Aeneid, Book 3: The Wanderings

1Postquam res Asiae Priamique evertere gentem

immeritam visum Superis, ceciditque superbum

Ilium, et omnis humo fumat Neptunia Troia,

diversa exsilia et desertas quaerere terras

5auguriis agimur divom, classemque sub ipsa

Antandro et Phrygiae molimur montibus Idae,

incerti, quo fata ferant, ubi sistere detur,

contrahimusque viros. Vix prima inceperat aestas,

et pater Anchises dare fatis vela iubebat;

10litora cum patriae lacrimans portusque relinquo

et campos, ubi Troia fuit: feror exsul in altum

cum sociis natoque Penatibus et magnis dis.

Terra procul vastis colitur Mavortia campis,

Thraces arant, acri quondam regnata Lycurgo,

15hospitium antiquum Troiae sociique Penates,

dum Fortuna fuit. Feror huc, et litore curvo

moenia prima loco, fatis ingressus iniquis,

Aeneadasque meo nomen de nomine fingo.

Sacra Dionaeae matri divisque ferebam

20auspicibus coeptorum operum, superoque nitentem

caelicolum regi mactabam in litore taurum.

Forte fuit iuxta tumulus, quo cornea summo

virgulta et densis hastilibus horrida myrtus.

Accessi, viridemque ab humo convellere silvam

25conatus, ramis tegerem ut frondentibus aras,

horrendum et dictu video mirabile monstrum.

Nam, quae prima solo ruptis radicibus arbos

vellitur, huic atro liquuntur sanguine guttae,

et terram tabo maculant. Mihi frigidus horror

30membra quatit, gelidusque coit formidine sanguis.

Rursus et alterius lentum convellere vimen

insequor, et causas penitus temptare latentis:

ater et alterius sequitur de cortice sanguis.

Multa movens animo nymphas venerabar agrestis

35Gradivumque patrem, Geticis qui praesidet arvis,

rite secundarent visus omenque levarent.

Tertia sed postquam maiore hastilia nisu

adgredior, genibusque adversae obluctor harenae—

eloquar, an sileam?—gemitus lacrimabilis imo

40auditur tumulo, et vox reddita fertur ad auris:

Quid miserum, Aenea, laceras? Iam parce sepulto;

parce pias scelerare manus. Non me tibi Troia

externum tulit, aut cruor hic de stipite manat.

Heu, fuge crudelis terras, fuge litus avarum:

45nam Polydorus ego; hic confixum ferrea texit

telorum seges et iaculis increvit acutis.

Tum vero ancipiti mentem formidine pressus

obstipui, steteruntque comae et vox faucibus haesit.

Hunc Polydorum auri quondam cum pondere magno

50infelix Priamus furtim mandarat alendum

Threicio regi, cum iam diffideret armis

Dardaniae, cingique urbem obsidione videret.

Ille, ut opes fractae Teucrum, et Fortuna recessit,

res Agamemnonias victriciaque arma secutus,

55fas omne abrumpit; Polydorum obtruncat, et auro

vi potitur. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,

auri sacra fames? Postquam pavor ossa reliquit,

delectos populi ad proceres primumque parentem

monstra deum refero, et quae sit sententia posco.

60Omnibus idem animus, scelerata excedere terra,

linqui pollutum hospitium, et dare classibus austros.

Ergo instauramus Polydoro funus, et ingens

aggeritur tumulo tellus; stant Manibus arae,

caeruleis maestae vittis atraque cupresso,

65et circum Iliades crinem de more solutae;

inferimus tepido spumantia cymbia lacte

sanguinis et sacri pateras, animamque sepulchro

condimus, et magna supremum voce ciemus.

1After the gods above saw fit to overthrow Asia's power

and Priam's guiltless people, and proud

Ilium fell, all Neptune's Troy smoked from the ground,

diverse places of exile and deserted lands

5we are driven by divine omens to seek; beneath Antandros itself

and the mountains of Phrygian Ida we labor at a fleet,

uncertain where the fates would carry us, where we might settle,

and gather our men. The first summer had scarcely begun,

and father Anchises was bidding us spread sail to the fates;

10when, weeping, I leave the shores and harbors of my homeland

and the fields where Troy once stood: an exile, I am carried onto the deep

with my comrades, my son, the Penates, and the great gods.

Far off lies a land of Mars across broad plains,

plowed by the Thracians, once ruled by fierce Lycurgus,

15a land long bound to Troy by guest-right, its Penates allied with ours

while Fortune lasted. I am carried here, and on a curving shore,

under hostile fates, I found my first city walls,

and from my own name fashion the name Aeneadae.

I was offering rites to my Dionean mother and to the gods

20who favored the work begun; and a gleaming bull

I was sacrificing on the shore to heaven's high king.

By chance nearby there was a mound, on whose summit

cornel shoots and a myrtle bristled thick with spear-shafts.

I approached and tried to wrench from the earth the green thicket,

25to cover the altars with leafy branches,

when I see a portent, dreadful and marvelous to tell.

For the first tree, torn from the soil with shattered roots,

as it is wrenched away, drops ooze from it in black blood,

and stain the earth with gore. Cold horror

30shakes my limbs, and my blood runs chill and congeals with fear.

Again I persist, wrenching at another stubborn shoot

and probe the hidden causes deep within:

black blood follows from the bark of this second one too.

Turning many thoughts in my mind, I prayed to the country nymphs

35and Father Gradivus, who presides over the Getic fields,

duly to turn the vision to good and lift the omen.

But when for the third time, with greater effort, I attack

the spear-shafts and wrestle on my knees against the resisting sand—

shall I speak, or be silent?—from deep in the mound

40a tearful groan is heard, and a voice comes back to my ears:

"Why, Aeneas, do you tear a wretched man? Spare one already buried;

do not defile your dutiful hands. Troy did not bear me

a stranger to you, nor does this blood flow from a stem.

Ah, flee this cruel land, flee this greed-cursed shore:

45for I am Polydorus; here, pierced through, an iron crop

of weapons covered me and grew up in sharp javelins."

Then truly, my mind crushed by conflicting terror,

I stood stunned; my hair rose, and my voice caught in my throat.

This Polydorus, once with a great weight of gold,

50unhappy Priam had sent away in secret to be reared

by the Thracian king, when he had begun to mistrust Dardanian arms

and saw the city being ringed with siege.

That king, when the Teucrians' power was broken and Fortune withdrew,

following Agamemnon's fortunes and victorious arms,

55tears apart every sacred bond; he butchers Polydorus and

seizes the gold by force. To what do you not drive mortal hearts,

accursed hunger for gold? After terror left my bones,

I report the gods' portents to the people's chosen leaders

and above all to my father, and ask what their judgment is.

60All are of one mind: leave this guilty land,

abandon its polluted guest-right, and give our fleet to the south winds.

Therefore we perform Polydorus' funeral rites anew, and a great

mass of earth is heaped upon the mound; altars stand for the Shades,

mournful with dark-blue fillets and black cypress,

65and around them the Trojan women, hair loosened in the customary way;

we bring bowls foaming with warm milk

and cups of sacrificial blood, and his spirit in the tomb

we lay to rest, and with a great voice call the last farewell.

69Inde, ubi prima fides pelago, placataque venti

70dant maria et lenis crepitans vocat Auster in altum,

deducunt socii navis et litora complent:

provehimur portu, terraeque urbesque recedunt.

Sacra mari colitur medio gratissima tellus

Nereidum matri et Neptuno Aegaeo,

75quam pius arquitenens oras et litora circum

errantem Mycono e celsa Gyaroque revinxit,

immotamque coli dedit et contemnere ventos.

Huc feror; haec fessos tuto placidissima portu

accipit: egressi veneramur Apollinis urbem.

80Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phoebique sacerdos

vittis et sacra redimitus tempora lauro,

occurrit; veterem Anchisen adgnovit amicum.

Iungimus hospitio dextras, et tecta subimus.

Templa dei saxo venerabar structa vetusto:

85Da propriam, Thymbraee, domum; da moenia fessis

et genus et mansuram urbem; serva altera Troiae

Pergama, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli.

Quem sequimur? Quove ire iubes? Ubi ponere sedes?

Da, pater, augurium, atque animis inlabere nostris.

90Vix ea fatus eram: tremere omnia visa repente,

liminaque laurusque dei, totusque moveri

mons circum, et mugire adytis cortina reclusis.

Submissi petimus terram, et vox fertur ad auris:

Dardanidae duri, quae vos a stirpe parentum

95prima tulit tellus, eadem vos ubere laeto

accipiet reduces. Antiquam exquirite matrem:

hic domus Aeneae cunctis dominabitur oris,

et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis.

Haec Phoebus; mixtoque ingens exorta tumultu

100laetitia, et cuncti quae sint ea moenia quaerunt,

quo Phoebus vocet errantis iubeatque reverti?

Tum genitor, veterum volvens monumenta virorum,

Audite, O proceres ait et spes discite vestras:

Creta Iovis magni medio iacet insula ponto;

105mons Idaeus ubi, et gentis cunabula nostrae.

