# The Aeneid, Book 5: Sicily: The Games for Anchises, and the Burning of the Ships

Aeneis · Publius Vergilius Maro · The Wanderings

Back in Sicily, Aeneas holds games for his father. The Trojan women burn the ships. Palinurus the helmsman is lost at sea.

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/5. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/5.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/aeneid/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Interea medium Aeneas iam classe tenebat  
Meanwhile Aeneas was already holding the mid-sea with his fleet,

**2** certus iter, fluctusque atros Aquilone secabat,  
sure of his course, and cutting the waves blackened by the North Wind,

**3** moenia respiciens, quae iam infelicis Elissae  
looking back at the walls which now glow with the flames

**4** conlucent flammis. Quae tantum accenderit ignem,  
of unhappy Elissa. What lit so great a fire, the cause of it,
> Indirect question with the subjunctive: Quae accenderit is an indirect question, 'what kindled it', and Latin puts the verb into the subjunctive whenever a question is reported rather than asked outright. Causa latet, 'the cause lies hidden', is the main clause the question depends on.

**5** causa latet; duri magno sed amore dolores  
lies hidden; but the hard griefs of a great love

**6** polluto, notumque, furens quid femina possit,  
defiled, and the known thing, what a woman in her fury can do,

**7** triste per augurium Teucrorum pectora ducunt.  
draw the hearts of the Teucrians through a grim foreboding.

**8** Ut pelagus tenuere rates, nec iam amplius ulla  
When the ships had the open water, and no land any longer

**9** occurrit tellus, maria undique et undique caelum,  
came to meet them, sea on every side and sky on every side,

**10** olli caeruleus supra caput adstitit imber,  
a dark blue rain cloud took its stand above their heads,

**11** noctem hiememque ferens, et inhorruit unda tenebris.  
carrying night and storm, and the water shuddered into dark.

**12** Ipse gubernator puppi Palinurus ab alta:  
The helmsman Palinurus himself, from the high stern:

**13** “Heu! quianam tanti cinxerunt aethera nimbi?  
“Ah! why have such storm clouds ringed the upper air?

**14** Quidve, pater Neptune, paras?” Sic deinde locutus  
What are you preparing, father Neptune?” Having said so much,

**15** colligere arma iubet validisque incumbere remis,  
he orders them to gather in the tackle and lean on the strong oars,

**16** obliquatque sinus in ventum, ac talia fatur:  
and slants the sails against the wind, and speaks in this way:

**17** “Magnanime Aenea, non, si mihi Iuppiter auctor  
“Great-hearted Aeneas, not if Jupiter himself should stand surety

**18** spondeat, hoc sperem Italiam contingere caelo.  
would I hope to touch Italy under a sky like this.

**19** Mutati transversa fremunt et vespere ab atro  
The winds have shifted and roar across us; out of the black evening

**20** consurgunt venti, atque in nubem cogitur aër.  
they rise, and the air is packed together into cloud.

**21** Nec nos obniti contra, nec tendere tantum  
We are not enough to strain against them, nor to hold

**22** sufficimus. Superat quoniam Fortuna, sequamur,  
so hard a course. Since Fortune has the better of us, let us follow,
> A hortatory subjunctive to follow: Sequamur is a hortatory subjunctive, 'let us follow', urging action rather than stating a fact. Quoniam gives the reason, 'since', and superat means Fortune has the upper hand. The same verb sequamur returns at line 709 in Nautes' quo fata trahunt sequamur.

**23** quoque vocat, vertamus iter. Nec litora longe  
and turn our way where she calls. Nor do I think the loyal

**24** fida reor fraterna Erycis portusque Sicanos,  
shores of your brother Eryx are far off, and the Sicanian harbors,

**25** si modo rite memor servata remetior astra.”  
if only I measure back rightly the stars I have kept in mind.”

**26** Tum pius Aeneas: “Equidem sic poscere ventos  
Then dutiful Aeneas: “Indeed I have seen for a long time now
> Dutiful Aeneas: Pius, 'dutiful', is Vergil's standing epithet for Aeneas, used throughout the poem alongside his name. It names devotion to gods, father, and family together, not piety in a narrow sense. Here it marks him as he speaks about the fleet's course.

**27** iamdudum et frustra cerno te tendere contra:  
that the winds demand this, and that you strain against them for nothing.

**28** Flecte viam velis. An sit mihi gratior ulla,  
Turn your way with the sails. Could any land please me more,

**29** quove magis fessas optem demittere naves,  
or any where I would rather set my weary ships down,

**30** quam quae Dardanium tellus mihi servat Acesten,  
than the one that keeps Dardanian Acestes for me

**31** et patris Anchisae gremio complectitur ossa?”  
and holds the bones of my father Anchises in its lap?”

**32** Haec ubi dicta, petunt portus, et vela secundi  
When this was said they make for harbor, and following west winds

**33** intendunt Zephyri; fertur cita gurgite classis,  
fill the sails; the fleet is carried fast on the flood,

**34** et tandem laeti notae advertuntur harenae.  
and at last, glad, they turn in to the sand they know.

**35** At procul ex celso miratus vertice montis  
But far off, wondering from the high top of a mountain

**36** adventum sociasque rates occurrit Acestes,  
at their coming and at friendly ships, Acestes runs down to them,

**37** horridus in iaculis et pelle Libystidis ursae,  
bristling with javelins and in the hide of a Libyan bear,

**38** Troïa Criniso conceptum flumine mater  
a Trojan mother bore him, got by the river

**39** quem genuit: veterum non immemor ille parentum  
Crinisus; and he, not forgetting his old parentage,

**40** gratatur reduces, et gaza laetus agresti  
gives them joy of their return, and gladly takes them in

**41** excipit, ac fessos opibus solatur amicis.  
with a countryman's hoard, and comforts the weary with friendly stores.

**42** Postera cum primo stellas Oriente fugarat  
When the next bright day had put the stars to flight at the first

**43** clara dies, socios in coetum litore ab omni  
rising of the east, Aeneas calls his companions into assembly

**44** advocat Aeneas, tumulique ex aggere fatur:  
from the whole shore, and speaks from the raised earth of a mound:

**45** “Dardanidae magni, genus alto a sanguine divom,  
“Great sons of Dardanus, a race out of the high blood of the gods,

**46** annuus exactis completur mensibus orbis,  
the year's circle closes, the months are run out,

**47** ex quo reliquias divinique ossa parentis  
since we laid in the ground what was left of my father,

**48** Condidimus terra maestasque sacravimus aras.  
the bones of him, and hallowed the altars of our grief.

**49** Iamque dies, nisi fallor, adest, quem semper acerbum,  
And now the day is here, unless I am wrong, that I shall always hold

**50** semper honoratum—sic di voluistis—habebo.  
bitter, always honored (so you gods have willed it).
> Two matching adjectives: Acerbum and honoratum are two adjectives in the same neuter accusative form, one after each semper. They describe the same thing, calling it bitter and honored at once, without choosing between them. The parallel construction holds both meanings side by side in one line.

**51** Hunc ego Gaetulis agerem si Syrtibus exsul,  
Were I keeping it an exile among the Gaetulian Syrtes,

**52** Argolicove mari deprensus et urbe Mycenae;  
or caught on the Argive sea and in the city of Mycenae,

**53** annua vota tamen sollemnisque ordine pompas  
I would still carry through the yearly vows and the solemn

**54** exsequerer, strueremque suis altaria donis.  
processions in their order, and pile the altars with their own gifts.

**55** Nunc ultro ad cineres ipsius et ossa parentis,  
Now we stand of ourselves at the very ashes and the bones

**56** haud equidem sine mente, reor, sine numine divom,  
of my father, not, I think, without a purpose, without the gods' will,

**57** adsumus et portus delati intramus amicos.  
and, carried in, we enter a friendly harbor.

**58** Ergo agite, et laetum cuncti celebremus honorem;  
Come then, and let us all keep the glad rite together;

**59** poscamus ventos; atque haec me sacra quotannis  
let us ask for winds; and may he grant that I bring him these offerings

**60** urbe velit posita templis sibi ferre dicatis.  
year by year in a city founded, in temples given to his name.

**61** Bina boum vobis Troia generatus Acestes  
Acestes, born out of Troy, gives you two head of cattle

**62** dat numero capita in naves; adhibete Penates  
by count for every ship; bring the household gods to the feast,

**63** et patrios epulis et quos colit hospes Acestes.  
both our own fathers' and those our host Acestes keeps.

**64** Praeterea, si nona diem mortalibus almum  
Besides, if the ninth Dawn lifts the kindly day for mortals

**65** Aurora extulerit radiisque retexerit orbem,  
and unweaves the round world with her rays,

**66** prima citae Teucris ponam certamina classis;  
I will set the Teucrians a first contest, a race of swift ships;

**67** quique pedum cursu valet, et qui viribus audax  
and whoever has strength in the foot race, and whoever comes forward

**68** aut iaculo incedit melior levibusque sagittis,  
bold in his force, or better with the javelin and the light arrows,

**69** seu crudo fidit pugnam committere caestu,  
or trusts himself to join a fight with the raw-hide gauntlet,
> Ablative naming the means: Caestu is ablative, naming the means: the fighter joins battle with the gauntlet. A caestus is a Roman boxing glove, strips of raw untanned oxhide (crudo) wound round the hand and forearm. It is heavier gear than a plain strap; our Iliad renders the Greek equivalent as 'straps'.

**70** cuncti adsint, meritaeque exspectent praemia palmae.  
let them all be here, and look for the prizes of a deserved palm.

**71** Ore favete omnes, et cingite tempora ramis.”  
Let every mouth speak well, and bind your brows with boughs.”
> A fixed ritual formula: Favete is a plural imperative, 'show favor', with ore, 'with the mouth', naming the means. Together they are a fixed formula that opens a Roman sacrifice, ordering everyone present to keep silent so nothing spoils the rite. It is usually translated 'keep holy silence'.

**72** Sic fatus, velat materna tempora myrto;  
So he spoke, and veils his own brows with his mother's myrtle;

**73** hoc Elymus facit, hoc aevi maturus Acestes,  
Helymus does the same, and Acestes ripe in years,

**74** hoc puer Ascanius, sequitur quos cetera pubes.  
and the boy Ascanius, and the rest of the young men follow them.

**75** Ille e concilio multis cum milibus ibat  
He went from the gathering to the mound with many thousands

**76** ad tumulum, magna medius comitante caterva.  
about him, in the middle of a great walking crowd.

**77** Hic duo rite mero libans carchesia Baccho  
Here, pouring as the rite requires, he spills two bowls

**78** fundit humi, duo lacte novo, duo sanguine sacro,  
of unmixed wine on the ground, two of new milk, two of holy blood,

**79** purpureosque iacit flores, ac talia fatur:  
and throws down bright flowers, and speaks in this way:

**80** “Salve, sancte parens: iterum salvete, recepti  
“Hail, holy father: hail again, ashes recovered

**81** nequiquam cineres, animaeque umbraeque paternae.  
for nothing, and my father's soul and shade.

**82** Non licuit fines Italos fataliaque arva,  
It was not allowed me to look with you for the Italian borders,

**83** nec tecum Ausonium (quicumque est) quaerere Thybrim.”  
the fields of fate, or the Ausonian Tiber, whatever that is.”

**84** Dixerat haec, adytis cum lubricus anguis ab imis  
He had said this, when from the deep of the shrine a gliding snake

**85** septem ingens gyros, septena volumina traxit,  
drew out seven huge coils, seven rolling folds,

**86** amplexus placide tumulum lapsusque per aras,  
clasping the mound quietly and sliding among the altars,

**87** caeruleae cui terga notae, maculosus et auro  
his back marked with blue, and a mottled brightness

**88** squamam incendebat fulgor, ceu nubibus arcus  
of gold set his scales on fire, as a rainbow in the clouds
> A simile introduced by ceu: Ceu means 'as, like', introducing a comparison. Nubibus is ablative plural, 'in the clouds', and arcus is 'a bow, a rainbow'. The scales catching the light are compared to a rainbow arching among clouds.

**89** mille iacit varios adverso sole colores.  
throws a thousand shifting colors against the sun.

**90** Obstipuit visu Aeneas. Ille agmine longo  
Aeneas stood stunned at the sight. The snake, in his long train,

**91** tandem inter pateras et levia pocula serpens  
creeping at last among the shallow bowls and the smooth cups,

**92** libavitque dapes, rursusque innoxius imo  
tasted the feast, and again, doing no harm,

**93** successit tumulo, et depasta altaria liquit.  
went back under the mound and left the altars grazed.

**94** Hoc magis inceptos genitori instaurat honores,  
The more for this he begins his father's rites over,

**95** incertus, geniumne loci famulumne parentis  
unsure whether to think it the spirit of the place

**96** esse putet: caedit binas de more bidentes,  
or an attendant of his father: he kills two sheep by custom,
> Sheep named for their teeth: Bidentes is accusative plural of bidens, an animal with two prominent teeth: a sheep old enough to show its two long incisors, and so fit for sacrifice. Binas de more bidentes means 'two such sheep, by custom'. The word names the animal by the mark that fits it for the altar.

