Aeneid, Book 4: Dido

1At regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura

volnus alit venis, et caeco carpitur igni.

Multa viri virtus animo, multusque recursat

gentis honos: haerent infixi pectore voltus

5verbaque, nec placidam membris dat cura quietem.

Postera Phoebea lustrabat lampade terras,

umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram,

cum sic unanimam adloquitur male sana sororem:

Anna soror, quae me suspensam insomnia terrent!

10Quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes,

quem sese ore ferens, quam forti pectore et armis!

Credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse deorum.

Degeneres animos timor arguit: heu, quibus ille

iactatus fatis! Quae bella exhausta canebat!

15Si mihi non animo fixum immotumque sederet,

ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare iugali,

postquam primus amor deceptam morte fefellit;

si non pertaesum thalami taedaeque fuisset,

huic uni forsan potui succumbere culpae.

20Anna, fatebor enim, miseri post fata Sychaei

coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede Penatis,

solus hic inflexit sensus, animumque labantem

impulit: adgnosco veteris vestigia flammae.

Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat,

25vel Pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,

pallentis umbras Erebi noctemque profundam,

ante, Pudor, quam te violo, aut tua iura resolvo.

Ille meos, primus qui me sibi iunxit, amores

abstulit; ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro.

30Sic effata sinum lacrimis implevit obortis.

Anna refert: O luce magis dilecta sorori,

solane perpetua maerens carpere iuventa,

nec dulcis natos, Veneris nec praemia noris?

Id cinerem aut Manis credis curare sepultos?

35Esto: aegram nulli quondam flexere mariti,

non Libyae, non ante Tyro; despectus Iarbas

ductoresque alii, quos Africa terra triumphis

dives alit: placitone etiam pugnabis amori?

Nec venit in mentem, quorum consederis arvis?

40Hinc Gaetulae urbes, genus insuperabile bello,

et Numidae infreni cingunt et inhospita Syrtis;

hinc deserta siti regio, lateque furentes

Barcaei. Quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam,

germanique minas?

45Dis equidem auspicibus reor et Iunone secunda

hunc cursum Iliacas vento tenuisse carinas.

Quam tu urbem, soror, hanc cernes, quae surgere regna

coniugio tali! Teucrum comitantibus armis

Punica se quantis attollet gloria rebus!

50Tu modo posce deos veniam, sacrisque litatis

indulge hospitio, causasque innecte morandi,

dum pelago desaevit hiemps et aquosus Orion,

quassataeque rates, dum non tractabile caelum.

His dictis incensum animum inflammavit amore,

55spemque dedit dubiae menti, solvitque pudorem.

1But the queen, long wounded by deep anguish,

nurses the wound in her veins and is consumed by hidden fire.

Again and again the man's courage returns to her mind,

and the high honor of his race; his face and words cling,

5fixed deep in her breast, and anguish gives her limbs no peaceful rest.

Next dawn was ranging the lands with Phoebus' lamp,

and Dawn had lifted the damp shadow from the sky,

when, heartsick, she addressed the sister who shared her heart:

"Anna, sister, what dreams terrify me and keep me on edge!

10What new guest is this who has come into our halls,

what a face and bearing, how strong in heart and arms!

I believe, and not on empty faith, that he is born of gods.

Fear betrays base-born spirits: ah, how fate

has battered him! What wars he told of, endured to the end!

15If it were not planted fixed and immovable in my mind

that I would not wish to bind myself to anyone in marriage,

after death cheated me of my first love;

if I had not grown utterly weary of bridal chamber and wedding torch,

perhaps I could have yielded to this fault alone.

20Anna, I will confess it: since poor Sychaeus—

my husband—met his fate and our Penates were spattered with a brother's blood,

this man alone has swayed my feelings and driven

my wavering mind: I recognize the traces of the old flame.

But sooner, I pray, may the deepest earth gape open for me,

25or the almighty Father drive me by thunderbolt down to the shades,

the pale shades of Erebus and the deep night,

before, Pudor, I violate you or loosen your laws.

He who first joined me to himself carried off my love;

let him have it with him and keep it in the tomb."

30So she spoke, and filled her breast with welling tears.

Anna replies: "O dearer to your sister than the light,

will you grieve alone and waste away all your youth,

and never know sweet children or the rewards of Venus?

Do you think ash or the buried Shades care for this?

35Granted: once, heartsick, you let no suitor sway you,

not in Libya, not before in Tyre; Iarbas was scorned,

and other leaders whom Africa's land, rich in triumphs,

nurtures: will you fight even a love that pleases you?

Does it not come to mind on whose lands you have settled?

40Here Gaetulian cities, a people unconquerable in war,

and unbridled Numidians and the inhospitable Syrtis hem you in;

there a region desolate with thirst, and the Barcaeans

raging far and wide. Why should I speak of wars rising from Tyre,

and your brother's threats?

45I truly believe that under divine auspices and Juno's favor

the Trojan ships steered this course upon the wind.

What a city, sister, you will see here, what kingdoms rising

from such a marriage! With Trojan arms attending,

to what great things Punic glory will lift itself!

50Only seek the gods' leave, and with rites duly offered,

be generous with hospitality, and weave reasons for delay,

while winter rages its fill over the sea and rainy Orion,

and the ships are battered, while the sky is impassable."

With these words she inflamed the already kindled heart with love,

55gave hope to the doubtful mind and loosened pudor.

56Principio delubra adeunt, pacemque per aras

exquirunt; mactant lectas de more bidentis

legiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo,

Iunoni ante omnis, cui vincla iugalia curae.

60Ipsa, tenens dextra pateram, pulcherrima Dido

candentis vaccae media inter cornua fundit,

aut ante ora deum pinguis spatiatur ad aras,

instauratque diem donis, pecudumque reclusis

pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta.

65Heu vatum ignarae mentes! quid vota furentem,

quid delubra iuvant? Est mollis flamma medullas

interea, et tacitum vivit sub pectore volnus.

Uritur infelix Dido, totaque vagatur

urbe furens, qualis coniecta cerva sagitta,

70quam procul incautam nemora inter Cresia fixit

pastor agens telis, liquitque volatile ferrum

nescius; illa fuga silvas saltusque peragrat

Dictaeos; haeret lateri letalis arundo.

Nunc media Aenean secum per moenia ducit,

75Sidoniasque ostentat opes urbemque paratam;

incipit effari, mediaque in voce resistit;

nunc eadem labente die convivia quaerit,

Iliacosque iterum demens audire labores

exposcit, pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore.

80Post, ubi digressi, lumenque obscura vicissim

luna premit suadentque cadentia sidera somnos,

sola domo maeret vacua, stratisque relictis

incubat, illum absens absentem auditque videtque;

aut gremio Ascanium, genitoris imagine capta,

85detinet, infandum si fallere possit amorem.

Non coeptae adsurgunt turres, non arma iuventus

exercet, portusve aut propugnacula bello

tuta parant; pendent opera interrupta, minaeque

murorum ingentes aequataque machina caelo.

90Quam simul ac tali persensit peste teneri

cara Iovis coniunx, nec famam obstare furori,

talibus adgreditur Venerem Saturnia dictis:

Egregiam vero laudem et spolia ampla refertis

tuque puerque tuus, magnum et memorabile numen,

95una dolo divom si femina victa duorum est!

Nec me adeo fallit veritam te moenia nostra

suspectas habuisse domos Karthaginis altae.

Sed quis erit modus, aut quo nunc certamine tanto?

Quin potius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos

100exercemus? Habes, tota quod mente petisti:

ardet amans Dido, traxitque per ossa furorem.

Communem hunc ergo populum paribusque regamus

auspiciis; liceat Phrygio servire marito,

dotalisque tuae Tyrios permittere dextrae.

105Olli—sensit enim simulata mente locutam,

quo regnum Italiae Libycas averteret oras—

sic contra est ingressa Venus: Quis talia demens

abnuat, aut tecum malit contendere bello,

si modo, quod memoras, factum fortuna sequatur.

110Sed fatis incerta feror, si Iuppiter unam

esse velit Tyriis urbem Troiaque profectis,

miscerive probet populos, aut foedera iungi.

Tu coniunx tibi fas animum temptare precando.

Perge; sequar. Tum sic excepit regia Iuno:

115Mecum erit iste labor: nunc qua ratione, quod instat

confieri possit, paucis, adverte, docebo.

Venatum Aeneas unaque miserrima Dido

in nemus ire parant, ubi primos crastinus ortus

extulerit Titan, radiisque retexerit orbem.

120His ego nigrantem commixta grandine nimbum,

dum trepidant alae, saltusque indagine cingunt,

desuper infundam, et tonitru caelum omne ciebo.

