ! This
day first gave thee to the war, the same snatches thee away ;
yet after thou hast left vast heaps of Rutulians.
And now not mere rumor, but an unquestionable voucher
of so great disaster flies to ./Eneas ; that his friends were on
the verge of utter ruin, that it was high time to succor the
flying Trojans. "With his sword he mows down whatever was
near him, and with the steel impetuous forces a wide passage
through the host, in quest of thee, O Turnus, proud of thy re-
cent slaughter. Pallas, Evander, all are full before his eyes ;
the first banquets in which then a guest he joined, and their
plighted right hands. Here four youths, the progeny of Sulmo,
and as many more whom Ufens bred, alive he snatches ; whom
as victims he may offer to the shade [of Pallas], and drench
with their captive blood the flames of his funeral pile. Next,
when at Magus he aimed from afar his hostile lance, he art-
fully stoops, and over his head the quivering javelin flies ; and
embracing his knees, him suppliant he thus addresses : By my
father's manes, and the hopes of thy rising son lulus, I im-
plore thee, spare this life, 34 both for a son and for a father's
sake. A stately mansion I possess ; talents of silver embossed
lie deep-lodged under ground ; masses of wrought and un-
wrought gold I have ; it is not upon this that the victory of
the Trojans turns: one life will not so great a difference
make. He said ; to whom ^Eneas thus, on the other hand,
replies : Those many talents of gold and silver you mention,
reserve for your sons : those mutual stipulations of war Turnus
first cancelled from the moment Pallas was slain. So [thinks]
the manes of my sire Anchises, so thinks lulus. This said,
he grasps his helmet with his left hand, and bowing back his
neck, as he begged for mercy, plunged [in his throat] his
sword up to the hilt. Not far on ^Emomdes, the priest of
Phoebus and Diana, whose temples a miter with holy fillets
bound, in his robe and burnished armor all refulgent : him
encountering he drives along the plain, and standing over him
fallen, offers him a victim, and covers him with the deep shades
[of death]. Serestus, gathering up his arms, bears them on
34 A Greek expression. Herodot. viii. 118, tauw ftaaiZrjoe rf/v
So Juvenal vi. 653, " Morte viri cupient animam servare catellse." B.
B. x. 542576. ^ENEID. 341
his shoulders as a trophy to thee, king Mars. Caeculus, born
of Vulcan's race, and , Umbro, who came from the Marsian
mountains, renew the fight. The Trojan prince burns with
fury against them. Anxur's left arm and his buckler's whole
circumference he with his sword had struck off. Some mighty
spell he had pronounced, and imagined there would be virtue
in the word ; perhaps he was exalting his soul to heaven with
vain hopes, and had proposed himself gray hairs and length
of years. On the other hand, Tarquitus, whom to sylvan
Faunus the nymph Dryope bore, in his refulgent arms exult-
ing, to the incensed hero himself opposed. He, darting a
spear with full force, renders his corselet and buckler's vast
bulk useless for defense : then strikes down to the ground
his head as he begs in vain, and seeks to plead much ; and,
tumbling the warm trunk, over it pronounces these words
from his hostile breast :- There now, thou dreaded one, lie.
Thee in the earth no dearest mother shall lodge, nor in thy
native soil load thy limbs with a grave ; to birds of prey thou
shalt be left ; or sunk in the deep, the waves shall bear thee
down, and hungry fishes suck thy wounds. Forthwith Antaeus
and Lycas, Turnus' foremost leaders, he pursues, and valiant
Numa, and Gamers of yellow locks, from magnanimous Vol-
scens sprung ; who of all Ausonia's sons was richest in land
estate, and over Amyclae, the city of silence, 35 reigned. As
u^gseon who, they say, had a hundred arms and a hundred
hands, and flashed fire from fifty mouths and breasts ; when
against the thunderbolts of Jove he on so many equal bucklers
clashed, unsheathed so many swords : just so the victorious
JEneas wreaked his fury all over the plain, when once his
pointed steel was warmed [with blood], even against the four
harnessed steeds of Niphaeus and their chests opposed he ad-
vances : but, as soon as from far they saw him marching up,
and breathing dire revenge, with affright wheeling about, and
rushing back, they tumble out the chief, and whirl the chariot
to the shore. Meanwhile Lueagus, in his chariot drawn by two
white steeds, flings himself into the midst, as also his brother
Liger : but with the reins his brother guides the steeds : fierce
Lueagus flourishes the naked sword. ^Eneas could not pa-
35 It had been deserted by the inhabitants, in consequence of the ser-
pents that infested it. So Wagner. Heyne refers the epithet to its
Laconian extraction. See Servius. B.
342 -<ENE1D. B. r. 677615.
tiently see them raging with such impetuosity : on he rushed,
and majestic stood before them with his lance opposed. To
whom Liger [said], You see not here the steeds of Diomede,
nor the chariot of Achilles, or the plains of Troy : now on this
ground shall a period to the war and thy life be given. Such
words from raring Liger fly : but somewhat instead of words
the Trojan hero in return prepares ; for against his foe a javelin
he hurls; As Lucagus stooping forward to the lash with a dart
urged his yoked steeds, while with his left foot thrown out be-
fore he prepares himself for the fight ; the spear passes through
the lowest border of his shining buckler, then pierces his left
groin : tossed from the chariot in the pangs of death he wal-
lows ; whom pious ^Eneas in bitter terms addresses : Lucagus,
it is not the slowness of thy steeds in flight thy chariot hath
betrayed, nor have empty shadows turned them from the foe :
thyself springing from the wheels, desertest the chariot. Thus
having said, he seized the steeds. His hapless brother, leap-
ing down from the same car, stretched forth his defenseless
hands : By thy own self, O Trojan hero, by the parents who
begot thee thus illustrious, spare this life, and pity a wretch
who begs for mercy. To whom, pleading at greater length,
^Eneas : It was not language like this you lately uttered : die,
and brother desert not brother. Then with the pointed steel
he discloses his breast, the latent seat of the soul. 38 Such
havoc made the Trojan chief over the field, raging like an im-
petuous flood or gloomy whirlwind. At length the boy As-
canius and the youth, in vain blocked up, sally forth and quit
the camp.
Meanwhile Jupiter, of his own free motion, thus addresses
Juno : My sister, and my dearest consort both ! it is Venus,
as you alleged, who supports the Trojan powers : nor does
your judgment deceive you ; no active hands for war have the
men themselves, no souls courageous or patient of danger.
To whom Juno, all submission, [says,] My spouse, in whom
all beauty dwells, why dost thou tease me oppressed with an-
guish, and dreading thy severe mandates ? Had I that influ-
ence over your affection which once I had, and which it
became me to have, thou the Omnipotent couldst not surely
refuse me this ; that I might have it in my power both to res-
38 Davidson has happily anticipated the explanation of Jacobs, regard-
ing " latebras animaj" as in opposition with " pectus," not vice versa. B.
B. x. 616652. ^ENEID. 343
cue Turnus from the fight, and preserve him in safety for his
father Daunus. Now let him die, and glut the vengeance of
the Trojans with his pious blood ; yet from our stock he de-
rives his name, and Pilumnus is his father in the fourth de-
gree : and often with liberal hand and many offerings has he
heaped thy courts. To whom the sovereign of the ethereal
heaven thus briefly speaks : If you plead for a respite from
present death, and a breathing-time to the short-lived youth,
and if it be thy will that I should settle it thus ; bear off
Turnus by flight, and save him from impending fate. Thus far
to indulge thee is allowed. But if any higher favor be couched
under these petitions, and you imagine that the whole face of
the war is to be shifted or reversed, you feed yourself with
empty hopes. To whom Juno [replies] with tears : What if
thou shouldst grant with thy heart what in words thou de-
clinest, and this life to Turnus were to be continued fixed ?
Now a woeful end awaits the guiltless youth, or vain are my
pretensions to the truth : but oh that I may rather be with
groundless fears misled, and that thou, to whom the power be-
longs, mayest alter thy purposes for the better !
When she had pronounced these words, forthwith she shot
down from the lofty sky arrayed in a cloud, driving storm and
tempest through the air ; and sought the Trojan army and
Latin camp. Then of a hollow cloud, strange monster to be-
hold ! the goddess, in the shape of ^Eneas, dresses up in Trojan
armor an airy powerless phantom, and imitates to the life
both his shield and the crested helmet of his divine head ;
gives it empty words, and gives it sound without sense, and
counterfeits his gait as he walks ; such as those forms which,
after death are said to flutter about, or those dreams which
mock the slumbering senses. But the phantom frisky exults
before the foremost ranks, and the hero with darts provokes,
and with the tongue defies : on whom Turnus presses, and at
a distance hurls a hissing spear : the specter, wheeling about,
turned its steps. But then, as soon as Turnus imagined that
.^Eneas with his back turned was giving ground, and boisterous
in soul drank in vain hope, [he cried out,] ^Eneas, whither
dost thou fly ? Desert not thy plighted nuptials : by this right
hand shall the settlement be given you in quest of which you
have traversed the seas. Thus vociferating, he pursues him,
and brandishes his naked sword ; nor sees that the winds bear
his joys away.
344 JENEID. B. X. 653691.
By chance there stood a ship adjoining to the margin of a
steep rock with extended ladders, and a bridge prepared, in
which king Osinius had been wafted from the Clusian shores.
Hither in fearful haste the image of tineas flying throws it-
self into a hiding-place : and Turnus with no less speed pur-
sues ; surmounts all obstacles, and overleaps the lofty bridges.
Scarcely had he reached .the prow, when Saturnia bursts the
cable, and over the rolling waves hurries the vessel torn away
from the shore. But him absent -/Eneas with impatience to the
combat seeks ; and many a hero whom he meets on the way he
dispatches to the shades below. Then the fleeting image now
no further concealment seeks, but soaring aloft blended itself
with a dusky cloud ; when in the mean time the whirlwind
drives Turnus on the mid-ocean. Back he casts his eyes quite
at a loss, and thankless for his preservation, and both hands to
heaven he raises with his voice : Almighty Father, couldst thou
judge me worthy of such criminal shame, and appoint me to
suflfer such punishment ? "Whither am I borne ? Whence am
I come ? What ignominious flight carries me off, and in what
disgrace will it bring me back ? Shall I again venture to be-
hold the walls of LaurenLum, or the Ausonian camp ? What
will that band of -warriors [say], who followed me and ray arms,
and whem, O foul impiety ! I abandoned in horrible death ?
And now I see them straggling, and hear the groans of the
falling. What can I do ? or what earth will now yawn deep
enough for me ? Or rather, on me, ye winds, have pity ; on
rocks, on crags (I Turnus heartily entreat you) drive my vessel,
and fling it on the cruel shelves of quicksands, whither neither
the Rutulians nor conscious fame may follow me. So saying,
now hither, now thither, he fluctuates in his soul, whether
frantic he shall sheathe the pointed steel in his bosom on ac-
count of such a flagrant disgrace, and through his sides drive
home the cruel sword, or throw himself into the midst of the
waves, by swimming seek the winding shore, and rush again
amid the Trojan arms. Thrice he essayed either expedient :
thrice mightiest Juno restrained, and pitying him from her soul
checked the youth. He glides away, cutting the deep, with
prosperous wind and tide, and is wafted to the ancient city of
his father Daunus.
Meanwhile, by Jove's suggestion, furious Mezentius suc-
ceeds [him] in the fight, and assaults the Trojans flushed with
success. The Tuscan troops rush on him at once, and with
B. x. 692722. ^ENEID. 345
all their rage and darts following press on him, on him alone.
He [stands firm] as a rock that projects into the vast ocean,
obnoxious to the fury of the winds, and exposed to the main,
and endures all the violence and threatenings of the sky and
sea, itself remaining unmoved. He stretches on the ground
Hebrus, the son of Dolicaon, with him Latagus and fugitive
Palmus ; but to Latagus with a rock and vast fragment of a
mountain he gives a preventing blow on his jaws and adverse
face : Palmus hamstrung he suffers to roll inactive ; and gives
Lausus 37 to wear his armor on his shoulders, and on his helm-
et's top to fix his plumes. Evas the . Phrygian too [he over-
throws], and Mimas, the companion of Paris, and his equal
in age ; whom Theano brought forth to his father Amycus in
the same night that queen Hecuba, the daughter of Cisseus,
pregnant with a firebrand, bore Paris : he in his native
city buried lies, while the Laurentine coast possesses Mimas
unknown. And as a huge 38 boar by baying hounds pursued
from the high mountains (while pine-bearing Vesulus 3 ' had
sheltered for many years, and the lake of Laurentum), that in
the reedy wood had fed, makes a stand soon as he has arrived
among the toils, ferocious roars aloud, and bristles up his
shoulders : nor has any one the courage to venture boldly
or approach near him, but aloof they ply him with darts and
shouts secure from harm : 40 undaunted, however, he resists
their attacks on every side, gnashing his tusks, and shakes the
lances from his back : in the same manner, of those whom just
rage against Mezentius fires, not one has spirit to encounter
him with the naked sword ; at a distance they gall him with
missile weapons and loud clamor. From the ancient coasts
of Corytus had Acron come, a Grecian, who deserted [to
yEneas], leaving his nuptials unconsummated : him when from
far Mezentius saw breaking through the midst of the ranks,
gayly arrayed in the plumes and purple favors of his be-
37 Lausus, a son of king Mezentius, killed by JEneas. Mimas, a Tro-
jan, son of Amycus and Theano, and the intimate friend of Paris. He
accompanied JEneas to Italy, and was slain by Mezentius.
33 " Antiqui iUe, vel magnitudini, vel nobilitati adsignabant." SERVIUS.
See, however, Anthon's note. B.
39 Vesulus (Viso), a large mountain in the range of the Alps, between
Liguria and Gaul, where the Po takes Its rise.
40 Compare Silius v. 442, " propioremque addere Martem Haud ausum
cuiquam, laxo ceu bellua campo Incessebatur tutis ex agmine telis." B.
15*
346 JENEID. B. x 723761.
trothed spouse ; as a famished lion that often ranges over the
lofty stalls, (for maddening hunger prompts him), if by chance
he espies a timorous goat, or stag conspicuous for stately horns,
exults yawning hideously, rears his hair on end, and couching
down over [his prey], fast to the entrails clings, black gore
laves his ravenous jaws : thus Mezentius rushes with alacrity
on the embodied foes. Ill-fated Acron is overthrown, and ex-
piring spurns with his heels the tawny ground, and with his
blood besmears the broken lance. The same deigned not to
cut off Orodes as he fled, or with the darted spear to give him
a wound unseen : but, overtaking him, he confronted face to
face, and encountered man to man ; superior not in stratagem,
but valiant arms. Then, trampling on him overthrown, and rest-
ing on his lance, [he says] : Friends, stately Orodes lies no mean
portion of the war. His associates in acclamation join, repeat-
ing the joyful paean. But he expiring [says] : Whoever thou
art, not over me unrevenged, nor long shalt thou victorious
rejoice ; thee too like destiny awaits, and soon shalt thou on
these same fields be stretched. To whom Mezentius, smiling
with a mixture of indignation, [replied] : Now die ; but of me
let the father of gods and king of men dispose. So saying, he
from the body outdrew the dart. Cruel slumbers and the iron
sleep of death press down his eyes ; his eyes are sealed in ever-
lasting night. 41 CaBdicus slays Alcathous, Sacrator/Hydaspes,
Rapo Parthenius, and Orses extremely robust in strength ; Mes-
sapus [kills] Clonius, and Ericetes the Lycaonian ; the one
by a fall from his unruly steed thrown on the ground ; the
other on foot himself on foot [assailed : against him] Lycian
Agis too had stepped forth ; but him Valerius, not lacking
of the valor of his ancestors, overthrows : Anthronius by Salius
falls, and Salius by Nealces, skilled in the javelin and far-
deceiving arrow. Now stern Mars equaled the distresses and
mutual deaths : the victors and the vanquished equally slew,
and equally fell : nor these, nor those, know what it is to fly.
In the courts of Jove the gods compassionate the fruitless rage
of both, and [seem to lament] that such toils are appointed to
mortals. On the one side Venus, on the other Saturnian Juno
sits spectator. Pale Tisiphone in the midst of thousands wreaks
her fury. . .,-"
41 I almost prefer the ablative, as in Ovid Ep. x. 113. See Burm. on
Propert. ii. 10, 17. B.
B. x. 762796. .<ENEnX 347
But now Mezentius all turbulent and boisterous advances in
the field, brandishing his massy spear ; as huge Orion, when
on foot he marches, cutting his way through the vast watery
fields of the mid-ocean, with his shoulder overtops the waves ;
or, conveying an aged ash from the high mountains, stalks on
the ground, and hides his head among the clouds ; just so Me-
zentius in vast armor strides along. Him on the other hand
.^Eneas, having descried him in the long battalion, prepares
to encounter. He unterrified remains expecting his mag-
nanimous foe, and stands firm in his own vast mass of frame ;
and, measuring with his eye as much space as his javelin
could reach, [says,] Now let this right hand, my god, and the
missile weapon 43 which I poise, be my aid ; I vow that you,
my own Lausus, shall be clad in the spoils torn from the
pirate's body, the trophy of JEneas. He said, and hurled from
afar the hissing dart : but the winged dart is by the shield
flung off, and deep pierces illustrious Antores between the side
and flank ; Antores, the attendant of Hercules, who from Ar-
gos sent had joined Evander, and settled in his Italian city.
He falls, unhappy, by another's wound, looks up to heaven,
and in death remembers his beloved Argos. Then pious
^Eneas darts his spear : through the concave orb of triple
brass, through the linen folds, and the work with three bulls'
hides" interwoven, it made way, and settled low down in the
groin ; but had spent its force. Instantly ^Eneas, over-
joyed at seeing the Tuscan blood, snatches his sword from
his thigh, and darts impetuous ou his confused foe. Lausus,
soon as he saw it, heaved a deep groan in fond pity to his be-
loved sire, and the tears came trickling down his cheeks.
Here be assured I shall not pass in silence either thee, praise-
worthy youth, or the catastrophe of thy piteous death, or thy
deeds, thou best of sons, if any future age will give credit to
an act so noble. The father, drawing back his steps, quite
disabled and encumbered, gave ground, and in his buckler
trailed the hostile spear. The youth sprang forward, and
flung himself amid the armed troops ; and stood under the
*2 See my note on ^Esch. Sept. c. Th. p. 51, ed. Bohn. B.
43 Observe the metaphor by which the animal itself is put for its hide.
Lucan iv. 133, " cassoque induta juvenco." Statins Theb. " clipeum vea-
tisse juvenco." B.