**97** totque sues, totidem nigrantis terga iuvencos;  
as many swine, as many bullocks with black backs,

**98** vinaque fundebat pateris, animamque vocabat  
and he poured wine from the bowls, and called on the soul

**99** Anchisae magni Manisque Acheronte remissos.  
of great Anchises, and the Shade let go from Acheron.

**100** Nec non et socii, quae cuique est copia, laeti  
And his companions too, each as his means allowed, gladly

**101** dona ferunt, onerant aras, mactantque iuvencos;  
bring gifts, load the altars, and slaughter bullocks;

**102** ordine aena locant alii, fusique per herbam  
others set the bronze pots in a row, and stretched along the grass

**103** subiciunt veribus prunas et viscera torrent.  
they lay coals under the spits and roast the flesh.

**104** Exspectata dies aderat, nonamque serena  
The looked-for day was here, and the horses of Phaethon were bringing

**105** Auroram Phaethontis equi iam luce vehebant,  
the ninth Dawn on now in a clear light,

**106** famaque finitimos et clari nomen Acestae  
and rumor, and the name of famous Acestes, had stirred

**107** excierat; laeto complerant litora coetu,  
the neighboring people; they had filled the shores with a glad crowd

**108** visuri Aeneadas, pars et certare parati.  
to see the followers of Aeneas, and some of them ready to compete.

**109** Munera principio ante oculos circoque locantur  
First the prizes are set out before their eyes in the middle

**110** in medio, sacri tripodes viridesque coronae,  
of the ring: holy tripods, green garlands,

**111** et palmae pretium victoribus, armaque et ostro  
and palms, the winners' reward, and arms, and clothing

**112** perfusae vestes, argenti aurique talenta;  
steeped in purple, talents of silver and of gold;

**113** et tuba commissos medio canit aggere ludos.  
and from the mound in the middle a trumpet sings the games begun.

**114** Prima pares ineunt gravibus certamina remis  
First, evenly matched, four hulls picked out of the whole fleet

**115** quattuor ex omni delectae classe carinae.  
come into the contest with their heavy oars.

**116** Velocem Mnestheus agit acri remige Pristim,  
Mnestheus drives the swift Pristis with a fierce crew,
> A ship named for a monster: Pristim is accusative singular of Pristis, the name of Mnestheus' ship. A pristis is a sea monster, the word used elsewhere for whales and sharks. Each of the four racing ships carries a monster's name, given here without further description.

**117** mox Italus Mnestheus, genus a quo nomine Memmi;  
Mnestheus, Italian soon, from whose name the house of Memmius comes;

**118** ingentemque Gyas ingenti mole Chimaeram,  
and Gyas the huge Chimaera in her huge bulk,

**119** urbis opus, triplici pubes quam Dardana versu  
a city's worth of work, which the Dardanian crew drive

**120** impellunt, terno consurgunt ordine remi;  
in a triple bank, the oars rising in three tiers;

**121** Sergestusque, domus tenet a quo Sergia nomen,  
and Sergestus, from whom the Sergian house holds its name,

**122** Centauro invehitur magna, Scyllaque Cloanthus  
rides in the great Centaur, and Cloanthus in the sea-green

**123** caerulea, genus unde tibi, Romane Cluenti.  
Scylla, from which your own line comes, Roman Cluentius.
> Turning to address a Roman: Genus unde tibi is 'the lineage from which comes to you', with tibi a dative and unde meaning 'from which'. Romane Cluenti is a vocative, naming the person addressed directly: 'Roman Cluentius'. The poet breaks from narration to address this man by name.

**124** Est procul in pelago saxum spumantia contra  
Far out at sea there is a rock over against the foaming

**125** litora, quod tumidis submersum tunditur olim  
shore, which at times lies drowned and beaten by the swollen

**126** fluctibus, hiberni condunt ubi sidera cori;  
water, when the northwesters of winter bury the stars;

**127** tranquillo silet, immotaque attollitur unda  
in calm it says nothing, and rises out of the still surface

**128** campus, et apricis statio gratissima mergis.  
a level field, a station most welcome to cormorants in the sun.

**129** Hic viridem Aeneas frondenti ex ilice metam  
Here father Aeneas set up a green turning-post

**130** constituit signum nautis pater, unde reverti  
of leafy oak, a mark for the sailors, so they would know

**131** scirent, et longos ubi circumflectere cursus.  
where to come back from, and where to bend their long courses round.

**132** Tum loca sorte legunt, ipsique in puppibus auro  
Then they draw their stations by lot, and the captains themselves

**133** ductores longe effulgent ostroque decori;  
shine out far off on the sterns, splendid in gold and purple;

**134** cetera populea velatur fronde iuventus,  
the rest of the young men are veiled in poplar leaves

**135** nudatosque umeros oleo perfusa nitescit.  
and glisten with oil on their bared shoulders.

**136** Considunt transtris, intentaque brachia remis;  
They settle on the benches, their arms stretched to the oars;

**137** intenti exspectant signum, exsultantiaque haurit  
stretched too, they wait for the signal, and a hammering dread

**138** corda pavor pulsans, laudumque arrecta cupido.  
drains their leaping hearts, and the raised hunger for praise.
> The hunger for praise: Cupido, 'desire, hunger', is feminine nominative, with laudum, 'of praises', as its genitive object. Arrecta is a participle agreeing with cupido, literally 'raised up' or 'pricked up', the word used of ears or hair standing on end. Here it describes desire itself as physically alert.

**139** Inde, ubi clara dedit sonitum tuba, finibus omnes,  
Then, when the clear trumpet gave its note, all of them,

**140** haud mora, prosiluere suis; ferit aethera clamor  
with no delay, sprang from their marks; the sailors' shout

**141** nauticus, adductis spumant freta versa lacertis.  
strikes the sky, and the water, hauled by their arms, turns and foams.

**142** Infindunt pariter sulcos, totumque dehiscit  
Level, they cut their furrows, and the whole plain gapes open,

**143** convulsum remis rostrisque tridentibus aequor.  
torn apart by oars and by the three-toothed beaks.

**144** Non tam praecipites biiugo certamine campum  
Not so headlong in the two-horse race do the chariots seize

**145** corripuere, ruuntque effusi carcere currus,  
the field and rush out, poured from the starting gate,

**146** nec sic immissis aurigae undantia lora  
nor do the drivers so shake the rippling reins

**147** concussere iugis pronique in verbera pendent.  
over the loosed teams, and hang forward into the lash.

**148** Tum plausu fremituque virum studiisque faventum  
Then with the clapping and the roar of men and the heat of their taking sides

**149** consonat omne nemus, vocemque inclusa volutant  
the whole wood rings, and the shut-in shore rolls the noise

**150** litora, pulsati colles clamore resultant.  
about, and the hills, struck with the shouting, throw it back.

**151** Effugit ante alios primisque elabitur undis  
Gyas breaks clear of the others and slips out first on the water

**152** turbam inter fremitumque Gyas; quem deinde Cloanthus  
through the crush and the roar; Cloanthus comes after him,

**153** consequitur, melior remis, sed pondere pinus  
better in the rowing, but the weight of his pine holds him

**154** tarda tenet. Post hos aequo discrimine Pristis  
back and slow. Behind these, at an even gap, the Pristis

**155** Centaurusque locum tendunt superare priorem;  
and the Centaur strain to take the place in front;

**156** et nunc Pristis habet, nunc victam praeterit ingens  
and now the Pristis has it, now the huge Centaur passes her

**157** Centaurus, nunc una ambae iunctisque feruntur  
and beats her, now the two run as one, prow level with prow,

**158** frontibus, et longa sulcant vada salsa carina.  
and furrow the salt shallows with their long keels.

**159** Iamque propinquabant scopulo metamque tenebant,  
And now they were nearing the rock and had the turning-post,

**160** cum princeps medioque Gyas in gurgite victor  
when Gyas, in the lead and winning in mid-water,

**161** rectorem navis compellat voce Menoeten:  
calls out to Menoetes, who steered his ship:

**162** “Quo tantum mihi dexter abis? Huc dirige gressum;  
“Where are you going, so far to my right? Bring her head in here;

**163** litus ama, et laevas stringat sine palmula cautes;  
hug the shore, and let the blades graze the rocks on the left;
> The blade of the oar: Palmula is a diminutive of palma, 'palm of the hand', literally 'a little palm'. It names the flat blade of an oar, the part that catches the water. Latin sailing vocabulary often borrows body words this way.

**164** altum alii teneant.” Dixit; sed caeca Menoetes  
let the others keep the deep.” He spoke; but Menoetes, afraid

**165** saxa timens proram pelagi detorquet ad undas.  
of blind reefs, twists the prow away toward open water.

**166** “Quo diversus abis?” iterum “Pete saxa, Menoete!”  
“Where are you going, off course?” again, “Make for the rocks, Menoetes!”

**167** cum clamore Gyas revocabat; et ecce Cloanthum  
Gyas kept shouting him back; and look, he sees Cloanthus

**168** respicit instantem tergo, et propiora tenentem.  
pressing on his back and holding the nearer line.

**169** Ille inter navemque Gyae scopulosque sonantes  
Between Gyas' ship and the sounding rocks, on the inside,

**170** radit iter laevum interior, subitoque priorem  
Cloanthus shaves a course to the left, and suddenly passes

**171** praeterit, et metis tenet aequora tuta relictis.  
the leader, and with the post behind him holds safe water.

**172** Tum vero exarsit iuveni dolor ossibus ingens,  
Then indeed a huge pain flared in the young man's bones,
> Pain flared in his bones: Exarsit is perfect of exardesco, 'blazed up, flared'; dolor, its subject, means pain but also grief and resentment together. Ossibus, 'in the bones', is where Vergil places bodily anger throughout the poem, including Juno's.

**173** nec lacrimis caruere genae, segnemque Menoeten,  
and his cheeks were not without tears; and slack Menoetes,

**174** oblitus decorisque sui sociumque salutis,  
forgetting his own honor and the safety of his crew,

**175** in mare praecipitem puppi deturbat ab alta;  
he pitches headlong into the sea from the high stern;

**176** ipse gubernaclo rector subit, ipse magister,  
he takes the helm himself as steersman, himself as master,
> A shortened spelling: Gubernaclo is a syncopated form of gubernaculo, the ablative of gubernaculum, 'steering oar, rudder'. Latin poets often drop a short vowel to shorten a word for the meter. It is the same word and the same case, only lighter in the line.

**177** hortaturque viros, clavumque ad litora torquet.  
and urges the men on, and swings the tiller toward the shore.

**178** At gravis, ut fundo vix tandem redditus imo est,  
But Menoetes, heavy and by now past his prime, when he was at last

**179** iam senior madidaque fluens in veste Menoetes  
given back from the bottom, streaming in his soaked clothes,

**180** summa petit scopuli siccaque in rupe resedit.  
makes for the top of the rock and sat down on the dry stone.

**181** Ilium et labentem Teucri et risere natantem,  
The Teucrians laughed at him falling and laughed at him swimming,

**182** et salsos rident revomentem pectore fluctus.  
and they laugh as he brings the salt water back up out of his chest.

**183** Hic laeta extremis spes est accensa duobus,  
Here a glad hope was kindled in the last two,

**184** Sergesto Mnestheique, Gyan superare morantem.  
Sergestus and Mnestheus, of getting past Gyas as he lost way.

**185** Sergestus capit ante locum scopuloque propinquat,  
Sergestus takes the place in front and comes close to the rock,

**186** nec tota tamen ille prior praeeunte carina;  
and yet is not ahead by a whole hull as he leads;

**187** parte prior, partem rostro premit aemula Pristis.  
ahead by part, and part of him the rival Pristis presses with her beak.

**188** At media socios incedens nave per ipsos  
But Mnestheus, walking the middle of his ship among the men themselves,

**189** hortatur Mnestheus: “Nunc, nunc insurgite remis,  
urges them on: “Now, now rise to the oars,

**190** Hectorei socii, Troiae quos sorte suprema  
comrades of Hector, whom I chose for companions
> Comrades of Hector: Hectorei is an adjective, 'belonging to Hector', modifying socii, 'comrades'. Mnestheus calls his men Hector's comrades rather than Trojans or his own, dating their service back to Troy's last night. Hector has been dead thirteen years by this point in the story.

**191** delegi comites; nunc illas promite vires,  
in Troy's last hour; now bring out that strength,

**192** nunc animos, quibus in Gaetulis Syrtibus usi,  
now that spirit you used in the Gaetulian shoals,

**193** Ionioque mari Maleaeque sequacibus undis.  
on the Ionian sea, and in the chasing waves off Malea.

**194** Non iam prima peto Mnestheus, neque vincere certo;  
I, Mnestheus, do not go for first place now, nor fight to win;

**195** quamquam O!—sed superent, quibus hoc, Neptune, dedisti;  
though, ah! … but let them win to whom you gave it, Neptune;
> A sentence abandoned: Quamquam means 'although', starting a concession that never gets its main clause. O is an interjection with no words after it. The figure is called aposiopesis, a sentence broken off before it finishes, and Vergil gives the rest of the thought to Neptune instead.

**196** extremos pudeat rediisse; hoc vincite, cives,  
to come home last is the shame: win us this much, countrymen,

**197** et prohibete nefas.” Olli certamine summo  
and keep off the disgrace.” They fall to it in the last

**198** procumbunt; vastis tremit ictibus aerea puppis,  
extremity; the bronze-shod stern shakes with the huge strokes,

**199** subtrahiturque solum; tum creber anhelitus artus  
and the sea-floor is dragged out from under them; then quick panting

**200** aridaque ora quatit, sudor fluit undique rivis.  
shakes their limbs and dry mouths, and sweat runs everywhere in streams.

**201** Attulit ipse viris optatum casus honorem.  
Mere accident itself brought the men the honor they wanted.
> Chance without intention: Casus is nominative singular, 'a falling out, an accident', from cado, 'to fall'. It names chance with no intention behind it. Here it is the subject of attulit, 'brought', so the honor arrives by accident rather than as something won.

**202** Namque furens animi dum proram ad saxa suburguet  
For while Sergestus, wild in his heart, drives his prow in

**203** interior, spatioque subit Sergestus iniquo,  
toward the rocks on the inside, and comes into a narrowing space,

**204** infelix saxis in procurrentibus haesit.  
he struck fast, poor man, on the rocks running out under him.

**205** Concussae cautes, et acuto in murice remi  
The reefs took the shock, and the oars, jammed on the sharp
> A jagged point of rock: Murice is ablative singular of murex, the spiny shellfish that gave Tyre its purple dye. By extension it also names a jagged, sharp-pointed rock, the sense used here. In acuto murice, 'on a sharp point of rock', describes where the oars catch and jam.