Diffugient comites et nocte tegentur opaca:

speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem

125devenient; adero, et, tua si mihi certa voluntas,

conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo,

hic hymenaeus erit.—Non adversata petenti

adnuit, atque dolis risit Cytherea repertis.

56First they visit the shrines and seek peace at every altar;

they slaughter chosen two-year-old sheep according to rite

for lawgiving Ceres, Phoebus, and father Lyaeus,

and before all for Juno, to whom marriage bonds are a care.

60Loveliest Dido herself, holding a libation bowl in her right hand,

pours between the horns of a gleaming white heifer,

or walks before the gods' images among altars rich with offerings,

renewing each day with gifts; over the opened breasts of victims

she bends, intent, and consults the still-quivering entrails.

65Ah, blind minds of seers! What can vows do for a woman in frenzy,

what can shrines do? All the while a tender flame devours her marrow,

and a silent wound lives beneath her breast.

Unhappy Dido burns and wanders through the whole

city in frenzy, like a doe struck by an arrow,

70whom, unwary among the Cretan woods, from far off

a shepherd hunting with his shafts has pierced, leaving the winged steel

without knowing it; in flight she ranges the woods and glades

of Dicte, while the death-dealing shaft clings in her side.

Now she leads Aeneas with her through the midst of the city walls,

75displaying Sidonian wealth and the city standing ready;

she begins to speak, then falters midway through a word;

now, as the day sinks, she seeks the same banquets,

and, distraught, demands again to hear the Trojan ordeals,

and again hangs from the narrator's lips.

80Afterward, when they have parted, and the dark moon in turn

dims her light and the setting stars invite sleep,

alone she grieves in the empty house, and on the deserted couches

broods; though absent, she hears and sees her absent love;

or keeps Ascanius on her lap, captivated by the image of his father,

85to see if she can beguile her unspeakable passion.

The towers once begun do not rise; the young men do not drill

in arms or make harbors and bulwarks

secure for war; the works hang broken off: the towering threat

of walls, and cranes that once reached level with the sky.

90As soon as Jove's dear wife perceived that Dido was held

by such a plague, and that reputation could not resist her frenzy,

Saturn's daughter approached Venus with these words:

"Splendid glory indeed, and ample spoils, you carry off,

you and that boy of yours, great and memorable powers,

95if a single woman has fallen to the deceit of two gods!

Nor does it escape me that, fearing our walls, you

have looked with suspicion on the houses of high Carthage.

But where will this end, or why now such a bitter contest?

Why not instead pursue lasting peace and a contracted marriage?

100You have what you sought with your whole mind:

Dido burns in love and has drawn frenzy deep into her bones.

So let us rule this people in common and with equal

auspices; let Dido serve a Phrygian husband,

and hand over the Tyrians as dowry to your right hand."

105She knew at once that Juno had spoken with feigned intent,

to divert Italy's kingdom to Libyan shores,

and Venus began in answer thus: "Who would be so mad

as to refuse such things, or prefer to contend with you in war,

if only fortune ratifies the deed you describe?

110But I am borne along, uncertain of the fates: whether Jupiter would wish

one city to belong to the Tyrians and those who set out from Troy,

or approve peoples mingled and treaties joined.

You are his wife; you have leave to test his mind by prayer.

Proceed; I will follow." Then royal Juno answered thus:

115"That task will be mine. Now listen: I will tell you briefly

how the business before us can be brought to pass.

Aeneas and, with him, most wretched Dido are preparing

to go hunting in the grove, when tomorrow's Titan first

rises and unveils the world with his rays.

120On them I will pour down from above a black storm-cloud

mixed with hail, while the hunting wings panic and ring the glades with nets,

and rouse all heaven with thunder.

The companions will scatter and be covered in blind darkness:

Dido and the Trojan leader will come to the same cave;

125I will be there, and, if your will toward me is firm,

I will join them in lasting marriage and make her his own;

this shall be their wedding." Cytherea did not oppose her plea,

but nodded and smiled at the scheme she had uncovered.

129Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit.

130It portis iubare exorto delecta iuventus;

retia rara, plagae, lato venabula ferro,

Massylique ruunt equites et odora canum vis.

Reginam thalamo cunctantem ad limina primi

Poenorum exspectant, ostroque insignis et auro

135stat sonipes, ac frena ferox spumantia mandit.

Tandem progreditur, magna stipante caterva,

Sidoniam picto chlamydem circumdata limbo.

Cui pharetra ex auro, crines nodantur in aurum,

aurea purpuream subnectit fibula vestem.

140Nec non et Phrygii comites et laetus Iulus

incedunt. Ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnis

infert se socium Aeneas atque agmina iungit.

Qualis ubi hibernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta

deserit ac Delum maternam invisit Apollo,

145instauratque choros, mixtique altaria circum

Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi;

ipse iugis Cynthi graditur, mollique fluentem

fronde premit crinem fingens atque implicat auro;

tela sonant umeris: haud illo segnior ibat

150Aeneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore.

Postquam altos ventum in montis atque invia lustra,

ecce ferae, saxi deiectae vertice, caprae

decurrere iugis; alia de parte patentis

transmittunt cursu campos atque agmina cervi

155pulverulenta fuga glomerant montisque relinquunt.

At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri

gaudet equo, iamque hos cursu, iam praeterit illos,

spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis

optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem.

160Interea magno misceri murmure caelum

incipit; insequitur commixta grandine nimbus;

et Tyrii comites passim et Troiana iuventus

Dardaniusque nepos Veneris diversa per agros

tecta metu petiere; ruunt de montibus amnes.

165Speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem

deveniunt: prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno

dant signum; fulsere ignes et conscius aether

conubiis, summoque ulularunt vertice nymphae.

Ille dies primus leti primusque malorum

170causa fuit; neque enim specie famave movetur,

nec iam furtivum Dido meditatur amorem:

coniugium vocat; hoc praetexit nomine culpam.

129Meanwhile, rising Dawn left Ocean behind.

130As morning light rises, the chosen young men stream from the gates;

open-meshed nets, toils, hunting spears with broad iron heads,

Massylian horsemen rush out, and the keen-scented pack of hounds.

At the threshold the leading Phoenicians wait for the queen,

lingering in her chamber; bright with purple and gold

135her charger stands fierce and champs the foaming bridle.

At last she comes forward, a great retinue pressing around her,

wrapped in a Sidonian cloak with an embroidered border.

Her quiver is gold; her hair is bound up in gold;

a golden clasp fastens her purple robe.

140The Phrygian companions too, and joyful Iulus,

move on. Aeneas himself, most beautiful of all,

comes forward as her companion and joins the columns.

As when Apollo leaves wintry Lycia and Xanthus' streams

and visits Delos, his mother's island,

145and renews the dances; mingling around the altars,

Cretans, Dryopes, and painted Agathyrsi shout;

he strides along Cynthus' ridges, binding his flowing hair

with tender leaves and weaving it through with gold;

weapons ring on his shoulders: with no less vigor than Apollo

150Aeneas strode; such beauty shines from his noble face.

When they had come among high mountains and trackless coverts,

behold, wild goats driven down from a rocky peak

stream down the ridges; from another side, across open

fields, herds of deer race onward

155and mass into dusty herds in flight, leaving the mountains.

But the boy Ascanius, in the valleys' midst, exults

on his spirited horse, now passing these, now those, at a gallop;

and amid the sluggish herds he prays

for a foaming boar, or a tawny lion descending from the mountain.

160Meanwhile heaven begins to churn

with a mighty roar; a storm-cloud follows, laced with hail;

the Tyrian companions, the Trojan youth,

and Venus' Dardan grandson scatter across the fields

and seek shelter in fear; torrents rush down from the mountains.

165Dido and the Trojan leader come to the same cave;

first Earth and Juno, mistress of marriage,

give the sign; lightning flashes, and the sky bears witness

to the marriage; from the highest ridge the nymphs wail.

That day was the first cause of death, the first

170cause of evil; Dido is moved no longer by appearance or reputation,

nor now does Dido brood over a secret love:

she calls it marriage; with this name she screens her culpa.

173Extemplo Libyae magnas it Fama per urbes—

Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum;

175mobilitate viget, viresque adquirit eundo,

parva metu primo, mox sese attollit in auras,

ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit.

Illam Terra parens, ira inritata deorum,

extremam (ut perhibent) Coeo Enceladoque sororem

180progenuit, pedibus celerem et pernicibus alis,

monstrum horrendum, ingens, cui, quot sunt corpore plumae

tot vigiles oculi subter, mirabile dictu,

tot linguae, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures.

Nocte volat caeli medio terraeque per umbram,

185stridens, nec dulci declinat lumina somno;

luce sedet custos aut summi culmine tecti,

turribus aut altis, et magnas territat urbes;

tam ficti pravique tenax, quam nuntia veri.

