Aeneid, Book 1: Storm & Carthage

1Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris

Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit

litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto

vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram;

5multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem,

inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum,

Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso,

quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus

10insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores

impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?

Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni,

Karthago, Italiam contra Tiberinaque longe

ostia, dives opum studiisque asperrima belli;

15quam Iuno fertur terris magis omnibus unam

posthabita coluisse Samo; hic illius arma,

hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse,

si qua fata sinant, iam tum tenditque fovetque.

Progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci

20audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;

hinc populum late regem belloque superbum

venturum excidio Libyae: sic volvere Parcas.

Id metuens, veterisque memor Saturnia belli,

prima quod ad Troiam pro caris gesserat Argis—

25necdum etiam causae irarum saevique dolores

exciderant animo: manet alta mente repostum

iudicium Paridis spretaeque iniuria formae,

et genus invisum, et rapti Ganymedis honores.

His accensa super, iactatos aequore toto

30Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli,

arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos

errabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum.

Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!

1Arms and the man I sing, who first from Troy's shores

came to Italy, exiled by fate, and to Lavinian

coasts, much battered on land and on the deep

by the force of powers above, because of savage Juno's tenacious anger;

5much too he suffered in war, until he could found a city

and bring his gods into Latium; from there came the Latin people,

the Alban fathers, and the walls of lofty Rome.

Muse, recall the causes for me: what divine will was wounded,

or what grief led the queen of the gods, through so many reversals, to drive

10a man renowned for devotion, to undergo so many ordeals?

Can such anger live in heavenly minds?

An ancient city stood there, held by Tyrian settlers,

Carthage, facing Italy and the mouths of the Tiber,

far off, rich in resources and fiercest in the pursuits of war;

15this one city Juno is said to have cherished beyond all lands,

with Samos set behind it; here were her arms,

here was her chariot; that this should be the seat of rule for the nations,

if any fates allowed it, the goddess even then aimed at this and cherished it.

But she had heard that from Trojan blood a lineage was being drawn

20that one day would overturn the Tyrian citadels;

from it a people would come, ruling far and wide and proud in war,

for Libya's destruction: so the Fates were spinning.

Fearing this, Saturn's daughter, mindful of the old war

she had waged first at Troy for her dear Argos—

25nor yet had the causes of her angers and her savage griefs

fallen from her mind: stored deep in her heart remained

the judgment of Paris and the insult to her scorned beauty,

the hated stock, and the honors paid to stolen Ganymede.

Set aflame beyond all this, she kept the Trojans, tossed over the whole sea,

30the remnants left by the Danaans and pitiless Achilles,

far away from Latium; through many years

they wandered, driven by the fates, around every sea.

So great was the burden of founding the Roman people!

34Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum

35vela dabant laeti, et spumas salis aere ruebant,

cum Iuno, aeternum servans sub pectore volnus,

haec secum: Mene incepto desistere victam,

nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem?

Quippe vetor fatis. Pallasne exurere classem

40Argivum atque ipsos potuit submergere ponto,

unius ob noxam et furias Aiacis Oilei?

Ipsa, Iovis rapidum iaculata e nubibus ignem,

disiecitque rates evertitque aequora ventis,

illum expirantem transfixo pectore flammas

45turbine corripuit scopuloque infixit acuto.

Ast ego, quae divom incedo regina, Iovisque

et soror et coniunx, una cum gente tot annos

bella gero! Et quisquam numen Iunonis adoret

praeterea, aut supplex aris imponet honorem?

50Talia flammato secum dea corde volutans

nimborum in patriam, loca feta furentibus austris,

Aeoliam venit. Hic vasto rex Aeolus antro

luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras

imperio premit ac vinclis et carcere frenat.

55Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis

circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce

sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras.

Ni faciat, maria ac terras caelumque profundum

quippe ferant rapidi secum verrantque per auras.

60Sed pater omnipotens speluncis abdidit atris,

hoc metuens, molemque et montis insuper altos

imposuit, regemque dedit, qui foedere certo

et premere et laxas sciret dare iussus habenas.

Ad quem tum Iuno supplex his vocibus usa est:

65Aeole, namque tibi divom pater atque hominum rex

et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento,

gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor,

Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penates:

incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppes,

70aut age diversos et disiice corpora ponto.

Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore nymphae,

quarum quae forma pulcherrima Deiopea,

conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo,

omnis ut tecum meritis pro talibus annos

75exigat, et pulchra faciat te prole parentem.

Aeolus haec contra: Tuus, O regina, quid optes

explorare labor; mihi iussa capessere fas est.

Tu mihi, quodcumque hoc regni, tu sceptra Iovemque

concilias, tu das epulis accumbere divom,

80nimborumque facis tempestatumque potentem.

34They had scarcely passed from sight of Sicilian land into the deep,

35gladly setting sails and churning the salt foam with bronze,

when Juno, nursing the eternal wound beneath her breast,

said this within herself: "Am I to abandon what I began, defeated,

unable to turn the Teucrians' king away from Italy?

Of course, I am barred by the fates. Could Pallas burn the fleet

40of the Argives and drown the men themselves in the sea,

because of one man's crime and the mad fury of Ajax son of Oileus?

She herself, hurling Jupiter's swift fire from the clouds,

scattered the ships and overturned the sea with winds;

him, breathing flames from a pierced breast,

45she snatched up in a whirlwind and pinned to a sharp rock.

But I, who walk as queen of the gods and as Jupiter's

sister and wife both, with one people for so many years

wage war! Will anyone after this worship Juno's divine power

or come as a suppliant and place honor on her altars?"

50Turning such thoughts over in her inflamed heart, the goddess

came to the storm-clouds' homeland, places teeming with furious south winds,

Aeolia. Here, in a vast cavern, King Aeolus

holds down the struggling winds and sounding tempests

by command, and reins them in with chains and prison.

55They, indignant, with the mountain's great rumbling

roar around the barriers; Aeolus sits in a high stronghold,

scepter in hand, softening their spirits and tempering their anger.

If he did not do this, seas, lands, and the deep sky

the swift winds would surely carry off with them and sweep through the air.

60But the almighty Father hid them in black caves,

fearing this, and set a weight and high mountains over them,

and gave them a king, who by a fixed compact

would know, when ordered, both to press tight and to let the reins run slack.

To him then Juno, as a suppliant, spoke these words:

65"Aeolus, since to you the father of gods and king of men

has granted both to soothe the waves and to raise them with wind,

a people hostile to me is sailing the Tyrrhenian sea,

carrying Ilium into Italy, and their conquered Penates:

strike force into the winds, sink and bury their ships,

70or drive them apart and scatter their bodies over the sea.

I have twice seven nymphs of surpassing bodily beauty,

of whom Deiopea is loveliest in form;

I will join her to you in lasting marriage and declare her your own,

so that for such services she may spend all her years

75with you and make you father of beautiful offspring."

Aeolus answered: "Your task, O queen, is to determine what you wish;

mine to take up your commands, as is right.

You secure for me whatever this kingdom is; you secure my scepter and Jupiter's favor,

you grant me a place at the banquets of the gods,

80and make me lord of storm-clouds and tempests."

81Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem

impulit in latus: ac venti, velut agmine facto,

qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant.

Incubuere mari, totumque a sedibus imis

85una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis

Africus, et vastos volvunt ad litora fluctus.

Insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum.

Eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque

Teucrorum ex oculis; ponto nox incubat atra.

90Intonuere poli, et crebris micat ignibus aether,

praesentemque viris intentant omnia mortem.

Extemplo Aeneae solvuntur frigore membra:

ingemit, et duplicis tendens ad sidera palmas

talia voce refert: O terque quaterque beati,

95quis ante ora patrum Troiae sub moenibus altis

contigit oppetere! O Danaum fortissime gentis

Tydide! Mene Iliacis occumbere campis

non potuisse, tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra,

saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector, ubi ingens

100Sarpedon, ubi tot Simois correpta sub undis

scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volvit?

Talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella

velum adversa ferit, fluctusque ad sidera tollit.

Franguntur remi; tum prora avertit, et undis

105dat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.

Hi summo in fluctu pendent; his unda dehiscens

terram inter fluctus aperit; furit aestus harenis.

Tris Notus abreptas in saxa latentia torquet—

saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras—

110dorsum immane mari summo; tris Eurus ab alto

in brevia et Syrtis urguet, miserabile visu,

inliditque vadis atque aggere cingit harenae.

Unam, quae Lycios fidumque vehebat Oronten,

ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontus

115in puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magister

volvitur in caput; ast illam ter fluctus ibidem

torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex.

Adparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto,

arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas.

120Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati,

et qua vectus Abas, et qua grandaevus Aletes,

vicit hiems; laxis laterum compagibus omnes

accipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt.