348 -JNEID. B. x. 797830.
point of ^Eneas' sword, just as he was rising with his arm,
and fetching the stroke ; and keeping him awhile at bay, sus-
tained the shock. His friends second him with loud acclama-
tion, till, by the target of the son protected, the father with-
drew ; fling showers of darts, and at a distance repel the foe
with missile weapons. -<35neas storms, and keeps himself
under covert [of his shield]. And as, if at times the clouds
in a drift of hail rush down, every laboring hind flies from
the fields away, and every swain, and the traveler lurks in
some secure retreat, either on the banks of a river, or in the
cleft of a high rock, the shower be overblown, that on the
earth, when the sun returns, they may be able to pursue the
labors of the day : just so ^Eneas, with darts from every
quarter overwhelmed, sustains the whole storm of war, till
the thunder spends its rage ; and chides Lausus, and threatens
him thus : Whither dost thou rush to thy own destruction,
and why dost thou attempt what exceeds thy strength ? Thy
pious duty blindfolds thee unguarded. He infatuated still
braves [the hero] no less. And now the fierce wrath of the
Trojan leader rises to a greater height, and the Destinies to
Lausus collect the last threads [of life] ; for ^Eneas through
the middle of his body plunges his mighty sword into the
youth, and buries it to the hilt. 44 The pointed steel pierced
both through the thin shield, the light armor of the vaunting
youth, and the vest, which with soft thread of gold his mother
had spun; and the blood filled his bosom : then to the shades
his soul fled mourning through the air, and left the body. But
soon as the offspring of Anchises saw his visage and dying
looks, his looks wondrously pale, in pity he drew a heavy
groan, and stretched forth his hand; and the image of his
filial pity touched his soul. Lamented youth, what recom-
pense for those virtues, what honor becoming so great ex-
cellence, shall pious ^Eneas on thee now confer ? Thy arms,
wherein thou rejoiced, still retain: and to the manes and
ashes of thy parents, if that be any object of thy care, I re-
sign thee. Yet, hapless one, with this thou shalt solace thy
wretched death ; by the hand of great ^Eneas thou faUest."
44 " Totum" seems equivalent to "capulo tenus." B.
45 Compare Ovid Met. viii. 7, "Magnaque dat nobis tantua solatia
victor." B.
B. x. 830863. jENEID. 349
Then straight he chides his lingering followers, and from the
ground raises up the youth, with his blood marring his locks
in comely order dressed.
Meanwhile the father at the stream of the river Tiber
stanched his wounds with water, 48 and gave a more easy pos-
ture to his body, leaning on the trunk of a tree. From the
boughs apart his brazen helmet hangs, and his unwieldy arms
rest on the mead. Chosen youths around him stand ; himself
faint, panting for breath, eases his drooping neck, having
spread on his breast a length of waving beard. OfLausushe
incessantly inquires, and many messengers he sends again and
again to recall him [from the fight], and bear to him the
orders of his afflicted father. But his weeping friends were
carrying lifeless Lausus on their arms, a mighty corpse, and
with mighty wound overthrown. 47
The ill-boding mind [of Mezentius] at a distance under-
stood their groans. His hoary locks with vile dust he de-
forms, to heaven stretches both his hands, and fast to the body
clings: O my son, was I with such fond desire of life pos-
sessed, to suffer him whom I begot to substitute himself for
me to the foe's right hand ? by these wounds of thine am I
thy father saved, living by thy death ? Alas ! now at length
on wretched me my exile heavy lies, now a wound is driven
deep home. I too, my sou, the same have by my guilt sullied
thy fame, for odious misdeeds driven from my throne and pa-
ternal scepter. It is I that to my country owed satisfaction,
and to the odium ' of my subjects ought to have forfeited my
guilty life by every kind of death. And still I live : nor yet
from men and light withdraw : but I will withdraw. Then
with these words he raises himself on his maimed thigh ; and,
though the violent smart of the deep wound retards him, yet,
not cast down, he orders his courser to be brought. This was
his glory, this his solace ; by this he came off victorious in all
his wars. The sympathizing animal he bespeaks, and thus
begins : Long, Rhcebus, have we lived, if aught can be said
to subsist long with mortals. To-day you shall either vic-
torious bear away the head of ^Eneas, and those spoils all
46 That this was the customary treatment, we learn from Celsus v. 26.
Athenaeus ii. 4. B.
47 So Silius v. 524, "Interea exanimem mcesti super arma Sychaeum
Portabant Poeni, corpusque in castra ferebant." B.
350 ^ENEID. B. x. 864899.
bathed in his blood, and with me avenge the griefs of Lausus ;
or, if no efforts open a way, you shall fall with me : for never,
I presume, wilt thou, most generous, deign to bear the com-
mands of another, and a Trojan lord. He said : and received
on his back, placed his limbs on the accustomed seat, and with
pointed javelins loaded each hand, his head gleaming with
brass, and roughly garnished with a crest of horse-hair. Thus
with rapid speed he drove into the midst. Deep in his heart
boils overwhelming shame : and frantic rage, with intermin-
gled grief, and love racked with furious despair, and con-
scious worth : and here thrice with loud voice he called ./Eneas.
./Eneas knew him well ; and, pleased [with the challenge,
thus] his prayer addresses : So may that great father of the
gods, so may exalted Apollo influence thee to .begin the com-
bat. This only he said, and with his menacing spear ad-
vances against him. But he [exclaimed], Most barbarous
man, why thinkest thou to affright me, now that my son is
snatched from me? This was the only way whereby thou
couldst destroy me. I neither fear death, nor any of your
gods regard. Forbear threats : now I am come to die, but
first to thee these gifts I bring. He said, and hurled a dart
against the foe ; then after that another and another he fixes
fast, and flies around in a spacious circuit; but the golden
boss sustains the shock. Thrice round ./Eneas, as he stood
against him, he rode in circles to the left, throwing javelins
with his hand ; thrice the Trojan hero, . [wheeling as he
wheels], bears about with him in his brazen shield a frightful
grove [of spears]. 'And now when he is tired with spinning
out so long delays, and drawing out so many darts, and when
he is severely harassed, being engaged in an unequal fight,
revolving many thoughts in his mind, at length he springs
forth, and between the hollow temples of the warrior-steed
darts his lance. The horse raises himself upright, then with
his heels buffets the air, and falling upon his dismounted
rider, keeps him down, and falling forward, overlays his
prostrate shoulder. The Trojans and Latins both with ac-
clamations rend the sky. ./Eneas flies to him, and snatches his
sword from the scabbard and over him these [words pro-
nounces] : Where is now the stern Mezentius ? where is that
wild impetuosity of soul ? On the other hand, the Tuscan, as
soon as lifting up his eyes to heaven he began to breathe the
B. x. 900908. XL 115. ^NEID. 351
air, and recover his senses, [said,] Despiteful foe, why insult-
est thou and threatenest death ? There is no crime in shed-
ding my blood ; nor engaged I in the combat on such terms
[that you should spare my life], nor did my Lausus make 1
such a contract with you on my behalf. One thing I implore,
by that grace, if any grace to a vanquished foe belongs, suffer
my body to be covered with earth. I know the cruel resent-
ment of my subjects besets me round ; 48 defend me, I pray
you, from this outrage, and to a grave consign me in part-
nership with my son. He said, and in his throat, not unpre-
pared, receives the blade, and pours forth life in the blood
streaming: on his armor.
BOOK XL
In the Eleventh. Book, the funeral of Pallas is solemnized. Latinns, in
council, attempts a reconciliation with ^Eneas, which is prevented by Tur-
nus, and by the hostile approach of the Trojan army. Camilla greatly
signalizes herself, bat is at last slain, when night puts an end to the
combat.
MEANWHILE Aurora rising left the ocean. JEneas, though
both his cares strongly urge him to allot time for interring
his friends, and his mind is disturbed by the death [of Pallas],
yet, in consequence of his victory, paid to the gods his vows
soon as the dawn appeared. 1 A huge oak, with its boughs
on every side lopped off, he erected on a rising ground, and
adorned it with shining arms, the spoils of king Mezentius :
to thee a trophy, thou great warrio*-god ! He fits [to the
trunk] his crest dripping with blood, and the hero's shattered
arms, and his breastplate in twice six places dented and trans-
fixed ; and to the left arm he fastens his target of brass, and
from the neck suspends his ivory-hilted sword. Then thus
beginning he encourages his joyous friends (for all the chiefs
in a crowded body inclosed him) : Warriors, our most import-
ant work is done : henceforth, all fear be banished. For
what remains, these are the spoils, the first-fruits of victory
43 He feared they would deprive him of sepulture. B.
1 Servius well remarks that those who were polluted by a funeral could
not make offerings to the gods, until they had been purified. If, how-
ever, as in the present case, a man was bound to the performance of both
duties, he first made his offering, and then engaged in the funeral rites. B.
352 JENEID. B. XL 1655.
Won from that insolent tyrant ; and to this state Mezentius is
by my arm reduced. Now to the king and the walls of La-
tiurn our way lies open : make ready your arms, and with
stout hearts and hopes anticipate the war, that obstacles may
not detain you unawares, or deliberation, resulting from fear,
retard you, slow of movement, when first the gods permit us
to pluck up the standard, and to lead forth the youth from
the camp. Meanwhile let us commit to earth the unburied
corpses of our friends ; which is the sole honor in deep Ache-
ron. Go, he says, with the last duties grace those illustrious
souls who for us have won this countiy with their blood ; and
first to the mourning city of Evander let Pallas be conveyed,
whom, not deficient in prowess, a gloomy inauspicious day cut
off, and sank in an untimely death. Thus weeping he speaks,
and to the threshold takes his way, where aged Acoetes
watched the corpse of lifeless Pallas laid out : Acoetes, who
formerly was armor-bearer to Arcadian Evander, and now
with less auspicious omens came [to the war], appointed
guardian to his darling foster-son. The whole retinue of his
servants stood around, a band of Trojans and mourning dames
of Ilium, with tresses in usual form disheveled. But soon as
.^neas entered the lofty gates, beating their breasts they
raise to heaven a mighty groan, and the palace rings with
mournful lamentation. When he himself beheld the bolstered
head and face of Pallas, white and cold as snow, and in hia
smooth breast the gaping wound of the Ausouian spear, he
thus with gushing tears begins : Lamented youth, how envious
was Fortune, just when she began to smile, to snatch thee
from me, that thou shouldst not see my kingdom, nor be borne
victorious to thy paternal dwelling ! Not such things of thee
I at parting promised to thy sire Evander, when taking leave
of me with embraces, he sent me against a mighty empire,
and trembling warned me that the enemy were fierce, and
that the battle would be with a sturdy nation. And now he
indeed, highly possessed with empty hope, is, perhaps, both
making vows, and loading the altars with offerings ; while we
in grief with unavailing pomp attend the youth, a lifeless
corpse, and now released from his allegiance to the powers
above. Ill-fated sire, thou shalt see the dismal funeral of thy
own son ! Is it thus we return ? are these our hoped-for tri-
umphs ? this my boasted confidence ? Yet, Evander, thou
B. xi. 5693. ^ENEID. 353
shalt not see liim with inglorious wounds repulsed ; nor on thy
son, thus saved, shalt thou, in spite of paternal affection, impre-
cate an accursed death. Ah me, how glorious a protector thou,
Ausonia, and thou, lulus, [in him] hast lost ! '
When he had thus vented his grief, he orders them to bear
away the woeful corpse, and sends a thousand men, selected
from the whole army, to accompany these last honors, and
bear a part in the parent's tears ; small consolation for such
mighty woe, but due to the unhappy sire ! others with for-
ward zeal weave hurdles, and a pliant bier of arbute rods and
oaken twigs, and with a covering of boughs shade the bed
high raised. Here on the rural couch aloft they raise the
youth : like a flower, either of the tender violet or drooping
hyacinth, cropped by a virgin's hand, 2 from which not the gay
bloom, or its own fair form, hath yet departed ; the parent
soil no longer feeds it, or supplies it with strength. Then
two vests, stiff with embroidery of gold and purple, ^Eneas
brought forth ; which formerly Sidonian Dido, pleased with
the task, with her own hands for him had wrought, and striped
the stuff with slender threads of gold. In one of these, the
last ornament, he sorrowful arrays the youth, and muffles up
ia a vail his hair devoted to the flames. Besides, he piles up
many prizes of the Laurentine war, and orders the booty to
be led in long procession. He adds the steeds and arms
whereof he despoiled the foe. And fo their backs he had
bound the hands of those whom to his shade as offering he
Avould send, to sprinkle with their shed blood the flame ; and
the chiefs themselves he commands to bear trunks of trees
decked with hostile arms, and the names of the enemies to be
inscribed upon them. Unhappy Acoetes, worn out with age,
is led, now with his fists tearing his breasts, now with his
nails his face ; and bending forward with his whole body, he
lies prostrate on the ground. His chariots, too, they lead be-
smeared with Rutulian blood. Next his warrior-horse, JEthon,
his trappings laid aside, moves o^n weeping, and with the big
drops bedews his cheeks. Others bear his spear and helmet :
for of the rest victorious Turnus is possessed. Then in
mournful plight, the phalanx, the Trojan and the Tuscan
leaders follow, and the Arcadians with inverted arms. After
2 Propert. i. 20, 39, " Quse modo decerpens tenero pueriliter ungui
Proposito florem prastulit officio." B.
354 ^ENEID. B. XL 94129.
the whole body of attendants had advanced before in long pro-
cession, ^Eneas paused, and with a deep groan subjoined these
words : "We to other scenes of woe, by the same horrid fate of
war, are summoned hence. Farewell forever, illustrious Pallas,
and adieu forever. This said, he bent his course to the high
walls, and directed his steps back to the camp.
And now from the city of king Latinus embassadors came
bearing olive-boughs, supplicating grace [from ^Eneas] ; that
he would deliver to them the bodies [of their dead], which by
the sword lay scattered over the field, and permit them to be
entombed in the earth ; [alleging] that with the vanquished
and the lifeless war is at an end ; [and hoping] that he would
spare a people to whose hospitality and alliance he was once
invited.
Whom, not unreasonable in their demands, the courteous
^Eneas receives with grace, and adds these words : What un-
deserved fate, ye Latins, hath involved you in so disastrous a
war, who thus decline us yoxir friends ? Is it for the dead, and
the slain by the chance of war, you implore peace ? I truly
would grant it to the living, too. I should not have come
hither vnless the Fates had here assigned my settlement and
place of residence ; nor with the [Latin] nation wage I war.
With u> your king renounced hospitality, and rather trusted
himse'K to the arms of Turnus. More just had it been for
Turnus to expose himself to this death. If to terminate the
war by personal valor, if to expel the Trojans, he intends, me
in these arms he ought to have encountered : he [of us two]
had lived, to whom God or his own right hand had given life.
Now go, and under your unfortunate countrymen apply the
funeral fire. ^Eneas said. They in silence stood astonished,
and turning held their eyes and faces to each other.
Then aged Drances, 3 who still by calumny and invectives
vented his animosity on young Turnus, thus replies in turn :
Trojan hero, mighty in fame, but mightier still in arms, by what
praises shall I exalt thee to heaven ? which shall I most admire,
thy justice or thy achievements in war ? We truly with grate-
ful hearts will bear this answer back to our city ; and, if any
fortune shall open the way, will associate thee to king Latinus :
let Turnus seek alliances for himself. We will even with
3 Drances, a friend of king Latinus, remarkable for his eloquence and
weakness.
K. xr. 130163. ^ENEID. 355
pleasure rear up the fabric of your destined walls, and on our
shoulders bear the stones of Troy.
He said ; and all with one voice murmured their assent.
They settled a truce for twice six days : and during the inter-
mediate 4 peace, Trojans and Latins promiscuous without hos-
tility ranged the woods along the mountains. Felled by the
two-edged steel, the ash crashes; pines shot up to the stars
they overthrow ; they neither cease to cleave with wedges the
oaken planks and fragrant cedar, nor to convey in groaning
wagons the mountain-ashes.
And now flying fame, the harbinger of so great woe, fills
Evander and Evander's palace and city ; fame, which just now
to Latium bore the news that Pallas was victorious. The Ar-
cadians rush to the gates, and, as the ancient manner was,
snatched up funeral torches. With a long train of flames the
path all shines, and far and wide illuminates 6 the fields. The
hands of Trojans advancing opposite to them join the lament-
ing troops ; whom, soon as the matrons beheld approaching the
walls, they inflame the mourning city with their shrieks. But
no force can restrain Evander from rus? ing through the midst.
The bier -being laid down, on Pallas he falls prostrate, and
with sobs and groans clings to [the corpse] ; and at length with
much ado for grief is a passage opened to these words: These,
Pallas, are not the promises thou gavest thy parent, that
with more caution thou wouldst trust thyself to the savage
combat. I was not ignorant how far rising glory in arms, and
the bewitching renown of the first action, might carry you.
Ah ! fatal to the youth his first essays, hard his probation in
early war ! Alas ! my vows and prayers by none of the gods
regarded ! Thou most holy partner of my bed, happy in thy
death, and not to this woe reserved ; while I by living on have
overpassed my natural bounds to remain a childless father.'
"When I followed the confederate arms of Troy, the Rutulians
should have overwhelmed me with their darts : my life I had
resigned, and me, not Pallas, this pomp had home con-
4 "Media: namque sequester est aut medius inter duos altercantes;
aut ad quern aliquid ad tempus seponitur." SERVIUS. B.
5 Literally, "renders distinguishable." B.
6 Literally, " surviving [my own son]." This was thought a severe
misfortune. So Plautus, " Ita ut tuum vis unicum gnatum tuae superesse
vitse, sospitem et superstitem." B."
356 wENEID. u. XL 164197.
veyed. Nor you, ye Trojans, will I accuse, nor your alliance,
nor those right hands we joined in hospitable league: this
stroke of fortune was destined for my old age. However, if
untimely death awaited my son, it will be some satisfaction,
that ushering the Trojans into Latium he fell, having first
slain thousands of the Volscians, And now, with no other
funeral obsequies, O Pallas, can I grace thee, than what pious
JEneas, and the noble Trojans, the Tuscan leaders, and whole
army of the Tuscans, [have given thee]. Thy illustrious
trophies they bear, those whom to death thy right hand offer-
ed. Thou too, O Turnus, shouldst have stood [among them] a
huge trunk in arms, had my age been equal, and my strength
from years the same. But why do I, hapless one, detain the
Trojans from the war J Go, and faithfully bear back these
mandates to your king : If I linger out a hated life, after Pal-
las is slain, it is in consequence of thy [avenging] right hand ;
from which you see Turnus is justly due to a son and sire.
This post [of honor] is alone reserved for thee and thy
fortune. It is not joy in life I seek, nor is it fit I should ;
but I wish to bear the tidings to my son down to the shades
below.
Meanwhile to wretched mortals Aurora had brought forth
the benignant light, renewing the works and labors [of the
day]. 1 Now father ^Eneas, now Tarchon, on the winding
shore erected funeral piles. Hither they conveyed, each after
the manner of his ancestors, the bodies of their dead ; and the
sad* fires being applied under them, the lofty sky with smoke
is hidden in darkness. Thrice round the blazing piles they
ran, clad in shining armor; thrice they encompassed the
mournful funeral fire on horseback, and sent forth doleful yells.
With their tears is the earth bedewed, bedewed are their arms.
The shrieks of men and clang of trumpets pierce through the
sky. Next into the fire some throw the spoils torn from the
Latins slain, helmets, and gleaming swords, bits, and glowing
wheels : some, well-known gifts, their own bucklers and un-
successful darts. Many heads of ox^en all around are offered
. 7 Cf. Quintus Calab. vi. 4, rot & elf ipya rpairovro ppoTol peiu.