Haec tum multiplici populos sermone replebat

190gaudens, et pariter facta atque infecta canebat:

venisse Aenean, Troiano sanguine cretum,

cui se pulchra viro dignetur iungere Dido;

nunc hiemem inter se luxu, quam longa, fovere

regnorum immemores turpique cupidine captos.

195Haec passim dea foeda virum diffundit in ora.

Protinus ad regem cursus detorquet Iarban,

incenditque animum dictis atque aggerat iras.

Hic Hammone satus, rapta Garamantide Nympha,

templa Iovi centum latis immania regnis,

200centum aras posuit, vigilemque sacraverat ignem,

excubias divom aeternas, pecudumque cruore

pingue solum et variis florentia limina sertis.

Isque amens animi et rumore accensus amaro

dicitur ante aras media inter numina divom

205multa Iovem manibus supplex orasse supinis:

Iuppiter omnipotens, cui nunc Maurusia pictis

gens epulata toris Lenaeum libat honorem,

aspicis haec, an te, genitor, cum fulmina torques,

nequiquam horremus, caecique in nubibus ignes

210terrificant animos et inania murmura miscent?

Femina, quae nostris errans in finibus urbem

exiguam pretio posuit, cui litus arandum

cuique loci leges dedimus, conubia nostra

reppulit, ac dominum Aenean in regna recepit.

215Et nunc ille Paris cum semiviro comitatu,

Maeonia mentum mitra crinemque madentem

subnexus, rapto potitur: nos munera templis

quippe tuis ferimus, famamque fovemus inanem.

173At once Rumor goes through Libya's great cities—

Rumor: no other evil is swifter than she;

175she thrives on movement and gains strength as she goes,

timid and small at first, soon she lifts herself into the air,

and strides on earth and hides her head among the clouds.

Earth, her mother, provoked by anger against the gods,

bore her last, as they say, sister to Coeus and Enceladus,

180swift of foot and on nimble wings,

a monster dreadful and immense; for every feather on her body,

so many watchful eyes lie beneath, marvelous to tell,

as many sounding tongues and mouths, as many ears pricked up.

By night she flies through the shadow between sky and earth,

185shrieking, and never lowers her eyes into sweet sleep;

by day she sits as sentinel either on a roof's highest peak

or on high towers, and terrifies great cities;

as tenacious of falsehood and distortion as she is a herald of truth.

Then she filled the peoples with talk of every kind,

190delighting to proclaim alike things done and never done:

that Aeneas had come, sprung from Trojan blood,

to whom beautiful Dido deigned to join herself as wife;

that now, all winter long, they kept each other warm in luxury,

forgetful of their kingdoms and captive to shameful desire.

195These reports the foul goddess spreads everywhere on the lips of men.

Straightway she bends her course toward King Iarbas,

inflames his spirit with her words and heaps anger upon anger.

He, sprung from Hammon and a Garamantian nymph taken by force,

had set up a hundred vast temples to Jupiter across his broad realm,

200a hundred altars, and had consecrated an ever-watchful fire,

the gods' eternal watches; and with the blood of flocks

the ground was rich and the thresholds bloomed with varied garlands.

And he, maddened at heart and kindled by bitter report,

is said, before the altars, in the gods' very presence,

205to have prayed at length to Jupiter, suppliant, with upturned hands:

"Almighty Jupiter, to whom now the Maurusian people, on painted

couches feasting, pour an offering of Lenaean wine,

do you see this? Or, father, when you hurl thunderbolts,

do we shudder for nothing, and do blind fires in the clouds

210terrify our hearts and stir up empty rumblings?

A woman who wandered within our borders paid

for the right to found a paltry city; to her we gave a shore to plow

and laws for the place; she has rejected our marriage

and received Aeneas as master into her kingdoms.

215And now that Paris, with his effeminate retinue,

with a Maeonian cap tied beneath his chin and perfumed hair,

enjoys what he stole: we, of course, bring gifts to your temples,

yes, to yours, and keep nursing an empty fame."

219Talibus orantem dictis arasque tenentem

220audiit omnipotens, oculosque ad moenia torsit

regia et oblitos famae melioris amantes.

Tum sic Mercurium adloquitur ac talia mandat:

Vade age, nate, voca Zephyros et labere pennis,

Dardaniumque ducem, Tyria Karthagine qui nunc

225exspectat, fatisque datas non respicit urbes,

adloquere, et celeris defer mea dicta per auras.

Non illum nobis genetrix pulcherrima talem

promisit, Graiumque ideo bis vindicat armis;

sed fore, qui gravidam imperiis belloque frementem

230Italiam regeret, genus alto a sanguine Teucri

proderet, ac totum sub leges mitteret orbem.

Si nulla accendit tantarum gloria rerum,

nec super ipse sua molitur laude laborem,

Ascanione pater Romanas invidet arces?

235Quid struit, aut qua spe inimica in gente moratur,

nec prolem Ausoniam et Lavinia respicit arva?

Naviget: haec summa est; hic nostri nuntius esto.

Dixerat. Ille patris magni parere parabat

imperio; et primum pedibus talaria nectit

240aurea, quae sublimem alis sive aequora supra

seu terram rapido pariter cum flamine portant;

tum virgam capit: hac animas ille evocat Orco

pallentis, alias sub Tartara tristia mittit,

dat somnos adimitque, et lumina morte resignat.

245Illa fretus agit ventos, et turbida tranat

nubila; iamque volans apicem et latera ardua cernit

Atlantis duri, caelum qui vertice fulcit,

Atlantis, cinctum adsidue cui nubibus atris

piniferum caput et vento pulsatur et imbri;

250nix umeros infusa tegit; tum flumina mento

praecipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida barba.

Hic primum paribus nitens Cyllenius alis

constitit; hinc toto praeceps se corpore ad undas

misit, avi similis, quae circum litora, circum

255piscosos scopulos humilis volat aequora iuxta.

Haud aliter terras inter caelumque volabat,

litus harenosum Libyae ventosque secabat

materno veniens ab avo Cyllenia proles.

Ut primum alatis tetigit magalia plantis,

260Aenean fundantem arces ac tecta novantem

conspicit; atque illi stellatus iaspide fulva

ensis erat, Tyrioque ardebat murice laena

demissa ex umeris, dives quae munera Dido

fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro.

265Continuo invadit: Tu nunc Karthaginis altae

fundamenta locas, pulchramque uxorius urbem

exstruis, heu regni rerumque oblite tuarum?

Ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo

regnator, caelum ac terras qui numine torquet;

270ipse haec ferre iubet celeris mandata per auras:

quid struis, aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris?

Si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum,

nec super ipse tua moliris laude laborem,

Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli

275respice, cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus

debentur. Tali Cyllenius ore locutus

mortalis visus medio sermone reliquit,

et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

219As he prayed with such words and clung to the altars,

220all-powerful Jupiter heard and turned his eyes toward the royal walls

and the lovers who had forgotten their better fame.

Then he addresses Mercury and gives these commands:

"Go now, son, call the Zephyrs and glide on your wings;

address the Dardan leader, who now in Tyrian Carthage

225lingers and gives no thought to cities allotted by fate,

and carry my words down through the swift air.

His most beautiful mother did not promise him to us as such,

nor for this did she rescue him twice from Greek arms;

but promised he would be one to rule Italy, pregnant with dominion

230and roaring with war, and bring forth a race from Teucer's high blood,

and bring the whole world under laws.

If the glory of such great deeds does not fire him,

and he undertakes no toil for his own renown,

does the father begrudge Ascanius the Roman citadels?

235What is he planning, or on what hope does he linger among a hostile people,

and not look toward Ausonian offspring and Lavinian fields?

Let him sail: this is the substance; let this be our message."

He had spoken. Mercury made ready to obey his great father's

command; and first he fastens the golden sandals to his feet,

240which carry him aloft on wings, whether above the seas

or over land, keeping pace with the racing wind;

then he takes the wand: with it he calls pale souls from Orcus,

and sends others down beneath gloomy Tartarus,

gives sleep and takes it away, and unseals eyes from death.

245Relying on it, he drives the winds and swims across the stormy

clouds; and now in flight he sees the peak and steep flanks

of unyielding Atlas, who props the sky on his summit,

Atlas, whose pine-clad head, forever ringed with black

clouds, is battered by wind and rain;

250fallen snow covers his shoulders; down the old man's chin

streams plunge, and his rough beard stiffens with ice.

Here first Cyllenius, poised on balanced wings,

stood; from here he hurled his whole body headlong toward the waves,

like a bird that around the shores, around

255fish-rich rocks, flies low beside the seas.

Just so, between earth and sky, he flew,

cutting Libya's sandy shore and the winds,

the Cyllenian god, coming from his mother's grandsire.

