Aeneid, Book 8: Evander & the Shield

1Ut belli signum Laurenti Turnus ab arce

extulit et rauco strepuerunt cornua cantu,

utque acris concussit equos utque impulit arma,

extemplo turbati animi, simul omne tumultu

5coniurat trepido Latium saevitque iuventus

effera. Ductores primi Messapus et Ufens

contemptorque deum Mezentius undique cogunt

auxilia et latos vastant cultoribus agros.

mittitur et magni Venulus Diomedis ad urbem,

10qui petat auxilium et Latio consistere Teucros,

advectum Aenean classi victosque penatis

inferre et fatis regem se dicere posci

edoceat multasque viro se adiungere gentis

Dardanio et late Latio increbrescere nomen.

15Quid struat his coeptis, quem, si Fortuna sequatur,

eventum pugnae cupiat, manifestius ipsi

quam Turno regi aut regi apparere Latino.

Talia per Latium. Quae Laomedontius heros

cuncta videns magno curarum fluctuat aestu,

20atque animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc.

In partisque rapit varias perque omnia versat:

sicut aquae tremulum labris ubi lumen aenis

sole repercussum aut radiantis imagine lunae

omnia pervolitat late loca iamque sub auras

25erigitur summique ferit lacuaria tecti.

Nox erat, et terras animalia fessa per omnis

alituum pecudumque genus sopor altus habebat:

cum pater in ripa gelidique sub aetheris axe

Aeneas, tristi turbatus pectora bello,

30procubuit seramque dedit per membra quietem.

1When Turnus raised the signal for war from Laurentum's citadel

and the horns blared their hoarse note, when he

roused his fierce horses and clashed his armor,

at once hearts were shaken; amid a tumult of alarm,

5all Latium swore as one, and its young warriors raged

unbridled. The foremost leaders, Messapus and Ufens,

and Mezentius, scorner of the gods, mustered from every side

allied troops and stripped the wide fields of their tillers.

Venulus too is sent to the city of mighty Diomedes,

10to seek his aid and inform him that the Teucrians are established in Latium;

Aeneas has arrived with a fleet and is bringing in his vanquished Penates;

he claims the fates demand him as king;

many peoples are joining the Dardanian hero,

and Aeneas' name is spreading far through Latium.

15What Aeneas intends to make of these beginnings, what outcome

of battle he desires if Fortune favors him, is clearer

to Diomedes himself than to King Turnus or King Latinus.

So matters stood throughout Latium. Seeing all this, Aeneas,

the hero of Laomedon's line, is tossed on a great tide of cares;

20he divides his swift mind now this way, now that,

drives it among competing plans and turns over every course:

as when, in a bronze basin, the trembling gleam of water,

thrown back by the sun or the image of the radiant moon,

flits far and wide through every part, then rises

25into the air and strikes the panels of the high ceiling.

It was night, and across every land deep sleep held

weary creatures, the tribes of birds and beasts,

when father Aeneas, on the riverbank beneath the cold vault

of the sky, his heart troubled by grim war,

30lay down and gave his limbs belated rest.

31Huic deus ipse loci fluvio Tiberinus amoeno

populeas inter senior se attollere frondes

visus; eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu

carbasus, et crinis umbrosa tegebat harundo,

35tum sic adfari et curas his demere dictis:

O sate gente deum, Troianam ex hostibus urbem

qui revehis nobis aeternaque Pergama servas,

exspectate solo Laurenti arvisque Latinis,

hic tibi certa domus, certi, ne absiste, penates;

40neu belli terrere minis: tumor omnis et irae

concessere deum.

Iamque tibi, ne vana putes haec fingere somnum,

litoreis ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus,

triginta capitum fetus enixa, iacebit,

45alba, solo recubans, albi circum ubera nati.

Hic locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum

ex quo ter denis urbem redeuntibus annis

Ascanius clari condet cognominis Albam.

Haud incerta cano. Nunc qua ratione quod instat

50expedias victor, paucis (adverte) docebo.

Arcades his oris, genus a Pallante profectum,

qui regem Euandrum comites, qui signa secuti,

delegere locum et posuere in montibus urbem

Pallantis proavi de nomine Pallanteum.

55Hi bellum adsidue ducunt cum gente Latina;

hos castris adhibe socios et foedera iunge.

Ipse ego te ripis et recto flumine ducam,

adversum remis superes subvectus ut amnem.

Surge age, nate dea, primisque cadentibus astris

60Iunoni fer rite preces iramque minasque

supplicibus supera votis. Mihi victor honorem

persolves. Ego sum pleno quem flumine cernis

stringentem ripas et pinguia culta secantem,

caeruleus Thybris, caelo gratissimus amnis.

65Hic mihi magna domus, celsis caput urbibus, exit.

31To him Tiberinus himself, god of that place, appeared,

an old man rising from the lovely river amid poplar leaves.

Fine linen veiled him in a blue-green mantle,

and shadowing reeds covered his hair.

35Then he spoke to him and with these words dispelled his cares:

"Born of divine stock, you who bring Troy's city

back to us from enemy hands and keep Pergamum alive forever,

long awaited by Laurentine soil and the fields of Latium,

here your home is assured, your Penates assured. Do not turn back,

40or fear the threats of war: all swelling and anger of the gods

have subsided.

And now, lest you think sleep has invented an empty vision,

you will find a huge sow beneath holm oaks along the riverbank,

lying there after farrowing a litter of thirty,

45white on the ground, her white young clustered around her teats.

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

From that time, when thirty years have run their course,

Ascanius will found a city of renowned name: Alba.

I foretell no uncertainties. Now I will tell you briefly how

50to master the crisis at hand and emerge victorious. Attend.

On these shores Arcadians, a people descended from Pallas,

companions of King Evander who followed his standards,

chose a place and built a city on the hills,

Pallanteum, named for their forefather Pallas.

55They wage ceaseless war against the Latin people.

Take them into your camp as allies and make a treaty with them.

I myself will guide you by my banks, straight along the stream,

so, carried upstream, you can overcome the opposing current with your oars.

Rise now, goddess-born; as the first stars are setting,

60duly offer prayers to Juno, and overcome her anger and threats

with suppliant vows. When victorious, you will render me

full honor. I am the one you see in full flood,

brushing the banks and cutting through rich farmland,

blue-green Tiber, the river dearest to heaven.

65Here is my great home; my source rises among lofty cities."

66Dixit, deinde lacu fluvius se condidit alto,

ima petens; nox Aenean somnusque reliquit.

Surgit et aetherii spectans orientia solis

lumina rite cavis undam de flumine palmis

70sustinet ac talis effundit ad aethera voces:

Nymphae, Laurentes nymphae, genus amnibus unde est,

tuque, o Thybri tuo genitor cum flumine sancto,

accipite Aenean et tandem arcete periclis.

Quo te cumque lacus miserantem incommoda nostra

75fonte tenet, quocumque solo pulcherrimus exis,

semper honore meo, semper celebrabere donis

corniger hesperidum fluvius regnator aquarum.

Adsis o tantum et propius tua numina firmes.

sic memorat geminasque legit de classe biremis

80remigioque aptat, socios simul instruit armis.

Ecce autem subitum atque oculis mirabile monstrum;

candida per silvam cum fetu concolor albo

procubuit viridique in litore conspicitur sus.

Quam pius Aeneas tibi enim, tibi, maxuma Iuno,

85mactat sacra ferens et cum grege sistit ad aram.

Thybris ea fluvium, quam longa est, nocte tumentem

leniit, et tacita refluens ita substitit unda,

mitis ut in morem stagni placidaeque paludis

sterneret aequor aquis, remo ut luctamen abesset.

90Ergo iter inceptum celerant rumore secundo;

labitur uncta vadis abies; mirantur et undae,

miratur nemus insuetum fulgentia longe

scuta virum fluvio pictasque innare carinas.

Olli remigio noctemque diemque fatigant

95et longos superant flexus variisque teguntur

arboribus viridisque secant placido aequore silvas.

Sol medium caeli conscenderat igneus orbem,

cum muros arcemque procul ac rara domorum

tecta vident, quae nunc Romana potentia caelo

100aequavit, tum res inopes Euandrus habebat:

ocius advertunt proras urbique propinquant.

66He spoke; then the river-god hid himself in the deep pool,

seeking its depths. Night and sleep left Aeneas.

He rose and, gazing toward the rising light

of the sun in heaven, duly raised river water

70in his cupped hands and poured these words to the sky:

"Nymphs, Laurentine Nymphs, from whom the rivers take their birth,

and you, Father Tiber, with your sacred stream,

receive Aeneas and at last keep him safe from dangers.

Whatever pool holds you at your source, pitying our troubles,

75from whatever soil you rise most beautiful,

always you will have my worship, always my gifts,

horned river, ruler of western waters.

Only stand by us now and confirm your divine power close at hand."

So he prayed, then chose two biremes from the fleet

80and manned them with oarsmen, while arming his comrades.

Then suddenly, before their eyes, came a wondrous portent:

through the wood, a white sow with a litter white as herself

lay stretched out and came into view on the green bank.

Dutiful Aeneas, for you, yes, for you, great Juno,

85brought her with all her litter to the altar and offered her there in solemn sacrifice.