<j>6lVvdVTf, B.
8 Thia is the usual interpretation of " atris ignibus," but I think it ia
far more natural to understand, " dark, pitchy flames." So Eur. Troad.
550, u6f*oi( d Tra^Kpdff ae/laf ttvpdf /uil.aivav cu.yl.av 'K6<jKev. E.
B. xi. 198235. ^ENEID. 357
;_}
victims to death ; and over the flames they stab bristly boars,
and sheep snatched from all the fields : then along the whole
shore they view their burning friends, and watch their half-
consumed piles : nor can they be torn from them, before humid
night inverts the face of heaven, bespangled with shining
stars.
Nor with less care the sorrowing Latins in a different quar-
ter reared numberless piles ; and they partly bury in the earth
many bodies of their heroes, and part carried off they to the
neighboring fields convey, and send back to the city. The
rest, and a vast heap of promiscuous slaughter, without num-
ber and without honor, they burn : then on all sides the spa-
cious fields, as rivaling each other, blaze together with frequent
fires. The third day's light had from the sky removed the
chill shades : when in sadness they huddled together on the
hearths the heaped-up ashes and bones mingled in confusion,
and loaded them with a warm mound of earth. But- now in
the courts of opulent Latinus, and in the city, is the chief up-
roar, and by far the deepest scene of mourning. Here mothers
and hapless brides, here tender-hearted sisters in deep anguish,
and striplings of their sires bereft, curse the rueful war, and
the nuptials of Turnus ; and himself they urge by arms, him-
self by the sword, to decide the quarrel, since for himself alone
he claims the crown of Italy and the first honors. These the
malicious Drances aggravates, and protests that Turnus alone
is called, alone is challenged to the combat. On the other side
the votes of many, in various speech, are given for Turnus,
and him the queen's illustrious name protects; and his own
distinguished fame, for trophies justly won, supports the hero.
Amid these commotions, in the heat of this raging tumult,
lo ! to complete the distress, the embassadors, from Diomede's
imperial city [returning] sorrowful, bring their answer ; that
nothing was effected by all the expense of so great labor;
that neither the gifts, nor gold, nor importunate prayers, had
aught availed ; that the Latins must have recourse to other
arms, or sue for peace from the Trojan prince. With great
grief king Latinus himself faints away. The wrath of the
gods, and the recent tombs before his face, declare that
^Eneas, the messenger of fate, is led on by a manifest divine
impulse.
Therefore within the lofty palace he assembles his great
358 ^ENEID. B. XL 236266.
council, and the peers of 'his realm, summoned by his imperial
order. They meet together, and flock to the royal apartments
along the crowded ways. In the center, with unjoyous as-
pect, sits Latinus, both most advanced in age, and first in
sway. And here he orders the embassadors now returned
from the ^Etolian city, to say what message they bring back,
and demands each particular answer in its order. Then si-
lence sat on every tongue ; and Yenulus thus, in obedience to
command, begins : We have seen, O citizens, Diomede and
the Argive camp, and measuring a length of way, have over-
passed a thousand dangers, and touched that hand by which
Troy's kingdom fell. He victorious was raising in the plains
of Apulian Garganus' the city Argyripa, 10 from the name of
his native country. After we were admitted, and had per-
mission given to speak in the presence, we first present our
gifts ; declare our name and country ; who made war upon
us; what errand drew us to Arpi. Our message heard, he
thus with mild accent replied : O happy nations, once Saturn's
realm, ancient Ausonians, what fortune disturbs you peaceful,
and prompts you to rouse unusual wars ? As many of us as
with the sword violated the lands of Hium (I wave those ex-
tremities which in fighting under its lofty walls we sustained,
what illustrious heroes that Simois of theirs swept away), have
borne unutterable sufferings over the world, and all punish-
ments for our crime ; a band whom even Priam would pity.
Minerva's disastrous constellation knows, and the Euboean
rocks, and vengeful Caphareus. 11 Ever since that expedition,
have we on different coasts been driven ; Menelaus, the son
of Atreus, is exiled as far as the pillars of Proteus ; 12 Ulysses
hath seen the Cyclops of ^Etna. Shall I mention [the tragic
fate of] Neoptolemus' realms, and the overthrow of Idomeneus'
settlement, or the [dispersion of the] Locri who inhabit Lib-
ya's coast ? The prince of Mycenae" himself, the leader of
9 Garganus (St Angelo), a lofty mountain of Apulia, projecting in the
form of a promontory into the Adriatic Sea.
10 Argyripa, or Arpi.
11 Caphareus (Cape D'Oro). a lofty promontory on the south-east coast
of Euboea, an island in the JEgeaa Sea.
18 Proteus, a king of Egypt, on whose coasts Menelaus, in his return
from the Trojan war, was forced by stress of weather.
13 Prince of Mycenae, Agamemnon, who was chosen chief commander
of the Grecian forces in the war 'against Troy. After the destruction of
B. xi. 26t 299. 2ENEID. 359
the illustrious Greeks, fell by the hand of his unnatural 14
spouse, in the first entrance to his palace ; and his adulterous
assassin by traitorous means lay in wait for the conqueror of
Asia. 15 [Or shall I mention] how the envious gods forbade
that I myself, restored to my native country, should see my
much-loved spouse, and lovely Caiydon ? Even now prodigies
of horrid aspect pursue me ; my lost associates, into the aerial
regions have winged their way, and, to birds transformed,
wander along the rivers (ah, dire vengeance on my friends !)
and fill the rocks with doleful notes. And indeed I had rea-
son to expect these calamities ever since that time, when with
the sword I madly assaulted the celestial beings, and violated
the hand of Venus with a wound. But urge me not, urge not
me to fights like these : neither with the Trojans wage I any
war, now that Troy is overthrown ; nor remember I with joy
their former woes. Those gifts, which to me you brought
from your native coasts, transfer to ^Eneas. We against his
keen darts have stood, and engaged him hand to hand ; trust
me, who by experience know how stern he rises to his shield,
with what a whirl 1 ' he throws his lance. Had Ida's land
produced two such heroes more, the Trojans had first ad-,
vanced to the cities of Inachus, and Greece by a reverse of
fate would have mourned. Whatever obstruction was given
at the walls of stubborn Troy, the victory of the Greeks was
suspended by the hand of Hector arid JEneas, and was re-
tarded till the tenth year. Both for valor are distinguished,
both for noble feats of arms ; this man in piety excels. Let
your right hands be joined in league, by whatever means it is
permitted ; but beware of opposing arms to arms. Thus, best,
of kings, you have at once both heard his answer, and his res-
olution on this important war. Scarcely had the deputies
spoken, when through Ausonia's troubled sons a various noise
ran ; as, when rocks retard a river's rapid course, from the
pent-up flood a murmur arises, and with the beating waves
the neighboring banks resound.
that city, Agamemnon returned to Argos, where he was murdered by his
wife Clytemnestra and her paramour JSgisthus.
14 For "infandse," Macrobius, Sat iv. 4, reads "infanduml" which is
approved by Burmann on Anthol. Lat. T. i. p. 196. B.
13 See Anthon. The readings vary, since the time of Servius. B.
16 So "ballistae turbine," Lucan. iii. 465; "directo turbine robur,' 1
Silius iv. 542. B.
360 -<ENEID. . B.2X 300 335
Soon as their minds were calmed, and their tumultuous
tongues were hushed, the king, having first addressed the
gods, from his lofty throne begins : I indeed could wish, ye
Latins, and it had been better, that we had before determined
on the common cause, and not to call a council at such a junc-
ture, 17 when the foe lays siege to our walls. Incommodious
war, O citizens, we wage with a nation of gods and heroes in-
vincible, whom no battles tire out, and who, when vanquished,
can not lay down the sword. What hope you entertained from
the invited arms of the ^Etolians, now dismiss.: each must be
his own hope : but how feeble this is, you see. In what ruin
the rest of our affairs are involved, all is by yourselves both
seen and felt. Nor yet accuse I any : what the highest pitch
of valor could, has been achieved ; with the whole strength
of the realm we have struggled. Now then (lend your atten-
tion), I will unfold, and briefly show what purpose rises in my
doubtful soul. To me an ancient tract of land belongs, near
the Tuscan river, in length extended to the west, even beyond
Sicania's 18 bounds : the Auruncians and Rutulians sow, and
harass with the share the stubborn hills, and turn to pasture
their most rugged parts. Let this whole region, and the lofty
mountain's piny tracts, be given away to the friendship of the
Trojans ; and let us pronounce equal terms of peace, and, as
our allies, invite them into our realms. Let them settle, if
they have such strong desire, and build cities. But if they
have a mind to take possession of other territories and another
country, and if from our land they can withdraw, let us build
twice ten ships of Italian timber, or more, if they are able to
man them : all the materials lie along the river ; let them-
selves order the number and fashion of . the vessels ; let us
with money, men, and naval stores supply them. Besides,
our pleasure is, that a hundred embassadors of the first rank
from Latium go to bear our instructions, and confirm the al-
liance, and in their hands extend the boughs of peace, bearing
presents of ivory, and sums of gold, a chair of state, and royal
robe, the ensigns of our crown. Advise for the common
good," and relieve a distressed state.
'7 This is the proper meaning. See Drakenb. on SiL viii. 112. B.
18 Sicania, an ancient name of Sicily, which it received from the Si-
cani, a people of Spain who first passed into Italy, and afterward into
Sicily, where they established themselves.
19 So " in commune" is used, as in Tacit. Agr. 12. Sueton. Ner. 15. B.
B. XL 336369. .<ENErD. 361
Then the same hostile Drances rises (whom the glory of
Turnus inflamed with oblique envy 80 and malignant stings ;
abounding in wealth, and more in tongue, but a cold champion
in war, yet deemed of no mean authority in consultations ; in
faction powerful ; him his mother's quality inspired with the
pride of noble blood, but by the father's side he was of birth
obscure), 21 and loads Turnus with these invectives, and aggra-
vates animosity : Gracious sovereign, you ask counsel in an
affair which to none is obscure, nor requires our debate. All
must own that they well know what the weal of the nation
demands ; but they hesitate to speak their mind. Let him
allow that freedom of speech, and moderate his vaunts, for
whose inauspicious influence and perverse conduct (for my
part I will speak out, even though he should threaten me with
hostility and death) we have seen so many illustrious chiefs
perish, and the whole city sit in mourning ; while he tempts
the Trojan camp trusting to flight, and defies heaven with his
arm. To those numerous gifts which you order to be sent and
delivered to the Trojans, this one, this one more, O best of
sovereigns, add ; nor let any one's violent remonstrances deter
thee from giving away your daughter, by a father's right, to
an illustrious son-in-law (a worthy match), and from confirm-
ing this peace by a perpetual alliance. And if such dread [of
Turnus] haunts our minds and souls, him let us implore, and
from him sue for grace ; that to his sovereign he may resign,
and to his country give up his proper right. Why dost thou
so often expose thy wretched citizens to open dangers ? O
thou, the source and origin of these ills to Latium ! no safety
[is for us] in war : to thee, O Turnus, we all sue for peace,
at the same time for the sole inviolable pledge of peace. 22 I
the first (whom as your malicious foe you image to yourself,
nor am I concerned to disprove the charge), lo ! I come thy
suppliant : have pity on thine own ; lay aside thy fierceness,
and baffled quit the field. Full many deaths have we with
loss of victory seen, and brought the extended fields to desola-
tion. Or, if fame have influence, if in your breast such forti-
tude you lodge, and if your heart be so much set on a palace
20 " Qui non ex aperto impugnabat Turnum ; Bed eum reipublicae
aimulata defensione lacerabat." SERVIUS. B.
21 Literally, " he bore [himself] uncertain on the father's side." B.
22 f. . Lavinia. B.
362 -iENEID. B. XI. 370 407.
for your dowry ; dare it, and bravely expose your breast ad-
verse to the foe. Forsooth, that Turnus may be blessed with a
royal consort, we, abject souls, may be strewn on the field, an
unburied and unwept throng. And now, if you have any
spirit, if you have aught of your country's Mars, look him in
the face who gives you the challenge. With these invectives
the fierce mind of Turnus was inflamed : he groans, and from
the bottom of his breast forces out these accents : Drances, I
own you have always a rich profusion of words at the time
when wars call for action ; and when the fathers are convened
you are there the foremost ; but this is not a time to fill the
court with words which fly in big torrents from thee in safety,
while the bulwarks of our walls keep off the foe, and the
trenches float not with blood. Wherefore thunder on in noisy
eloquence, as thou art wont, and arraign me of cowardice,
thou [the valiant] Drances, since thy right hand hath raised
so many heaps of slaughtered Trojans, and every where thou
deckest the fields with trophies. You may, however, put that
animated valor of yours to the proof ; for not far have we to
seek our foes ; they all around beset our walls. March we
against the adversary ? why do you demur ? will your prowess
always lie in your blustering tongue, and in those feet only
swift to fly ? Am I routed ? or will any one, thou most abject
wretch, justly tax me with being routed, who shall view the
swollen Tiber rise with Trojan blood, and Evander's whole
family with his race stretched on the ground, and the Arca-
dians stripped of their armor ? Not so Bitias and bulky
Pandarus me proved, nor those thousands whom, in one day,
I victorious sent down to Tartarus, inclosed within the walls,
and shut up by the rampart of the foe. No safety, [you say,]
is in war. Go, madman, vent such language to the Dardanian
chief, and thy own party. Wherefore cease not to embroil
all with dreadful alarms, to extol the strength of the twice
vanquished race, and on the other hand to depress the arms
of Latinus. Now the Myrmidonian" chiefs tremble at the
Phrygian arms ! now Diomede and Larissaean Achilles ! and
the river Aufidus 54 flies back from the Adriatic waves ; even
when the wicked dissembler feigns himself under terror of
23 All this is spoken ironically. B.
24 Aufidus (Ofanto), a river of Apulia in Italy, falling into the Adriatic.
The battle of Cannse was fought on the banks of the Aufidus.
B. xi. 407 441. JENEID. 363
my menaces, and by his own fear aggravates the charge against
me. Cease from being disturbed ; never shalt thou lose such
a soul as thine by this right hand : let it dwell with thee, and
rest in that ignoble breast. Now I return to thee, sire, and
to thy important debates. If in our arms you repose no further
confidence ; if we are so desolate, and utterly undone by our
army being once defeated, and our fortune is capable of no
redress ; let us sue for peace and let us extend our hands un-
armed. Yet oh ! did any of our wonted worth remain, that
man were happy in my judgment beyond all others, in his
toils, and heroic ia soul, who, that he might not see aught like
this, fell once for all, and dying bit the ground. But if we
both have resources, and youthful troops still fresh, and Italian
cities and nations left to our aid ; if the Trojans purchase their
honor with much blood ; if they too have their funerals, and
the storm [of war has raged] through all with equal fury ;
why faint we dishonorably in the first entrance [to the
war] ? why does trembling seize our limbs, before the trumpet
[sounds] ? Length of days and the various labor of change^
ful time, have reduced many things to a better state : fortune,
that visits alternately [with good and ill], hath baffled many,
and again placed them on a firm basis. The ^Etolian prince,
[it seems,] and Arpi, will not support us ; but Messapus will,
and the fortunate Tolumnius, 86 and those leaders whom so
many nations have sent : nor shall small glory attend the se-
lect troops from Latium and the Laurentine fields. With us
too is Camilla," of the illustrious race of the Volscians, who
leads a squadron of horse, and troops gayly glittering with
brass. But if the Trojans demand me alone to the fight, and
if this be your pleasure, and I so much obstruct your com-
mon good ; victory has not hitherto with so much hate aban-
doned my right hand, as for me to decline any enterprise for
so glorious a prospect. I will advance against [^Eneas] with
confidence, though he should even approve himself a great
Achilles, and sheathe himself in similar armor forged by
Vulcan's hands. To you, and to Latinus, my [promised]
father-in-law, I Turnus, not inferior in va'yr to any of the
25 Tolumnius, an augur in the army of Turnus against JEneas, who
violated the league between the Rutulians and Trojans, and was after-
ward slain.
as Camilla, the virago female warrior.
364 ^BNEID. B. XI. 442474.
ancient heroes, have this life devoted. Does ^Eneas challenge
me alone ? Heaven grant he may. Nor let Drances rather,
if either this be the angry resolve of the gods, by death make
the atonement ; or, if an opportunity of glory and valor, let
him bear away [the prize].
'They in mutual contention were debating on the perplexed
state of their affairs, JEneas was advancing his camp and army
[toward the city of Laurentum]. Lo, in great hurry, a mes-
senger rushes through the court, and fills the city with dread-
ful alarms; that, from the Tiber's stream, the Trojans, ar-
ranged in battle array, and the Tuscan host, were marching
down over all the plains. Forthwith their minds were seized
with perturbation, the hearts of the populace are stunned, and
their rage with keen impulse is roused. In hurry they call
for arms in hand ; for arms the storming youth exclaim : the
fathers in sadness mourn and repine in low accents." Here,
from every quarter, the loud clamor ascends with various
discordant notes to the skies : just as when by chance in some
tall grove flocks of birds alight, or in PadusaV fishy streams,
hoarse swans raise a clattering din through the loquacious
floods. Citizens, says Turnus, seizing the opportunity, con-
vene your council, and seated harangue in praise of peace,
while they rush into our kingdom in arms. This said, he
instantly put himself in motion, and quick from the lofty hall
withdrew. You, Volusus, he says, command to arms the
Volscian troops, and lead on the Rutulians ; ye, Messapus, and
Coras 59 with your brother, pour abroad the armed horsemen
over the extended plains ; let some secure .the passes to the
city, and man the towers ; the rest employ their arms with me
where I shall command. Instant to the walls they flock from
all quarters of the town. The sire, Latinus himself, quits the
council and his great designs [of peace], and distracted with
the dismal conjuncture, adjourns ; himself he much accuses,
that he had not directly received the Trojan hero, and to the
city admitted him as his son-in-law. Others dig trenches
before the gates, or heave up to them rocks and palisades;
the hoarse trumpet sounds the bloody signal for the war:
27 This is the proper force of " mussant." B.
23 Padusa, the most southern mouth of the Po, from which there was
a cut to the town of Ravenna.
29 Coras, a brother of Catillus and Tiburtus, who fought against JSneas.
B. XL 475516. JENE1D. 365
then in various circling bands, matrons and boys crowned the
ramparts : the -extremity of distress calls every one. Meanwhile
the queen, with a great retinue of matrons, is borne aloft to the
temple and high towers of Pallas, carrying offerings ; and by
her side attends the virgin Lavinia, the cause of so great woe,
fixing on the ground her beauteous eyes. The matrons follow,
and with incense fume the temple, and from the lofty threshold
pour forth their doleful prayers : Patroness of war, powerful in
arms, Tritonian virgin, crush with thine arm the Phrygian
pirate's lance, and stretch himself prostrate on the ground, and
overthrow him under our lofty gates.