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,

125emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imis

stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et alto

prospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.

Disiectam Aeneae, toto videt aequore classem,

fluctibus oppressos Troas caelique ruina,

130nec latuere doli fratrem Iunonis et irae.

Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur:

Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?

Iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti,

miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles?

135Quos ego—sed motos praestat componere fluctus.

Post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis.

Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro:

non illi imperium pelagi saevumque tridentem,

sed mihi sorte datum. Tenet ille immania saxa,

140vestras, Eure, domos; illa se iactet in aula

Aeolus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet.

Sic ait, et dicto citius tumida aequora placat,

collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit.

Cymothoe simul et Triton adnixus acuto

145detrudunt navis scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;

et vastas aperit syrtis, et temperat aequor,

atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas.

Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est

seditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus,

150iamque faces et saxa volant—furor arma ministrat;

tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem

conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant;

ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet,—

sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam

155prospiciens genitor caeloque invectus aperto

flectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo.

81When this was said, he turned his spearpoint and struck

the hollow mountain in its side; and the winds, as if formed for battle,

rush out by the gate they were given and blast the lands in a whirlwind.

The winds fall upon the sea; together Eurus and Notus,

85and Africus thick with squalls, upheave the whole sea

from its deepest foundations and roll vast waves toward the shores.

The shouting of men follows, and the cables' shriek.

Suddenly clouds snatch sky and daylight

from the Trojans' eyes; black night broods over the sea.

90The heavens thunder, and the sky flashes with repeated fire,

and everything threatens the men with death close at hand.

At once Aeneas' limbs go slack with cold fear:

he groans, and stretching both palms toward the stars,

cries out: "O three and four times blessed,

95those who, before their fathers' faces beneath Troy's high walls,

were granted to meet death! O bravest of the Danaan race,

son of Tydeus! Could I not on Ilium's fields have fallen

and poured out this life by your right hand,

where fierce Hector lies by the Aeacides' spear, where mighty

100Sarpedon lies, where Simois beneath its waves

rolls so many men's shields and helmets and brave bodies?"

As he cries this out, a shrieking squall from Aquilo

strikes the sail head-on and lifts the waves to the stars.

The oars snap; then the prow swings away and to the waves

105gives its side; hard on it follows a sheer, heaped mountain of water.

Some hang on the wave's crest; for others, where the wave gapes open,

it bares earth between the billows; the surge seethes with sand.

Notus twists three ships he has snatched away onto hidden rocks,

rocks Italians call the Altars amid the waves,

110a monstrous ridge at the sea's surface; three more, from the deep,

Eurus drives into shoals and the Syrtes, pitiful to see,

and dashes them on shallows and girds them with a bank of sand.

One ship, carrying the Lycians and faithful Orontes,

a huge sea, rearing overhead before Aeneas' own eyes,

115strikes the stern: the helmsman is dashed out, pitched forward,

and sent rolling headlong; three times there the wave

whirls the ship around, and a swift vortex devours it on the open sea.

A few swimmers appear in the vast abyss,

men's arms, planks, and Trojan treasure among the waves.

120Now the stout ship of Ilioneus, now that of brave Achates,

and the one that carried Abas, and the one that carried aged Aletes,

the storm has overcome; with the side-joints loosened, all

take in hostile water and gape open at the cracks.

Meanwhile Neptune felt the sea churn with a great roar,

125the storm unleashed, and the still waters heaved up from their lowest

depths. Deeply moved, he looked out over the deep

and raised his calm head above the wave's surface.

He sees Aeneas' fleet scattered over the whole sea,

the Trojans overwhelmed by waves and the collapse of the sky,

130nor did Juno's schemes and anger escape her brother.

He summons Eurus and Zephyr to him; then he says:

"Has such confidence in your lineage possessed you?

Do you now, winds, without my divine authority,

dare to mingle sky and earth and raise such massive heaps?

135You—but first it is better to settle the roused waves.

Later you will pay me for your offenses with a different penalty.

Hurry your flight, and say this to your king:

the command of the sea and the savage trident were not given

to him, but to me by lot. He holds the monstrous rocks,

140your homes, Eurus; in that hall let Aeolus boast

and reign in the closed prison of the winds."

So he speaks, and before his words are done he calms the swollen seas,

drives off the gathered clouds and brings back the sun.

Cymothoe and Triton together, straining hard against the sharp

145reef, shove the ships off; he himself lifts them with his trident;

he opens the vast Syrtes and smooths the sea,

and glides over the wave-tops on light wheels.

And just as when rebellion often breaks out among a great people

and the ignoble crowd rages in its passions,

150and now torches and stones are flying—frenzy supplies weapons;

then, if by chance they see a man grave with devotion

and public service, they fall silent and stand with ears lifted;

he governs their spirits with words and soothes their hearts;

so all the sea's uproar subsides when the Father,

155looking out beneath the open sky, rides forward,

turns his horses and, flying in a smooth-running chariot, lets the reins run.

157Defessi Aeneadae, quae proxima litora, cursu

contendunt petere, et Libyae vertuntur ad oras.

Est in secessu longo locus: insula portum

160efficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto

frangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos.

Hinc atque hinc vastae rupes geminique minantur

in caelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice late

aequora tuta silent; tum silvis scaena coruscis

165desuper horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra.

Fronte sub adversa scopulis pendentibus antrum,

intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo,

nympharum domus: hic fessas non vincula navis

ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu.

170Huc septem Aeneas collectis navibus omni

ex numero subit; ac magno telluris amore

egressi optata potiuntur Troes harena,

et sale tabentis artus in litore ponunt.

Ac primum silici scintillam excudit Achates,

175succepitque ignem foliis, atque arida circum

nutrimenta dedit, rapuitque in fomite flammam.

Tum Cererem corruptam undis Cerealiaque arma

expediunt fessi rerum, frugesque receptas

et torrere parant flammis et frangere saxo.

180Aeneas scopulum interea conscendit, et omnem

prospectum late pelago petit, Anthea si quem

iactatum vento videat Phrygiasque biremis,

aut Capyn, aut celsis in puppibus arma Caici.

Navem in conspectu nullam, tris litore cervos

185prospicit errantis; hos tota armenta sequuntur

a tergo, et longum per vallis pascitur agmen.

Constitit hic, arcumque manu celerisque sagittas

corripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates;

ductoresque ipsos primum, capita alta ferentis

190cornibus arboreis, sternit, tum volgus, et omnem

miscet agens telis nemora inter frondea turbam;

nec prius absistit, quam septem ingentia victor

corpora fundat humi, et numerum cum navibus aequet.

Hinc portum petit, et socios partitur in omnes.

195Vina bonus quae deinde cadis onerarat Acestes

litore Trinacrio dederatque abeuntibus heros,

dividit, et dictis maerentia pectora mulcet:

O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum—

O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.

200Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantis

accestis scopulos, vos et Cyclopea saxa

experti: revocate animos, maestumque timorem

mittite: forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum

205tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas

ostendunt; illic fas regna resurgere Troiae.

Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.

Talia voce refert, curisque ingentibus aeger

spem voltu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem.

210Illi se praedae accingunt, dapibusque futuris;

tergora deripiunt costis et viscera nudant;

pars in frusta secant veribusque trementia figunt;

litore aena locant alii, flammasque ministrant.

Tum victu revocant vires, fusique per herbam

215implentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae.

Postquam exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae,

amissos longo socios sermone requirunt,

spemque metumque inter dubii, seu vivere credant,

sive extrema pati nec iam exaudire vocatos.

220Praecipue pius Aeneas nunc acris Oronti,

nunc Amyci casum gemit et crudelia secum

fata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum.

157Aeneas' exhausted men strain, on their course, to reach

whatever shores lie nearest, and turn toward Libya's coast.

There is a place in a deep recess: an island makes

160a harbor with the barrier of its flanks, where every wave from the deep

breaks apart and divides itself into recessed coves.

On either side, vast cliffs and twin crags threaten

the sky; beneath their crest, over a wide reach,

safe waters lie silent; then a backdrop of shimmering woods

165looms overhead, a dark grove with bristling shade.

Under the facing cliff-front, beneath hanging rocks, is a cave;

inside are fresh waters and seats in living rock,

the home of nymphs. Here no mooring ropes hold the weary ships,

no anchor binds them with its hooked bite.

170Into this haven Aeneas brings seven ships, gathered from all

his fleet. With a great longing for land,

the Trojans disembark and gain the sand they longed for,

then lay their salt-wasted limbs along the shore.

And first Achates strikes a spark from flint,

175catches the fire in leaves, and heaps dry fuel

around it, nursing flame through the tinder.

Then, weary from disaster, they bring out the grain spoiled by the waves

and Ceres' implements; the salvaged corn

they prepare both to parch over flames and to crush with stone.