As soon as he touched the huts with his winged soles,

260he sees Aeneas founding citadels and raising fresh roofs;

and Aeneas had a sword starred with tawny jasper,

and a cloak blazed with Tyrian purple,

hanging from his shoulders, gifts that wealthy Dido

had made, picking out the woven fabric with fine gold.

265At once he rebukes him: "Are you now laying the foundations

of lofty Carthage and, in thrall to a wife, building her beautiful city,

alas, forgetful of your own kingdom and affairs?

The ruler of the gods himself sends me down to you from bright Olympus,

he whose divine power turns heaven and earth;

270he himself commands me to carry these mandates through the swift air:

what are you building, or with what hope do you squander time in Libyan idleness?

If no glory of such great things moves you,

and you yourself undertake no labor for your own renown,

look to Ascanius rising and the hopes of your heir Iulus,

275for whom Italy's kingdom and Roman land

are owed." With these words, Cyllenius

left mortal sight before the speech had ended,

and vanished far from his eyes into thin air.

279At vero Aeneas aspectu obmutuit amens,

280arrectaeque horrore comae, et vox faucibus haesit.

Ardet abire fuga dulcisque relinquere terras,

attonitus tanto monitu imperioque deorum.

Heu quid agat? Quo nunc reginam ambire furentem

audeat adfatu? Quae prima exordia sumat?

285Atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc,

in partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat.

Haec alternanti potior sententia visa est:

Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum,

classem aptent taciti sociosque ad litora cogant,

290arma parent, et quae rebus sit causa novandis

dissimulent; sese interea, quando optuma Dido

nesciat et tantos rumpi non speret amores,

temptaturum aditus, et quae mollissima fandi

tempora, quis rebus dexter modus. Ocius omnes

295imperio laeti parent ac iussa facessunt.

At regina dolos—quis fallere possit amantem?

praesensit, motusque excepit prima futuros,

omnia tuta timens. Eadem impia Fama furenti

detulit armari classem cursumque parari.

300Saevit inops animi, totamque incensa per urbem

bacchatur, qualis commotis excita sacris

Thyias, ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho

orgia, nocturnusque vocat clamore Cithaeron.

Tandem his Aenean compellat vocibus ultro:

305Dissimulare etiam sperasti, perfide, tantum

posse nefas, tacitusque mea decedere terra?

Nec te noster amor, nec te data dextera quondam,

nec moritura tenet crudeli funere Dido?

Quin etiam hiberno moliris sidere classem,

310et mediis properas aquilonibus ire per altum,

crudelis? Quid, si non arva aliena domosque

ignotas peteres, sed Troia antiqua maneret,

Troia per undosum peteretur classibus aequor

Mene fugis? Per ego has lacrimas dextramque tuam te

315(quando aliud mihi iam miserae nihil ipsa reliqui)

per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos,

si bene quid de te merui, fuit aut tibi quicquam

dulce meum, miserere domus labentis, et istam—

oro, si quis adhuc precibus locus—exue mentem.

320Te propter Libycae gentes Nomadumque tyranni

odere, infensi Tyrii; te propter eundem

exstinctus pudor, et, qua sola sidera adibam,

fama prior. Cui me moribundam deseris, hospes?

Hoc solum nomen quoniam de coniuge restat.

325Quid moror? An mea Pygmalion dum moenia frater

destruat, aut captam ducat Gaetulus Iarbas?

Saltem si qua mihi de te suscepta fuisset

ante fugam suboles, si quis mihi parvulus aula

luderet Aeneas, qui te tamen ore referret,

330non equidem omnino capta ac deserta viderer.

279But Aeneas, stunned by the sight, fell silent,

280his hair rose in horror, and his voice caught in his throat.

He burns to flee and leave the dear land behind,

stunned by so great a warning and the gods' command.

Alas, what can he do? How can he now approach the frenzied queen

in speech? What first words should he choose?

285He divides his swift mind now this way, now that,

drives it among competing plans and turns over every course.

As he wavered, this plan seemed best:

he summons Mnestheus, Sergestus, and brave Serestus,

orders them silently to fit out the fleet and gather their comrades on the shore,

290to ready arms, and to conceal what cause there is

for this change of course; meanwhile, since noble Dido

knows nothing and cannot expect so great a love to break,

he himself will test the approaches and the gentlest moments

for speaking, what manner best fits the matter. Swiftly all

295obey his command eagerly and carry out his orders.

But the queen sensed the plot—who could deceive a lover?—

and was first to catch the coming stir,

fearing even safety. The same impious Rumor brought her, raging, word

that the fleet was being armed and a course prepared.

300Raging, beside herself, ablaze, she roams the whole city

and runs wild like a Thyad, roused when the sacred emblems stir,

when the triennial orgies spur her at Bacchus' cry

and Cithaeron by night calls her with its clamor.

At last, before he can speak, she confronts Aeneas with these words:

305"Did you even hope, faithless man, that you could hide

so great a crime, and leave my land in silence?

Does neither our love hold you nor the right hand once pledged,

nor Dido, who will die a cruel death?

No, you even labor at your fleet under winter stars,

310and hurry to cross the deep in the midst of north winds,

cruel man? What if you were not seeking foreign fields and homes

unknown to you, but ancient Troy still stood—

would your fleet seek Troy across the wave-tossed sea?

Is it me you flee? By these tears, by your right hand,

315(since in my misery I have left myself nothing else),

by our union, by the wedding rites begun,

if ever I deserved well of you, or if anything of mine

was sweet to you, pity my collapsing house, and this resolve—

I beg, if there is still room for prayers—put it from your mind.

320Because of you the Libyan peoples and the Nomad kings

hate me, and the Tyrians are hostile to me; because of you, too,

my honor is extinguished, and my old fame,

my sole path to the stars. To whom do you leave me, dying, guest?

since only 'guest' remains of the name 'husband.'

325What am I waiting for? Until my brother Pygmalion destroys my walls,

or Gaetulian Iarbas leads me away captive?

If at least some child by you had been conceived

before your flight, if some little Aeneas in my hall

were playing, who still recalled you in his face,

330then I would not seem utterly conquered and abandoned."

331Dixerat. Ille Iovis monitis immota tenebat

lumina, et obnixus curam sub corde premebat.

Tandem pauca refert: Ego te, quae plurima fando

enumerare vales, numquam, regina, negabo

335promeritam; nec me meminisse pigebit Elissae,

dum memor ipse mei, dum spiritus hos regit artus.

Pro re pauca loquar. Neque ego hanc abscondere furto

speravi—ne finge—fugam, nec coniugis umquam

praetendi taedas, aut haec in foedera veni.

340Me si fata meis paterentur ducere vitam

auspiciis et sponte mea componere curas,

urbem Troianam primum dulcisque meorum

reliquias colerem, Priami tecta alta manerent,

et recidiva manu posuissem Pergama victis.

345Sed nunc Italiam magnam Gryneus Apollo,

Italiam Lyciae iussere capessere sortes:

hic amor, haec patria est. Si te Karthaginis arces,

Phoenissam, Libycaeque aspectus detinet urbis,

quae tandem, Ausonia Teucros considere terra,

350invidia est? Et nos fas extera quaerere regna.

Me patris Anchisae, quotiens umentibus umbris

nox operit terras, quotiens astra ignea surgunt,

admonet in somnis et turbida terret imago;

me puer Ascanius capitisque iniuria cari,

355quem regno Hesperiae fraudo et fatalibus arvis.

Nunc etiam interpres divom, Iove missus ab ipso—

testor utrumque caput—celeris mandata per auras

detulit; ipse deum manifesto in lumine vidi

intrantem muros, vocemque his auribus hausi.

360Desine meque tuis incendere teque querelis:

Italiam non sponte sequor.

Talia dicentem iamdudum aversa tuetur,

huc illuc volvens oculos, totumque pererrat

luminibus tacitis, et sic accensa profatur:

365Nec tibi diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor,

perfide; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens

Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.

Nam quid dissimulo, aut quae me ad maiora reservo?

Num fletu ingemuit nostro? Num lumina flexit?

370Num lacrimas victus dedit, aut miseratus amantem est?

Quae quibus anteferam? Iam iam nec maxuma Iuno,

nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis.

Nusquam tuta fides. Eiectum litore, egentem

excepi, et regni demens in parte locavi;

375amissam classem, socios a morte reduxi.

Heu furiis incensa feror! Nunc augur Apollo,

nunc Lyciae sortes, nunc et Iove missus ab ipso

interpres divom fert horrida iussa per auras.

Scilicet is Superis labor est, ea cura quietos

380sollicitat. Neque te teneo, neque dicta refello.

I, sequere Italiam ventis, pete regna per undas.

