Book III

Virgil (70 BC–19 BC), translated by John Dryden · 1697

iambic pentameter · heroic couplets · 945 lines · from The Aeneid

When Heav’n had overturn’d the Trojan stateAnd Priam’s throne, by too severe a fate;When ruin’d Troy became the Grecians’ prey,And Ilium’s lofty tow’rs in ashes lay;Warn’d by celestial omens, we retreat,To seek in foreign lands a happier seat.Near old Antandros, and at Ida’s foot,The timber of the sacred groves we cut,And build our fleet; uncertain yet to findWhat place the gods for our repose assign’d.Friends daily flock; and scarce the kindly springBegan to clothe the ground, and birds to sing,When old Anchises summon’d all to sea:The crew my father and the Fates obey.With sighs and tears I leave my native shore,And empty fields, where Ilium stood before.My sire, my son, our less and greater gods,All sail at once, and cleave the briny floods.

“Against our coast appears a spacious land,Which once the fierce Lycurgus did command,Thracia the name; the people bold in war;Vast are their fields, and tillage is their care,A hospitable realm while Fate was kind,With Troy in friendship and religion join’d.I land; with luckless omens, then adoreTheir gods, and draw a line along the shore;I lay the deep foundations of a wall,And Aenos, nam’d from me, the city call.To Dionaean Venus vows are paid,And all the pow’rs that rising labours aid;A bull on Jove’s imperial altar laid.Not far, a rising hillock stood in view;Sharp myrtles on the sides, and cornels grew.There, while I went to crop the sylvan scenes,And shade our altar with their leafy greens,I pull’d a plant; with horror I relateA prodigy so strange and full of fate.The rooted fibers rose, and from the woundBlack bloody drops distill’d upon the ground.Mute and amaz’d, my hair with terror stood;Fear shrunk my sinews, and congeal’d my blood.Mann’d once again, another plant I try:That other gush’d with the same sanguine dye.Then, fearing guilt for some offence unknown,With pray’rs and vows the Dryads I atone,With all the sisters of the woods, and mostThe God of Arms, who rules the Thracian coast,That they, or he, these omens would avert,Release our fears, and better signs impart.Clear’d, as I thought, and fully fix’d at lengthTo learn the cause, I tugged with all my strength:I bent my knees against the ground; once moreThe violated myrtle ran with gore.Scarce dare I tell the sequel: from the wombOf wounded earth, and caverns of the tomb,A groan, as of a troubled ghost, renew’dMy fright, and then these dreadful words ensued:‘Why dost thou thus my buried body rend?O spare the corpse of thy unhappy friend!Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood:The tears distil not from the wounded wood;But ev’ry drop this living tree containsIs kindred blood, and ran in Trojan veins.O fly from this unhospitable shore,Warn’d by my fate; for I am Polydore!Here loads of lances, in my blood embrued,Again shoot upward, by my blood renew’d.’

“My falt’ring tongue and shiv’ring limbs declareMy horror, and in bristles rose my hair.When Troy with Grecian arms was closely pent,Old Priam, fearful of the war’s event,This hapless Polydore to Thracia sent:Loaded with gold, he sent his darling, farFrom noise and tumults, and destructive war,Committed to the faithless tyrant’s care;Who, when he saw the pow’r of Troy decline,Forsook the weaker, with the strong to join;Broke ev’ry bond of nature and of truth,And murder’d, for his wealth, the royal youth.O sacred hunger of pernicious gold!What bands of faith can impious lucre hold?Now, when my soul had shaken off her fears,I call my father and the Trojan peers;Relate the prodigies of Heav’n, requireWhat he commands, and their advice desire.All vote to leave that execrable shore,Polluted with the blood of Polydore;But, ere we sail, his fun’ral rites prepare,Then, to his ghost, a tomb and altars rear.In mournful pomp the matrons walk the round,With baleful cypress and blue fillets crown’d,With eyes dejected, and with hair unbound.Then bowls of tepid milk and blood we pour,And thrice invoke the soul of Polydore.

“Now, when the raging storms no longer reign,But southern gales invite us to the main,We launch our vessels, with a prosp’rous wind,And leave the cities and the shores behind.

“An island in th’ Aegaean main appears;Neptune and wat’ry Doris claim it theirs.It floated once, till Phoebus fix’d the sidesTo rooted earth, and now it braves the tides.Here, borne by friendly winds, we come ashore,With needful ease our weary limbs restore,And the Sun’s temple and his town adore.

“Anius, the priest and king, with laurel crown’d,His hoary locks with purple fillets bound,Who saw my sire the Delian shore ascend,Came forth with eager haste to meet his friend;Invites him to his palace; and, in signOf ancient love, their plighted hands they join.Then to the temple of the god I went,And thus, before the shrine, my vows present:‘Give, O Thymbraeus, give a resting placeTo the sad relics of the Trojan race;A seat secure, a region of their own,A lasting empire, and a happier town.Where shall we fix? where shall our labours end?Whom shall we follow, and what fate attend?Let not my pray’rs a doubtful answer find;But in clear auguries unveil thy mind.’Scarce had I said: he shook the holy ground,The laurels, and the lofty hills around;And from the tripos rush’d a bellowing sound.Prostrate we fell; confess’d the present god,Who gave this answer from his dark abode:‘Undaunted youths, go, seek that mother earthFrom which your ancestors derive their birth.The soil that sent you forth, her ancient raceIn her old bosom shall again embrace.Through the wide world th’ Aeneian house shall reign,And children’s children shall the crown sustain.’Thus Phoebus did our future fates disclose:A mighty tumult, mix’d with joy, arose.

“All are concern’d to know what place the godAssign’d, and where determin’d our abode.My father, long revolving in his mindThe race and lineage of the Trojan kind,Thus answer’d their demands: ‘Ye princes, hearYour pleasing fortune, and dispel your fear.The fruitful isle of Crete, well known to fame,Sacred of old to Jove’s imperial name,In the mid ocean lies, with large command,And on its plains a hundred cities stand.Another Ida rises there, and weFrom thence derive our Trojan ancestry.From thence, as ’tis divulg’d by certain fame,To the Rhoetean shores old Teucrus came;There fix’d, and there the seat of empire chose,Ere Ilium and the Trojan tow’rs arose.In humble vales they built their soft abodes,Till Cybele, the mother of the gods,With tinkling cymbals charm’d th’ Idaean woods,She secret rites and ceremonies taught,And to the yoke the savage lions brought.Let us the land which Heav’n appoints, explore;Appease the winds, and seek the Gnossian shore.If Jove assists the passage of our fleet,The third propitious dawn discovers Crete.’Thus having said, the sacrifices, laidOn smoking altars, to the gods he paid:A bull, to Neptune an oblation due,Another bull to bright Apollo slew;A milk-white ewe, the western winds to please,And one coal-black, to calm the stormy seas.Ere this, a flying rumour had been spreadThat fierce Idomeneus from Crete was fled,Expell’d and exil’d; that the coast was freeFrom foreign or domestic enemy.

“We leave the Delian ports, and put to sea.By Naxos, fam’d for vintage, make our way;Then green Donysa pass; and sail in sightOf Paros’ isle, with marble quarries white.We pass the scatter’d isles of Cyclades,That, scarce distinguish’d, seem to stud the seas.The shouts of sailors double near the shores;They stretch their canvas, and they ply their oars.‘All hands aloft! for Crete! for Crete!’ they cry,And swiftly thro’ the foamy billows fly.Full on the promis’d land at length we bore,With joy descending on the Cretan shore.With eager haste a rising town I frame,Which from the Trojan Pergamus I name:The name itself was grateful; I exhortTo found their houses, and erect a fort.Our ships are haul’d upon the yellow strand;The youth begin to till the labour’d land;And I myself new marriages promote,Give laws, and dwellings I divide by lot;When rising vapours choke the wholesome air,And blasts of noisome winds corrupt the year;The trees devouring caterpillars burn;Parch’d was the grass, and blighted was the corn:Nor ’scape the beasts; for Sirius, from on high,With pestilential heat infects the sky:My men, some fall, the rest in fevers fry.Again my father bids me seek the shoreOf sacred Delos, and the god implore,To learn what end of woes we might expect,And to what clime our weary course direct.

“’Twas night, when ev’ry creature, void of cares,The common gift of balmy slumber shares:The statues of my gods (for such they seem’d),Those gods whom I from flaming Troy redeem’d,Before me stood, majestically bright,Full in the beams of Phoebe’s ent’ring light.Then thus they spoke, and eas’d my troubled mind:‘What from the Delian god thou go’st to find,He tells thee here, and sends us to relate.Those pow’rs are we, companions of thy fate,Who from the burning town by thee were brought,Thy fortune follow’d, and thy safety wrought.Thro’ seas and lands as we thy steps attend,So shall our care thy glorious race befriend.An ample realm for thee thy fates ordain,A town that o’er the conquer’d world shall reign.Thou, mighty walls for mighty nations build;Nor let thy weary mind to labours yield:But change thy seat; for not the Delian god,Nor we, have giv’n thee Crete for our abode.A land there is, Hesperia call’d of old,The soil is fruitful, and the natives bold.Th’ Oenotrians held it once, by later fameNow call’d Italia, from the leader’s name.Jasius there and Dardanus were born;From thence we came, and thither must return.Rise, and thy sire with these glad tidings greet.Search Italy; for Jove denies thee Crete.’

“Astonish’d at their voices and their sight,(Nor were they dreams, but visions of the night;I saw, I knew their faces, and descried,In perfect view, their hair with fillets tied;)I started from my couch; a clammy sweatOn all my limbs and shiv’ring body sate.To heav’n I lift my hands with pious haste,And sacred incense in the flames I cast.Thus to the gods their perfect honours done,More cheerful, to my good old sire I run,And tell the pleasing news. In little spaceHe found his error of the double race;Not, as before he deem’d, deriv’d from Crete;No more deluded by the doubtful seat:Then said: ‘O son, turmoil’d in Trojan fate!Such things as these Cassandra did relate.This day revives within my mind what sheForetold of Troy renew’d in Italy,And Latian lands; but who could then have thoughtThat Phrygian gods to Latium should be brought,Or who believ’d what mad Cassandra taught?Now let us go where Phoebus leads the way.’

“He said; and we with glad consent obey,Forsake the seat, and, leaving few behind,We spread our sails before the willing wind.Now from the sight of land our galleys move,With only seas around and skies above;When o’er our heads descends a burst of rain,And night with sable clouds involves the main;The ruffling winds the foamy billows raise;The scatter’d fleet is forc’d to sev’ral ways;The face of heav’n is ravish’d from our eyes,And in redoubled peals the roaring thunder flies.Cast from our course, we wander in the dark.No stars to guide, no point of land to mark.Ev’n Palinurus no distinction foundBetwixt the night and day; such darkness reign’d around.Three starless nights the doubtful navy strays,Without distinction, and three sunless days;The fourth renews the light, and, from our shrouds,We view a rising land, like distant clouds;The mountain-tops confirm the pleasing sight,And curling smoke ascending from their height.The canvas falls; their oars the sailors ply;From the rude strokes the whirling waters fly.At length I land upon the Strophades,Safe from the danger of the stormy seas.Those isles are compass’d by th’ Ionian main,The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign,Forc’d by the winged warriors to repairTo their old homes, and leave their costly fare.Monsters more fierce offended Heav’n ne’er sentFrom hell’s abyss, for human punishment:With virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean;With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.

“We landed at the port, and soon beheldFat herds of oxen graze the flow’ry field,And wanton goats without a keeper stray’d.With weapons we the welcome prey invade,Then call the gods for partners of our feast,And Jove himself, the chief invited guest.We spread the tables on the greensward ground;We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round;When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry,And clatt’ring wings, the hungry Harpies fly;They snatch the meat, defiling all they find,And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind.Close by a hollow rock, again we sit,New dress the dinner, and the beds refit,Secure from sight, beneath a pleasing shade,Where tufted trees a native arbour made.Again the holy fires on altars burn;And once again the rav’nous birds return,Or from the dark recesses where they lie,Or from another quarter of the sky;With filthy claws their odious meal repeat,And mix their loathsome ordures with their meat.I bid my friends for vengeance then prepare,And with the hellish nation wage the war.They, as commanded, for the fight provide,And in the grass their glitt’ring weapons hide;Then, when along the crooked shore we hearTheir clatt’ring wings, and saw the foes appear,Misenus sounds a charge: we take th’ alarm,And our strong hands with swords and bucklers arm.In this new kind of combat all employTheir utmost force, the monsters to destroy.In vain, the fated skin is proof to wounds;And from their plumes the shining sword rebounds.At length rebuff’d, they leave their mangled prey,And their stretch’d pinions to the skies display.Yet one remain’d, the messenger of Fate:High on a craggy cliff Celaeno sate,And thus her dismal errand did relate:‘What! not contented with our oxen slain,Dare you with Heav’n an impious war maintain,And drive the Harpies from their native reign?Heed therefore what I say; and keep in mindWhat Jove decrees, what Phoebus has design’d,And I, the Furies’ queen, from both relate:You seek th’ Italian shores, foredoom’d by fate:Th’ Italian shores are granted you to find,And a safe passage to the port assign’d.But know, that ere your promis’d walls you build,My curses shall severely be fulfill’d.Fierce famine is your lot for this misdeed,Reduc’d to grind the plates on which you feed.’She said, and to the neighb’ring forest flew.Our courage fails us, and our fears renew.Hopeless to win by war, to pray’rs we fall,And on th’ offended Harpies humbly call,And whether gods or birds obscene they were,Our vows for pardon and for peace prefer.But old Anchises, off’ring sacrifice,And lifting up to heav’n his hands and eyes,Ador’d the greater gods: ‘Avert,’ said he,‘These omens; render vain this prophecy,And from th’ impending curse a pious people free!’

“Thus having said, he bids us put to sea;We loose from shore our haulsers, and obey,And soon with swelling sails pursue the wat’ry way.Amidst our course, Zacynthian woods appear;And next by rocky Neritos we steer:We fly from Ithaca’s detested shore,And curse the land which dire Ulysses bore.At length Leucate’s cloudy top appears,And the Sun’s temple, which the sailor fears.Resolv’d to breathe a while from labour past,Our crooked anchors from the prow we cast,And joyful to the little city haste.Here, safe beyond our hopes, our vows we payTo Jove, the guide and patron of our way.The customs of our country we pursue,And Trojan games on Actian shores renew.Our youth their naked limbs besmear with oil,And exercise the wrastlers’ noble toil;Pleas’d to have sail’d so long before the wind,And left so many Grecian towns behind.The sun had now fulfill’d his annual course,And Boreas on the seas display’d his force:I fix’d upon the temple’s lofty doorThe brazen shield which vanquish’d Abas bore;The verse beneath my name and action speaks:‘These arms Aeneas took from conqu’ring Greeks.’Then I command to weigh; the seamen plyTheir sweeping oars; the smoking billows fly.The sight of high Phaeacia soon we lost,And skimm’d along Epirus’ rocky coast.

“Then to Chaonia’s port our course we bend,And, landed, to Buthrotus’ heights ascend.Here wondrous things were loudly blaz’d fame:How Helenus reviv’d the Trojan name,And reign’d in Greece; that Priam’s captive sonSucceeded Pyrrhus in his bed and throne;And fair Andromache, restor’d by fate,Once more was happy in a Trojan mate.I leave my galleys riding in the port,And long to see the new Dardanian court.By chance, the mournful queen, before the gate,Then solemniz’d her former husband’s fate.Green altars, rais’d of turf, with gifts she crown’d,And sacred priests in order stand around,And thrice the name of hapless Hector sound.The grove itself resembles Ida’s wood;And Simois seem’d the well-dissembled flood.But when at nearer distance she beheldMy shining armour and my Trojan shield,Astonish’d at the sight, the vital heatForsakes her limbs; her veins no longer beat:She faints, she falls, and scarce recov’ring strength,Thus, with a falt’ring tongue, she speaks at length:

“‘Are you alive, O goddess-born?’ she said,‘Or if a ghost, then where is Hector’s shade?’At this, she cast a loud and frightful cry.With broken words I made this brief reply:‘All of me that remains appears in sight;I live, if living be to loathe the light.No phantom; but I drag a wretched life,My fate resembling that of Hector’s wife.What have you suffer’d since you lost your lord?By what strange blessing are you now restor’d?Still are you Hector’s? or is Hector fled,And his remembrance lost in Pyrrhus’ bed?’With eyes dejected, in a lowly tone,After a modest pause she thus begun:

“‘O only happy maid of Priam’s race,Whom death deliver’d from the foes’ embrace!Commanded on Achilles’ tomb to die,Not forc’d, like us, to hard captivity,Or in a haughty master’s arms to lie.In Grecian ships unhappy we were borne,Endur’d the victor’s lust, sustain’d the scorn:Thus I submitted to the lawless prideOf Pyrrhus, more a handmaid than a bride.Cloy’d with possession, he forsook my bed,And Helen’s lovely daughter sought to wed;Then me to Trojan Helenus resign’d,And his two slaves in equal marriage join’d;Till young Orestes, pierc’d with deep despair,And longing to redeem the promis’d fair,Before Apollo’s altar slew the ravisher.By Pyrrhus’ death the kingdom we regain’d:At least one half with Helenus remain’d.Our part, from Chaon, he Chaonia calls,And names from Pergamus his rising walls.But you, what fates have landed on our coast?What gods have sent you, or what storms have toss’d?Does young Ascanius life and health enjoy,Sav’d from the ruins of unhappy Troy?O tell me how his mother’s loss he bears,What hopes are promis’d from his blooming years,How much of Hector in his face appears?’She spoke; and mix’d her speech with mournful cries,And fruitless tears came trickling from her eyes.

“At length her lord descends upon the plain,In pomp, attended with a num’rous train;Receives his friends, and to the city leads,And tears of joy amidst his welcome sheds.Proceeding on, another Troy I see,Or, in less compass, Troy’s epitome.A riv’let by the name of Xanthus ran,And I embrace the Scaean gate again.My friends in porticoes were entertain’d,And feasts and pleasures thro’ the city reign’d.The tables fill’d the spacious hall around,And golden bowls with sparkling wine were crown’d.Two days we pass’d in mirth, till friendly gales,Blown from the south supplied our swelling sails.Then to the royal seer I thus began:‘O thou, who know’st, beyond the reach of man,The laws of heav’n, and what the stars decree;Whom Phoebus taught unerring prophecy,From his own tripod, and his holy tree;Skill’d in the wing’d inhabitants of air,What auspices their notes and flights declare:O say; for all religious rites portendA happy voyage, and a prosp’rous end;And ev’ry power and omen of the skyDirect my course for destin’d Italy;But only dire Celaeno, from the gods,A dismal famine fatally forebodes:O say what dangers I am first to shun,What toils vanquish, and what course to run.’