Turnus himself, with emulous ardor raging, is armed for
battle ; and now, clad in his Rutulian corselet, was rough with
brazen scales, and had sheathed his legs in gold, his temples
yet naked ; to his side he had buckled on his sword, and from
the high fort speeding his way shone all in gold ; with spirit
he exults, and already in hope anticipates the foe : as when
the courser, having burst his bonds, flies from the stall, at
length at liberty, and possessed of the open plain ; either to
the pastures and herds of mares he bends his way, or accus-
tomed to be laved in the well-known flood, springs forth, and
rearing up his crest on high, neighs with wanton pride ; and
his mane plays on his neck and shoulders. Whom full in the
face, Camilla, attended by her Volscian squadron, meets, and
under the- very gates the queen leaps down from her horse;
after whose example the whole troop, quitting their steeds, slid
down to earth. Then thus she speaks : Turnus, if justly in
themselves the brave may aught confide, I dare, and promise
to stand the shock of the Trojan host, and singly to make head
against the Tuscan horse. Suffer me with this arm to tempt
the first dangers of the war : near the walls stay you behind
on foot, and guard the city. To this Turnus, with eyes fixed
on the formidable maiden, [replies] : O heroine, glory of Italy,
what thanks can I prepare to express, or what return can I
make to thee ? But now since that soul of thine is superior
to all things, share with me the toil. JEneas, as fame and the
scouts we sent bring sifre advice, with wicked purpose hath
sent on light-armed horse to scour the plains : himself along
the desert height of the mountains, hastening down its brow,
marches against the city. A stratagem of war I devise, in a
winding -path of the wood to beset the twofold defile with an
366 uENEID. B. XL 517552.
armed band. Do you in close fight engage the Tuscan horse.
The brave Messapus will be with you, and the Latin troops, and
the Tiburtine band : and do thou also assume the general's
charge. He said, and in like terms animates Messapus and the
confederate chiefs to the fight, and marches on against the foe.
In a mazy winding tract a valley lies, commodious for ambush
and the wiles of war ; which a gloomy flank of wood incloses
with thick boughs : whither leads a scanty path, narrow defiles
and malignant passes guide. Over this, in the mountain's
heights and lofty summit, lie a concealed plain and safe retreats ;
whether from right or left you wish to attack an enemy, or
from the ridge to harass him, and tumble on him ponderous
rocks. Hither young Turnus repairs along the path's well-
known track ; he with expedition seized the post, and in the
dangerous thickets insidiously lay.
Meanwhile Diana in the superior mansions addressed swift
Opis, 30 one of her virgin train and sacred retinue, and with sad
accent pronounced these words : O nymph, Camilla to cruel
war sets out, and is with our arms in vain arrayed, she who
is dear to me above her fellows : nor is this a new passion
that rises in Diana, and with a sudden fondness moves my
soul. When Metabus, 31 expelled from his kingdom for in-
vidious measures, and insolent abuse of power, quitted his
ancient city Privernum, flying amid the contests of war, he
carried off the infant his companion in exile, aud-from her
mother's name Casmilla, with small variation, called her Ca-
milla. He, in his bosom bearing her before him, to the re-
mote mountains and solitary groves took his way ; cruel darts
pursued him on all sides, and the Volscians hovered about
with troops around him spread. Lo, in the midst of his
flight, Amasenus overflowing foamed over his highest banks ;
such a torrent of -rain had burst from the clouds : he, pre-
paring to swim, is retarded by his tenderness for the child,
and fears for his darling charge. 'As he was pondering every
expedient within himself, suddenly this resolution with re-
luctance settled [in his breast]. An enormous javelin, which
in his strong hand the warrior charfted to wield, solid with
30 Opis, a nymph among Diana's attendants, \rho avenged the death
of Camilla by shooting Arus, by whose hand the queen had fallen.
31 Metabus, king of Privernum, a city of the Yolsci in Latium, and
father of Camilla.
B. xi. 553593. ^ENEID. 367
knots and well-seasoned oak; to this he fastens the babe
wrapped up in bark and sylvan cork, and with dexterity binds
her about the middle of the dart ; which poising in his vast
hand, he thus addresses himself to heaven : To thee, virgin
daughter of Latona, auspicious inmate of the woods, this child
thy handmaid, I in a father's right devote : wielding thy
weapons first she flies through the air, thy suppliant, from the
foe : Oh goddess, I implore thee, receive thy own, who now is
committed to the uncertain winds. He said, and with inbent
arm flung the whirled lance ; the waves resound ; over the
rapid stream ill-fated Camilla on the whizzing javelin flies.
But Metabus, a numerous troop now pursuing him more
closely, flings himselt into the flood, and, master of his wish,
plucks from the grassy turf the spear, with the virgin, Diana's
gift. Him no cities, houses, or walls received ; nor, by reason
of his savage nature, would he have condescended [so to live] :
but in the lonely mountains he led a shepherd's life. There
among the brakes and horrid lairs, he nurtured his child from
the dugs of a brood-mare, and with animal milk, milking the
teats into her tender lips. And soon as the infant with the
first prints of her feet had marked the ground, he loaded her
hands with the pointed javelin, and from the shoulders of the
little girl hung a bow and arrows. Instead of ornaments of
gold for the hair, instead of being arrayed in a long trailing
robe, a tiger's hide hangs over her back down from her head.
Even then with tender hand she flung childish darts, and
whirled round her head a smooth-thonged sling, and struck
down a Strymonian crane or white swan. Many matrons
through the Tuscan towns in vain wished her for their
daughter-in-law. She with Diana alone content, a spotless
maid, cherishes the perpetual love of darts and virginity.
Would she had never been in love with war like this, nor at-
tempted to assault the Trojans ! My favorite, and one of my
retinue, she might now have been. But come, O nymph,
since it is so determined by cruel fates, glide down from the
sky, and visit the Latin coast, where with inauspicious omens
the woeful fight is ushered in. Take these [weapons], and
from thy quiver draw forth a vengeful arrow : by this, who-
ever with a wound shall violate her sacred body, whether
Trojan or Italian, let him to me without distinction pay the
forfeit with his blood. Then in a hollow cloud will I into a
368 ^EXEID. B. XL 594630.
tomb convey the corpse, and uncaptured arms of my lamented
maid, and restore her to her native land. She said : but Opis,
shooting down through the light airy regions of the sky, rattled
along, her body wrapped around in a black whirlwind.
But the Trojan host meanwhile approach the walls, and the
Tuscan chiefs and the whole army of horsemen in order were
ranged in troops. The prancing courser neighs aloud over
all the plain, and battles with the tightened reins, this way and
that way wheeling about : then far and wide an iron field of
spears bristles to the view, and the plains shoot- a fiery glare
with arms raised aloft. Again on the other side opposed to
these appear in the field Messapus, and the swift Latins, and
Coras with his brother, and virgin Camilla's wing : and with
right hands drawn back stretch forth their spears far before
them, and brandish their darts : the advance of the heroes and
neighing of the steeds appear more and more fierce. And
now each army, advancing within a javelin's throw, make a
halt: with a sudden shout they spring forth, and cheer on
their sprightly steeds : at once from all quarters they pour
thick showers of darts, like snow, and with their shade the
face of heaven is screened. Forthwith Tyrrhenus and fierce
Aconteus, exerting their whole force, rush on eaoli other
with lance to lance opposed, and first with mighty noise give
the first shock, and with violent contact dash their horses'
breasts against each other. Aconteus, tossed [from his steed]
after the manner of a thunderbolt, or weight shot from an
engine, is flung headlong to a distance, and disperses his
life in air. Instantly the lines are thrown into disorder ; and
the Latins put to flight, cast their shields behind, and turn the
horses to the city. The Trojans pursue : Asylas chief leads
on the troops. And now they approached the gates : when
the Latins again raise a shout, and wheel about the pliant
necks [of their steeds] ; the others fly, and, giving their horses
full reins, retreat : as when the sea rolling with alternate
tides now rushes on the land, and foaming throws over the
rocks its waves, and with its skirts overflows the extremity of
the strand : now back with rapid motion, and sucking in
again the stones rolled backward with the tide, it retreats,
and with the ebbing current leaves the shore. Twice the
Tuscans drove the flying Rutulians to their walls : twice the
repulsed [Rutulians] face about on their foes, who, with their
B. XL 630665. ^ENEID. 369
targets defend their backs. But, after joining battle the third
time, they mingled their whole armies in close fight, and man
singles out his man ; then are dying groans ; and arms, and
bodies, and expiring steeds, mingled with slaughtered heaps
of men, roll in deep blood : a furious combat ensues. Orsilo-
chus against the horse of Remulus, when he dreaded to en-
counter the rider himself, hurled a lance, and left the steel
beneath his ear : with which blow the courser rages bounding
high, and, impatient of the wound, tosses his legs aloft, rear-
ing up his breast. His lord dismounted, falls to the ground.
Catillus overthrows lolas, and Herminius, formidable for
courage, for size, and arms; whose yellow locks [waved] on
his bare head, and whose shoulders were also uncovered.
Wounds dismay him not : so mighty he stands to arms op^
posed. The spear, driven through his broad shoulders, trem-.
bles, and, transfixing the warrior, doubles him down with
pain. Black gore is poured forth all around : vying with each
other, they deal destruction with the sword, and by wounds
seek glorious death. But amid heaps of slain the Amazon
Camilla, armed with a quiver, proudly prances over the field,
with one breast bared for the fight ; and now with her hand
in showers tough javelins she throws, now with unwearied
arm she snatches her sturdy halberd. From her shoulder rat-
tles her golden bow, and the arms of Diana. Even if at any
time repulsed she gave ground, still turned [against the foe]
she aimed the winged shafts from her bow. Around her were
her select retinue, the virgin Larina, Tulla, and Tarpeia brand-
ishing her brazen, ax, Italian nymphs ; whom sacred Camilla
herself had chosen .for her glory, and as trusty assistants in
war and peace : like Thracian Amazons, when they beat the
banks of Thermodon, 3a and war with particolored arms,
either round Hippolyte, 33 or about Panthesilea, when that
martial lady in her chariot returns ; and with loud yelling up-
roar the female troops with half-moon 8 * shields exult.- Whom
first, whom last, didst thou, fierce virgin, with thy shafts
32 Thermodon (Thermeh), a river of Pontus, in Asia Minor, in the
country of the Amazons, falling into the Euxine Sea near Themiscyra.
33 Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, given in marriage to Theseus,
by Hercules, who had conquered her.
3 * So called from their form. Cf. Quintus Calab. L 146, uvy' Itfer' da-
Tri6a dlav ukiyKiov uvrvyi [tTjVTjf. B.
16*
370 ^NEID. B. XL 666700.
overthrow ? or how many bodies didst thou stretch gasping
on the ground ? First Eumenius, the son of Clytius, whose
exposed breast, as he stood right against her, she transfixes
with the long spear of fir. He, vomiting up torrents of blood,
falls and bites the bloody ground, and dying writhes on his
own wound. Then Liris and Pagasus besides ; of whom the
one tumbling backward from his horse wounded under him
while he gathers up the reins, the other, as he comes up, and
reaches his unavailing hand to his falling friend, both fall
headlong and at once. To these she joins Amastrus, the son
of Hippotas ; and at distance keenly plying with darts pur-
sues Tereas, Harpalycus, Demophoon, and Chromis ; and
as many shafts as shot from her hand the virgin hurled, so
many Trojan heroes fell. Afar the hunter Ornytus in strange
arms rides on his lapygian" steed ; his broad shoulders a
hide torn from a fierce bullock overspreads ; his head a wolf's
vast yawning mouth and jaws with white teeth cover, and a
rustic lance 36 arms his hand. In the midst of the troops he
moves about, and overtops the rest by a full head. Him in-
tercepted (nor hard was the task, now that she had put his
troops to flight) she transfixes, and over him these words with
hostile heart pronounces : Tuscan, didst thou fancy that thou
wast hunting beasts of chase in the woods ? The day is come,
that by a female arm confutes your vaunts : yet to the manes
of thy fathers this no trifling honor shalt thou bear, that*
thou didst fall by the weapon of Camilla. In order next Or-
silochus and Butes, the two most bulky bodies of the Trojans,
[she assaults] : but Butes right against her with the pointed
lance she transfixes, between the corselet and the helmet, where,
as he sits [upon the horse], the shining neck appears, and
where down from his left arm the buckler hangs : Orsilochus
she mocks with [dissembled] flight, and wheeling round in a
spacious orb, turns short upon him in a narrower circle, and
pursues the pursuer. Then rising high, with redoubled
strokes she drives her sturdy ax through his arms, and
through his bones, while he prays and earnestly begs his life :
with his warm brains the wound besmears his face. The
warrior son of Aunus, the Apennine mountaineer, casually
35 i. e. "Appulo." SEBVITJS. Compare Gellius ii. 22. B.
36 "Sparus," a rustic missile, called, according to Varro (cf. Servius),
from its similarity to a fish of that name. B.
B. xi. 701733. ^ENEID. 371
encountered her, and startled with the sudden sight stopped
short ; not the last of the Ligurians, while the Fates suffered
him to practice fraud. Soon as he perceives that now by no
flight he can evade the combat, nor avert the queen who
presses him close, with policy and craft attempting to execute
his wishes, he thus begins : What mighty courage, female, if
on a warlike steed you rely ? throw away the means of flight,
and trust thyself with me hand to hand on equal ground, and
prepare for the combat on foot : soon shalt thou know to
which of us his vain-glorious boasting will bring harm." He
said ; but she, breathing fury, and stung with fierce resent-
ment, delivers her steed to an attendant, and confronts him in
equal arms with the naked sword on foot, and with her device-
less shield undaunted. But the youth, presuming that he had
overcome by artifice, instantly flies off, and, turning about his
horse's head, is borne away with precipitation, and tires his
fleet courser with the iron spur. Fond Ligurian, [says she,]
flushed with unavailing pride of soul, in vain hast thou per-
fidious tried thy country's slippery arts ; nor shall all thy arti-
fice bring thee off safe to cheating Aunus. Thus the virgin
said, and with nimble foot, all on fire, outruns his courser's
speed, and, grasping the reins, engages him face to face, and
takes vengeance on his hostile blood ; with the same ease as
from a lofty rock the falcon, sacred bird [of Mars], with
\vinged speed overtakes a dove aloft among the clouds, and
seizing gripes her fast, and scoops out the bowels with his
hooked talons : then from the sky her blood and torn plumes
drop down.
But not with inattentive eyes the Sire of gods and men
these scenes surveying, on high Olympus exalted sits. The
Sire rouses Tuscan Tarchon to bloody battles, N and with no
mild incentives inflames his rage. Therefore, amid the
scenes of slaughter and flying squadrons, Tarchon is hurried
on by his steed, and with various remonstrances animates the
wings, calling each man 38 by his name ; and rallies the broken
troops to battle. Oh never to be moved with just indigna-
tion ! Oh still dastardly faint-hearted Tuscans, what fear,
37 " Fraudem" seems to have been always regarded as the correct
reading. See Servius. B.
33 So Furius apud Macrob. Sat. vi. 1, " nomine quemque ciet." Silius
i. 454, " Cunctosque ciebat nomine." B.
372 uENEID. B. XL 734767.
what cowardice so base has seized your souls 1 Does a woman
drive you straggling, and put these squadrons to flight ?
What avails the sword ? or why wield we in our hands these
useless weapons ? But not so slothful are ye in the service of
Venus and her nocturnal wars," or. when the bent pipe of
Bacchus hath summoned the choirs to wait for the banquets
and bowls at the sumptuous board. This is your delight,
this your ambition, while the auspicious augur declares the
sacred rites, and the fat victim invites you to the deep groves.
This said, he spurs on his steed into the midst, he too bent on
death, and in furious perturbation advances directly against
Venulus ; and with his right hand grasps the foe torn off his
steed, and precipitant with huge violence bears him off before
their eyes. Fiery Tarchon flies over the plain, bearing both
the warrior and his arms : then from the top of his lance he
breaks off the steel, and explores the open chinks where he
may inflict the mortal wound. He, on the other hand, strug-
gling against him, wards off his hand from his throat, and
force by force evades. And as when the tawny eagle soaring
high bears off a serpent whom she hath seized, hath fixed in
him her feet, and with her talons griped him fast ; but the
wounded serpent writhes his curving volumes, and with
erected scales is stiff, and hisses with his mouth, rising high
against [his foe] : she not the less with hooked beak squeezes
him struggling, at the same time flaps the air with her wings ;
just so, from the army of the Tiburtines Tarchon in tri-
umph bears off his prey. The Tuscans, following the ex-
ample and fortune of their leader, rush on. Then Aruns 40
to death devoted, with his javelin and much artifice, first
courses round the swift Camilla, and watches what most
favorable opportunity may occur. Wherever amid the
troops the furious maid drove on, there Aruns follows, and
silently surveys her steps. Wherever she victorious returns,
and from the foe withdraws her steps that way the youth
secretly winds about the reins with speed. Now these, now
those approaches, and the whole circuit he traverses, and with
mischievous purpose shakes his unerring lance. By chance
39 Virgil expresses the Greek vvKropaxelv (c Aristenet. i. 10). B.
40 Aruns, a Trojan, who slew Camilla, and was killed by a dart of
Diana,
R n. 768 800. ^ENEID. 373
Chloreus, 41 sacred to Cybele, and formerly her priest, at dis-
tance shone conspicuous in Phrygian arms, and spurred on his
foaming courser ; which a hide compact with gilt scaly plates
of brass in form of plumes, covered. He himself, gaudy in
barbaric purple of darkened hue, shot Cretan arrows from his
Lycian bow. Of gold the bow hung rattling from his shoulders,
and of gold was the helmet of the priest ; then in a knot with
a clasp of yellow gold he had collected his saffron chlamys,
and its rustling plaits of lawn, having his Phrygian tunic
embroidered with needle-work, Him the virgin, whether
that she might fix Trojan arms in the front of the temple, or
show herself at the chase in captive gold, of all the warring
chiefs alone blindly pursued; and through the whole host,
for a woman's longing for the prey and spoils, with heedless
ardor roamed : when at length Aruns, snatching the occasion,
from his covert throws a dart, and thus to the powers above
addresses his prayer : Apollo, greatest of gods, guardian of
holy Soracte, whom we chiefly adore ; for' whom the fire of
pine" with heaps [of fuel] is fed ; and in whose honor,
through the midst of the flames, 43 we thy votaries, relying on
our piety, walk over a length of burning coals ; grant, almighty
Sire, that by our arms this infamy may be blotted out. Not
pillage or trophy, or any spoils of a vanquished maid, I seek :
to me my other exploits will bear renown. If, smitten by a
wound from me, this rueful pest shall fall, I to my native city
shall [willingly] return inglorious. Phoebus heard, and with
himself ordained that part of the vow should be fulfilled ; part
in fleet air he dispersed. By sudden death to overthrow
Camilla off her guard, he granted to his suppliant ; that his
illustrious country should see him safely return he denied, and
that petition the tempest turned adrift among the winds.