Spero equidem mediis, si quid pia numina possunt,

supplicia hausurum scopulis, et nomine Dido

saepe vocaturum. Sequar atris ignibus absens,

385et, cum frigida mors anima seduxerit artus,

omnibus umbra locis adero. Dabis, improbe, poenas.

Audiam et haec Manis veniet mihi fama sub imos.

His medium dictis sermonem abrumpit, et auras

aegra fugit, seque ex oculis avertit et aufert,

390linquens multa metu cunctantem et multa parantem

dicere. Suscipiunt famulae, conlapsaque membra

marmoreo referunt thalamo stratisque reponunt.

At pius Aeneas, quamquam lenire dolentem

solando cupit et dictis avertere curas,

395multa gemens magnoque animum labefactus amore,

iussa tamen divom exsequitur, classemque revisit.

331She had spoken. Held fast by Jove's warnings, he kept his eyes

steady and, struggling, pressed the anguish deep beneath his heart.

At last, a few words: "I will never deny, queen,

the many kindnesses you can recount,

335nor will I ever regret remembering Elissa,

while memory is mine, while breath rules these limbs.

To the point. I did not hope to hide

this flight by stealth—do not invent that—nor did I ever

hold out a bridegroom's torch or enter into such a bond.

340If the fates allowed me to lead my life

under my own auspices and settle my cares by my own will,

first I would cherish Troy and the dear relics

of my people; Priam's high halls would remain,

and with my own hand I would have raised Pergamum reborn for the defeated.

345But now Grynean Apollo commands me to mighty Italy,

the Lycian lots command me to seek Italy:

there is my love, there my homeland. If Carthage's citadels

and the sight of a Libyan city hold you, a Phoenician,

why begrudge the Teucrians their settlement

350on Ausonian land? It is right for us too to seek foreign kingdoms.

My father Anchises' troubled shade, whenever

night covers the lands with damp shadows, whenever fiery stars rise,

warns me in dreams and terrifies me;

my boy Ascanius moves me, and the wrong done to that dear life,

355whom I defraud of Hesperia's kingdom and the fated fields.

Now too the gods' interpreter, sent by Jove himself—

I swear by your life and mine—has carried commands swiftly through the air;

I myself saw the god in manifest light

entering the walls, and drank in his voice with these ears.

360Stop inflaming yourself and me with your complaints:

I seek Italy not by my own will."

All this while she watches him, her face averted,

rolling her eyes this way and that; her silent gaze scans

all of him, then, set aflame, she speaks:

365"No goddess was your mother, nor Dardanus founder of your race,

traitor; the bristling Caucasus begot you on hard crags,

and Hyrcanian tigers held their udders to your lips.

Why hide what I feel, or for what greater outrage save myself?

Did he groan at my weeping? Did he turn his eyes?

370Did he, overcome, shed tears, or pity the woman who loves him?

Which outrage shall I set above the rest? Now, now neither greatest Juno

nor the Saturnian Father looks on this with just eyes.

Nowhere is good faith secure. Cast ashore and destitute,

I took him in and, madly, gave him a share of my kingdom;

375his wrecked fleet and companions I brought back from death.

Ah, ablaze with frenzy, I am swept along! Now Apollo the augur,

now Lycian lots, now too the messenger of the gods,

sent by Jove himself, carries his dreadful commands through the air.

Of course this is toil for the gods above; this care

380disturbs their calm. I neither hold you nor refute your words.

Go. Make for Italy with the winds; seek kingdoms through the waves.

I do hope, if righteous gods have any power,

that you will gulp your punishment among rocks mid-sea, and often call

on Dido by name. Absent, I will follow with black fires,

385and when cold death has severed soul from limbs,

as a shade I will haunt you everywhere. You will pay, faithless man.

I shall hear; the news will reach me among the deepest Shades."

With these words she breaks off mid-speech and, sick at heart,

flees the light, turning away and vanishing from his eyes,

390leaving him hesitating in fear, with many things

to say. Her attendants catch her, and carry her collapsed limbs

back to the marble chamber and lay them on the bed.

But dutiful Aeneas, although he longs to soothe her grief

with comfort and turn aside her cares with words,

395groaning deeply, his spirit shaken by his great love,

nevertheless carries out the gods' commands and returns to the fleet.

397Tum vero Teucri incumbunt, et litore celsas

deducunt toto naves: natat uncta carina;

frondentisque ferunt remos et robora silvis

400infabricata, fugae studio.

Migrantis cernas, totaque ex urbe ruentis.

Ac velut ingentem formicae farris acervum

cum populant, hiemis memores, tectoque reponunt;

it nigrum campis agmen, praedamque per herbas

405convectant calle angusto; pars grandia trudunt

obnixae frumenta umeris; pars agmina cogunt

castigantque moras; opere omnis semita fervet.

Quis tibi tum, Dido, cernenti talia sensus?

quosve dabas gemitus, cum litora fervere late

410prospiceres arce ex summa, totumque videres

misceri ante oculos tantis clamoribus aequor?

Improbe Amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis?

Ire iterum in lacrimas, iterum temptare precando

cogitur, et supplex animos submittere amori,

415ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat.

Anna, vides toto properari litore; circum

undique convenere; vocat iam carbasus auras,

puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas.

Hunc ego si potui tantum sperare dolorem,

420et perferre, soror, potero. Miserae hoc tamen unum

exsequere, Anna, mihi. Solam nam perfidus ille

te colere, arcanos etiam tibi credere sensus;

sola viri mollis aditus et tempora noras.

I, soror, atque hostem supplex adfare superbum:

425non ego cum Danais Troianam exscindere gentem

Aulide iuravi, classemve ad Pergama misi,

nec patris Anchisae cineres Manisve revelli,

cur mea dicta neget duras demittere in auris.

Quo ruit? Extremum hoc miserae det munus amanti:

430exspectet facilemque fugam ventosque ferentis.

Non iam coniugium antiquum, quod prodidit, oro,

nec pulchro ut Latio careat regnumque relinquat:

tempus inane peto, requiem spatiumque furori,

dum mea me victam doceat fortuna dolere.

435Extremam hanc oro veniam—miserere sororis—

quam mihi cum dederit, cumulatam morte remittam.

Talibus orabat, talisque miserrima fletus

fertque refertque soror: sed nullis ille movetur

fletibus, aut voces ullas tractabilis audit;

440fata obstant, placidasque viri deus obstruit auris.

Ac, velut annoso validam cum robore quercum

Alpini Boreae nunc hinc nunc flatibus illinc

eruere inter se certant; it stridor, et altae

consternunt terram concusso stipite frondes;

445ipsa haeret scopulis, et, quantum vertice ad auras

aetherias, tantum radice in Tartara tendit:

haud secus adsiduis hinc atque hinc vocibus heros

tunditur, et magno persentit pectore curas;

mens immota manet; lacrimae volvuntur inanes.

397Then indeed the Teucrians lean to the work; along the whole shore

draw down the tall ships: the greased keel floats;

they bring oars still leafy and rough timbers from the woods,

400unshaped, in their zeal for flight.

You would see them on the move, streaming out from the whole city.

And just as ants raid a huge heap of grain,

mindful of winter, and store it beneath their roof;

a black column crosses the fields, and its plunder through the grass

405they haul along a narrow track; some, straining, push

great kernels with their shoulders; some marshal the columns

and chide delays; every path seethes with work.

What was your heart then, Dido, seeing such things?

what groans did you utter, when from the citadel's height

410you looked out on the shores seething far and wide, and saw

the whole sea before your eyes thrown into turmoil by such shouting?

Ruthless Love, what do you not compel mortal hearts to do?

Again she is driven back to tears, again to test persuasion

with pleading, and as a suppliant to lower her spirit to love,

415lest she die in vain with anything left untried.

"Anna, you see how all along the shore they hurry;

they have gathered from every side; already the canvas calls the breezes,

and the sailors, rejoicing, have set garlands on the sterns.

If I had strength to foresee this great grief,

420I shall have strength to bear it too, sister. Yet this one thing

carry out for wretched me, Anna. For that faithless man

used to honor you alone, even trust you with his secret thoughts;

you alone knew how and when the man could be softened.

Go, sister, and as a suppliant speak to the proud enemy:

425I did not swear with the Danaans at Aulis to destroy

the Trojan race, nor did I send a fleet against Pergama,

nor have I disturbed the ashes or Shades of his father Anchises;

why does he refuse my words entrance to his unyielding ears?

Where is he rushing? Let him grant this last gift to his wretched lover:

430let him wait for an easier flight and winds to carry him.

I no longer beg for the old marriage, which he has betrayed,

nor that he forgo beautiful Latium and leave his kingdom behind:

I ask only empty time, respite and room for my frenzy,

until fortune teaches me, conquered, how to endure grief.

435This final favor I beg—pity your sister—

when he grants it, I will repay it in full with my death."