“The prophet first with sacrifice adoresThe greater gods; their pardon then implores;Unbinds the fillet from his holy head;To Phoebus, next, my trembling steps he led,Full of religious doubts and awful dread.Then, with his god possess’d, before the shrine,These words proceeded from his mouth divine:‘O goddess-born, (for Heav’n’s appointed will,With greater auspices of good than ill,Foreshows thy voyage, and thy course directs;Thy fates conspire, and Jove himself protects,)Of many things some few I shall explain,Teach thee to shun the dangers of the main,And how at length the promis’d shore to gain.The rest the fates from Helenus conceal,And Juno’s angry pow’r forbids to tell.First, then, that happy shore, that seems so nigh,Will far from your deluded wishes fly;Long tracts of seas divide your hopes from Italy:For you must cruise along Sicilian shores,And stem the currents with your struggling oars;Then round th’ Italian coast your navy steer;And, after this, to Circe’s island veer;And, last, before your new foundations rise,Must pass the Stygian lake, and view the nether skies.Now mark the signs of future ease and rest,And bear them safely treasur’d in thy breast.When, in the shady shelter of a wood,And near the margin of a gentle flood,Thou shalt behold a sow upon the ground,With thirty sucking young encompass’d round;The dam and offspring white as falling snow:These on thy city shall their name bestow,And there shall end thy labours and thy woe.Nor let the threaten’d famine fright thy mind,For Phoebus will assist, and Fate the way will find.Let not thy course to that ill coast be bent,Which fronts from far th’ Epirian continent:Those parts are all by Grecian foes possess’d;The salvage Locrians here the shores infest;There fierce Idomeneus his city builds,And guards with arms the Salentinian fields;And on the mountain’s brow Petilia stands,Which Philoctetes with his troops commands.Ev’n when thy fleet is landed on the shore,And priests with holy vows the gods adore,Then with a purple veil involve your eyes,Lest hostile faces blast the sacrifice.These rites and customs to the rest commend,That to your pious race they may descend.

‘When, parted hence, the wind, that ready waitsFor Sicily, shall bear you to the straitsWhere proud Pelorus opes a wider way,Tack to the larboard, and stand off to sea:Veer starboard sea and land. Th’ Italian shoreAnd fair Sicilia’s coast were one, beforeAn earthquake caus’d the flaw: the roaring tidesThe passage broke that land from land divides;And where the lands retir’d, the rushing ocean rides.Distinguish’d by the straits, on either hand,Now rising cities in long order stand,And fruitful fields: so much can time invadeThe mould’ring work that beauteous Nature made.Far on the right, her dogs foul Scylla hides:Charybdis roaring on the left presides,And in her greedy whirlpool sucks the tides;Then spouts them from below: with fury driv’n,The waves mount up and wash the face of heav’n.But Scylla from her den, with open jaws,The sinking vessel in her eddy draws,Then dashes on the rocks. A human face,And virgin bosom, hides her tail’s disgrace:Her parts obscene below the waves descend,With dogs inclos’d, and in a dolphin end.’Tis safer, then, to bear aloof to sea,And coast Pachynus, tho’ with more delay,Than once to view misshapen Scylla near,And the loud yell of wat’ry wolves to hear.

“‘Besides, if faith to Helenus be due,And if prophetic Phoebus tell me true,Do not this precept of your friend forget,Which therefore more than once I must repeat:Above the rest, great Juno’s name adore;Pay vows to Juno; Juno’s aid implore.Let gifts be to the mighty queen design’d,And mollify with pray’rs her haughty mind.Thus, at the length, your passage shall be free,And you shall safe descend on Italy.Arriv’d at Cumae, when you view the floodOf black Avernus, and the sounding wood,The mad prophetic Sibyl you shall find,Dark in a cave, and on a rock reclin’d.She sings the fates, and, in her frantic fits,The notes and names, inscrib’d, to leafs commits.What she commits to leafs, in order laid,Before the cavern’s entrance are display’d:Unmov’d they lie; but, if a blast of windWithout, or vapours issue from behind,The leafs are borne aloft in liquid air,And she resumes no more her museful care,Nor gathers from the rocks her scatter’d verse,Nor sets in order what the winds disperse.Thus, many not succeeding, most upbraidThe madness of the visionary maid,And with loud curses leave the mystic shade.

“‘Think it not loss of time a while to stay,Tho’ thy companions chide thy long delay;Tho’ summon’d to the seas, tho’ pleasing galesInvite thy course, and stretch thy swelling sails:But beg the sacred priestess to relateWith willing words, and not to write thy fate.The fierce Italian people she will show,And all thy wars, and all thy future woe,And what thou may’st avoid, and what must undergo.She shall direct thy course, instruct thy mind,And teach thee how the happy shores to find.This is what Heav’n allows me to relate:Now part in peace; pursue thy better fate,And raise, by strength of arms, the Trojan state.’

“This when the priest with friendly voice declar’d,He gave me license, and rich gifts prepar’d:Bounteous of treasure, he supplied my wantWith heavy gold, and polish’d elephant;Then Dodonaean caldrons put on board,And ev’ry ship with sums of silver stor’d.A trusty coat of mail to me he sent,Thrice chain’d with gold, for use and ornament;The helm of Pyrrhus added to the rest,That flourish’d with a plume and waving crest.Nor was my sire forgotten, nor my friends;And large recruits he to my navy sends:Men, horses, captains, arms, and warlike stores;Supplies new pilots, and new sweeping oars.Meantime, my sire commands to hoist our sails,Lest we should lose the first auspicious gales.

“The prophet bless’d the parting crew, and last,With words like these, his ancient friend embrac’d:‘Old happy man, the care of gods above,Whom heav’nly Venus honour’d with her love,And twice preserv’d thy life, when Troy was lost,Behold from far the wish’d Ausonian coast:There land; but take a larger compass round,For that before is all forbidden ground.The shore that Phoebus has design’d for you,At farther distance lies, conceal’d from view.Go happy hence, and seek your new abodes,Blest in a son, and favour’d by the gods:For I with useless words prolong your stay,When southern gales have summon’d you away.’

“Nor less the queen our parting thence deplor’d,Nor was less bounteous than her Trojan lord.A noble present to my son she brought,A robe with flow’rs on golden tissue wrought,A phrygian vest; and loads with gifts besideOf precious texture, and of Asian pride.‘Accept,’ she said, ‘these monuments of love,Which in my youth with happier hands I wove:Regard these trifles for the giver’s sake;’Tis the last present Hector’s wife can make.Thou call’st my lost Astyanax to mind;In thee his features and his form I find:His eyes so sparkled with a lively flame;Such were his motions; such was all his frame;And ah! had Heav’n so pleas’d, his years had been the same.’

“With tears I took my last adieu, and said:‘Your fortune, happy pair, already made,Leaves you no farther wish. My diff’rent state,Avoiding one, incurs another fate.To you a quiet seat the gods allow:You have no shores to search, no seas to plow,Nor fields of flying Italy to chase:(Deluding visions, and a vain embrace!)You see another Simois, and enjoyThe labour of your hands, another Troy,With better auspice than her ancient tow’rs,And less obnoxious to the Grecian pow’rs.If e’er the gods, whom I with vows adore,Conduct my steps to Tiber’s happy shore;If ever I ascend the Latian throne,And build a city I may call my own;As both of us our birth from Troy derive,So let our kindred lines in concord live,And both in acts of equal friendship strive.Our fortunes, good or bad, shall be the same:The double Troy shall differ but in name;That what we now begin may never end,But long to late posterity descend.’

“Near the Ceraunian rocks our course we bore;The shortest passage to th’ Italian shore.Now had the sun withdrawn his radiant light,And hills were hid in dusky shades of night:We land, and, on the bosom of the ground,A safe retreat and a bare lodging found.Close by the shore we lay; the sailors keepTheir watches, and the rest securely sleep.The night, proceeding on with silent pace,Stood in her noon, and view’d with equal faceHer steepy rise and her declining race.Then wakeful Palinurus rose, to spyThe face of heav’n, and the nocturnal sky;And listen’d ev’ry breath of air to try;Observes the stars, and notes their sliding course,The Pleiads, Hyads, and their wat’ry force;And both the Bears is careful to behold,And bright Orion, arm’d with burnish’d gold.Then, when he saw no threat’ning tempest nigh,But a sure promise of a settled sky,He gave the sign to weigh; we break our sleep,Forsake the pleasing shore, and plow the deep.

“And now the rising morn with rosy lightAdorns the skies, and puts the stars to flight;When we from far, like bluish mists, descryThe hills, and then the plains, of Italy.Achates first pronounc’d the joyful sound;Then, ‘Italy!’ the cheerful crew rebound.My sire Anchises crown’d a cup with wine,And, off’ring, thus implor’d the pow’rs divine:‘Ye gods, presiding over lands and seas,And you who raging winds and waves appease,Breathe on our swelling sails a prosp’rous wind,And smooth our passage to the port assign’d!’The gentle gales their flagging force renew,And now the happy harbour is in view.Minerva’s temple then salutes our sight,Plac’d, as a landmark, on the mountain’s height.We furl our sails, and turn the prows to shore;The curling waters round the galleys roar.The land lies open to the raging east,Then, bending like a bow, with rocks compress’d,Shuts out the storms; the winds and waves complain,And vent their malice on the cliffs in vain.The port lies hid within; on either sideTwo tow’ring rocks the narrow mouth divide.The temple, which aloft we view’d before,To distance flies, and seems to shun the shore.Scarce landed, the first omens I beheldWere four white steeds that cropp’d the flow’ry field.‘War, war is threaten’d from this foreign ground,’My father cried, ‘where warlike steeds are found.Yet, since reclaim’d to chariots they submit,And bend to stubborn yokes, and champ the bit,Peace may succeed to war.’ Our way we bendTo Pallas, and the sacred hill ascend;There prostrate to the fierce Virago pray,Whose temple was the landmark of our way.Each with a Phrygian mantle veil’d his head,And all commands of Helenus obey’d,And pious rites to Grecian Juno paid.These dues perform’d, we stretch our sails, and standTo sea, forsaking that suspected land.

“From hence Tarentum’s bay appears in view,For Hercules renown’d, if fame be true.Just opposite, Lacinian Juno stands;Caulonian tow’rs, and Scylacaean strands,For shipwrecks fear’d. Mount Aetna thence we spy,Known by the smoky flames which cloud the sky.Far off we hear the waves with surly soundInvade the rocks, the rocks their groans rebound.The billows break upon the sounding strand,And roll the rising tide, impure with sand.Then thus Anchises, in experience old:‘’Tis that Charybdis which the seer foretold,And those the promis’d rocks! Bear off to sea!’With haste the frighted mariners obey.First Palinurus to the larboard veer’d;Then all the fleet by his example steer’d.To heav’n aloft on ridgy waves we ride,Then down to hell descend, when they divide;And thrice our galleys knock’d the stony ground,And thrice the hollow rocks return’d the sound,And thrice we saw the stars, that stood with dews around.The flagging winds forsook us, with the sun;And, wearied, on Cyclopian shores we run.The port capacious, and secure from wind,Is to the foot of thund’ring Aetna join’d.By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high;By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,And flakes of mounting flames, that lick the sky.Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown,And, shiver’d by the force, come piecemeal down.Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow,Fed from the fiery springs that boil below.Enceladus, they say, transfix’d by Jove,With blasted limbs came tumbling from above;And, where he fell, th’ avenging father drewThis flaming hill, and on his body threw.As often as he turns his weary sides,He shakes the solid isle, and smoke the heavens hides.In shady woods we pass the tedious night,Where bellowing sounds and groans our souls affright,Of which no cause is offer’d to the sight;For not one star was kindled in the sky,Nor could the moon her borrow’d light supply;For misty clouds involv’d the firmament,The stars were muffled, and the moon was pent.

“Scarce had the rising sun the day reveal’d,Scarce had his heat the pearly dews dispell’d,When from the woods there bolts, before our sight,Somewhat betwixt a mortal and a sprite,So thin, so ghastly meager, and so wan,So bare of flesh, he scarce resembled man.This thing, all tatter’d, seem’d from far t’imploreOur pious aid, and pointed to the shore.We look behind, then view his shaggy beard;His clothes were tagg’d with thorns, and filth his limbsbesmear’d;The rest, in mien, in habit, and in face,Appear’d a Greek, and such indeed he was.He cast on us, from far, a frightful view,Whom soon for Trojans and for foes he knew;Stood still, and paus’d; then all at once beganTo stretch his limbs, and trembled as he ran.Soon as approach’d, upon his knees he falls,And thus with tears and sighs for pity calls:‘Now, by the pow’rs above, and what we shareFrom Nature’s common gift, this vital air,O Trojans, take me hence! I beg no more;But bear me far from this unhappy shore.’Tis true, I am a Greek, and farther own,Among your foes besieg’d th’ imperial town.For such demerits if my death be due,No more for this abandon’d life I sue;This only favour let my tears obtain,To throw me headlong in the rapid main:Since nothing more than death my crime demands,I die content, to die by human hands.’He said, and on his knees my knees embrac’d:I bade him boldly tell his fortune past,His present state, his lineage, and his name,Th’ occasion of his fears, and whence he came.The good Anchises rais’d him with his hand;Who, thus encourag’d, answer’d our demand:‘From Ithaca, my native soil, I cameTo Troy; and Achaemenides my name.Me my poor father with Ulysses sent;(O had I stay’d, with poverty content!)But, fearful for themselves, my countrymenLeft me forsaken in the Cyclops’ den.The cave, tho’ large, was dark; the dismal floorWas pav’d with mangled limbs and putrid gore.Our monstrous host, of more than human size,Erects his head, and stares within the skies;Bellowing his voice, and horrid is his hue.Ye gods, remove this plague from mortal view!The joints of slaughter’d wretches are his food;And for his wine he quaffs the streaming blood.These eyes beheld, when with his spacious handHe seiz’d two captives of our Grecian band;Stretch’d on his back, he dash’d against the stonesTheir broken bodies, and their crackling bones:With spouting blood the purple pavement swims,While the dire glutton grinds the trembling limbs.

“‘Not unreveng’d Ulysses bore their fate,Nor thoughtless of his own unhappy state;For, gorg’d with flesh, and drunk with human wineWhile fast asleep the giant lay supine,Snoring aloud, and belching from his mawHis indigested foam, and morsels raw;We pray; we cast the lots, and then surroundThe monstrous body, stretch’d along the ground:Each, as he could approach him, lends a handTo bore his eyeball with a flaming brand.Beneath his frowning forehead lay his eye;For only one did the vast frame supply;But that a globe so large, his front it fill’d,Like the sun’s disk or like a Grecian shield.The stroke succeeds; and down the pupil bends:This vengeance follow’d for our slaughter’d friends.But haste, unhappy wretches, haste to fly!Your cables cut, and on your oars rely!Such, and so vast as Polypheme appears,A hundred more this hated island bears:Like him, in caves they shut their woolly sheep;Like him, their herds on tops of mountains keep;Like him, with mighty strides, they stalk from steep to steepAnd now three moons their sharpen’d horns renew,Since thus, in woods and wilds, obscure from view,I drag my loathsome days with mortal fright,And in deserted caverns lodge by night;Oft from the rocks a dreadful prospect seeOf the huge Cyclops, like a walking tree:From far I hear his thund’ring voice resound,And trampling feet that shake the solid ground.Cornels and salvage berries of the wood,And roots and herbs, have been my meager food.While all around my longing eyes I cast,I saw your happy ships appear at last.On those I fix’d my hopes, to these I run;’Tis all I ask, this cruel race to shun;What other death you please, yourselves bestow.’

“Scarce had he said, when on the mountain’s browWe saw the giant shepherd stalk beforeHis following flock, and leading to the shore:A monstrous bulk, deform’d, depriv’d of sight;His staff a trunk of pine, to guide his steps aright.His pond’rous whistle from his neck descends;His woolly care their pensive lord attends:This only solace his hard fortune sends.Soon as he reach’d the shore and touch’d the waves,From his bor’d eye the gutt’ring blood he laves:He gnash’d his teeth, and groan’d; thro’ seas he strides,And scarce the topmost billows touch’d his sides.

“Seiz’d with a sudden fear, we run to sea,The cables cut, and silent haste away;The well-deserving stranger entertain;Then, buckling to the work, our oars divide the main.The giant harken’d to the dashing sound:But, when our vessels out of reach he found,He strided onward, and in vain essay’dTh’ Ionian deep, and durst no farther wade.With that he roar’d aloud: the dreadful cryShakes earth, and air, and seas; the billows flyBefore the bellowing noise to distant Italy.The neighb’ring Aetna trembling all around,The winding caverns echo to the sound.His brother Cyclops hear the yelling roar,And, rushing down the mountains, crowd the shore.We saw their stern distorted looks, from far,And one-eyed glance, that vainly threaten’d war:A dreadful council, with their heads on high;(The misty clouds about their foreheads fly;)Not yielding to the tow’ring tree of Jove,Or tallest cypress of Diana’s grove.New pangs of mortal fear our minds assail;We tug at ev’ry oar, and hoist up ev’ry sail,And take th’ advantage of the friendly gale.Forewarn’d by Helenus, we strive to shunCharybdis’ gulf, nor dare to Scylla run.An equal fate on either side appears:We, tacking to the left, are free from fears;For, from Pelorus’ point, the North arose,And drove us back where swift Pantagias flows.His rocky mouth we pass, and make our wayBy Thapsus and Megara’s winding bay.This passage Achaemenides had shown,Tracing the course which he before had run.

“Right o’er against Plemmyrium’s wat’ry strand,There lies an isle once call’d th’ Ortygian land.Alpheus, as old fame reports, has foundFrom Greece a secret passage under ground,By love to beauteous Arethusa led;And, mingling here, they roll in the same sacred bed.As Helenus enjoin’d, we next adoreDiana’s name, protectress of the shore.With prosp’rous gales we pass the quiet soundsOf still Elorus, and his fruitful bounds.Then, doubling Cape Pachynus, we surveyThe rocky shore extended to the sea.The town of Camarine from far we see,And fenny lake, undrain’d by fate’s decree.In sight of the Geloan fields we pass,And the large walls, where mighty Gela was;Then Agragas, with lofty summits crown’d,Long for the race of warlike steeds renown’d.We pass’d Selinus, and the palmy land,And widely shun the Lilybaean strand,Unsafe, for secret rocks and moving sand.At length on shore the weary fleet arriv’d,Which Drepanum’s unhappy port receiv’d.Here, after endless labours, often toss’dBy raging storms, and driv’n on ev’ry coast,My dear, dear father, spent with age, I lost:Ease of my cares, and solace of my pain,Sav’d thro’ a thousand toils, but sav’d in vainThe prophet, who my future woes reveal’d,Yet this, the greatest and the worst, conceal’d;And dire Celaeno, whose foreboding skillDenounc’d all else, was silent of the ill.This my last labour was. Some friendly godFrom thence convey’d us to your blest abode.”

Thus, to the list’ning queen, the royal guestHis wand’ring course and all his toils express’d;And here concluding, he retir’d to rest.