Therefore? soon as sent from his hand, the spear gave a whiz-
zing sound through the air, the armies turned their attention,
41 Chloreus, a priest of Cybele, who came with jEneas into Italy, and
was killed by Turnus.
42 But this may also mean " the pitchy flame," as in Soph. Antig. 124,
jrevKaevff 'H(j>aiaTor. So Tryphiodorus, 214, Trcv/oyevrof uvaoxbfievoi
mpoc 6pfj^v. Compare Heins. on Silius v. 179. B.
43 This is illustrated from a historical passage in Pliny, lib. vii. cap. 2.
Haud procul urbe Roma, in Faliscorum agro, familiae sunt paucae, qua?
vocantur Hirpiae : quse sacrificio annuo, quod fit ad montem Soractem
Apollini, super ambustam ligni strnem ambulantea non aduruntur.
374 ^ENEID. B. xi. 801837.
and all the Volseians on the queen their eyes directed. Neither
air nor whizzing sound did she heed, or the weapon flying
from the sky, till plunged beneath her naked breast the spear
stuck fast, and driven home, drank deep her virgin blood.
Her attendants in trembling haste pour in together, and lift
up their falling queen. Above all, Aruns, stunned with joy
and mingled fear, flies ; and now no longer dares trust to his
spear, or make head against the weapons of the virgin. And
as some fierce 44 wolf, after he has slain a shepherd or lusty
bullock, conscious of his daring deed, forthwith by some un-
beaten path hath to the lofty mountains made hie retreat,
before the hostile darts pursue him; and cowering hides his
cowardly tail under him, and hastens to the woods : just so
Aruns in hurrying perturbation from sight withdrew, and
pleased with his flight mixed among the armed troops. She
dying wrenches out the weapon with her hand ; but between
the bones in her side the steel point stands fixed with a deep
wound. Down she sinks lifeless ; down sink her cold eyes in
death ; her once blooming hue hath forsaken her face. Then
thus, breathing her last, she addresses Acca, one of her com-
peers, who, beyond the rest, was singularly trusty to Camilla,
with whom she used to divide her cares ; and thus these words
she speaks : So far, O sister Acca, have I held out ; now a
cruel wound undoes me, and all objects around put on a
face of darkness. Fly quick, and bear these, my last com-
mands, to Turnus : let him advance to the combat, and repel
the Trojans from the city. And now, farewell. At the same
time with these words she dropped the reins, sinking to the
ground involuntarily : then of vital heat bereft, she disengages
herself from the whole body by degrees ; and reclined her
drooping neck, and head subdued by death, leaving her arms ;
and with a groan her life indignant fled to the shades. Then
indeed a prodigious outcry arising strikes the golden stars.
The combat grows more bloody, now that Camilla is over-
thrown. At once in thick array rush on the whole strength
of the Trojans, the Tuscan chiefs, and the wings of Arcadian
Evander.
But Opis, appointed by Diana to watch [the fair], a long
while had sat aloft on the high mountains, and fearless viewed
44 See, however, Anthon on JEn. x. 707. B.
B. xi. 838874. J3NEID. 375
the combat. And soon as from far she espied Camilla by a
lamentable death overthrown amid the bustle of the infu-
riated youths, she inly groaned, and from the bottom of her
breast uttered these words : Ah virgin, too, too cruel punish-
ment hast thou sustained, for offering to defy the Trojans in
war ! nor hath it aught availed thee that lonely in the woods
thou wast a votary to Diana, and on thy shoulder didst bear
our quivers : yet not without honor has thy queen forsaken
thee now in death's extremity, nor shall this thy death be un-
recorded among the nations, nor shalt thou bear the infamy
of being unrevenged : for whoever with a wound hath violated
thy body, shall by just death his crime atone. Under the
lofty mountain stood the stately tomb 45 of Dercennus, the
ancient king of Laurentum, formed of a mount of earth, and
shaded with gloomy holm. Here first the goddess, pre-emi-
nent in beauty, with a rapid effort [of her wings] alights, and
Aruns from the high eminence surveys. Soon as she saw him
shining in armor, and vainly -swelling, she said, Why dost
thou move off that way ? hither direct thy course, hither come
to meet thy doom, that from Camilla thou mayest receive thy
due reward. Shalt thou, too, have the honor to die by Di-
ana's shafts ? She said, and from her gilded quiver the Thra-
cian nymph drew forth a winged arrow, and wrathful bent
her bow, and stretched it to its length, till the crooked points
together met, and now with both hands alike she touched,
with the left the steel point, and with the right and bow-string
her breast. Forthwith Aruns heard at once the hissing of
the shaft and sounding air, and in his body the steel stuck
fast. Him, expiring and groaning his last, his regardless
friends abandon in the dusty plain unknown: Opis to the
ethereal sky on wings is borne away.
First fly the warriors of Camilla's left-armed wing, now
that their queen is lost; the Rutulians in confusion fly; va-
liant Atinas flies ; the discomfited leaders, and the desolate
companies, both seek safe retreats, and turning their backs, on
coursers bend their way toward the town. Nor is any one
able with arms to sustain, or stand against the Trojans press-
ing on, and dispensing death ; but on their languid shoulders
they bear off their bows unbent, and with swift career the
45 " Bustum" is, properly, the place where a corpse has been burnt. B.
376 jENEID. B. xi. 875914
courser's hoof beats the moldering plain. Dust, in thick
clouds of black vapor, is rolled toward the walls ; and from
the towers the matrons beating their breast raise the female
shriek to the stars of heaven. On those who first with speed
burst within the expanded gates a hostile throng in a mingled
body presses ; nor escape they deplorable death, but in the
very entrance, under their native walls, and amid the shelter
of the houses, transfixed together they breathe out their souls.
Some shut the gates, nor dare to open a passage to their
friends, or within the walls to receive them imploring : and a
most lamentable slaughter ensues of such as guarded with
their arms the passes, and such as rushed on those arms. The
excluded, before the eyes and faces of their grieving parents,
partly tumble headlong into the deep trenches, ruin closely
pursuing. Some giving loose reins, blindfold and with rapid
speed batter against the gates, and the firmly barricaded posts.
Even the trembling matrons, soon as from the walls they
espied the corpse of Camilla, with the greatest eagerness (since
affection to their country prompts them) cast darts with their
hands, and, rushing precipitant with hardened oaks, stakes,
and poles burned at the point, imitate iron weapons, and arc
ambitious to die the first before the walls. Meanwhile this
horrid intelligence fills [the ears of] Turnus [as he lies am-
bushed] in the woods, and to the youth Acca reports the
dreadful disorder ; that the troops of the Volscians were cut
in pieces, Camilla had fallen, the vengeful foes were making a
furious onset, and by a successful battle had made themselves
masters of all ; that the consternation was now propagated ta
the city. He furious (for so the inflexible decrees of Jove
require) quits the hills he had beset, forsakes the rugged woods.
Scarcely had he gone out of sight, and possessed the plain,
when father ./Eneas, entering the open lawns, overpasses the
mountain's ridge, and safe through the gloomy wood takes his
way. Thus both impetuous, and with their whole army, to-
ward the city advance ; nor are they many paces distant from
each other. And at once .JSneas at a distance espied the plain
smoking with dust, and saw the Laurentine bands ; and Tur-
nus descried ^Eneas fierce in arms, and heard the tread of feet,
and the snorting of the steeds. Forthwith they would engage
in fight, and essay the combat, did not rosy Phoebus now dip
his tired steeds in the western ocean, and, day declining,
B. xi. 915. xii. 124. -jENEH). 377
bring back the night. In their camps before the town they
rest, and intrench the Avails.
BOOK xn.
In the Twelfth Book, Juno prevents the single combat agreed upon by
Turnus and jEneas. The Trojans are defeated in the absence of their
king, who had retired wounded, but is miraculously cored by Venus.
On nis return, he again challenges Turnus to the combat, with whose
death the poem concludes.
As soon as Turnus saw that the Latins, broken with unsuc-
cessful war, had lost heart ; that now his promise was claimed,
himself marked out by the eyes [of all] ; he burns with volun-
tary determination not to yield, 1 and raises his martial spirit.
As in the fields of Carthage, a lion, whose breast is pierced
by the hunters with a smart wound, then at length prepares
for battle, and delights in shaking the brawny muscles of his
shaggy neck, and undaunted breaks the infixed weapon of the
hunter and roars with bloody jaws : just so in . Turnus' in-
flamed breast violence arises, 2 then thus he addresses the king,
and thus in perturbation begins : In Turnus is no delay ; the
dastardly Trojans have no handle to retract their challenge,
or to decline what they have agreed to. I enter the lists:
order thou, O sire, the sacred rites, and ratify the truce.
Either I with this right hand shall dispatch to Tartarus the
Trojan, the renegado of Asia (let the Latins sit still and look
on), and alone shall with the sword repel the common charge ;
or let him rule as vanquished, let Lavinia be resigned his
spouse. To him with mind composed Latinus replied : O
youth surpassing in soul, the more you excel in fierce valor,
the more solicitous it concerns me to consult [your safety],
and with fearful caution to weigh the danger. You are heir
to the kingdom of your father Daunus, many cities have been
won by your valor, wealth also, and a high spirit, belong to
Latinus. There are other virgins unwedded in Latium and
1 I have been compelled to use a circumlocution in translating " ultro
implacabilis ardet." Servius well observes: "bene ducis dignitatem
servavit, ut non ideo faceret, quia quidam reposcebant ; sed sua sponte
accenderetur in proelium." B. ..
2 " Gliscit" rather means " increases, grows vehement." So Lucret.
i. 475, "Ignis Alexandri Phrygio sub pectore gliscens." iv. 1062, "In-
que dies gliscit furor." B.
378 uENEID. B. xii. 2555.
the territories of Laurentum, not ignoble in their birth.
Give me leave to lay before you without guile these truths, not
pleasant to be spoken ; at the same time, imbibe them with deep
attention. It was decreed that I should wed my daughter to
none of her former suitors ; and this both gods and men unani-
mous pronounced. Overpowered by my affection for thee, over-
powered by the ties of kindred blood, and by the tears of my
afflicted consort, I broke through all restraints; wrested my
daughter from the son-in-law to whom she was promised;
took up impious* arms [against him]. From that time, Turnus,
you see what calamities, what wars pursue me ; what disasters
you in chief endure. In two great battles routed, with diffi-
culty we defend our hopes of Italy in this city : the streams
of Tiber still run warm with- our blood, and the spacious
fields are white with the bones [of our slain]. Whither am I
so often driven back ? what infatuation changes my mind ?
If, upon Turnus' death, I am resolved to invite [the Trojans
to be] my allies, why not rather put an end to all dissensions
while he lives ? What will my kinsmen the Rutulians, what
will the rest of Italy say, if to death (Heaven disappoint my
fears !) I betray you, who court my daughter and alliance by
marriage ? Consider the various chances of war : pity your
aged sire, whom now disconsolate his native Ardea separates
far from you. By these remonstrances the rage of Turnus is
by no means checked : he swells up the more, and by medicine
grows more distempered. As soon as he was able to speak,
he thus began in words : Whatever care for me you entertain,
most excellent prince, I beseech you, for my sake, lay aside,
and suffer me to purchase death in exchange for glory. We
too, O sire, can fling 4 the dart and spear with no feeble arm,
and blood is wont to flow from the wounds which we inflict.
Nought shall his goddess-mother him avail, 6 who in a female
cloud screens the fugitive, and conceals herself in delusive
shades. But the queen, terribly alarmed with the new state
of the fight, wept, and ready to die [with grief], grasped her
3 Not only because ^Eneas was destined by the gods to be his son-in-law,
but because the war was between persons who had formed a truce. B.
4 Literally, scatter. So Silius vii. 635, " spargentem in vulnera saevua
Fraude fugse calaraos." ix. 390, "spargere tola manu." B.
5 Such is the force of "longe," as illustrated by Gronov. on Sen. Hip-
pol. 974 ; Drakenb. on Sil. xviL 80. B.
u. xn. 6690. ^NEID. 379
raging son-in-law : Turnus, by these tears, by whatever regard
for Amata touches your soul ; thou art now the only hope,
the only solace of my wretched old age ; on thee depends the
glory and power of Latinus ; on thee our whole family now in
its decline relies ; this one request I make, forbear to engage
with the Trojans. Whatever fortune awaits thee in that com-
bat, Turnus, awaits me also ; with you will I quit this hated
light, nor captive will I see JEneas my son-in-law. Lavinia,
bathing her glowing cheeks in tears, listens to the words of
her mother; [Lavrnia,] in whom profound modesty kindled
up a burning flush,' and diffused itself over her blushing
visage. As if one had stained the Indian ivory with ruddy
purple ; or as white lilies mingled with copious roses blush ;
such colors the virgin in her visage showed. Love raises
a tumult in his soul, and fixes his looks upon the maid.
He burns for arms the more, and briefly thus addresses
Amata: O mother, do not, I beseech thee, do not with
tears, do not with so inauspicious an omen, send me from
you, now that I am on my way to the combat of rigid wars ;
for Turnus is not at liberty to retard his death !. Idmon,
my herald, report from me this no pleasing message to the
Phrygian tyrant : when first the ensuing morn, borne in her
crimson car, shall blush in the sky, let him not lead his
Trojans against the Rutulians; let the arms of Trojans and
Rutulians rest ; by our blood be the war decided ; in that field
let Lavinia be won as a bride. When he had pronounced
these words, and with great speed retired into the palace, he
calls for his steeds, and exults to see them neighing in his
presence; which steeds Orithyia 7 gave (a royal present) to
Pilumnus, such as in whiteness might surpass the snow, in
speed the winds. The active grooms stand around, and with
their hollow hands cheer their stroked chests, and comb their
waving manes. Then he himself wraps about his shoulders
his corselet, rough with gold and pale orichalchum : at the
same time fits for use his sword and buckler, and the horns of
his flaming crest ; the sword which the god of fire himself had
forged for his father Daunus, and plunged, when glowing, in
More literally, " unto whom a deep blush kindled up the hot cur-
rent within, and overspread her burning visage." ANTHON.
7 Orithyia, a daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and wife of
Boreas, king of Thrace.
380 jENEID. B. xn. 91124.
the Stygian wave. Next with force he grasps his strong
spear, which in the middle of the palace stood resting on a
mighty column, Auruncian Actor's spoil, and brandishes it
quivering, exclaiming : Now, O spear, that never balked my
call, the time is now at hand. Thee, heroic Actor, thee the
right hand of Turnus now wields : grant that I may stretch
his body on the ground, and with my strong hand rend the
corselet torn from the Phrygian eunuch, and soil in the dust
his locks frizzled with hot irons and dripping with myrrh.
With such furies is he driven, and from the whole face of the
inflamed warrior sparks incessant fly : from his fierce eyes the
fire flashes : as when a bull to usher in the fight raises
hideous bellowings, and essays his rage for a combat with
horns, goring against the trunk of a tree ; with blows he beats
the air, and preludes to the fight by spurning the sand.
Meanwhile ^Eneas, fierce in the arms given by his mother, no
less whets his martial fury, and kindles up his rage, pleased
that the war was to be decided on the proffered terms. Then
he solaces his friends and the fears of sorrowing liilus, teaching
them the fates ; and orders the messengers to carry back his
positive answer to king Latinus, and prescribe the terms of
peace.
The next day arisen had scarcely sprinkled the tops of the
mountains with light, when first from the deep gulf the horses
of the sun lift up their heads, and from their erected nostrils
breathe forth day. Under the walls of the spacious city both
the Rutulians and Trojans, having measured the ground, pre-
pared it for the combat ; and in the center [raised] hearths
and altars of turf to their common gods: others attired in
linen vails, 8 and having their temples bound with vervain,
bore fountain-water, and fire. The Ausonian legion ad-
vances, and the armed squadrons pour forth at the crowded
gates : on the other side the whole Trojan and Tuscan army
with various arms rush [to the field], no otherwise arranged
in battle-array, with sword in hand, than if summoned to the
8 Serviua writes that the priests and sacred ministers among the Rom-
ans, by whom the laws of peace and war were confirmed, were prohibited
to wear any thing of linen ; and that Virgil designedly clothes the Fecia-
les in linen vails on this occasion, to give us to know beforehand that
the league was to be broken, since it was ushered in with unlawful
rites. Others for lino read limo, a kind of garment or apron worn by
the priests in sacrifice, that reached down from the navel to the feet.
B. xii. 125160. uBNEID. 381
fierce combat of Mars. The leaders, too, in gold and purple
decked, amid the thousands scamper [over the plain] ;
Mnestheus, the offspring of Assaracus, and brave Asylas ; and
Messapus, a renowned horseman, Neptune's son. And soon
as, upon the signal given, each man to his station retired, they
fix down their spears in the ground, and rest their shields.
Then, with eagerness [to see the combat], matrons in crowds,
the populace unarmed, and feeble old men, occupy the towers
and roofs of houses ; others stand near the lofty gates. But
from the summit of the hill, which is now called Alban (then
the mount had neither name, nor honor, nor glory), Juno,
stretching her view, surveyed the field and both armies of
Laurentines and Trojans, and the city of Latinus. Forthwith
she thus addressed the sister of Turnus, a goddess to the deity
who over pools and sounding streams presides ; on her this
sacred honor Jove, the high sovereign of the sky, for her
ravished virginity conferred : O nymph, the glory of rivers,
dearest to my soul, thou knowest how thee in chief, to all the
maids of Latium who mounted 9 the ungrateful bed of mighty
Jove, I have preferred, and willingly settled thee partner of
the skies : learn now, Juturna, 10 lest you should accuse me,
your sad disaster. As far as fortune seemed to suffer, and the
Fates permitted the state of Latium to prosper, Turnus and
your city I protected : now I see the youth engaging with
unequal fates : the day and unfriendly power of the Destinies
approach. With these eyes I am not able to behold this com-
bat, or this league. If aught thou darest more ready for a
brother, proceed : it becomes thee ; perhaps better fortune
will attend the wretched [Latins]. Scarcely had she spoken,
when from her eyes Juturna poured forth tears, and thrice
and four times with her hand smote her comely breast. This
is no time for tears, Saturnian Juno says ; dispatch, and if
there be any means, rescue your brother from death : or
kindle now the war anew, and dissolve the concerted league.
I authorize you in the daring attempt. Having thus advised,
she left her perplexed, and distracted with a sad wound of
soul.
9 Virgil expresses ^Esch. Suppl. 37, Ini^vai Murpuv. So also Eurip.
Hel. 376. B.
10 Juturna, the sister of king Turnus, changed into a fountain of the
same name, the waters of which were used in the sacrifices of Vesta.
382 ^3NEID. B. xn. 161190.