**206** obnixi crepuere, inlisaque prora pependit.  
ridge, cracked, and the smashed prow hung there.

**207** Consurgunt nautae et magno clamore morantur,  
The sailors jump up and hold her with a great shouting,

**208** ferratasque trudes et acuta cuspide contos  
and get out iron-shod poles and pikes with sharp heads,

**209** expediunt, fractosque legunt in gurgite remos.  
and gather their broken oars out of the water.

**210** At laetus Mnestheus successuque acrior ipso  
But Mnestheus, glad, and keener for the very success,

**211** agmine remorum celeri ventisque vocatis  
with a fast column of oars and the winds called up,

**212** prona petit maria et pelago decurrit aperto.  
makes for the running sea and runs down the open water.

**213** Qualis spelunca subito commota columba,  
As a dove startled all at once out of a cave,

**214** cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi,  
whose home and sweet nestlings are in the hollow rock,

**215** fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis  
is carried flying to the fields, and in her fright makes a great

**216** dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa quieto  
clapping with her wings in the roof, then, gliding on quiet air,

**217** radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas:  
shaves a clear path and never stirs her swift wings:

**218** sic Mnestheus, sic ipsa fuga secat ultima Pristis  
so Mnestheus, so the Pristis herself in flight cuts the last

**219** aequora, sic illam fert impetus ipse volantem.  
of the water, so her own rush carries her flying.

**220** Et primum in scopulo luctantem deserit alto  
And first she leaves Sergestus struggling on the high rock

**221** Sergestum, brevibusque vadis frustraque vocantem  
and in the shallows, calling for help and getting none,

**222** auxilia, et fractis discentem currere remis  
and learning to run with broken oars.
> A participle for the ship: Discentem is a present participle, 'learning', agreeing with the ship and describing her in the act of learning. Currere means 'to run, to move', and fractis remis, ablative, is 'with broken oars'. The participle treats the damaged ship as something being taught a new way to move.

**223** Inde Gyan ipsamque ingenti mole Chimaeram  
Then she overtakes Gyas and the Chimaera herself in her huge

**224** consequitur; cedit, quoniam spoliata magistro est.  
bulk; the Chimaera gives way, stripped of the man who steered her.

**225** Solus iamque ipso superest in fine Cloanthus:  
And now at the very finish only Cloanthus is left:

**226** quem petit, et summis adnixus viribus urguet.  
him she goes for, straining with all her strength, and presses him.

**227** Tum vero ingeminat clamor, cunctique sequentem  
Then indeed the shouting doubles, and they all urge on

**228** instigant studiis, resonatque fragoribus aether.  
the pursuer with their partisanship, and the sky rings with the crash of it.

**229** Hi proprium decus et partum indignantur honorem  
The one crew think it an outrage not to keep the glory that is theirs

**230** ni teneant, vitamque volunt pro laude pacisci;  
and the honor already earned, and would trade life for praise;

**231** hos successus alit: possunt, quia posse videntur.  
the other are fed by success: they can because they seem to be able.
> They can because they seem able: Possunt is 'they can, they are able', and posse videntur is 'they seem to be able', with videntur a passive verb of seeming. Quia gives the reason, 'because'. The line makes ability follow directly from the appearance of ability, with no verb of thinking in between.

**232** Et fors aequatis cepissent praemia rostris,  
And perhaps they would have taken the prize with beaks level,

**233** ni palmas ponto tendens utrasque Cloanthus  
had not Cloanthus stretched both palms out over the sea

**234** fudissetque preces, divosque in vota vocasset:  
and poured out prayers and called the gods into his vows:

**235** “Di, quibus imperium est pelagi, quorum aequora curro,  
“Gods whose the rule of the sea is, whose water I am running,

**236** vobis laetus ego hoc candentem in litore taurum  
gladly I will set a white bull for you on this shore

**237** constituam ante aras, voti reus, extaque salsos  
before your altars, bound by my vow, and throw the entrails

**238** porriciam in fluctus et vina liquentia fundam.”  
into the salt waves and pour out clear wine.”

**239** Dixit, eumque imis sub fluctibus audiit omnis  
He spoke, and under the lowest water the whole choir

**240** Nereidum Phorcique chorus Panopeaque virgo,  
of Nereids and of Phorcus heard him, and the maiden Panopea,

**241** et pater ipse manu magna Portunus euntem  
and father Portunus himself pushed her on her way

**242** impulit; illa Noto citius volucrique sagitta  
with his great hand; quicker than the south wind or a flying arrow

**243** ad terram fugit, et portu se condidit alto.  
she runs for land, and hid herself in the deep harbor.

**244** Tum satus Anchisa, cunctis ex more vocatis,  
Then the son of Anchises, when all had been summoned in the custom,
> The son of Anchises: Satus is a participle from sero, 'to beget', here meaning 'born of, sprung from'. Anchisa is ablative, naming the father: 'the man born of Anchises'. Vergil uses this patronymic phrase for Aeneas instead of his name or his usual epithet pius in this stretch of the book.

**245** victorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum  
declares Cloanthus the winner by the herald's great voice

**246** declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro,  
and veils his brows with green laurel,

**247** muneraque in naves ternos optare iuvencos,  
and gives, ship by ship, three bullocks for each to choose,

**248** vinaque et argenti magnum dat ferre talentum.  
and wine, and a great talent of silver to carry away.

**249** Ipsis praecipuos ductoribus addit honores:  
To the captains themselves he adds special honors:

**250** victori chlamydem auratam, quam plurima circum  
to the winner a cloak worked in gold, around which ran

**251** purpura maeandro duplici Meliboea cucurrit,  
Meliboean purple in a double meander,

**252** intextusque puer frondosa regius Ida  
and woven into it the royal boy on leafy Ida

**253** veloces iaculo cervos cursuque fatigat,  
wearing out swift stags with the javelin and with running,

**254** acer, anhelanti similis, quem praepes ab Ida  
keen, and like a boy out of breath, whom the armor-bearer

**255** sublimem pedibus rapuit Iovis armiger uncis;  
of Jove snatched high off Ida in his hooked claws;

**256** longaevi palmas nequiquam ad sidera tendunt  
his aged guardians stretch their palms to the stars for nothing,

**257** custodes, saevitque canum latratus in auras.  
and the barking of dogs rages up into the air.

**258** At qui deinde locum tenuit virtute secundum,  
But to the man who came second by his own worth

**259** levibus huic hamis consertam auroque trilicem  
he gives a corselet of light hooks linked together

**260** loricam, quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse  
and triple-threaded with gold, which he had stripped himself

**261** victor apud rapidum Simoënta sub Ilio alto,  
from Demoleos, a winner, by the swift Simois under high Ilium,

**262** donat habere viro, decus et tutamen in armis.  
gives it to the man to keep, a glory and a guard in arms.

**263** Vix illam famuli Phegeus Sagarisque ferebant  
The servants Phegeus and Sagaris could hardly carry it,

**264** multiplicem, conixi umeris; indutus at olim  
with all its folds, straining at the shoulders; but Demoleos once

**265** Demoleos cursu palantes Troas agebat.  
wore it and drove the scattering Trojans at a run.

**266** Tertia dona facit geminos ex aere lebetas,  
For a third gift he makes two cauldrons of bronze,

**267** cymbiaque argento perfecta atque aspera signis.  
and cups finished in silver and rough with figures.

**268** Iamque adeo donati omnes opibusque superbi  
And now they were all given their gifts and proud of the wealth,

**269** puniceis ibant evincti tempora taenis,  
and were going with scarlet bands bound about their brows,

**270** cum saevo e scopulo multa vix arte revolsus,  
when Sergestus, barely wrenched off the cruel rock by much skill,

**271** amissis remis atque ordine debilis uno,  
his oars lost and crippled in one whole bank,

**272** inrisam sine honore ratem Sergestus agebat.  
was bringing his laughed-at ship in without honor.

**273** Qualis saepe viae deprensus in aggere serpens,  
As a snake often caught on the raised bank of a road,

**274** aerea quem obliquum rota transiit, aut gravis ictu  
which a bronze wheel has crossed sidelong, or which a traveler

**275** seminecem liquit saxo lacerumque viator;  
has left half-dead and torn with a heavy blow of a stone;

**276** nequiquam longos fugiens dat corpore tortus,  
escaping for nothing, it throws long twists of its body,

**277** parte ferox, ardensque oculis, et sibila colla  
fierce in one part, its eyes burning, and lifting high

**278** arduus attollens, pars volnere clauda retentat  
its hissing neck; the part the wound has lamed holds it back

**279** nexantem nodis seque in sua membra plicantem:  
as it knots itself and folds in on its own limbs:

**280** tali remigio navis se tarda movebat;  
with rowing like that the ship was moving herself along, slow;

**281** vela facit tamen, et velis subit ostia plenis.  
and still she makes sail, and comes in at the harbor mouth under full canvas.

**282** Sergestum Aeneas promisso munere donat,  
Aeneas gives Sergestus the promised gift,

**283** servatam ob navem laetus sociosque reductos.  
glad for the ship saved and the crew brought back.

**284** Olli serva datur, operum haud ignara Minervae,  
A slave woman is given him, not unskilled in the work of Minerva,

**285** Cressa genus, Pholoë, geminique sub ubere nati.  
Cretan by birth, Pholoe, with twin sons at the breast.

**286** Hoc pius Aeneas misso certamine tendit  
This contest sent off, dutiful Aeneas makes his way

**287** gramineum in campum, quem collibus undique curvis  
to a grassy field, which woods ringed round about

**288** cingebant silvae, mediaque in valle theatri  
with curving hills, and in the middle of the valley

**289** circus erat; quo se multis cum milibus heros  
was a ring like a theater; there the hero brought himself

**290** consessu medium tulit exstructoque resedit.  
with many thousands into the midst of the seating, and sat above them.

**291** Hic, qui forte velint rapido contendere cursu,  
Here he calls out with rewards the spirits of any who may care

**292** invitat pretiis animos, et praemia ponit.  
to compete in the swift foot race, and sets out prizes.

**293** Undique conveniunt Teucri mixtique Sicani,  
From every side the Teucrians come together, and Sicanians mixed with them,

**294** Nisus et Euryalus primi,  
Nisus and Euryalus first,
> An unfinished line: This half-line stops after primi, 'first', with no verb and no second half of the hexameter. It is one of about fifty-eight lines Vergil left incomplete at his death. The translation stays as short as the Latin, ending where the line ends.

**295** Euryalus forma insignis viridique iuventa,  
Euryalus marked out by his beauty and his green youth,

**296** Nisus amore pio pueri; quos deinde secutus  
Nisus by a devoted love of the boy; after these came
> A devoted love: Amore is ablative, 'by love', the cause of Nisus following. Pio, 'devoted, dutiful', is the same adjective usually applied to duty toward gods and family, here modifying amore instead. Pueri is genitive, 'of the boy', naming Euryalus as the object of that love.

**297** regius egregia Priami de stirpe Diores;  
royal Diores, of Priam's outstanding stock;

**298** hunc Salius simul et Patron, quorum alter Acarnan,  
then Salius and Patron together, one of them an Acarnanian,

**299** alter ab Arcadio Tegeaeae sanguine gentis;  
the other of Arcadian blood, of the people of Tegea;

**300** tum duo Trinacrii iuvenes, Helymus Panopesque,  
then two young Sicilians, Helymus and Panopes,

**301** adsueti silvis, comites senioris Acestae;  
used to the woods, companions of old Acestes;

**302** multi praeterea, quos fama obscura recondit.  
and many besides, whom a dim report keeps hidden.

**303** Aeneas quibus in mediis sic deinde locutus:  
Aeneas, in the middle of them, then spoke in this way:

**304** “Accipite haec animis, laetasque advertite mentes:  
“Take this in, and turn glad minds to it:

**305** nemo ex hoc numero mihi non donatus abibit.  
no one out of this number will go from me ungifted.

**306** Gnosia bina dabo levato lucida ferro  
I will give two Cnossian javelins to carry off, bright

**307** spicula caelatamque argento ferre bipennem;  
with polished iron, and a double axe chased with silver;

**308** omnibus hic erit unus honos. Tres praemia primi  
this one honor will be for all. The first three will take

**309** accipient flavaque caput nectentur oliva.  
prizes, and have their heads bound with the pale olive.

**310** Primus equum phaleris insignem victor habeto;  
Let the first, as winner, have a horse marked out with medallions;

**311** alter Amazoniam pharetram plenamque sagittis  
the second an Amazon quiver full of Thracian

**312** Threïciis, lato quam circum amplectitur auro  
arrows, which a belt of broad gold clasps about

**313** balteus et tereti subnectit fibula gemma;  
and a buckle fastens with a polished gem;

**314** tertius Argolica hac galea contentus abito.”  
let the third go away content with this Argive helmet.”

**315** Haec ubi dicta, locum capiunt, signoque repente  
When this was said they take their places, and at the signal

**316** corripiunt spatia audito, limenque relinquunt,  
suddenly heard they snatch up the course and leave the line,

**317** effusi nimbo similes, simul ultima signant.  
pouring out like a squall of rain, marking the finish as they go.

**318** Primus abit longeque ante omnia corpora Nisus  
Nisus goes first, and far ahead of all the other bodies

**319** emicat, et ventis et fulminis ocior alis;  
he flashes out, quicker than the winds or the wings of lightning;
> Quicker than lightning's wings: Ocior is the comparative of a lost positive, 'quicker'. It takes an ablative of comparison, alis, 'than the wings', with fulminis, 'of the lightning bolt', modifying alis. The same comparison is made twice in the line, first with the winds, then with lightning's wings.