Words in this poem 142

scarce a.: Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
sire n.: A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
briny a.: Of or pertaining to brine, or to the sea; partaking of the nature of brine; salt; as, a briny taste; the briny flood. [From Brine.]
luckless a.: Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
adore v. t.: To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
jove n.: The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
went n.: Course; way; path; journey; direction.
prodigy n.: Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. [L. prodigium; pro before + (perh.) a word appearing in adagium adage: cf. F. prodige. Cf. Adage.]
offence n.: The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
atone v. t.: To set at one; to reduce to concord; to reconcile, as parties at variance; to appease.
thracian a.: Of or pertaining to Thrace, or its people.
sequel n.: That which follows; a succeeding part; continuation; as, the sequel of a man's advantures or history. [L. sequela, fr. sequit to follow: cf. F. séquelle a following. See Sue to follow.]
womb n.: The belly; the abdomen. [OE. wombe, wambe, AS. wamb, womb; akin to D. wam belly, OS. & OHG. wamba, G. wamme, wampe, Icel. vömb, Sw. v&mb, Dan. vom, Goth. wamba.]
ghost n.: The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
dreadful a.: Full of dread or terror; fearful.
corpse n.: A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
pent p. p.: Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
hapless a.: Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
broke v. i.: To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
wealth n.: Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
lucre n.: Gain in money or goods; profit; riches; -- often in an ill sense. [F. lucre, L. lucrum.]
phoebus n.: Apollo; the sun god.
needful a.: Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing.
hoary a.: White or whitish."The hoary willows."
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
unveil v. t.: To remove a veil from; to divest of a veil; to uncover; to disclose to view; to reveal; as, she unveiled her face. [1st pref. un- + veil.]
shook v. t.: To pack, as staves, in a shook.
abode n.: Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
undaunted a.: Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
derive v. t.: To turn the course of, as water; to divert and distribute into subordinate channels; to diffuse; to communicate; to transmit; -- followed by to, into, on, upon. [F. dériver, L. derivare; de- + rivus stream, brook. See Rival.]
dispel v. t.: To drive away by scattering, or so to cause to vanish; to clear away; to banish; to dissipate; as, to dispel a cloud, vapors, cares, doubts, illusions. [L. dispellere; dis- + pellere to push, drive. See Pulse a beating.]
isle v. t.: To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
explore v. t.: To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
oblation n.: The act of offering, or of making an offering. [L. oblatio: cf. F. oblation. See Oblate.]
rumour n.: A flying or popular report; the common talk; hence, public fame; notoriety. [F. rumeur, L. rumor; cf. rumificare, rumitare to rumor, Skr. ru to cry.]
cretan a.: Pertaining to Crete, or Candia.
noisome a.: Noxious to health; hurtful; mischievous; unwholesome; insalubrious; destructive; as, noisome effluvia. [For noysome, fr. noy for annoy. See Annoy.]
sirius n.: The Dog Star. See Dog Star.
expect v. t.: To wait for; to await. [L. expectatum, to look out for, await, expect; ex + out spectare to look at. See Spectacle.]
clime n.: A climate; a tract or region of the earth. See Climate. [L. clima. See Climate.]
balmy a.: Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
phoebe n.: The pewee, or pewit.
spoke n.: The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
glorious a.: Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
befriend v. t.: To act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance.
sate v. t.: To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
deem v. t.: To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
latian a.: Belonging, or relating, to Latium, a country of ancient Italy.
sable n.: A carnivorous animal of the Weasel family (Mustela zibellina) native of the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, and America, -- noted for its fine, soft, and valuable fur. [OF. sable, F. zibeline sable (in sense 4), LL. sabellum; cf. D. sabel, Dan. sabel, zobel, Sw. sabel, sobel, G. zobel; all fr. Russ. sóbole.]
palinurus n.: An instrument for obtaining directly, without calculation, the true bearing of the sun, and thence the variation of the compass [So called from L. Palinurus, the pilot of Æneas.]
betwixt prep.: In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
starless a.: Being without stars; having no stars visible; as, a starless night.
sunless a.: Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
ionian a.: Of or pertaining to Ionia or the Ionians; Ionic. [L. Ionius. See Ionic.]
dire a.: Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
greensward n.: Turf green with grass.
stench v. t.: To stanch. Harvey.
arbour n.: A kind of latticework formed of, or covered with, vines, branches of trees, or other plants, for shade; a bower. Sir P. [OE. herber, herbere, properly a garden of herbs, F. herbier, fr. L. herbarium. See Herb, and cf. Herbarium.]
wage v. i.: To bind one's self; to engage.
dismal a.: Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
famine n.: General scarcity of food; dearth; a want of provisions; destitution. [F. famine, fr. L. fames hunger; cf. Gr. hani loss, lack, ha to leave.]
misdeed n.: An evil deed; a wicked action. [AS. misd. See Deed, n.]
humbly adv.: With humility; lowly.
amidst prep.: In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
boreas n.: The north wind; -- usually a personification. [L. boreas, Gr. .]
wondrous adv.: In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
armour n.: Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one's person in battle. [OE. armure, fr. F. armure, OF. armeure, fr. L. armatura. See Armature.]
frightful a.: Full of fright; affrighted; frightened.
haughty a.: High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
lust v. i.: To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
handmaid n.: A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant.
ravisher n.: One who ravishes (in any sense).
fruitless a.: Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
unerring a.: Committing no mistake; incapable or error or failure certain; sure; unfailing; as, the unerring wisdom of God.
tripod n.: Any utensil or vessel, as a stool, table, altar, caldron, etc., supported on three feet. [L. tripus, -odis, Gr. Tri-) + Foot, and cf. Tripos, Trivet.]
portend v. t.: To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. [L. portendre, portentum, to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See Position, Tend.]
fatally adv.: In a manner proceeding from, or determined by, fate. Bentley.
angry a.: Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
cruise v. i.: To sail back and forth on the ocean; to sail, as for the potection of commerce, in search of an enemy, for plunder, or for pleasure. [D. kruisen to move crosswise or in a zigzag, to cruise, fr. kruis cross, fr. OF. crois, croiz, F. croix, or directly fr. OF. croisier, F. croiser, to cross, cru]
sicilian a.: Of or pertaining to Sicily or its inhabitants. Sicilian vespers, the great massacre of the French in Sicily, in the year 1282, on the evening of Easter Monday, at the hour of vespers.
stygian a.: Of or pertaining to the river Styx; hence, hellish; infernal.
nether a.: Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under; -- opposed to upper. [OE. nethere, neithere, AS. ni, fr. the adv. ni downward; akin to neo below, beneath, D. neder down, G. nieder, Sw. nedre below, nether, a. & adv., and also to S]
shalt: 2d per. sing. of Shall.
continent a.: Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
salvage n.: The act of saving a vessel, goods, or life, goods, or life, from perils of the sea. [F. salvage, OF. salver to save, F. sauver, fr. L. salvare. See Save.]
pelorus n.: An instrument similar to a mariner's compass, but without magnetic needles, and having two sight vanes by which bearings are taken, esp. such as cannot be taken by the compass.
mould n.: Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
beauteous a.: Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
charybdis n.: A dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Sicily opposite Scylla on the Italian coast. It is personified as a female monster. See Scylla.
sibyl n.: A woman supposed to be endowed with a spirit of prophecy.
museful a.: Meditative; thoughtfully silent.
upbraid n.: The act of reproaching; contumely.
priestess n.: A woman who officiated in sacred rites among pagans. Abp.
avoid v. t.: To empty. Wyclif. [OF. esvuidier, es (L. ex) + vuidier, voidier, to empty. See Void, a.]
undergo v. t.: To go or move below or under. [AS. undergan. See Under, and Go.]
instruct a.: Arranged; furnished; provided. [L. instructus, p. p. of instruere to furnish, provide, construct, instruct; pref. in- in, struere. See Structure.]
bounteous a.: Liberal in charity; disposed to give freely; generously liberal; munificent; beneficent; free in bestowing gifts; as, bounteous production. [OE. bountevous, fr. bounte bounty.]
honour n.: Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
favour n.: Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
vest n.: An article of clothing covering the person; an outer garment; a vestment; a dress; a vesture; a robe. [L. vestis a garment, vesture; akin to Goth. wasti, and E. wear: cf. F. veste. See Wear to carry on the person, and cf. Divest, Invest, Travesty.]
asian a.: Of or pertaining to Asia; Asiatic. [L. Asianus, Gr. Asia.]
wove: p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
auspice n.: A divining or taking of omens by observing birds; an omen as to an undertaking, drawn from birds; an augury; an omen or sign in general; an indication as to the future. [L. auspicium, fr. auspex: cf. F. auspice. See Auspicate, a.]
obnoxious a.: Subject; liable; exposed; answerable; amenable; -- with to. [L. obnoxius; ob (see Ob-) + noxius hurtful. See Noxious.]
steepy a.: Steep; precipitous.
wakeful a.: Not sleeping; indisposed to sleep; watchful; vigilant.
hyads n.: A cluster of five stars in the face of the constellation Taurus, supposed by the ancients to indicate the coming of rainy weather when they rose with the sun.
orion n.: A large and bright constellation on the equator, between the stars Aldebaran and Sirius. It contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.
morn n.: The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
descry: , Discovery or view, as of an army seen at a distance.
flagging n.: A pavement or sidewalk of flagstones; flagstones, collectively.
harbour n.: A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
minerva n.: The goddess of wisdom, of war, of the arts and sciences, of poetry, and of spinning and weaving; -- identified with the Grecian Pallas Athene. [L.]
furl v. t.: To draw up or gather into close compass; to wrap or roll, as a sail, close to the yard, stay, or mast, or, as a flag, close to or around its staff, securing it there by a gasket or line. Totten. [Contr. fr. furdle, fr. fardel bundle: cf. F. ferler to furl, OF. fardeler to pack. See Furdle, Fardel, and cf. Farl.]
champ v. t.: To bite with repeated action of the teeth so as to be heard. [Prob, of Scand. orgin; cf. dial. Sw. kämsa to chew with difficulty, champ; but cf. also OF. champier, champeyer, champoyer, to graze in fields, fr. F. champ fie]
pallas n.: Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
virago n.: A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage; a woman who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man; a female warrior. [L. virago, -intis, from vir a man. See Virile.]
surly a.: Arrogant; haughty. Cotgrave. [Probably from sir, and originally meaning, sirlike, i.e., proud. See Sir, and Like, a.]
ridgy a.: Having a ridge or ridges; rising in a ridge.
pitchy a.: Partaking of the qualities of pitch; resembling pitch. [From 1st Pitch.]
massy a.: Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.
piecemeal adv.: In pieces; in parts or fragments. [OE. pecemele; pece a piece + AS. m, dat. pl. of m part. See Meal a portion.]
blasted a.: Blighted; withered.
firmament n.: Fixed foundation; established basis. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.]
sprite n.: A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
bade: A form of the pat tense of Bid.
boldly adv.: In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
horrid a.: Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
streaming a.: Sending forth streams.
supine a.: Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
aloud adv.: With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
indigested a.: Not digested; undigested. [Pref. in- not + digested.]
deform a.: Deformed; misshapen; shapeless; horrid. [L. deformis; de- + forma form: cf. OF. deforme, F. difforme. Cf. Difform.]
aright adv.: Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
solace n.: Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
buckling a.: Wavy; curling, as hair. Latham.
wade n.: Woad. Mortimer.
diana n.: The daughter of Jupiter and Latona; a virgin goddess who presided over hunting, chastity, and marriage; -- identified with the Greek goddess Artemis. [L. Diana.]
tacking n.: A union of securities given at different times, all of which must be redeemed before an intermediate purchaser can interpose his claim. Bouvier.
drove n.: A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
protectress n.: A woman who protects. [NL. protectrix.]
palmy a.: Bearing palms; abounding in palms; derived from palms; as, a palmy shore.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Book III is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Aeneid, Project Gutenberg ebook #228, the John Dryden translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Virgil, Book III, in The Aeneid (1697), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #228, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/virgil-aeneid/book-iii.html, id L14063.

Form and metre

Book III is 945 lines in 34 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 64% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 24 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 AABBCC--DDEE-BFF-- state^A · fate^A · prey^B · lay^B · retreat^C · seat^C · foot · cut · find^D · assign'd^D · spring^E · sing^E · sea · obey^B · shore^F · before^F · gods · floods
2 AAB---BBCCDDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLL--MMNNOOPPQQRRSSTTUU land^A · command^A · war^B · care · kind · join'd · adore^B · shore^B · wall^C · call^C · paid^D · aid^D · laid^D · view^E · grew^E · scenes^F · greens^F · relate^G · fate^G · wound^H · ground^H · stood^I · blood^I · try^J · dye^J · unknown^K · atone^K · most^L · coast^L · avert · impart · length^M · strength^M · more^N · gore^N · womb^O · tomb^O · renew'd^P · ensued^P · rend^Q · friend^Q · blood^R · wood^R · contains^S · veins^S · shore^T · polydore^T · embrued^U · renew'd^U
3 AABBB-CA--DDEEFFGGCCAAHHHCC declare^A · hair^A · pent^B · event^B · sent^B · far · war^C · care^A · decline · join · truth^D · youth^D · gold^E · hold^E · fears^F · peers^F · require^G · desire^G · shore^C · polydore^C · prepare^A · rear^A · round^H · crown'd^H · unbound^H · pour^C · polydore^C
4 AABB reign^A · main^A · wind^B · behind^B
5 --AABBB appears · theirs · sides^A · tides^A · ashore^B · restore^B · adore^B
6 AABB--CCDD--BBEEAAA--FFDDGGHH crown'd^A · bound^A · ascend^B · friend^B · sign · join · went^C · present^C · place^D · race^D · own · town · end^B · attend^B · find^E · mind^E · ground^A · around^A · sound^A · god · abode · earth^F · birth^F · race^D · embrace^D · reign^G · sustain^G · disclose^H · arose^H
7 --AABBCCDD--EEFF---GGHHIIJJKKLLMM-- god · abode · mind^A · kind^A · hear^B · fear^B · fame^C · name^C · command^D · stand^D · we · ancestry · fame^E · came^E · chose^F · arose^F · abodes · gods · woods · taught^G · brought^G · explore^H · shore^H · fleet^I · crete^I · laid^J · paid^J · due^K · slew^K · please^L · seas^L · spread^M · fled^M · free · enemy
8 --AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH--II--JJJKKLL sea · way · sight^A · white^A · cyclades^B · seas^B · shores^C · oars^C · cry^D · fly^D · bore^E · shore^E · frame^F · name^F · exhort^G · fort^G · strand^H · land^H · promote · lot · air^I · year^I · burn · corn · high^J · sky^J · fry^J · shore^K · implore^K · expect^L · direct^L
9 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH----IIJJ--KK cares^A · shares^A · seem'd^B · redeem'd^B · bright^C · light^C · mind^D · find^D · relate^E · fate^E · brought^F · wrought^F · attend^G · befriend^G · ordain^H · reign^H · build · yield · god · abode · old^I · bold^I · fame^J · name^J · born · return · greet^K · crete^K
10 AABB-C--DDEEFFCC--GGG- sight^A · night^A · descried^B · tied^B · sweat · sate^C · haste · cast · done^D · run^D · space^E · race^E · crete^F · seat^F · fate^C · relate^C · she · italy · thought^G · brought^G · taught^G · way
11 -AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK--LLMMNNOOO obey · behind^A · wind^A · move^B · above^B · rain^C · main^C · raise^D · ways^D · eyes^E · flies^E · dark^F · mark^F · found^G · around^G · strays^H · days^H · shrouds^I · clouds^I · sight^J · height^J · ply^K · fly^K · strophades · seas · main^L · reign^L · repair^M · fare^M · sent^N · punishment^N · obscene^O · unclean^O · lean^O
12 AABB--CCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJK-LLKKMMNN--OOPPPQQQRRSSRRTTUUVVWWXX--Y-Y beheld^A · field^A · stray'd^B · invade^B · feast · guest · ground^C · round^C · cry^D · fly^D · find^E · behind^E · sit^F · refit^F · shade^G · made^G · burn^H · return^H · lie^I · sky^I · repeat^J · meat^J · prepare^K · war · provide^L · hide^L · hear^K · appear^K · alarm^M · arm^M · employ^N · destroy^N · wounds · rebounds · prey^O · display^O · fate^P · sate^P · relate^P · slain^Q · maintain^Q · reign^Q · mind^R · design'd^R · relate^S · fate^S · find^R · assign'd^R · build^T · fulfill'd^T · misdeed^U · feed^U · flew^V · renew^V · fall^W · call^W · were^X · prefer^X · sacrifice · eyes · he^Y · prophecy · free^Y
13 -AABBCCDDEE-AAFFGGHHIICCJJKK-- sea · obey^A · way^A · appear^B · steer^B · shore^C · bore^C · appears^D · fears^D · past^E · cast^E · haste · pay^A · way^A · pursue^F · renew^F · oil^G · toil^G · wind^H · behind^H · course^I · force^I · door^C · bore^C · speaks^J · greeks^J · ply^K · fly^K · lost · coast
14 AABB--CCDDCCEEEFFGGHHII bend^A · ascend^A · fame^B · name^B · son · throne · fate^C · mate^C · port^D · court^D · gate^C · fate^C · crown'd^E · around^E · sound^E · wood^F · flood^F · beheld^G · shield^G · heat^H · beat^H · strength^I · length^I
15 A-BBCCDDEEAA-- said^A · shade · cry^B · reply^B · sight^C · light^C · life^D · wife^D · lord^E · restor'd^E · fled^A · bed^A · tone · begun
16 AAB-BCCDDEE--FF-GGHH--II-JJKK race^A · embrace^A · die^B · captivity · lie^B · borne^C · scorn^C · pride^D · bride^D · bed^E · wed^E · resign'd · join'd · despair^F · fair^F · ravisher · regain'd^G · remain'd^G · calls^H · walls^H · coast · toss'd · enjoy^I · troy^I · bears · years^J · appears^J · cries^K · eyes^K
17 AA--B-CADDEEFFCCB-BGGHH----II plain^A · train^A · leads · sheds · see^B · epitome · ran^C · again^A · entertain'd^D · reign'd^D · around^E · crown'd^E · gales^F · sails^F · began^C · man^C · decree^B · prophecy · tree^B · air^G · declare^G · portend^H · end^H · sky · italy · gods · forebodes · shun^I · run^I
18 AABBBCCDDEEFFF--GG-HHIIJJKKLLMMNNNOOPPQQ--RRSS--TT adores^A · implores^A · head^B · led^B · dread^B · shrine^C · divine^C · will^D · ill^D · directs^E · protects^E · explain^F · main^F · gain^F · conceal · tell · nigh^G · fly^G · italy · shores^H · oars^H · steer^I · veer^I · rise^J · skies^J · rest^K · breast^K · wood^L · flood^L · ground^M · round^M · snow^N · bestow^N · woe^N · mind^O · find^O · bent^P · continent^P · possess'd^Q · infest^Q · builds · fields · stands^R · commands^R · shore^S · adore^S · eyes · sacrifice · commend^T · descend^T
19 AABCDDEEEFFGGEEE--HHIIJJCBKK waits^A · straits^A · way^B · sea^C · shore^D · before^D · tides^E · divides^E · rides^E · hand^F · stand^F · invade^G · made^G · hides^E · presides^E · tides^E · driv'n · heav'n · jaws^H · draws^H · face^I · disgrace^I · descend^J · end^J · sea^C · delay^B · near^K · hear^K
20 AA--BBCC--DDCCEEFFCCGGHHFFF due^A · true^A · forget · repeat · adore^B · implore^B · design'd^C · mind^C · free · italy · flood^D · wood^D · find^C · reclin'd^C · fits^E · commits^E · laid^F · display'd^F · wind^C · behind^C · air^G · care^G · verse^H · disperse^H · upbraid^F · maid^F · shade^F
21 AABBCCDDDEECCC stay^A · delay^A · gales^B · sails^B · relate^C · fate^C · show^D · woe^D · undergo^D · mind^E · find^E · relate^C · fate^C · state^C
22 AABBCCBBDDEEFFGG declar'd^A · prepar'd^A · want^B · elephant^B · board^C · stor'd^C · sent^B · ornament^B · rest^D · crest^D · friends^E · sends^E · stores^F · oars^F · sails^G · gales^G
23 A-BBA-CCDD--EE last^A · embrac'd · above^B · love^B · lost^A · coast · round^C · ground^C · you^D · view^D · abodes · gods · stay^E · away^E
24 AABBCC--DDEEFFF deplor'd^A · lord^A · brought^B · wrought^B · beside^C · pride^C · love · wove · sake^D · make^D · mind^E · find^E · flame^F · frame^F · same^F
25 --AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHHIIJJ said · made · state^A · fate^A · allow^B · plow^B · chase^C · embrace^C · enjoy^D · troy^D · tow'rs^E · pow'rs^E · adore^F · shore^F · throne^G · own^G · derive^H · live^H · strive^H · same^I · name^I · end^J · descend^J
26 AABBCCDDEEEFFFGGHHFFDD bore^A · shore^A · light^B · night^B · ground^C · found^C · keep^D · sleep^D · pace^E · face^E · race^E · spy^F · sky^F · try^F · course^G · force^G · behold^H · gold^H · nigh^F · sky^F · sleep^D · deep^D
27 AA--BBCCDDEEFFGGHH--IIJJKKLLMMNNOOPP-QQRR light^A · flight^A · descry · italy · sound^B · rebound^B · wine^C · divine^C · seas^D · appease^D · wind^E · assign'd^E · renew^F · view^F · sight^G · height^G · shore^H · roar^H · east · compress'd · complain^I · vain^I · side^J · divide^J · before^K · shore^K · beheld^L · field^L · ground^M · found^M · submit^N · bit^N · bend^O · ascend^O · pray^P · way^P · head · obey'd^Q · paid^Q · stand^R · land^R
28 AABBCCDDEEFF--GGHHIIIJJ--KKK--LL--MMNNOOOPPQQ view^A · true^A · stands^B · strands^B · spy^C · sky^C · sound^D · rebound^D · strand^E · sand^E · old^F · foretold^F · sea · obey · veer'd^G · steer'd^G · ride^H · divide^H · ground^I · sound^I · around^I · sun^J · run^J · wind · join'd · high^K · fly^K · sky^K · thrown · down · flow^L · below^L · jove · above · drew^M · threw^M · sides^N · hides^N · night^O · affright^O · sight^O · sky^P · supply^P · firmament^Q · pent^Q
29 --AA--BBC-C--DDEEFFGGHH--IIJJKK--LLMMLLNNOOPPQQRR--SSTTUU reveal'd · dispell'd · sight^A · sprite^A · wan · man · t'implore^B · shore^B · beard^C · limbs · besmear'd^C · face · was · view^D · knew^D · began^E · ran^E · falls^F · calls^F · share^G · air^G · more^H · shore^H · own · town · due^I · sue^I · obtain^J · main^J · demands^K · hands^K · embrac'd · past · name^L · came^L · hand^M · demand^M · came^L · name^L · sent^N · content^N · countrymen^O · den^O · floor^P · gore^P · size^Q · skies^Q · hue^R · view^R · food · blood · hand^S · band^S · stones^T · bones^T · swims^U · limbs^U
30 AABB--CCDDEE--FFGG--HHHIIJJKKLL--MMNN- fate^A · state^A · wine^B · supine^B · maw · raw · surround^C · ground^C · hand^D · brand^D · eye^E · supply^E · fill'd · shield · bends^F · friends^F · fly^G · rely^G · appears · bears · sheep^H · keep^H · steep^H · renew^I · view^I · fright^J · night^J · see^K · tree^K · resound^L · ground^L · wood · food · cast^M · last^M · run^N · shun^N · bestow
31 -AABBCCCDDEE brow · before^A · shore^A · sight^B · aright^B · descends^C · attends^C · sends^C · waves^D · laves^D · strides^E · sides^E
32 --AABBCCDD-EEFF-FGGHHIIIJJKKLLMM-- sea · away · entertain^A · main^A · sound^B · found^B · essay'd^C · wade^C · cry^D · fly^D · italy · around^E · sound^E · roar^F · shore^F · far · war^F · high^G · fly^G · jove^H · grove^H · assail^I · sail^I · gale^I · shun^J · run^J · appears^K · fears^K · arose^L · flows^L · way^M · bay^M · shown · run
33 AABBCCDDEE-FFF--GGHHH--I-IJJKKLL-- strand^A · land^A · found^B · ground^B · led^C · bed^C · adore^D · shore^D · sounds^E · bounds^E · survey · sea^F · see^F · decree^F · pass · was · crown'd^G · renown'd^G · land^H · strand^H · sand^H · arriv'd · receiv'd · toss'd^I · coast · lost^I · pain^J · vain^J · reveal'd^K · conceal'd^K · skill^L · ill^L · god · abode
34 AAA guest^A · express'd^A · rest^A