Meanwhile the kings, [and in particular] 11 Latinus of ample
frame, rides in a chariot by four horses drawn, whose reful-
gent temples twelve golden rays encompass, the emblem of
his ancestor the sun : ia Turnus moves in a car drawn by two
white steeds, brandishing in his hand two javelins tipped with
broad steel. On the other side, father ./Eneas, the founder of
the Roman race, blazing with his starry shield and arms divine,
and Ascanius by his side, the other hope of mighty Rome,
advance from the camp : in a pure vestment the priest brought
up the youngling of a bristly sow, and an unshorn ewe-lamb, 13
and presented the victims at the blazing altars. They, turning
their eyes toward the rising sun, sprinkle with their hands
the salt cakes, and mark with the sword the top of the vic-
tims' foreheads, and from the sacred goblets pour libations on
the altars. Then pious ./Eneas, having unsheathed his sword,
thus prays : Thou, O sun, be witness now to my prayer, and
this land, for whose sake I have been able to sustain such
grievous toils ; and thou, almighty father, and thou, Saturnian
Juno, now goddess, now more propitious, I pray : and thou,
glorious father Mars, who by thy sovereign will disposest the
fate of all battles : the fountains and rivers I invoke, and
whatever objects of religion are in the heavens above, and the
deities that dwell in the azure ocean. _ If the victory should
chance to fall to Ausonian Turnus, it is agreed that the van-
quished [Trojans] shall to Evander's city retire : lulus shall
quit these territories : nor in future shall the ./Eneades, vio-
lating the peace, make war again to harass these realms with
the sword. But if victory shall declare Mars on our side (as
I rather presume, and rather may the gods confirm by their
divine will), never shall I compel the Italians to be subject to
the Trojans, nor aim I at empire for myself; let both nations
11 I have followed Anthon's construing. B.
12 Latinus was the grandson of Picus, who took Circe, the daughter
of the sun, to be his wife or concubine, and by her had Faunus, the
father of Latinus, who consequently was the grandchild of the sun.
13 Ruaeus observes, that the ewe was offered for ^Eneas, after the man-
ner of the Greeks, who commonly ratified a league with the sacrifice of
a sheep or lamb, as we see in Homer, II. iii. 103. The sow again is for
Latinus, after the Roman or Italian fashion, which Livy intimates to have
been of very great antiquity, lib. i. 24, where he gives the form of rati-
fying a league between the Romans and Albans, in the reign of Tullua
Hostilius : " Audi Jupiter, etc. Si prior defexit, tu illo die Jupiter pop-
ulum Romanum sio ferito, ut ego hunc porcum hie hodie feriam."
B. xii. 191224. ^NEID. 383
unsubdued submit on equal terms to an everlasting league.
I shall ordain the sacred rites and the gods : 14 let my father-
in-law Latinus enjoy the control of the war, his wonted sove-
reign rule : to me my Trojans shall raise a city, and to that
city Lavinia shall give the name. Thus ^Eneas first [said] :
then thus Latinus, raising his eyes to heaven, succeeds, and
to the stars stretches forth his right hand : By those same
powers, ^Eneas, by the earth, the sea, the stars, I swear, by
Latona's double offspring, and two-faced Janus, by the majesty
of the gods infernal, and the sanctuary of inexorable Pluto.
These oaths let the Sire hear, who by his thunder ratifies our
leagues. On the altars I lay my hand ; and the fires here
placed in the midst of them, and the gods I call to witness :
no day shall ever violate this peace, this treaty, on the part
of the Italians, whatever way the event shall fall out : nor
shall any power make me swerve from them with my will,
even though it should wash away the earth into the waves,
blending it with the flood, and dissolve heaven into hell. As
this scepter (for a scepter in his hand he chanced to wield)
shall never sprout forth with light leaves, twigs, or shady
boughs, since once lopped in the wood from the low stem it
was severed from its mother-tree, and by the ax laid down
its locks and branching arms ; once a tree, now the artist's
hand hath enchased it in beauteous brass, and fashioned it for
the Latin kings to wield. By such asseverations they mutually
confirmed the league full in the view of the chiefs : then over
the flames they stab 16 the victims consecrated in due form, and
tear out their entrails from them yet alive, and heap up the
altars with loaded chargers.
But to the Rutnlians the match had long-seemed unequal,
and their breasts were agitated with various mixed emotions ;
but then the more, as they discern more nearly that the con-
test is one of unequal strength. Turnus advancing with a
silent gait, and in suppliant form with downcast eyes vener-
ating the altars, his wan cheeks, and the paleness over his
youthful form, aggravate their fears ; which surmises soon as
his sister Juturna observed to be spread abroad, and that the
drooping hearts of the populace were wavering; into the
midst of the troops, personating the form of Camertus (who
14 i. e. the Latins are to receive those of the Trojans. B.
15 " Jugulare" properly means " to cut the throat." B.
384 uENEHX B. m. 225269.
was of a noble ancient line, and from his father's valor de-
rived an illustrious name, himself too most valiant in arms),
into the midst of the troops she throws herself, not unskilled
in expedients, sows various rumors [among the ranks], and
thus harangues them : Are you not ashamed, O Rutulians ! to
expose one life for all who are such ?'* are we not equal in
numbers and in strength ? Lo Trojans and Arcadians both,
and the fatal band, Etruria, inveterate to Turnus, all are here :
yet should but every second man of us engage, we hardly have
a foe. He, [Turnus,] it is true, by fame shall be advanced to
the gods, at whose altars he devotes himself, and in the mouths
[of men] shall ever live ; we who now are seated idle on the
plain, shall, after having lost our country, be constrained to sub-
mit to haughty lords.
By these words the resolution of the youths was now more
and more inflamed, and through the troops the murmur glides.
Even the Laurentines are changed, and those very Latins,
who were recently promising themselves repose from war,
and prosperity to the state, now are to arms inclined, wish the
league unmade, and pity the hard fate of Turnus. To these
incentives Juturna adds another yet stronger, and gives a
sign from high heaven, than which none more effectually dis-
turbed the minds of the Italians, and mislead them by its por-
tent. For in the ruddy sky the tawny bird of Jove with
winged speed pursued some water-fowl, and a noisy tribe of
the feathered kind ; when suddenly swooping down to the
waves, cruelly rapacious, he snatched up in his crooked
pounces a goodly swan. The Italians roused their attention :
and all the fowls with screaming noise turn their flight,
amazing to see] and darken the sky with their wings, and
forming a cloud, pursue" their foe through the air ; till, by
the force [of their attacks], and the very encumbrance of his
burden, overpowered, the bird gave way, and from his talons
dropped his prey into the river, and flew far into the clouds.
Then indeed with acclamation the Rutulians salute the omen,
and make ready their troops : and first Tolumnius the augur
says, This is what with prayers I often sought : I welcome
16 i. e. " who are equal in valor to Turnus." AXTHOS. B.
17 Literally, "press on." Silius v. 281, "ceu tigride cerva Hyrcana
cum pressa tremit" x. 125, "Haud secus ac Libyca fetam tellure leae-
nam Venator premit obsesso cum Maurus in antro." B.
'
B. xn. 260294. uENBID. 385
[the omen], and own [the interposition of] the gods ; myself,
myself at your head, snatch up the steel, Rutulians, whom
this injurious foreigner like weak fowls with war dismays, and
by violence ravages your coasts. He shall betake himself to
flight, and set sail far into the deep. Do ye with one accord
close your squadrons, and from the combat save your king,
whom they would ravish from you. 1 *
He said, and rushing forth, hurled a dart full in the face of
the enemy : the whizzing cornel-shaft gives a twang, and with
unerring aim cuts the air. At once it is done, at once a loud
shout arises, and the whole ranks are disturbed, and their
hearts inflamed with tumultuous rage. The flying javelin, as
against it stood nine brothers (most comely personages, whom
one faithful consort of Tuscan blood had borne to Arcadian
Gilippus), one of these, a youth distinguished by his mien and
shining arms, just in the middle, where the stitched belt is
worn by the waist, and a clasp confines the joints of the sides :
it penetrates the ribs, and stretches him on the yellow sand.
But the brothers, a resolute band, and stung with grief, some
draw their swords, some snatch the missile steel, and rush
blindfold; against whom the troops of Laurentum spring
forth: then in close array Trojans, and Tuscans, and Arca-
dians with painted arms, again stream forth. One common
ardor so strongly possesses all to decide the strife by dint of
sword. They rifled the very altars ; a thick tempest of darts
flies through all the air, and an iron shower pours down
amain ; and they bear away the hearths and goblets. 19 Latinus
himself, the league now broken, flies, bearing off his baffled
gods. Some rein their chariots, or with a bound vault on their
steeds, and with drawn swords are ready. Messapus, eager to
violate the truce, gives a terrible shock to the Tuscan Aulestes,
a king, and bearing the ensigns of a king, by jostling against
him with his horse : he retreating falls, and unhappily among
the altars planted behind him tumbles on his head and shoul-
ders. But Messapus fierce flies up with his lance, and with the
beamy weapon from on high, raising himself on his steed, smites
him heavily, earnestly imploring [his life], and thus speaks :
18 "Raptum" is used proleptically. B.
19 The priests and ministers bear away the utensils which had been
employed in pledging the truce. B.
17
386 ^ENEID. B. xn. 295330.
He has got it, ao this victim is given to the great gods as a more
grateful offering. The Italians flock toward him, and strip his
limbs, yet warm. From the altar Chorinseus snatches a burn-
ing brand, and confronting Ebusus, as he is coming up and
aiming a blow, prevents him, by dashing the flames full in his
face. His bushy beard blazed, and singed all over, diffused a
smell. The other, pursuing the blow, with his left hand grasps
the hair of his confounded foe, and with exerted force, pressing
his knee against him, nails him fast to the ground ; in this pos-
ture he plunges the cruel sword into his side. Podalirius with
naked sword pursuing the shepherd Alsus, as in the front of
the battle he rushes through the darts, presses close upon him :
he (Alsus) drawing back his ax, cleaves asunder in the mid-
dle the forehead and chin of his opponent, and with the bespat-
tered blood besmears his arms. Cruel slumbers and the iron
sleep [of death] press down his eyes ; closed are their orbs ii\
everlasting night.
But pious JEneas, with his head uncovered, stretched forth
his unarmed hand [in sign of truce], and with loud acclamation
called to his men : Whither rush you ? what sudden discord
has thus arisen ? O restrain your rage ! the league is now struck
up, and all the articles are settled : I alone have a right to en-
gage ; permit me, and banish your fears : this hand of mine
shall make the league firm : those sacred rites give me security
for Turnus. Amid these words, amid such expostulations,
lo ! a hissing arrow with winged speed alighted on the hero :
by whose hand shot, by whose whirling force impelled, who ac-
quired such glory to the Eutulians, whether a god or chance,
is uncertain : smothered was the fame of the illustrious action,
nor did any one vaunt himself on [having inflicted] a wound
on ^Eneas.
Soon as Turnus saw ./Eneas retiring from the army, and
the leaders all in disorder, with sudden hope impetuous he
burns : for his steeds and arms at once he calls, and proudly
springs into the chariot with a bound, and with his own
hands guides the reins. Flying along, he gives to death many
gallant frames of men ; many half dead he rolls along, or with
his chariot tramples down the troops, or plies their flying
10 i. e. " he has received his coup de grace," a gladiatorial phrase. C
Ter. Andr. i. 8, 56. B.
. XIL 331365. J3NEID. 387
backs with darts caught up. 81 As when by the streams of the
cold Hebrus bloody Mars with fierce^ commotion clashes with
his shield, and kindling war, lets loose his furious steeds ; they
over the plain outfly the south winds and zephyr ; Thrace to
its utmost bounds groans beneath the trampling of their feet,
and the features of grim Terror, Rage, and Stratagem, the ret-
inue of the god, stalk around : with like fury Turnus through
the midst of the embattled plain exulting drives his steeds
steaming with sweat, prancing over his miserably slaughtered
foes : their rapid hoofs scatter the dewy drops of blood, and gore
with mingled sand is spurned up. And now to death he gave
Sthenelus, and Thamyris, and Pholus, encountering the two last
hand to hand, the other at a distance ; at a distance also both
the sons of Imbrasus, Glaucus and Lades, whom in Lycia Im-
brasus had bred, and furnished with equal skill in arms, either
to fight hand to hand, or on horseback to outfly the wind. In
another quarter Eumedes rushes into the midst of the field,
the warlike son of the ancient Dolon," representing his grand-
sire in name, in soul and action his sire ; who once, sent as a
spy to visit the Grecian camp, durst claim for his reward the
chariot of Achilles. Him Tydides for so audacious an attempt
honored with a very different reward ; and no more he aspires
[now] to the steeds of Achilles. Him as soon as Turnus at a
distance espied on the open plain, having first sent after him a
fleet arrow through the extended void, he stops his harnessed
steeds, down from the chariot springs, and flies up to him ex-
piring and prostrate ; and, pressing his foot on his neck, wrests
the, sword from his hand, and deep in his throat plunged the
shining blade, and withal added these words : Lo ! Trojan,
stretched at your length measure the lands, and that Hes-
peria which by war you sought: these rewards they reap
who dare attack me with the sword ; thus they build their
walls. Hurling his lance he sends Butes to bear him com-
pany : and Chloreas, and Sybaris, Dares, and Thersilochus, and
Thymoetes, who had fallen from the neck of his plunging 33
steed. And as, when the blast of Thracian Boreas roars on
21 Snatched up from his own chariot, or from the bodies of the slain. B.
88 Colon, a Trojan remarkable for his swiftness, having been sent as a
spy to the Grecian camp, he was seized and put to death by Diomedes.
88 So Silius uses " sternax," i. 261, " correpti sternacem ad pro?lia
frsenis Frangere equum." Servius interprets it, " qui facile sternit se-
dentm." B.
388 -<ENEID. B. xn. 366397.
the ^Egean Sea, and to the shore pursues the waves, wherever
the wiuds exert their incumbent force, the clouds fly through
the air : just so before Turnus, wherever he cuts his way, the
troops give way, and the routed squadrons fly : his impetuous
ardor bears him on, and the wind, blowing right against his
chai-iot, shakes his fluttering crest. Him thus bearing all be-
fore him, and bellowing with mad rage, Phegeus could not en-
dure ; he opposed himself to the chariot, and, with his right
hand, twisted the mouths of the steeds as they are hurried along,
foaming with the bit. While he is dragged along, and hangs
upon the pole, [Turnus'] broad lance reaches him undefended,
and piercing bursts his double-tissued coat of mail, and with
a wound grazes the surface of his body. But he, with shield
opposed turning on the foe, advanced, and from his un-
sheathed sword 24 sought assistance ; when the wheel, and the
axle accelerated in its career, hurled him headlong, and stretch-
ed him on the ground ; and Turnus following, with his sword
struck off his head, between the lower extremity of the helmet
and the upper border of the corslet, and left him on the sand a
[headless] trunk.
Now while in the field victorious Turnus makes such havoc,
in the interim Mnestheus, and trusty Achates, and Ascanius,
accompanying, placed in the camp ./Eneas bleeding [from his
wound, and] on a long spear propping his alternate steps."
He storms, and, having broken off the shaft, struggles to
wrench out the dart, and demands the speediest means of aid;
bids them make an incision with the broad sword, and quite
lay open the weapon's recess, and send him back to the war.
And now came to his aid lapyx, 28 the son of lasius, by Phoe-
bus above others beloved ; upon whom Apollo himself, capti-
vated with a violent passion for him, heretofore had offered
to bestow his arts, his own gifts, his skill in augury, the lyre
and winged shafts. He, to prolong his dying father's fate,
chose to understand the powers of herbs and use of medicine,
and inglorious to practice those silent arts." Raving vio-
* 4 I may as well remark, that "mucro" generally moans a short, broad
weapon. B.
25 So Silius vi. 68, " Saucius fractse innitens hastaj." B.
50 lapyx, a Trojan, the son of lasius, and a favorite of Apollo, who
instructed him in medicina
37 Because unheralded by fame. ANTHON. B.
JJ. XTI. 398 i35. ^EXEID. 339
lently JEneas stood, leaning on his massy spear, unmoved,
amid the vast confluence, either by the tears of the youths
or of grieving lulus. The sage, in his robe doubled back,
girt up 38 after the physician's fashion, with anxious trepida-
tion makes many efforts in vain with his healing hand, and
the potent herbs of Phoebus ; in vain with his right hand tugs
the dart, and with tenacious pincers grips the steel. No
success attends the means ; his patron Apollo lends no aid ;
and the fierce terror of the field spreads more and more, and
the mischief is nearer. Now they see the air stand thick with
dust : [Turnus'] cavalry are advancing, and thick showers of
darts fall in the midst of the camp : to heaven ascend the dis-
mal shouts of youth, some fighting, and some falling under cruel
Mars.
Here the parent-goddess Venus, deeply affected with the
undeserved suffering of her son, from Cretan Ida crops a
stalk of dittany, all blooming with downy leaves and purple
flowers : to the wild goats those herbs are not unknown ; [for
from them they seek relief,] when in their backs the winged
shafts have struck. This Venus, her face muffled in a dim
cloud, conveyed ; with this she tinctures the water poured in
the shining vase, secretly medicating it ; and injects the juice
of healing ambrosia, and fragrant panacea. With this liquor
aged lapyx, not knowing [its cummunicated virtue], fomented
the wound ; and suddenly (for all the pain fled from his body,
and all the blood in the deep wound was stanched ; and now
the arrow, following the hand, without any compulsion drop-
ped out, and to his pristine state his vigor returned anew)
lapyx exclaims, Quick fly for the hero's arms ; why do you
stand ? thus he first kindles their courage against the foe. [He
adds,] Not from human aid, or from the masterly art [of man],
proceeds this cure, nor, ^Eneas, is it my right hand that saves
thee : a god more powerful is the agent, and releases thee for
enterprises of greater moment. He, panting for the combat,
had incased his legs in gold, is impatient of delay, and brand-
ishes his lance. When his shield was fitted to his "side, and
the corslet to his back, within his armed folds he embraces
Ascanius, and, through his helmet, gently touching his lips,
thus addresses him : From me, my son, learn valor and true
58 In order to be less encumbered in his operations. So Silius v. 367,
" intortos de more adstrictus amictus, Mulcebat lympha purgatum san-
guine vulnus." B.
390 -3NEID. B. xir. 436469.
fortitude ; thy fortune {learn] from others. Now shall my hand
by war set thee in safety, and lead thee to the glorious fruits
of victory. Be sure you this remember, when ere long your
age shall reach maturity ; and, calling often to mind the exam-
ples of your ancestors, let your father .^Eneas, and uncle Hector,
spur you on.
Soon as he uttered these words, from the gates he issued
forth majestic ; in his hand brandishing a ponderous javelin :
at the same time in a thick body rush forth Antheus and
Mnestheus, and all the troops from the abandoned camp pour
along. Then with mingled clouds of blinding dust the plain
is overspread, and the earth, shaking by the trampling of their
feet, trembles. Them marching Turnus saw from an oppo-
site hill ; the Ausonians saw, and cold fear ran through their
inmost bones. Before all the Latins Juturna first heard and
recognized the sound, and in consternation fled. The hero
(^Eueas) speeds his way, and along the open plain drives his
fiery squadron. As when under some stormy" 9 constellation
a tempest moves athwart the mid ocean toward the land ;
ah ! how the hearts of the desponding swains, presaging from
afar, shudder I it will bring ruin on the trees, and desolation
on the fields of corn, it will lay all waste around : the winds
before it fly, and waft hoarse murmurs to the shore : with such
fury the Trojan chief leads on his squadron against the oppos-
ing foes : in the thick array they crowd upon each other,
closing their serried files. ThymbraBUs with the sword smites
down the stem Osiris, Mnestheus beats down Archetius,
Achates kills Epulo, and Gyas Ufens. The augur's self To-
lumnius falls, who first had hurled his lance against the ad-
verse foes. To heaven a shout is raised ; and the Rutulians,
routed in their turn, show their backs all dusty over the field.