Centum urbes habitant magnas, uberrima regna;

maximus unde pater, si rite audita recordor,

Teucrus Rhoeteas primum est advectus in oras,

optavitque locum regno. Nondum Ilium et arces

110Pergameae steterant; habitabant vallibus imis.

hinc mater cultrix Cybeli Corybantiaque aera

Idaeumque nemus; hinc fida silentia sacris,

et iuncti currum dominae subiere leones.

Ergo agite, et, divom ducunt qua iussa, sequamur;

115placemus ventos et Gnosia regna petamus.

Nec longo distant cursu; modo Iuppiter adsit,

tertia lux classem Cretaeis sistet in oris.

Sic fatus, meritos aris mactavit honores,

taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo

120nigram Hiemi pecudem, Zephyris felicibus albam.

69Then, when the sea first keeps faith and the winds, appeased,

70grant open waters, and the soft South Wind, rustling, calls us onto the deep,

my companions launch the ships and crowd the shore:

we move out from harbor, and lands and cities recede.

In mid-sea lies a sacred island, most dear

to the Nereids' mother and to Aegean Neptune,

75which the dutiful bearer of the bow, as it wandered round coasts and shores,

bound fast between high Myconos and Gyaros,

and gave it a fixed home, unmoving and scornful of the winds.

Here I am borne; the peaceful island, in a safe harbor,

receives us, weary; ashore, we worship in Apollo's city.

80King Anius, at once king of men and priest of Phoebus,

his temples wreathed with fillets and sacred laurel,

runs to meet us; he recognizes Anchises as an old friend.

We clasp right hands in guest-friendship and enter his house.

I reverenced the god's temple, built of ancient stone:

85"Grant us a lasting home, Thymbraean; grant walls to the weary,

a people and an enduring city; preserve Troy's second

Pergama, the relics left by the Danaans and pitiless Achilles.

Whom do we follow? Where do you order us to go? Where make our home?

Give us, father, a sign, and enter our hearts."

90Scarcely had I spoken when suddenly everything seemed to tremble,

the god's thresholds and laurels, and the whole mountain

to move around us, and the tripod roared as the shrine flew open.

Prostrate, we sink to earth, and a voice is carried to our ears:

"Steadfast Dardanians, the land that first bore your ancestral stock

95will receive you back again

to her fertile breast. Seek out your ancient mother:

there the house of Aeneas will rule over every shore,

his sons' sons, and all who will be born from them."

At Phoebus' words a vast tumult rose, mingled

100with joy, and all ask which city he means,

and where Phoebus calls the wanderers and bids them return.

Then my father, turning over the traditions of men of old,

says, "Listen, leaders, and learn your hopes:

Crete, island of great Jove, lies in the middle sea;

105there is Mount Ida, and the cradle of our race.

There stand a hundred great cities, a most fertile kingdom;

from there, if I rightly recall the story, our oldest forefather,

Teucer, first came to the Rhoetean shores

and chose a site for his kingdom. Not yet had Ilium or the Pergamean

110citadels stood; they lived in the deep valleys.

From here came the Mother who dwells on Cybelus, Corybantian bronze,

the Idaean grove, and the faithful secrecy of sacred rites,

and yoked lions went beneath the mistress's chariot.

So come, and where the gods' commands lead, let us follow;

115let us appease the winds and seek the Gnossian realms.

No long voyage lies between; if only Jupiter be with us,

the third dawn will bring our fleet to Cretan shores."

So he spoke, and sacrificed the victims due at the altars:

a bull to Neptune, a bull to you, beautiful Apollo,

120a black victim to Winter, a white one to the favoring West Winds.

121Fama volat pulsum regnis cessisse paternis

Idomenea ducem, desertaque litora Cretae

hoste vacare domos, sedesque adstare relictas.

Linquimus Ortygiae portus, pelagoque volamus,

125bacchatamque iugis Naxon viridemque Donysam,

Olearon, niveamque Paron, sparsasque per aequor

Cycladas, et crebris legimus freta consita terris.

Nauticus exoritur vario certamine clamor;

hortantur socii: Cretam proavosque petamus!

130Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntis

et tandem antiquis Curetum adlabimur oris.

Ergo avidus muros optatae molior urbis,

Pergameamque voco, et laetam cognomine gentem

hortor amare focos arcemque attollere tectis.

135Iamque fere sicco subductae litore puppes;

conubiis arvisque novis operata iuventus;

iura domosque dabam: subito cum tabida membris,

corrupto caeli tractu, miserandaque venit

arboribusque satisque lues et letifer annus.

140Linquebant dulcis animas, aut aegra trahebant

corpora; tum sterilis exurere Sirius agros;

arebant herbae, et victum seges aegra negabat.

Rursus ad oraclum Ortygiae Phoebumque remenso

hortatur pater ire mari, veniamque precari:

145quam fessis finem rebus ferat; unde laborum

temptare auxilium iubeat; quo vertere cursus.

Nox erat, et terris animalia somnus habebat:

effigies sacrae divom Phrygiique Penates,

quos mecum a Troia mediisque ex ignibus urbis

150extuleram, visi ante oculos adstare iacentis

in somnis, multo manifesti lumine, qua se

plena per insertas fundebat luna fenestras;

tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis:

Quod tibi delato Ortygiam dicturus Apollo est,

155hic canit, et tua nos en ultro ad limina mittit.

Nos te, Dardania incensa, tuaque arma secuti,

nos tumidum sub te permensi classibus aequor,

idem venturos tollemus in astra nepotes,

imperiumque urbi dabimus: tu moenia magnis

160magna para, longumque fugae ne linque laborem.

Mutandae sedes: non haec tibi litora suasit

Delius, aut Cretae iussit considere Apollo.

Est locus, Hesperiam Grai cognomine dicunt,

terra antiqua, potens armis atque ubere glaebae;

165Oenotri coluere viri; nunc fama minores

Italiam dixisse ducis de nomine gentem:

hae nobis propriae sedes; hinc Dardanus ortus,

Iasiusque pater, genus a quo principe nostrum.

Surge age, et haec laetus longaevo dicta parenti

170haud dubitanda refer: Corythum terrasque requirat

Ausonias; Dictaea negat tibi Iuppiter arva.

Talibus attonitus visis et voce deorum—

nec sopor illud erat, sed coram adgnoscere voltus

velatasque comas praesentiaque ora videbar;

175tum gelidus toto manabat corpore sudor

corripio e stratis corpus, tendoque supinas

ad caelum cum voce manus, et munera libo

intemerata focis. Perfecto laetus honore

Anchisen facio certum, remque ordine pando.

180Adgnovit prolem ambiguam geminosque parentes,

seque novo veterum deceptum errore locorum.

Tum memorat: Nate, Iliacis exercite fatis,

sola mihi talis casus Cassandra canebat.

Nunc repeto haec generi portendere debita nostro,

185et saepe Hesperiam, saepe Itala regna vocare.

Sed quis ad Hesperiae venturos litora Teucros

crederet, aut quem tum vates Cassandra moveret?

Cedamus Phoebo, et moniti meliora sequamur.

Sic ait, et cuncti dicto paremus ovantes.

190Hanc quoque deserimus sedem, paucisque relictis

vela damus, vastumque cava trabe currimus aequor.

121Rumor flies that King Idomeneus, driven from his ancestral realm,

has gone into exile, that Crete's shores lie deserted,

its homes free of enemies and abandoned dwellings standing ready.

We leave Delian Ortygia's harbor and fly over the sea,

125past Naxos, Bacchic on its ridges, and green Donysa,

Olearos, snow-white Paros, and the Cyclades scattered

over the level sea; we pick our way through straits thick with lands.

A sailors' shout rises as the crews vie together;

my comrades urge, "Let us seek Crete and our forefathers!"

130A wind rising astern follows us on,

and at last we glide onto the Curetes' ancient shores.

So, eager, I set about the walls of the longed-for city,

and call it Pergamea; delighted by the name, I urge the people

to cherish their hearths and raise a citadel above their homes.

135Already the ships had nearly all been hauled up on the dry shore;

the young men were occupied with marriages and new fields;

I was giving laws and homes when suddenly, wasting our limbs,

from a tainted quarter of the sky, a pitiable plague came

upon trees and crops, and a death-bearing season.

140Men gave up their dear lives or dragged about

sick bodies; then Sirius scorched the fields barren;

the grasses dried, and the sickly crop refused us food.

Again my father urges us to recross the sea and go

to Ortygia, to Phoebus' oracle, and beg for favor:

145what end he would grant our exhausted fortunes, where he would bid us

seek relief from our toils, and where to turn our course.

It was night, and sleep held living things over the earth:

the sacred images of the gods, the Phrygian Penates,

whom I had carried with me from Troy, from the middle of the city's fires,

150seemed to stand before my eyes as I lay there

in sleep, made clear by a flood of light, as

the full moon poured herself through the fitted windows;

then they addressed me thus and took away my cares with these words:

"What Apollo would tell you once you reached Ortygia,

155he prophesies here; look, he sends us freely to your threshold.