180Meanwhile Aeneas climbs a cliff and scans the whole

wide prospect over the sea, in case he might see Antheus,

wind-tossed, and the Phrygian biremes,

or Capys, or Caicus' arms on the high sterns.

No ship is in sight: he sees three deer wandering

185on the shore; whole herds follow them

from behind, and a long column grazes through the valleys.

Here he takes his stand, and with his hand seizes the bow and swift arrows,

the weapons faithful Achates was carrying;

first he lays low the leaders themselves, their heads held high

190with branching horns; then he scatters the herd and drives

the whole mass in confusion among leafy woods with his arrows;

nor does he stop until, victorious, he lays seven huge

bodies low on the ground and makes their number match the ships.

From there he makes for the harbor and shares them among all his comrades.

195Then he shares the wine that good Acestes had loaded in jars

on the Trinacrian shore and given them as they left,

and with words soothes their grieving hearts:

"Comrades—for we have known troubles before—

you who have endured worse, a god will give an end to these too.

200You have come even to Scylla's madness and the deep-resounding

cliffs; you have experienced the Cyclopean rocks as well:

call back your courage, and send away sorrowful fear:

perhaps, one day, even these things will be good to remember.

Through shifting trials, through so many perils,

205we press on toward Latium, where the fates reveal peaceful

settlements; there it is right for Troy's realms to rise again.

Endure, and preserve yourselves for favorable times."

Such things he says aloud; heartsick with immense cares,

he feigns hope on his face and buries deep grief in his heart.

210They set themselves to the prey and the feasts to come;

they strip the hides from the ribs and lay bare the flesh;

some cut it into pieces and skewer the quivering meat on spits;

others set bronze pots on the shore and tend the flames.

Then with food they call back their strength, and stretched out over the grass

215take their fill of old wine and rich venison.

After hunger has been lifted by feasting and the tables cleared,

in long talk they ask after lost companions,

uncertain between hope and fear, whether to believe they live

or have suffered the final end and no longer hear when called.

220Above all, dutiful Aeneas now silently mourns fierce Orontes,

now Amycus' fate and the cruel doom of Lycus,

brave Gyas and brave Cloanthus.

223Et iam finis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summo

despiciens mare velivolum terrasque iacentis

225litoraque et latos populos, sic vertice caeli

constitit, et Libyae defixit lumina regnis.

Atque illum talis iactantem pectore curas

tristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentis

adloquitur Venus: O qui res hominumque deumque

230aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres,

quid meus Aeneas in te committere tantum,

quid Troes potuere, quibus, tot funera passis,

cunctus ob Italiam terrarum clauditur orbis?

Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis,

235hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,

qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent,

pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit?

Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas

solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens;

240nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos

insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum?

Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis,

Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intima tutus

regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi,

245unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis

it mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti.

Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit

Teucrorum, et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit

Troia; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit:

250nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem,

navibus (infandum!) amissis, unius ob iram

prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris.

Hic pietatis honos? Sic nos in sceptra reponis?

Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum,

255voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat,

oscula libavit natae, dehinc talia fatur:

Parce metu, Cytherea: manent immota tuorum

fata tibi; cernes urbem et promissa Lavini

moenia, sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli

260magnanimum Aenean; neque me sententia vertit.

Hic tibi (fabor enim, quando haec te cura remordet,

longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo)

bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces

contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet,

265tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas,

ternaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis.

At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo

additur,—Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,—

triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis

270imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini

transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam.

Hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos

gente sub Hectorea, donec regina sacerdos,

Marte gravis, geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem.

275Inde lupae fulvo nutricis tegmine laetus

Romulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet

moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet.

His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;

imperium sine fine dedi. Quin aspera Iuno,

280quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat,

consilia in melius referet, mecumque fovebit

Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam:

sic placitum. Veniet lustris labentibus aetas,

cum domus Assaraci Phthiam clarasque Mycenas

285servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis.

Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar,

imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris,—

Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo.

Hunc tu olim caelo, spoliis Orientis onustum,

290accipies secura; vocabitur hic quoque votis.

Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis;

cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus,

iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis

claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus,

295saeva sedens super arma, et centum vinctus aenis

post tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore cruento.

Haec ait, et Maia genitum demittit ab alto,

ut terrae, utque novae pateant Karthaginis arces

hospitio Teucris, ne fati nescia Dido

300finibus arceret: volat ille per aera magnum

remigio alarum, ac Libyae citus adstitit oris.

Et iam iussa facit, ponuntque ferocia Poeni

corda volente deo; in primis regina quietum

accipit in Teucros animum mentemque benignam.

223And now their mourning was at an end, when Jupiter from highest heaven

looked down on the sail-winged sea and the lands lying below,

225the shores and broad peoples, there at heaven's summit

he took his stand, and fixed his eyes on Libya's kingdoms.

And as he tossed such cares in his heart,

Venus, sadder still, her shining eyes suffused with tears,

addresses him: "You who rule the affairs of men and gods

230with eternal commands, and terrify with the thunderbolt,

what so grave an offense could my Aeneas have committed against you,

what could the Trojans have done, that, after so many deaths endured,

the whole circle of lands is closed to them because of Italy?

Surely you promised that from here, one day as years rolled on,

235from here would come Romans, leaders from Teucer's blood restored,

who would hold sea and lands under full dominion;

what purpose, father, has turned you from that promise?

With this, indeed, I consoled Troy's fall and sorrowing ruins,

weighing fates against the fates that opposed them;

240now the same fortune pursues the men, driven through so many disasters.

What end to their toils do you grant, great king?

Antenor could slip through the midst of the Achaeans,

enter the Illyrian bays and, safe, the inner

realms of the Liburnians, and pass beyond Timavus' spring,

245where through nine mouths, with the mountain's vast roar,

the sea bursts out and presses the fields with sounding flood.

Yet there he founded the city of Patavium and homes

for the Trojans, gave the people a name, and hung up the arms

of Troy; now, settled in quiet peace, he rests:

250we, your offspring, to whom you grant heaven's citadel,

with ships lost—unspeakable!—because of one goddess's anger,

are betrayed and kept far away from Italian shores.

Is this devotion's honor? Is this how you restore us to scepters?"

Smiling on her, the sire of men and gods,

255with the look by which he clears sky and storm,

gave his daughter a light kiss; then spoke these words:

"Spare your fear, Cytherea: the fates of your people

stand unmoved for you; you will see the city and Lavinium's promised

walls, and high to the stars of heaven you will carry

260great-hearted Aeneas; nor has my purpose changed.

He—for I will speak, since this care still gnaws at you,

and unfold the deeper secrets of fate—

will wage a mighty war in Italy, crush fierce peoples,

and set customs and walls for his men,

265until a third summer has seen him reigning in Latium,

and three winters have passed after the Rutulians were subdued.

But the boy Ascanius, now given the surname Iulus—

Ilus while Ilian power stood—

will complete thirty great circles of revolving months

270in rule, transfer the kingdom from its seat at Lavinium,

and with great force fortify Alba Longa.

There Hector's people will reign for three hundred years,

until the royal priestess Ilia,

pregnant by Mars, brings forth twin offspring.

275Then Romulus, proud in the tawny hide of his wolf-nurse,

will take up the nation and found the walls of Mars,

and call them Romans from his own name.

For them I set neither bounds to their power nor limits of time;

I have given empire without end. Even harsh Juno,

280who now, in fear, harasses sea, lands, and heaven,

will turn her counsels toward the better, and with me cherish

the Romans, masters of the world, the toga-wearing people:

so it is decreed. As the five-year cycles pass, an age will come

when the house of Assaracus will press Phthia and bright Mycenae

285into servitude, and rule conquered Argos.

A Trojan Caesar will be born from noble lineage,

who will bound his empire by Ocean, his fame by the stars—

Julius, a name derived from great Iulus.

Him one day, loaded with the spoils of the East,

290you will receive in heaven, free from care; he too will be called on with vows.

Then harsh ages, wars laid aside, will grow mild;

white-haired Faith, and Vesta, Quirinus with his brother Remus,

will give laws; with iron and tight fastenings the grim

gates of War will be closed; impious Frenzy within,

295sitting savage on weapons, and bound behind his back

with a hundred bronze knots, will roar, horrific with bloody mouth."

He said this, and sends Maia's son down from on high,

so the lands and citadels of new Carthage may open

to receive the Trojans, lest Dido, ignorant of fate,

300bar them from her borders. Through the broad air he flies

rowing with his wings, and swiftly alights on Libya's shores.

Now he carries out the orders. At the god's will the Carthaginians lay aside

their fierce hearts; above all, the queen receives

the Trojans with a quiet spirit and a kindly mind.