^Eneas himself neither deigns to put the fugitives to death,
nor does he pursue those who engage in close fight, or who
[at a distance] throw the javelin ; Turnus alone, with accu-
rate survey, he searches out, amid the thick clouds of dust:
him alone he demands to the combat.
With dread of this the warlike maid Juturna, struck to the
heart, overthrows Metiscus, 80 Turnus' charioteer, between the
" Literally, " when [tho influence of] some constellation has burst
forth." B.
30 Metiscus, tho charioteer of Turnus, whose form was assumed by
Juturna, the sister of Turnus.
B. xii. 470506. ^NEED. 391
harness, and leaves him far behind fallen from the beam.
Herself succeeds, and with her hand guides the waving reins,
assuming all, the voice, the person, and arms of Metiscus. As
when throughout the spacious mansions of some wealthy lord
the sable swallow flutters, and on the wing traverses the lofty
courts, picking up her scanty fare, and food for her loquacious
young ; and now in the empty cloisters, now about the liquid
pools .chatters: in like manner through the midst of the foes
Juturna rides, and flying in her rapid chariot, circuits all:
and now here, now there, exhibits her brother in triumph ;
nor suffers him to engage [in single combat] ; but far [from
^Eneas] devious flies.
yEneas, with no less eagerness, pursues mazy orbs, in order
to intercept him, traces out the warrior, and with a loud voice
calls after him through the broken troops. As often as he
casts his eyes on the foe, and by his agility attempted the
winged courser's speed ; so often Juturna wheeled about the
chariot, turning it from him. Alas, what can he do ? in vain
he fluctuates with a varying tide, and different cares urge his
mind to opposite schemes. At him Messapus, as in his swift
career he chanced in the left hand to wield two javelins pointed
with steel, levels one of them, hurling it with a well-aimed
blow. vEneas stopped short, and shrunk himself up behind his
buckler, stooping on his knee; yet the impetuous dart bore
away the tufted top of the helmet, and from his head struck off
the towering crest. Then indeed his rage swells ; and, driven
on by the deceitful arts [of his foe], when he perceived that the
steeds and chariot were driven back in a different career, he
makes large protestations to Jove, and the altars of the broken
league. At length he rushes into the midst of the lines, and
under the auspicious influence of Mars, arrayed in terrors, ushers
in a hideous undistinguished slaughter, and gives loose reins to
all his fury.
What God in song can now to me unfold so many disastrous
scenes, what God [can tell] the various havoc and death of
the chiefs, whom by turns now Turnus chases over all the
plain, and now the Trojan hero ? Was it thy pleasure, Jove,
that nations, which were [one day] to be joined in everlasting
peace, should with such commotion engage ? ^Eneas, not losing
time, full in the side smote Sucro the Rutulian (this combat
first checked the Trojans in their career), and, where death is
392 .ffiNEID. B. m 507547.
-
speediest, through tlie ribs and wattled fences of his breast
drives home the cruel blade. Turnus on foot encountering
Amycus from his horse overthrown, and his brother Diores,
smites the one with his long spear as he comes up, the other
with his sword ; and, having cut off the heads of both, sus-
pends them on his chariot, and bears them along bedewed with
blood. The other dispatches Talos, Tana'is, and stout Cethe-
gus, all three at one assault, and dejected Onytes, of Theban
extraction, the son of Perida. Turnus [again overthrows]
the brothers sent from Lycia and Apollo's lands, and Menoetes,
an Arcadian youth, in vain to war averse ; whose art and poor
abode had been about the streams of Lerna, abounding in
fishes ; nor were the employments of the great known to him,
while in farmed land his father sowed. And as two fives rage,
let loose from different quarters upon a withered copse, and
crackling laurel groves; or as with impetuous fall from the
steep mountains two foaming rivers roar along and roll to the
sea each laying his passage waste : with no less impetuosity
^Eneas and Turnus both rush through the embattled plain ;
now, now their rage boils up within ; their invincible breasts
are ready to burst with fury ; now with full career they drive
into the midst of wounds. The one (^Eneas) with a ; ock and
the whirling force of a huge stone, overthrows headlong, and
at his length stretches on the ground, Murranus, vaunting loud
his ancestry, and the ancient names of his forefathers, and his
whole line through the Latin kings derived : him beneath the
harness and yoke the wheels dragged along, and with rap on
rap the hurrying hoofs of his steeds, regardless of their mas-
ter, trample upon him. The other (Turnus) encounters Ilus
rushing on, and storming hideous with ire, and against his
gilded temples hurls a javelin ; through his helmet transfixing
his brain, the spear stood still. Nor could thy right hand, O
Creteus, bravest of Greeks, save thee from Turnus; nor did
his own gods protect Cupencus from the assault of ^jEneas;
The sword found easy access to his heart : nor did the resist-
ance of the brazen shield aught avail its hapless owner. Lau-
rentum's fields, O yEolus, saw thee too fall, and [stretched] on
thy back widely cover the earth. Thou, whom neither the
Grecian squadrons could prostrate, nor Achilles, who over-
threw Priam's empire, meetest thy doom. Here were the
boundaries -of thy life; under Mount Ida thy stately palace,
B. xn. 547582. ^ENEID. 393
in Lyrnessus thy stately palace ; [here] a grave in Laurentine
ground. Thus now both hosts are [on each other] turned,
both Latins and Trojans all : Mnestheus, and stern Sereslus,
and Messapus, a horseman renowned, and gallant Asylas, the
Tuscan phalanx, and Arcadian Evander's cavalry, the war-
riors each to his power their utmost efforts exert. 31 No stop,
no stay ; with vast emulation they strain their utmost.
Here his lovely parent inspired ^Eneas with the resolution
to march to the walls, and forthwith advance his army against
the city, and with an unexpected blow confound the Latins.
While through the various ranks in quest of Turnus he rolled
his eyes hither and thither around, he sees the city exempt
from the disastrous war, and in safety undisturbed. Instantly
the image of a more decisive battle inflames his soul ; he calls
the chiefs, Muestheus, Sergestus, and brave Serestus, and
takes a rising ground, where the rest of the Trojan army
assemble in thick array, 32 nor lay their targets or darts aside.
He in the center, posted on the eminence, addresses them :
Let no obstruction be given to my proposal : Jove stands by
us : nor, because the design is sudden, let any one be the more
backward. The city, the cause of the war, the empire itself of
Latinus, unless the people consent to receive our yoke, and
vanquished to submit, this day will I overturn, and lay their
smoking towers level with the ground. Am I forsooth
to wait till Turnus deign to accept our offered challenge, and
[so often] beaten, be again disposed to take the field ? This is
the source, my friends, this the great hinge of the execrable
war. Quickly bring brands, and with fire re-assert the league.
He said ; and all at once with emulous ardor form the wedged
battalion, and to the walls in a dense body move. Suddenly
the scaling ladders, and unexpected flames appear. Some fly
to the gates, and butcher the first they meet ; others hurl the
steel, and darken the sky with darts. JEneas himself among
the foremost beneath the walls extends his hand, and with a
loud voice accuses Latinus ; the gods he calls to witness, that
he is a second time compelled to the fight; that the Italians
are now twice become his foes, and this the second league they
51 This seems like an imitation of Plautus, Amphit. i. 1, 76, "Pro se
quisque, id quod quisque potest et valet." Cf. Ter. Heut. i. 1, 74. Ovid
Met. iii. 642. B.
38 " Densi" refers to " milites," which is implied in " legio." B.
"
894 ^ENEID. B. XII. 583620.
broke. Among the trembling citizens dissension arises ; some
press to dismantle the town, and open the gates to the Trojans,
and drag the king himself to the ramparts. Others take up
arms, and march on to defend the walls. As when a shepherd
hath traced out a swarm of bees inclosed in some harboring
cleft, and filled [their cells] with bitter smoke ; they within,
alarmed for their affairs, in trepidation run hither and thither
through the waxen camp, and with loud buzzing whet their
rage : through their cells the black stench is rolled ; then with
faint murmur the caverns within resound ; to the empty regions
of air the smoke ascends.
This disaster too befell the distressed Latins, which with woe
shook the whole city to the foundation. The queen, soon as
she saw the enemy advancing to the town, the walls assaulted,
the flames flying up to the roofs ; nowhere the Rutulian bands,
no troops of Turnus ; had the misfortune to believe the youth
slain in the heat of battle, and, with sudden grief distracted,
cries, that she had been the cause, the criminal author, and
source of ills ; and frantic in her raving anguish, pouring
forth many exclamations, with her hands in despair asunder
tears her purple robes, and from a lofty beam ties the noose
of her unseemly 33 death. Which disaster when it reached the
unhappy Latin dames, first her daughter Lavinia tore her
golden tresses and rosy cheeks with her hands ; then all the
rest run raving about With shrieks the palace far and wide
resounds. Hence the doleful intelligence is blazed through
the town. Their souls despond. Latinus, thunderstruck with
the destiny of his queen, and the ruin of his city, goes about
tearing his robe, deforming his hoary locks, sprinkled over
with sordid ashes ; and much himself accuses, for not having
before received Trojan JEneas, and cordially admitted him as
his son-in-law.
Meanwhile the warrior Turnus in the extremity of the field
pursues a few straggling troops, now more languid, and lesff
elated with the speed of his horses. The wind wafted to him
this outcry mingled with unseen terrors ; the din and unjoy-
ous murmurs of the distracted city struck his listening ears.
Ah me ! why with such woe are our walls disturbed ? What
" Either referring to the supposed treatment of those who had com-
mitted suicide, in the other world, or to the disgracefulnesa of a death
by hanging. See Servius. B.
B. xii. 621 G59. uENEID. 395
alarming shouts burst from the various quarters of tlie town ?
He said, and, pulling in the reins, stood still, in amazement
lost. Then his sister, now that she was transformed into the
figure of the charioteer Metiscus, and guided the chariot, the
horses, and the reins, in these words replies : This way, Turnus,
let us pursue the sons of Troy, where our first conquest
opens the way. Others there are who by their prowess can
defend the walls : ^Eneas assails the Italians, and [with them]
joins battle. Let us too, by exerting our activity, dispense
death to the Trojans without pity ; nor shall you quit the field
inferior to him in the number [of the slain], or in the honor
of the fight. To this Turnus [replied] : O sister ; I knew
you long ago, when first by artifice you broke the truce, and
engaged yourself in these wars ; and now, though a goddess,
in vain you wear disguise. But what god commissioned you
to quit the skies in order to sustain such toils ? [are you
come] to be witness of your unhappy brother's cruel death ?
For what can I do ? or what success now can fortune prom-
ise ? Myself before my eyes saw Murranus, than whom
there survives not one to me more dear ; [I saw him] fall as
he called on me with his [expiring] breath, mighty the man,
and with a mighty wound subdued. Ill-fated Ufens fell, that
he might not be a spectator of my disgrace : The Trojans are
in possession of his corpse and arms. Shall I suffer our city
to be razed, the only thing that was wanting to our distress
nor by this right hand refute the calumnies of Drances ? Shall
I turn my back? and shall this earth see Turnus fly? Is it
then so grievous a misfortune to die ? Oh infernal powers, be-
friend me, since the will of the powers above is hostile ! To
you I shall descend a spotless soul, from that imputation clear,
and at no time degenerate from my great ancestors.
Scarcely had he said, when lo ! Sages, hurried by his foam-
'ing steed, flies through the midst of the foes, wounded with an
arrow athwart the face, and imploring Turnus by name he
rushes forward : Turnus, on thee our last relief depends ;
have pity on thy own. ^Eneas thunders in arms, and threatens
to overthrow the stately towers of Latium, and raze them
to the ground : and now to our roofs the fire-brands fly. On
thee their eyes, on thee their whole regard the Latins turn :
king Latinus himself demurs, whom to call his son-in-law, or
to which alliance to incline. Besides, the queen, most faith-
396 uENEID. B. xn. 659 695.
f\i\ to your interest, has fallen by her own hand, and aban-
doned to despair, has fled from life. Before the gates Messapus
and brave Atinas alone sustain the fight. Around those on
each side the battalions stand in thick array, and an iron crop
of naked swords shoot a horrid glare : [yet, during these pub-
lic alarms,] you are wheeling your chariot along the desert
field.
Confounded with the varied aspect of affairs, Turnus was
stunned, and stood in silent gaze. Deep in his breast boils
overwhelming shame, also frantic rage with intermingled
grief, and love racked with fury, and conscious worth. Soon
as the clouds were dispelled, and light to his mind restored,
toward the walls he rolled his flaming eye-balls in turbulence
of soul, and from his car surveyed the spacious city. When
lo ! a torrent of flames whirling amid the different stories, in
rolling waves ascended to heaven, and had seized the tower ;
the tower which himself of jointed beams had reared, and
under it wheels applied, and with lofty bridges overlaid.
Sister, [he cries,] now, now, destiny prevails ; forbear to stop
me ; let us follow whither god and rigid fortune calls. I am
resolved to enter the lists with ^Eneas ; whatever bitterness
is in death, I am resolved to bear it : nor, sister, shall you see
me longer in disgrace. Permit me first, I pray, to give vent to
this fury.
He said, and instantly from his chariot sprang with a bound
upon the plain ; through foes, through darts he rushes, and
leaves his mourning sister, and with rapid course bursts
through the middle ranks. And as when a rock tumbles pre-
cipitately down from a mountain's top, torn by the winds,
whether furious rains have washed it away, or undermining
time by length of years hath loosened it ; down the precipice
abrupt the pertinacious mass of mountain with vast impulse
is hurried, and bounds over the ground, sweeping away with
it woods, flocks, and men : just so through the broken troops
Turnus rushes to the walls of the city, where to a vast extent
the earth is drenched in streaming blood, and the air hisses
with javelins. With his hand he makes a sign, and at the
same time thus with a loud voice begins: Now, Rutulians,
forbear, ^and, ye Latins, withhold your darts; whatever for-
tune of the war remains is mine : it is more equitable that I
alone expiate the [violated] league in your stead, and by the
B. Hi. 695730. JENEID. 397
sword decide the strife. All the troops retired from between
them, and made room.
But father ^Eneas, having heard Turnus' name, forsakes
the walls, and forsakes the lofty towers, and spurns at all de-
lays : all his enterprises he breaks off, exulting with joy, and
thunders dreadful in arms ; as mighty as Athos, as mighty as
Eryx, or mighty as the parent [mountain] Apenninus 34 him-
self, when with his waving oaks he roars, and rejoices in his
snowy top, exalting himself to the skies. And now both
Rutulians, and Trojans, and all the Italians, eagerly turned
their eyes ; both those who on high guarded the battlements,
and those who with the ram battered the walls below : their
arms they laid down from their shoulders. Latinus himself
with amazement views the mighty heroes, born in distant
quarters of the globe, encountering each other, and deciding
their quarrel with the sword. They, soon as the lists in the
spacious plain were cleared, having with rapid onset flung
their javelins from afar, rush to the combat with shields and
arms of brass resounding. Earth -gives a groan ; then stroke
on stroke they redouble. Chance and courage are blended to-
gether. And as in Sila's 36 spacious grove, or on lofty Tabflr-
uus 30 when two bulls with butting fronts rush to the hostile
combat, the shepherds in consternation have fled ; all the herd
stand dumb with fear, the heifers faintly low, dubious which
shall rule the herd, whom the whole drove are to obey : they
with great force deal promiscuous wounds to each other, and
struggling keenly infix their horns, and with profusion of
blood lave their necks and shoulders : the whole grove re-
bellows with their groans. Just so Trojan ^Eneas, and the
Daunian hero, with shields against each other tilting, rush
forward : loud clashing fills the skies. Great Jove sustains
two equally-poised scales, and puts into them the different
fates of both ; whom the toilsome combat destines to victory,
and in which scale death sinks down. Here Turnus, presum-
ing he might with safety, springs forth, and on his tiptoes
rises with his whole body to his uplifted sword, and aims a
blow. The Trojans and trembling Latins shriek aloud, and
34 Apenninus, a ridge of high mountains, running through the middle
of Italy.
35 Sila, a large wood in Lucania, abounding with pitch.
38 Taburnus, a mountain of Campania. B.
398 ^ENEID. B. XII. 731765.
both armies are fixed in suspense. But the treacherous sword
breaks short, and in the middle of the stroke leaves the in-
flamed chief [at the mercy of his foe], unless flight should
succeed to his relief. Swifter than the east wind he flies, soon
as he saw the unknown hilt," and his right hand disarmed.
There is a report that in his headlong haste, when he mounted
his yoked steeds for the first onset, while he was in hurried
trepidation, he snatched the sword of his charioteer Metiscus,
leaving his father's [heavenly-tempered] steel behind : and
long that served his purpose, while the Trojans offered their
flying backs ; but, when it came to Vulcan's arms divine, 38
the mortal blade, like brittle ice, in shivers flew with the
stroke ; along the yellow sands its splinters shine. Therefore
Turnus, in frantic flight, traverses the several . quarters of the
field, and now hither, then thither, wheels in uncertain mazes.
For on every hand the Trojans in close circling bands in-
closed him ; and on this side a vast morass, on that steep
mountains environ him. Nor less eagerly JEneas, though, dis-
abled by the shaft, his knees sometimes check and oppose his
speed, pursues, and fervent presses close upon the heels of his
trembling foe. As a hound when he has found a stag in-
closed by a river, or hedged around by the terror of the crim-
son plumes, 39 pursues him with speed and full cry ; he, mean-
while, scared by the toils and steep bank, backward and
forward flies a thousand ways : but the stanch Umbrian dog
closes upon him with open mouth, is just in act to gripe [his
prey] and, as if now he griped him, chides with his jaws, and
with delusive bite is mocked : then shouts arise, the banks
and lakes around re-echo, and the whole sky thunders with
uproar. At once he (Turnus) flies, at once chides the Ru-
tulians all, calling on each by name, and importunately
craves his well-known sword. ^Eneas, on the other hand, de-
nounces death and present destruction, if any one should ap-
proach ; and overawes the trembling troops, threatening to
raze the city, and, wounded as he was, presses on. Five rounds
they finish in their career, and trace back as many more, this
way and that. For no slight or frivolous prize is sought ; but
for the life and blood of Turnus they strive.
17 He struck with the sword of Metiscu?, not his own. B.
** i. e. those of ^Eneas. B.
" On the "formido," see my note on yEn. iv. 120. B.