All through that long night Tiber calmed his swollen stream

and, drawing back in silence, held it so still

and gentle, like a pond or peaceful marsh,

that he spread his waters level and the oars met no resistance.

90So they hastened on their journey amid favorable shouts;

the tarred fir hulls glided over the shallows; the waves marveled,

and the grove, unused to such a sight, marveled at men's shields

gleaming far off and painted hulls afloat on the river.

They wearied night and day with rowing,

95passed the river's long bends beneath trees of every kind,

and cut through green woods mirrored on its tranquil surface.

The fiery sun had climbed to mid-heaven

when they saw far off walls, a citadel, and scattered

roofs, which Roman power has now raised level with heaven;

100then Evander held only a poor domain.

At once they turned their prows toward land and drew near the city.

102Forte die sollemnem illo rex Arcas honorem

Amphitryoniadae magno divisque ferebat

ante urbem in luco. Pallas huic filius una,

105una omnes iuvenum primi pauperque senatus

tura dabant, tepidusque cruor fumabat ad aras.

Ut celsas videre rates atque inter opacum

adlabi nemus et tacitis incumbere remis,

terrentur visu subito cunctique relictis

110consurgunt mensis. Audax quos rumpere Pallas

sacra vetat raptoque volat telo obvius ipse

et procul e tumulo: Iuvenes, quae causa subegit

ignotas temptare vias, quo tenditis? inquit.

Qui genus? Unde domo? Pacemne huc fertis an arma?

115Tum pater Aeneas puppi sic fatur ab alta

paciferaeque manu ramum praetendit olivae:

Troiugenas ac tela vides inimica Latinis,

quos illi bello profugos egere superbo.

Euandrum petimus. Ferte haec et dicite lectos

120Dardaniae venisse duces socia arma rogantis.

Obstipuit tanto percussus nomine Pallas:

Egredere o quicumque es ait coramque parentem

adloquere ac nostris succede penatibus hospes.

excepitque manu dextramque amplexus inhaesit.

125Progressi subeunt luco fluviumque relinquunt.

Tum regem Aeneas dictis adfatur amicis:

Optume Graiugenum, cui me Fortuna precari

et vitta comptos voluit praetendere ramos,

non equidem extimui, Danaum quod ductor et Arcas

130quodque a stirpe fores geminis coniunctus Atridis;

sed mea me virtus et sancta oracula divom

cognatique patres, tua terris didita fama,

coniunxere tibi et fatis egere volentem.

Dardanus, Iliacae primus pater urbis et auctor,

135Electra, ut Grai perhibent, Atlantide cretus,

advehitur Teucros; Electram maxumus Atlas

edidit, aetherios umero qui sustinet orbes

vobis Mercurius pater est, quem candida Maia

Cyllenae gelido conceptum vertice fudit;

140at Maiam, auditis si quicquam credimus, Atlas,

idem Atlas generat, caeli qui sidera tollit.

Sic genus amborum scindit se sanguine ab uno.

His fretus non legatos neque prima per artem

temptamenta tui pepigi: me, me ipse meumque

145obieci caput et supplex ad limina veni.

Gens eadem, quae te, crudeli Daunia bello

insequitur; nos si pellant, nihil afore credunt,

quin omnem Hesperiam penitus sua sub iuga mittant

et mare quod supra teneant quodque adluit infra.

150Accipe daque fidem: sunt nobis fortia bello

pectora, sunt animi et rebus spectata iuventus.

102By chance, on that very day, the Arcadian king was paying

the annual honor due to the mighty son of Amphitryon and to the gods

in a sacred grove before the city. His son Pallas stood beside him;

105with them all the foremost young men and their poor senate

offered incense, while warm blood smoked at the altars.

When they saw the tall ships gliding in

among the shadowed grove and pressing forward on silent oars,

the sudden sight alarmed them; all abandoned

110the tables and rose. Bold Pallas forbade them

to break off the rites; snatching up a weapon, he himself rushed to meet them

and, from a mound at a distance, called: "Young men, what cause has driven you

to venture on unknown ways? Where are you headed?

What is your lineage? Where is your home? Do you bring peace here or arms?"

115Then father Aeneas spoke from high on the stern

and held out in his hand a peace-bearing olive branch:

"Trojans you see, and weapons arrayed against the Latins,

who drove us into exile by their arrogant war.

We seek Evander. Take him this message: chosen leaders

120of Dardania have come to ask for an alliance in arms."

Pallas stood amazed, struck by that great name:

"Come ashore, whoever you are," he said, "and address

my father face to face; come as a guest beneath our Penates."

He welcomed him, grasping his right hand and holding it fast.

125They went on into the grove, leaving the river behind.

Then Aeneas addressed the king in words of friendship:

"Noblest of the Greeks, Fortune has willed me to appeal to you

and hold out before you branches bound with fillets.

I did not shrink because you are a Danaan leader and an Arcadian,

130or because by lineage you are bound to Atreus' two sons;

instead, my own courage, the gods' holy oracles,

our kindred fathers, and your fame spread through the lands

have bound me to you and, by the fates, driven me here willingly.

Dardanus, first father and founder of the city of Ilium,

135born, as the Greeks report, from Electra, daughter of Atlas,

came by sea to the Teucrians. Mighty Atlas fathered Electra,

he who bears the heavenly spheres upon his shoulder.

Mercury is your father; radiant Maia conceived

and bore him on Cyllene's cold summit;

140and Maia, if we put any trust in what we hear, was fathered

by that same Atlas who lifts the stars of heaven.

Thus both our lineages branch from a single blood.

Trusting in these ties, I sent no envoys and devised no

crafty first approach to test you: I came in person, staking

145my own life, a suppliant at your threshold.

That same Daunian people pursues you in a cruel war;

if they drive us out, they believe nothing will stand

in the way of bringing all Hesperia entirely beneath their yoke

and commanding both seas, the one above and the one that washes below.

150Accept our pledge and give your own: we have hearts strong

in war, we have courage, and young warriors proven in action."

152Dixerat Aeneas. Ille os oculosque loquentis

iamdudum et totum lustrabat lumine corpus.

Tum sic pauca refert: Ut te, fortissime Teucrum,

155accipio agnoscoque libens! Ut verba parentis

et vocem Anchisae magni voltumque recordor!

Nam memini Hesionae visentem regna sororis

Laomedontiaden Priamum, Salamina petentem,

protinus Arcadiae gelidos invisere finis.

160Tum mihi prima genas vestibat flore iuventas,

mirabarque duces Teucros, mirabar et ipsum

Laomedontiaden, sed cunctis altior ibat

Anchises: mihi mens iuvenali ardebat amore

compellare virum et dextrae coniungere dextram.

165Accessi et cupidus Phenei sub moenia duxi.

Ille mihi insignem pharetram Lyciasque sagittas

discedens chlamydemque auro dedit intertextam

frenaque bina meus quae nunc habet aurea Pallas.

Ergo et quam petitis iuncta est mihi foedere dextra,

170et lux cum primum terris se crastina reddet,

auxilio laetos dimittam opibusque iuvabo.

Interea sacra haec, quando huc venistis amici,

annua, quae differre nefas, celebrate faventes

nobiscum et iam nunc sociorum adsuescite mensis.

175Haec ubi dicta, dapes iubet et sublata reponi

pocula gramineoque viros locat ipse sedili

praecipuumque toro et villosi pelle leonis

accipit Aenean solioque invitat acerno.

Tum lecti iuvenes certatim araeque sacerdos

180viscera tosta ferunt taurorum onerantque canistris

dona laboratae Cereris Bacchumque ministrant.

Vescitur Aeneas simul et Troiana iuventus

perpetui tergo bovis et lustralibus extis.

152Aeneas had spoken. Evander had long been examining the speaker's face

and eyes, sweeping his gaze over his whole body.

Then he answered in a few words: "How gladly I welcome and recognize you,

155bravest of Trojans! How well I remember the words of your father,

great Anchises, his voice and his face!

For I remember Priam, Laomedon's son, traveling

to Salamis to visit the realm of his sister Hesione,

then going straight on to visit Arcadia's cold frontiers.

160Then the first bloom of youth was just spreading over my cheeks,

and I marveled at the Trojan captains; I marveled at Priam himself,

Laomedon's son; but Anchises walked taller than them all:

my heart burned with a young man's longing

to speak to him and join my right hand with his.

165I approached and eagerly led him beneath the walls of Pheneus.

When he departed, he gave me a splendid quiver and Lycian arrows,

a cloak interwoven with gold, and a pair of golden

bridles, which my Pallas now keeps.

So my right hand, which you seek, is joined to yours in covenant,

170and as soon as tomorrow's light returns to the earth,

I will send you on your way rejoicing in my support and help you with my resources.

Meanwhile, since you have come here as friends, join us wholeheartedly

in celebrating these annual rites, which it would be impious to postpone,

and from this moment grow accustomed to the tables of allies."

175After these words, he orders the food and cups that had been cleared away

set out again, and himself seats the men on benches of turf;

he welcomes Aeneas as the honored guest and invites him to a maple seat

furnished with a cushion and the hide of a shaggy lion.

Then chosen young men and the priest at the altar vie in bringing

180the roasted flesh of bulls; they load the baskets with

Ceres' gifts worked into bread, and serve the wine of Bacchus.