305At pius Aeneas, per noctem plurima volvens,

ut primum lux alma data est, exire locosque

explorare novos, quas vento accesserit oras,

qui teneant, nam inculta videt, hominesne feraene,

quaerere constituit, sociisque exacta referre

310Classem in convexo nemorum sub rupe cavata

arboribus clausam circum atque horrentibus umbris

occulit; ipse uno graditur comitatus Achate,

bina manu lato crispans hastilia ferro.

Cui mater media sese tulit obvia silva,

315virginis os habitumque gerens, et virginis arma

Spartanae, vel qualis equos Threissa fatigat

Harpalyce, volucremque fuga praevertitur Hebrum.

Namque umeris de more habilem suspenderat arcum

venatrix, dederatque comam diffundere ventis,

320nuda genu, nodoque sinus collecta fluentis.

Ac prior, Heus inquit iuvenes, monstrate mearum

vidistis si quam hic errantem forte sororum,

succinctam pharetra et maculosae tegmine lyncis,

aut spumantis apri cursum clamore prementem.

325Sic Venus; et Veneris contra sic filius orsus:

Nulla tuarum audita mihi neque visa sororum—

O quam te memorem, virgo? Namque haud tibi voltus

mortalis, nec vox hominem sonat: O, dea certe—

an Phoebi soror? an nympharum sanguinis una?—

330sis felix, nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem,

et, quo sub caelo tandem, quibus orbis in oris

iactemur, doceas. Ignari hominumque locorumque

erramus, vento huc vastis et fluctibus acti:

multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra.

335Tum Venus: Haud equidem tali me dignor honore;

virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram,

purpureoque alte suras vincire cothurno.

Punica regna vides, Tyrios et Agenoris urbem;

sed fines Libyci, genus intractabile bello.

340Imperium Dido Tyria regit urbe profecta,

germanum fugiens. Longa est iniuria, longae

ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.

Huic coniunx Sychaeus erat, ditissimus agri

Phoenicum, et magno miserae dilectus amore,

345cui pater intactam dederat, primisque iugarat

ominibus. Sed regna Tyri germanus habebat

Pygmalion, scelere ante alios immanior omnes.

Quos inter medius venit furor. Ille Sychaeum

impius ante aras, atque auri caecus amore,

350clam ferro incautum superat, securus amorum

germanae; factumque diu celavit, et aegram,

multa malus simulans, vana spe lusit amantem.

Ipsa sed in somnis inhumati venit imago

coniugis, ora modis attollens pallida miris,

355crudeles aras traiectaque pectora ferro

nudavit, caecumque domus scelus omne retexit.

Tum celerare fugam patriaque excedere suadet,

auxiliumque viae veteres tellure recludit

thesauros, ignotum argenti pondus et auri.

360His commota fugam Dido sociosque parabat:

conveniunt, quibus aut odium crudele tyranni

aut metus acer erat; navis, quae forte paratae,

corripiunt, onerantque auro: portantur avari

Pygmalionis opes pelago; dux femina facti.

365Devenere locos, ubi nunc ingentia cernis

moenia surgentemque novae Karthaginis arcem,

mercatique solum, facti de nomine Byrsam,

taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo.

Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,

370quove tenetis iter? Quaerenti talibus ille

suspirans, imoque trahens a pectore vocem:

O dea, si prima repetens ab origine pergam,

et vacet annalis nostrorum audire laborum,

ante diem clauso componat Vesper Olympo.

375Nos Troia antiqua, si vestras forte per auris

Troiae nomen iit, diversa per aequora vectos

forte sua Libycis tempestas adpulit oris.

Sum pius Aeneas, raptos qui ex hoste Penates

classe veho mecum, fama super aethera notus.

380Italiam quaero patriam et genus ab Iove summo.

Bis denis Phrygium conscendi navibus aequor,

matre dea monstrante viam, data fata secutus;

vix septem convolsae undis Euroque supersunt.

Ipse ignotus, egens, Libyae deserta peragro,

385Europa atque Asia pulsus. Nec plura querentem

passa Venus medio sic interfata dolore est:

Quisquis es, haud, credo, invisus caelestibus auras

vitalis carpis, Tyriam qui adveneris urbem.

Perge modo, atque hinc te reginae ad limina perfer,

390Namque tibi reduces socios classemque relatam

nuntio, et in tutum versis aquilonibus actam,

ni frustra augurium vani docuere parentes.

Aspice bis senos laetantis agmine cycnos,

aetheria quos lapsa plaga Iovis ales aperto

395turbabat caelo; nunc terras ordine longo

aut capere, aut captas iam despectare videntur:

ut reduces illi ludunt stridentibus alis,

et coetu cinxere polum, cantusque dedere,

haud aliter puppesque tuae pubesque tuorum

400aut portum tenet aut pleno subit ostia velo.

Perge modo, et, qua te ducit via, dirige gressum.

Dixit, et avertens rosea cervice refulsit,

ambrosiaeque comae divinum vertice odorem

spiravere, pedes vestis defluxit ad imos,

405et vera incessu patuit dea. Ille ubi matrem

adgnovit, tali fugientem est voce secutus:

Quid natum totiens, crudelis tu quoque, falsis

ludis imaginibus? Cur dextrae iungere dextram

non datur, ac veras audire et reddere voces?

410Talibus incusat, gressumque ad moenia tendit:

at Venus obscuro gradientes aere saepsit,

et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu,

cernere ne quis eos, neu quis contingere posset,

molirive moram, aut veniendi poscere causas.

415Ipsa Paphum sublimis abit, sedesque revisit

laeta suas, ubi templum illi, centumque Sabaeo

ture calent arae, sertisque recentibus halant.

305But dutiful Aeneas, turning over many things through the night,

as soon as kindly daylight came, resolved to go out

and explore these new places: what shores the wind had brought him to,

who lived there—for he saw them untilled—men or wild beasts;

he would find out and bring a full report to his companions.

310He hid the fleet in a woodland hollow beneath a caverned cliff,

shut in all around by trees and bristling shadows,

and went on himself with Achates alone attending him,

brandishing two broad-headed spears in his hand.

His mother came to meet him in the middle of the wood,

315bearing a maiden's face and dress, and the arms of a maiden

of Sparta, or like Thracian Harpalyce when she tires horses

and in flight outruns the wing-swift Hebrus.

For as a huntress she had hung from her shoulders, in the usual way, a ready bow

and had let her hair stream on the winds,

320bare at the knee, with a knot gathering her flowing folds.

And she spoke first: "Young men, tell me whether

you have seen any of my sisters wandering here by chance,

girt with a quiver and the hide of a spotted lynx,

or driving the course of a foaming boar with a shout."

325So Venus spoke; and Venus' son began in answer:

"None of your sisters has been heard or seen by me—

What name should I give you, maiden? For your face is not

mortal, nor your voice human: surely you are a goddess—

Phoebus' sister, or one born of nymphs?—

330whoever you are, be gracious and lighten our toil,

and tell us at last beneath what sky, on what shores

of the world, we are being tossed. Knowing neither people nor place,

we wander, driven here by wind and vast waves:

many a victim will fall before your altars by our right hand."

335Then Venus said: "I do not, indeed, count myself worthy of such honor;

it is the custom of Tyrian maidens to wear a quiver

and bind their calves high with purple buskins.

You see the Punic realm, the Tyrians, and Agenor's city;

the country is Libyan, its people untamable in war.

340Dido, who set out from the city of Tyre, governs the realm,

fleeing her brother. Long is the wrong, long

its winding story; but I will trace the main course of events.

Her husband was Sychaeus, richest in land

among the Phoenicians, dearly loved by his unhappy wife,

345whom her father had given him as a virgin, joining them

under first auspices. But her brother Pygmalion held

the kingdoms of Tyre, more monstrous in crime than all others.

Madness came between them. Pygmalion, impious and

blind with love of gold, before the altars,

350secretly cut down unsuspecting Sychaeus with steel, heedless of his sister's love.

For a long time he concealed the deed; with many wicked lies

he deceived her loving heart with empty hope.

But in dreams the very image of her unburied

husband came, raising a face strangely pale,

355and laid bare the cruel altars and the breast pierced by steel,

uncovering the whole hidden crime of the house.

Then he advises her to hasten flight and leave her fatherland,

and, as aid for the road, reveals old treasures from the earth,

an unknown weight of silver and gold.

360Moved by this, Dido prepared her escape and gathered companions:

there gathered those who felt either cruel hatred of the tyrant

or sharp fear. They seize the ships that happened to be ready

and load them with gold: greedy Pygmalion's wealth

is carried over the sea; a woman leads the enterprise.

365They reached the places where now you see the great

walls and rising citadel of new Carthage,

and bought as much ground as they could surround

with one bull's hide, calling it Byrsa from the very act.

But who, then, are you, from what shores have you come,

370and where do you hold your course?" As she asked such things, he,

sighing and drawing his voice from deep in his breast, answered:

"O goddess, if I began from the very start and continued,

and you had time to hear the annals of our toils,

evening would close Olympus and lay the day to rest before I finished.