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
When Heav’n had overturn’d the Trojan state	10	···/˘··/˘·
And Priam’s throne, by too severe a fate;	10	·/····˘/··
When ruin’d Troy became the Grecians’ prey,	10	·/˘·˘/····
And Ilium’s lofty tow’rs in ashes lay;	10	···/˘··/˘·
Warn’d by celestial omens, we retreat,	10	··˘/˘/˘·˘/
To seek in foreign lands a happier seat.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Near old Antandros, and at Ida’s foot,	10	·······/˘·
The timber of the sacred groves we cut,	10	·/˘··/˘···
And build our fleet; uncertain yet to find	10	··/·˘/˘···
What place the gods for our repose assign’d.	10	·····/˘/˘/
Friends daily flock; and scarce the kindly spring	10	·/˘····/˘·
Began to clothe the ground, and birds to sing,	10	˘/········
When old Anchises summon’d all to sea:	10	·····/˘···
The crew my father and the Fates obey.	10	···/˘···˘/
With sighs and tears I leave my native shore,	10	·······/˘·
And empty fields, where Ilium stood before.	11	·/˘··/˘˘···
My sire, my son, our less and greater gods,	10	·/··/··/˘·
All sail at once, and cleave the briny floods.	10	·······/˘·
“Against our coast appears a spacious land,	10	··/·˘/·/˘·
Which once the fierce Lycurgus did command,	10	····˘/˘·˘/
Thracia the name; the people bold in war;	10	·····/˘···
Vast are their fields, and tillage is their care,	10	·····/˘···
A hospitable realm while Fate was kind,	10	·//˘˘·····
With Troy in friendship and religion join’d.	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
I land; with luckless omens, then adore	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
Their gods, and draw a line along the shore;	10	······˘/··
I lay the deep foundations of a wall,	10	····˘/˘···
And Aenos, nam’d from me, the city call.	10	·······/˘·
To Dionaean Venus vows are paid,	8	···/˘···
And all the pow’rs that rising labours aid;	10	·····/˘/˘·
A bull on Jove’s imperial altar laid.	10	····˘/˘/˘·
Not far, a rising hillock stood in view;	10	···/˘/˘···
Sharp myrtles on the sides, and cornels grew.	10	·/˘····/˘·
There, while I went to crop the sylvan scenes,	10	·······/˘·
And shade our altar with their leafy greens,	10	··//˘··/˘·
I pull’d a plant; with horror I relate	10	·····/˘·˘/
A prodigy so strange and full of fate.	10	·/˘˘······
The rooted fibers rose, and from the wound	10	·/˘/˘·····
Black bloody drops distill’d upon the ground.	10	·/˘·˘/····
Mute and amaz’d, my hair with terror stood;	10	··˘/···/˘·
Fear shrunk my sinews, and congeal’d my blood.	10	······˘/··
Mann’d once again, another plant I try:	10	··˘/˘/˘···
That other gush’d with the same sanguine dye.	10	·/˘····/˘·
Then, fearing guilt for some offence unknown,	10	·/˘···˘/˘/
With pray’rs and vows the Dryads I atone,	9	·······˘/
With all the sisters of the woods, and most	10	···/˘·····
The God of Arms, who rules the Thracian coast,	10	·······/˘·
That they, or he, these omens would avert,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Release our fears, and better signs impart.	10	˘//··/˘·˘/
Clear’d, as I thought, and fully fix’d at length	10	·····/˘···
To learn the cause, I tugged with all my strength:	10	··········
I bent my knees against the ground; once more	10	··········
The violated myrtle ran with gore.	10	·/˘˘˘/˘···
Scarce dare I tell the sequel: from the womb	10	·····/˘···
Of wounded earth, and caverns of the tomb,	10	·/˘··/˘···
A groan, as of a troubled ghost, renew’d	10	·····/˘·˘/
My fright, and then these dreadful words ensued:	10	·····/˘·˘/
‘Why dost thou thus my buried body rend?	10	·····/˘/˘·
O spare the corpse of thy unhappy friend!	10	······˘/˘·
Spare to pollute thy pious hands with blood:	10	··˘/·/˘···
The tears distil not from the wounded wood;	10	··˘/···/˘·
But ev’ry drop this living tree contains	10	·····/˘·˘/
Is kindred blood, and ran in Trojan veins.	10	·/˘····/˘·
O fly from this unhospitable shore,	10	····˘/˘˘˘·
Warn’d by my fate; for I am Polydore!	10	··········
Here loads of lances, in my blood embrued,	10	···/˘····˘
Again shoot upward, by my blood renew’d.’	10	˘/·/˘···˘/
“My falt’ring tongue and shiv’ring limbs declare	10	········˘/
My horror, and in bristles rose my hair.	10	·/˘··/˘···
When Troy with Grecian arms was closely pent,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Old Priam, fearful of the war’s event,	10	·/·/˘···˘/
This hapless Polydore to Thracia sent:	10	·/˘·······
Loaded with gold, he sent his darling, far	10	/˘·····/˘·
From noise and tumults, and destructive war,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
Committed to the faithless tyrant’s care;	10	˘/˘··/˘/˘·
Who, when he saw the pow’r of Troy decline,	10	········˘/
Forsook the weaker, with the strong to join;	10	˘/·/˘·····
Broke ev’ry bond of nature and of truth,	10	·····/˘···
And murder’d, for his wealth, the royal youth.	10	·/˘····/˘·
O sacred hunger of pernicious gold!	10	·/˘/˘·˘/˘·
What bands of faith can impious lucre hold?	11	·····˘/˘/˘·
Now, when my soul had shaken off her fears,	10	·····/˘···
I call my father and the Trojan peers;	10	···/˘··/˘·
Relate the prodigies of Heav’n, require	11	˘/·/˘˘··˘/˘
What he commands, and their advice desire.	11	··˘/··˘/˘/˘
All vote to leave that execrable shore,	10	······/˘˘·
Polluted with the blood of Polydore;	10	˘/˘·······
But, ere we sail, his fun’ral rites prepare,	10	········˘/
Then, to his ghost, a tomb and altars rear.	10	·······/˘·
In mournful pomp the matrons walk the round,	10	·/˘··/˘···
With baleful cypress and blue fillets crown’d,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
With eyes dejected, and with hair unbound.	10	··˘/˘···˘/
Then bowls of tepid milk and blood we pour,	10	···/˘·····
And thrice invoke the soul of Polydore.	10	··˘/······
“Now, when the raging storms no longer reign,	10	···/˘··/˘·
But southern gales invite us to the main,	10	·/˘·˘/····
We launch our vessels, with a prosp’rous wind,	10	··//˘·····
And leave the cities and the shores behind.	10	···/˘·····
“An island in th’ Aegaean main appears;	9	·/˘····˘/
Neptune and wat’ry Doris claim it theirs.	10	/˘·/˘/˘···
It floated once, till Phoebus fix’d the sides	10	·/˘··/˘···
To rooted earth, and now it braves the tides.	10	·/˘·······
Here, borne by friendly winds, we come ashore,	10	···/˘···˘/
With needful ease our weary limbs restore,	10	·/˘·//˘·˘/
And the Sun’s temple and his town adore.	10	···/˘···˘/
“Anius, the priest and king, with laurel crown’d,	10	·······/˘·
His hoary locks with purple fillets bound,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Who saw my sire the Delian shore ascend,	10	···/····˘/
Came forth with eager haste to meet his friend;	10	···/˘·····
Invites him to his palace; and, in sign	10	˘/···/˘···
Of ancient love, their plighted hands they join.	10	·/˘··/˘···
Then to the temple of the god I went,	10	···/˘·····
And thus, before the shrine, my vows present:	10	········/˘
‘Give, O Thymbraeus, give a resting place	9	······/˘·
To the sad relics of the Trojan race;	10	···/˘··/˘·
A seat secure, a region of their own,	10	··˘/·/˘···
A lasting empire, and a happier town.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Where shall we fix? where shall our labours end?	10	······//˘·
Whom shall we follow, and what fate attend?	10	···/˘···˘/
Let not my pray’rs a doubtful answer find;	10	·····/˘/˘·
But in clear auguries unveil thy mind.’	9	·····˘/··
Scarce had I said: he shook the holy ground,	10	·······/˘·
The laurels, and the lofty hills around;	10	·/˘··/˘···
And from the tripos rush’d a bellowing sound.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Prostrate we fell; confess’d the present god,	10	/˘··˘/·/˘·
Who gave this answer from his dark abode:	10	···/˘···˘/
‘Undaunted youths, go, seek that mother earth	10	˘/˘····/˘·
From which your ancestors derive their birth.	10	···/·˘˘/··
The soil that sent you forth, her ancient race	10	·······/˘·
In her old bosom shall again embrace.	10	···/˘·˘/˘/
Through the wide world th’ Aeneian house shall reign,	9	·········
And children’s children shall the crown sustain.’	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Thus Phoebus did our future fates disclose:	10	·/˘·//˘·˘/
A mighty tumult, mix’d with joy, arose.	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
“All are concern’d to know what place the god	10	··˘/······
Assign’d, and where determin’d our abode.	10	˘/··˘/˘/˘/
My father, long revolving in his mind	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
The race and lineage of the Trojan kind,	10	···/˘··/˘·
Thus answer’d their demands: ‘Ye princes, hear	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
Your pleasing fortune, and dispel your fear.	10	·/˘/˘·˘/··
The fruitful isle of Crete, well known to fame,	10	·/˘·······
Sacred of old to Jove’s imperial name,	10	/˘····˘/˘·
In the mid ocean lies, with large command,	10	···/˘···˘/
And on its plains a hundred cities stand.	10	·····/˘/˘·
Another Ida rises there, and we	10	˘/˘/˘/˘···
From thence derive our Trojan ancestry.	11	··˘//˘/˘/˘˘
From thence, as ’tis divulg’d by certain fame,	10	····˘/·/˘·
To the Rhoetean shores old Teucrus came;	9	·········
There fix’d, and there the seat of empire chose,	10	·······/˘·
Ere Ilium and the Trojan tow’rs arose.	11	·/˘˘··/˘·˘/
In humble vales they built their soft abodes,	10	·/˘·····˘/
Till Cybele, the mother of the gods,	10	·····/˘···
With tinkling cymbals charm’d th’ Idaean woods,	10	·/˘˘/˘····
She secret rites and ceremonies taught,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘·
And to the yoke the savage lions brought.	10	·····/˘/˘·
Let us the land which Heav’n appoints, explore;	10	······˘/˘/
Appease the winds, and seek the Gnossian shore.	10	˘/········
If Jove assists the passage of our fleet,	10	··˘/·/˘·/·
The third propitious dawn discovers Crete.’	10	··˘/˘·˘/˘·
Thus having said, the sacrifices, laid	10	·/˘··/˘·˘·
On smoking altars, to the gods he paid:	10	·/˘/˘·····
A bull, to Neptune an oblation due,	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
Another bull to bright Apollo slew;	10	˘/˘···˘/˘·
A milk-white ewe, the western winds to please,	10	·····/˘···
And one coal-black, to calm the stormy seas.	10	·······/˘·
Ere this, a flying rumour had been spread	10	···/˘·˘···
That fierce Idomeneus from Crete was fled,	10	··········
Expell’d and exil’d; that the coast was free	10	˘/·/······
From foreign or domestic enemy.	10	·/˘·˘/˘/˘˘
“We leave the Delian ports, and put to sea.	10	··········
By Naxos, fam’d for vintage, make our way;	10	·····/˘·/·
Then green Donysa pass; and sail in sight	10	··········
Of Paros’ isle, with marble quarries white.	10	·····/˘/˘·
We pass the scatter’d isles of Cyclades,	10	···/˘··˘/˘
That, scarce distinguish’d, seem to stud the seas.	10	··˘/˘·····
The shouts of sailors double near the shores;	10	···/˘/˘···
They stretch their canvas, and they ply their oars.	10	···/˘·····
‘All hands aloft! for Crete! for Crete!’ they cry,	10	··˘/······
And swiftly thro’ the foamy billows fly.	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Full on the promis’d land at length we bore,	10	···/˘·····
With joy descending on the Cretan shore.	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
With eager haste a rising town I frame,	10	·/˘··/˘···
Which from the Trojan Pergamus I name:	10	···/˘·····
The name itself was grateful; I exhort	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
To found their houses, and erect a fort.	10	···/˘·˘/··
Our ships are haul’d upon the yellow strand;	10	/······/˘·
The youth begin to till the labour’d land;	10	··˘/······
And I myself new marriages promote,	10	···/·/˘˘˘/
Give laws, and dwellings I divide by lot;	10	···/˘·˘/··
When rising vapours choke the wholesome air,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
And blasts of noisome winds corrupt the year;	10	···/˘·˘/··
The trees devouring caterpillars burn;	10	··˘/˘/˘·˘·
Parch’d was the grass, and blighted was the corn:	10	·····/˘···
Nor ’scape the beasts; for Sirius, from on high,	11	·····/˘˘···
With pestilential heat infects the sky:	10	······˘/··
My men, some fall, the rest in fevers fry.	10	·······/˘·
Again my father bids me seek the shore	10	˘/·/˘·····
Of sacred Delos, and the god implore,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
To learn what end of woes we might expect,	10	········˘/
And to what clime our weary course direct.	10	····//˘·˘/
“’Twas night, when ev’ry creature, void of cares,	10	·····/˘···
The common gift of balmy slumber shares:	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
The statues of my gods (for such they seem’d),	10	·/········
Those gods whom I from flaming Troy redeem’d,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Before me stood, majestically bright,	10	····˘/˘˘˘·
Full in the beams of Phoebe’s ent’ring light.	10	·····/˘/˘·
Then thus they spoke, and eas’d my troubled mind:	10	·······/˘·
‘What from the Delian god thou go’st to find,	10	··········
He tells thee here, and sends us to relate.	10	········˘/
Those pow’rs are we, companions of thy fate,	10	····˘/˘···
Who from the burning town by thee were brought,	10	···/˘·····
Thy fortune follow’d, and thy safety wrought.	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Thro’ seas and lands as we thy steps attend,	10	········˘/
So shall our care thy glorious race befriend.	10	··/··/˘·˘/
An ample realm for thee thy fates ordain,	10	·/˘·····˘/
A town that o’er the conquer’d world shall reign.	10	·····/˘···
Thou, mighty walls for mighty nations build;	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Nor let thy weary mind to labours yield:	10	···/˘··/˘·
But change thy seat; for not the Delian god,	10	··········
Nor we, have giv’n thee Crete for our abode.	10	·······/˘/
A land there is, Hesperia call’d of old,	10	··········
The soil is fruitful, and the natives bold.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Th’ Oenotrians held it once, by later fame	10	·······/˘·
Now call’d Italia, from the leader’s name.	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Jasius there and Dardanus were born;	9	·········
From thence we came, and thither must return.	10	·····/˘·˘/
Rise, and thy sire with these glad tidings greet.	10	···/···/˘·
Search Italy; for Jove denies thee Crete.’	10	·/˘˘··˘/··
“Astonish’d at their voices and their sight,	10	˘/˘··/˘···
(Nor were they dreams, but visions of the night;	10	·····/˘···
I saw, I knew their faces, and descried,	10	·····/˘···
In perfect view, their hair with fillets tied;)	10	·/·····/˘·
I started from my couch; a clammy sweat	10	·/˘····/˘·
On all my limbs and shiv’ring body sate.	10	·······/˘·
To heav’n I lift my hands with pious haste,	10	·······/˘·
And sacred incense in the flames I cast.	10	·/˘/······
Thus to the gods their perfect honours done,	10	·····/·/˘·
More cheerful, to my good old sire I run,	10	·/˘····/··
And tell the pleasing news. In little space	10	···/˘··/˘·
He found his error of the double race;	10	···/˘··/˘·
Not, as before he deem’d, deriv’d from Crete;	10	······˘/··
No more deluded by the doubtful seat:	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
Then said: ‘O son, turmoil’d in Trojan fate!	10	·······/˘·
Such things as these Cassandra did relate.	10	····˘/˘·˘/
This day revives within my mind what she	10	··˘/······
Foretold of Troy renew’d in Italy,	10	˘/··˘/·/˘˘
And Latian lands; but who could then have thought	10	·/˘·······
That Phrygian gods to Latium should be brought,	10	·/˘·······
Or who believ’d what mad Cassandra taught?	10	··˘/··˘/˘·
Now let us go where Phoebus leads the way.’	10	·····/˘···
“He said; and we with glad consent obey,	10	······˘/˘/
Forsake the seat, and, leaving few behind,	10	˘/···/˘···
We spread our sails before the willing wind.	10	··/····/˘·
Now from the sight of land our galleys move,	10	······//˘·
With only seas around and skies above;	10	·/˘·······
When o’er our heads descends a burst of rain,	10	··/·˘/····
And night with sable clouds involves the main;	10	···/˘·˘/··
The ruffling winds the foamy billows raise;	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
The scatter’d fleet is forc’d to sev’ral ways;	10	·/˘·······
The face of heav’n is ravish’d from our eyes,	10	········/·
And in redoubled peals the roaring thunder flies.	12	··˘/˘··/˘/˘·
Cast from our course, we wander in the dark.	10	··/··/˘···
No stars to guide, no point of land to mark.	10	··········
Ev’n Palinurus no distinction found	10	······˘/˘·
Betwixt the night and day; such darkness reign’d around.	12	˘/·····/˘···
Three starless nights the doubtful navy strays,	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Without distinction, and three sunless days;	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
The fourth renews the light, and, from our shrouds,	10	··˘/····/·
We view a rising land, like distant clouds;	10	···/˘··/˘·
The mountain-tops confirm the pleasing sight,	10	·/˘·˘/·/˘·
And curling smoke ascending from their height.	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
The canvas falls; their oars the sailors ply;	10	·/˘····/˘·
From the rude strokes the whirling waters fly.	10	·····/˘/˘·
At length I land upon the Strophades,	9	·········
Safe from the danger of the stormy seas.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Those isles are compass’d by th’ Ionian main,	11	······˘/˘˘·
The dire abode where the foul Harpies reign,	10	··˘/······
Forc’d by the winged warriors to repair	10	····/˘˘·˘/
To their old homes, and leave their costly fare.	10	·······/˘·
Monsters more fierce offended Heav’n ne’er sent	10	/˘··˘/˘···
From hell’s abyss, for human punishment:	10	··˘/·/˘/˘˘
With virgin faces, but with wombs obscene,	10	·/˘/˘···˘/
Foul paunches, and with ordure still unclean;	10	·····/˘·˘/
With claws for hands, and looks for ever lean.	10	·······/˘·
“We landed at the port, and soon beheld	10	·/˘·····˘/
Fat herds of oxen graze the flow’ry field,	10	···/˘·····
And wanton goats without a keeper stray’d.	10	·/˘····/˘·
With weapons we the welcome prey invade,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
Then call the gods for partners of our feast,	10	·····/˘·/·
And Jove himself, the chief invited guest.	10	··˘/··˘/˘·
We spread the tables on the greensward ground;	10	···/˘··/˘·
We feed with hunger, and the bowls go round;	10	···/˘·····
When from the mountain-tops, with hideous cry,	10	···/˘··/˘·
And clatt’ring wings, the hungry Harpies fly;	10	·····/˘···
They snatch the meat, defiling all they find,	10	··········
And, parting, leave a loathsome stench behind.	10	·/˘··/˘···
Close by a hollow rock, again we sit,	10	···/˘·˘/··
New dress the dinner, and the beds refit,	10	···/˘···˘/
Secure from sight, beneath a pleasing shade,	10	˘/·····/˘·
Where tufted trees a native arbour made.	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Again the holy fires on altars burn;	10	˘/·/˘/·/˘·
And once again the rav’nous birds return,	10	··˘/····˘/
Or from the dark recesses where they lie,	10	····/˘˘···
Or from another quarter of the sky;	10	··˘/˘/˘···
With filthy claws their odious meal repeat,	10	·/˘··/˘·˘/
And mix their loathsome ordures with their meat.	10	···/˘·····
I bid my friends for vengeance then prepare,	10	·····/˘·˘/
And with the hellish nation wage the war.	10	···/˘/˘···
They, as commanded, for the fight provide,	10	··˘/˘···˘/
And in the grass their glitt’ring weapons hide;	10	·······/˘·
Then, when along the crooked shore we hear	10	··˘/·/˘···
Their clatt’ring wings, and saw the foes appear,	10	········˘/
Misenus sounds a charge: we take th’ alarm,	10	········˘/
And our strong hands with swords and bucklers arm.	10	·/·····/˘·
In this new kind of combat all employ	10	·····/˘·˘/
Their utmost force, the monsters to destroy.	10	·/···/˘·˘/
In vain, the fated skin is proof to wounds;	10	···/˘·····
And from their plumes the shining sword rebounds.	10	·····/˘·/·
At length rebuff’d, they leave their mangled prey,	10	··˘/···/˘·
And their stretch’d pinions to the skies display.	10	···/˘···˘/
Yet one remain’d, the messenger of Fate:	10	··˘/·/˘˘··
High on a craggy cliff Celaeno sate,	10	···/˘·····
And thus her dismal errand did relate:	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
‘What! not contented with our oxen slain,	10	··˘/˘·//˘·
Dare you with Heav’n an impious war maintain,	11	·····˘/˘·˘/
And drive the Harpies from their native reign?	10	·······/˘·
Heed therefore what I say; and keep in mind	10	··········
What Jove decrees, what Phoebus has design’d,	10	··˘/·/˘·˘/
And I, the Furies’ queen, from both relate:	10	···/˘···˘/
You seek th’ Italian shores, foredoom’d by fate:	11	··˘/˘······
Th’ Italian shores are granted you to find,	10	˘/˘··/˘···
And a safe passage to the port assign’d.	10	···/˘···˘/
But know, that ere your promis’d walls you build,	10	·····/˘···
My curses shall severely be fulfill’d.	10	·/˘·˘/˘·˘/
Fierce famine is your lot for this misdeed,	10	·/˘·····//
Reduc’d to grind the plates on which you feed.’	10	˘/········
She said, and to the neighb’ring forest flew.	10	·······/˘·
Our courage fails us, and our fears renew.	10	//˘···/·˘/
Hopeless to win by war, to pray’rs we fall,	10	/˘········
And on th’ offended Harpies humbly call,	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
And whether gods or birds obscene they were,	10	······˘/··
Our vows for pardon and for peace prefer.	10	/··/˘···˘/
But old Anchises, off’ring sacrifice,	10	·······/˘·
And lifting up to heav’n his hands and eyes,	10	·/˘·······
Ador’d the greater gods: ‘Avert,’ said he,	10	˘/·/˘·˘/··
‘These omens; render vain this prophecy,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘˘
And from th’ impending curse a pious people free!’	11	··˘/˘··//˘·
“Thus having said, he bids us put to sea;	10	·/˘·······
We loose from shore our haulsers, and obey,	10	····/···˘/
And soon with swelling sails pursue the wat’ry way.	12	···/˘·˘/·/˘·
Amidst our course, Zacynthian woods appear;	10	˘//·····˘/
And next by rocky Neritos we steer:	10	···/˘·····
We fly from Ithaca’s detested shore,	10	···/˘˘˘/˘·
And curse the land which dire Ulysses bore.	10	······˘/˘·
At length Leucate’s cloudy top appears,	9	····/˘·˘/
And the Sun’s temple, which the sailor fears.	10	···/˘··/˘·
Resolv’d to breathe a while from labour past,	10	˘/·····/··
Our crooked anchors from the prow we cast,	10	//˘/˘·····
And joyful to the little city haste.	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
Here, safe beyond our hopes, our vows we pay	10	····/·/···
To Jove, the guide and patron of our way.	10	·····/˘·/·
The customs of our country we pursue,	10	·/˘·//˘·˘/
And Trojan games on Actian shores renew.	10	·/˘·····˘/
Our youth their naked limbs besmear with oil,	10	/··/˘·˘/··
And exercise the wrastlers’ noble toil;	10	·/˘····/˘·
Pleas’d to have sail’d so long before the wind,	10	··········
And left so many Grecian towns behind.	10	···/˘/˘···
The sun had now fulfill’d his annual course,	10	····˘/·/˘·
And Boreas on the seas display’d his force:	11	·/˘˘···˘/··
I fix’d upon the temple’s lofty door	10	·····/˘/˘·
The brazen shield which vanquish’d Abas bore;	10	·/˘··/˘···
The verse beneath my name and action speaks:	10	·······/˘·
‘These arms Aeneas took from conqu’ring Greeks.’	10	··/˘······
Then I command to weigh; the seamen ply	10	··˘/···/˘·
Their sweeping oars; the smoking billows fly.	10	·/˘··/˘/˘·
The sight of high Phaeacia soon we lost,	9	·········
And skimm’d along Epirus’ rocky coast.	10	··˘/···/˘·
“Then to Chaonia’s port our course we bend,	10	·····/˘···
And, landed, to Buthrotus’ heights ascend.	10	·/˘·····˘/
Here wondrous things were loudly blaz’d fame:	9	·/˘··/˘··
How Helenus reviv’d the Trojan name,	10	····˘/·/˘·
And reign’d in Greece; that Priam’s captive son	10	·····/·/˘·
Succeeded Pyrrhus in his bed and throne;	10	˘/˘·······
And fair Andromache, restor’d by fate,	9	·····˘/··
Once more was happy in a Trojan mate.	10	···/˘··/˘·
I leave my galleys riding in the port,	10	···/˘/˘···
And long to see the new Dardanian court.	11	······˘/˘˘·
By chance, the mournful queen, before the gate,	10	···/˘·····
Then solemniz’d her former husband’s fate.	10	·····/˘/˘·
Green altars, rais’d of turf, with gifts she crown’d,	10	·/˘·······
And sacred priests in order stand around,	10	·/˘··/˘···
And thrice the name of hapless Hector sound.	10	·····/˘/˘·
The grove itself resembles Ida’s wood;	10	··˘/˘/˘/˘·
And Simois seem’d the well-dissembled flood.	10	······˘/˘·
But when at nearer distance she beheld	10	···/˘/˘·˘/
My shining armour and my Trojan shield,	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Astonish’d at the sight, the vital heat	10	˘/˘····/˘·
Forsakes her limbs; her veins no longer beat:	10	˘/·····/˘·
She faints, she falls, and scarce recov’ring strength,	10	··········
Thus, with a falt’ring tongue, she speaks at length:	10	··········