**320** proximus huic, longo sed proxumus intervallo,  
next to him, but next by a long interval,

**321** insequitur Salius; spatio post deinde relicto  
Salius follows; then, with a gap left after him,

**322** tertius Euryalus:  
Euryalus third:
> An unfinished line: The line stops after tertius, 'third', naming only Euryalus with no verb. It is another of the half-lines Vergil never completed before his death. We leave the English as short as the Latin, ending where it ends.

**323** Euryalumque Helymus sequitur; quo deinde sub ipso  
and Helymus follows Euryalus; and right under him,

**324** ecce volat calcemque terit iam calce Diores,  
look, Diores flies, and grinds heel on heel now,

**325** incumbens umero, spatia et si plura supersint,  
leaning on his shoulder, and if more of the course were left

**326** transeat elapsus prior, ambiguumque relinquat.  
he would slip past in front and leave the thing in doubt.

**327** Iamque fere spatio extremo fessique sub ipsam  
And now, nearly at the last stretch and tired, they were coming up

**328** finem adventabant, levi cum sanguine Nisus  
to the very end, when Nisus slipped, poor man, on slick blood

**329** labitur infelix, caesis ut forte iuvencis  
where, as it happened, when the bullocks were killed

**330** fusus humum viridisque super madefecerat herbas.  
it had spilled on the ground and soaked the green grass.

**331** Hic iuvenis iam victor ovans vestigia presso  
Here the young man, already exulting as winner, could not hold

**332** haud tenuit titubata solo, sed pronus in ipso  
his staggering feet on the trodden ground, but pitched forward

**333** concidit immundoque fimo sacroque cruore.  
and fell full length in the filthy dung and the holy gore.
> Filthy dung and holy gore: Immundo and sacro are two ablative adjectives, each modifying its own noun: fimo, 'dung', and cruore, 'gore, blood'. The connective que links them as a pair. The line names one thing as unclean and the other as consecrated, in the same fall onto the ground.

**334** Non tamen Euryali, non ille oblitus amorum;  
Even so he did not forget Euryalus, did not forget his love;

**335** nam sese opposuit Salio per lubrica surgens;  
for, getting up through the slime, he put himself in Salius' way,

**336** ille autem spissa iacuit revolutus harena.  
and Salius rolled over and lay in the packed sand.

**337** Emicat Euryalus, et munere victor amici  
Euryalus flashes out, and, a winner by his friend's gift,

**338** prima tenet, plausuque volat fremituque secundo.  
holds first place, and flies on to applause and a favoring roar.

**339** Post Helymus subit, et nunc tertia palma Diores.  
Helymus comes in after him, and Diores is now the third palm.

**340** Hic totum caveae consessum ingentis et ora  
Here Salius fills the whole seating of the huge hollow

**341** prima patrum magnis Salius clamoribus implet,  
and the front faces of the fathers with loud shouting,

**342** ereptumque dolo reddi sibi poscit honorem.  
and demands back the honor snatched from him by a trick.

**343** Tutatur favor Euryalum, lacrimaeque decorae,  
Goodwill protects Euryalus, and his becoming tears,

**344** gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.  
and worth, which comes more welcome in a beautiful body.
> Worth in a beautiful body: Virtus, 'worth, merit', is the subject, and gratior is its comparative predicate, 'more welcome'. Veniens, a participle, means 'coming, arriving', with in pulchro corpore, 'in a beautiful body', telling where it arrives. The sentence states plainly that the same worth is received better when it looks good.

**345** Adiuvat et magna proclamat voce Diores,  
Diores helps him and calls out in a great voice,

**346** qui subiit palmae, frustraque ad praemia venit  
Diores, who has come up to a palm, and comes to the last prize

**347** ultima, si primi Salio reddentur honores.  
for nothing, if the first honors are given back to Salius.

**348** Tum pater Aeneas “Vestra” inquit “munera vobis  
Then father Aeneas said: “Your gifts stand sure for you,

**349** certa manent, pueri, et palmam movet ordine nemo;  
boys, and no one moves a palm out of its order;
> Nobody moves a palm: Nemo, 'nobody', is the subject, with movet, 'moves', its verb, and palmam, 'the palm branch', its object. Ordine is ablative, 'from its place in the order', showing what the palm is not moved out of. Aeneas states that the finishing order stands as declared.

**350** me liceat casus misereri insontis amici.”  
let me be allowed to pity a blameless friend's bad luck.”

**351** Sic fatus, tergum Gaetuli immane leonis  
So he spoke, and gives Salius the huge hide of a Gaetulian lion,

**352** dat Salio, villis onerosum atque unguibus aureis.  
heavy with its shag, and with gilded claws.

**353** Hic Nisus, “Si tanta” inquit “sunt praemia victis,  
Here Nisus said: “If the prizes for the beaten are so great,

**354** et te lapsorum miseret, quae munera Niso  
and you pity men who fall, what gifts will you give

**355** digna dabis, primam merui qui laude coronam,  
that are worthy of Nisus, who earned the first crown by merit,

**356** ni me, quae Salium, fortuna inimica tulisset?”  
had not the same unfriendly luck carried me off that carried Salius?”

**357** Et simul his dictis faciem ostentabat et udo  
And with these words he was showing his face and his body,

**358** turpia membra fimo. Risit pater optimus olli  
ugly with wet dung. The best of fathers laughed at him

**359** et clipeum efferri iussit, Didymaonis artem,  
and ordered a shield brought out, the work of Didymaon,

**360** Neptuni sacro Danais de poste refixum.  
unfastened by the Danaans from Neptune's holy doorpost.

**361** Hoc iuvenem egregium praestanti munere donat;  
With this outstanding gift he presents the noble young man.

**362** Post, ubi confecti cursus, et dona peregit:  
Then, when the races were finished and he had made an end of the gifts:

**363** “Nunc, si cui virtus animusque in pectore praesens,  
“Now, if any man has courage and a ready heart in his breast,

**364** adsit, et evinctis attollat brachia palmis.”  
let him come, and lift his arms with his hands bound.”

**365** Sic ait, et geminum pugnae proponit honorem,  
So he says, and sets out a double prize for the fight,

**366** victori velatum auro vittisque iuvencum,  
for the winner a bullock veiled in gold and in fillets,

**367** ensem atque insignem galeam solacia victo.  
a sword and a fine helmet to comfort the beaten man.

**368** Nec mora: continuo vastis cum viribus effert  
No delay: at once Dares lifts his face with his enormous strength

**369** ora Dares, magnoque virum se murmure tollit;  
and rises up amid a great murmur of the men;

**370** solus qui Paridem solitus contendere contra,  
the only man who used to stand up against Paris,

**371** idemque ad tumulum, quo maximus occubat Hector,  
and the same who, at the mound where greatest Hector lies,

**372** victorem Buten immani corpore, qui se  
struck down Butes, the champion of huge body,

**373** Bebrycia veniens Amyci de gente ferebat,  
who claimed to come of Amycus' Bebrycian stock,

**374** perculit, et fulva moribundum extendit harena.  
and laid him out dying on the yellow sand.

**375** Talis prima Dares caput altum in proelia tollit,  
Such is Dares, lifting his high head into the first bout,

**376** ostenditque umeros latos, alternaque iactat  
showing his broad shoulders, throwing his arms out

**377** brachia protendens, et verberat ictibus auras.  
one after the other, and lashing the air with blows.

**378** Quaeritur huic alius; nec quisquam ex agmine tanto  
A match is looked for; and no one out of so great a crowd

**379** audet adire virum manibusque inducere caestus.  
dares go up to the man and draw the gauntlets over his hands.
> The heavier gauntlets: Caestus is the object of inducere, 'to draw on, to put on over the hands'. It is not a plain leather strap but a heavier wrapped and weighted glove. Our Iliad translates the corresponding Greek word as 'straps'; here we keep 'gauntlets' for this heavier Roman gear.

**380** Ergo alacris, cunctosque putans excedere palma,  
So, in high spirits, thinking they were all giving up the palm,

**381** Aeneae stetit ante pedes, nec plura moratus  
he stood before Aeneas' feet, and waiting no longer

**382** tum laeva taurum cornu tenet, atque ita fatur:  
holds the bull by the horn in his left hand, and speaks so:

**383** “Nate dea, si nemo audet se credere pugnae,  
“Son of a goddess, if no one dares trust himself to a fight,
> Son of a goddess: Nate is a vocative, from natus, 'born', used as a form of address: 'o born one, son'. Dea is ablative, giving the source, 'from a goddess', naming Venus. The same address is used for Aeneas elsewhere in this book, including by his father.

**384** quae finis standi? Quo me decet usque teneri?  
what end is there to my standing here? How long am I to be kept?

**385** Ducere dona iube.” Cuncti simul ore fremebant  
Order me to lead the gifts away.” All the sons of Dardanus

**386** Dardanidae, reddique viro promissa iubebant.  
roared out at once, and called for the promise to be paid the man.

**387** Hic gravis Entellum dictis castigat Acestes,  
Here Acestes takes Entellus to task with hard words,

**388** proximus ut viridante toro consederat herbae:  
as he had sat down next to him on a green couch of grass:

**389** “Entelle, heroum quondam fortissime frustra,  
“Entellus, once the bravest of heroes, and all for nothing,

**390** tantane tam patiens nullo certamine tolli  
will you sit so patiently and let such gifts be carried off

**391** dona sines? Ubi nunc nobis deus ille magister  
with no contest? Where is that god of ours now, our master,

**392** nequiquam memoratus Eryx? Ubi fama per omnem  
Eryx, named for nothing? Where the fame through all

**393** Trinacriam, et spolia illa tuis pendentia tectis?”  
Sicily, and those spoils hanging in your house?”

**394** Ille sub haec: “Non laudis amor, nec gloria cessit  
He, at this: “The love of praise has not gone, nor glory

**395** pulsa metu; sed enim gelidus tardante senecta  
been driven off by fear; but my blood is cold and dull

**396** sanguis hebet, frigentque effetae in corpore vires.  
with old age holding it back, and the worn strength is chill in my body.

**397** Si mihi, quae quondam fuerat, quaque improbus iste  
If I had now what I once had, what that shameless man

**398** exsultat fidens, si nunc foret illa iuventas,  
exults in and trusts to, if that youth were mine now,

**399** haud equidem pretio inductus pulchroque iuvenco  
I would not have come drawn on by the prize and the fine bullock:

**400** venissem, nec dona moror.” Sic deinde locutus  
the gifts do not detain me.” Having spoken so,

**401** in medium geminos immani pondere caestus  
he threw into the middle a pair of gauntlets of monstrous

**402** proiecit, quibus acer Eryx in proelia suetus  
weight, in which fierce Eryx used to carry his hand

**403** ferre manum, duroque intendere brachia tergo.  
into fights and bind his arms with the hard hide.

**404** Obstipuere animi: tantorum ingentia septem  
Their spirits stopped: seven huge hides of great

**405** terga boum plumbo insuto ferroque rigebant.  
oxen stood stiff with lead and iron sewn into them.
> Lead and iron sewn in: Plumbo and ferro are ablatives, 'with lead' and 'with iron', both governed by insuto, a participle meaning 'sewn in'. The connective que links the two metals as a pair. The oxhide gauntlets are described as stiffened by metal worked into the leather.

**406** Ante omnes stupet ipse Dares, longeque recusat;  
Dares himself is dumbfounded before them all, and refuses outright;

**407** magnanimusque Anchisiades et pondus et ipsa  
and the great-hearted son of Anchises turns the weight
> The great hearted son of Anchises: Anchisiades is a patronymic noun, 'son of Anchises', formed with a Greek style ending and used in place of the name Aeneas. Magnanimus, 'great hearted', modifies it. The patronymic form names a person through his father rather than by his own name.

**408** huc illuc vinclorum immensa volumina versat.  
and the vast coils of the thongs this way and that.

**409** Tum senior talis referebat pectore voces:  
Then the old man brought words like these out of his chest:

**410** “Quid, si quis caestus ipsius et Herculis arma  
“What if a man had seen the gauntlets and the arms

**411** vidisset, tristemque hoc ipso in litore pugnam?  
of Hercules himself, and the grim fight on this very shore?

**412** Haec germanus Eryx quondam tuus arma gerebat;—  
Your brother Eryx once wore these weapons;

**413** sanguine cernis adhuc sparsoque infecta cerebro;—  
you can see them still stained with blood and spattered brain;

**414** his magnum Alciden contra stetit; his ego suetus,  
with these he stood against great Alcides; with these I was used

**415** dum melior vires sanguis dabat, aemula necdum  
to fight, while better blood gave me strength, and rival old age

**416** temporibus geminis canebat sparsa senectus.  
had not yet sprinkled white over both my temples.

**417** Sed si nostra Dares haec Troius arma recusat,  
But if Trojan Dares refuses these arms of ours,

**418** idque pio sedet Aeneae, probat auctor Acestes,  
and that is settled with dutiful Aeneas, and Acestes who urged it approves,

**419** aequemus pugnas. Erycis tibi terga remitto;  
let us make the fight even. I let you off Eryx's hides;

**420** solve metus; et tu Troianos exue caestus.”  
put your fears away; and you, take off your Trojan gauntlets.”

**421** Haec fatus, duplicem ex umeris reiecit amictum  
So saying, he threw the double cloak back off his shoulders

**422** et magnos membrorum artus, magna ossa lacertosque  
and stripped bare the great joints of his limbs, the great bones

**423** exuit, atque ingens media consistit harena.  
and arms, and stands huge in the middle of the sand.

**424** Tum satus Anchisa caestus pater extulit aequos,  
Then the son of Anchises, their father, brought out matched gauntlets

**425** et paribus palmas amborum innexuit armis.  
and bound the hands of both in equal weapons.

**426** Constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque,  
At once each of them rose on his toes and stood up tall,

**427** brachiaque ad superas interritus extulit auras.  
and lifted his arms into the air above without fear.

**428** Abduxere retro longe capita ardua ab ictu,  
They drew their high heads far back out of the way of a blow,

**429** immiscentque manus manibus, pugnamque lacessunt.  
and mingle hands with hands, and provoke the fight.

**430** Ille pedum melior motu, fretusque iuventa;  
The one is better in the movement of his feet, and trusts his youth;

**431** hic membris et mole valens, sed tarda trementi  
the other is strong in limb and bulk, but his knees are slow

**432** genua labant, vastos quatit aeger anhelitus artus.  
and give under him, shaking, and a sick panting racks his vast frame.