375We come from ancient Troy—if Troy's name has chanced

to reach your ears. Across far-ranging seas,

a storm, by its own chance, drove us to Libyan shores.

I am dutiful Aeneas; I carry the Penates snatched from the enemy

with me in my fleet; my fame reaches above the heavens.

380I seek Italy, my fatherland; my line is from highest Jove.

With twice ten ships I took to the Phrygian sea,

guided by my goddess mother and following the fates appointed me;

scarcely seven survive, shattered by waves and Eurus.

I myself, unknown and destitute, wander Libya's wastes,

385driven from Europe and Asia." Before he could lament further,

Venus interrupted him in the midst of grief:

"Whoever you are, I think you are not hated by the gods,

you who draw the vital air and have reached a Tyrian city.

Go on now, and from here make your way to the queen's threshold,

390for I tell you that your companions are restored and your fleet brought back,

driven into safety by the north winds turned about,

unless the augury my parents taught me is false.

Look: twice six swans, exulting in their line,

whom Jove's eagle, swooping from the upper air,

395was scattering through open sky; now in a long line they seem

either to settle on land or look down on ground already won.

As they, restored, wheel in play with whistling wings,

circle the sky together and pour out song,

so your ships and the young men of your people

400either hold the harbor or enter its mouth under full sail.

Go on now, and turn your step where the road leads you."

She spoke, and, turning away, her rosy neck shone;

from the crown of her head her ambrosial hair breathed

a divine fragrance; her robe flowed down to her feet,

405and in her gait the true goddess stood revealed. When he recognized

his mother, he followed her as she fled with this voice:

"Why do you too, cruel one, so often mock your son

with false images? Why am I not allowed to join right hand

to right hand, and to hear and return true voices?"

410With such words he reproaches her and turns his step toward the walls:

but Venus enclosed them as they walked in dark air,

and the goddess poured around them a deep mantle of cloud,

so no one could see them or touch them,

or contrive delay, or ask the reasons for their coming.

415She herself went aloft to Paphos and gladly revisited

her own seats, where her temple stands and a hundred altars

glow with Sabaean incense and breathe with fresh garlands.

418Corripuere viam interea, qua semita monstrat.

Iamque ascendebant collem, qui plurimus urbi

420imminet, adversasque adspectat desuper arces.

Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam,

miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum.

Instant ardentes Tyrii pars ducere muros,

molirique arcem et manibus subvolvere saxa,

425pars optare locum tecto et concludere sulco.

Iura magistratusque legunt sanctumque senatum;

hic portus alii effodiunt; hic alta theatris

fundamenta locant alii, immanisque columnas

rupibus excidunt, scaenis decora alta futuris.

430Qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura

exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos

educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella

stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas,

aut onera accipiunt venientum, aut agmine facto

435ignavom fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent:

fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.

O fortunati, quorum iam moenia surgunt!

Aeneas ait, et fastigia suspicit urbis.

Infert se saeptus nebula, mirabile dictu,

440per medios, miscetque viris, neque cernitur ulli.

Lucus in urbe fuit media, laetissimus umbra,

quo primum iactati undis et turbine Poeni

effodere loco signum, quod regia Iuno

monstrarat, caput acris equi; sic nam fore bello

445egregiam et facilem victu per saecula gentem.

Hic templum Iunoni ingens Sidonia Dido

condebat, donis opulentum et numine divae,

aerea cui gradibus surgebant limina, nexaeque

aere trabes, foribus cardo stridebat aenis.

450Hoc primum in luco nova res oblata timorem

leniit, hic primum Aeneas sperare salutem

ausus, et adflictis melius confidere rebus.

Namque sub ingenti lustrat dum singula templo,

reginam opperiens, dum, quae fortuna sit urbi,

455artificumque manus inter se operumque laborem

miratur, videt Iliacas ex ordine pugnas,

bellaque iam fama totum volgata per orbem,

Atridas, Priamumque, et saevum ambobus Achillem.

Constitit, et lacrimans, Quis iam locus inquit Achate,

460quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?

En Priamus! Sunt hic etiam sua praemia laudi;

sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.

Solve metus; feret haec aliquam tibi fama salutem.

Sic ait, atque animum pictura pascit inani,

465multa gemens, largoque umectat flumine voltum.

Namque videbat, uti bellantes Pergama circum

hac fugerent Graii, premeret Troiana iuventus,

hac Phryges, instaret curru cristatus Achilles.

Nec procul hinc Rhesi niveis tentoria velis

470adgnoscit lacrimans, primo quae prodita somno

Tydides multa vastabat caede cruentus,

ardentisque avertit equos in castra, prius quam

pabula gustassent Troiae Xanthumque bibissent.

Parte alia fugiens amissis Troilus armis,

475infelix puer atque impar congressus Achilli,

fertur equis, curruque haeret resupinus inani,

lora tenens tamen; huic cervixque comaeque trahuntur

per terram, et versa pulvis inscribitur hasta.

Interea ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant

480crinibus Iliades passis peplumque ferebant,

suppliciter tristes et tunsae pectora palmis;

diva solo fixos oculos aversa tenebat.

Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectora muros,

exanimumque auro corpus vendebat Achilles.

485Tum vero ingentem gemitum dat pectore ab imo,

ut spolia, ut currus, utque ipsum corpus amici,

tendentemque manus Priamum conspexit inermis.

Se quoque principibus permixtum adgnovit Achivis,

Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma.

490Ducit Amazonidum lunatis agmina peltis

Penthesilea furens, mediisque in milibus ardet,

aurea subnectens exsertae cingula mammae,

bellatrix, audetque viris concurrere virgo.

418Meanwhile they took the road at speed, where the footpath shows the way.

And now they were climbing the hill that looms wide above the city

420and looks down from above on the facing citadels.

Aeneas marvels at the city's mass, where once were huts,

marvels at the gates, the noise, and the paving of the roads.

The eager Tyrians press the work: some lay out the walls,

some raise the citadel and roll stones upward by hand,

425others choose a site for a house and mark it off with a furrow.

They choose their laws and magistrates and a sacred senate;

here some dig harbors; here others set down

deep foundations for theaters and hew enormous columns

from the cliffs, high ornaments for stages still to come.

430As toil stirs the bees in early summer through flowering fields

beneath the sun, when they lead out the full-grown brood

of their race, or when they pack the flowing honey

and swell the cells with sweet nectar,

or receive the loads of those arriving, or, with an array formed,

435drive the drones, a lazy herd, from the hives:

the work seethes, and fragrant honey breathes of thyme.

"O fortunate ones, whose walls are already rising!"

Aeneas says, and looks up at the city's heights.

Enclosed in cloud, marvelous to tell, he goes

440through their midst, mingles with the men, and is seen by none.

There was a grove in the city's center, luxuriant with shade,

where first, tossed by waves and whirlwind, the Punic settlers

dug up at that place an omen, which queenly Juno

had revealed: the head of a spirited horse, a sign that in war

445their people would be renowned and live at ease through the ages.

Here Sidonian Dido was founding a vast temple to Juno,

rich with gifts and with the goddess's divine presence,

for which bronze thresholds rose on steps, and beams

were bound with bronze; the hinge creaked on bronze doors.

450In this grove the first unexpected sight that met him eased

his fear; here for the first time Aeneas dared to hope for safety

and to trust more in his stricken fortunes.

For while beneath the vast temple he studies each thing,

waiting for the queen, while he marvels at the city's fortune,

455at the artists' hands rivaling one another and at the labor of their works,

he sees the battles of Ilium in order,

and wars already spread by fame through the whole world,

the sons of Atreus, Priam, and Achilles savage to both sides.

He stopped and, weeping, said, "What place now, Achates,

460what region on earth is not full of our suffering?

Look, Priam! Even here valor has its due reward;

here, too, there are tears for things, and mortal sufferings touch the heart.

Let go your fears; this fame will bring you some safety."

So he says, and feeds his spirit on the empty picture,

465groaning deeply, and wets his face with a full flood.

For he saw how, as they fought around Pergamum,

here the Greeks fled and Trojan youth pressed them,

there the Phrygians, while crested Achilles pressed on in his chariot.

Not far from there, weeping, he recognizes Rhesus' tents

470with snow-white canvas, which, betrayed in their first sleep,

bloody Tydides was laying waste with great slaughter,

and he turned the fiery horses away to his camp before

they had tasted Troy's fodder or drunk the Xanthus.

Elsewhere Troilus, his weapons lost, flees—

475an ill-fated boy, no match for Achilles when they met.

His horses bear him on; he hangs backward from the empty chariot,

still holding the reins; his neck and hair are dragged

over the ground, and the dust is scored by his reversed spear.