Aeneas and the young Trojans feast together

on an ox's whole chine and the sacrificial entrails.

184Postquam exempta fames et amor compressus edendi,

185rex Euandrus ait: Non haec sollemnia nobis,

has ex more dapes, hanc tanti numinis aram

vana superstitio veterumque ignara deorum

inposuit: saevis, hospes Troiane, periclis

servati facimus meritosque novamus honores.

190Iam primum saxis suspensam hanc aspice rupem,

disiectae procul ut moles desertaque montis

stat domus et scopuli ingentem traxere ruinam.

Hic spelunca fuit, vasto summota recessu,

semihominis Caci facies quam dira tenebat

195solis inaccessam radiis; semperque recenti

caede tepebat humus, foribusque adfixa superbis

ora virum tristi pendebant pallida tabo.

Huic monstro Volcanus erat pater: illius atros

ore vomens ignis magna se mole ferebat.

200Attulit et nobis aliquando optantibus aetas

auxilium adventumque dei. Nam maximus ultor,

tergemini nece Geryonae spoliisque superbus

Alcides aderat taurosque hac victor agebat

ingentis, vallemque boves amnemque tenebant.

205At furiis Caci mens effera, nequid inausum

aut intractatum scelerisve dolive fuisset,

quattuor a stabulis praestanti corpore tauros

avertit, totidem forma superante iuvencas;

atque hos, nequa forent pedibus vestigia rectis,

210cauda in speluncam tractos versisque viarum

indiciis raptos saxo occultabat opaco:

quaerenti nulla ad speluncam signa ferebant.

Interea, cum iam stabulis saturata moveret

Amphytrioniades armenta abitumque pararet,

215discessu mugire boves atque omne querelis

impleri nemus et colles clamore relinqui.

reddidit una boum vocem vastoque sub antro

mugiit et Caci spem custodita fefellit.

184When hunger was gone and the desire to eat subdued,

185King Evander said: "These solemn rites of ours,

these customary feasts, this altar to a god of such power,

were not imposed on us by empty superstition

ignorant of the ancient gods. Trojan guest, saved from cruel dangers,

we perform them and renew the honors he has earned.

190First look at this rocky cliff hanging above us;

see its masses flung far and wide, the mountain's dwelling

standing deserted, its crags fallen in one vast collapse.

Here once was a cave, hidden deep in a vast recess,

occupied by Cacus, a hideous half-human figure,

195beyond the reach of sunlight. The ground was always warm

with fresh slaughter, and men's faces fixed to its lofty doors

hung pale with foul decay.

Vulcan was this monster's father. Spewing his father's black

fires from his mouth, he carried his vast bulk.

200At last, in answer to our prayers, time brought us

help and the coming of a god. For Alcides, the great avenger,

triumphant after killing three-bodied Geryon and taking his spoils,

had come; victorious, he drove massive bulls this way,

and the herd spread through the valley and along the river.

205But Cacus' savage mind, frenzied, would leave no act

of crime or fraud unattempted or untried:

from the stalls he stole four bulls of exceptional build

and as many heifers of surpassing beauty.

Then, so no tracks would show their hooves pointing forward,

210he dragged them by their tails into the cave; with every sign

of their route reversed, he hid the stolen cattle inside the dark rock.

No trace led anyone searching to the cave.

Meanwhile, as the son of Amphitryon led his well-fed herd

from the stalls and prepared to leave,

215the cattle lowed as they went; their plaintive cries filled

the whole grove and left the hills ringing.

One cow answered their call from deep inside the vast cave;

though held under guard, she lowed and foiled Cacus' hope.

219Hic vero Alcidae furiis exarserat atro

220felle dolor: rapit arma manu nodisque gravatum

robur et aerii cursu petit ardua montis.

Tum primum nostri Cacum videre timentem

turbatumque oculis: fugit ilicet ocior Euro

speluncamque petit, pedibus timor addidit alas.

225Ut sese inclusit ruptisque immane catenis

deiecit saxum, ferro quod et arte paterna

pendebat, fultosque emuniit obice postis,

ecce furens animis aderat Tirynthius omnemque

accessum lustrans huc ora ferebat et illuc,

230dentibus infrendens. Ter totum fervidus ira

lustrat Aventini montem, ter saxea temptat

limina nequiquam, ter fessus valle resedit.

Stabat acuta silex, praecisis undique saxis

speluncae dorso insurgens, altissima visu,

235dirarum nidis domus opportuna volucrum.

Hanc, ut prona iugo laevum incumbebat in amnem,

dexter in adversum nitens concussit et imis

avolsam solvit radicibus; inde repente

inpulit, inpulsu quo maximus intonat aether

240dissultant ripae refluitque exterritus amnis.

At specus et Caci detecta apparuit ingens

regia, et umbrosae penitus patuere cavernae:

non secus ac siqua penitus vi terra dehiscens

infernas reseret sedes et regna recludat

245pallida, dis invisa, superque immane barathrum

cernatur, trepident inmisso lumine manes.

Ergo insperata deprensum luce repente

inclusumque cavo saxo atque insueta rudentem

desuper Alcides telis premit omniaque arma

250advocat et ramis vastisque molaribus instat.

Ille autem, neque enim fuga iam super ulla pericli,

faucibus ingentem fumum (mirabile dictu)

evomit involvitque domum caligine caeca,

prospectum eripiens oculis, glomeratque sub antro

255fumiferam noctem commixtis igne tenebris.

Non tulit Alcides animis seque ipse per ignem

praecipiti iecit saltu, qua plurimus undam

fumus agit nebulaque ingens specus aestuat atra.

Hic Cacum in tenebris incendia vana vomentem

260corripit in nodum complexus et angit inhaerens

elisos oculos et siccum sanguine guttur.

Panditur extemplo foribus domus atra revolsis,

abstractaeque boves abiurataeque rapinae

caelo ostenduntur, pedibusque informe cadaver

265protrahitur. Nequeunt expleri corda tuendo

terribilis oculos, voltum villosaque saetis

pectora semiferi atque extinctos faucibus ignis.

219At this Alcides' grief blazed up in fury and black bile.

220He snatched up his weapons and the oak club weighted

with knots, and at a run made for the heights of the lofty mountain.

Then for the first time our people saw Cacus afraid

and shaken, panic in his eyes. At once he fled, faster than the East Wind,

and made for his cave; fear gave wings to his feet.

225Once he had shut himself in, he snapped the chains and dropped

a massive boulder, suspended there by iron and his father's craft,

and sealed the reinforced doorway with this barrier.

Now the Tirynthian arrived, raging. He searched

every approach, turning his face this way and that,

230gnashing his teeth. Three times, burning with anger, he circled

the whole Aventine hill; three times he tried the cave's stony

entrance in vain; three times he sank exhausted in the valley.

A jagged crag stood there, sheer on every side,

rearing from the cave's roof, immense to behold,

235a ready home for the nests of ill-omened birds.

It sloped from the ridge, leaning left over the river.

Bracing against it from the right, Hercules shook it and tore it

free from its deepest roots; then suddenly

he toppled it. At the blow, highest heaven thundered,

240the banks sprang apart, and the terrified river flowed backward.

Then the cavern stood exposed: Cacus' enormous

palace appeared, its shadowed chambers laid open to their depths.

It was as if earth, split open to its depths by some force,

unlocked the dwellings below and threw open

245the pale realms the gods abhor, and from above the vast abyss

came into view while the shades trembled as light poured in.

And now Cacus was suddenly caught in that unexpected light,

trapped inside the hollow rock and bellowing as never before.

From above Alcides pressed him with missiles and brought every weapon

250to bear, attacking with branches and massive millstones.

But Cacus, since no escape from danger now remained,

vomited from his throat a vast cloud of smoke, astonishing as it sounds,

and wrapped his lair in blinding murk,

blotting out all vision. Deep in the cave he massed

255a smoke-laden night, darkness mingled with fire.

Alcides could not endure it. He hurled himself through the fire

in a headlong leap, where smoke surged in its thickest waves

and the vast cavern seethed with black cloud.

There he seized Cacus as the monster vomited futile flames in the darkness,

260locked him in a knot of limbs and clung fast, strangling him,

until his eyes were forced from their sockets and his throat was drained dry of blood.

At once the black lair was thrown open, its doors wrenched away.

The cattle he had dragged off and the plunder he had denied on oath

were displayed beneath the open sky, and his misshapen corpse

265was hauled out by the feet. Their hearts could not be sated by the sight of

the terrible eyes and face, the shaggy, bristling chest

of the half-beast, and the fires extinguished in his throat.

268Ex illo celebratus honos, laetique minores

servavere diem, primusque Potitius auctor

270et domus Herculei custos Pinaria sacri.

Hanc aram luco statuit, quae maxuma semper

dicetur nobis et erit quae maxuma semper.

Quare agite, o iuvenes, tantarum in munere laudum

cingite fronde comas et pocula porgite dextris

275communemque vocate deum et date vina volentes.

Dixerat, Herculea bicolor cum populus umbra

velavitque comas foliisque innexa pependit

et sacer implevit dextram scyphus. Ocius omnes

in mensam laeti libant divosque precantur.