We followed you and your arms when Dardania burned,

under your command we crossed the swollen sea in ships,

we too will raise your descendants to the stars,

and grant dominion to their city: you, for a great race,

160prepare great walls, and do not abandon exile's long labor.

Your home must change: the Delian did not commend these shores to you,

nor did Apollo bid you settle in Crete.

There is a place the Greeks call Hesperia,

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

165Oenotrian men inhabited it; now report says their descendants

named the nation Italy after their leader:

these are our rightful homes; from here Dardanus arose,

and father Iasius, from whom our race first came.

Come, rise, and gladly carry these words to your aged parent,

170words not to be doubted: let him seek Corythus and Ausonian lands;

Jupiter denies you the Dictaean fields."

Stunned by the vision and the gods' voices—

and that was no slumber; face to face I seemed to recognize their features,

their veiled locks and faces present before me;

175then cold sweat ran over my whole body.

I tear myself from the bedding and stretch my upturned hands

to heaven with my voice, and pour a pure libation

upon the hearth. The rite completed, rejoicing,

I inform Anchises of it and unfold the matter in order.

180He recognized our double descent and twin ancestral lines,

and that a fresh error about ancient places had deceived him.

Then he says: "Son, tried by Ilium's fates,

Cassandra alone used to prophesy such fortunes to me.

Now I recall she foretold these things as owed to our race,

185and often named Hesperia, often the Italian kingdoms.

But who would have believed that Teucrians would come

to Hesperia's shores, or whom then would Cassandra the seer have moved?

Let us yield to Phoebus and, warned, follow the better course."

So he says, and all of us obey his word, rejoicing.

190This settlement too we abandon and, leaving a few behind,

we set sail and run the vast sea in hollow timber.

192Postquam altum tenuere rates, nec iam amplius ullae

adparent terrae, caelum undique et undique pontus,

tum mihi caeruleus supra caput adstitit imber,

195noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris.

Continuo venti volvunt mare, magnaque surgunt

aequora; dispersi iactamur gurgite vasto;

involvere diem nimbi, et nox umida caelum

abstulit; ingeminant abruptis nubibus ignes.

200Excutimur cursu, et caecis erramus in undis.

Ipse diem noctemque negat discernere caelo,

nec meminisse viae media Palinurus in unda.

Tris adeo incertos caeca caligine soles

erramus pelago, totidem sine sidere noctes.

205Quarto terra die primum se attollere tandem

visa, aperire procul montis, ac volvere fumum.

Vela cadunt, remis insurgimus; haud mora nautae

adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt.

Servatum ex undis Strophadum me litora primum

210accipiunt; Strophades Graio stant nomine dictae,

insulae Ionio in magno, quas dira Celaeno

Harpyiaeque colunt aliae, Phineia postquam

clausa domus, mensasque metu liquere priores.

Tristius haud illis monstrum, nec saevior ulla

215pestis et ira deum Stygiis sese extulit undis.

Virginei volucrum voltus, foedissima ventris

proluvies, uncaeque manus, et pallida semper

ora fame.

Huc ubi delati portus intravimus, ecce

220laeta boum passim campis armenta videmus,

caprigenumque pecus nullo custode per herbas.

Inruimus ferro, et divos ipsumque vocamus

in partem praedamque Iovem; tum litore curvo

exstruimusque toros, dapibusque epulamur opimis.

225At subitae horrifico lapsu de montibus adsunt

Harpyiae, et magnis quatiunt clangoribus alas,

diripiuntque dapes, contactuque omnia foedant

immundo; tum vox taetrum dira inter odorem.

Rursum in secessu longo sub rupe cavata,

230arboribus clausi circum atque horrentibus umbris,

instruimus mensas arisque reponimus ignem:

rursum ex diverso caeli caecisque latebris

turba sonans praedam pedibus circumvolat uncis,

polluit ore dapes. Sociis tunc, arma capessant,

235edico, et dira bellum cum gente gerendum.

Haud secus ac iussi faciunt, tectosque per herbam

disponunt enses et scuta latentia condunt.

Ergo ubi delapsae sonitum per curva dedere

litora, dat signum specula Misenus ab alta

240aere cavo. Invadunt socii, et nova proelia temptant,

obscenas pelagi ferro foedare volucres:

sed neque vim plumis ullam nec volnera tergo

accipiunt, celerique fuga sub sidera lapsae

semesam praedam et vestigia foeda relinquunt.

245Una in praecelsa consedit rupe Celaeno,

infelix vates, rumpitque hanc pectore vocem:

Bellum etiam pro caede boum stratisque iuvencis,

Laomedontiadae, bellumne inferre paratis,

et patrio Harpyias insontis pellere regno?

250Accipite ergo animis atque haec mea figite dicta,

quae Phoebo pater omnipotens, mihi Phoebus Apollo

praedixit, vobis Furiarum ego maxuma pando.

Italiam cursu petitis, ventisque vocatis

ibitis Italiam, portusque intrare licebit;

255sed non ante datam cingetis moenibus urbem,

quam vos dira fames nostraeque iniuria caedis

ambesas subigat malis absumere mensas.

Dixit, et in silvam pennis ablata refugit.

At sociis subita gelidus formidine sanguis

260deriguit; cecidere animi, nec iam amplius armis,

sed votis precibusque iubent exposcere pacem,

sive deae, seu sint dirae obscenaeque volucres.

Et pater Anchises passis de litore palmis

numina magna vocat, meritosque indicit honores:

265Di, prohibete minas; di, talem avertite casum,

et placidi servate pios! Tum litore funem

deripere, excussosque iubet laxare rudentes.

Tendunt vela Noti; fugimus spumantibus undis,

qua cursum ventusque gubernatorque vocabat.

192After the ships had reached the deep, and no lands any longer

appeared—only sky on every side and sea,

then a blue-black storm-cloud stood above my head,

195bearing night and storm, and the wave shuddered in darkness.

At once the winds roll the sea, and great waters rise;

scattered, we are tossed in the immense gulf;

clouds shrouded the day, and wet night snatched

the sky away; lightning redoubled from the riven clouds.

200We are shaken from our course and wander on blind waves.

Palinurus himself says he cannot tell day from night

by the sky, nor remember the route in the middle of the waves.

For three uncertain suns in blinding darkness

we wander the sea, and for as many starless nights.

205On the fourth day land seemed at last

to lift itself, disclose mountains far off, and roll smoke.

The sails drop; we rise on the oars. No delay: the sailors,

straining, they churn foam and sweep the dark-blue sea.

Saved from the waves, I am received first by the shores

210of islands the Greeks call the Strophades,

set in the broad Ionian; dread Celaeno

and the other Harpies inhabit them, since Phineus' house

was closed to them and they fled their former tables in fear.

No monster more grim than they, no more savage

215plague or wrath of the gods has risen from Stygian waves.

Birds with maiden faces; the foulest filth pours

from their bellies; they have hooked hands and faces always

pallid with hunger.

When, borne here, we entered the harbors, look:

220we see sleek herds of cattle everywhere in the fields,

and goat-born flocks through the grass with no keeper.

We rush upon them with steel and call the gods

and Jupiter himself to share the spoil; then on the curving shore

we build couches and feast on rich dishes.

225But suddenly the Harpies are upon us in a dreadful glide

down from the mountains, and they shake their wings with huge clangor,

snatch the food, and foul everything with their unclean

touch; then comes a dreadful shriek amid the rank stench.

Again, in a deep recess under a hollowed cliff,

230hemmed in all around by trees and bristling shadows,

we set out tables and set the fire again on the altars:

again, from another quarter of the sky and hidden lairs,

the shrieking crowd circles the spoil on hooked feet

and pollutes the food with its mouth. Then I order my comrades to take up arms;

235war must be waged with the dreadful race.

They do exactly as ordered, and through the grass

set swords under cover and hide shields out of sight.

So when they swoop down, filling

the curving shore with noise, Misenus from the high lookout

240sounds the signal on hollow bronze. My comrades attack and try a strange battle,

to wound with steel the obscene birds of the sea:

but their plumage yields to no blow, nor do their backs

receive a wound; gliding swiftly in flight beneath the stars,

they leave the half-eaten feast and filthy traces.

245Celaeno alone perched on a very high cliff,

ill-boding prophetess, and broke this cry from her breast:

"War too, for slaughtered cattle and bullocks felled,

sons of Laomedon? Do you prepare to bring us war

and drive the guiltless Harpies from their ancestral realm?

250Then receive these words in your hearts and fix them there,

which the almighty Father foretold to Phoebus, and Phoebus Apollo

foretold to me; I, greatest of the Furies, now reveal them to you.

You seek Italy on your course; with winds invoked

you will reach Italy and be allowed to enter her harbors;

255but you will not gird your granted city with walls until

dread hunger and vengeance for our slaughter

force you to devour your gnawed tables with your jaws."