The first 400 of 945 lines; the reader marks them all.

On this poem

The voyages and settlements of Aeneas before his arrival at

Notes from the edition 355

Notes by Henry S. Frieze, revised by Walter Dennison, from Virgil's Aeneid, Books I–XII (New York, 1902), Internet Archive scan; keyed to the Latin line numbers and placed beside the matching stretch of Dryden's English.

Stanza 1 Latin l. 1–68 Aeneas, with twenty ships, built in Antandros, passes over to Thrace and attempts his first settlement of Aenea, or Aenos. After commencing his colony, he is warned by the shade of the murdered Polydorus to flee from TJrace and again sets sail with his fojlowrt
Stanza 1 Latin l. 1 res Asiae: 'the fortunes of Asia.' Troy was the chief city of Asia Minor, and the head of an extensive league. Cf. res AgamemnoniaSy 1. 54, for the power of Greece.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 2 Immeritam: 'not having deserved (such a fate).' Laomedon and Paris were the guilty ones, not the Trojans in general.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 3 humo: i.e. from its foundations, fumat: the present indicates that the ruins of Troy are still smoldering. Neptunia: see note on II, 625.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 4 Diversa: ' remote.' desertas: ' solitary,' ' desolate.'
Stanza 1 Latin l. 5 Auguriis: 'omens,''warnings.'ipsa: virtually emphasizes sub;'close under.'sub Antandro: Antandros lay on high ground above its harbor.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 7 ubi sistere detur: 'where it is granted us to settle.'For the infinitive, see note on I, 66.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 8 prima aestas: 'earliest summer.'See note on I» 541.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 9 £t: cf. II, 692 and note, f atis: dative., ', J, Fig. 24. — Ancient Vessel under Sail and Oars (1. 9) rendered'and then.' ''
Stanza 1 Latin l. 12 magnis dis: see note on II, 297. For the spondaic verse, (
Stanza 1 Latin l. 13 Terra Mavortia: 'a land of Mars,'the tutelary god of the warlike Thracians.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 58 primtun: he consults Anchises first as the most venerable and the most experienced in auguries.
Stanza 1 Latin l. 10 vela facies: 'a living form.'te: addressed to Aeneas. 3aZ. recessit:'has departed (from thee).'The sense is: If thou art deaa» and comest from the lower world, and from the assembly of Trojan heroes there, tell me where in that world is my Hector? 3x3. clamore: ' with loud lamentations.'
Stanza 1 Latin l. 11 362-364. maioribus Auspiciis: ' under higher auspices ', i.e. under those of the greater gods. Jupiter himself directs Aeneas, manifesta fides {est): 'there is clear proof.' Ire is the subject of est
Stanza 2 Latin l. 14 regnata: 'ruled over.'Lycurgus was an early king of Thrace, who had fiercely opposed the rites of Bacchus. The present king, Polymnestor, had married Ilione, the daughter of Priam.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 15 Hospitium: 'hospitable resort'; in apposition with /rra. sociique Penates: sc. erant
Stanza 2 Latin l. 16 Fortuna: i.e. the prosperity of Troy.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 17 ingressus: sc. terram, fatis iniquis: ablative of manner; 'under inauspicious fates.' They were not known, however, to be hostile from any previous indication, but from what turned out after the landing was made.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 18 Aeneadas: there was a city, Aenos, at the mouth of the Hebrus, and another, Aenea in Chalcidice, both of which were by tradition founded by Aeneas. The name, Aeneadas by which Aeneas calls his followers, implies that Virgil was in doubt which town to regard as the one founded by the hero. ao. A]18plcibll8, etc.: ' patrons of,' or ' favorable to the work commenced.'
Stanza 2 Latin l. 22 tumulus: ' a mound.' Polydorus had been left unburied on the shore, and the sand had covered his body, quo summo: ' on the top of which.'
Stanza 2 Latin l. 23 hastilibus: 'spear-shafts.'Both myrtle and cornel were used in making spear-shafts. Join the ablative with horrida
Stanza 2 Latin l. 25 Conatus: a participle, tegerem: according to the custom (cf. II, 248) of adorning altars and sacred places with boughs and wreaths. The myrtle was sacred to Venus.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 26 Observe the liveliness of the historical present video. It is joined by -que (in viridemque) to accessi.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 28 huic: ).'Drops of dark blood ooze from that shoot which is first torn up.'sanguine: descriptive ablative.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 30 frigidus: an instance of prolepsis. The effect of fear is assumed instead of being predicated.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 31 alterius: 'of a second.'
Stanza 2 Latin l. 32 penitus temptare: 'to explore thoroughly.' 34» 35' Aeneas supposes that the preternatural appearance may have been produced by the Nymphs who preside over the spot, or by Mars (Gradivus) who is the guardian of Thrace; and he now implores them to give the signs {visus) a favorable issue, and to mitigate the omen; i.e. to send another token by which he may know that the gods are not displeased with him.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 36 secundarent: 'make favorable.'For the omission of m/, see note on
Stanza 2 Latin l. 39 eloquar: for the subjunctive, see note on I, 565.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 41 laceras: every cornel or myrtle shoot is connected with the body of Polydorus. iam:'now at least'; after having repeated the torture, sepulto: he is covered by the sand.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 42 Parce: with infinitive expresses a prohibition; a poetical variation of noli scelerare.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 43 aut: continues the force of the negative. Cf. II, 779. 'Troy produced me no stranger to you, nor does this blood flow from the stock'; but from my lacerated body. Forbear, then, for you are doing violence to a human body, and even to a friend and fellow-countryman.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 45–46 ferrea: because of the'iron points,' or spear-heads, iacnlis increvit acutis:'has grown up in sharp javelins.' The spears, left in the body of Polydorus, have miraculously put forth roots in the accumulated sand, and sent up new shoots, straight and tapering; fitted, indeed, for javelins, laculis is the ablative of manner.
Stanza 2 Latin l. 47 ancipiti: 'twofold'; occasioned both by the blood, and by the voice of the shade, mentem:'in mind.' See note on I, 228.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 51 regi: Polymnestor.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 55 Fas omne: every obligation imposed by religion and the laws of hospitality.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 56 potitur: here of the third conjugation. Quid — cogis ?'to what dost thou not force the hearts of men ?'Both accusatives are governed by ccjgis, after the analogy of verbs of teaching or demanding. (
Stanza 3 Latin l. 59 refero: ' I report'; lay before them.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 60 animus: for sententia» The infinitive follows in apposition. (
Stanza 3 Latin l. 63 aggeritur: 'is heaped upon/ ' added to.'tumulo: the mound mentioned in I. 22. arae: sometimes two iiltars were erected to the Manes of a deceased person. See below, 1. 305. Such altars usually bore the inscription, Dis Manibus.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 66 Inferimus: on the grave or ashes of the dead it was customary to pour libations of milk, honey, sacrificial blood, and unmixed wine.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 68 Condimus: 'we put to rest.' Without these ceremonies the Manes were supposed to be wandering in misery. See VI, 318-330. supremnm: 'for the last time'; according to the custom described in note on II, 644.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 69–120 Aeneas arrives at the island of Delos, where he is hospitably re ceived by King Anius, the priest of Apollo.' On consulting the Delian oracle, the Trojans are told to seek out the land from which their earliest ancestors were derived. This Anchises pronounces to be Crete.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 69 pelagO: dative; sc, erat;'when first the sea could be trusted'; i,e. in the spring or early summer.
Stanza 3 Latin l. 71 deducunt: 'drawdown.'Cf. below, 1. 135. The ships were drawn Fig. 25,— Offerings at a Tomb (11. 64 sqq.) up and sheltered on the land after a voyage had been completed, complent: ' cover '; i.e. with the ships.
Stanza 4 Latin l. 73 Sacra tellus: refers to Delos, a small island in the midst of the Cyclades, the birthplace of Apollo and Diana, and the seat of one of the principal oracles of Apollo.
Stanza 5 Latin l. 74 matri: Doris, wife of Nereus. The dative depends upon groHssima, This verse retains the final vowels in mairi and Nepiuno, unelided. See note on I, 617. Neptune is called the Aegean because, according to Homer, his palace was in the Aegean Sea.
Stanza 5 Latin l. 76 Mycono e celsa Gyaroque, etc: 'which, when wandering about all seas and shores, the grateful Archer bound fast to lofty Myconos and Gyaros.' With revinxU, cf. religavit ab VII, 106, and such expressions as a sinistra a fronte, etc.
Stanza 5 Latin l. 78 e fessos: the voyage was somewhat more than two hundred miles.
Stanza 5 Latin l. 79 veneramur: ' we approach with reverence.'
Stanza 6 Latin l. 81 tempora: see note on I, 228. 8a. Occurrit: ' hastens to meet us.'
Stanza 6 Latin l. 83 hospitio: ' in hospitality.'
Stanza 6 Latin l. 84 Templa: the plural indicates the courts and porticos as well as the cellat or temple proper, yenerabar: implies approaching the temple as a worshiper, and offering sacrifice on the altar, sazo yetusto: the material is expressed either by the ablative alone, as I, 655, II, 765, V, 663, or by ex with the ablative, as IV, 138.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 85 Da, etc: 'grant to us our lasting abode'; i.e. reveal to us the place which the fates destine for our permanent (propriam) abode.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 88 Quern sequimur?'what leader are we to follow?'For the use of the present, see note on II, 322.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 89 inlabere: properly said of the inspiration of the priest, but here of information to be given to the suppliant directly by the voice of the oracle.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 90 See note on II, 692.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 91 -que: 'both'; is lengthened here by the ictus. Limina: is put for the whole temple, and with laurus is in apposition with omnia
Stanza 6 Latin l. 92 Mons: Mount Cynthus. adytis reclusis: ablative absolute. The earthquake is connected with the sudden opening of the inner sanctuary. Cf. VI, 81.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 93 submissi petimus terram: freely translated,'we prostrate ourselves upon the ground.'
Stanza 6 Latin l. 94 quae, etc: 'the lahd which first bore you from the stock of your ancestors.' See note on I, 573.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 95 ubere laeto: ' in her fruitful lap '; on her teeming soil.
Stanza 6 Latin l. 97 hic: as in I, 272, refers to the place just mentioned, oris: ablative of place where. loi. The oracle directs them to return to their mother country; but the question now is, what is the real mother country or cradle of their race. xoa. genitor: Anchises. Cf. above, II. 9 and 58.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 75 piu8: because in this act Apollo showed his filial piety to his mother, who had found shelter in Delos. circum: see note on I, 13.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 104 loyis insula: since Jupiter was born there.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 105 Mons Idaeus: from this the Trojan Ida derived its name.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 106 Centum: a round number. regna:'realms'; properly so called because in every city there was an Ava, or sovereign. Cf. I, 338.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 108 primum: cf. I, i. Some traditions made Teucer a native of the Trojan country, others a Cretan, who migrated to the Troad. He is called maximus as the dpxnyVh or original father of the race.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 109 regno: dative, nondum steterant: ' had not yet been built.' zii. Hinc: from Crete was derived the worship of Cybele, mother of the gods, magna mater, cultrix Cybeli: «inhabitant of Cybele.' She had a temple on the Phrygian mount Cybele. aera: ' brazen C3rmbals,' used by the priests, or Corybantes, in the worship of the goddess.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 112 nemus: there was a grove on the Trojan Ida consecrated to Cybele, in imitation of that on the Cretan Ida. silentia: the strict secrecy of the mysteries, and the practice of exhibiting the figure of the goddess in a chariot drawn by lions, were also brought from Crete (Jiinc eranf)
Stanza 7 Latin l. 121–191 Aeneas lands in Crete without opposition, as King Idomeneus has fled from the country. His new settlement is soon visited with plague and famine, and the Penates declare to him in a Vision that the Delian oracle referred not to Crete, but to Hesperia or Italy. Anchises recalls the tradition of the twofold origin of the Trojans (Teucer from Crete, and Dardanus from Italy), and advises him to set sail for Hesperia.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 122 Idomenea: accusative of the Greek declension ('I9o/ier9a). Idomeneus was one of the most distinguished of the Grecian chiefs at the siege of Troy. In fulfillment of a vow made during a tempest, to sacrifice to the gods the first object which should meet him on landing in Crete, he was compelled to make his own son, Merion, the victim. A pestilence which befell the people soon afterwards being attributed to this act, Idomeneus was expelled from his country, and, therefore, planted a new dominion in the Sallentine district of Southern Italy. See below, 1. 400, and XI, 264 sq.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 123 Hoste: ( The thought is: There is no one left in the country who will oppose us. X95. Bacchatam iugis:'where Bacchus is worshiped on the hills.'There is no corresponding English term. This island, the largest of the Cyclades» was noted for the cultivation of the vine and for the worship of Bacchus.
Stanza 7 Latin l. 128 vario certamine: 'in manifold strife'; ie. with varioiis cries of mutual encouragement and with rival effort.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 77 coli, contemnere: see note on I, 66. Before Delos was thus fastened it was uninhabited.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 86 87. senra altera Pergama: 'save the second Troy'; i,e. by your counsel save us, who are to found the second Troy, reliquias: cf. I, 30.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 116 Nec — cursu: the distance from Delos to Crete is about 150 Roman miles, adsit: ( Ii8. aris: ablative of place where. Fig. 26.— Apollo Citharoedus (11. 90 sqq.)
Stanza 8 Latin l. 126 niveam: referring to the white marble of Paros.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 127 Cycladas: Aeneas has particularized some of the Cyclades and some of the Sporades, and now sums up the whole in the terms Cycladas and terris. legimus: 'we sail along.' It governs the accusatives, Naxon, etc concita: ' disturbed.' The idea is that the number and proximity of the islands render the sea, thus pent up and interrupted in its currents, rougher and more dangerous.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 129 petamus: see note on the use oi hortor, L 134, below. Z33. Pergameam: sc. urbem. The real name was Pergamum, cognomine: see note on I, 275.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 134 arcem attollere tectis: Uo erect a citadel with (lofty) buildings'; i.e. build the usual fortifications, temples, and public edifices on the acropolis. The infinitive with horior is poetic. (
Stanza 8 Latin l. 135 lam fere: 'now all was well-nigh done'; fere limits in a general way the thought of the sentences following, subdnctae: see note on 1. 71.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 136 Conubiis: here a trisyllable; conubyis, Z37. Iiira domosque dabam: ' I was administering justice and assigning dwelling places.' Cf. I, 507. tabida: in an active sense; 'wasting.' bris: dat.; ' on our limbs.'
Stanza 8 Latin l. 138 Corrupto caeli tractu: 'the expanse of heaven being infected '; i.e. the region, or tract, of atmosphere pertaining to Crete. Z39. satis:'upon our crops'; the same construction as xvmfj. Z40. animas: for mias, Z41. steriles: an instance of prolepsis; as in 1. 30. ezurere: historical infinitive. Siiius: its rising, which occurs in the hot season, was supposed to produce drought, and sometimes pestilence.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 143 Ortygiae: seel. 124. Z44. ire: see note on attoUere, L 134. mari: ablative absolute with re» menso, 2i» pelago remenso, II, 181. The deponent has here, as often, a passive signification, veniam precari: the favor to be asked of Apollo is a revelation, informing them'what end, etc.'; the clauses introduced by quam, unde, and quo are thus dependent on the idea of responding or instructing implied in veniam, Z45. fessis rebus: cf. 1, 452. ferat: like da in 1. 85, is said of Apollo, as being able to relieve them by declaring what the fates decree concerning them. 147 sqq. Cf. Tennyson, On a Mourner: — ' like a household god Promising empire; such as those Once heard at dead of night to greet Troy's wandering prince, so that he rose With sacrifice, while all the fleet Had rest by stony hills of Crete.' tenia: ablative of place where. Z48. Effigies:'images.' Z50. yisi: it was a dream, as in II, 270. iacentis: sc. mei, limiting oeulos. Z5Z, Z52. se fundebat: gives more fullness of meaning than lucent Jundebat ZS4. delato: 'when thou hast sailed.' dicturns est: 'is on the point of saying '; ' would say.' Z55. ultro: 'unasked '; without being first invoked. See note on II, 145. This condescension is in return for the piety of Aeneas in saving the images of the Penates amidst such dangers. 156» Z57' secnti, permensi: sc. sumus, Z58. Idem: for Eidem, in astra: a phrase probably symbolical here, as ad aethera, L 462, of the glory of the descendants of Aeneas in general Z59. magnis: is left indefinite, perhaps purposely. We may understand virisy or rehus; or dis i.e. the Trojan Penates who are speaking. z6o. para: Aeneas was not actually to build the great city of Rome, but only to prepare the way for it by founding Lavinium» See note on II, 295. x6z. Non suasit: 'did not point out.':;g2 VIRGIL'S AENEID i6a. aut: see note on II, 602. Cretae: A. 25S» c, R.; ( Repeated from I, 530-533.