280Devexo interea propior fit Vesper Olympo,

iamque sacerdotes primusque Potitius ibant,

pellibus in morem cincti, flammasque ferebant.

Instaurant epulas et mensae grata secundae

dona ferunt cumulantque oneratis lancibus aras.

285tum Salii ad cantus incensa altaria circum

populeis adsunt evincti tempora ramis,

hic iuvenum chorus, ille senum; qui carmine laudes

Herculeas et facta ferunt: ut prima novercae

monstra manu geminosque premens eliserit angues,

290ut bello egregias idem disiecerit urbes,

Troiamque Oechaliamque, ut duros mille labores

rege sub Eurystheo fatis Iunonis iniquae

pertulerit. Tu nubigenas, invicte, bimembris

Hylaeeumque Pholumque, manu, tu Cresia mactas

295prodigia et vastum Nemeae sub rupe leonem.

Te Stygii tremuere lacus, te ianitor Orci

ossa super recubans antro semesa cruento;

nec te ullae facies, non terruit ipse Typhoeus,

arduus arma tenens; non te rationis egentem

300Lernaeus turba capitum circumstetit anguis.

Salve, vera Iovis proles, decus addite divis,

et nos et tua dexter adi pede sacra secundo.

Talia carminibus celebrant; super omnia Caci

speluncam adiciunt spirantemque ignibus ipsum.

305Consonat omne nemus strepitu collesque resultant.

268Since then the honor has been celebrated, and glad descendants

have kept the day. Potitius first founded the observance,

270and the house of the Pinarii guarded Hercules' rite.

He set this altar in the grove; by us it will always

be called the Greatest, and greatest it will always be.

Come then, young men, and join in this tribute to such glory:

crown your hair with leaves and extend the cups in your right hands;

275call on the god we share, and freely offer wine."

He finished. Then the two-colored poplar, sacred to Hercules,

wreathed his hair, its interlaced leaves hanging down,

and the sacred bowl filled his right hand. At once they all

gladly poured libations on the table and prayed to the gods.

280Meanwhile the Evening Star drew nearer as heaven declined,

and now the priests came, Potitius at their head,

girt with hides as custom prescribed and carrying torches.

They renewed the feast and brought the welcome offerings

of the second course, heaping the altars with laden platters.

285Then the Salii gathered for song around the blazing altars,

their temples bound with poplar branches,

here a dancing chorus of young men, there one of elders. In song

they proclaimed Hercules' praises and deeds: how his first monsters,

the twin snakes sent by his stepmother, he crushed in his grip;

290how he had also overthrown famous cities in war,

Troy and Oechalia; how a thousand harsh labors

under King Eurystheus, imposed by hostile Juno's decrees,

he endured. "Unconquered hero, by your own hand you strike down the cloud-born,

double-formed centaurs Hylaeus and Pholus; you strike down Crete's

295monsters and the huge lion beneath Nemea's rock.

The Stygian lakes trembled before you; so did Orcus' gatekeeper,

crouched over half-eaten bones in his blood-soaked cave.

No form ever frightened you, not Typhoeus himself,

towering with weapons in hand; nor were you at a loss for a plan

300when the Lernaean serpent hemmed you in with its swarm of heads.

Hail, true son of Jupiter, glory added to the gods;

come graciously to us and to your rites, with auspicious step."

Such deeds they celebrate in hymns; above all else they add Cacus'

cave and Cacus himself breathing fire.

305The whole grove rings with the din, and the hills echo it back.

306Exim se cuncti divinis rebus ad urbem

perfectis referunt. Ibat rex obsitus aevo

et comitem Aenean iuxta natumque tenebat

ingrediens varioque viam sermone levabat.

310miratur facilisque oculos fert omnia circum

Aeneas capiturque locis et singula laetus

exquiritque auditque virum monimenta priorum.

Tum rex Euandrus, Romanae conditor arcis:

Haec nemora indigenae fauni nymphaeque tenebant

315gensque virum truncis et duro robore nata,

quis neque mos neque cultus erat, nec iungere tauros

aut componere opes norant aut parcere parto,

sed rami atque asper victu venatus alebat.

Primus ab aetherio venit Saturnus Olympo,

320arma Iovis fugiens et regnis exsul ademptis.

Is genus indocile ac dispersum montibus altis

composuit legesque dedit Latiumque vocari

maluit, his quoniam latuisset tutis in oris.

Aurea quae perhibent illo sub rege fuere

325saecula. Sic placida populos in pace regebat,

deterior donec paulatim ac decolor aetas

et belli rabies et amor successit habendi.

Tum manus Ausonia et gentes venere Sicanae,

saepius et nomen posuit Saturnia tellus;

330tum reges asperque immani corpore Thybris,

a quo post Itali fluvium cognomine Thybrim

diximus, amisit verum vetus Albula nomen;

me pulsum patria pelagique extrema sequentem

Fortuna omnipotens et ineluctabile fatum

335his posuere locis matrisque egere tremenda

Carmentis nymphae monita et deus auctor Apollo.

306Then, once the sacred rites were complete, they all turned

back toward the city. The king, weighed down by years,

kept Aeneas at his side as companion, and his own son too;

as they walked, he lightened the road with talk of many things.

310Aeneas marvels, readily turning his eyes to everything around him;

the places captivate him, and gladly he asks about each one

and hears the traditions of men of old.

Then King Evander, founder of the Roman citadel, spoke:

"Native Fauns and nymphs once inhabited these groves,

315along with a race of men born from tree trunks and hard oak.

They had no customs, no culture; they did not know how to yoke bulls,

lay up stores, or preserve what they had gained;

instead, branches and the hard, scant fare of hunting sustained them.

Saturn was the first to come from heavenly Olympus,

320fleeing Jove's weapons, exiled and stripped of his realm.

He gathered that untaught race, scattered across the high mountains,

brought them into order, gave them laws, and chose the name Latium,

because he had lain hidden here, safe within these borders.

Under that king came the ages people call golden.

325He ruled his peoples in such untroubled peace,

until, little by little, a worse age followed, its brightness gone,

and with it war's frenzy and the lust to possess.

Then came an Ausonian war-band and Sicanian peoples,

and time and again Saturn's land changed its name.

330Then came kings, and fierce Thybris, a man of massive build;

after him we Italians later named the river Tiber,

and ancient Albula lost her true name.

Cast out from my homeland and seeking the sea's farthest bounds,

almighty Fortune and inescapable fate placed me here;

335the awe-inspiring warnings of my mother, the nymph Carmentis,

and Apollo, divine guide of my journey, drove me on."

337Vix ea dicta: dehinc progressus monstrat et aram

et Carmentalem Romani nomine portam

quam memorant, nymphae priscum Carmentis honorem,

340vatis fatidicae, cecinit quae prima futuros

Aeneadas magnos et nobile Pallanteum.

Hinc lucum ingentem quem Romulus acer Asylum

rettulit et gelida monstrat sub rupe Lupercal,

Parrhasio dictum Panos de more Lycaei.

345Nec non et sacri monstrat nemus Argileti

testaturque locum et letum docet hospitis Argi.

Hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia ducit,

aurea nunc, olim silvestribus horrida dumis.

Iam tum religio pavidos terrebat agrestis

350dira loci, iam tum silvam saxumque tremebant.

Hoc nemus, hunc, inquit, frondoso vertice collem

(quis deus incertum est) habitat deus: Arcades ipsum

credunt se vidisse Iovem, cum saepe nigrantem

aegida concuteret dextra nimbosque cieret.

355Haec duo praeterea disiectis oppida muris,

reliquias veterumque vides monimenta virorum.

Hanc Ianus pater, hanc Saturnus condidit arcem:

Ianiculum huic, illi fuerat Saturnia nomen.

Talibus inter se dictis ad tecta subibant

360pauperis Euandri passimque armenta videbant

Romanoque foro et lautis mugire Carinis.

Ut ventum ad sedes: Haec, inquit, limina victor

Alcides subiit, haec illum regia cepit.

Aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum

365finge deo rebusque veni non asper egenis.

dixit et angusti subter fastigia tecti

ingentem Aenean duxit stratisque locavit

effultum foliis et pelle Libystidis ursae.

Nox ruit et fuscis tellurem amplectitur alis.

337Scarcely had he spoken when, moving on, he points out an altar

and what Romans call the Carmental Gate,

an ancient honor they commemorate for the nymph Carmentis,

340the fate-revealing prophetess, who was first to foretell

the great descendants of Aeneas yet to come and noble Pallanteum.

From there he shows the vast grove that fierce Romulus later made

his Asylum, and beneath the cold cliff the Lupercal,

named for Lycaean Pan in the Parrhasian tradition.

345He also shows the sacred grove of Argiletum,

calls the place itself to witness, and tells of the death of his guest Argus.

From there he leads him to the Tarpeian Rock and the Capitol,

golden now, but once bristling with woodland thickets.

Even then the sacred power of the place struck the country folk with dread;

350even then they trembled before the wood and rock.

"This grove," he says, "this hill with its crown of leaves,

is a god's home (which god, no one knows). The Arcadians

believe they have seen Jupiter himself, time and again, as he shook

his black aegis in his right hand and summoned storm clouds.

355You also see these two towns, their walls thrown down,

the remains and monuments of men of old.

Father Janus founded this citadel, Saturn that one:

this was called Janiculum, that Saturnia."