She spoke, and, borne away on wings, fled back into the forest.

At this, sudden fear froze my comrades' blood;

260their courage failed; no longer with arms,

but with vows and prayers they urge me to ask for peace,

whether these are goddesses or dread, obscene birds.

And father Anchises, with palms outspread from the shore,

calls on the great powers and vows the honors due:

265"Gods, ward off these threats; gods, turn aside such a disaster,

and, gracious, preserve the dutiful!" Then he orders us to wrench the mooring

from shore and pay out the loosened lines.

The South Winds stretch the sails; we flee over foaming waves,

wherever wind and helmsman called us on.

270Iam medio adparet fluctu nemorosa Zacynthos

Dulichiumque Sameque et Neritos ardua saxis.

Effugimus scopulos Ithacae, Laertia regna,

et terram altricem saevi exsecramur Ulixi.

Mox et Leucatae nimbosa cacumina montis

275et formidatus nautis aperitur Apollo.

Hunc petimus fessi et parvae succedimus urbi;

ancora de prora iacitur, stant litore puppes.

Ergo insperata tandem tellure potiti,

lustramurque Iovi votisque incendimus aras,

280Actiaque Iliacis celebramus litora ludis.

Exercent patrias oleo labente palaestras

nudati socii; iuvat evasisse tot urbes

Argolicas, mediosque fugam tenuisse per hostis.

Interea magnum sol circumvolvitur annum,

285et glacialis hiemps aquilonibus asperat undas.

Aere cavo clipeum. magni gestamen Abantis,

postibus adversis figo, et rem carmine signo:

AENEAS HAEC DE DANAIS VICTORIBVS ARMA.

Linquere tum portus iubeo et considere transtris:

290certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora verrunt.

Protinus aërias Phaeacum abscondimus arces,

litoraque Epiri legimus portuque subimus

Chaonio, et celsam Buthroti accedimus urbem.

Hic incredibilis rerum fama occupat auris,

295Priamiden Helenum Graias regnare per urbes,

coniugio Aeacidae Pyrrhi sceptrisque potitum,

et patrio Andromachen iterum cessisse marito.

Obstipui, miroque incensum pectus amore,

compellare virum et casus cognoscere tantos.

300Progredior portu, classis et litora linquens,

sollemnis cum forte dapes et tristia dona

ante urbem in luco falsi Simoentis ad undam

libabat cineri Andromache, Manisque vocabat

Hectoreum ad tumulum, viridi quem caespite inanem

305et geminas, causam lacrimis, sacraverat aras.

Ut me conspexit venientem et Troïa circum

arma amens vidit, magnis exterrita monstris

deriguit visu in medio, calor ossa reliquit;

labitur, et longo vix tandem tempore fatur:

310Verane te facies, verus mihi nuntius adfers,

nate dea? Vivisne, aut, si lux alma recessit,

Hector ubi est? Dixit, lacrimasque effudit et omnem

implevit clamore locum. Vix pauca furenti

subicio, et raris turbatus vocibus hisco:

315Vivo equidem, vitamque extrema per omnia duco;

ne dubita, nam vera vides.

Heu, quis te casus deiectam coniuge tanto

excipit, aut quae digna satis fortuna revisit

Hectoris Andromachen? Pyrrhin’ conubia servas?

320Deiecit vultum et demissa voce locuta est:

O felix una ante alias Priameïa virgo,

hostilem ad tumulum Troiae sub moenibus altis

iussa mori, quae sortitus non pertulit ullos,

nec victoris eri tetigit captiva cubile!

325nos, patria incensa, diversa per aequora vectae,

stirpis Achilleae fastus iuvenemque superbum,

servitio enixae, tulimus: qui deinde, secutus

Ledaeam Hermionen Lacedaemoniosque hymenaeos,

me famulo famulamque Heleno transmisit habendam.

330Ast illum, ereptae magno inflammatus amore

coniugis et scelerum Furiis agitatus, Orestes

excipit incautum patriasque obtruncat ad aras.

Morte Neoptolemi regnorum reddita cessit

pars Heleno, qui Chaonios cognomine campos

335Chaoniamque omnem Troiano a Chaone dixit,

Pergamaque Iliacamque iugis hanc addidit arcem.

Sed tibi qui cursum venti, quae fata dedere?

Aut quisnam ignarum nostris deus adpulit oris?

Quid puer Ascanius? superatne et vescitur aura,

340quem tibi iam Troia—

Ecqua tamen puero est amissae cura parentis?

Ecquid in antiquam virtutem animosque virilis

et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitat Hector?

Talia fundebat lacrimans longosque ciebat

345incassum fletus, cum sese a moenibus heros

Priamides multis Helenus comitantibus adfert,

adgnoscitque suos, laetusque ad limina ducit,

et multum lacrimas verba inter singula fundit.

Procedo, et parvam Troiam simulataque magnis

350Pergama, et arentem Xanthi cognomine rivum

adgnosco, Scaeaeque amplector limina portae.

Nec non et Teucri socia simul urbe fruuntur:

illos porticibus rex accipiebat in amplis;

aulaï medio libabant pocula Bacchi,

355impositis auro dapibus, paterasque tenebant.

270Now, amid the waves, wooded Zacynthos appears,

with Dulichium, Same, and Neritos steep with rocks.

We flee past Ithaca's cliffs, Laertes' realm,

and curse the land that nursed savage Ulysses.

Soon the stormy peaks of Leucata's mountain

275and Apollo's shrine, feared by sailors, come into view.

We make for that place, exhausted, and draw near the little city;

the anchor is cast from the prow; the ships stand along the shore.

So, at last in possession of an unhoped-for land,

we purify ourselves for Jupiter and kindle the votive altars,

280and celebrate the Actian shores with Trojan games.

My comrades practice our homeland's wrestling, slick with oil,

stripped bare; they delight in having escaped so many

Argolic cities and kept their flight through the midst of enemies.

Meanwhile the sun wheels through the great year,

285and icy winter roughens the waves with north winds.

A shield of hollow bronze, the gear of great Abas,

I fasten to the facing doorposts and mark the deed with a verse:

"AENEAS: THESE ARMS FROM THE VICTORIOUS DANAANS."

Then I order them to leave the harbor and take the rowing benches;

290racing together, my comrades strike the sea and sweep the waters.

Straightaway we lose from sight the airy citadels of the Phaeacians,

skirt the shores of Epirus, and enter

the Chaonian harbor, and approach Buthrotum's high city.

Here an incredible report reaches our ears:

295that Helenus, son of Priam, reigns over Greek cities,

having gained the wife and scepters of Pyrrhus, descendant of Aeacus,

and that Andromache has returned to a husband of her own people.

I stood stunned, my heart kindled by a wondrous longing

to address the man and learn such great turns of fortune.

300I go on from the harbor, leaving fleet and shore,

when by chance Andromache, before the city, was pouring

in a grove beside the stream of a false Simois solemn food-offerings

and mournful gifts to the ashes, and calling the Manes

at Hector's empty mound of green turf, which she had consecrated

305along with twin altars, a cause for tears.

When she saw me coming and Trojan arms

around me, distraught and terrified by that great apparition,

she froze in the midst of the sight; warmth left her bones;

she sinks, and after a long while at last can scarcely speak:

310"Is your face real? Do you truly come before me,

son of the goddess? Are you alive? Or, if kindly light has withdrawn,

where is Hector?" She spoke, poured out tears,

and filled the whole place with her cry. To her in her frenzy I barely

offer a few words, and, shaken, stammer in broken phrases:

315"I am alive indeed, and I drag my life through every extremity;

do not doubt it, for what you see is true.

Ah, what fate has taken you up, cast down from so great a husband,

or what fortune worthy of you has come back to visit

Hector's Andromache? Do you remain Pyrrhus' wife?"

320She casts down her face and speaks in a lowered voice:

"O Priam's maiden, alone blessed above all others,

commanded to die beside an enemy tomb beneath Troy's high walls,

who never endured the lot assigned a captive,

nor, a captive, touched a conquering master's bed!

325We, after our homeland burned, borne over alien seas,

endured the pride of Achilles' stock and the arrogant young man,

after bearing children in slavery. Then he, pursuing

Ledaean Hermione and a Lacedaemonian marriage,

handed me to Helenus, a slave given to a slave.

330But Orestes, fired by fierce love

for the wife torn from him and driven by the Furies of his crimes,

caught him off guard and butchered him at ancestral altars.

At Neoptolemus' death, his rightful share

of the kingdom passed to Helenus; he named the Chaonian fields

335and all Chaonia by Trojan Chaon's name,

and added these Pergama, this Iliac citadel, on the ridges.

But what winds, what fates, gave you your course?

Or what god drove you, unknowing, to our shores?

What of the boy Ascanius? Does he still live and breathe the air,

340whom Troy already gave you—

Yet does the boy remember the mother he lost?

Do Aeneas his father and Hector his uncle stir him

toward ancient courage and a man's spirit?"