Stanza 8 Latin l. 215 Pestis et ira: ' plague and curse.'
Stanza 9 Latin l. 167 nobis: the Penates identify themselves with the Trojans. Dardanus: the brothers Dardanus and lasius were natives of Corythus, a city of Etruria. They migrated from Italy to Samothrace, and from thence Dardanus passed over to the Tad, where he married the daughter of Teucer, and received with her a share of the kingdom, which thus took the name of Dardania. The later name of Troy was derived from his grandson, Tros.
Stanza 9 Latin l. 168 pater: is applied to lasius, as being, in common with his brother, an original member of the family, or one of the patriarchs, quo: must be referred to Dardanus as the conspicuous name; lasius being merely appended as naturally associated with Dardanus.
Stanza 10 Latin l. 173 nec sopor illud erat: 'nor was that (all) a dream'; it was preternatural. iUud: the regular construction would be i/U. H. 394« i; A. 195, '/; Cf. VI, 129; (
Stanza 10 Latin l. 174 Velatas comas: they were veiled or bound with the fillets.
Stanza 10 Latin l. 175 gelidus: cf. 1. 30. corpore: 'from my body.'
Stanza 10 Latin l. 177–178 munera Intemerata: ' libations of unmixed wine.'focisi 'on the hearth'; the altar of the Penates, laetus: ioin with /ado, not Aonor, honore:'offering.' Z79. ordine pando:'I narrate.'
Stanza 10 Latin l. 180 prolem ambiguam: 'the twofold lineage.'Adgnovit: governs the accusatives and the infinitive deceptum esse as direct objects. i8z. novo: it was natural that at this late day Anchises should be liable to err in deciding which of the early homes of his ancestors the oracle meant. yeterum locomm: an objective genitive after errore;'new mistake about the ancient land.'
Stanza 10 Latin l. 183 talis casus: 'such fortunes'; namely, as that we should wander so far and settle in Italy.
Stanza 10 Latin l. 184 repeto: 'I recall.'portendere: sceam;'that she prophesied.'
Stanza 10 Latin l. 185 vocare: 'that she mentioned.'
Stanza 10 Latin l. 187 Crederet, moyeret: 'who could believe,'etc.; deliberative subjunctive. (
Stanza 10 Latin l. 192–266 The Trojans, having set sail from Crete, are driven about by a storm for three days and nights, and on the fourth reach the Strophades, small islands west of the Peloponnesus, where the Harpies dwell. They are annoyed by the Harpies and make an assault upon them. Celaeno, chief of the Harpies, pronounces a curse upon the voyagers, and they leave the island in terror. Z93. caelum — pontns (apparei): sc. j before caelum
Stanza 11 Latin l. 190 quoque: ' also ' this settlement as well as the one in Thrace, paucis relictis: 'leaving a few (of our number).' In Virgil's time, Pergamum and the supposed descendanta' of the Trojan colonistc still existed in Crete.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 191 aequor: accusative with currimus;'we traverse.'Sec note on I, 67, and of. V, 235.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 194 adstitit: a livelier word than surrexit
Stanza 11 Latin l. 195 inhorruit unda tenebris: 'the sea became ruffled with darkness'; the sea became rough, and was overspread with the gloomy shadow of the clouds. Cf. Tennyson's imitation (The Lady of Shalott, 12, 13): — ' Little breezes dusk and shiver Thro' the wave that runs for ever.'
Stanza 11 Latin l. 199 Abstulit: cf. I, 88. ingeminant, etc.: 'the lightnings continually flash from the riven clouds.'
Stanza 11 Latin l. 201 discernere etc: Palinurus does not perceive in the heavens (i.e. by looking at the heavens) when the day ends and the night begins. Caelo is the ablative of place.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 202 With Nee supply dicitf which is occasionally omitted, as here, after negaU meminisse, etc.: sc. se; 'and says that he does not distinguish his course in the midst of the wave.'
Stanza 11 Latin l. 203 tris adeo soles: 'three whole days'; adeo qualifies tres;'three, even so many.'incertos caeca caligine: the days are called'uncertain,'since their course is uncertain on account of the profound darkness.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 206 aperire montis: 'to disclose its mountains'; to bring its mountains into view. YOlyere fumtim: therefore the Trojans suppose it to contain the dwellings of men.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 207 remis insurgimus: they exchange sails for oars, in order to have the ships more under their command as they approach the shore, where there may be rocks and shallows.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 209 Strophadum: the name of the is/ands is said to be derived from ffTp4'f'€iv, since the pursuers of the Harpies, by the command of Jupiter, at this point ' turned back ' to Greece.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 210 stant: 'are situated'; a lively substitute for sunl, as incedo I, 46, and coliiur, above, 1. 73. 21 z. Insulae lonio in magno: the diphthong a in insula is not elided, and is shortened. See LM. iiio; A. 359,, and 355, ' I (
Stanza 11 Latin l. 212 aliae: the others, whose names are known, were Ocypete, Podarge, NicothoS, and ASllo.
Stanza 11 Latin l. 213 Clausa: the house of Phineus was closed against the Harpies after they had been expelled by the Argonauts, Zetes and Calais, who pursued them over the sea. They had tormented Phineus by constantly devouring or defiling the food that was placed upon his table
Stanza 11 Latin l. 216 Virginei Yolucnun voltus: 'the faces of the winged creatures are like those of maidens';'they are birds with the faces of maidens.'
Stanza 12 Latin l. 170 requirat: 'let him (Anchises) seek.'Anchises is recognized as the chief adviser and director of their movements.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 188 moniti: 'warned'; i.e. by the vision. Z89. dicto: /the'word'or'command'of Anchises.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 220 laeta: 'abundant.' Fig. 27. — Harpies (11. 216 sqq.)
Stanza 12 Latin l. 221 Caprigenum: agrees with pecm, nuUo custode: ablative absolute. They were sacred to the Harpies, and left to feed, as was usual with sacred animals, without a herdsman.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 222–223 divos — iovem: we devote a portion of the prey as a sacrifice to the gods, out of gratitude for our preservation. In partem praedamque: hendiadys for in partem praeaae, Cf. I, 61.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 224 toros: ' couches,'or ' seats'of piled-up turf, dapibiis: A. 248, c\ (
Stanza 12 Latin l. 226 clangoribus: refers to the loud flapping of their wings. Cf. I, 397. 229,230. Cf. I, 310, 311.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 231 aris: altars erected for the sacrifices mentioned in 11. 222, 223. 43a. diverso caeli:'from an opposite part of the heaven.'Cf. II, 716. 233. pedibus: see 1. 217.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 235 Edico: 'I order'; as a verb of commanding, followed by the subjunctive (ut) capessanty and, as signifying'I declare/ also followed by the infinitive, gerendum esse.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 236–237 tectos, latentia: proleptic. See note on I, 637. 239. specula: some high rock serves as a watch-tower.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 241 foedare: in apposition with proelia. See note on L 6o.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 242 tergo: ' on the body.'
Stanza 12 Latin l. 246 infelix: 'ill-boding.' mmpit:'shrieks forth'; the word describes her fury.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 247–248 Bellum etiam pro caede, bellumne: ' war then in return for the slaughter of our oxen, is it war? ' in return (pro) for the oxen of which you have robbed us. Laomedontiadae: in this passage a reproachful epithet, as Laomedon was faithless. Cf. IV, 542. But this is not always the case. See VII, 105; VIII, 18 and 158.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 249 patrio: 'hereditary'; since the Harpies were daughters of Pontus or Poseidon.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 251 pater omnipotens: Jupiter was the source of all the attributes of his children, and thus imparted to Apollo the gift of prophecy, and the power to inspire others with prophecy.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 252 Fnrianim: the poets do not always distinguish the Harpies from the Furies.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 253 yentia vocatis: 'having invoked the winds.'Cf. above, 1. 115.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 254 Italiam: see note on I, 2.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 256 nostrae caedis: 'of the murder of us'; your attempted slaughter of us.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 257 ambesas: see note on summersas, I, 69. subigat: after antequam,. malls: join with absumere» The prophecy was fulfilled, VII, 109 f. 259« gelidus: cf. 1. 30.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 260 armis, etc: 'nor do they now wish to seek security with arms, but with vows and prayers.'
Stanza 12 Latin l. 262 sive — sint: their vengeance is to be deprecated if they are goddesses; their continued persecution, if they are only horrible monsters. The subjunctive is that of indirect discourse, dependent on an idea of saying contained in exposcere.
Stanza 12 Latin l. 297 patrio marito: 'a husband of her own country'; i.e. of Troy, the country which had become hers by marrying Hector, iterum cessisse: ' has again become subject to.' Helenus is her second Trojan husband.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 266 funem: the ' hawser,'or • cable,'which moors the ship to the shore.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 267–277 The Trojans sail by the islands of the Ionian Sea, Zacynthus, Dulichium, Same, Neritos, Ithaca, Leucate, and reach Actium in Acarnania, on the bay of Ambracia.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 267 ftxcussos — rudentes (see noti on 1. 257): 'to loosen and fling free the sheets.' The rudentes were ropes which were fastened to the lower corners of the sails, and by which the sail was adjusted to the direction from which the wind blew. See V, 830 and note.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 271 Neritos: probably a small island near Ithaca, though some understand it to refer to the mountain of that name on the island of Ithaca.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 278–289 At Actium they celebrate games in honor of Apollo, and leave a shield suspended on the doorpost of the temple, with an inscription to commemorate their visit.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 278 insperata: because they have encountered such dangers on the sea, and sailed so near the homes of their enemies.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 279 Lustramur iovi: ' we perform lustral sacrifices to Jupiter,' because of the recent adventure with the Harpies; the verb is used in the middle sense. Cf. II, 383. Virgil represents Aeneas and his followers as performing a lustration according to the practice of the Romans, thus referring that custom to their Trojan ancestors. Augustus had ordered quinquennial games to be celebrated in honor of Apollo at Actium, to commemorate his decisive victory achieved there, in 31 B.C., over Antony and Cleopatra. By representing Aeneas as performing lustral games at the same place, and as thus being the founder of the Actian games, the poet pays a high compliment to Augustus. YOtis: meton. for sacrisy'sacrifices.'
Stanza 13 Latin l. 280 celebramus litora ludis: hypallage for ceUbramus in litoribus ludos, Cf. note on 1. 61. Celebrare may perhaps be used here in its original sense of ' throng.'
Stanza 13 Latin l. 281 Oleo labente: ablative absolute. The oil with which they were anointed flowed from their bodies while wrestling, palaestras: here ='athletic games.'
Stanza 13 Latin l. 284 circumvolvitur, etc: ' the sun completes the full year.' The accusative expresses duration of time.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 287 rem: ' the fact ' that it is an offering made by Aeneas, carmine: ' with the verse '; the verse following.
Stanza 13 Latin l. 288 aerias: sc. dedicat; 'Aeneas (consecrates) these arms (taken) from the victorious Greeks.'
Stanza 13 Latin l. 290–505 Aeneas sails again to the northward, and lands at Pelodes, the seaport of Buthrotum, in Epirus. At Buthrotum he has an interview with Helenus, the brother of Hector, and Andromache, formerly the wife of Hector, and more recently the slave of Pyrrhus, but now the wife of Helenus. By a wonderful combination of events, Helenus and Andromache have come to be the rulers of Chaonia, a district in Epirus. Just before parting with Aeneas, Helenus, who is a priest and prophet, gives him instructions about his future course; informing him that his new kingdom is to be planted, not on the nearest (or Adriatic) shore of Italy, but on the farthest (or Tyrrhenian) shore; that he must pass round the peninsula, shunning the new Greek colonies established by Idomeneus, the Locri, and Philoctetes; that he must not enter the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, but sail round Sicily by the south, and enter the Tuscan Sea from Drepanum; that he must seek an interview with the prophetess or Sibyl at Cumae, who will give him directions for his future guidance. 29Z. abscondimus: ' we lose sight of.' arces: ' heights ' or ' mountains.'
Stanza 13 Latin l. 307 magnis exterrita monstris: 'astounded at the great prodigy.'To her the sudden apparition of Aeneas and his followers was the more likely to seem supernatural, because her mind was on the deceased Hector.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 270 iam adparet etc: they coast along the west side of Greece to Buthrotum.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 286 Aere cavo: ablative of description, gestamen Abantis:'the equipment of Abas'; carried by Abas. This was an ancient king of the Argives, some one of whose descendants, Virgil imagines, was slain by Aeneas at Troy, thus leaving to the victor his shield as a trophy. This is now fastened upon the doorpost (facing the visitor, adversis) so as to meet the eye of one entering the temple.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 293 Chaonio: the harbor is so called because situated in Chaonia, a region of Epirus. The name of the port pertaining to Buthrotum was Pelodes. celsam: a common appellative of walled cities. The city was at some distance from the port, but not on high ground.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 295 Helenum: one of the sons of Priam, renowned as a prophet. Being made prisoner by the Greeks, he was carried by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, to Epirus, That the son of the principal enemy of the Greeks should now be a king in Grecian cities fills Aeneas with wonder. The position of the words aids the contrast of ideas.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 296 Coniugio: as in II, 579.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 299 The infinitives after amore, as in II, 10.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 300 Progredior: Aeneas goes attended with a part of his companions only and without Ascaniu''. Afterwards the Trojans are all entertained by Helenus. portu: ablative; see note on I, 2.
Stanza 14 Latin l. 301 SoUenmes dapes: 'annual funeral sacrifices,' 30a. falsi Simontis: 'the fictitious' or 'pretended Simois/ Helenus and Andromache had indulged their love of country by applying Trojan names to this stream and to other objects in their new kingdom. See IL 335, 336
Stanza 15 Latin l. 304 Hectoreum ad tumulum: ' at the tomb of Hector.'This was a cenotaph. The real tomb was at Troy, yiridi, etc.: ' which (foqned) of green turf, a cenotaph (lit. empty), she had consecrated.'
Stanza 15 Latin l. 305 geminas aras: see note on arae, 1. 63. causam lacrimis:'an occasion for tears'; because the tomb and the altars would remind her of Hector. For the dative, see note on scaenis, I, 429.
Stanza 15 Latin l. 309 longo tempore: for /ono post tempore. (
Stanza 16 Latin l. 275 et aperitur Apollo: ' and (after we have passed by Leucadia) the temple of Apollo opens to the view.' This was situated on the promontory of Actium, near the town of the same name, at the entrance of the Ambracian gulf. Shipwrecks frequently occurred here, and hence the temple is said to be dreaded by sailors.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 314 Subicio: 'I answer in reply.'raris, etc.:'I gasp in faltering words.'
Stanza 16 Latin l. 316 Answer to the question in 1. 310. 3x7. deiectam:'deprived of; lit. ' cast down from.'
Stanza 16 Latin l. 319 Hectoris andromachen etc: 'dost thou, once the Andromache of Hector, preserve the marriage ties of Pyrrhus?'Not said in reproach, but in grief that her hard fate is such. With the genitive, Hectoris, cf. Oili I, 41. e in the interrdgative -ne is elided.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 320 Deiecit: she is the victim of necessity and fate, but she can not escape some sense of shame in the thought of her connection with Neoptolemus.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 321 virgo: the allusion is to Pol3rxena, the daughter of Priam, slain as a sacrifice at the tomb of Achilles, who had been enamored of her, and had sought her hand in marriage.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 323 iussa: 'when commanded.' The participle indicates the cause of felix, sortitus: ' allotments,' ' distributions by lot.' Compare the style of this passage with that of I, 94 sqq.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 325 Nos: for ego; in contrast with Polyxena.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 327 Servitio enixae: ' having borne children in bondage.' According to Pausanias, I, ii, she bore three sons to Pyrrhus, — Molossus, Pileus, and Pecgamus'