With such words she begged; and such tears her wretched sister

carries there and back; but he is moved by no

weeping, nor, yielding, does he listen to any words;

440the fates block the way, and a god bars the man's receptive ears.

And as when an oak, strong with age-old timber,

Alpine north winds now from this side, now from that, with blasts

strive with one another to uproot; the creaking runs on, and high

leaves strew the earth from the shaken trunk;

445the oak itself clings to the crags, and as far as with its crown

it reaches toward the airs of heaven, so far with its root it stretches into Tartarus:

just so the hero, by constant voices from this side and that,

is battered, and in his great breast feels the cares through and through;

his mind remains unmoved; tears flow uselessly.

450Tum vero infelix fatis exterrita Dido

mortem orat; taedet caeli convexa tueri.

Quo magis inceptum peragat lucemque relinquat,

vidit, turicremis cum dona imponeret aris,

horrendum dictu, latices nigrescere sacros,

455fusaque in obscenum se vertere vina cruorem.

Hoc visum nulli, non ipsi effata sorori.

Praeterea fuit in tectis de marmore templum

coniugis antiqui, miro quod honore colebat,

velleribus niveis et festa fronde revinctum:

460hinc exaudiri voces et verba vocantis

visa viri, nox cum terras obscura teneret;

solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo

saepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces;

multaque praeterea vatum praedicta priorum

465terribili monitu horrificant. Agit ipse furentem

in somnis ferus Aeneas; semperque relinqui

sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur

ire viam, et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra.

Eumenidum veluti demens videt agmina Pentheus,

470et solem geminum et duplicis se ostendere Thebas;

aut Agamemnonius scaenis agitatus Orestes

armatam facibus matrem et serpentibus atris

cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limine Dirae.

Ergo ubi concepit furias evicta dolore

475decrevitque mori, tempus secum ipsa modumque

exigit, et, maestam dictis adgressa sororem,

consilium voltu tegit, ac spem fronte serenat:

Inveni, germana, viam—gratare sorori—

quae mihi reddat eum, vel eo me solvat amantem.

480Oceani finem iuxta solemque cadentem

ultimus Aethiopum locus est, ubi maxumus Atlas

axem humero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum:

hinc mihi Massylae gentis monstrata sacerdos,

Hesperidum templi custos, epulasque draconi

485quae dabat, et sacros servabat in arbore ramos,

spargens umida mella soporiferumque papaver.

Haec se carminibus promittit solvere mentes

quas velit, ast aliis duras immittere curas,

sistere aquam fluviis, et vertere sidera retro;

490nocturnosque movet Manis: mugire videbis

sub pedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos.

Testor, cara, deos et te, germana, tuumque

dulce caput, magicas invitam accingier artes.

Tu secreta pyram tecto interiore sub auras

495erige, et arma viri, thalamo quae fixa reliquit

impius, exuviasque omnis, lectumque iugalem,

quo perii, superimponas: abolere nefandi

cuncta viri monumenta iuvat, monstratque sacerdos.

Haec effata silet; pallor simul occupat ora.

500Non tamen Anna novis praetexere funera sacris

germanam credit, nec tantos mente furores

concipit, aut graviora timet, quam morte Sychaei:

ergo iussa parat.

450Then truly unhappy Dido, terrified by her doom,

prays for death; she is weary of gazing on heaven's vault.

To drive her purpose through and leave the light,

she saw, as she laid offerings on incense-burning altars,

horrible to tell, the sacred waters darken,

455and the poured wine turn itself into foul gore.

This vision she told to no one, not even to her own sister.

Besides, there was in the palace a shrine of marble

to her former husband, which she tended with wondrous honor,

bound with snow-white fleeces and festal foliage:

460from there voices and words of her husband calling

seemed to be heard, when dark night held the lands;

and on the rooftops a lone owl, with funeral song,

often seemed to lament and draw out long cries into weeping;

and many prophecies besides, foretold by earlier seers,

465deepen her terror. Fierce Aeneas himself

hunts her through dreams; and always she seems

left alone, always journeying unaccompanied

on a long road, deserted, seeking her Tyrians through an empty land.

As Pentheus, out of his mind, sees ranks of Eumenides,

470and twin suns and double Thebes showing themselves;

or Orestes, son of Agamemnon, driven across the stage,

when he flees his mother armed with torches and black serpents,

and the avenging Dirae sit on the threshold.

Therefore, once grief conquered her and frenzy possessed her,

475and resolved to die, she weighs by herself the time

and manner, and, addressing her grieving sister with these words,

hides her plan behind her face and smooths her brow into hope:

"I have found a way, sister—rejoice with me—

that may restore him to me, or free me from loving him.

480Near Ocean's limit and the setting sun

lies the farthest land of the Ethiopians, where greatest Atlas

turns on his shoulder the axis fitted with burning stars:

from there I was told of a priestess of the Massylian people,

guardian of the Hesperides' shrine, who used to feed the dragon

485and kept the sacred boughs safe upon the tree,

sprinkling moist honey and sleep-bringing poppy.

She promises that with spells she can release the minds

of whomever she wishes, but impose hard cares on others,

halt water in the rivers, and turn the stars backward;

490she rouses the night-wandering Shades: you will see the earth

roar beneath your feet, and ash trees descend from the mountains.

I call the gods to witness, dear sister, and you,

and your dear life: unwillingly I gird myself for magic arts.

You, in secret, raise a pyre in the inner court beneath the open sky,

495and the man's weapons, which that impious one left hanging

in the chamber, and all his relics, and the marriage bed,

on which I was ruined, set them on top: to destroy

every reminder of that unspeakable man delights me, and the priestess directs it."

Having spoken these words she falls silent; at once pallor seizes her face.

500Yet Anna does not believe her sister is veiling death

with strange rites, nor can she conceive such depths of madness

or fear anything worse than she did at Sychaeus' death:

therefore she readies what she was ordered to do.

504At regina, pyra penetrali in sede sub auras

505erecta ingenti taedis atque ilice secta,

intenditque locum sertis, et fronde coronat

funerea; super exuvias ensemque relictum

effigiemque toro locat, haud ignara futuri.

Stant arae circum, et crines effusa sacerdos

510ter centum tonat ore deos, Erebumque Chaosque,

tergeminamque Hecaten, tria virginis ora Dianae.

Sparserat et latices simulatos fontis Averni,

falcibus et messae ad lunam quaeruntur aënis

pubentes herbae nigri cum lacte veneni;

515quaeritur et nascentis equi de fronte revolsus

et matri praereptus amor.

Ipsa mola manibusque piis altaria iuxta,

unum exuta pedem vinclis, in veste recincta,

testatur moritura deos et conscia fati

520sidera; tum, si quod non aequo foedere amantes

curae numen habet iustumque memorque, precatur.

Nox erat, et placidum carpebant fessa soporem

corpora per terras, silvaeque et saeva quierant

aequora: cum medio volvuntur sidera lapsu,

525cum tacet omnis ager, pecudes pictaeque volucres,

quaeque lacus late liquidos, quaeque aspera dumis

rura tenent, somno positae sub nocte silenti

lenibant curas, et corda oblita laborum.

At non infelix animi Phoenissa, nec umquam

530Solvitur in somnos, oculisve aut pectore noctem

accipit: ingeminant curae, rursusque resurgens

saevit amor, magnoque irarum fluctuat aestu.

Sic adeo insistit, secumque ita corde volutat:

En, quid ago? Rursusne procos inrisa priores

535experiar, Nomadumque petam conubia supplex,

quos ego sim totiens iam dedignata maritos?

Iliacas igitur classes atque ultima Teucrum

iussa sequar? Quiane auxilio iuvat ante levatos,

et bene apud memores veteris stat gratia facti?

540Quis me autem, fac velle, sinet, ratibusve superbis

invisam accipiet? Nescis heu, perdita, necdum

Laomedonteae sentis periuria gentis?

Quid tum, sola fuga nautas comitabor ovantes,

an Tyriis omnique manu stipata meorum

545inferar, et, quos Sidonia vix urbe revelli,

rursus agam pelago, et ventis dare vela iubebo?

Quin morere, ut merita es, ferroque averte dolorem.

Tu lacrimis evicta meis, tu prima furentem

his, germana, malis oneras atque obicis hosti.

550Non licuit thalami expertem sine crimine vitam

degere, more ferae, tales nec tangere curas!

Non servata fides cineri promissa Sychaeo!

Tantos illa suo rumpebat pectore questus.

504But the queen, after a pyre had been raised in the inner court beneath the open sky,

505huge, built from pitch-pine and cut holm-oak,

hangs the place with garlands and crowns it with funeral

foliage; on the couch she places his relics, abandoned sword,

and effigy, knowing what is to come.