Meanwhile to the temple of unjust Pallas went

480the Trojan women with hair unbound, carrying the robe,

sad as suppliants and beating their breasts with their palms;

the goddess, turned away, kept her eyes fixed on the ground.

Three times Achilles had dragged Hector around the Trojan walls

and was selling the lifeless body for gold.

485Then indeed he lets out a huge groan from the depths of his breast,

when he sees the spoils, the chariot, and the very body of his friend,

and Priam stretching out his unarmed hands.

He recognized himself too, mingled among the leading Achaeans,

and the Eastern battle lines and the arms of black Memnon.

490Penthesilea leads the Amazon columns with crescent shields,

raging, and blazes in the midst of thousands,

fastening a golden belt beneath her exposed breast,

a warrior, a maiden, and she dares to clash with men.

494Haec dum Dardanio Aeneae miranda videntur,

495dum stupet, obtutuque haeret defixus in uno,

regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido,

incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva.

Qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi

exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae

500hinc atque hinc glomerantur oreades; illa pharetram

fert umero, gradiensque deas supereminet omnis:

Latonae tacitum pertemptant gaudia pectus:

talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat

per medios, instans operi regnisque futuris.

505Tum foribus divae, media testudine templi,

saepta armis, solioque alte subnixa resedit.

Iura dabat legesque viris, operumque laborem

partibus aequabat iustis, aut sorte trahebat:

cum subito Aeneas concursu accedere magno

510Anthea Sergestumque videt fortemque Cloanthum,

Teucrorumque alios, ater quos aequore turbo

dispulerat penitusque alias avexerat oras.

Obstipuit simul ipse simul perculsus Achates

laetitiaque metuque; avidi coniungere dextras

515ardebant; sed res animos incognita turbat.

Dissimulant, et nube cava speculantur amicti,

quae fortuna viris, classem quo litore linquant,

quid veniant; cunctis nam lecti navibus ibant,

orantes veniam, et templum clamore petebant.

520Postquam introgressi et coram data copia fandi,

maxumus Ilioneus placido sic pectore coepit:

O Regina, novam cui condere Iuppiter urbem

iustitiaque dedit gentis frenare superbas,

Troes te miseri, ventis maria omnia vecti,

525oramus, prohibe infandos a navibus ignis,

parce pio generi, et propius res aspice nostras.

Non nos aut ferro Libycos populare Penatis

venimus, aut raptas ad litora vertere praedas;

non ea vis animo, nec tanta superbia victis.

530Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt,

terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae;

Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores

Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem.

Hic cursus fuit:

535cum subito adsurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion

in vada caeca tulit, penitusque procacibus austris

perque undas, superante salo, perque invia saxa

dispulit; huc pauci vestris adnavimus oris.

Quod genus hoc hominum? Quaeve hunc tam barbara morem

540permittit patria? Hospitio prohibemur harenae;

bella cient, primaque vetant consistere terra.

Si genus humanum et mortalia temnitis arma

at sperate deos memores fandi atque nefandi.

Rex erat Aeneas nobis, quo iustior alter,

545nec pietate fuit, nec bello maior et armis.

Quem si fata virum servant, si vescitur aura

aetheria, neque adhuc crudelibus occubat umbris,

non metus; officio nec te certasse priorem

paeniteat. Sunt et Siculis regionibus urbes

550arvaque, Troianoque a sanguine clarus Acestes.

Quassatam ventis liceat subducere classem,

et silvis aptare trabes et stringere remos:

si datur Italiam, sociis et rege recepto,

tendere, ut Italiam laeti Latiumque petamus;

555sin absumpta salus, et te, pater optume Teucrum,

pontus habet Lybiae, nec spes iam restat Iuli,

at freta Sicaniae saltem sedesque paratas,

unde huc advecti, regemque petamus Acesten.

Talibus Ilioneus; cuncti simul ore fremebant

560Dardanidae.

Tum breviter Dido, voltum demissa, profatur:

Solvite corde metum, Teucri, secludite curas.

Res dura et regni novitas me talia cogunt

moliri, et late finis custode tueri.

565Quis genus Aeneadum, quis Troiae nesciat urbem,

virtutesque virosque, aut tanti incendia belli?

Non obtusa adeo gestamus pectora Poeni,

nec tam aversus equos Tyria Sol iungit ab urbe.

Seu vos Hesperiam magnam Saturniaque arva,

570sive Erycis finis regemque optatis Acesten,

auxilio tutos dimittam, opibusque iuvabo.

Voltis et his mecum pariter considere regnis;

urbem quam statuo vestra est, subducite navis;

Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur.

575Atque utinam rex ipse Noto compulsus eodem

adforet Aeneas! Equidem per litora certos

dimittam et Libyae lustrare extrema iubebo,

si quibus eiectus silvis aut urbibus errat.

494While Dardanian Aeneas looks in wonder at these scenes,

495while he stands amazed, his gaze fixed on one image,

Queen Dido, surpassing in beauty,

approaches the temple, a great throng of youths pressing round her.

As Diana, on Eurotas' banks or over Cynthus' ridges,

sets her dancing companies in motion, with a thousand following,

500Oreads massing around her on either side; she carries her quiver

on her shoulder, and as she goes towers above all the goddesses:

silent joys thrill Latona's breast:

Such was Dido; so she moved with joy

among her people, pressing on the work of her future realm.

505Then at the goddess's doors, beneath the temple's central vault,

ringed with arms, she sat, raised high upon a throne.

She dispensed judgments and laws to her people, assigning their work

in fair shares or distributing it by lot:

when suddenly Aeneas sees coming up in a great crowd

510Antheus and Sergestus and brave Cloanthus,

and other Teucrians, whom the black squall across the sea

had scattered and carried far away to other shores.

Aeneas stood stunned, and Achates too was struck

by joy and fear. Eager to clasp right hands,

515they burned to do so, but the strangeness of events unsettled them.

They hide their feelings and, wrapped in the hollow cloud, watch

what fortune has befallen the men, where they have left the fleet,

why they have come. Chosen from every ship, they were coming

to plead for favor, and amid shouts made for the temple.

520Once they entered and were granted leave to speak before the queen,

Ilioneus, the eldest, began thus with calm composure:

"O Queen, to whom Jupiter has granted to found a new city

and with justice to bridle proud peoples,

we wretched Trojans, carried by winds over every sea,

525beg you: keep dreadful fires from our ships,

spare a people bound by duty, and look more closely at our case.

We have not come to ravage Libyan Penates by the sword

or drive stolen plunder to your shores;

no such violence is in our hearts, no such arrogance in the defeated.

530There is a place the Greeks call Hesperia,

an ancient land, mighty in arms and rich in soil;

Oenotrian men inhabited it; now report says their descendants

named the nation Italy after their leader.

This was our course:

535when suddenly stormy Orion rose upon the swell

and drove us into hidden shallows, scattering us far

through waves, under the mastering sea, and through pathless rocks

with reckless south winds; we few have made it here to your shores.

What kind of people is this? What country permits

540so barbarous a custom? We are barred from the shore's hospitality;

they rouse wars and forbid us to set foot on the first land.

If you scorn humankind and mortal arms,

then still expect gods mindful of right and wrong.

Aeneas was our king; no other man was more just,

545none greater in devotion or in war and arms.

If the fates preserve that man, if he still breathes heaven's air

and does not yet lie among the cruel shades,

we need not fear; nor will you regret striving to be first

in kindness. We also have cities in Sicily,

550and fields, and Acestes, famous from Trojan blood.

Allow us to beach our wind-battered fleet,

fashion planks from forest timber and trim our oars:

if, with comrades and king recovered, we are granted a course

to Italy, then joyfully we will seek Italy and Latium;

555but if our hope is lost, if Libya's sea now holds you,

best father of the Trojans, and no hope of Iulus remains,

then let us seek at least Sicily's straits and prepared homes,

the land from which we came, and Acestes as our king."

At these words from Ilioneus, all together with one voice

560the Dardanians murmured assent.

Then Dido, with eyes lowered, speaks briefly:

"Release fear from your hearts, Teucrians; put cares aside.

Hard necessity and my new kingdom force me to act so

and guard my borders far and wide.

565Who does not know Aeneas' people, the city Troy,

the valor and the men, or the fires of so great a war?

We Phoenicians do not bear hearts so dulled,

nor does the Sun yoke his horses so far from the Tyrian city.

Whether you choose great Hesperia and Saturnian fields,

570or the lands of Eryx and King Acestes,

I will send you away safe with aid, and help you with resources.

Or do you wish to settle on equal terms with me in these realms?

The city I am founding is yours; draw up your ships;

Trojan and Tyrian will be treated by me with no distinction.

575And would that King Aeneas himself, driven by the same South Wind,

were here! Indeed, I will send trusted men along the shores

and order them to search Libya's farthest reaches,

in case, cast ashore, he wanders in any woods or cities."