Talking together in this way, they drew near the home

360of poor Evander and saw cattle everywhere,

lowing in the Roman Forum and the wealthy Carinae.

When they reached his dwelling, he said: "Victorious Alcides

crossed this threshold; this palace received him.

Dare, my guest, to scorn wealth, and make yourself worthy

365of the god as well. Come in with no disdain for our poverty."

He spoke, then beneath the roof of the cramped house

led mighty Aeneas and settled him on a couch

of leaves, spread with the hide of a Libyan she-bear.

Night rushes down and enfolds the earth in dusky wings.

370At Venus haud animo nequiquam exterrita mater

Laurentumque minis et duro mota tumultu

Volcanum adloquitur thalamoque haec coniugis aureo

incipit et dictis divinum adspirat amorem:

Dum bello Argolici vastabant Pergama reges

375debita casurasque inimicis ignibus arces,

non ullum auxilium miseris, non arma rogavi

artis opisque tuae nec te, carissime coniunx,

incassumve tuos volui exercere labores,

quamvis et Priami deberem plurima natis

380et durum Aeneae flevissem saepe laborem.

Nunc Iovis imperiis Rutulorum constitit oris:

ergo eadem supplex venio et sanctum mihi numen

arma rogo genetrix nato. Te filia Nerei,

te potuit lacrimis Tithonia flectere coniunx.

385Aspice qui coeant populi, quae moenia clausis

ferrum acuant portis in me exscidiumque meorum.

Dixerat et niveis hinc atque hinc diva lacertis

cunctantem amplexu molli fovet. Ille repente

accepit solitam flammam, notusque medullas

390intravit calor et labefacta per ossa cucurrit:

non secus atque olim tonitru cum rupta corusco

ignea rima micans percurrit lumine nimbos.

Sensit laeta dolis et formae conscia coniunx.

Tum pater aeterno fatur devinctus amore:

395Quid causas petis ex alto? Fiducia cessit

quo tibi, diva, mei? Similis si cura fuisset,

tum quoque fas nobis Teucros armare fuisset:

nec pater omnipotens Troiam nec fata vetabant

stare decemque alios Priamum superesse per annos.

400Et nunc, si bellare paras atque haec tibi mens est,

quidquid in arte mea possum promittere curae,

quod fieri ferro liquidove potest electro,

quantum ignes animaeque valent, absiste precando

viribus indubitare tuis. Ea verba locutus

405optatos dedit amplexus placidumque petivit

coniugis infusus gremio per membra soporem.

370But mother Venus, with good cause alarmed at heart,

stirred by Laurentian threats and the grim turmoil,

addresses Vulcan. In her husband's golden bedchamber

she begins, breathing divine desire into her words:

"While Argive kings were laying Troy waste in war,

375her citadels doomed to fall in enemy fire,

I asked no aid for her suffering people, no weapons

made by your skill and power; nor, dearest husband,

did I wish to burden you with labor spent in vain,

though I owed much to Priam's sons

380and had often wept over Aeneas' bitter toil.

Now, at Jupiter's command, he has made his stand on Rutulian shores:

so now I come myself as your suppliant and ask your sacred power

for arms, a mother for her son. Thetis, Nereus' daughter,

could sway you, and Aurora, Tithonus' wife, could bend you with tears.

385Look what nations are joining forces, what walled cities, their gates shut,

are sharpening steel against me, bent on destroying my own."

She had spoken. With both snow-white arms the goddess

caressed him, still wavering, in a tender embrace. At once

he caught the familiar flame; the old heat entered his marrow

390and coursed through his shaken bones,

just as when thunder cracks and a fiery rift

runs flashing with light across the storm clouds.

His wife felt his response, pleased with her wiles and sure of her beauty.

Then Father Vulcan, bound by eternal love, said:

395"Why reach so far for reasons? Where, goddess, has your trust

in me gone? Had you cared then as you do now,

I too could rightly have armed the Trojans:

neither the almighty Father nor the fates forbade Troy

to stand or Priam to survive another ten years.

400And now, if you mean to wage war, if this is your resolve,

whatever my craft can promise to your need,

whatever can be made from iron or molten electrum,

all that fire and bellows can achieve, is yours. Stop pleading;

do not doubt your own power." With these words,

405he gave her the embraces she desired; then, poured

into his wife's lap, he sought peaceful sleep throughout his limbs.

407Inde ubi prima quies medio iam noctis abactae

curriculo expulerat somnum, cum femina primum,

cui tolerare colo vitam tenuique Minerva

410impositum, cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes,

noctem addens operi, famulasque ad lumina longo

exercet penso, castum ut servare cubile

coniugis et possit parvos educere natos:

haud secus Ignipotens nec tempore segnior illo

415mollibus e stratis opera ad fabrilia surgit.

Insula Sicanium iuxta latus Aeoliamque

erigitur Liparen, fumantibus ardua saxis,

quam subter specus et Cyclopum exesa caminis

antra Aetnaea tonant validique incudibus ictus

420auditi referunt gemitus striduntque cavernis

stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat,

Volcani domus et Volcania nomine tellus.

Hoc tunc ignipotens caelo descendit ab alto.

Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in antro,

425Brontesque Steropesque et nudus membra Pyragmon.

His informatum manibus iam parte polita

fulmen erat, toto genitor quae plurima caelo

deicit in terras, pars inperfecta manebat.

Tris imbris torti radios, tris nubis aquosae

430addiderant, rutili tris ignis et alitis austri:

fulgores nunc horrificos sonitumque metumque

miscebant operi flammisque sequacibus iras.

Parte alia Marti currumque rotasque volucris

instabant, quibus ille viros, quibus excitat urbes;

435aegidaque horriferam, turbatae Palladis arma,

certatim squamis serpentum auroque polibant

conexosque anguis ipsamque in pectore divae

Gorgona, desecto vertentem lumina collo.

Tollite cuncta, inquit, coeptosque auferte labores,

440Aetnaei Cyclopes, et huc advertite mentem:

arma acri facienda viro. Nunc viribus usus,

nunc manibus rapidis, omni nunc arte magistra.

Praecipitate moras. Nec plura effatus; at illi

ocius incubuere omnes pariterque laborem

445sortiti. Fluit aes rivis aurique metallum,

volnificusque chalybs vasta fornace liquescit.

Ingentum clipeum informant, unum omnia contra

tela Latinorum, septenosque orbibus orbes

impediunt. Alii ventosis follibus auras

450accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt

aera lacu. Gemit impositis incudibus antrum.

Illi inter sese multa vi bracchia tollunt

in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe massam.

407Then, when the first spell of rest had driven sleep away

midway through the spent night's course, when a woman

who must sustain her household by the distaff and Minerva's humble craft

410first stirs the ashes and wakes the slumbering fire,

adding night to her labor, and by lamplight keeps her maids

at their long allotted task, so that she may keep her husband's bed

chaste and raise her young children:

just so the Lord of Fire, no slower at that hour,

415rises from his soft bed to the work of the forge.

Beside Sicily's coast the Aeolian island

Lipare rises, sheer with smoking crags;

beneath it, the cavern and Aetnaean chambers, hollowed out

by Cyclopean furnaces, thunder; heavy hammer-blows on anvils

420ring out in answering groans; through the chambers hiss

the glowing bars of Chalybian steel, and fire pants in the furnaces:

this is Vulcan's home, the land called Vulcania.

Here then the Lord of Fire came down from high heaven.

In the vast cavern the Cyclopes were working iron,

425Brontes, Steropes, and bare-limbed Pyragmon.

Under their hands lay a thunderbolt, already polished in part,

one of the many the Father hurls from the whole sky

down to earth, though part remained unfinished.

They had added three rays of whirling rain, three of water-laden cloud,

430three of ruddy fire and three of winged south wind;

now they were mixing into their work dread flashes, thunder, and terror,

and rage into its darting flames.

Elsewhere they pressed on with Mars's chariot and winged wheels,

with which he rouses men, with which he rouses cities;

435and the terror-bringing aegis, weapon of Pallas enraged,

they eagerly burnished with serpent scales and gold,

the snakes intertwined, and on the goddess's breast the Gorgon

herself, her eyes still rolling from her severed neck.

"Clear all this away," he said, "and set aside the work begun,

440Cyclopes of Aetna. Turn your minds to this:

arms must be made for a fierce warrior. Now strength is needed,

now swift hands, now all the mastery of your craft.

Cut all delay short." He said no more; at once they all

bent to the task and together divided

445the labor among them. Bronze and gold flow in streams,

and wound-dealing steel melts in the vast furnace.

They shape a mighty round shield, one alone against all

the Latins' weapons, and fuse seven discs, layer upon layer.

Some work the wind-filled bellows, drawing air in

450and driving it out again; others dip the hissing bronze

in the trough. The cavern groans beneath the anvils set in place.

Together they raise their arms with immense force

in measured rhythm, and turn the mass with gripping tongs.

454Haec pater Aeoliis properat dum Lemnius oris,

455Euandrum ex humili tecto lux suscitat alma

et matutini volucrum sub culmine cantus.

Consurgit senior tunicaque inducitur artus

et Tyrrhena pedum circumdat vincula plantis;

tum lateri atque umeris Tegeaeum subligat ensem,

460demissa ab laeva pantherae terga retorquens.