Altars stand around, and the priestess, with her hair streaming loose,

510thunders the names of three hundred gods, Erebus and Chaos,

and threefold Hecate, the three faces of virgin Diana.

She had sprinkled, too, waters made to mimic the spring of Avernus,

and herbs are sought, reaped by moonlight with bronze sickles,

downy herbs with the milk of black poison;

515and the love-charm is sought, torn from the forehead of a newborn foal

and snatched away from its mother.

She herself, with sacrificial meal and pure hands beside the altars,

one foot freed from its bindings, in an ungirt robe,

about to die, calls the gods and the stars that know her fate to witness;

520then she calls on whatever divine power cares for lovers bound unequally,

whatever power is just and remembers.

It was night, and across the lands weary bodies

were taking peaceful sleep; forests and savage

seas had fallen still, when the stars roll on in their midway course,

525when every field is silent, the cattle and bright-colored birds,

all that dwell in the wide clear lakes, all that dwell in fields

rough with thickets, laid to sleep beneath the silent night,

eased their cares, their hearts forgetful of toil.

But not the Phoenician, wretched in spirit; never

530does she yield to sleep or take night into her eyes

or in her breast: cares redouble, and love, rising again,

rages and surges on a mighty tide of anger.

So she comes to this resolve and turns it over in her heart:

"What am I to do? Shall I, a laughingstock, try again

535my former suitors, and go as a suppliant seeking marriage with the Nomads,

whom I have so often already disdained as husbands?

Then shall I follow the Trojan fleets and submit to the final

commands of the Teucrians? Because they were once relieved by my aid,

and gratitude for an old kindness stands firm among grateful hearts?

540But who, suppose I wished it, will let me go, or on their proud ships

receive me, hated as I am? Lost woman, do you not know, do you not yet

feel the perjuries of Laomedon's race?

What then? Shall I go alone with the sailors exulting in flight,

or, surrounded by Tyrians and all the force of my people,

545bear down on them, and those whom I scarcely tore from the Sidonian city

drive again over the sea and order them to give sails to the winds?

No: die as you deserve, and end grief with steel.

You, sister, overcome by my tears, were first, while I raved,

to load these evils on me and expose me to the enemy.

550Was I not free to live without marriage and without blame,

like a wild creature, and never touch such anguish?

I did not keep the faith I promised to Sychaeus' ashes!"

Such great laments she tore from her own breast.

554Aeneas celsa in puppi, iam certus eundi,

555carpebat somnos, rebus iam rite paratis.

Huic se forma dei voltu redeuntis eodem

obtulit in somnis, rursusque ita visa monere est—

omnia Mercurio similis, vocemque coloremque

et crinis flavos et membra decora iuventa:

560Nate dea, potes hoc sub casu ducere somnos,

nec, quae te circum stent deinde pericula, cernis,

demens, nec Zephyros audis spirare secundos?

Illa dolos dirumque nefas in pectore versat,

certa mori, varioque irarum fluctuat aestu.

565Non fugis hinc praeceps, dum praecipitare potestas?

Iam mare turbari trabibus, saevasque videbis

conlucere faces, iam fervere litora flammis,

si te his attigerit terris Aurora morantem.

Heia age, rumpe moras. Varium et mutabile semper

570femina. Sic fatus, nocti se immiscuit atrae.

Tum vero Aeneas, subitis exterritus umbris,

corripit e somno corpus, sociosque fatigat:

Praecipites vigilate, viri, et considite transtris;

solvite vela citi. Deus aethere missus ab alto

575festinare fugam tortosque incidere funes

ecce iterum stimulat. Sequimur te, sancte deorum,

quisquis es, imperioque iterum paremus ovantes.

Adsis o placidusque iuves, et sidera caelo

dextra feras. Dixit, vaginaque eripit ensem

580fulmineum, strictoque ferit retinacula ferro.

Idem omnes simul ardor habet, rapiuntque ruuntque;

litora deseruere; latet sub classibus aequor;

adnixi torquent spumas et caerula verrunt.

Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras

585Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile.

Regina e speculis ut primum albescere lucem

vidit, et aequatis classem procedere velis,

litoraque et vacuos sensit sine remige portus,

terque quaterque manu pectus percussa decorum,

590flaventesque abscissa comas, Pro Iuppiter, ibit

hic ait et nostris inluserit advena regnis?

Non arma expedient, totaque ex urbe sequentur,

deripientque rates alii navalibus? Ite,

ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos!—

595Quid loquor, aut ubi sum? Quae mentem insania mutat?

Infelix Dido, nunc te facta impia tangunt.

Tum decuit, cum sceptra dabas.—En dextra fidesque,

quem secum patrios aiunt portare Penates,

quem subiisse umeris confectum aetate parentem!

600Non potui abreptum divellere corpus, et undis

spargere? Non socios, non ipsum absumere ferro

Ascanium, patriisque epulandum ponere mensis?—

Verum anceps pugnae fuerat fortuna:—fuisset.

Quem metui moritura? Faces in castra tulissem,

605implessemque foros flammis, natumque patremque

cum genere extinxem, memet super ipsa dedissem.

Sol, qui terrarum flammis opera omnia lustras,

tuque harum interpres curarum et conscia Iuno,

nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes,

610et Dirae ultrices, et di morientis Elissae,

accipite haec, meritumque malis advertite numen,

et nostras audite preces. Si tangere portus

infandum caput ac terris adnare necesse est,

et sic fata Iovis poscunt, hic terminus haeret:

615at bello audacis populi vexatus et armis,

finibus extorris, complexu avulsus Iuli,

auxilium imploret, videatque indigna suorum

funera; nec, cum se sub leges pacis iniquae

tradiderit, regno aut optata luce fruatur,

620sed cadat ante diem, mediaque inhumatus harena.

Haec precor, hanc vocem extremam cum sanguine fundo.

Tum vos, o Tyrii, stirpem et genus omne futurum

exercete odiis, cinerique haec mittite nostro

munera. Nullus amor populis, nec foedera sunto.

625Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor,

qui face Dardanios ferroque sequare colonos,

nunc, olim, quocumque dabunt se tempore vires.

Litora litoribus contraria, fluctibus undas

imprecor, arma armis; pugnent ipsique nepotesque.

554Aeneas, on the high stern, now certain he would go,

555was snatching sleep, with all things now duly prepared.

Before him the god's form, returning with the same face,

appeared in dreams and again seemed to warn him thus—

in all things like Mercury, in voice and color

and golden hair and limbs lovely with youth:

560"Son of the goddess, can you sleep on in such a crisis,

madman, and not see what dangers crowd around you,

nor hear the favorable west winds breathing?

She is turning treachery and dreadful crime over in her heart,

fixed on death, and she tosses on the shifting tide of anger.

565Will you not flee headlong from here, while headlong flight is possible?

Soon you will see the sea churned by timbers, and savage

torches blaze, soon the shore seethe with flames,

if Dawn finds you lingering in these lands.

Come now, break delay. A woman is always fickle, always

570changing." So he spoke and mingled with black night.

Then Aeneas, truly terrified by the sudden shadows,

starts from sleep and rouses his comrades:

"Wake at once, men, and take your seats on the thwarts;

quickly loose the sails. A god sent from high heaven

575to hasten flight and cut the twisted ropes

once again spurs us on. We follow you, holy one of the gods,

whoever you are, and again obey your command gladly.

Be present, be gracious and help, and in the sky

guide the stars aright." He spoke, and from the sheath he snatches his sword

580like lightning, and with drawn steel strikes the mooring lines.

The same ardor grips all at once; they snatch and rush;

they left the shores; the sea lies hidden beneath the fleet;

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

And now early Dawn was sprinkling the lands with new light,

585leaving Tithonus' saffron bed.

As soon as the queen from her watchtower saw the light grow white

and the fleet moving forward with even sails,

and saw the empty shore and oarless harbors,

striking her lovely breast three times, then four,

590and tearing her golden hair: "By Jupiter, will he go—

this stranger," she says, "and mock my kingdom?

Will my people not ready arms and give chase from the whole city,

will others not drag ships from the dockyards? Go,

bring flames quickly, set sails, drive the oars!—

595What am I saying, or where am I? What madness turns my mind?

Unhappy Dido, only now does impiety strike you.

That was the time—when you gave him power. Behold his pledged hand and good faith,

of the man who, they say, carries his ancestral Penates with him,

who took his age-worn father on his shoulders!

600Could I not have seized him, torn his body apart, and across the waves

scattered it? Could I not have slaughtered his comrades with the sword,

Ascanius himself, and set him as a feast on his father's tables?—

But battle's outcome would have been doubtful. Let it have been!

Whom had I to fear, since I meant to die? I would have carried torches into camp,

605filled the decks with flames, and son and father

extinguished with their whole race, then given myself to death upon it all.