**433** Multa viri nequiquam inter se volnera iactant,  
The men throw many blows at each other and land nothing,

**434** multa cavo lateri ingeminant, et pectore vastos  
double many on the hollow ribs, and make the chest give out

**435** dant sonitus, erratque auris et tempora circum  
great sounds, and a hand goes wandering constantly around

**436** crebra manus, duro crepitant sub volnere malae.  
ears and temples, and the jaws crack under the hard hitting.

**437** Stat gravis Entellus nisuque immotus eodem,  
Entellus stands heavy, unmoved in the same stance,

**438** corpore tela modo atque oculis vigilantibus exit.  
and only by his body and his watching eyes gets out of the way.

**439** Ille, velut celsam oppugnat qui molibus urbem,  
The other, like a man who assaults a high city with siege-works,

**440** aut montana sedet circum castella sub armis,  
or sits in arms around a fort in the hills,

**441** nunc hos, nunc illos aditus, omnemque pererrat  
tries now these approaches, now those, and ranges the whole

**442** arte locum, et variis adsultibus inritus urguet.  
ground with skill, and presses in vain with one rush after another.

**443** Ostendit dextram insurgens Entellus, et alte  
Entellus, rising, showed his right hand and lifted it

**444** extulit: ille ictum venientem a vertice velox  
high: the other was quick and saw the blow coming from above,

**445** praevidit, celerique elapsus corpore cessit.  
and slipped away with a fast body and gave ground.

**446** Entellus vires in ventum effudit, et ultro  
Entellus poured his strength into the wind, and of himself,

**447** ipse gravis graviterque ad terram pondere vasto  
heavy, came down heavily to the earth with his vast weight,

**448** concidit, ut quondam cava concidit aut Erymantho,  
as a hollow pine sometimes falls, torn up by the roots,

**449** aut Ida in magna, radicibus eruta pinus.  
on Erymanthus, or on great Ida.

**450** Consurgunt studiis Teucri et Trinacria pubes;  
The Teucrians and the young men of Sicily rise up, taking sides;

**451** it clamor caelo, primusque accurrit Acestes,  
the shout goes into the sky, and Acestes runs up first

**452** aequaevumque ab humo miserans attollit amicum.  
and in pity lifts his friend, his own age, off the ground.

**453** At non tardatus casu neque territus heros  
But the hero, neither slowed by the fall nor frightened,

**454** acrior ad pugnam redit ac vim suscitat ira.  
comes back keener to the fight, and anger rouses his force.

**455** Tum pudor incendit vires et conscia virtus,  
Then shame kindles his strength, and worth that knows itself,

**456** praecipitemque Daren ardens agit aequore toto,  
and burning he drives Dares headlong over the whole field,

**457** nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra;  
doubling the blows now with the right hand, now with the left;

**458** nec mora, nec requies: quam multa grandine nimbi  
no pause, no rest: as thick as the hail a storm cloud

**459** culminibus crepitant, sic densis ictibus heros  
rattles on the rooftops, so thick with strokes the hero

**460** creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta.  
beats Dares with both hands and turns him about.

**461** Tum pater Aeneas procedere longius iras  
Then father Aeneas would not let the anger go further,

**462** et saevire animis Entellum haud passus acerbis;  
nor Entellus rage on in a bitter spirit;

**463** sed finem imposuit pugnae, fessumque Dareta  
but he put an end to the fight, and got the worn-out Dares

**464** eripuit mulcens dictis, ac talia fatur:  
away, gentling him with words, and speaks so:

**465** “Infelix, quae tanta animum dementia cepit?  
“Poor man, what madness so great has taken hold of your mind?

**466** Non vires alias conversaque numina sentis?  
Do you not feel a strength not your own, the gods turned against you?

**467** Cede deo.” Dixitque et proelia voce diremit.  
Give way to the god.” He spoke, and broke off the fight with his voice.
> Give way to the god: Cede is an imperative, 'yield, give way'. Deo is dative, 'to a god', the one being yielded to. Aeneas names no particular god, so the command works as a general statement rather than naming which power has beaten the loser.

**468** Ast illum fidi aequales, genua aegra trahentem,  
But his faithful age-mates lead him to the ships, dragging

**469** iactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem  
his sick knees, tossing his head to either side, spitting out

**470** ore eiectantem mixtosque in sanguine dentes,  
thick blood and teeth mixed in the blood;

**471** ducunt ad naves; galeamque ensemque vocati  
and, called for, they take the helmet and the sword;

**472** accipiunt; palmam Entello taurumque relinquunt.  
they leave the palm and the bull to Entellus.

**473** Hic victor, superans animis tauroque superbus:  
Here the winner, high in spirit and proud of his bull:

**474** “Nate dea, vosque haec” inquit “cognoscite, Teucri,  
“Son of a goddess, and you Teucrians, learn from this

**475** et mihi quae fuerint iuvenali in corpore vires,  
both what strength I had in my young body,

**476** et qua servetis revocatum a morte Dareta.”  
and from what death you are keeping Dares, called back.”

**477** Dixit, et adversi contra stetit ora iuvenci,  
He spoke, and stood facing the head of the bullock,

**478** qui donum adstabat pugnae, durosque reducta  
which stood there as the prize of the fight, and drawing back

**479** libravit dextra media inter cornua caestus,  
his right hand he swung the hard gauntlets between the horns,

**480** arduus, effractoque inlisit in ossa cerebro.  
towering, and crashed them onto the bone, the brain shattered.

**481** sternitur exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos.  
The ox is laid out and falls to the ground, lifeless and shuddering.
> The ox held to the end: Sternitur and procumbit are both verbs of falling, 'is struck down' and 'falls forward', with exanimis, 'lifeless', and tremens, 'shaking', describing the same subject. Bos, 'the ox', is that subject, held back to the very end of the sentence. Humi is a locative, 'on the ground'.

**482** Ille super tales effundit pectore voces:  
Over it he pours out words like these from his chest:

**483** “Hanc tibi, Eryx, meliorem animam pro morte Daretis  
“This better life I pay you, Eryx, in place of the death

**484** persolvo; hic victor caestus artemque repono.”  
of Dares; here, a winner, I lay down my gauntlets and my art.”

**485** Protinus Aeneas celeri certare sagitta  
At once Aeneas invites any who may care to contend

**486** invitat qui forte velint, et praemia ponit,  
with the swift arrow, and sets out prizes,

**487** ingentique manu malum de nave Seresti  
and with a huge hand raises a mast out of Serestus' ship,

**488** erigit, et volucrem traiecto in fune columbam,  
and from the high mast he hung a dove on the wing,

**489** quo tendant ferrum, malo suspendit ab alto.  
tied by a cord run through, for them to aim their iron at.

**490** Convenere viri, deiectamque aerea sortem  
The men came together, and a bronze helmet took the lots

**491** accepit galea; et primus clamore secundo  
thrown down into it; and first, to a favoring shout,

**492** Hyrtacidae ante omnes exit locus Hippocoöntis;  
the place of Hippocoon, son of Hyrtacus, comes out before all;

**493** quem modo navali Mnestheus certamine victor  
Mnestheus follows him, the winner just now in the contest

**494** consequitur, viridi Mnestheus evinctus oliva.  
of ships, Mnestheus bound with the green olive.

**495** Tertius Eurytion, tuus, o clarissime, frater,  
Third, Eurytion, your brother, most famous

**496** Pandare, qui quondam, iussus confundere foedus,  
Pandarus, who once, ordered to break the treaty,

**497** in medios telum torsisti primus Achivos.  
were the first to hurl a shaft into the middle of the Achaeans.

**498** Extremus galeaque ima subsedit Acestes,  
Last, Acestes settled at the bottom of the helmet,

**499** ausus et ipse manu iuvenum temptare laborem.  
daring himself to try the young men's work with his hand.

**500** Tum validis flexos incurvant viribus arcus  
Then each man for himself bends the curved bows

**501** pro se quisque viri, et depromunt tela pharetris.  
with strong force, and they draw shafts out of the quivers.

**502** Primaque per caelum, nervo stridente, sagitta  
And first through the sky, with the string screaming, the arrow

**503** Hyrtacidae iuvenis volucres diverberat auras;  
of the young son of Hyrtacus beats the flying air apart;

**504** et venit, adversique infigitur arbore mali.  
and it arrives, and sticks in the wood of the mast in front of it.

**505** Intremuit malus, timuitque exterrita pennis  
The mast shook, and the bird was frightened and beat her wings,
> The mast shook: Intremuit is perfect of intremesco, 'shook, trembled'. Malus, its subject, is 'the mast', the ship's upright spar the dove was tied to. The verb reports the arrow's impact through the equipment rather than naming the shot itself.

**506** ales, et ingenti sonuerunt omnia plausu.  
and everything rang with a huge clapping.

**507** Post acer Mnestheus adducto constitit arcu,  
Then keen Mnestheus took his stand with the bow drawn,

**508** alta petens, pariterque oculos telumque tetendit.  
aiming high, and stretched his eyes and his shaft alike.

**509** Ast ipsam miserandus avem contingere ferro  
But, poor man, he could not reach the bird herself

**510** non valuit: nodos et vincula linea rupit,  
with the iron: he broke the knots and the linen bonds

**511** quis innexa pedem malo pendebat ab alto:  
by which she hung, tied by the foot, from the high mast;

**512** illa notos atque alta volans in nubila fugit.  
she flew away into the south winds and the high clouds.

**513** Tum rapidus, iamdudum arcu contenta parato  
Then Eurytion, quick, holding a shaft long since drawn

**514** tela tenens, fratrem Eurytion in vota vocavit,  
on the ready bow, called his brother into his vows,

**515** iam vacuo laetam caelo speculatus, et alis  
and sighting her already glad in the empty sky and clapping

**516** plaudentem nigra figit sub nube columbam.  
her wings, he pins the dove under a black cloud.

**517** Decidit exanimis, vitamque reliquit in astris  
She fell dead, and left her life among the stars
> Life left among the stars: Reliquit is perfect of relinquo, 'left behind, abandoned', with vitam, 'her life', as its object. In astris aetheriis is ablative, 'among the heavenly stars', naming where the life is left. The verb places the death at a height, separate from the fall that follows.

**518** aetheriis, fixamque refert delapsa sagittam.  
of the upper air, and coming down brings back the arrow fixed in her.

**519** Amissa solus palma superabat Acestes;  
Only Acestes was left, with the palm gone;

**520** qui tamen aerias telum contendit in auras,  
and still he strained his shaft up into the airy sky,

**521** ostentans artemque pater arcumque sonantem.  
showing off, an old man, his skill and his singing bow.

**522** Hic oculis subito obicitur magnoque futurum  
Here a portent, to be great in its foretelling, is thrown
> A word for a sign: Monstrum is nominative singular, related to the verb monstrare, 'to show'. It names a sign or portent, something shown as a warning, not yet the modern sense of 'monster'. Here it is the subject thrown before the Trojans' eyes, obicitur, 'is thrown in the way of'.

**523** augurio monstrum; docuit post exitus ingens,  
suddenly before their eyes; the huge outcome taught them later,

**524** seraque terrifici cecinerunt omina vates.  
and prophets sang the terrifying omen too late.

**525** Namque volans liquidis in nubibus arsit harundo,  
For the reed took fire as it flew in the clear clouds,

**526** signavitque viam flammis, tenuisque recessit  
and marked its road with flames, and went away thin,

**527** consumpta in ventos, caelo ceu saepe refixa  
used up into the winds, as often stars unfastened from the sky

**528** transcurrunt crinemque volantia sidera ducunt.  
run across it, and flying draw a hair of light behind them.

**529** Attonitis haesere animis, superosque precati  
The men of Sicily and of Troy stood fixed, thunderstruck,

**530** Trinacrii Teucrique viri; nec maximus omen  
and prayed to the gods above; nor did great Aeneas

**531** abnuit Aeneas; sed laetum amplexus Acesten  
refuse the omen; but embracing the delighted Acestes

**532** muneribus cumulat magnis, ac talia fatur:  
he heaps him with great gifts, and speaks so:

**533** “Sume, pater; nam te voluit rex magnus Olympi  
“Take them, father; for the great king of Olympus has willed

**534** talibus auspiciis exsortem ducere honores.  
that you should carry off honors out of turn by signs like these.
> Out of the normal turn: Exsortem is an accusative adjective built from ex and sors, 'lot, share by drawing'. It names what falls outside the normal lot, a share taken without the usual draw. Here it describes Acestes receiving an honor apart from the race's own order of finish.

**535** Ipsius Anchisae longaevi hoc munus habebis,  
You will have this gift of aged Anchises himself,

**536** cratera impressum signis, quem Thracius olim  
a mixing bowl stamped with figures, which Thracian Cisseus

**537** Anchisae genitori in magno munere Cisseus  
once gave to my father Anchises to carry away,

**538** ferre sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris.”  
as a memorial of himself and a pledge of his love.”