So she poured out words and summoned, weeping,

345a long flood of futile tears, when from the walls

Helenus, Priam's heroic son, comes with a great retinue,

recognizes his own and gladly leads us to his threshold,

pouring tears between every word.

I go on and recognize a little Troy, its Pergamum

350modeled on Troy's great citadel, and a dry stream bearing Xanthus' name;

I embrace the threshold of the Scaean gate.

The Teucrians too share in the friendly city:

the king receives them in broad colonnades;

in the center of the hall they pour libations of Bacchus,

355with food set on gold and wine-bowls in hand.

356Iamque dies alterque dies processit, et aurae

vela vocant tumidoque inflatur carbasus austro.

His vatem adgredior dictis ac talia quaeso:

Troiugena, interpres divom, qui numina Phoebi,

360qui tripodas, Clarii laurus, qui sidera sentis,

et volucrum linguas et praepetis omina pennae,

fare age—namque omnem cursum mihi prospera dixit

religio, et cuncti suaserunt numine divi

Italiam petere et terras temptare repostas:

365sola novum dictuque nefas Harpyia Celaeno

prodigium canit, et tristis denuntiat iras,

obscenamque famem—quae prima pericula vito?

Quidve sequens tantos possim superare labores?

Hic Helenus, caesis primum de more iuvencis,

370exorat pacem divom, vittasque resolvit

sacrati capitis, meque ad tua limina, Phoebe,

ipse manu multo suspensum numine ducit,

atque haec deinde canit divino ex ore sacerdos:

Nate dea,—nam te maioribus ire per altum

375auspiciis manifesta fides: sic fata deum rex

sortitur, volvitque vices; is vertitur ordo—

pauca tibi e multis, quo tutior hospita lustres

aequora et Ausonio possis considere portu,

expediam dictis; prohibent nam cetera Parcae

380scire Helenum farique vetat Saturnia Iuno.

Principio Italiam, quam tu iam rere propinquam

vicinosque, ignare, paras invadere portus,

longa procul longis via dividit invia terris.

Ante et Trinacria lentandus remus in unda,

385et salis Ausonii lustrandum navibus aequor,

infernique lacus, Aeaeaeque insula Circae,

quam tuta possis urbem componere terra:

signa tibi dicam, tu condita mente teneto:

cum tibi sollicito secreti ad fluminis undam

390litoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus

triginta capitum fetus enixa iacebit.

alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati,

is locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum.

Nec tu mensarum morsus horresce futuros:

395fata viam invenient, aderitque vocatus Apollo.

Has autem terras, Italique hanc litoris oram,

proxuma quae nostri perfunditur aequoris aestu,

effuge; cuncta malis habitantur moenia Grais.

Hic et Narycii posuerunt moenia Locri,

400et Sallentinos obsedit milite campos

Lyctius Idomeneus; hic illa ducis Meliboei

parva Philoctetae subnixa Petelia muro.

Quin, ubi transmissae steterint trans aequora classes,

et positis aris iam vota in litore solves,

405purpureo velare comas adopertus amictu,

ne qua inter sanctos ignis in honore deorum

hostilis facies occurrat et omina turbet.

Hunc socii morem sacrorum, hunc ipse teneto:

hac casti maneant in religione nepotes.

410Ast ubi digressum Siculae te admoverit orae

ventus, et angusti rarescent claustra Pelori,

laeva tibi tellus et longo laeva petantur

aequora circuitu: dextrum fuge litus et undas.

Haec loca vi quondam et vasta convolsa ruina—

415tantum aevi longinqua valet mutare vetustas—

dissiluisse ferunt, cum protinus utraque tellus

una foret; venit medio vi pontus et undis

Hesperium Siculo latus abscidit, arvaque et urbes

litore diductas angusto interluit aestu.

420Dextrum Scylla latus, laevum implacata Charybdis

obsidet, atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos

sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras

erigit alternos et sidera verberat unda.

At Scyllam caecis cohibet spelunca latebris,

425ora exsertantem et navis in saxa trahentem.

Prima hominis facies et pulchro pectore virgo

pube tenus, postrema immani corpore pristis,

delphinum caudas utero commissa luporum.

Praestat Trinacrii metas lustrare Pachyni

430cessantem, longos et circumflectere cursus,

quam semel informem vasto vidisse sub antro

Scyllam, et caeruleis canibus resonantia saxa.

356And now day followed day, and the breezes

summon the sails, and the canvas swells with the full south wind.

With these words I approach the seer and ask:

"Trojan-born interpreter of the gods, you who understand Phoebus' divine will,

360you who know the tripods, Clarian laurels, and the stars,

and birds' tongues and the omens of their swift wings,

speak now. For holy signs have declared my whole course prosperous,

and all the gods, by divine will, have urged me

to seek Italy and try the lands withdrawn from sight.

365Only Celaeno the Harpy foretells a strange new portent,

an outrage to tell, and threatens grim wrath

and obscene hunger. What dangers should I avoid first?

What course can I follow to overcome such great ordeals?"

Then Helenus, first slaughtering young bulls according to custom,

370entreats peace from the gods and loosens the fillets

from his consecrated head; to your threshold, Phoebus,

he himself leads me by the hand, awed by your mighty presence,

and then, a priest, chants these words from a divine mouth:

"Goddess-born—for clear proof shows that you travel

375over the deep under mightier auspices; so the king of the gods

allots the fates and turns their changes; such is the order—

I will unfold a few things from many, so that more safely

you may range as a guest over the seas and settle

in an Ausonian harbor; for the Fates forbid Helenus

380to know the rest, and Saturnian Juno forbids him to speak.

To begin, Italy, which you already think is near,

and whose neighboring harbors you, unknowing, prepare to enter,

lies far away, cut off by a long and trackless course.

Before that, you must bend the oar in Trinacrian water,

385and your ships must traverse the Ausonian sea,

the infernal lakes as well, and Circe's Aeaean island,

before you can found your city on safe ground.

I will tell you the signs; keep them stored deep in mind:

when, in your anxiety, beside a secluded river

390you will find a huge sow beneath shore-side ilexes,

lying there after delivering a litter of thirty young,

white, reclining on the ground, with white young around her udders:

that place will be your city's site, a sure rest from your labors.

And do not shudder at the coming gnawing of tables:

395the fates will find a way, and Apollo, called, will be present.

But these lands, and this stretch of Italian shore,

nearest us and washed by the tide of our sea,

avoid: every city there is held by hostile Greeks.

Here the Narycian Locri have built their walls,

400and Lyctian Idomeneus has occupied the Sallentine fields

with troops; here stands little Petelia of the Meliboean leader

Philoctetes, secure behind its wall.

Moreover, when your fleet has crossed the seas and made land,

and, with altars set, you pay your vows upon the shore,

405cover yourself in a purple mantle and veil your hair,

lest amid the holy fires that honor the gods

some hostile face confront you and disturb the omens.

Keep this custom in your rites, you and your comrades:

let your descendants remain pure in this observance.

410But when the wind has borne you on to Sicily's coast,

and the barriers of narrow Pelorus begin to open out,

make for the land and waters on your left

on a long circuit: flee the shore and water on your right.

These places, wrenched apart by force and vast collapse—

415so greatly can the long lapse of ages alter things—

are said to have burst asunder, though once both lands

had been one. The sea surged between them,

cutting the Hesperian side from Sicily; now between fields and cities

divided by new shores, its narrow tide flows.

420Scylla occupies the right side; implacable Charybdis, the left,

and three times, from the depths of her chasm,

she sucks vast waves into the abyss, then raises them back

into the air in turn and lashes the stars with spray.

But a cave confines Scylla in blind recesses,

425as she thrusts out her mouths and drags ships onto the rocks.

Her upper form is human, that of a lovely-breasted maiden

down to the groin; below she is a monstrous sea-beast,

with dolphins' tails joined to the bellies of wolves.

Better to round Trinacrian Pachynus' headland

430slowly, and bend long courses around,

than once to see misshapen Scylla

beneath her vast cavern, and rocks resounding with sea-dark dogs.

433Praeterea, si qua est Heleno prudentia, vati

si qua fides, animum si veris implet Apollo,

435unum illud tibi, nate dea, proque omnibus unum

praedicam, et repetens iterumque iterumque monebo:

Iunonis magnae primum prece numen adora;

Iunoni cane vota libens, dominamque potentem

supplicibus supera donis: sic denique victor

440Trinacria finis Italos mittere relicta.

Huc ubi delatus Cumaeam accesseris urbem,

divinosque lacus, et Averna sonantia silvis,

insanam vatem aspicies, quae rupe sub ima

fata canit, foliisque notas et nomina mandat.

445Quaecumque in foliis descripsit carmina virgo,

digerit in numerum, atque antro seclusa relinquit.

Illa manent immota locis, neque ab ordine cedunt;

verum eadem, verso tenuis cum cardine ventus

impulit et teneras turbavit ianua frondes,

450numquam deinde cavo volitantia prendere saxo,

nec revocare situs aut iungere carmina curat:

inconsulti abeunt, sedemque odere Sibyllae.