579His animum arrecti dictis et fortis Achates

580et pater Aeneas iamdudum erumpere nubem

ardebant. Prior Aenean compellat Achates:

Nate dea, quae nunc animo sententia surgit?

omnia tuta vides, classem sociosque receptos.

Unus abest, medio in fluctu quem vidimus ipsi

585submersum; dictis respondent cetera matris.

Vix ea fatus erat, cum circumfusa repente

scindit se nubes et in aethera purgat apertum.

Restitit Aeneas claraque in luce refulsit,

os umerosque deo similis; namque ipsa decoram

590caesariem nato genetrix lumenque iuventae

purpureum et laetos oculis adflarat honores:

quale manus addunt ebori decus, aut ubi flavo

argentum Pariusve lapis circumdatur auro.

Tum sic reginam adloquitur, cunctisque repente

595improvisus ait: Coram, quem quaeritis, adsum,

Troius Aeneas, Lybicis ereptus ab undis.

O sola infandos Troiae miserata labores,

quae nos, reliquias Danaum, terraeque marisque

omnibus exhaustos iam casibus, omnium egenos,

600urbe, domo, socias, grates persolvere dignas

non opis est nostrae, Dido, nec quicquid ubique est

gentis Dardaniae, magnum quae sparsa per orbem.

Di tibi, si qua pios respectant numina, si quid

usquam iustitia est et mens sibi conscia recti,

605praemia digna ferant. Quae te tam laeta tulerunt

saecula? Qui tanti talem genuere parentes?

In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae

lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet,

semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt,

610quae me cumque vocant terrae. Sic fatus, amicum

Ilionea petit dextra, laevaque Serestum,

post alios, fortemque Gyan fortemque Cloanthum.

Obstipuit primo aspectu Sidonia Dido,

casu deinde viri tanto, et sic ore locuta est:

615Quis te, nate dea, per tanta pericula casus

insequitur? Quae vis immanibus applicat oris?

Tune ille Aeneas, quem Dardanio Anchisae

alma Venus Phrygii genuit Simoentis ad undam?

Atque equidem Teucrum memini Sidona venire

620finibus expulsum patriis, nova regna petentem

auxilio Beli; genitor tum Belus opimam

vastabat Cyprum, et victor dicione tenebat.

Tempore iam ex illo casus mihi cognitus urbis

Troianae nomenque tuum regesque Pelasgi.

625Ipse hostis Teucros insigni laude ferebat,

seque ortum antiqua Teucrorum ab stirpe volebat.

Quare agite, O tectis, iuvenes, succedite nostris.

Me quoque per multos similis fortuna labores

iactatam hac demum voluit consistere terra.

630Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco.

Sic memorat; simul Aenean in regia ducit

tecta, simul divom templis indicit honorem.

Nec minus interea sociis ad litora mittit

viginti tauros, magnorum horrentia centum

635terga suum, pinguis centum cum matribus agnos,

munera laetitiamque dii.

At domus interior regali splendida luxu

instruitur, mediisque parant convivia tectis:

arte laboratae vestes ostroque superbo,

640ingens argentum mensis, caelataque in auro

fortia facta patrum, series longissima rerum

per tot ducta viros antiqua ab origine gentis.

Aeneas (neque enim patrius consistere mentem

passus amor) rapidum ad navis praemittit Achaten,

645Ascanio ferat haec, ipsumque ad moenia ducat;

omnis in Ascanio cari stat cura parentis.

Munera praeterea, Iliacis erepta ruinis,

ferre iubet, pallam signis auroque rigentem,

et circumtextum croceo velamen acantho,

650ornatus Argivae Helenae, quos illa Mycenis,

Pergama cum peteret inconcessosque hymenaeos,

extulerat, matris Ledae mirabile donum:

praeterea sceptrum, Ilione quod gesserat olim,

maxima natarum Priami, colloque monile

655bacatum, et duplicem gemmis auroque coronam.

Haec celerans ita ad naves tendebat Achates.

579Roused in spirit by these words, both brave Achates

580and father Aeneas had long been burning to burst from the cloud;

Achates is the first to address Aeneas:

"Son of a goddess, what plan now rises in your mind?

You see all is secure: fleet and comrades recovered.

One alone is missing, whom we ourselves saw in mid-surge

585sinking; all the rest matches your mother's words."

He had scarcely spoken when suddenly the cloud around them

split apart and cleared into open air.

Aeneas stood revealed and shone in clear light,

godlike in face and shoulders; for his mother herself

590had breathed beauty into her son's hair, the rosy

glow of youth and bright grace into his eyes:

such beauty as hands add to ivory, or when yellow

gold is set around silver or Parian stone.

Then he addressed the queen and, suddenly revealed

595to all, said: "Here before you stands the man you seek,

Trojan Aeneas, rescued from Libyan waves.

You alone have pitied Troy's unspeakable ordeals,

and take us, remnants left by the Danaans, worn out

by every disaster on land and sea, destitute of all,

600as partners in your city and home. To repay you fitting thanks

is beyond our power, Dido, and beyond the power of whatever remains

of the Dardanian people, scattered across the wide world.

May the gods, if any divine powers regard the dutiful,

if justice has any force and conscience knows the right,

605bring you worthy rewards. What ages, so blessed, bore you?

What parents so great gave birth to such a woman?

As long as rivers run into the seas, as long as shadows

move across mountain hollows, as long as heaven feeds the stars,

your honor, your name, and your praises will always remain,

610wherever the lands may call me." So he spoke, and grasped his friend

Ilioneus with his right hand, Serestus with his left,

then the others, brave Gyas and brave Cloanthus.

Sidonian Dido stood stunned, first at the sight,

then at the man's great suffering, and spoke in this way:

615"What misfortune, son of a goddess, pursues you through such dangers?

What force lands you on savage shores?

Are you that Aeneas, whom nurturing Venus bore

to Dardanian Anchises beside the waters of Phrygian Simois?

Indeed I remember Teucer coming to Sidon,

620driven from his ancestral lands, seeking new kingdoms

with Belus' aid; then my father Belus

was laying rich Cyprus waste and held it, victorious, under his rule.

From that time the fall of the Trojan city

has been known to me, and your name, and the Pelasgian kings.

625He himself, though an enemy, praised the Teucrians highly,

and claimed he was sprung from the ancient stock of the Teucrians.

Therefore come, young men, enter beneath our roofs.

A like fortune has tossed me too through many ordeals

and willed me at last to settle in this land.

630No stranger to suffering, I am learning to aid the suffering."

So she says; at once she leads Aeneas into royal

halls, and at once proclaims honors in the temples of the gods.

Meanwhile she likewise sends to his comrades on the shore

twenty bulls, a hundred bristling backs

635of great swine, a hundred fat lambs with their mothers,

gifts for a day of joy.

But the inner palace, splendid with royal luxury,

is set in order, and they prepare feasts in the central halls:

fabrics worked with art and proud purple,

640massive silver on the tables, and, carved in gold,

the brave deeds of her fathers, a long succession of events

traced through so many men from the nation's ancient origin.

Aeneas, for fatherly love did not allow his mind

to rest, sends swift Achates ahead to the ships,

645to carry these tidings to Ascanius and bring him himself to the walls;

all the dear father's care rests on Ascanius.

Besides, he orders gifts, rescued from Ilian ruins,

to be carried: a mantle stiff with figures and gold,

and a veil bordered all around with saffron acanthus,

650finery of Argive Helen, which she had carried from Mycenae

when she sought Pergamum and an unlawful marriage,

a wondrous gift of her mother Leda:

besides, the scepter that Ilione once had borne,

eldest of Priam's daughters, and for the neck a necklace

655strung with pearls, and a double crown of gems and gold.

Hurrying on this errand, Achates was making his way to the ships.

657At Cytherea novas artes, nova pectore versat

Consilia, ut faciem mutatus et ora Cupido

pro dulci Ascanio veniat, donisque furentem

660incendat reginam, atque ossibus implicet ignem;

quippe domum timet ambiguam Tyriosque bilinguis;

urit atrox Iuno, et sub noctem cura recursat.

Ergo his aligerum dictis adfatur Amorem:

Nate, meae vires, mea magna potentia solus,

665nate, patris summi qui tela Typhoia temnis,

ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco.

Frater ut Aeneas pelago tuus omnia circum

litora iactetur odiis Iunonis iniquae,

nota tibi, et nostro doluisti saepe dolore.

670Hunc Phoenissa tenet Dido blandisque moratur

vocibus; et vereor, quo se Iunonia vertant

hospitia; haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum.

Quocirca capere ante dolis et cingere flamma

reginam meditor, ne quo se numine mutet,

675sed magno Aeneae mecum teneatur amore.