Nec non et gemini custodes limine ab alto

praecedunt gressumque canes comitantur erilem.

Hospitis Aeneae sedem et secreta petebat

sermonum memor et promissi muneris heros.

465Nec minus Aeneas se matutinus agebat.

Filius huic Pallas, illi comes ibat Achates.

Congressi iungunt dextras mediisque residunt

aedibus et licito tandem sermone fruuntur.

Rex prior haec:

470Maxume Teucrorum ductor, quo sospite numquam

res equidem Troiae victas aut regna fatebor,

nobis ad belli auxilium pro nomine tanto

exiguae vires: hinc Tusco claudimur amni,

hinc Rutulus premit et murum circumsonat armis.

475Sed tibi ego ingentis populos opulentaque regnis

iungere castra paro, quam fors inopina salutem

ostentat: fatis huc te poscentibus adfers.

Haud procul hinc saxo incolitur fundata vetusto

urbis Agyllinae sedes, ubi Lydia quondam

480gens, bello praeclara, iugis insedit Etruscis.

Hanc multos florentem annos rex deinde superbo

imperio et saevis tenuit Mezentius armis.

Quid memorem infandas caedes, quid facta tyranni

effera? Di capiti ipsius generique reservent!

485Mortua quin etiam iungebat corpora vivis

componens manibusque manus atque oribus ora,

tormenti genus, et sanie taboque fluentis

complexu in misero longa sic morte necabat.

at fessi tandem cives infanda furentem

490armati circumsistunt ipsumque domumque,

obtruncant socios, ignem ad fastigia iactant.

Ille inter caedem Rutulorum elapsus in agros

confugere et Turni defendier hospitis armis.

Ergo omnis furiis surrexit Etruria iustis:

495regem ad supplicium praesenti Marte reposcunt.

his ego te, Aenea, ductorem milibus addam.

Toto namque fremunt condensae litore puppes

Signaque ferre iubent; retinet longaevus haruspex

fata canens, O Maeoniae delecta iuventus,

500flos veterum virtusque virum, quos iustus in hostem

fert dolor et merita accendit Mezentius ira,

nulli fas Italo tantam subiungere gentem:

externos optate duces; tum Etrusca resedit

hoc acies campo, monitis exterrita divom.

505Ipse oratores ad me regnique coronam

cum sceptro misit mandatque insignia Tarchon,

succedam castris Tyrrhenaque regna capessam.

Sed mihi tarda gelu saeclisque effeta senectus

invidet imperium seraeque ad fortia vires.

510natum exhortarer, ni mixtus matre Sabella

hinc partem patriae traheret. Tu, cuius et annis

et generi fatum indulgent, quem numina poscunt,

ingredere, o Teucrum atque Italum fortissime ductor.

hunc tibi praeterea, spes et solacia nostri,

515Pallanta adiungam; sub te tolerare magistro

militiam et grave Martis opus, tua cernere facta

adsuescat primis et te miretur ab annis.

Arcadas huic equites bis centum, robora pubis

lecta dabo totidemque suo tibi nomine Pallas.

454While the Lemnian father presses this work on along the Aeolian shores,

455kindly daylight rouses Evander from his humble house,

as does the morning song of birds beneath the roof.

The old man rises and slips a tunic over his body

and binds Etruscan sandals around his feet;

then straps his Tegean sword at his side, slung from the shoulder,

460throwing the hanging panther hide back from his left side.

Two guardians too leave the high threshold;

the dogs go on ahead and attend their master's steps.

The hero sought his guest Aeneas' quarters and private retreat,

mindful of their conversations and of the aid he had promised.

465Aeneas too was already astir.

Pallas went with his father, Achates with Aeneas.

When they meet, they clasp right hands and sit in the central hall,

free at last to speak together.

The king speaks first:

470"Greatest leader of the Teucrians, while you are alive,

I will never call Troy's fortunes or kingdom conquered.

Compared with so great a name, the strength we can bring to war

is slight: on one side the Tuscan river hems us in,

on the other the Rutulian presses us, weapons ringing round our wall.

475But I am preparing to join you to mighty peoples and a camp

rich in royal power. What deliverance unforeseen chance

holds out! You come here at the fates' demand.

Not far from here, founded on ancient rock, stands

the city of Agylla, where once a Lydian people,

480renowned in war, settled on the Etruscan heights.

After it had flourished many years, King Mezentius

held it under arrogant rule and savage arms.

Why recall his unspeakable murders? Why the savage acts

of the tyrant? May the gods keep such things in store for him and his line!

485He even bound dead bodies to living men,

matching hand to hand and face to face,

a form of torture; while they dripped with putrefaction and gore,

he killed them slowly in that wretched embrace.

But at last the citizens, exhausted by his unspeakable frenzy,

490take up arms and surround both him and his house;

they cut down his followers and hurl fire at the roof.

He escaped amid the slaughter to Rutulian territory,

where he took refuge under the arms of Turnus, his host.

At this all Etruria rose in righteous fury:

495they demand the king back for punishment, ready for immediate war.

Aeneas, I will put you in command of these thousands.

For massed ships crowd the whole shore in uproar,

their crews demanding the standards advance; an aged haruspex holds them back,

prophesying: 'Chosen youth of Maeonia,

500flower and valor of men of old, righteous grief drives you

against your enemy, and Mezentius fires your well-earned anger.

Divine law permits no Italian to command so great a people.

Choose foreign leaders.' At this the Etruscan battle line

halts on this plain, terrified by the gods' warnings.

505Tarchon himself sent envoys to me, with the kingdom's crown

and sceptre; he entrusts me with its royal emblems,

asking me to enter the camp and assume the Tyrrhenian throne.

But my old age, slow with cold and spent by years,

denies me command; my strength comes too late for deeds of courage.

510I would urge my son, if through his Sabine mother

he were not partly native to this land. But you, whose age

and lineage fate favors, whom the divine powers demand,

step forward, bravest leader of Teucrians and Italians.

I will place Pallas at your side as well, my hope and comfort;

515under your guidance, let him grow accustomed to enduring

military service and the hard work of Mars, and to seeing your deeds.

Let him admire you from his earliest years.

I will give him two hundred Arcadian horsemen, the chosen strength

of our young men; Pallas will give you as many in his own name."

520Vix ea fatus erat, defixique ora tenebant

Aeneas Anchisiades et fidus Achates

multaque dura suo tristi cum corde putabant,

ni signum caelo Cytherea dedisset aperto.

Namque inproviso vibratus ab aethere fulgor

525cum sonitu venit, et ruere omnia visa repente

Tyrrhenusque tubae mugire per aethera clangor.

Suspiciunt, iterum atque iterum fragor increpat ingens:

arma inter nubem caeli regione serena

per sudum rutilare vident et pulsa tonare.

530Obstipuere animis alii, sed Troius heros

agnovit sonitum et divae promissa parentis.

Tum memorat: Ne vero, hospes, ne quaere profecto,

quem casum portenta ferant: ego poscor Olympo.

Hoc signum cecinit missuram diva creatrix,

535si bellum ingrueret, Volcaniaque arma per auras

laturam auxilio.

Heu quantae miseris caedes Laurentibus instant;

quas poenas mihi, Turne, dabis; quam multa sub undas

scuta virum galeasque et fortia corpora volves,

540Thybri pater! Poscant acies et foedera rumpant.

Haec ubi dicta dedit, solio se tollit ab alto

et primum Herculeis sopitas ignibus aras

excitat hesternumque larem parvosque penatis

laetus adit: mactant lectas de more bidentis

545Euandrus pariter, pariter Troiana iuventus.

Post hinc ad navis graditur sociosque revisit.

Quorum de numero qui sese in bella sequantur

praestantis virtute legit; pars cetera prona

fertur aqua segnisque secundo defluit amni,

550nuntia ventura Ascanio rerumque patrisque.

Dantur equi Teucris Tyrrhena petentibus arva;

ducunt exsortem Aeneae, quem fulva leonis

pellis obit totum, praefulgens unguibus aureis.

520Scarcely had Evander finished; Aeneas, Anchises' son,

and faithful Achates would have remained, their faces downcast,

brooding in their sorrowing hearts on many hardships,

had Cytherea not given a sign in the cloudless sky.

For without warning a flash of lightning shot from the upper air

525with a peal of thunder. Suddenly all things seemed to fall,

and an Etruscan trumpet-blast bellowed through the sky.

They looked up. Again and again a mighty crash resounded.

There, within a cloud in a clear tract of heaven,

they saw armor glow red through the open air and heard it thunder as it clashed.

530The others were struck with awe, but the Trojan hero

knew the sound and what his goddess mother had promised.

Then he explained: "Do not, my host, do not ask

what turn these portents announce. I am the one Olympus summons.

My goddess mother foretold that she would send this sign

535if war closed in, and bring Vulcan's armor through the air

to my aid.

Alas, what slaughter hangs over the wretched Laurentines!

Turnus, what a price you will pay me! How many warriors' shields,

helmets, and brave bodies you will roll beneath your waves,

540Father Tiber! Let them demand battle and break the treaties."

With these words, Aeneas rises from the high seat

and first rekindles the altars where Hercules' fires lay sleeping.