Hic tibi ne qua morae fuerint dispendia tanti,—

quamvis increpitent socii, et vi cursus in altum

455vela vocet, possisque sinus implere secundos,—

quin adeas vatem precibusque oracula poscas

ipsa canat, vocemque volens atque ora resolvat.

Illa tibi Italiae populos venturaque bella,

et quo quemque modo fugiasque ferasque laborem

460expediet, cursusque dabit venerata secundos.

Haec sunt, quae nostra liceat te voce moneri.

Vade age, et ingentem factis fer ad aethera Troiam.

Quae postquam vates sic ore effatus amico est,

dona dehinc auro gravia sectoque elephanto

465imperat ad navis ferri, stipatque carinis

ingens argentum, Dodonaeosque lebetas,

loricam consertam hamis auroque trilicem,

et conum insignis galeae cristasque comantis,

arma Neoptolemi; sunt et sua dona parenti.

470Addit equos, additque duces;

remigium supplet; socios simul instruit armis.

Interea classem velis aptare iubebat

Anchises, fieret vento mora ne qua ferenti.

Quem Phoebi interpres multo compellat honore:

475Coniugio, Anchise, Veneris dignate superbo,

cura deum, bis Pergameis erepte ruinis,

ecce tibi Ausoniae tellus; hanc arripe velis.

Et tamen hanc pelago praeterlabare necesse est;

Ausoniae pars illa procul, quam pandit Apollo.

480Vade ait O felix nati pietate. Quid ultra

provehor, et fando surgentis demoror austros?

Nec minus Andromache digressu maesta supremo

fert picturatas auri subtemine vestes

et Phrygiam Ascanio chlamydem (nec cedit honore),

485textilibusque onerat donis, ac talia fatur:

Accipe et haec, manuum tibi quae monumenta mearum

sint, puer, et longum Andromachae testentur amorem,

coniugis Hectoreae. Cape dona extrema tuorum,

O mihi sola mei super Astyanactis imago:

490sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat;

et nunc aequali tecum pubesceret aevo.

Hos ego digrediens lacrimis adfabar obortis:

Vivite felices, quibus est fortuna peracta

iam sua; nos alia ex aliis in fata vocamur.

495Vobis parta quies; nullum maris aequor arandum,

arva neque Ausoniae semper cedentia retro

quaerenda. Effigiem Xanthi Troiamque videtis

quam vestrae fecere manus, melioribus, opto,

auspiciis, et quae fuerit minus obvia Graiis.

500Si quando Thybrim vicinaque Thybridis arva

intraro, gentique meae data moenia cernam,

cognatas urbes olim populosque propinquos,

Epiro, Hesperia, quibus idem Dardanus auctor

atque idem casus, unam faciemus utramque

505Troiam animis; maneat nostros ea cura nepotes.

433Besides, if Helenus has any foresight—if the seer

has any credit, if Apollo fills his mind with truth—

435this one thing, goddess-born, this one thing above all

I will foretell, and warn you again and again:

first worship great Juno's divinity with prayer;

gladly voice your vows to Juno, and with suppliant gifts

win over that powerful mistress: only so, at last,

440once Trinacria lies behind, will she send you in triumph to Italy's bounds.

When you have been carried there and reached Cumae's city,

the divine lakes, and Avernus loud with woods,

you will see the frenzied prophetess, who deep beneath the rock

sings the fates and commits marks and names to leaves.

445Whatever verses the maiden has written on leaves,

she sorts into order and leaves shut within the cave.

They stay unmoved in their places and do not quit their order;

but when a slight wind, as the hinge turns,

has driven them and the door has scattered the delicate leaves,

450never afterward does she care to catch the verses fluttering

through the hollow rock, or restore their places, or join the songs:

her visitors leave without counsel, hating the Sibyl's seat.

There let no cost of delay matter so much—

though your comrades chafe and a strong wind calls the sails

455out to sea and could fill their favoring folds—

that you fail to approach the prophetess and ask

in prayer that she herself sing, willingly opening her lips to give voice.

She will unfold to you Italy's peoples and wars to come,

and how you should avoid or endure each trial,

460and, duly revered, will grant favorable courses.

This much my voice is permitted to warn you.

Go now, and by your deeds raise mighty Troy to the heavens."

When the seer had spoken thus with friendly lips,

then gifts heavy with gold and carved ivory

465he orders to be carried to the ships, and stows in the hulls

a great weight of silver, and Dodonaean cauldrons,

a cuirass linked with hooks and triple-woven with gold,

and the cone of a splendid helmet and flowing crests,

the arms of Neoptolemus; there are gifts for my father too.

470He adds horses and adds guides;

he fills out the rowing crews, and at the same time arms my comrades.

Meanwhile Anchises was ordering the fleet fitted with sails,

so that the favoring wind should suffer no delay.

Phoebus' interpreter addresses him with deep honor:

475"Anchises, graced with proud marriage to Venus,

care of the gods, twice rescued from Pergama's ruins,

look: Ausonia's land is before you; grasp it with your sails.

And yet you must glide past this land by sea;

the part of Ausonia Apollo opens lies far away.

480Go, blessed in your son's devotion," he says. Why should I

say more, and by speaking delay the rising south winds?

No less Andromache, grieving at this final departure,

brings robes embroidered with golden thread

and a Phrygian cloak for Ascanius—nor is she outdone in honor—

485and loads him with woven gifts, and speaks such words:

"Accept these too, boy, as keepsakes

of my hands and witnesses to Andromache's lasting love,

Hector's wife. Take the last gifts of your kin,

O you, the only image left to me of my Astyanax:

490such were his eyes, such his hands, such his face;

and now he would be growing to manhood with you, your equal in age."

As I depart, I address them, tears rising:

"Live blessed, you whose fortune

has now run its course; we are called from fate to fate.

495For you rest has been won; no sea-plain must be plowed,

nor must Ausonia's fields, forever slipping backward,

be sought. You see an image of Xanthus, and a Troy

which your own hands have made—with better auspices, I pray,

and one less open to the Greeks.

500If ever I enter the Tiber and the fields beside the Tiber,

and see walls granted to my people,

then one day these kindred cities and neighboring peoples—

in Epirus and Hesperia, for whom the same Dardanus is founder

and the same fate—we will make both one

505Troy in our hearts; let that charge remain for our descendants."

506Provehimur pelago vicina Ceraunia iuxta,

unde iter Italiam cursusque brevissimus undis.

Sol ruit interea et montes umbrantur opaci;

sternimur optatae gremio telluris ad undam,

510sortiti remos, passimque in litore sicco

corpora curamus; fessos sopor inrigat artus.

Necdum orbem medium Nox horis acta subibat:

haud segnis strato surgit Palinurus et omnis

explorat ventos, atque auribus aera captat;

515sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo,

Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones,

armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona.

Postquam cuncta videt caelo constare sereno,

dat clarum e puppi signum; nos castra movemus,

520temptamusque viam et velorum pandimus alas.

Iamque rubescebat stellis Aurora fugatis,

cum procul obscuros collis humilemque videmus

Italiam. Italiam primus conclamat Achates,

Italiam laeto socii clamore salutant.

525Tum pater Anchises magnum cratera corona

induit, implevitque mero, divosque vocavit

stans celsa in puppi:

Di maris et terrae tempestatumque potentes,

ferte viam vento facilem et spirate secundi.

530Crebrescunt optatae aurae portusque patescit

iam propior, templumque adparet in arce Minervae.

Vela legunt socii et proras ad litora torquent.

Portus ab Euroo fluctu curvatus in arcum,

obiectae salsa spumant aspargine cautes;

535ipse latet; gemino demittunt bracchia muro

turriti scopuli, refugitque ab litore templum.

Quattuor hic, primum omen, equos in gramine vidi

tondentis campum late, candore nivali.

Et pater Anchises: Bellum, O terra hospita, portas

540bello armantur equi, bellum haec armenta minantur.

Sed tamen idem olim curru succedere sueti

quadrupedes, et frena iugo concordia ferre;

spes et pacis ait. Tum numina sancta precamur

Palladis armisonae, quae prima accepit ovantis,

545et capita ante aras Phrygio velamur amictu;

praeceptisque Heleni, dederat quae maxima, rite

Iunoni Argivae iussos adolemus honores.

Haud mora, continuo perfectis ordine votis,

cornua velatarum obvertimus antemarum,

550Graiugenumque domos suspectaque linquimus arva.

Hinc sinus Herculei (si vera est fama) Tarenti

cernitur; attollit se diva Lacinia contra,

Caulonisque arces et navifragum Scylaceum.

Tum procul e fluctu Trinacria cernitur Aetna,

555et gemitum ingentem pelagi pulsataque saxa

audimus longe fractasque ad litora voces,

exsultantque vada, atque aestu miscentur harenae.

Et pater Anchises: Nimirum haec illa Charybdis:

hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat.

560Eripite, O socii, pariterque insurgite remis!