Qua facere id possis, nostram nunc accipe mentem.

Regius accitu cari genitoris ad urbem

Sidoniam puer ire parat, mea maxima cura,

dona ferens, pelago et flammis restantia Troiae:

680hunc ego sopitum somno super alta Cythera

aut super Idalium sacrata sede recondam,

ne qua scire dolos mediusve occurrere possit.

Tu faciem illius noctem non amplius unam

falle dolo, et notos pueri puer indue voltus,

685ut, cum te gremio accipiet laetissima Dido

regalis inter mensas laticemque Lyaeum,

cum dabit amplexus atque oscula dulcia figet,

occultum inspires ignem fallasque veneno.

Paret Amor dictis carae genetricis, et alas

690exuit, et gressu gaudens incedit Iuli.

At Venus Ascanio placidam per membra quietem

inrigat, et fotum gremio dea tollit in altos

Idaliae lucos, ubi mollis amaracus illum

floribus et dulci adspirans complectitur umbra.

695Iamque ibat dicto parens et dona Cupido

regia portabat Tyriis, duce laetus Achate.

Cum venit, aulaeis iam se regina superbis

aurea composuit sponda mediamque locavit.

Iam pater Aeneas et iam Troiana iuventus

700conveniunt, stratoque super discumbitur ostro.

Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris

expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis.

Quinquaginta intus famulae, quibus ordine longam

cura penum struere, et flammis adolere Penatis;

705centum aliae totidemque pares aetate ministri,

qui dapibus mensas onerent et pocula ponant.

Nec non et Tyrii per limina laeta frequentes

convenere, toris iussi discumbere pictis.

Mirantur dona Aeneae, mirantur Iulum

710flagrantisque dei voltus simulataque verba,

pallamque et pictum croceo velamen acantho.

Praecipue infelix, pesti devota futurae,

expleri mentem nequit ardescitque tuendo

Phoenissa, et pariter puero donisque movetur.

715Ille ubi complexu Aeneae colloque pependit

et magnum falsi implevit genitoris amorem,

reginam petit haec oculis, haec pectore toto

haeret et interdum gremio fovet, inscia Dido,

insidat quantus miserae deus; at memor ille

720matris Acidaliae paulatim abolere Sychaeum

incipit, et vivo temptat praevertere amore

iam pridem resides animos desuetaque corda.

Postquam prima quies epulis, mensaeque remotae,

crateras magnos statuunt et vina coronant.

725Fit strepitus tectis, vocemque per ampla volutant

atria; dependent lychni laquearibus aureis

incensi, et noctem flammis funalia vincunt.

Hic regina gravem gemmis auroque poposcit

implevitque mero pateram, quam Belus et omnes

730a Belo soliti; tum facta silentia tectis:

Iuppiter, hospitibus nam te dare iura loquuntur,

hunc laetum Tyriisque diem Troiaque profectis

esse velis, nostrosque huius meminisse minores.

Adsit laetitiae Bacchus dator, et bona Iuno;

735et vos, O, coetum, Tyrii, celebrate faventes.

Dixit, et in mensam laticum libavit honorem,

primaque, libato, summo tenus attigit ore,

tum Bitiae dedit increpitans; ille impiger hausit

spumantem pateram, et pleno se proluit auro

740post alii proceres. Cithara crinitus Iopas

personat aurata, docuit quem maximus Atlas.

Hic canit errantem lunam solisque labores;

unde hominum genus et pecudes; unde imber et ignes;

Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones;

745quid tantum Oceano properent se tinguere soles

hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.

Ingeminant plausu Tyrii, Troesque sequuntur.

Nec non et vario noctem sermone trahebat

infelix Dido, longumque bibebat amorem,

750multa super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore multa;

nunc quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis,

nunc quales Diomedis equi, nunc quantus Achilles.

Immo age, et a prima dic, hospes, origine nobis

insidias, inquit, Danaum, casusque tuorum,

755erroresque tuos; nam te iam septima portat

omnibus errantem terris et fluctibus aestas.

657But Cytherea devises new arts, new plans in her heart:

Cupid should change his face and features

and come in sweet Ascanius' place; with the gifts he should

660set the queen ablaze and weave fire into her bones;

for she fears the uncertain house and the double-tongued Tyrians;

savage Juno consumes her, and as night falls worry returns.

So with these words she addresses winged Love:

"Son, my strength, my only great power,

665son, you who scorn the supreme Father's Typhoian bolts,

to you I flee; a suppliant, I ask your divine power.

You know how your brother Aeneas is tossed

round every shore on the sea by unjust Juno's hatred,

and often you have grieved with my grief.

670Phoenician Dido holds him and delays him

with coaxing words; and I fear what turn Juno's

hospitality may take. She will not sit idle at such a crisis.

So I plan first to seize the queen by stratagem

and encircle her with flame, lest some divine power change her course,

675and instead bind her, as I am bound, in great love for Aeneas.

Now hear my plan for how you can do it.

The royal boy, my greatest care, summoned by his dear father,

is preparing to go to the Sidonian city,

carrying gifts that survived Troy's sea and flames:

680I will lull him to sleep and hide him high on Cythera

or on Idalium in a sacred dwelling,

so he cannot learn the plot or interrupt it midway.

You, for one night only and no more,

counterfeit his face by craft, and, boy, put on the boy's familiar features,

685so that when Dido, overjoyed, takes you in her lap

among the royal tables and Lyaean wine,

when she gives embraces and plants sweet kisses,

you may breathe hidden fire into her and beguile her with poison."

Love obeys his dear mother's words and lays his wings aside,

690then walks with joy in Iulus' gait.

But Venus pours peaceful rest through Ascanius' limbs;

the goddess cradles him in her lap and lifts him to the high

groves of Idalia, where soft marjoram, breathing

through flowers and sweet shade, enfolds him.

695And now Cupid went, obedient to her word, and carried

the royal gifts to the Tyrians, glad with Achates as guide.

When he arrives, the queen has settled beneath splendid tapestries

on a golden couch and taken her place at the center.

Now father Aeneas, now the Trojan youth,

700gather, and the company reclines on purple spreads.

Servants pour water over their hands and serve bread

from baskets, then bring towels with close-clipped nap.

Within, fifty maidservants have charge of setting in order

the long store of provisions and honoring the Penates with flame;

705a hundred other women and as many servers of equal age

load the tables with feasts and set the cups.

The Tyrians too, crowding through the festive thresholds,

came together, bidden to recline on embroidered couches.

They marvel at Aeneas' gifts, they marvel at Iulus,

710at the blazing god's face and his counterfeit words,

and at the robe and veil embroidered with saffron acanthus.

Above all, ill-fated and doomed to coming ruin,

the Phoenician cannot have her heart's fill and burns as she gazes,

and is stirred alike by the boy and by the gifts.

715When he has clung in Aeneas' embrace and hung from his neck

and satisfied the deep love of the father he feigns,

he turns to the queen. With her eyes, with her whole heart

Dido clings to him and sometimes cradles him in her lap, unaware

how great a god settles there, to her sorrow. But he, mindful

720of his Acidalian mother, begins little by little to efface

Sychaeus, and tries with living love to take possession of

her long-idle senses and heart unused to love.

After the first pause in the feast, and the tables removed,

they set up great mixing bowls and crown the wine.

725Noise rises in the halls, and voices roll through the broad

atria; lit lamps hang from the gilded panels,

and torches overcome the night with flames.

Here the queen called for a bowl heavy with gems and gold

and filled with unmixed wine the cup that Belus and all

730Belus' descendants had used; then silence fell in the halls:

"Jupiter, for they say you set laws for guests,

grant this day be joyful for Tyrians and those who left Troy,

and let our descendants remember it.

Let Bacchus, giver of gladness, be present, and kindly Juno;

735and you, Tyrians, favor this gathering with goodwill."

She spoke, and poured on the table the wine's due offering,

and first, after libation, touched it with the edge of her lips,

then passed it to Bitias with a challenge; he quickly drained

the foaming bowl and drenched himself in brimming gold;

740then the other lords. Long-haired Iopas,

taught by mighty Atlas, makes his golden lyre resound.

He sings the wandering moon and the sun's labors;

whence the race of men and beasts, whence rain and lightning;

Arcturus and the rainy Hyades and the twin Bears;

745why winter suns so hurry to dip themselves in Ocean,

or what delay checks the lingering nights.

The Tyrians redouble applause, and the Trojans follow.

Unhappy Dido too was drawing out the night

with varied talk, and drinking in love in long draughts,

750asking much about Priam, much about Hector;

now with what arms Aurora's son had come,

now what Diomedes' horses were like, now how great Achilles was.

"Come now, guest, tell us from the first beginning

the Danaans' plots," she says, "and your people's disasters,

755and your wanderings; for already the seventh summer carries you,

wandering over all lands and waves."