Gladly he approaches the Lar honored the day before and the small Penates.

Then, as custom requires, they sacrifice chosen sheep,

545Evander and the young Trojans together.

Then he goes to the ships and rejoins his comrades.

From their number he chooses the men who will follow him

into war, those preeminent in courage. The rest are borne

downstream and drift at ease with the favoring current,

550bearing Ascanius news of what lies ahead and of his father.

Horses are given to the Teucrians bound for Etruscan lands.

For Aeneas they lead out a horse set apart, wholly covered

by a tawny lion skin, its golden claws gleaming.

554Fama volat parvam subito volgata per urbem,

555ocius ire equites Tyrrheni ad litora regis.

vota metu duplicant matres, propiusque periclo

it timor, et maior Martis iam apparet imago.

tum pater Evandrus dextram complexus euntis

haeret inexpletus lacrimans, ac talia fatur:

560O mihi praeteritos referat si Iuppiter annos,

(qualis eram, cum primam aciem Praeneste sub ipsa

stravi scutorumque incendi victor acervos

et regem hac Erulum dextra sub Tartara misi,

nascenti cui tris animas Feronia mater

565(horrendum dictu) dederat; terna arma movenda,

ter Leto sternendus erat; cui tunc tamen omnis

abstulit haec animas dextra et totidem exuit armis:

non ego nunc dulci amplexu divellerer usquam,

nate, tuo, neque finitimo Mezentius umquam

570huic capiti insultans tot ferro saeva dedisset

funera, tam multis viduasset civibus urbem.

At vos, o superi, et divom tu maxume rector

Iuppiter, Arcadii, quaeso, miserescite regis

et patrias audite preces. Si numina vestra

575incolumem Pallanta mihi, si fata reservant,

si visurus eum vivo et venturus in unum:

vitam oro, patior quemvis durare laborem.

Sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris:

nunc O nunc liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam,

580dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri,

dum te, care puer, mea sera et sola voluptas,

complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris

volneret. Haec genitor digressu dicta supremo

fundebat: famuli conlapsum in tecta ferebant.

554Rumor flies, suddenly spreading through the little city:

555that the cavalry is riding at speed for the Etruscan king's shore.

In fear the mothers redouble their vows; fear draws closer

to danger, and now the shape of Mars looms larger.

Then father Evander clasped the right hand of his departing son

and clung to him, weeping, unable to let him go. He said:

560"Oh, if Jupiter would give me back my vanished years,

make me what I was when beneath Praeneste's very walls I laid

the front rank low, burned heaps of shields in victory,

and with this right hand sent King Erulus down to Tartarus,

whose mother Feronia had given him three lives at birth

565(horrible to tell); three sets of arms were his to wield,

and three times he had to be struck down, yet this right hand

then took all his lives and stripped him of arms as many times,

I would never now be torn from your dear embrace,

my son; nor would my neighbor Mezentius ever,

570exulting over this head, have dealt so many savage deaths by the sword

and bereaved the city of so many citizens.

But you, gods above, and you, Jupiter, greatest ruler

of the gods, I beg you: pity the Arcadian king

and hear a father's prayers. If your divine powers

575and the fates preserve Pallas unharmed for me,

if I am to live to see him and meet him once again:

I ask for life; I am willing to endure any hardship.

But if, Fortune, you threaten some unspeakable disaster,

now, now, let me end this cruel life,

580while my fears hang unresolved, while hope for what lies ahead

is uncertain, while I hold you, dear boy, my late

and only joy, in my embrace, before graver news

can wound my ears." At their final parting the father

was still pouring out these words when he collapsed and his servants carried him into the house.

585Iamque adeo exierat portis equitatus apertis,

Aeneas inter primos et fidus Achates,

inde alii Troiae proceres, ipse agmine Pallas

in medio chlamyde et pictis conspectus in armis:

qualis ubi Oceani perfusus Lucifer unda,

590quem Venus ante alios astrorum diligit ignis,

extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrasque resolvit.

Stant pavidae in muris matres oculisque sequuntur

pulveream nubem et fulgentis aere catervas.

Olli per dumos, qua proxuma meta viarum,

595armati tendunt; it clamor, et agmine facto

quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

Est ingens gelidum lucus prope Caeritis amnem,

religione patrum late sacer; undique colles

inclusere cavi et nigra nemus abiete cingunt.

600Silvano fama est veteres sacrasse Pelasgos,

arvorum pecorisque deo, lucumque diemque,

qui primi finis aliquando habuere Latinos:

haud procul hinc Tarcho et Tyrrheni tuta tenebant

castra locis, celsoque omnis de colle videri

605iam poterat legio et latis tendebat in arvis.

Huc pater Aeneas et bello lecta iuventus

succedunt fessique et equos et corpora curant.

585By now the cavalry had ridden out through the open gates:

Aeneas and faithful Achates among the foremost,

then the other chiefs of Troy; Pallas himself stood out

at the column's center, in his cloak and ornamented armor,

as when the Morning Star, bathed in Ocean's wave,

590he whom Venus loves above all other starry fires

lifts his sacred face to the sky and dispels the darkness.

The frightened mothers stand on the walls, their eyes following

the cloud of dust and the squadrons gleaming with bronze.

Through the thickets they take the shortest route;

595armed, they press on. A shout rings out; once the column is formed,

galloping hoofbeats shake the loose earth of the plain.

A vast grove lies beside Caere's cold river,

held sacred far and wide through ancestral worship; on every side

hollow hills enclose it and ring the woodland with dark fir.

600Tradition says the ancient Pelasgians consecrated

both grove and feast day to Silvanus, god of fields and flocks;

they once held the lands of Latium before all others.

Not far from there Tarchon and the Etruscans occupied

a camp on defensible ground; from a high hill the whole

605army could already be seen, spread across the broad fields.

Here father Aeneas and the young men chosen for war

arrive; weary, they tend their horses and rest themselves.

608At Venus aetherios inter dea candida nimbos

dona ferens aderat; natumque in valle reducta

610ut procul egelido secretum flumine vidit,

talibus adfata est dictis seque obtulit ultro:

En perfecta mei promissa coniugis arte

munera, ne mox aut Laurentis, nate, superbos

aut acrem dubites in proelia poscere Turnum.

615Dixit et amplexus nati Cytherea petivit,

arma sub adversa posuit radiantia quercu.

Ille, deae donis et tanto laetus honore,

expleri nequit atque oculos per singula volvit

miraturque interque manus et bracchia versat

620terribilem cristis galeam flammasque vomentem

fatiferumque ensem, loricam ex aere rigentem

sanguineam ingentem, qualis cum caerula nubes

solis inardescit radiis longeque refulget;

tum levis ocreas electro auroque recocto

625hastamque et clipei non enarrabile textum.

608But Venus came, a radiant goddess amid the clouds of heaven,

bearing her gifts. When from afar she saw her son

610alone in a secluded valley by the cool river,

she appeared before him of her own accord and spoke:

"Here are the gifts I promised, completed by my husband's craft,

so that now, my son, you need not hesitate to challenge the proud

Laurentines or fierce Turnus to battle."

615She spoke, and Cytherea sought her son's embrace,

and placed the radiant armor beneath an oak directly before him.

Aeneas, rejoicing in the goddess's gifts and in so great an honor,

could not have his fill; his gaze ranged over every piece,

marveling as he lifted and turned each in his hands and arms:

620the helmet, fearsome with its crests and spewing flame,

the death-dealing sword, the breastplate rigid with bronze,

massive and blood-red, like a dark-blue cloud

when it catches fire in the sun's rays and gleams far away;

then the polished greaves of electrum and refined gold,

625the spear, and the shield's workmanship beyond all telling.

626Illic res Italas Romanorumque triumphos

haud vatum ignarus venturique inscius aevi

fecerat ignipotens, illic genus omne futurae

stirpis ab Ascanio. pugnataque in ordine bella.

630Fecerat et viridi fetam Mavortis in antro

procubuisse lupam, geminos huic ubera circum

ludere pendentis pueros et lambere matrem

impavidos, illam tereti cervice reflexa

mulcere alternos et corpora fingere lingua.

635Nec procul hinc Romam et raptas sine more Sabinas

consessu caveae magnis circensibus actis

addiderat subitoque novum consurgere bellum

Romulidis Tatioque seni Curibusque severis.

Post idem inter se posito certamine reges

640armati Iovis ante aram paterasque tenentes

stabant et caesa iungebant foedera porca.

Haud procul inde citae Mettum in diversa quadrigae

distulerant, at tu dictis, Albane, maneres,

raptabatque viri mendacis viscera Tullus

645per silvam, et sparsi rorabant sanguine vepres.

Nec non Tarquinium eiectum Porsenna iubebat

accipere ingentique urbem obsidione premebat:

Aeneadae in ferrum pro libertate ruebant.

Illum indignanti similem similemque minanti

650aspiceres, pontem auderet quia vellere Cocles

et fluvium vinclis innaret Cloelia ruptis.

In summo custos Tarpeiae Manlius arcis

stabat pro templo et Capitolia celsa tenebat,

Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo.

655Atque hic auratis volitans argenteus anser

porticibus Gallos in limine adesse canebat.