Haud minus ac iussi faciunt, primusque rudentem

contorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas.

laevam cuncta cohors remis ventisque petivit.

Tollimur in caelum curvato gurgite, et idem

565subducta ad Manis imos desedimus unda.

Ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dedere:

ter spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra.

Interea fessos ventus cum sole reliquit,

ignarique viae Cyclopum adlabimur oris.

506We sail onward along the neighboring Ceraunian coast,

from which the sea-passage to Italy is shortest.

Meanwhile the sun rushes down, and the dark mountains fill with shade;

we stretch out by the water in the welcome land's embrace,

510assign the oars, and here and there along the dry shore

care for our bodies; sleep bathes our weary limbs.

Night, driven by the hours, had not yet climbed mid-sky

when Palinurus springs alert from his couch and tests

all the winds, catching the air with his ears;

515he notes every star gliding through the silent sky,

Arcturus, the rainy Hyades, the twin Bears,

and scans Orion, armed in gold.

After he sees that all is steady in a clear sky,

he gives a clear signal from the stern; we break camp,

520venture on our way and spread the wings of our sails.

And now Dawn was reddening, the stars driven off,

when far away we see dark hills and low

Italy. "Italy!" Achates first cries out;

the comrades hail Italy with a joyful shout.

525Then father Anchises wreathes a great bowl with a garland,

fills it with unmixed wine, and calls upon the gods,

standing on the high stern:

"Gods who hold power over sea and land and storms,

make the way easy with wind, and breathe on us favorably."

530The welcome breezes freshen, and the harbor opens

nearer now; a temple appears on Minerva's height.

My comrades furl the sails and turn the prows toward shore.

The harbor curves into an arc against the eastern waves;

opposing cliffs foam with salt spray;

535the harbor itself lies hidden; towered crags extend their arms

like a double wall, and the temple withdraws from the shore.

Here, as our first omen, I saw four horses in the grass,

grazing widely over the field, snow-white in brightness.

And father Anchises said: "You bring war, hospitable land;

540horses are armed for war, these herds threaten war.

Yet those same creatures are accustomed

to go beneath the chariot and bear the reins in concord under the yoke;

there is hope of peace too." Then we pray to the holy powers

of Pallas, loud with arms, who first received our joyful band,

545and before the altars we veil our heads with Phrygian covering;

and, according to Helenus' chief command, duly

we burn the appointed offerings for Argive Juno.

No delay: at once, when the vows have been completed in order,

we turn the horned yardarms of our canvas-clad ships,

550and leave the homes of Greek-born men and the fields we distrust.

From here we see the bay of Herculean Tarentum,

if the story is true; opposite rises the Lacinian goddess,

and Caulon's citadels and shipwrecking Scylaceum.

Then far off across the waves Trinacrian Aetna is seen,

555and from afar we hear the sea's tremendous groan,

rocks being beaten and broken voices along the shores;

the shallows leap up, and sands are churned by the tide.

And father Anchises says: "Surely this is that Charybdis;

these rocks, these dreadful stones, Helenus foretold.

560Pull free, comrades, and rise together on the oars!"

They do exactly as ordered, and Palinurus first

swung the roaring prow toward the water on the left.

The whole company made for the left with oars and winds.

We are lifted to the sky on the arching swell, and again,

565as the wave falls away, we sink to the deepest Shades.

Three times the cliffs gave a cry among the hollow rocks;

three times we saw foam flung high and the stars dripping.

Meanwhile the wind, along with the sun, left us weary,

and, ignorant of the way, we glide onto the Cyclopes' shores.

570Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens

ipse; sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis;

interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem,

turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla,

attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit;

575interdum scopulos avolsaque viscera montis

erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras

cum gemitu glomerat, fundoque exaestuat imo.

Fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus

urgueri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam

580impositam ruptis flammam exspirare caminis;

et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnem

murmure Trinacriam, et caelum subtexere fumo.

Noctem illam tecti silvis immania monstra

perferimus, nec quae sonitum det causa videmus.

585Nam neque erant astrorum ignes, nec lucidus aethra

siderea polus, obscuro sed nubila caelo,

et lunam in nimbo nox intempesta tenebat.

Postera iamque dies primo surgebat Eoo,

umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram:

590cum subito e silvis, macie confecta suprema,

ignoti nova forma viri miserandaque cultu

procedit, supplexque manus ad litora tendit.

Respicimus: dira inluvies inmissaque barba,

consertum tegumen spinis; at cetera Graius,

595et quondam patriis ad Troiam missus in armis.

Isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troia vidit

arma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit,

continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praeceps

cum fletu precibusque tulit: Per sidera testor,

600per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen,

tollite me, Teucri; quascumque abducite terras;

hoc sat erit. Scio me Danais e classibus unum,

et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse Penatis;

pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri,

605spargite me in fluctus, vastoque inmergite ponto.

Si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit.

Dixerat, et genua amplexus genibusque volutans

haerebat. Qui sit, fari, quo sanguine cretus,

hortamur; quae deinde agitet fortuna, fateri.

610Ipse pater dextram Anchises, haud multa moratus,

dat iuveni, atque animum praesenti pignore firmat.

Ille haec, deposita tandem formidine, fatur:

Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulixi,

nomine Achaemenides, Troiam genitore Adamasto

615paupere—mansissetque utinam fortuna!—profectus.

Hic me, dum trepidi crudelia limina linquunt,

inmemores socii vasto Cyclopis in antro

deseruere. Domus sanie dapibusque cruentis,

intus opaca, ingens; ipse arduus, altaque pulsat

620sidera—Di, talem terris avertite pestem!—

nec visu facilis nec dictu adfabilis ulli.

Visceribus miserorum et sanguine vescitur atro.

Vidi egomet, duo de numero cum corpora nostro

prensa manu magna, medio resupinus in antro,

625frangeret ad saxum, sanieque aspersa natarent

limina; vidi atro cum membra fluentia tabo

manderet, et tepidi tremerent sub dentibus artus.

Haud impune quidem; nec talia passus Ulixes,

oblitusve sui est Ithacus discrimine tanto.

630Nam simul expletus dapibus vinoque sepultus

cervicem inflexam posuit, iacuitque per antrum

immensus, saniem eructans et frusta cruento

per somnum commixta mero, nos magna precati

numina sortitique vices, una undique circum

635fundimur, et telo lumen terebramus acuto,—

ingens, quod torva solum sub fronte latebat,

Argolici clipei aut Phoebeae lampadis instar,—

et tandem laeti sociorum ulciscimur umbras.

Sed fugite, O miseri, fugite, atque ab litore funem

640rumpite.

Nam qualis quantusque cavo Polyphemus in antro

lanigeras claudit pecudes atque ubera pressat,

centum alii curva haec habitant ad litora volgo

infandi Cyclopes, et altis montibus errant.

645Tertia iam lunae se cornua lumine complent,

cum vitam in silvis inter deserta ferarum

lustra domosque traho, vastosque ab rupe Cyclopas

prospicio, sonitumque pedum vocemque tremesco.

Victum infelicem, bacas lapidosaque corna,

650dant rami et volsis pascunt radicibus herbae.

Omnia conlustrans, hanc primum ad litora classem

conspexi venientem. Huic me, quaecumque fuisset,

addixi: satis est gentem effugisse nefandam.

Vos animam hanc potius quocumque absumite leto.

570The harbor is vast and untouched by the winds' approach;

but nearby Aetna thunders with terrifying crashes;

sometimes it bursts a black cloud into the sky,

smoking with a pitch-black whirl and glowing ash,

heaving up balls of flame and licking the stars;

575sometimes it belches up rocks and the mountain's torn entrails,

and rolls molten stones into the air

with a groan, boiling up from its deepest bed.

The story goes that Enceladus' body, half-burned by lightning,

is pinned beneath this mass, and that huge Aetna,

580laid above him, breathes flame from ruptured furnaces;

and whenever, weary, he shifts his side, all

Trinacria trembles at the rumbling, and the sky is veiled with smoke.

That night, sheltered in the woods, we endure monstrous sounds,

and cannot see what cause makes the sound.

585For no stars burned, nor was the pole bright

with their light; clouds covered the dark sky,

and the dead of night held the moon within a storm-cloud.

And now the next day was rising with early eastern light,

and Dawn had lifted the damp shadow from the sky,

590when suddenly from the woods, wasted by utmost starvation,

the strange shape of an unknown man, pitiable in his dress,

comes forward and stretches suppliant hands toward the shore.

We look at him: dreadful filth, a beard left to grow long,

a garment fastened with thorns; but otherwise he is Greek,

595and once was sent to Troy in his native armor.

And when he saw Dardan dress and Trojan arms

far off, he halted, startled by the sight,

and checked his step; then headlong to the shore

he rushed with tears and prayers: "I swear by the stars,

600by the gods above and this life-giving light of heaven,

take me aboard, Teucrians; carry me off to any land you choose;

that will be enough. I know I am one from the Danaan fleets,

and I confess I attacked the Trojan Penates in war;

for this, if the outrage of my crime is so great,

605scatter me on the waves and sink me in the vast sea.