**539** Sic fatus cingit viridanti tempora lauro,  
So saying he binds his brows with green laurel,

**540** et primum ante omnes victorem appellat Acesten.  
and calls Acestes the winner, first before all the rest.

**541** Nec bonus Eurytion praelato invidit honori,  
Nor did good Eurytion grudge the honor put ahead of his own,

**542** quamvis solus avem caelo deiecit ab alto.  
though he alone had brought the bird down out of the high sky.

**543** Proximus ingreditur donis, qui vincula rupit;  
Next in the gifts comes the man who broke the bonds;

**544** extremus, volucri qui fixit arundine malum.  
last, the man who pinned the mast with his flying reed.

**545** At pater Aeneas, nondum certamine misso,  
But father Aeneas, with the contest not yet dismissed,

**546** custodem ad sese comitemque impubis Iuli  
calls Epytides to him, the guardian and companion

**547** Epytiden vocat, et fidam sic fatur ad aurem:  
of the boy Iulus, and speaks so to his trusted ear:

**548** “Vade age, et Ascanio, si iam puerile paratum  
“Go now, and say to Ascanius: if he has his troop of boys

**549** agmen habet secum, cursusque instruxit equorum,  
ready with him now, and has drawn up the horses for their runs,

**550** ducat avo turmas, et sese ostendat in armis,  
let him lead the squadrons out for his grandfather and show himself

**551** dic” ait. Ipse omnem longo decedere circo  
in arms,” he said. He himself orders the people, poured

**552** infusum populum, et campos iubet esse patentes.  
into the long ring, to draw off, and the ground to lie open.

**553** Incedunt pueri, pariterque ante ora parentum  
The boys come on, and level before their parents' faces

**554** frenatis lucent in equis, quos omnis euntes  
they shine on their bridled horses; as they go, all

**555** Trinacriae mirata fremit Troiaeque iuventus.  
the young men of Sicily and Troy murmur in wonder at them.

**556** omnibus in morem tonsa coma pressa corona;  
Every one of them has his cut hair pressed by a wreath, as the custom is;

**557** cornea bina ferunt praefixa hastilia ferro;  
they carry two cornel spears tipped with iron;

**558** pars levis umero pharetras; it pectore summo  
some have smooth quivers at the shoulder; high on the breast

**559** flexilis obtorti per collum circulus auri.  
goes a supple circle of twisted gold about the neck.

**560** Tres equitum numero turmae, ternique vagantur  
Three squadrons of riders in all, and three leaders

**561** ductores: pueri bis seni quemque secuti  
range about; twice six boys have followed each of them

**562** agmine partito fulgent paribusque magistris.  
and shine in a divided column with matched masters.

**563** Una acies iuvenum, ducit quam parvus ovantem  
One line of young men is led in triumph by little Priam,

**564** nomen avi referens Priamus,—tua clara, Polite,  
who carries his grandfather's name, your bright offspring, Polites,

**565** progenies, auctura Italos,—quem Thracius albis  
and one to increase the Italians, and a Thracian horse

**566** portat equus bicolor maculis, vestigia primi  
carries him, two-colored with white markings, showing white

**567** alba pedis frontemque ostentans arduus albam.  
the pasterns of one forefoot and white his forehead, and holding his head high.

**568** Alter Atys, genus unde Atii duxere Latini,  
The second is Atys, from whom the Latin Atii drew their line,

**569** parvus Atys, pueroque puer dilectus Iulo.  
little Atys, a boy loved by the boy Iulus.

**570** Extremus, formaque ante omnis pulcher, Iulus  
Last, and beautiful in form beyond all of them, Iulus

**571** Sidonio est invectus equo, quem candida Dido  
rode on a Sidonian horse, which shining Dido had given him

**572** esse sui dederat monumentum et pignus amoris.  
to be a memorial of herself and a pledge of her love.

**573** Cetera Trinacrii pubes senioris Acestae  
The rest of the young men, of old Acestes' Sicily,

**574** fertur equis.  
ride on horses.
> An unfinished line: Fertur is passive of fero, 'is carried, rides', with equis, ablative plural, 'on horses'. The line stops after two words, well short of a full hexameter. It is another half-line Vergil left unfinished, and the translation ends where the Latin does.

**575** Excipiunt plausu pavidos, gaudentque tuentes  
The sons of Dardanus take the nervous boys with applause,

**576** Dardanidae, veterumque adgnoscunt ora parentum.  
and are glad as they look, and know the faces of the old fathers.

**577** Postquam omnem laeti consessum oculosque suorum  
When they had gladly ridden past the whole seated crowd

**578** lustravere in equis, signum clamore paratis  
and the eyes of their own people, Epytides gave them

**579** Epytides longe dedit insonuitque flagello.  
the signal from far off with a shout, and cracked his whip.

**580** Olli discurrere pares, atque agmina terni  
They rode apart in matched pairs, and the three companies

**581** diductis solvere choris, rursusque vocati  
broke their columns into separated troops, and, called back again,

**582** convertere vias infestaque tela tulere.  
they turned their ways and brought their weapons up leveled.

**583** Inde alios ineunt cursus aliosque recursus  
Then they begin other runs and other runs back,

**584** adversi spatiis, alternosque orbibus orbes  
facing each other across the field, and they lock circle

**585** impediunt, pugnaeque cient simulacra sub armis;  
inside alternate circle, and raise the show of a battle under arms;

**586** et nunc terga fuga nudant, nunc spicula vertunt  
and now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their spears

**587** infensi, facta pariter nunc pace feruntur.  
in anger, now ride level with the peace made.

**588** Ut quondam Creta fertur Labyrinthus in alta  
As once in high Crete the Labyrinth is said to have had

**589** parietibus textum caecis iter, ancipitemque  
a path woven of blind walls, and a two-sided trick

**590** mille viis habuisse dolum, qua signa sequendi  
of a thousand ways, where an error that could not be caught

**591** falleret indeprensus et inremeabilis error;  
and could not be walked back would cheat whatever marks a man followed:

**592** haud alio Teucrum nati vestigia cursu  
in no other course do the sons of the Teucrians tangle

**593** impediunt texuntque fugas et proelia ludo,  
their tracks, and weave flights and fights in play,

**594** delphinum similes, qui per maria umida nando  
like dolphins, who swimming through the wet seas

**595** Carpathium Libycumque secant, luduntque per undas.  
cut the Carpathian and the Libyan, and play through the waves.

**596** Hunc morem cursus atque haec certamina primus  
This custom of riding and these contests Ascanius

**597** Ascanius, Longam muris cum cingeret Albam,  
first brought back, when he was ringing Alba Longa with walls,

**598** rettulit, et priscos docuit celebrare Latinos,  
and taught the early Latins to keep them

**599** quo puer ipse modo, secum quo Troïa pubes;  
in the way he had kept them himself as a boy, and the Trojan youth with him;

**600** Albani docuere suos; hinc maxima porro  
the Albans taught their own; from them greatest Rome

**601** accepit Roma, et patrium servavit honorem;  
took it up in turn, and kept the rite of the fathers;

**602** Troiaque nunc pueri, Troianum dicitur agmen.  
and the boys are Troy now, and the company is called Trojan.
> The drill keeps a city's name: Troia here is a proper name used as a predicate, naming the cavalry drill itself: 'the boys are called Troy'. Troianum agmen, 'the Trojan column', is an adjective and noun in agreement, naming the riders. The city's name survives as the name of a formation and a marching group.

**603** Hac celebrata tenus sancto certamina patri.  
Thus far the contests were kept for the hallowed father.

**604** Hic primum fortuna fidem mutata novavit.  
Here first fortune changed and broke faith.
> Fortune breaks an agreement: Fortuna is the subject, with mutata, a participle, 'having changed', agreeing with it. Novavit, from novo, means 'made new, altered', and takes fidem, 'good faith, an agreement', as its object. Novare fidem is to break an existing arrangement by replacing it with a new one.

**605** Dum variis tumulo referunt sollemnia ludis,  
While they pay the mound its solemn dues with games of every kind,

**606** Irim de caelo misit Saturnia Iuno  
Saturn's daughter Juno sent Iris down from the sky

**607** Iliacam ad classem, ventosque adspirat eunti,  
to the Ilian fleet, and breathes winds on her as she goes,

**608** multa movens, necdum antiquum saturata dolorem.  
turning much over, and not yet full of her old grief.

**609** Illa, viam celerans per mille coloribus arcum,  
The maiden, hurrying her road down a bow of a thousand colors,

**610** nulli visa cito decurrit tramite virgo.  
runs down her swift path, seen by nobody.

**611** Conspicit ingentem concursum, et litora lustrat,  
She sees the huge gathering, and looks along the shores,

**612** desertosque videt portus classemque relictam.  
and sees the harbors deserted and the fleet left alone.

**613** At procul in sola secretae Troades acta  
But far off on a lonely beach the Trojan women, apart,

**614** amissum Anchisen flebant, cunctaeque profundum  
were weeping for Anchises lost, and all of them wept

**615** pontum adspectabant flentes. “Heu tot vada fessis  
and looked at the deep sea. “Ah, that so many shoals

**616** et tantum superesse maris!” vox omnibus una.  
and so much water are left for us, worn as we are!” One voice for all of them.

**617** Urbem orant; taedet pelagi perferre laborem.  
They beg for a city; they are sick of bearing the labor of the sea.

**618** Ergo inter medias sese haud ignara nocendi  
So into the middle of them she throws herself, no stranger

**619** conicit, et faciemque deae vestemque reponit;  
to doing harm, and puts off the face and the dress of a goddess;

**620** fit Beroë, Tmarii coniunx longaeva Dorycli,  
she becomes Beroe, the aged wife of Doryclus of Tmarus,

**621** cui genus et quondam nomen natique fuissent;  
who had once had birth and a name and children;

**622** ac sic Dardanidum mediam se matribus infert:  
and so she brings herself into the midst of the Dardanian mothers:

**623** “O miserae, quas non manus” inquit “Achaïca bello  
“Poor women,” she says, “whom no Achaean hand dragged off

**624** traxerit ad letum patriae sub moenibus! O gens  
to death in the war under our own country's walls! O unlucky

**625** infelix, cui te exitio Fortuna reservat?  
people, for what ruin is Fortune keeping you?

**626** Septuma post Troiae exscidium iam vertitur aestas,  
The seventh summer is turning now since Troy was destroyed,

**627** cum freta, cum terras omnes, tot inhospita saxa  
and we are carried over straits, over all lands, past so many

**628** sideraque emensae ferimur, dum per mare magnum  
unwelcoming rocks and stars measured out, while over the great sea

**629** Italiam sequimur fugientem, et volvimur undis.  
we chase an Italy that runs away from us, and are rolled on the waves.
> Chasing an Italy that flees: Italiam is the object of sequimur, 'we chase, we follow'. Fugientem is a present participle, 'fleeing', agreeing with Italiam and describing it as something that runs away. The land they are sailing toward is given the participle usually used of a fleeing animal.

**630** Hic Erycis fines fraterni, atque hospes Acestes:  
Here are the lands of our brother Eryx, and Acestes our host:

**631** quis prohibet muros iacere et dare civibus urbem?  
who forbids us to lay walls and give the citizens a city?

**632** O patria et rapti nequiquam ex hoste Penates,  
O country, and household gods snatched from the enemy for nothing,

**633** nullane iam Troiae dicentur moenia? Nusquam  
will no walls ever be called Troy's? Am I nowhere to see

**634** Hectoreos amnes, Xanthum et Simoenta, videbo?  
the rivers of Hector, the Xanthus and the Simois?

**635** Quin agite et mecum infaustas exurite puppes.  
Come rather, and burn the accursed sterns with me.

**636** Nam mihi Cassandrae per somnum vatis imago  
For in my sleep the shape of the prophetess Cassandra

**637** ardentes dare visa faces: Hic quaerite Troiam;  
seemed to hold out burning brands: Look for Troy here;

**638** hic domus est” inquit vobis. Iam tempus agi res,  
here, she said, is your home. Now is the time for the thing to be done,

**639** nec tantis mora prodigiis. En quattuor arae  
no waiting after signs like these. Look, four altars

**640** Neptuno; deus ipse faces animumque ministrat.”  
to Neptune; the god himself supplies the torches and the will.”

**641** Haec memorans, prima infensum vi corripit ignem,  
Saying this she is the first to seize the dangerous fire by force,

**642** sublataque procul dextra conixa coruscat,  
and, straining, with her right hand raised far back she flourishes

**643** et iacit: arrectae mentes stupefactaque corda  
and throws it: the minds of the women of Ilium are up,

**644** Iliadum. Hic una e multis, quae maxima natu,  
their hearts stunned. Here one out of many, the oldest of them,

**645** Pyrgo, tot Priami natorum regia nutrix:  
Pyrgo, royal nurse to so many of Priam's children:

**646** “Non Beroë vobis, non haec Rhoeteïa, matres,  
“This is no Beroe for you, mothers, this is not the Rhoetean

**647** est Dorycli coniunx; divini signa decoris  
wife of Doryclus; mark the signs of a divine beauty

**648** ardentesque notate oculos; qui spiritus illi,  
and the burning eyes, the breath she has,

**649** qui voltus, vocisque sonus, vel gressus eunti.  
the face, the sound of the voice, the step of her as she goes.

**650** Ipsa egomet dudum Beroen digressa reliqui  
I myself came away from Beroe a moment ago and left her behind,

**651** aegram, indignantem, tali quod sola careret  
sick and angry that she alone should miss such a rite

**652** munere, nec meritos Anchisae inferet honores.”  
and not pay Anchises the honors he has earned.”

**653** Haec effata.  
So she had spoken.
> An unfinished line: Effata is the perfect participle of a deponent verb, effari, 'to speak out'; haec is its object, 'these things'. The phrase means 'having said this', and no more of the line follows. It is one of Vergil's half-lines, ending where the Latin ends.