Galli per dumos aderant arcemque tenebant,

defensi tenebris et dono noctis opacae:

aurea caesaries ollis atque aurea vestis,

660virgatis lucent sagulis, tum lactea colla

auro innectuntur, duo quisque Alpina coruscant

gaesa manu, scutis protecti corpora longis.

Hic exsultantis Salios nudosque Lupercos

lanigerosque apices et lapsa ancilia caelo

665extuderat, castae ducebant sacra per urbem

pilentis matres in mollibus. Hinc procul addit

Tartareas etiam sedes, alta ostia Ditis,

et scelerum poenas et te, Catilina, minaci

pendentem scopulo Furiarumque ora trementem,

670secretosque pios, his dantem iura Catonem.

626There the lord of fire had wrought Italy's story and the triumphs of Rome,

well versed in prophecy and aware of the age to come;

there too was the entire lineage of the race

to spring from Ascanius, and, in sequence, the wars they fought.

630He had also shown, in Mars's green cave, the nursing she-wolf

bending low, with twin boys around her teats,

playing as they clung there and licking their mother

without fear; she, her smooth neck bent back,

caressed each in turn and shaped their bodies with her tongue.

635Not far from this he had added Rome and the Sabine women lawlessly abducted

from the crowded stands during the great Circus games,

and the sudden rise of a new war

between Romulus's men and old Tatius with the stern people of Cures.

Afterward the same kings, their conflict laid aside,

640stood armed before Jupiter's altar, holding libation bowls,

and, when a sow was slain, sealed their treaty.

Not far away, racing four-horse chariots had torn Mettus apart

in opposite directions. If only you had kept your word, Alban!

And Tullus dragged the faithless man's entrails

645through the forest; the brambles, spattered, dripped with blood.

There too Porsenna demanded the return of the banished Tarquin

and pressed the city hard with a mighty siege;

Aeneas's descendants rushed against steel for freedom.

You could see Porsenna looking indignant and menacing,

650because Cocles dared to tear down the bridge

and Cloelia broke her bonds and swam the river.

At the shield's top, Manlius, guardian of the Tarpeian citadel,

stood before the temple and held the lofty Capitol,

and the royal house bristled, newly roofed with Romulus's thatch.

655Here a silver goose, fluttering through gilded

colonnades, cried that the Gauls were at the threshold.

The Gauls came through the thickets and all but held the citadel,

sheltered by darkness and the gift of shadowed night:

Golden is their hair, and golden their clothing;

660they gleam in striped cloaks; their milk-white necks

are bound in gold, and each brandishes two Alpine

javelins in hand, their bodies guarded by long shields.

Here he had embossed the bounding Salii and naked Luperci,

wool-tufted caps and the sacred shields that fell from heaven;

665chaste matrons moved in sacred procession through the city

in softly cushioned carriages. Far from these he added

the dwellings of Tartarus and the deep gates of Dis,

the punishments for crimes, and you, Catiline, hanging

from a menacing cliff and trembling before the Furies' faces,

670and the righteous set apart, with Cato dispensing justice among them.

671Haec inter tumidi late maris ibat imago

aurea, sed fluctu spumabant caerula cano;

et circum argento clari delphines in orbem

aequora verrebant caudis aestumque secabant.

675In medio classis aeratas, Actia bella,

cernere erat, totumque instructo Marte videres

fervere Leucaten auroque effulgere fluctus.

Hinc Augustus agens Italos in proelia Caesar

cum patribus populoque, penatibus et magnis dis,

680stans celsa in puppi; geminas cui tempora flammas

laeta vomunt patriumque aperitur vertice sidus.

Parte alia ventis et dis Agrippa secundis

arduus agmen agens; cui, belli insigne superbum,

tempora navali fulgent rostrata corona.

685Hinc ope barbarica variisque Antonius armis,

victor ab Aurorae populis et litore rubro,

Aegyptum viresque Orientis et ultima secum

Bactra vehit, sequiturque (nefas) Aegyptia coniunx.

Una omnes ruere, ac totum spumare reductis

690convolsum remis rostrisque tridentibus aequor.

alta petunt: pelago credas innare revolsas

Cycladas aut montis concurrere montibus altos,

tanta mole viri turritis puppibus instant.

stuppea flamma manu telisque volatile ferrum

695spargitur, arva nova Neptunia caede rubescunt.

Regina in mediis patrio vocat agmina sistro

necdum etiam geminos a tergo respicit anguis.

omnigenumque deum monstra et latrator Anubis

contra Neptunum et Venerem contraque Minervam

700tela tenent. Saevit medio in certamine Mavors

caelatus ferro tristesque ex aethere Dirae,

et scissa gaudens vadit Discordia palla,

quam cum sanguineo sequitur Bellona flagello.

Actius haec cernens arcum tendebat Apollo

705desuper: omnis eo terrore Aegyptus et Indi,

omnis Arabs, omnes vertebant terga Sabaei.

Ipsa videbatur ventis regina vocatis

vela dare et laxos iam iamque inmittere funis.

Illam inter caedes pallentem morte futura

710fecerat Ignipotens undis et Iapyge ferri,

contra autem magno maerentem corpore Nilum

pandentemque sinus et tota veste vocantem

caeruleum in gremium latebrosaque flumina victos.

671Amid these, the image of the swelling sea spread wide,

all gold, though its blue waters foamed with white-capped surge;

and all around, dolphins gleaming in silver circled,

sweeping the waters with their tails and cleaving the tide.

675At the center appeared bronze-clad fleets, the battle of Actium;

with the forces arrayed for war, you could see

all Leucate seething and the waves flashing gold.

On this side Caesar Augustus leads the Italians into battle,

with the Senate and people, the Penates and the great gods,

680standing on the high stern; from his radiant temples

twin flames stream, and his father's star shines above his head.

Elsewhere, with winds and gods favorable, Agrippa

towers as he leads the battle line; on his brow, proud emblem of war,

shines the naval crown set with ships' beaks.

685Opposite them, Antony, backed by barbarian might and varied arms,

a victor from the peoples of Dawn and the Red Sea coast,

brings Egypt, the forces of the East, and remotest

Bactra with him; his Egyptian wife follows him (an outrage).

All together rush forward; the whole sea foams,

690torn up by the backward sweep of oars and triple-pronged beaks.

They make for deep water: you would think uprooted Cyclades

were swimming on the sea, or high mountains colliding with mountains,

with such mass the men bear down in their towered ships.

Flaming tow and flying iron are scattered by hand and weapons;

695Neptune's fields redden with fresh slaughter.

Amid them the queen rallies her ranks with her native sistrum,

not yet looking back at the twin snakes behind her.

Monstrous gods of every kind and barking Anubis

bear arms against Neptune and Venus, and against Minerva.

700Mars rages at the heart of the battle, engraved

in iron, with grim Furies descending from the sky;

Discord strides exultant, her robe torn,

and Bellona follows her with a blood-red scourge.

Actian Apollo, seeing this, draws his bow

705from above: at that terror all Egypt and the Indians,

every Arab and all the Sabaeans turn their backs.

The queen herself appears, having summoned the winds,

setting sail, already paying out the slack sheets.

The Lord of Fire had fashioned her pale amid the slaughter,

710at her approaching death, borne on waves and the Iapyx wind;

opposite her he had shown the vast-bodied Nile mourning,

spreading his robe's folds to their full breadth and calling

the defeated into his blue lap and sheltering streams.

714At Caesar, triplici invectus Romana triumpho

715moenia, dis Italis votum inmortale sacrabat,

maxuma tercentum totam delubra per urbem.

Laetitia ludisque viae plausuque fremebant;

omnibus in templis matrum chorus, omnibus arae;

ante aras terram caesi stravere iuvenci.

720Ipse, sedens niveo candentis limine Phoebi,

dona recognoscit populorum aptatque superbis

postibus; incedunt victae longo ordine gentes,

quam variae linguis, habitu tam vestis et armis.

Hic Nomadum genus et discinctos Mulciber Afros,

725hic Lelegas Carasque sagittiferosque Gelonos

finxerat; Euphrates ibat iam mollior undis,

extremique hominum Morini, Rhenusque bicornis,

indomitique Dahae, et pontem indignatus Araxes.

Talia per clipeum Volcani, dona parentis,

730miratur rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet,

attollens umero famamque et fata nepotum.

714But Caesar, borne within Rome's walls in triple triumph,

715was consecrating to the gods of Italy an everlasting votive offering:

three hundred mighty shrines throughout the city.

The streets roared with rejoicing, games, and applause;

in every temple gathered a chorus of matrons; in every one stood altars;

before the altars, slaughtered young bulls lay strewn across the ground.

720He himself, seated on the snow-white threshold of radiant Phoebus,

reviews the gifts of peoples and mounts them on the proud

doorposts; conquered nations advance in a long procession,

as diverse in language as in dress and arms.

Here Mulciber had fashioned the race of Nomads and loosely robed Africans,

725here Leleges, Carians, and arrow-bearing Gelonians,

and Euphrates, now flowing with gentler waves,

the Morini, remotest of humankind, and the two-horned Rhine,

the untamed Dahae, and Araxes, indignant at a bridge.

At such scenes across Vulcan's shield, his mother's gift,

730he marvels and, ignorant of the events, rejoices in the image,

lifting onto his shoulder the fame and fates of his descendants.