If I die, it will be a comfort to have died by human hands."

He had spoken, and, clasping our knees and groveling there,

he clung fast. We urge him to say who he is and what blood he comes from,

then to confess what fortune drives him on.

610Father Anchises himself, after little delay,

gives the young man his right hand and strengthens his courage with that pledge.

At last, his fear laid aside, he speaks:

"I am from Ithaca, my homeland, a companion of unlucky Ulysses,

Achaemenides by name; I set out for Troy, the son of poor

615Adamastus—if only that lot had remained mine!

Here, while they fled in terror from that cruel threshold,

my forgetful comrades abandoned me in the vast cave

of the Cyclops. His house, befouled with gore and bloody feasts,

is dark and vast within; he himself towers, striking the high

620stars—gods, turn such a plague from the lands!—

a sight no one can bear, a creature no one can address.

He feeds on the entrails of poor men and black blood.

I myself saw him take two bodies from our number,

grip them in his great hand and, sprawling in the cave's midst,

625smash them against a rock, while the threshold swam

spattered with gore; I saw him chew limbs streaming with black blood,

while warm joints trembled beneath his teeth.

Yet not unpunished; Ulysses did not suffer it

or forget himself in so great a crisis.

630For as soon as he, gorged with food and buried in wine,

laid down his bent neck and lay immense through the cave,

belching in sleep gore and bloody morsels

mixed with wine; we, after praying to the great divine powers

and drawing lots for our turns, together from every side,

635rush around him and with a sharp weapon drill through his eye—

huge, the single eye that lay hidden under his grim brow,

like an Argive shield or Phoebus' lamp—

and at last, rejoicing, avenge our comrades' shades.

But flee, poor wretches, flee, and from the shore

640break the cable.

For like Polyphemus in form and giant size, who in his hollow cave

pens his wool-bearing sheep and presses their udders,

a hundred other unspeakable Cyclopes inhabit these curving shores in swarms

and wander the high mountains.

645Now for the third time the moon's horns are filling with light

since I drag out life in the woods, among the lonely

lairs and dens of beasts, and from a cliff watch the huge Cyclopes

and tremble at the sound of their feet and voices.

Branches give me miserable food—berries and stony cornels—

650and grasses feed me with roots I tear from the ground.

Scanning every prospect, I first caught sight of this fleet

coming to shore. Whatever it might prove to be, I

committed myself to it: enough to have escaped that unspeakable race.

You, rather, take this life by whatever death you choose."

655Vix ea fatus erat, summo cum monte videmus

ipsum inter pecudes vasta se mole moventem

pastorem Polyphemum et litora nota petentem,

monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum.

Trunca manu pinus regit et vestigia firmat;

660lanigerae comitantur oves—ea sola voluptas

solamenque mali.

Postquam altos tetigit fluctus et ad aequora venit,

luminis effossi fluidum lavit inde cruorem,

dentibus infrendens gemitu, graditurque per aequor

665iam medium, necdum fluctus latera ardua tinxit.

Nos procul inde fugam trepidi celerare, recepto

supplice sic merito, tacitique incidere funem;

vertimus et proni certantibus aequora remis.

Sensit, et ad sonitum vocis vestigia torsit;

670verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas,

nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo,

clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes

contremuere undae, penitusque exterrita tellus

Italiae, curvisque immugiit Aetna cavernis.

675At genus e silvis Cyclopum et montibus altis

excitum ruit ad portus et litora complent.

Cernimus adstantis nequiquam lumine torvo

Aetnaeos fratres, caelo capita alta ferentis,

concilium horrendum: quales cum vertice celso

680aeriae quercus, aut coniferae cyparissi

constiterunt, silva alta Iovis, lucusve Dianae.

Praecipites metus acer agit quocumque rudentis

excutere, et ventis intendere vela secundis.

Contra iussa monent Heleni Scyllam atque Charybdin

685inter, utramque viam leti discrimine parvo,

ni teneant cursus; certum est dare lintea retro.

Ecce autem Boreas angusta ab sede Pelori

missus adest. Vivo praetervehor ostia saxo

Pantagiae Megarosque sinus Thapsumque iacentem.

690Talia monstrabat relegens errata retrorsus

litora Achaemenides; comes infelicis Ulixi.

Sicanio praetenta sinu iacet insula contra

Plemyrium undosum; nomen dixere priores

Ortygiam. Alpheum fama est huc Elidis amnem

695occultas egisse vias subter mare; qui nunc

ore, Arethusa, tuo Siculis confunditur undis.

Iussi numina magna loci veneramur; et inde

exsupero praepingue solum stagnantis Helori.

Hinc altas cautes proiectaque saxa Pachyni

700radimus, et fatis numquam concessa moveri

adparet Camerina procul campique Geloi,

immanisque Gela fluvii cognomine dicta.

Arduus inde Acragas ostentat maxuma longe

moenia, magnanimum quondam generator equorum;

705teque datis linquo ventis, palmosa Selinus,

et vada dura lego saxis Lilybeia caecis.

Hinc Drepani me portus et inlaetabilis ora

accipit. Hic, pelagi tot tempestatibus actis,

heu genitorem, omnis curae casusque levamen,

710amitto Anchisen: hic me, pater optume, fessum

deseris, heu, tantis nequiquam erepte periclis!

Nec vates Helenus, cum multa horrenda moneret,

hos mihi praedixit luctus, non dira Celaeno.

Hic labor extremus, longarum haec meta viarum.

715Hinc me digressum vestris deus adpulit oris.

Sic pater Aeneas intentis omnibus unus

fata renarrabat divom, cursusque docebat.

Conticuit tandem, factoque hic fine quievit.

655He had scarcely spoken when, on the mountain height, we see

the monster himself moving his enormous bulk among the flocks,

the shepherd Polyphemus, seeking the shore he knew,

a dreadful monster, formless, immense, robbed of light.

A lopped pine held in his hand guides and steadies his steps;

660his wool-bearing sheep go with him, his only pleasure

and the solace of his suffering.

After he reached deep water and strode out into the sea,

there he washed the streaming gore from his hollowed eye,

gnashing his teeth and groaning, he strides through the sea

665already in mid-water, yet the waves had not wetted his towering sides.

Terrified, we hasten our flight far from there, taking aboard

the suppliant who well deserved rescue; silently we cut the cable,

we swing round and, bent forward, sweep the sea with straining oars.

He sensed it and turned his steps toward the sound of voices;

670but when he has no means to reach us with his right hand,

nor can he match the Ionian waves in pursuit,

he raises an enormous cry; at it the sea and all

its waves tremble, and the frightened land of

Italy shakes to its depths, and Aetna bellows through winding caverns.

675But the race of Cyclopes, roused from the woods

and high mountains, rush to the harbors and fill the shores.

We see the Aetnaean brothers standing helpless, each with grim eye,

lifting their high heads to heaven,

a dreadful assembly: so, on a lofty summit,

680sky-high oaks or cone-bearing cypresses that

stand in Jove's lofty forest or Diana's grove.

Headlong, sharp fear drives us to shake the rigging loose any way we can

and stretch the sails to favorable winds.

But Helenus' commands warn against holding a course

685between Scylla and Charybdis, either way a hair's breadth from death;

we resolve to turn our canvas back.

But look, Boreas, sent from Pelorus' narrow pass,

is upon us. I sail past Pantagias' rock-cut mouths,

Megara's bays, and low-lying Thapsus.

690Achaemenides points them out as we retrace

the shores he wandered, companion of unlucky Ulysses.

Opposite, stretched across the Sicanian bay, lies an island

facing wave-beaten Plemmyrium; earlier generations called it

Ortygia. The story goes that Alpheus, Elis' river,

695ran by hidden channels here beneath the sea and now,

through your mouth, Arethusa, mingles with Sicilian waters.

As commanded, we worship the great powers of the place; from there

I pass beyond the very rich soil of marshy Helorus.

From here we skim the high cliffs and jutting rocks of Pachynus;

700Camerina, never permitted by fate to be moved,

appears far off, with the Geloan fields

and mighty Gela, named for its river.

Then steep Acragas displays far off its massive

walls, once breeder of high-spirited horses;

705and with favoring winds I leave you too, palm-rich Selinus,

and thread the Lilybaean shallows, hard with hidden rocks.

From here the harbor of Drepanum and its joyless shore

receives me. Here, after enduring so many storms at sea,

alas, my father, the solace of every care and calamity,

710I lose Anchises. Here, best of fathers, you abandon me,

weary as I am, alas, you who were rescued in vain from such great dangers!

Nor did the prophet Helenus, though he warned of many horrors,

foretell these griefs to me, nor did dread Celaeno.

This was my final toil, the end of my long journeys.

715From there, as I departed, a god drove me to your shores.'

Thus father Aeneas, alone before all his rapt listeners,

recounted the fates ordained by the gods and unfolded his voyages.

At last he fell silent; here his tale ended, and he rested.