**654** At matres primo ancipites oculisque malignis  
But the mothers at first were doubtful, and with grudging eyes

**655** ambiguae spectare rates miserum inter amorem  
looked at the ships uncertainly, torn between a wretched love

**656** praesentis terrae fatisque vocantia regna,  
of the land at hand and the kingdoms the fates were calling them to,

**657** cum dea se paribus per caelum sustulit alis,  
when the goddess lifted herself through the sky on level wings

**658** ingentemque fuga secuit sub nubibus arcum.  
and in her flight cut a huge bow beneath the clouds.

**659** Tum vero attonitae monstris actaeque furore  
Then indeed, thunderstruck at the portents and driven by frenzy,

**660** conclamant, rapiuntque focis penetralibus ignem;  
they cry out together, and snatch fire from the inner hearths;

**661** pars spoliant aras, frondem ac virgulta facesque  
some strip the altars and throw on leaves and brushwood

**662** coniciunt. Furit immissis Volcanus habenis  
and torches. Vulcan rages with the reins let go
> Vulcan with the reins let go: Volcanus, the god's name, stands for the fire itself, a common substitution of a god's name for the thing under the god's power. Immissis habenis is an ablative absolute, 'with the reins let loose', a phrase from driving horses. Furit means 'rages, runs wild', describing how the fire spreads.

**663** transtra per et remos et pictas abiete puppes.  
through the benches and the oars and the painted fir of the sterns.

**664** Nuntius Anchisae ad tumulum cuneosque theatri  
Eumelus carries the news to Anchises' mound and the wedges of the theater
> The wedges of the theater: Cuneos is accusative plural of cuneus, 'a wedge', naming the wedge shaped blocks of seating in a Roman theater, divided by stairways. Theatri is a genitive, 'of the theater'. The phrase names the seating plan of the natural bowl where the games are watched.

**665** incensas perfert naves Eumelus, et ipsi  
that the ships are burning, and the men themselves

**666** respiciunt atram in nimbo volitare favillam.  
look back and see black ash flying in a cloud.

**667** Primus et Ascanius, cursus ut laetus equestres  
And Ascanius first, glad as he was, leading the runs

**668** ducebat, sic acer equo turbata petivit  
of the horses, made for the disordered camp on his horse, as keen

**669** castra, nec exanimes possunt retinere magistri.  
as that, and his masters cannot hold him back for terror.

**670** “Quis furor iste novus? Quo nunc, quo tenditis” inquit,  
“What is this new madness? Where now, where are you going,”

**671** “heu, miserae cives? Non hostem inimicaque castra  
he says, “poor countrywomen? It is no enemy, no hostile

**672** Argivum, vestras spes uritis. En, ego vester  
Argive camp, you are burning your own hopes. Look, I am your

**673** Ascanius!” Galeam ante pedes proiecit inanem,  
Ascanius!” He threw down the empty helmet before his feet,

**674** qua ludo indutus belli simulacra ciebat;  
which he had worn in the game, raising the show of war;

**675** accelerat simul Aeneas, simul agmina Teucrum.  
Aeneas comes up at speed, and the columns of the Teucrians with him.

**676** Ast illae diversa metu per litora passim  
But the women scatter in fear along the shores, this way and that,

**677** diffugiunt, silvasque et sicubi concava furtim  
and make furtively for the woods and whatever hollow rocks

**678** saxa petunt; piget incepti lucisque, suosque  
there are; they are sick of the deed and of daylight,

**679** mutatae adgnoscunt, excussaque pectore Iuno est.  
and, changed, they know their own people, and Juno is shaken out of their hearts.
> Juno shaken out of hearts: Excussa is a passive participle, 'knocked loose, shaken out', agreeing with Iuno and combined with est to form a passive verb. Pectore is ablative, 'from the chest, the heart', naming where she is shaken from. Grammatically a goddess, not a feeling, is the subject removed from the women.

**680** Sed non idcirco flammae atque incendia vires  
But the flames and the fires did not for all that lay down

**681** indomitas posuere; udo sub robore vivit  
their untamed strength; under the wet oak the tow lives on,

**682** stuppa vomens tardum fumum, lentusque carinas  
belching slow smoke, and a stubborn heat eats the keels,

**683** est vapor, et toto descendit corpore pestis,  
and the plague goes down through the whole body of them,

**684** nec vires heroum infusaque flumina prosunt.  
and the heroes' strength and the rivers poured on do no good.

**685** Tum pius Aeneas umeris abscindere vestem,  
Then dutiful Aeneas tore the clothing from his shoulders,
> Historic infinitives for main verbs: Abscindere, vocare, and tendere are all bare infinitives used as main verbs, with no auxiliary and no personal ending. Latin can drop normal tense marking this way for a rush of actions in sequence. English has to supply a past tense for each one, such as 'tore', 'called', 'stretched'.

**686** auxilioque vocare deos, et tendere palmas:  
and called the gods to help, and stretched out his palms:

**687** “Iuppiter omnipotens, si nondum exosus ad unum  
“All-powerful Jupiter, if you do not yet hate the Trojans

**688** Troianos, si quid pietas antiqua labores  
to the last man, if the old duty still has any regard
> The old duty: Pietas is nominative, the subject of the clause, 'duty, devotion'. Antiqua, 'old, ancient', modifies it, naming a duty from an earlier time rather than a new one. Aeneas asks whether this old obligation still has any force with the god he addresses.

**689** respicit humanos, da flammam evadere classi  
for the sufferings of men, grant the fleet to get clear of the flame

**690** nunc, Pater, et tenues Teucrum res eripe leto.  
now, Father, and snatch the thin fortunes of the Teucrians from death.

**691** Vel tu, quod superest infesto fulmine morti,  
Or else send what is left down to death with your angry bolt,

**692** si mereor, demitte, tuaque hic obrue dextra.”  
if I deserve it, and bury me here with your own right hand.”

**693** Vix haec ediderat, cum effusis imbribus atra  
He had hardly got this out when a black storm rages

**694** tempestas sine more furit, tonitruque tremescunt  
past all custom with rain poured out, and the high ground

**695** ardua terrarum et campi; ruit aethere toto  
of the earth and the plains shudder with thunder; a wild rain

**696** turbidus imber aqua densisque nigerrimus austris;  
falls out of the whole sky, blackest with water and thick south winds;

**697** implenturque super puppes; semiusta madescunt  
the sterns fill from above; the half-burned timbers

**698** robora; restinctus donec vapor omnis, et omnes,  
grow wet, until every heat is quenched and every hull,

**699** quattuor amissis, servatae a peste carinae.  
with four lost, was saved from the plague.

**700** At pater Aeneas, casu concussus acerbo,  
But father Aeneas, shaken by the bitter blow,

**701** nunc huc ingentes, nunc illuc pectore curas  
kept turning his huge cares over in his heart, now this way,

**702** mutabat versans, Siculisne resideret arvis,  
now that: whether to settle in the Sicilian fields,

**703** oblitus fatorum, Italasne capesseret oras.  
forgetting the fates, or to reach for the Italian shores.

**704** Tum senior Nautes, unum Tritonia Pallas  
Then old Nautes, the one man whom Tritonian Pallas taught

**705** quem docuit multaque insignem reddidit arte,  
and made outstanding in much skill,

**706** haec responsa dabat, vel quae portenderet ira  
used to give answers on this: what the gods' great anger

**707** magna deum, vel quae fatorum posceret ordo;  
meant by a sign, or what the order of the fates demanded;

**708** isque his Aenean solatus vocibus infit:  
and he begins, comforting Aeneas with these words:

**709** “Nate dea, quo fata trahunt retrahuntque, sequamur;  
“Son of a goddess, let us follow where the fates drag us and drag us back;
> Where the fates drag us: Quo means 'to where, in whatever direction', introducing the clause fata trahunt retrahuntque, 'the fates drag and drag back'. Trahunt and retrahunt are the same verb, once plain and once with the prefix re, 'back'. Sequamur is a hortatory subjunctive, 'let us follow', the main verb of the sentence.

**710** quidquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est.  
whatever comes, every fortune has to be beaten by bearing it.
> A gerundive and a gerund: Superanda is a gerundive, 'that must be overcome', agreeing with fortuna and combined with est for a passive of obligation. Ferendo is a gerund in the ablative, 'by bearing, by enduring', giving the means. The sentence states that every fortune must be beaten, and names bearing it as how.

**711** Est tibi Dardanius divinae stirpis Acestes:  
You have Acestes, a Dardanian, of divine stock:

**712** hunc cape consiliis socium et coniunge volentem;  
take him into your counsels as a partner, and join him to you willingly;

**713** huic trade, amissis superant qui navibus, et quos  
hand over to him those left over from the lost ships, and those

**714** pertaesum magni incepti rerumque tuarum est;  
who are sick to death of the great undertaking and of your affairs;

**715** longaevosque senes ac fessas aequore matres,  
pick out the aged old men and the mothers worn out by the sea,

**716** et quidquid tecum invalidum metuensque pericli est,  
and whatever with you is weak and afraid of danger,

**717** delige, et his habeant terris sine moenia fessi:  
and let the weary have their walls in this land:

**718** urbem appellabunt permisso nomine Acestam.”  
they will call the city Acesta, with his name allowed them.”

**719** Talibus incensus dictis senioris amici,  
Fired by such words from his older friend,

**720** tum vero in curas animo diducitur omnes.  
then indeed his mind is pulled apart among all his cares.

**721** Et nox atra polum bigis subvecta tenebat:  
And black Night, carried up on her two horses, held the sky:

**722** visa dehinc caelo facies delapsa parentis  
then the likeness of his father Anchises, come gliding down

**723** Anchisae subito tales effundere voces:  
out of heaven, seemed suddenly to pour out words like these:

**724** “Nate, mihi vita quondam, dum vita manebat,  
“Son, once dearer to me than life, while life still stayed with me,

**725** care magis, nate, Iliacis exercite fatis,  
son, worn hard by the fates of Ilium,

**726** imperio Iovis huc venio, qui classibus ignem  
I come here at Jupiter's command, who drove the fire

**727** depulit, et caelo tandem miseratus ab alto est.  
off your ships, and at last took pity from high heaven.

**728** Consiliis pare, quae nunc pulcherrima Nautes  
Obey the counsel that old Nautes is giving you now,

**729** dat senior; lectos iuvenes, fortissima corda,  
and it is the best of counsel; carry chosen young men,

**730** defer in Italiam; gens dura atque aspera cultu  
the bravest hearts, down into Italy; a hard people,

**731** debellanda tibi Latio est. Ditis tamen ante  
rough in their way of living, must be beaten by you in Latium.

**732** infernas accede domos, et Averna per alta  
But go first to the underground house of Dis, and through deep

**733** congressus pete, nate, meos. Non me impia namque  
Avernus, my son, seek a meeting with me. For unholy

**734** Tartara habent, tristes umbrae, sed amoena piorum  
Tartarus does not hold me, nor the sad shades, but I live

**735** concilia Elysiumque colo. Huc casta Sibylla  
in Elysium and the pleasant gatherings of the dutiful. Here the chaste Sibyl

**736** nigrarum multo pecudum te sanguine ducet:  
will bring you, with much blood of black cattle:

**737** tum genus omne tuum, et quae dentur moenia, disces.  
then you will learn your whole race, and what walls are given you.

**738** Iamque vale: torquet medios Nox humida cursus,  
And now, goodbye: wet Night is wheeling through the middle of her course,

**739** et me saevus equis Oriens adflavit anhelis.”  
and the cruel Dawn has breathed on me with her panting horses.”

**740** Dixerat, et tenuis fugit, ceu fumus, in auras.  
He had spoken, and fled like smoke into the thin air.

**741** Aeneas, “Quo deinde ruis, quo proripis?” inquit,  
Aeneas says, “Where are you rushing to now, where are you tearing away?

**742** “Quem fugis, aut quis te nostris complexibus arcet?”  
Whom are you running from, or who keeps you out of our arms?”

**743** Haec memorans cinerem et sopitos suscitat ignes,  
Saying this he stirs up the ash and the sleeping fires,

**744** Pergameumque Larem et canae penetralia Vestae  
and a suppliant he honors the Lar of Pergamum and the inner shrine

**745** farre pio et plena supplex veneratur acerra.  
of white-haired Vesta with holy meal and a full incense box.

**746** Extemplo socios primumque arcessit Acesten,  
At once he calls his companions in, and Acestes first,

**747** et Iovis imperium et cari praecepta parentis  
and teaches them Jupiter's command and his dear father's

**748** edocet, et quae nunc animo sententia constet.  
instructions, and what judgment now stands settled in his mind.

**749** Haud mora consiliis, nec iussa recusat Acestes.  
There is no delay over the plan, and Acestes does not refuse the orders.

**750** Transcribunt urbi matres, populumque volentem  
They enroll the mothers in the city, and set down there the people

**751** deponunt, animos nil magnae laudis egentes.  
who are willing, hearts with no need of great praise.

**752** Ipsi transtra novant, flammisque ambesa reponunt  
The rest make the benches new, and replace the timbers

**753** robora navigiis, aptant remosque rudentesque,  
the flames had eaten in the ships, and fit oars and ropes,

**754** exigui numero, sed bello vivida virtus.  
few in number, but a courage alive for war.

**755** Interea Aeneas urbem designat aratro  
Meanwhile Aeneas marks the city out with a plow

**756** sortiturque domos; hoc Ilium et haec loca Troiam  
and allots the houses; he orders this to be Ilium and this place

**757** esse iubet. Gaudet regno Troianus Acestes,  
to be Troy. Trojan Acestes takes joy in his kingdom,

**758** indicitque forum et patribus dat iura vocatis.  
and appoints a market day and gives laws to the fathers he calls in.