Stanza 16 Latin l. 328 Lacedaemonios: Hermione was the daughter of Menelaus of Lace' daemon, and of Helen, the daughter of Leda. Her grandparents, Tyndarus and Leda, had promised her in marriage to Orestes, but her father gave her to Prhus. Orestes, already frantic with the consciousness of having murdered his mother {sceUrum Furiis agitatus), and still more maddened at the loss of his betrothed {ereptae coniugis), came upon Pyrrhus either at Phthia, his paternal home, or at Delphi, where he was worshiping at the altar erected to Achilles {pairias aras), and slew him.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 329 f amulamque: the particle -» is grammatically unnecessary;'gave me to Helenus a slave, (being) also myself a slave.'
Stanza 16 Latin l. 332 patrias: equivalent to patris
Stanza 16 Latin l. 333 Morte: ablative of time; ' at the death.'-reddita: ' being delivered up.'
Stanza 16 Latin l. 335 Troiano a Chaone: Chaon was a friend or brother of Helenus, for whom he is said to have sacrificed his life.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 336 Pergama Iliacamque arcem: the second term defines the first by epexegtsis, Cf. I, 2: Italiam Lavinaque liiora, iugis: dative with addidiU
Stanza 16 Latin l. 343 avunculus: Hector, according to one account, was the brother of Creusa.
Stanza 16 Latin l. 371 limina: Virgil understands that Apollo has a temple in the new Pergama of Helenus, as in the old Pergama.
Stanza 17 Latin l. 340 quem tibi, etc: this is the only fragmentary verse of the Aeneid in which an idea is not fully expressed. See note on I, 534. The general sense seems to be: ' whom Crefisa bore to thee when Troy was being besieged.'
Stanza 17 Latin l. 341 tamen: 'still, (though she be no more).' The story of Creiisa's disappearance at Troy may have reached Andromache during the several years of the wanderings of Aeneas.
Stanza 17 Latin l. 342 Ecquid: an emphatic indefinite interrogative particle. See A. 240, 'j; ( Do their deeds, and the knowledge that he is related so nearly to them, stimulate him in any respect to noble conduct?
Stanza 17 Latin l. 345 Incassum: 'in vain,'for grief can not restore the dead.
Stanza 17 Latin l. 347 8U0S: 'his countrymen.'
Stanza 17 Latin l. 349–351 Troiam, Pergama, etc: see note on 1. 302. arentem — riYum:'the shallow stream with the name of Xanthus.'For the ablative, ( Cf. II, 490. The Trojan names bring Aeneas to his home again. 35a. Teucri: after the interview between Aeneas and his friends above described, all the Trojans are summoned, and invited to share in the hospitalities of King Helenus Fig. 28. — Sacrificial Scene, showing Use of the /W'x (1.35s)
Stanza 17 Latin l. 354 Aulai medio: ' in the midst of the court/ Aulai is the archaic form of the genitive singular. See note on mediae I, 505. libabant poculas ' they poured out cups of wine in libations/ Cf. I, 736. So remarkable a meeting required special honors to the gods.
Stanza 17 Latin l. 355 Impositis auro dapibus: 'having placed the feasts (or sacrifices for the gods) on golden chargers'; as at a Roman leciislernium, pateras tenebant: they held the goblets while making libations. These religious ceremonies open the banquet given to the guests. 359. interpres divum: the knowledge of future events was derived either from direct inspiration or from signs. Helenus had both gifts. He receives the direct influence of Apollo, like the Pythia on the tripod at Delphi, or like the priests in the oracular grotto of Claros, in Ionia; he also understands the warnings of the stars, and the notes and the flight of birds. 362, 363. prospera: grammatically with religlo, but logically with cursanu numine:'by revelation'; by divine tokens. The clause is explanatory of
Stanza 18 Latin l. 364 repostas: for repositas;'remote.'Cf. VI, 59.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 370 vittas resolvit: the fillets must be removed from his head when about to be inspired, that the god might work freely in him. See VI, 77sqq.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 372 multo: ' powerful.'suspensum: ' awed.' 374» 375'nani •'introduces the ground on which Helenus reveals the will of the gods to Aeneasj namely, the fact just mentioned by Aeneas in Fig. 29. — Cortina and Tripod (1. 360)
Stanza 18 Latin l. 376 Sortitur: ' determines.' volvit vices: ' disposes events.' See note on volvere, I, 9 and 22. is vertitur ordo: ' this is the fixed order of events that revolves'; i.e. upon the wheel of destiny.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 377 quo: followed by the subjunctive. B. 282, l,a\. hospita: ' foreign.»
Stanza 18 Latin l. 380 fari, etc: ' Juno (i.e. the fear of Juno) forbids him to utter.'
Stanza 18 Latin l. 381 Italiam: not the whole of Italy, but that part which is destined for the Trojans. 'A pathless (Jnvid) path and long separates (that destined) Italy afar by continuous lands (Jongis terris)
Stanza 18 Latin l. 383 terris: an ablative of means, to be joined with dividiL It refers to the southern part of the peninsula, and also to Sicily, which they must pass round before they can reach their new country.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 384 lentandus: 'must be bent'; must be dipped.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 385 salis Ausonii: 'of the Ausonian sea'; that part of the sea which lies between Etruria and Sicily.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 386 Infernique lacus: Lake Avemus. Lustrare here is used in the sense both of'traverse'and of'survey.' A. p. 430, zeugma; B. 374, 2, '?; ( Aeaeae: from Aea a city of Colchis. insula: refers to the promontory of Circeium, having the sea on one side and the Pontine marshes on the other, and probably once an island.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 387 possis: the subjunctive after antequam. See note on 1. 257.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 389 Cum, etc: the sow and her progeny of thirty young, found near the Tiber (as described in VII, 82), will indicate the place where Aeneas shall build the new city, tibi: dative of the agent; to be joined with inventa, secreti:'solitary.'Cf. VIII, 44 sqq.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 402 Philoctetae: limits muro, subnixa:'resting on.'Cf. I, 506.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 404 litore: the shore where the fiirst landing shall be made in Italy.
Stanza 18 Latin l. 407 Hostilis facies: 'adverse appearance'; the sight of any inauspicious object, which would vitiate the omens (Jurbet omina) ascertained by inspecting the victim, rendering them either unavailing or evil. Some understand this to mean ' the face of an enemy.'
Stanza 18 Latin l. 442 Divinos lacus: see note on 1. 386. silvis: ablative of means or instrument. The lake was only about a mile and a half in circumference, and, at that time, hemmed in with woods. See VI, 238, and Fig. 51.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 367 Obscenam famem: 'revolting hunger.'vito: cf. II, 322.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 396 Has, hanc: 'these coasts,''this part (of the Italian shore),'near us, on the Adriatic and the gulf of Tarentum.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 399 Narycii Locri: a colony of Locrians from Naryx, or Narycium, opposite Euboea, said to be the followers of the Oileian Ajax, settled on the coast of Bruttium.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 400 Sallentinos: the Sallentine fields, between the Tarentine Gulf and the Adriatic, milite:'soldiery'; collective, as in II, 495. 40X. Idomeneus: was driven from Crete, 11. 121, 122. duels Meliboei: Philoctetes, being driven out of his native town, Meliboea in Thessaly, settled in Petelia, on the east coast of Bruttium.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 405 velare comas: imperative passive, with the force of the middle; 'be veiled ';'cover thy head.'Cf. II, 707. This was the custom of the Romans, not of the Greeks, when sacrificing.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 406 inter sanctos ignis: 'amidst the holy fires'; i.e. ' during the holy sacrifices.'
Stanza 19 Latin l. 409 religione: 'religious custonu' Fig« 30.— Scylla (L 420) 4x0. digressum: after you shall have left that first landing place in Italy, orae: for the case, see note on I, 377. 41 z. angusti: logically would agree with claustra, rarescent:'shall begin to open (to the view).' 4x2. Laeva: turn to the south, and follow the shore on your left, instead of turning to the right and going through the straits to the north. 4x4. Haec loca: the places on the right. The tradition seems to have been that the rent between Italy and Sicily was first produced by some volcanic convulsion, and that it was perpetuated and increased by the rush of the sea through the channel thus formed.
Stanza 19 Latin l. 415 Tantum valet mutare: 'can effect such changes.' 4x6. protinus: join with Una, NOTEvS — BOOK III N IO3 4x7. medio: ablative of place; 'in the midst/ 'between.' 4x9. Litore diductas: 'separated in respect of their shores.' angnsto aestu: ablative of manner with interluit; 'with a narrow tide.'
Stanza 19 Latin l. 420 Scylla: on the Italian side of the strait, is a lofty rock, surrounded by smaller rocks. A roaring of Ihe waves is produced, which is described in the fable as the barking of dogs. Charybdls: a whirlpool which is most noticeable when southerly winds force a great mass of waters into the strait, and against the Sicilian shore.
Stanza 20 Latin l. 339 Quid: sc. agit;'how fares the boy?'vescitur: cf. I, 546.
Stanza 20 Latin l. 368 Quid sequens: ' (by) pursuing what course.'
Stanza 20 Latin l. 421 ter: 'thrice (daily).'
Stanza 20 Latin l. 422 in abruptum: 'down to the bottonu'aab anrat: see note on 1. 576.
Stanza 20 Latin l. 426 Prima hominis facies, etc: 'the upper part of the form (is that) of a human being.'
Stanza 20 Latin l. 427 Pube tenus: 'as far as the groin.'postrema: sc, facies
Stanza 20 Latin l. 428 delphinum — luporum: 'having the tails of dolphins joined to the belly of wolves.'Caudas accusative with the passive participle, commissa, in imitation of the Greek. Cf. I, 320. Lupi is substituted here for canes. See L 432. Cf. Milton, in his description of sin (Par. Lost, 2, 650 sqq.): — ' Woman to the waist and fiedr, But ended foul in many a scaly fold Voluminous and vast, a serpent armed With mortal sting: about her middle round A cry of hell-hounds never ceasing barked With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung A hideous peaL'
Stanza 20 Latin l. 429 metas: properly the goal, or turning point, in the race course; here, the'promontory,'around which they are to sail.
Stanza 20 Latin l. 435 pro omnibus: 'instead of (i.e. worth) all other things'; one thing to be observed, even if all others are neglected.
Stanza 20 Latin l. 437 primum: 'first of all'; before all other deities; \o\xk ynihnutnen, Cf. V, 540.
Stanza 21 Latin l. 438 cane vota: vows are expressed in the rhythmical form, or chant, common to all religious formulas. Cf. II, 1 76.
Stanza 21 Latin l. 439 victor: because he will have overcome all difficulties.
Stanza 21 Latin l. 440 finis: iox ad fines, mittere:'thou wilt be conveyed.'
Stanza 21 Latin l. 446 Digerit in numerum: 'places in order.'She arranges the leaves so that the words on them form sentences in verse.
Stanza 22 Latin l. 448 eadem: . folia; ob']ect o(prendere. N 104 VIRGIL'S AENEID
Stanza 22 Latin l. 449 ianua etc: 'the door disturbs them'by admitting the wind.
Stanza 22 Latin l. 450 deinde: 'thenceforth'; answering to the foregoing cum
Stanza 22 Latin l. 452 Inconsulti: 'uninstructed'; without any responses, since, when they enter, the leaves are so disturbed as to be unintelligible.
Stanza 22 Latin l. 453 hic — tanti: ' here let no expenditure of delay be of so much (value) in your eyes (HH), tanti: (
Stanza 22 Latin l. 454 455. et vi cursus, etc: ' and though your voyage urgently invite your sails to the sea.' The more natural expression would be, ventus vela vocet
Stanza 22 Latin l. 456 Quin: ' so that not '; connects the dependent clause with ne fuerint tanti f which are equivalent to an expression of hindering. (
Stanza 22 Latin l. 457 Ipsa canat: that she may not in the case of Aeneas commit her prophecies to the uncertain leaves. Aeneas follows this injunction in VI, 74. The subjunctive depends on /jr'w. volens: 'kindly'; \,t, sua sponte
Stanza 22 Latin l. 459 quo modo: interrogative, ' how'; the question depends on jr/tV/.
Stanza 22 Latin l. 466 Dodonaeos lebetas: 'vessels of Dodona,' so called because they resembled the bronze vessels of Dodona that rang loudly at the slightest touch. Dodona was in the dominions of Helenus.
Stanza 23 Latin l. 460 dabit: as in 1. 85.
Stanza 23 Latin l. 463–464 postquam — dehinc: like cum — tum; ' after — thereupon.' auro gravia, etc.: ' heavy with gold and carven ivory'; i.e. massive vessels of gold and carved ivory. The final vowel of gravia is long here imder the ictus; or it may possibly be a retention of the original length of the vowel.
Stanza 23 Latin l. 465 stipat carinis: ' stows away in the ships.' The expression is equivalent to stipat carinas argento. See note on I, 195.
Stanza 23 Latin l. 467 Loricam — trilicem: a coat, or hauberk, of chain mail, in which the hooks, or rings, fastened into each other {consertam hamis)j were of gold, and in three layers; i.e. it was of threeFig. 31. -Chain Mail (1. 467) ply golden chain work. See
Stanza 23 Latin l. 468 conum galeae: is equivalent to galeam
Stanza 23 Latin l. 469 Anna Neoptolemi: see 1. 333, and II, 470. sua: see note on sua I, 461.
Stanza 23 Latin l. 470 duces: ' pilots,' ' guides.' 47X. Remigium: for remiges ' rowers/ Aeneas might need oarsmen, as some of the Trojans had been left in Crete, and others may have perished, socios: the old companions of Aeneas, as opposed to remigium or remiges, those just added to his company, armis: in its usual meaning. 475» dignate: ' deemed worthy of.'
Stanza 24 Latin l. 476 bis erepte: see note on II, 642.
Stanza 24 Latin l. 477 tibi: see note on II, 274. tellus: see note on en, I, 461.
Stanza 24 Latin l. 480 o Quid ultra Provehor: ' why am I carried too far (in discourse) ? ' ultra, i.e. quam opus est
Stanza 25 Latin l. 478 hanc: ' this,' the nearest shore of Italy, as in 1. 396. praeterlabare: so. «/, after necesse est
Stanza 25 Latin l. 483 subtemine: a thread of gold wrought into the cloth in figures.
Stanza 25 Latin l. 484 nec cedit honore: 'nor does she fail to show due honor'; lit. 'nor does she yield to the honor due him.'For the form of the chlamys, see Fig. 76.
Stanza 25 Latin l. 485 Teztilibus: ' woven.' Phrygia was famous for beautiful woven fabrics.
Stanza 25 Latin l. 487 Sint, testentur: see note on I, 20.
Stanza 25 Latin l. 489 Mihi: with super, which has the force of an adjective;'sole surviving image to me.'
Stanza 25 Latin l. 491 pubesceret: 'would be growing up.'
Stanza 25 Latin l. 493 Vivite felices: a parting salutation, like our'farewell,'but more impressive, because less frequently used, quibus, etc.:'whose destined {sua) fortune is already achieved.'alia ex aliis in fata:'from one destiny to another'; nothing settled and fixed.
Stanza 25 Latin l. 497 Effigiem xanthi: see note on 1. 302.
Stanza 25 Latin l. 499 Auspiciis: see note on II, 396. fuerint: future perfect, obvia:'exposed to.'
Stanza 26 Latin l. 500 Thybridis: an older form for Tiberis, limits vicina, A. 218, d'y (
Stanza 26 Latin l. 503 Epiro, Hesperia: '(situated) in Epirus (and) Hesperia'; referring to Rome and Buthrotum.
Stanza 26 Latin l. 504 utramque: in apposition with urbes,'We will make our kindred cities and nearly related nations both one Troy in spirit.'
Stanza 26 Latin l. 505 ea cura: ' this duty.' Perhaps Virgil has in mind the friendly relations actually established by Augustus, after the battle of Actium, with the people dwelling in the Chaonian country.
Stanza 26 Latin l. 506–587 Aeneas sets out again on his wanderings. He sails as far north as the Ceraunian promontory, and from thence crosses over to the port of N lOO VIRGIL'S AENEID Venus {partus Veneris), on the Italian side, in Calabria. After sacrificing, and seeking, according to the directions of Helenus, to propitiate the favor of Juno, they resume their voyage, and pass by the harbor of Tarentum, the promontory of Lacinium, Caulon, Scyllaceum, and then come in sight of the volcano of Aetna, to the shores of which they are driven in seeking to shun the terrors of Scylla and Charybdis. The country about Aetna is inhabited by the giant race of Cyclops. The Trojans pass a night on the shore at the foot of Mount Aetna, and are terrified by the strange noises of the volcano.
Stanza 26 Latin l. 506 pelago: ' over the sea,' as in II, 1 79. Ceraunia: mountains on the coast of Epirus, north of Buthrotum, forming the promontory nearest to Italy. iiizta: follows its case, as in IV, 255.
Stanza 26 Latin l. 507 Italiam: see note on I, 2.