Sun, who with your flames survey all the works of the lands,

and you, Juno, interpreter and witness of these cares,

and Hecate, howled to by night at crossroads through cities,

610and avenging Furies, and gods of Elissa as she dies,

receive these words, and turn your power as my wrongs deserve,

and hear my prayers. If that accursed man must reach a harbor

and make his way to land,

and so Jupiter's fates demand, and this end stands fixed:

615then, harried by war and by the arms of a bold people,

an exile from his borders, torn from Iulus' embrace,

let him beg for help and see the undeserved deaths

of his own; nor, when he has surrendered himself under the terms

of an unjust peace, let him enjoy his kingdom or the longed-for light,

620but let him fall before his day, unburied amid the sand.

This I pray; this final cry I pour out with my blood.

Then you, O Tyrians, his stock and all the future race

harry with hatred, and send this to my ashes

as your offering. Let there be no love between the peoples, no treaties.

625Rise up, some avenger, from my bones,

to hunt the Dardan settlers with torch and sword,

now or hereafter, whenever strength is given.

I call down this curse: shores against shores, waves against waves,

arms against arms; let them and their descendants fight."

630Haec ait, et partis animum versabat in omnis,

invisam quaerens quam primum abrumpere lucem.

Tum breviter Barcen nutricem adfata Sychaei;

namque suam patria antiqua cinis ater habebat:

Annam cara mihi nutrix huc siste sororem;

635dic corpus properet fluviali spargere lympha,

et pecudes secum et monstrata piacula ducat:

sic veniat; tuque ipsa pia tege tempora vitta.

Sacra Iovi Stygio, quae rite incepta paravi,

perficere est animus, finemque imponere curis,

640Dardaniique rogum capitis permittere flammae.

Sic ait: illa gradum studio celerabat anili.

At trepida, et coeptis immanibus effera Dido,

sanguineam volvens aciem, maculisque trementis

interfusa genas, et pallida morte futura,

645interiora domus inrumpit limina, et altos

conscendit furibunda rogos, ensemque recludit

Dardanium, non hos quaesitum munus in usus.

Hic, postquam Iliacas vestes notumque cubile

conspexit, paulum lacrimis et mente morata,

650incubuitque toro, dixitque novissima verba:

Dulces exuviae, dum fata deusque sinebant,

accipite hanc animam, meque his exsolvite curis.

Vixi, et, quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi,

et nunc magna mei sub terras ibit imago.

655Urbem praeclaram statui; mea moenia vidi;

ulta virum, poenas inimico a fratre recepi;

felix, heu nimium felix, si litora tantum

numquam Dardaniae tetigissent nostra carinae!

Dixit, et, os impressa toro, Moriemur inultae,

660sed moriamur ait. Sic, sic iuvat ire sub umbras:

Hauriat hunc oculis ignem crudelis ab alto

Dardanus, et nostrae secum ferat omina mortis.

Dixerat; atque illam media inter talia ferro

conlapsam aspiciunt comites, ensemque cruore

665spumantem, sparsasque manus. It clamor ad alta

atria; concussam bacchatur Fama per urbem.

Lamentis gemituque et femineo ululatu

tecta fremunt; resonat magnis plangoribus aether,

non aliter, quam si immissis ruat hostibus omnis

670Karthago aut antiqua Tyros, flammaeque furentes

culmina perque hominum volvantur perque deorum.

Audiit exanimis, trepidoque exterrita cursu

unguibus ora soror foedans et pectora pugnis

per medios ruit, ac morientem nomine clamat:

675Hoc illud, germana, fuit? Me fraude petebas?

Hoc rogus iste mihi, hoc ignes araeque parabant?

Quid primum deserta querar? Comitemne sororem

sprevisti moriens? Eadem me ad fata vocasses:

idem ambas ferro dolor, atque eadem hora tulisset.

680His etiam struxi manibus, patriosque vocavi

voce deos, sic te ut posita crudelis abessem?

Exstinxti te meque, soror, populumque patresque

Sidonios urbemque tuam. Date volnera lymphis

abluam, et, extremus si quis super halitus errat,

685ore legam. Sic fata, gradus evaserat altos,

semianimemque sinu germanam amplexa fovebat

cum gemitu, atque atros siccabat veste cruores.

Illa, graves oculos conata attollere, rursus

deficit; infixum stridit sub pectore vulnus.

690Ter sese attollens cubitoque adnixa levavit;

ter revoluta toro est, oculisque errantibus alto

quaesivit caelo lucem, ingemuitque reperta.

Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem

difficilisque obitus, Irim demisit Olympo,

695quae luctantem animam nexosque resolveret artus.

Nam quia nec fato, merita nec morte peribat,

sed misera ante diem, subitoque accensa furore,

nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem

abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat Orco.

700Ergo Iris croceis per caelum roscida pennis,

mille trahens varios adverso sole colores,

devolat, et supra caput adstitit: Hunc ego Diti

sacrum iussa fero, teque isto corpore solvo.

Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat: omnis et una

705dilapsus calor, atque in ventos vita recessit.

630She said this and turned her mind through every course,

seeking to cut short the hated light as soon as she could.

Then briefly she addressed Barce, Sychaeus' nurse;

for black ash held her own nurse in the old homeland:

"Dear nurse, bring my sister Anna here;

635tell her to hurry and sprinkle her body with river water,

and bring with her the victims and prescribed expiatory offerings:

let her come so; and you yourself veil your temples with a sacred fillet.

The rites for Stygian Jove, which I have duly begun and prepared,

I mean to complete, to set an end to my cares,

640and hand the Dardanian's pyre over to the flame."

So she spoke; the nurse hurried her step with an old woman's zeal.

But Dido, trembling and maddened by her monstrous purpose,

rolling her bloodshot gaze, her quivering cheeks

mottled with blotches and pale with death to come,

645bursts across the house's inner thresholds and in frenzy

climbs the high pyre and draws the Dardanian sword,

a gift never sought for such a use as this.

There, when she saw the Trojan garments and the familiar bed,

she paused a little in tears and thought,

650then sank upon the couch and spoke her last words:

"Dear relics, while fate and the god allowed,

receive this soul, and release me from these cares.

I have lived, and I have finished the course Fortune gave me,

and now my great shade will pass beneath the earth.

655I founded a splendid city; I saw my own walls;

I avenged my husband and exacted punishment from my hostile brother;

happy, ah too happy, if only

Dardanian keels had never touched our shores!"

She spoke and, pressing her mouth to the couch: "I shall die unavenged,

660but let me die," she said. "Thus, thus I am glad to go beneath the shades:

let the cruel Dardanian drink in this fire with his eyes from far at sea

and carry with him the omens of my death."

She had spoken; and amid these words her attendants see her

collapsed on the blade, the sword foaming

665with blood, her hands spattered. A cry rises through the high

halls; Rumor runs riot through the shaken city.

With laments, groaning, and women's wailing

the houses roar; the air resounds with mighty wails,

just as if enemies had broken in and all

670Carthage or ancient Tyre were falling, and raging flames

were rolling over the roofs of men and of gods.

Her sister heard, beside herself with shock, and at a frantic run,

disfiguring her face with her nails and her breast with her fists,

she rushes through the crowd and calls the dying woman by name:

675"Was this your meaning, sister? Were you deceiving me?

Was this what that pyre, these fires and altars prepared for me?

Abandoned, what shall I lament first? As you died,

did you scorn your sister as companion? You should have called me to the same fate:

the same grief would have taken us both by the sword, at the same hour.

680Did I build this with my own hands and call on our fathers'

gods with my voice, only to be absent, heartless, while you lay here?

You have destroyed yourself and me, sister, our people and the Sidonian

fathers, and your city. Bring water for the wounds;

I will wash them, and if any last breath still wanders,

685I will catch it with my mouth." So saying, she had climbed the high steps,

and, embracing her half-alive sister, warmed her against her breast

with a groan, and dried the dark blood with her robe.

Dido, trying again to lift her heavy eyes,

sinks back; the deep wound hisses beneath her breast.

690Three times she tried to rise, propped on her elbow;

three times she rolled back on the couch, and with wandering eyes

sought the light in high heaven, and groaned when she found it.

Then almighty Juno, pitying her long pain

and painful death, sent Iris down from Olympus,

695to release the struggling soul and loosen the bound limbs.

For she was dying neither by fate nor by a death she had earned,

but, wretched, before her day, suddenly kindled to frenzy,

Proserpina had not yet taken from her crown

the golden hair, nor consigned her head to Stygian Orcus.

700So Iris, dewy on saffron wings, across the sky,

drawing a thousand shifting colors against the sun,

flies down and takes her place above her head: "This lock, sacred to Dis,

I bear as ordered, and release you from that body."

So she spoke, and with her right hand cut the lock: all at once

705all warmth slipped away, and life withdrew into the winds.