B. xii. 766801. ^ENEID. 399
Sacred to Faunus 40 here chanced to stand a wild olive with
its bitter leaves, a tree long revered by seamen ; where saved
from the waves they used to fix their offerings to the Lauren-
tine god, and suspend their garments vowed. But the Tro-
jans without distinction had cut down the sacred stock, that
they might combat in a clear field. Here stood the spear of
-^Eneas : here fixed the hurling force [of his right hand] had
conveyed it, and riveted it in the tough root. The Trojan
stooped, and attempted with his hand to wrench out the steel,
that with the missile weapon he might pursue him, whom by
speed he could not overtake. Then Turnus, with fear dis-
tracted, cries : O Faunus, pity, I pray ; and thou, propitious
Earth, detain the weapon, if I have always held your honors
sacred, which, on the contrary, the sons of Troy have by war
profaned. He said, and invoked the aid of the god by vows
not vain. For JEneas, long struggling, after loss of time in
essaying the tenacious root, was unable, by his utmost efforts,
to disengage the firm hold of the wood. While he keenly
strains and presses, the Daunian goddess, again transformed
into the shape of the charioteer Metiscus, runs forward, and
restores to her brother the sword. Venus, indignant that
such license should be given to the audacious nymph, ap-
proached, and from the deep root tore up the spear. The
towering chiefs, in arms and courage renewed, the one relying
on his trusty sword, the other stem and majestic with his
spear, stand opposed, breathless hi the martial combat.
Meanwhile the sovereign of all-powerful Olympus addresses
Juno, as from a yellow cloud she viewed the fight : Consort,
when shall this strife be at an end? what further remains?
You yourself know, and own you are not ignorant, that
JEneas is destined to be a denizen of the sky, and by the
Fates is to be advanced to the stars. What then do you pro-
pose, or with what view are you hovering in the chill clouds ?
Was it seemly for a god [elect] to be violated by a wound
from a mortal ? or that Turnus (for without you what power
had Juturna ?) should have his wrested sword restored, and to
the vanquished new strength accrue ? Now at length desist,
and be swayed by my entreaty : nor let such discontent prey
upon you in silence ; nor let gloomy cares so often meet me
40 Faunus, the son of Picus, who is said to have reigned in Italy
about 1500 B. c.
400 ^ENEID. B. xii. 802 83&
from those sweet lips. Now affairs are come to a crisis : you
have been empowered to harass the Trojans by sea and land,
to kindle a nameless war, entail dishonor on the house [of
Latinus], and blend sorrows with these nuptials [of ^Eneas
and his daughter] ; further to attempt I forbid you. Thus
Jupiter spoke : thus on the other hand the Saturnian goddess
with downcast look [rejoined] : I own, great Jove, it was
because I knew this to be your will, that I, against my incli-
nation, from Turnus and the earth withdrew. Nor had you
seen me else now sitting alone in this airy recess, enduring
things worthy, unworthy; 41 but girt with flames, I had been
planted in the very field of battle, drawing the Trojans on to
adverse fight. I confess that' I advised Juturna to relieve her
unhappy brother, and I approved that for his life she should
make higher attempts ; yet not that she should [throw] a dart
or bend a bow ; I swear by the inexorable source of the Styg-
ian lake, which is set forth the sole object of religious dread
to the gods above. And now for my part I yield, and loath-
ing renounce combats. This, which by no law of fate is with-
holden, I implore of thee in behalf of Latium, and for the
honor of [its princes], thy own blood ; that when by this
auspicious match (so be it) they shall establish peace, when
they shall unite in laws and leagues, you will not command
the natives of Latium to change their ancient name, or become
Trojans, and be called Teucri, or to change" their language
or alter their dress. Let Latium subsist; let the kings o,
Alba subsist through ages ; let the sons of Rome rise to
imperial power by means of the Italian valor: Troy hath
perished, and suffer it to perish with its name forever. To
her the founder of men and things thus smiling [spoke] :
Sister of Jove, and Saturn's other offspring, do you still roll
in your breast such tides of passion? But come and quell the
fury indulged in vain. I grant what you desire; [by your
prayers] I am subdued, and willingly myself resign. Their
native language and customs the Ausonians shall retain ; and,
as it now is, the name shall be : only incorporated with them
the Trojans shall settle [in Latium]; the institutions and
41 A proverbial phrase, equivalent to " suffering every thing." So
t" rcqua, iniqua ;" " fanda, infanda." B.
42 I think, "viros" is somewhat emphatic, thus: "nor compel such
men, as they are, to wear the effeminate Trojan costume." B.
B. xn. 837875. JEKETD. 401
ceremonials of religion I will add, and make them all Latins
of one speech. Hence a race mingled with Ausonian blood
shall rise, which by its piety you shall see exalted above men,
above gods ; nor shall any nation with equal zeal celebrate
your honor. To these words Juno assents, and, filled with
complacency, gave her mind a contrary bias. Meanwhile she
quitted the sky, and from the cloud withdrew.
This done, the Sire revolves another purpose with himself,
and meditates to dismiss Juturna from [aiding] her brother's
arms. Two pests there are, the dire sisters called ; whom,
with hellish Megsera, 43 joyless Night at one and the same
birth brought forth, and bound with equal spires of serpents
and added to them wings swift as the wind. These at the
throne of Jove, and at the court of the incensed sovereign
present themselves, and sharpen terror in the minds of feeble
mortals, what time the king of gods prepare baleful death and
diseases, or terrifies guilty cities with war. Of these Jove
sends down one in haste from the lofty aether, and bids her
stand before Juturna as a fatal sign. She flies, and in a rapid
whirlwind to earth is borne : just as through a cloudy sky an
arrov. shot from the string, which tinged with the bitterness
of malignant poison a Parthian (a Parthian or Cydonian) hath
hurled an incurable dart, flies hissing and unseen athwart the
fleeting shades ; in like manner the offspring of Night shot
away, and hied to the earth. Soon as she perceives the Tro-
jan battalions and the troops of Turnus, she suddenly shrinks
up into the form of the little fowl, which at times sitting by
night on tombs or desolate towers, late inauspicious hoots
amid the shades ; into this shape transformed, the fiend in
sight of Turnus flies backward and forward screaming, and
flaps on his buckler with her Avings. Unusual numbness relaxed
his limbs with fear, his hair with horror stood on end, and his
speech clove to his jaws. But, when his sister Juturna at a
distance knew the shrill noise and the Fury's wings, in deep
distress she tears her disheveled tresses, mangling her face
with her nails, and her breasts with blows : Turnus ! what
can thy sister now avail thee 1 wretch that I am, what expe-
dient have I now left ? by what art can I prolong thy life ? so
rueful a portent can I withstand ? Now, now I quit the field.
43 Megasra, one of the Furies, daughter of Nox and Acheron.
402 -&3NEID. . B. xn. 875910.
Add not terror to my fear, ye inauspicious fowls : the beating
of your wings, your deadly screams I know ; nor am I a stran-
ger to the stern mandates of imperious Jove. Are these the
returns he makes for my virginity ? Why gave he me immor-
tal life ? why was I exempt from the law of mortality ? surely
now I might have put an end to such oppressive woes, and
accompanied my wretched brother through the shades below.
I immortal ! or can I, brother, relish aught of my enjoyments
without thee ? Oh, what earth to me will yawn full deep, and
dispatch a goddess to the shades below ? This said, the god-
dess muffled up her head in a sea-green vail, drawing many a
groan, and plunged herself into the deep river.
On the other hand, ./Eneas urges the attack, majestic waves
his massy spear, and thus with wrathful soul bespeaks [his
foe] : What means this delay now after all ? or why,
Turnus, do you now decline the combat? It is not in lunning
that we must try our skill, but in close fight with ciuel arms.
Turn thee into all shapes, collect whatever assistance you can,
whether from valor or from artifice : wish to reach on wings
the lofty stars, or shut up within the hollow earth to lie con-
cealed. He, shaking his head, [replies]: Not thy boisteious
words, insulting foe, cause my fears ; the gods, and adverse
Jove, intimidate me. Nor more he said, but casts his eye en
a huge stone, a stone antique, of huge dimensions, which in
the field by chance was lying, set for a land-mark, to dis-
tinguish the controverted bounds of the fields." Scarcely
would twelve chosen men support it on their shoulders, such
frames of men as earth now produces. The hero snatched it
up with hurrying hand ; raising himself aloft, and rushing on
with speed, he hurled it against his foe. But he knows not
himself, either while running or going, nor when he lifts up
with his hand, or wields the enormous stone." His knees
sink under him : his chill blood with shuddering terror
is congealed. Then the stone itself, rolled through the
empty air, neither reached the hero's whole length, nor
bore home the intended blow. And as in dreams by night,
when languid sleep hath closed our eyes, we seem in vain to
make effort to prolong a race on which we are intent, and in
midst of our efforts sink down faint ; nor power is in the
4 * Literally, " to determine some dispute respecting the fields." B.
44 i. e. he feels the loss of his wonted strength. B.
B. HI. 911947. JENEID. 403
tongue, nor iii the body competency of wonted strength,
nor voice nor words obey [the dictates of our will] ; just so
from Turnus the cursed fiend withholds success, by whatever
efforts of valor he sought the way. Then various thoughts
are rolling in his breast. Now he turns his eyes on the Rutu-
lians, now on the city [of Laurentum], now stands hover-
ing in dread, and trembles for the approach of- the dart. Nor
[perceives he] whither he can fly, nor how he may make head
against his foe, nor sees he any where the chariot or his sister
charioteer. In this perplexity ./Eneas brandishes against him
the dart of fate, having with his eye marked out the destined
wound, and with the whole force of his body hurls it from
afar. Never did stones shot from a battering engine roar' so
loud, nor from the thunder burst such mighty peals. Like a
black whirlwind flies the javelin winged with dire destruction ;
it opens a passage through his corselet's border, and the utmost
orb of his sevenfold shield ; then hissing, passes through his mid
thigh. Down to the earth the mighty Turnus wounded sinks
on his doubled knee.
Up rise the Rutulians together with n groan, and the whole
mountain around rebellows, and the deep groves far and near
return the sound. He, humble and suppliant, stretching his
eyes and imploring hand, says, I have indeed deserved, nor
do I deprecate : improve thy fortune. If any regard to a
wretched father can move thee (thou too hadst such a sire,
Anchises), have compassion, I pray th^e, on the age of Daunus ;
and me, or, if you rather choose, this body, despoiled of life,
unto my friends restore. You have overcome, and the Auso-
nians have seen thy vanquished foe stretch forth his [suppliant]
hands : Lavinia is thy bride. Persist not further in thy hate.
./Eneas, fierce as he was from the heat of action,, stood rolling
his eyes, and repressed his hand : and still more and more the
speech had begun to move his wavering mind, when on the
high shoulder [of his foe] the inauspicious belt appeared, and
with its well-known bosses, the girdle of youthful Pallas shone,
whom vanquished, Turnus with a wound had slain, and on
his shoulders wore the hostile badge. Soon as the hero espied
the memorials of his cruel grief and the spoils [of his friend],
inflamed with fury and terribly enraged, [he exclaimed, And]
shalt thou from me hence escape clad in the spoils of my
404 ^ffEID. B. XII. 948952.
friends ? Thee Pallas, Pallas, with this wound a victim de-
votes, and takes vengeance on thy accursed blood. With
these words deep in his opposed bosom he furious plunged the
sword. But with the chill of death are his limbs relaxed, and
with a groan the indignant soul hurries down to the shades.
THE END.
HARPER'S
NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY,
The want of a Series of LITERAL TRANSLATIONS of the Greek and Latin au-
thors who are usually studied in the American course of Academic education, has
been long felt by the most intelligent and assiduous classical teachers. That
they are capable of being abused by the indolent and unfaithful pupil is no plea
against their utility when employed in their legitimate place. A translation of
an ancient writer into English, as perfectly literal as is permitted by the idioms
of the respective languages, affords an invaluable aid to the instructor in the ac-
complishment of his arduous task. If executed with fidelity and skill, it saves
much time and labor in the consultation of dictionaries, and embodies the best
results of philological acumen and research in the shortest possible space. Pages
of learned commentary are thus concentrated in the rendering of a single word.
The works which it is proposed to issue are reprints from " BOHN'S CLASSICAL
LIBRARY," brought out uniform with the English edition, and comprising faith-
ful translations of the principal Greek and Latin classics.
Each work will be given without abridgment, and will include short suggestive
notes, adapted to the comprehension as well as the actual wants of the student.
Copious and accurate indices will be appended to every translation. No version
will be adopted without ample and thorough revision, correcting its errors by the
lights of modern research, and placing it on a level with the present improved
state of philological learning.
This NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY has received a cordial welcome from the whole
corps of American classical teachers. The important uses of such a work in their
daily avocations are too obvious to require discussion. Nor is the interest of
the series confined to teachers by profession. Every reading man, though desti-
tute of a knowledge of the ancient languages, feels a laudable curiosity to form
an acquaintance with the incomparable models of literary art which they have
preserved. In the literal translations with which he is furnished by the present
series, he will find the information that he seeks, enabling him to comprehend
current classical allusions with facility, to become familiar with the true spirit
of the ancients, and to share in conversation and studies which presuppose a
knowledge of Greek and Roman antiquity.
The following Volumes are now ready :
Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil
^* Wars : with the Supplementary Books attributed to Hirtius ;
including the Alexandrian, African, and Spanish Wars. Lit-
erally Translated, with Notes, and a very copious Index.
Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ; Half Calf, $1 60.
pvAVIDSON'S VIRGIL. The Works of Virgil. Literal-
*-* ly Translated into English Prose, with Notes, hy DAVIDSON.
A New Edition, Revised, with Additional Notes, hy THEO-
DOEE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A., of Christ Church. Portrait.
12mo, Muslin, 75 cents; Half Calf, $1 60.
w
HARPER'S NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY.
ATSON'S SALLUST. Sallust, Floras, and Velleius
Paterculus. Literally Translated, with Copious Notes and
General Index. By the Rev. JOHN SELBT WATSON, M.A.,
Head Master of the Proprietary Grammar School, Stock-
well. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ; Half Calf, $1 60.
SMART'S HORACE. The Works of Horace. Literally
Translated into English Prose, by C. SMART, A.M., of Pem-r
broke College, Cambridge. A New Edition, Revised, with a
copious Selection of Notes, by THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY,
B.A., of Christ Church. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ;
Half Calf, $1 60.
YONGE'S CICERO'S ORATIONS. The Orations con-
tained in the Text-Books used in the Schools and Colleges
of America. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ; Half Calf,
$160.
E
DMOND'S CICERO'S OFFICES. Cicero's Three
Books of Offices ; or, Moral Duties : also his Cato Major, an
Essay on Old Age ; Laelius, an Essay on Friendship ; Para-
doxes ; Scipio's Dream ; and Letter to Quintus on the Du-
ties of a Magistrate. Literally Translated, with Notes, de-
signed to exhibit a comparative view of the Opinions of Cice-
ro, and those of Modern Moralists and Ethical Philosophers.
By CYRUS R. EDMONDS. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ;
Half Calf, $1 60.
TACITUS. The Works of Tacitus. The Oxford Trans-
lation, Revised. With Notes. Vol. I. The Annals. Vol.
II. The History, Germany, Agricola, and Dialogues on Ora-
tors. 2 vols. 12mo, Muslin, $1 50 ; Half Calf, $3 20
WATSON'S XENOPHON. The Anabasis, or Expedi-
tion of Cyrus, and the Memorabilia of Socrates. Literally
Translated from the Greek of Xenophon. By the Rev. J.
S. WATSON, M.A., M.R.S.L. With a Geographical Com-
mentary, iy W. F. AINSWORTH, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.G.S.,
F.G.S. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ; Half Calf, $1 60.
B
UCKLEY'S HOMER'S ILIAD. Homer's Iliad. Lit 7
erally Translated, with Explanatory Notes. Portrait. 12mo,
Muslin, 75 cents; Half Calf, $1 60.
K
HARPER'S NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY. 3
GARY'S HERODOTUS. Herodotus. A New and Lit-
eral Version, from the Text of Baehr. With a Geographical
and General Index. By HENRY CART, M.A., Worcester
College, Oxford. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ; Half
Calf, $1 GO.
ENNEDY'S DEMOSTHENES. Vol. I. The Olynthi-
ac and other Public Orations of Demosthenes. Vol. II. The
Orations of Demosthenes on the Crown, and on the Embas-
sy. Translated with Notes, &c., by CHARLES RANN KENNE-
DY. Portrait. 2 vols. 12mo, Muslin, $1 50; Half Calf,
$320.
DALE'S THUCYDIDES. The History of the Pelopon-
nesian War, by Thucydides. A New and Literal Version,
from the Text of Arnold, Collated with Bekker, Goller, and
Poppo. By the Rev. HENRY DALE, M.A., Head Master of
the New Proprietary School, Blackheath, and late Demy of
Magdalene College, Oxford. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin, 75
cents; Half Calf, $1 60.
H^SCHYLUS. By an Oxonian. Revised by T. A. BUCK-
*-*--' LEY. With an Appendix (not contained in Bohn's Vol-
ume), embracing all of Hermann's Emendations, Translated
and Explained by SURGES. 12mo, Muslin, 75 cents ; Half
Calf, $1 60.
OOPHOCLES. The Tragedies of Sophocles; in English
^ Prose. The Oxford Translation. New Edition, revised ac-
cording to the Text of Dindorf. Portrait. 12mo, Muslin,
75 cents; Half Calf, $1 60.
IDUCKLEY'S EURIPIDES. The Tragedies of Euripides.
*-* Literally Translated, with Critical and Explanatory Notes, by
THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, of Christ Church. Portrait.
2 vols. 12mo, Muslin, $1 50 ; Half Calf, $3 20.
The Volumes of HARPER'S NEW CLASSICAL LIBRARY may be had
separately, if desired.
H.A.BPEB & BBOTHEBS will send either of the above "Works by Mail, postage
paid (for any distance in the United States under 3000 miles), on receipt of the
Money.
* For a full List of Classical Works, see HAKPEB & BEOTHEBS' Catalogue of
their Publications, Copies of which may be obtained gratuitously on application
to the Publishers, personally, or "by letter inclosing SIT CENTB in Postage Stamps.
's Catalogue.
A NEW DESCRIPTITB CATALOGUE OF HARPER & BROTHERS'
PUBLICATIONS, with an Index and Classified Table of Contents, is
now ready for Distribution, and may be obtained gratuitously on
application to the Publishers personally, or by letter inclosing Six
CENTS in Postage Stamps.
The attention of gentlemen, in town or country, designing to form
Libraries or enrich their Literary Collections, is respectfully invited
to this Catalogue, which will be found to comprise a large propor-
tion of the standard and most esteemed works in English Literature
COMPREHENDING MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND VOLUMES which
Are offered, in most instances, at less than one half the cost of sim-
ilar productions in England.
To Librarians and others connected with Colleges, Schools, <tc.,
<vho may not have access to a reliable guide in forming the true
estimate of literary productions, it is believed this Catalogue will
prove especially valuable as a manual of reference.
To prevent disappointment, it is suggested that, whenever books
can not be obtained through any bookseller or local agent, applica-
tions with remittance should be addressed direct to the Publisher*,
which will be promptly attended to.
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388
Retu "=- -Atonal to the library
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