Stanza 26 Latin l. 508 ruit: ' sets '; contrary to the signification of the same word in II, 250. opaci ! proleptic, belonging in sense to the predicate. Compare Tennyson's ' And the sun set and all the ways were dark.' 5x0. Sortiti remos:'after assigning the oars by lot.'They determined by lot what men should be ready to take the oars when the signal was given at midnight to commence the voyage across the gulf. Otherwise there might be disorder and delay. 5x2. Noz Horis acta: night is conceived of as a goddess riding through the sky in a chariot conducted, like the god of day, by the hours, also personified. Cf.V, 721. 5x7. Oriona: the first two syllables here form a spondee. See note on I, 5x8. cnncta constare:'that all is settled.' 5x9. clarum:'loud.'signum: Virgil is thinking of the Roman signal given by a trumpet. Cf. 1. 239. castra: see note on IV, 604.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 486 et haec: Helenus has made appropriate presents to your friends; I make'these also'to you.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 522 humilem: appearing low because distant in the horizon. In fine weather it is possible to see entirely across the Adriatic from Otranto to Albania.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 527 in puppi: he stands near the image of the tutelar god in the stern of the ship.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 528 The genitives are governed by /'i/»/'f J. See note on I, 80.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 530 portus: the harbor intended is probably portus Veneris, about six miles south of Hydruntum, in Calabria. The place, where the temple was located, was Castrum Minervae, patescit: cf. rarescent,\, 411, and note.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 531 in arce: 'on a height.' The temple of Minerva, built by Idomeneus, was on a summit, and from a distance appeared to be near the shore. But as they approached, the lower grounds between this height and the water gradually came in sight, and thus the temple seemed to recede (refugere) from the shore.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 533 ao Euroo fluctu: ' (sheltered) from the eastern wave,' i.e. the harbor, curved like a bow, seems to withdraw away from the waves driven on by the east wind. Cf. L 570. Others make ab Jluctu the personal agent in a poeti cal sense of curvatm.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 534 cautes: ' cliffs,' or rocky promontories at each extremity of the harbor. These break the force of the waves, and also conceal the harbor itself (Ipse latef), though they open to the eye (patescunC) of the voyager as he draws near. They are the points of two ridges of towering rocks {turriti tcopuli) which run out into the sea, on either side, in two natural walls.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 535 gemino — muro: ' stretch down their arms in two similar walls.' Cf. 1,162.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 537 primum omen: ' as the Brst omen.'
Stanza 27 Latin l. 542 iugo: ' under the yoke '; an ablative of means or instrument.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 543 et: ' also '; a token of peace ' as well as ' of war.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 544 quae prima: the temple of Pallas is the first shrine which presents itself on their arrival, and thus the goddess seems to be the first to greet them.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 546 perfectis: 'according to the instructions.' See 11. 436 sqq. maxima: 'as the most important.' See note on I, 419.
Stanza 27 Latin l. 554 tum: ' then,' after having coasted the southern extremity of Italy, and doubled the Heracleum promontory, they come in sight of Aetna, e fluctu: far off on the sea and rising therefrom.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 540 Bello: dative, as in II, 315. armenta and Quadrupedes (1. 542): are here varied terms for equi, 54X. olim: 'sometimes.' cumi: dative.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 549 obyertimus: supply the dative, pelago, Cf. VI, 3. The sail yards are turned by the ropes attached to the cornua. Hence, to turn the cornua is to turn the yards; and this, again, is to turn or give direction to the sails, which must receive the wind from aft and belly toward the front; i.e. in the present case, toward the sea.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 550 Graingenum: see U. 398 sqq. 55X. Hinc: ' then,' ' next.' Herculei: one tradition ascribed the founding of Tarentum to Taras, son of Neptune, another to Hercules, and still another to Phalantus, a descendant of Hercules.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 552 diva Lacinia: the temple of luno Lacinia, one column of which is still standing, was on the promontory of Lacinium in Bruttium, six miles southeast of Croton. contra i ' opposite ' to the Tarentine shore.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 553 nayifragm: on account of frequent gales and the lack of harbors.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 556 fractas ad litora voces: 'roar of the breakers on the shore.' 558. haec ilia:'this certainly is that Charybdis,' that, namely, which Helenus described to us. N 1 08 VIRGIL'S AENEID
Stanza 28 Latin l. 559 canebat: see 11. 420 sqq.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 561 rudentem: describes the noise made by the water as the prow rushes through.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 565 ad manis: a bold figure to signify down to the very bottom, desedimus: 'we have sunk.' The perfect, used with the present above {tollitnur) makes the contrast still more striking. Page compares Psalm cvii. 26: — 'They mount up to heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.'
Stanza 28 Latin l. 566 clamorem: 'a resounding echo.'Clamor voces and gemitus are all applied here to the noise of waves.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 567 elisam: ' dashed forth.' rorantia astra: ' the dripping stars.' The expression is bold, but justified by the appearance of objects at the moment through the spray.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 568 reliquit: 'has left.' This action precedes adlabimur: we float to the shores of the Cyclops, after we have been deserted both by sun and wind.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 570–571 So far as regards the haven itself, it is capacious and safe; but the noises and fires of the neighboring mountain suggest danger, ruinis:'with desolation,'referring to the destruction caused by the eruption of stones and ashes.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 573 Turbine fumantem etc: 'smoking with pitchy eddies and with glowing ashes.'
Stanza 28 Latin l. 576 sub auras: is not high into the air, but simply up into the open air, as opposed to the inner depths of the mountain.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 577 glomerat: 'rolls,''gathers up,'at the mouth of the crater.
Stanza 28 Latin l. 580 flammam exspirare etc: 'that huge Aetna piled above (hm) emits flame from its broken cavities.'caminis: the openings forced (ruptis) by the flames through the sides of the mountain.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 582 subtexere: 'overspreads.'The subject is Trinacriam, though we should have expected Aeinam
Stanza 29 Latin l. 583 monstra: 'prodigies'; the noises of the volcano, which the Trojans do not comprehend.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 588–654 In the morning the Trojans discover a stranger approaching from the woods. He describes himself as a follower of Ulysses, lately deserted by his companions, who had fled in haste from the island, after escaping from the cave of the Cyclops, Polyphemus. The cave of Pol3rphemus and his bloody feasts are described by Achaemenides, the stranger.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 588 primoEoo: ' at the first dawn.' (
Stanza 29 Latin l. 590 macie: ablative of manner. 59Z. cultu: refers to his clothing and external appearance.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 593 With the nominatives supply erat illu
Stanza 29 Latin l. 594 tegumen: for vestis, cetera:'as for the rest.'Apart from his squalid appearance, the other indications of language, dress, and equipment proved that he was a Greek, and, indeed, he had been engaged in the Trojan war.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 599 testor: equivalent to precor.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 601 terras: fox ad terras. See note on I, 2.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 602 Scio: is by synizesis pronounced as a monosyllable.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 605 Spargite me: equivalent to me discerpium spargiie.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 606 pereo: retains its final vowel before hominum, without shortening it; ie. this is a case of hiatus, hominum: emphatic;'of men'; not by the hands of monsters like Polyphemus.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 607 genibus: ablative of place;'prostrating himself {volutans sc. se), at our knees, he clung there.'
Stanza 29 Latin l. 608–609 fari, fateri: for the infinitive, see note on 1. 134. deinde: be-, longs to hortamur understood. It does not always stand at the beginning of its clause. See I, 195. agitet: 'is (now) pursuing him.'
Stanza 29 Latin l. 610 multa: cf. I, 465, and note.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 611 pignore: the pledge is the giving of the right hand.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 614 Nomine: ablative of specification, genitore — Paupere: ' my father Adamastus being poor,' denotes the reason why Achaemenides had engaged in the Trojan war.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 615 fortuna: the poverty to which he was born.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 616 crudelia limina: several of his companions had been killed and devoured by the Cyclops, Pol5rphemus, who had confined the whole party in his cave, until they escaped through the artifice of Ulysses. Unquunt: see note on I, 494.
Stanza 29 Latin l. 618 sanie dapibusque cruentis: '(the house) of blood and gory feasts.'Ablatives of quality or description. Sanie has no modifying adjective, contrary to usage (
Stanza 29 Latin l. 619 Ipse: Polyphemus. See note on I, 40. Sc. est, 6a X. Nee visu, etc.: no one can endure to behold him or to speak to him. ulli: limits the predicates visu facilis and dictu affabilis. For the supine, see note on I, ill.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 629 -ve: see note on II, 602.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 630 simul: for simul atque; ' as soon as.'
Stanza 30 Latin l. 631 per: denotes extension, and suggests the enormous length of the gent's body. N I TO VIRGIL'S AENElb
Stanza 30 Latin l. 633 Per somnuili: join with eruclam, mero: the wine given to him by Ulysses.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 634 sortiti vices: 'having determined our parts by lot'; i.e. the parts, more or less dangerous, which each should take in the transaction.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 635 telo: the instrument used was a sharp-pointed stake.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 637 Phoebeae lampadis: cf. IV, 6. instar: properly, an indeclinable noun in apposition with quod. See note on II, 15.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 641 qualis: refers to his appearance and his features, quantns to his size.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 645 Tertia iam — complent: already the moon is coming to the full for the third time.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 647 ab rupe: with prospicio
Stanza 30 Latin l. 651 primum: after long watching, now, for'the first time,'he has caught sight of ships, and these the Trojan fleet. 65a. Huic — Addixi:'whatever it should prove to be, I resolved to give myself up to it.'Fuisset (after addixi) stands for the future perfect indica. tive of direct discourse. At the moment when he made the resolution his form of expression would have been addicam quaecumque fueriU
Stanza 30 Latin l. 654 potius: rather than leave me to be destroyed by the Cyclops.
Stanza 30 Latin l. 655–681 Polyphemus, who has been deprived of his eye by the artful Ulysses, descends to the shore to wash the blood from the socket. He overhears the Trojans as they attempt to sail away, pursues them far into the water, and then utters loud cries which call forth all his giant brethren. They stand about on the hills casting threatening looks in vain at the Trojans, who are already beyond their reach.
Stanza 31 Latin l. 658 Observe the ponderous line adapted in sound to the object described.
Stanza 31 Latin l. 659 Trunca — firmat: 'a lopped-ofl pine tree (held) in his hand guides and assures his steps.' Cf. VI, 30.
Stanza 31 Latin l. 660 ea: see note on hoc I, 17. 66a. ad aequora:'to the open sea'; where he could most easily bathe his eye. The expression elaborates the idea contained in altos fiuctus» Some, however, take the line as an example of hysteron proteron
Stanza 32 Latin l. 663 inde: refers to aequora; he washes it with the water dipped with his hand from the sea.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 664 gemitu: for et gemens; cf. II, 323. It denotes the manner of the act expressed in dentibus infrendenSj while deniibus itself expresses the means or instrument of infrendens
Stanza 32 Latin l. 666 inde: of place, celerare: historical infinitive.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 667 sic merito: 'so deserving'; i.e. to be received into our ships.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 669 vocis: cf. 1. 556. It refers here to the'plashing noise'of the oars.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 671 ionios: i.e. coming from the direction of the Ionian Sea. potis: so. est and ille, aequare sequendo: ' to match the waves in pursuing '; i.e. to overtake those who are borne on the swift waves.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 673 portus exterrita {est): ' far within (its borders) was terrified.'
Stanza 32 Latin l. 676 Por the difference of number in the verbs here, see ngte on II, 31.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 677 nequiquam: qualifies the whole phrase, adstantes lutnine torvo, 679. vertice: local ablative. 68x. Constiterunt: see note on II, 774. The perfect of this verb often has the force of a present. The oak was sacred to Jupiter, and the cypress to Hecate, the Diana of Hades.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 682–715 They leave the shores of the Cyclops, and coasting by the mouth of the river Pantagia, the towns of Megara and Thapsus, the bay of Syracuse, then by the river Helorus and the promontory of Pachynum, they sail westerly by Camarina, Gela, Mount Acragas, or Agrigentum, and doubling Lilybaeum, the western cape of Sicily, arrive at Drepanum, where they are received by king Acestes, and where Anchises dies. 68a. Praecipites: agrees with nos, quocumque rudentes E:ipcntere: ' to loosen our sheets for any course whatever.' Cf. 1. 267.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 683 ventis secundis: dative; 'to the guiding winds'; to whatever course they may be favorable.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 684–686 A perplexing passage. The sense, however, is perfectly clear. The wind was bearing the fleet to the northward, and directly toward the straits of Scylla and Charybdis. The warning of Helenus is opposed to this course, yet the danger from the Cyclops seems at the moment so much greater than any other that they resolve to sail back {cerium est, etc.) toward the straits; but then suddenly a breeze is sent by a favoring divinity from the north, and thus they escape both the perils of the straits and of the Cyclops. The passage from Scyllam to cursus is in indirect discourse dependent upon an idea of saying implied in monent; hence the third person in teneant. ntramque viam: subject of esse understood. Scyllam and Charybdim are governed by inter, discrimine parvo: ablative of description with viam; 'with small distance (of death).' Translate thus:.'0n the other hand, the instructions of Helenus warn them that between Scylla and Charybdis the path on either side is but little distant from death, if they fail to hold their course.' dare lintea retro: must be understood of their return toward the straits, for the wind was then in that direction.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 687 angusta: 'narrow'; because Pelorus is situated on the straits.
Stanza 32 Latin l. 689 ThapStim: a 'level' peninsula bounding the Megarean Gulf on the south side.
Stanza 33 Latin l. 688 Vivo: see note on I, 167. The Pantagia flows into the sea below Leontini between rocky banks. Hence its mouth is ' of natural rock.'
Stanza 33 Latin l. 690 Talia: 'such spots (as these).' relegens retrorsus Litora: 'coasting back again along the shores.' Virgil conceives Achemenides to have approached the coast of the Cyclops from the southern point of Sicily, lie is now sailing with Aeneas in the contrary direction, errata: = pererraia; " by which he had wandered.'
Stanza 33 Latin l. 692 sinu: dative with praeienta, ' The harbor of Syracuse is formed by Ortygia and Plemyrium. Fig. 32. — The Fountain of Arethusa in Modem Times (11. 694 sqq.)
Stanza 33 Latin l. 696 The story was that the nymph Arethusa was loved by the river god Alpheus. When he pursued her, she was changed by Artemis into a stream that flowed beneath the sea to Ortygia. The god continued to pursue fier, and his waters were mingled with hers in the fountain which bears her name.
Stanza 33 Latin l. 697 iussi: 'commanded'; i.e. by Anchises.
Stanza 33 Latin l. 698 exsupero: for praetervehor; ' I sail by.' Helori: the river Helorus runs into the sea a little above the promontory of Pachynum with a very gentle current, which is sometimes even rendered stationary by the easterly wind, so that the neighboring lands are overflowed and fertilized.
Stanza 33 Latin l. 701 camerina: not the city itself, but a lake near the city, was forbidden by the oracle of Apollo to be removed. When the inhabitants, on account of pestilence, caused the lake, in spite of the oracle, to be drained, the city was thus exposed to its enemies, who passed over the bed of the lake and captured it. 70a. Inunanis: ' impetuous,' to be taken with Gela, Gela: takes the long a final from the Greek.

Echoes of other poems 1

Where this poem takes up a passage from an earlier one, or is taken up by a later. The motifs and links are made by hand and checked against the texts.

The bleeding tree of Polydorus stanza 2
“Warn’d by my fate; for I am Polydore!”
The bleeding plant. A branch torn from a bush drips blood and a voice complains. Virgil gives it to the murdered Polydorus; Dante to Pier della Vigna, who killed himself and is now a tree.
- Pier della Vigna, the bleeding tree, The Divine Comedy Direct borrowing: the later poet had the earlier text in front of him.
  The bleeding branch, and a voice that asks to be left alone.

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