**759** Tum vicina astris, Erycino in vertice sedes  
Then on the peak of Eryx, close up against the stars, a seat

**760** fundatur Veneri Idaliae, tumuloque sacerdos  
is founded for Idalian Venus, and a priest and a grove holy

**761** ac lucus late sacer additur Anchiseo.  
over a wide reach are added to Anchises' mound.

**762** Iamque dies epulata novem gens omnis, et aris  
And now the whole people had feasted nine days, and honor

**763** factus honos: placidi straverunt aequora venti,  
had been paid at the altars: calm winds laid the water flat,

**764** creber et adspirans rursus vocat Auster in altum.  
and a steady south wind blowing again calls them out to the deep.

**765** Exoritur procurva ingens per litora fletus;  
A huge weeping rises along the curving shores;

**766** complexi inter se noctemque diemque morantur.  
in each other's arms they hold back a night and a day.

**767** Ipsae iam matres, ipsi, quibus aspera quondam  
Now the mothers themselves, and the very men to whom the sea's face

**768** visa maris facies et non tolerabile nomen,  
once looked harsh and its name not to be borne,

**769** ire volunt, omnemque fugae perferre laborem.  
want to go, and to bear the whole labor of the flight.

**770** Quos bonus Aeneas dictis solatur amicis,  
Good Aeneas comforts them with friendly words

**771** et consanguineo lacrimans commendat Acestae.  
and, weeping, commends them to Acestes his kinsman.

**772** Tris Eryci vitulos et Tempestatibus agnam  
Then he orders three calves killed for Eryx and a lamb

**773** caedere deinde iubet, solvique ex ordine funem.  
for the Storms, and the cable cast off in order.

**774** Ipse, caput tonsae foliis evinctus olivae,  
He himself, his head bound with the leaves of a trimmed olive,

**775** stans procul in prora pateram tenet, extaque salsos  
stands far out on the prow and holds the bowl, and throws the entrails

**776** proiicit in fluctus ac vina liquentia fundit.  
into the salt waves and pours out clear wine.

**777** Prosequitur surgens a puppi ventus euntes.  
A wind rising astern goes with them as they leave.

**778** Certatim socii feriunt mare et aequora verrunt.  
the crews strike the sea in rivalry and sweep the level water.

**779** At Venus interea Neptunum exercita curis  
But Venus meanwhile, worn out with cares, speaks to Neptune

**780** adloquitur, talesque effundit pectore questus:  
and pours out complaints like these from her heart:

**781** “Iunonis gravis ira nec exsaturabile pectus  
“Juno's heavy wrath and her heart, which nothing can fill,

**782** cogunt me, Neptune, preces descendere in omnes;  
force me, Neptune, to come down to every kind of prayer;

**783** quam nec longa dies, pietas nec mitigat ulla,  
neither length of days nor any duty softens her,

**784** nec Iovis imperio fatisque infracta quiescit.  
nor, broken by Jove's command and by the fates, does she rest.

**785** Non media de gente Phrygum exedisse nefandis  
It is not enough for her to have eaten the city out of the middle

**786** urbem odiis satis est, nec poenam traxe per omnem:  
of the Phrygian people with unspeakable hatred, or to have dragged what was left
> A shortened perfect infinitive: Traxe is a syncopated form of traxisse, the perfect infinitive of traho, 'to drag'. Latin poets sometimes drop letters from the middle of a verb form to shorten it. It is the same tense and mood as traxisse, only lighter in the line.

**787** reliquias Troiae, cineres atque ossa peremptae  
through the whole of a punishment: she hunts down the remains of Troy,

**788** insequitur: causas tanti sciat illa furoris.  
the ashes and the bones of a city already killed. Let her know the reasons

**789** Ipse mihi nuper Libycis tu testis in undis  
for such fury as that. You are my own witness, lately,

**790** quam molem subito excierit: maria omnia caelo  
in the Libyan water, what a mass she suddenly raised: she mixed

**791** miscuit, Aeoliis nequiquam freta procellis,  
all the seas with the sky, and the straits with Aeolus' storms, all in vain,

**792** in regnis hoc ausa tuis.  
daring this in your kingdom.
> An unfinished line: Ausa is the perfect participle of the deponent verb audeo, 'to dare', 'having dared'. Hoc is its object, 'this thing', and in regnis tuis is ablative, 'in your kingdom'. The sentence stops after tuis, short of a full line, one of Vergil's unfinished hexameters.

**793** Per scelus ecce etiam Troianis matribus actis  
And look, by working a crime through the Trojan mothers,

**794** exussit foede puppes, et classe subegit  
she has foully burned the sterns, and with the fleet lost

**795** amissa socios ignotae linquere terrae.  
has forced him to leave his people in a land they did not know.

**796** Quod superest, oro, liceat dare tuta per undas  
For what is left, I beg, let them be allowed to give their sails

**797** vela tibi, liceat Laurentem attingere Thybrim:  
safely to you across the water, to reach the Laurentine Tiber:

**798** si concessa peto, si dant ea moenia Parcae.”  
if what I ask is permitted, if the Fates grant them those walls.”

**799** Tum Saturnius haec domitor maris edidit alti:  
Then Saturn's son, the tamer of the deep sea, brought this out:

**800** “Fas omne est, Cytherea, meis te fidere regnis,  
“It is wholly right, Cytherea, that you should trust my kingdom,

**801** unde genus ducis: merui quoque; saepe furores  
out of which you draw your birth: and I have earned it. Often I have put down

**802** compressi, et rabiem tantam caelique marisque.  
the madness and so great a raging of sky and sea.

**803** Nec minor in terris, Xanthum Simoëntaque testor,  
Nor was my care for your Aeneas any less on land,

**804** Aeneae mihi cura tui. Cum Troia Achilles  
I call the Xanthus and the Simois to witness. When Achilles,

**805** exanimata sequens impingeret agmina muris,  
chasing the Trojan ranks, was driving them breathless against their walls

**806** milia multa daret leto, gemerentque repleti  
and giving thousands to death, and the rivers groaned, choked,

**807** amnes, nec reperire viam atque evolvere posset  
and the Xanthus could not find his road nor roll himself

**808** in mare se Xanthus, Pelidae tunc ego forti  
out to sea, then I caught Aeneas up in a hollow cloud

**809** congressum Aenean nec dis nec viribus aequis  
as he met the brave son of Peleus with neither gods nor strength

**810** nube cava rapui, cuperem cum vertere ab imo  
matched on his side, though I was longing to overturn from the foundation

**811** structa meis manibus periurae moenia Troiae.  
the walls of an oath-breaking Troy, built by my own hands.

**812** Nunc quoque mens eadem perstat mihi: pelle timores.  
Now too the same mind stands firm in me: drive out your fears.

**813** Tutus, quos optas, portus accedet Averni.  
He will come safe to the harbor of Avernus that you want for him.

**814** Unus erit tantum, amissum quem gurgite quaeres;  
There will be one only, whom you will look for, lost in the flood;

**815** unum pro multis dabitur caput.”  
one life will be given for many.”
> One life counted for many: Caput, 'a head', is the subject of dabitur, a future passive, 'will be given'. Pro multis is 'in place of many', pro taking the ablative. Caput here counts a person as a single unit, the way a census or a headcount would.

**816** His ubi laeta deae permulsit pectora dictis,  
When with these words he had smoothed the goddess' heart to gladness,

**817** iungit equos auro genitor, spumantiaque addit  
the father yokes his horses in gold, and puts the foaming

**818** frena feris, manibusque omnes effundit habenas.  
bits on the wild things, and lets all the reins run out in his hands.

**819** Caeruleo per summa levis volat aequora curru;  
Light, he flies over the top of the water in his dark blue car;

**820** subsidunt undae, tumidumque sub axe tonanti  
the waves settle, and under the thundering axle the swollen

**821** sternitur aequor aquis; fugiunt vasto aethere nimbi.  
sea is laid flat in its water; the clouds run from the wide sky.

**822** Tum variae comitum facies, immania cete,  
Then come the varied shapes of his following, the huge sea-beasts,

**823** et senior Glauci chorus, Inousque Palaemon,  
and the aged choir of Glaucus, and Palaemon son of Ino,

**824** Tritonesque citi, Phorcique exercitus omnis;  
and the swift Tritons, and the whole army of Phorcus;

**825** laeva tenent Thetis, et Melite, Panopeaque virgo,  
on the left are Thetis, and Melite, and the maiden Panopea,

**826** Nisaee, Spioque, Thaliaque, Cymodoceque.  
Nesaee, and Spio, and Thalia, and Cymodoce.

**827** Hic patris Aeneae suspensam blanda vicissim  
Here in his turn a coaxing gladness works through the anxious mind

**828** gaudia pertemptant mentem: iubet ocius omnes  
of father Aeneas: he orders all the masts raised

**829** attolli malos, intendi brachia velis.  
the quicker, and the yardarms stretched out with sail.

**830** Una omnes fecere pedem pariterque sinistros,  
All together they set the sheet, and all at once let the canvas

**831** nunc dextros solvere sinus; una ardua torquent  
out to the left, now to the right; together they turn

**832** cornua detorquentque; ferunt sua flamina classem.  
the high yard-ends this way and that; their own winds carry the fleet.

**833** Princeps ante omnes densum Palinurus agebat  
Palinurus led the close column, first before all of them;

**834** agmen; ad hunc alii cursum contendere iussi.  
the rest were ordered to hold their course by him.

**835** Iamque fere mediam caeli Nox humida metam  
And now wet Night had nearly touched the middle turning-post
> The midpoint of the sky: Metam is accusative, 'the turning post', the same word used earlier of the post the racing ships rounded. Mediam agrees with it, 'the middle one', and caeli is genitive, 'of the sky'. Here the phrase measures the midpoint of the night rather than a point on a racecourse.

**836** contigerat; placida laxabant membra quiete  
of the sky; the sailors were loosening their limbs in quiet rest,

**837** sub remis fusi per dura sedilia nautae:  
stretched under the oars along the hard benches:

**838** cum levis aetheriis delapsus Somnus ab astris  
when Sleep, gliding light down from the stars of heaven,

**839** aëra dimovit tenebrosum et dispulit umbras,  
parted the dark air and pushed the shadows aside,

**840** te, Palinure, petens, tibi somnia tristia portans  
making for you, Palinurus, and bringing grim dreams to you

**841** insonti; puppique deus consedit in alta,  
who had done nothing; and the god sat down on the high stern,

**842** Phorbanti similis, funditque has ore loquelas:  
in the likeness of Phorbas, and pours out this talk:

**843** “Iaside Palinure, ferunt ipsa aequora classem;  
“Palinurus, son of Iasus, the waters themselves are carrying the fleet;

**844** aequatae spirant aurae; datur hora quieti.  
the breezes blow steady; an hour is given for rest.

**845** Pone caput, fessosque oculos furare labori:  
Lay your head down and steal your tired eyes away from the work:

**846** ipse ego paulisper pro te tua munera inibo.”  
I myself will take up your duties for you a little while.”

**847** Cui vix attollens Palinurus lumina fatur:  
Palinurus, barely lifting his eyes to him, says:

**848** “Mene salis placidi voltum fluctusque quietos  
“Are you telling me not to know the face of a quiet sea

**849** ignorare iubes? Mene huic confidere monstro?  
and its still water? Me, to trust that monster?

**850** Aenean credam quid enim fallacibus auris  
Am I to hand Aeneas over to treacherous winds

**851** et caelo, totiens deceptus fraude sereni?”  
and to a sky whose clear weather has cheated me so often?”

**852** Talia dicta dabat, clavumque affixus et haerens  
Such words he was giving out, and fastened to the tiller, clinging,

**853** nusquam amittebat, oculosque sub astra tenebat.  
he never let it go, and kept his eyes under the stars.

**854** Ecce deus ramum Lethaeo rore madentem,  
Then the god shakes over both his temples a bough

**855** vique soporatum Stygia, super utraque quassat  
dripping with Lethe's dew and drugged with Stygian power,

**856** tempora, cunctantique natantia lumina solvit.  
and looses his swimming eyes as he holds out against it.

**857** Vix primos inopina quies laxaverat artus,  
The unlooked-for rest had hardly slackened his first limbs

**858** et super incumbens cum puppis parte revolsa,  
when the god, leaning over him, tore a part of the stern away

**859** cumque gubernaclo, liquidas proiecit in undas  
and the steering oar with it, and threw him headlong

**860** praecipitem ac socios nequiquam saepe vocantem;  
into the clear water, calling his companions again and again for nothing;

**861** ipse volans tenues se sustulit ales ad auras.  
and the god himself rose on wings and lifted into the thin air.

**862** Currit iter tutum non secius aequore classis,  
The fleet runs its road over the sea no less safely for that,

**863** promissisque patris Neptuni interrita fertur.  
and is carried on unafraid by father Neptune's promises.

**864** Iamque adeo scopulos Sirenum advecta subibat,  
And now, borne on, it was coming in under the Sirens' rocks,

**865** difficiles quondam multorumque ossibus albos,  
hard once, and white with the bones of many men;

**866** tum rauca adsiduo longe sale saxa sonabant:  
the rocks were sounding hoarse then, far off, with the endless salt:

**867** cum pater amisso fluitantem errare magistro  
when the father felt the ship drifting and wandering with her helmsman

**868** sensit, et ipse ratem nocturnis rexit in undis,  
lost, and steered her himself on the night water,

**869** multa gemens, casuque animum concussus amici  
groaning much, shaken in his heart by his friend's fall:

**870** “O nimium caelo et pelago confise sereno,  
“O you who trusted too much in a clear sky and a clear sea,

**871** nudus in ignota, Palinure, iacebis harena!”  
you will lie naked, Palinurus, on a sand that does not know you!”

---

Source text: public domain (Vergil, Aeneid, ed. J. B. Greenough, Boston: Ginn and Company, 1900), as encoded in the Perseus Digital Library canonical-latinLit TEI, CC BY-SA 4.0. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC, line for line. Narration: read by Malone (LibriVox, 2012), public domain.