# The Aeneid, Book 7: The Greater Work: Latium, and the Breaking of the Peace

Aeneis · Publius Vergilius Maro · The War in Latium

The Trojans reach the Tiber. King Latinus offers his daughter. Juno stirs the Fury Allecto, and Turnus raises Italy against them.

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/7. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/aeneid/7.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/aeneid/<line id>.m4a.

**1** Tu quoque litoribus nostris, Aeneia nutrix,  
You too, nurse of Aeneas, gave to our shores

**2** aeternam moriens famam, Caieta, dedisti;  
an everlasting fame in your dying, Caieta;

**3** et nunc servat honos sedem tuus ossaque nomen  
and now your honor keeps its seat, and your name marks your bones

**4** Hesperia in magna, siqua est ea gloria, signat.  
in great Hesperia, if there is any glory in that.

**5** At pius exsequiis Aeneas rite solutis,  
But dutiful Aeneas, the funeral rites duly paid,
> Duty as a name: pius means 'dutiful', duty owed at once to gods, father, son, and people; it is Vergil's fixed name for Aeneas. Here it opens the line as he finishes the rites for the woman who raised him.

**6** aggere composito tumuli, postquam alta quierunt  
the mound of the barrow heaped, once the deep waters

**7** aequora, tendit iter velis portumque relinquit.  
had quieted, holds his course under sail and leaves the harbor.

**8** Adspirant aurae in noctem nec candida cursus  
Breezes breathe on into the night, and the white Moon

**9** Luna negat, splendet tremulo sub lumine pontus.  
does not refuse the crossing; the sea shines under her trembling light.

**10** Proxima Circaeae raduntur litora terrae,  
They graze the nearest shores of the land of Circe,

**11** dives inaccessos ubi Solis filia lucos  
where the rich daughter of the Sun makes her unapproachable groves

**12** adsiduo resonat cantu tectisque superbis  
ring with unbroken singing, and in her proud halls

**13** urit odoratam nocturna in lumina cedrum,  
burns fragrant cedar for light through the night,

**14** arguto tenuis percurrens pectine telas.  
running the shrill comb across her fine web.

**15** Hinc exaudiri gemitus iraeque leonum  
From there could be heard groaning, and the rage of lions

**16** vincla recusantum et sera sub nocte rudentum,  
refusing their chains and roaring late under the night,
> Bare infinitives for action: exaudiri, saevire, and ululare are historic infinitives, verb forms substituted for a finite past tense in vivid narrative. They take a nominative subject and carry no tense of their own. English supplies a past tense in translation, since it has no matching form.

**17** saetigerique sues atque in praesaepibus ursi  
and bristle-backed swine, and bears in their pens

**18** saevire ac formae magnorum ululare luporum,  
raging, and the shapes of great wolves howling,

**19** quos hominum ex facie dea saeva potentibus herbis  
men whom the savage goddess, with herbs of power,

**20** induerat Circe in voltus ac terga ferarum.  
Circe, had clothed out of human shape in the faces and hides of beasts.

**21** Quae ne monstra pii paterentur talia Troes  
So that the dutiful Trojans should suffer no such monstrous thing,
> The epithet turns plural: pii is the nominative plural of pius, 'dutiful', agreeing with Troes, 'the Trojans'. Until now the word has described Aeneas alone; here it names the whole people at once.

**22** delati in portus neu litora dira subirent,  
carried into that harbor, nor go in under those dreadful shores,

**23** Neptunus ventis implevit vela secundis  
Neptune filled their sails with following winds

**24** atque fugam dedit et praeter vada fervida vexit.  
and granted escape, and bore them past the boiling shallows.

**25** Iamque rubescebat radiis mare et aethere ab alto  
And now the sea was reddening under the rays, and out of high heaven

**26** Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis:  
saffron Dawn was blazing in her rose-colored team:

**27** cum venti posuere omnisque repente resedit  
when the winds dropped, and every breath of air fell suddenly

**28** flatus et in lento luctantur marmore tonsae.  
still, and the oars labor in the sluggish marble.
> The sea called marble: marmor means 'marble', and marmore is its ablative case, naming the sea's surface itself. It goes with in, and luctantur, 'they struggle', shows the oars fighting a surface gone flat and hard.

**29** Atque hic Aeneas ingentem ex aequore lucum  
And here Aeneas makes out, from the water, an enormous grove.

**30** prospicit. Hunc inter fluvio Tiberinus amoeno  
Through the middle of it the Tiber, with his welcome stream,

**31** verticibus rapidis et multa flavus arena  
in racing eddies and yellow with heaped sand,

**32** in mare prorumpit. Variae circumque supraque  
breaks out into the sea. Birds of many kinds, around it and above,

**33** adsuetae ripis volucres et fluminis alveo  
at home on its banks and in the river's bed,

**34** aethera mulcebant cantu lucoque volabant.  
were gentling the air with song and flying about the grove.

**35** flectere iter sociis terraeque advertere proras  
He orders his men to bend their course and turn the prows landward,

**36** imperat et laetus fluvio succedit opaco.  
and glad, comes up into the shadowed river.

**37** Nunc age, qui reges, Erato, quae tempora rerum,  
Now come, Erato: what kings, what turn of the times,

**38** quis Latio antiquo fuerit status, advena classem  
what the state of ancient Latium was, when first the stranger

**39** cum primum Ausoniis exercitus appulit oris,  
army brought its fleet in to the Ausonian shores,

**40** expediam et primae revocabo exordia pugnae.  
I will set out, and call back the first beginnings of the fighting.

**41** tu vatem, tu, diva, mone. Dicam horrida bella,  
You, goddess, you instruct your poet. I will tell of bristling wars,
> A poet who prophesies: vatem is the accusative singular of vates, a word meaning both 'prophet' and 'poet'. It is the object of mone, 'instruct', so the speaker asks the goddess to guide him the way a god guides a seer.

**42** dicam acies actosque animis in funera reges  
I will tell of battle lines, and kings driven by their own hearts to their deaths,

**43** Tyrrhenamque manum totamque sub arma coactam  
and the Tyrrhenian force, and all Hesperia herded

**44** Hesperiam. Maior rerum mihi nascitur ordo,  
under arms. A greater order of things is born for me,

**45** maius opus moveo. Rex arva Latinus et urbes  
a greater work I set in motion. King Latinus held the fields and the cities,

**46** iam senior longa placidas in pace regebat.  
an old man now, ruling them quiet in a long peace.

**47** Hunc Fauno et nympha genitum Laurente Marica  
He was fathered, we are told, by Faunus on the Laurentine nymph

**48** accipimus, Fauno Picus pater isque parentem  
Marica; Picus was Faunus' father, and Picus refers his own line

**49** te, Saturne, refert, tu sanguinis ultimus auctor.  
back to you, Saturn: you are the last founder of the blood.

**50** filius huic fato divom prolesque virilis  
No son was his, by the gods' own fates, no male issue

**51** nulla fuit primaque oriens erepta iuventa est.  
at all: one had risen, and was torn away in his first youth.

**52** Sola domum et tantas servabat filia sedes,  
A daughter alone kept the house and that great seat,

**53** iam matura viro, iam plenis nubilis annis.  
ripe now for a husband, of full years now and fit to marry.

**54** Multi illam magno e Latio totaque petebant  
Many were courting her out of all great Latium and the whole

**55** Ausonia. Petit ante alios pulcherrimus omnis  
of Ausonia. Before all the others, and handsomest of them all,

**56** Turnus, avis atavisque potens, quem regia coniunx  
Turnus courted her, strong in grandfathers and forefathers; and the royal wife

**57** adiungi generum miro properabat amore;  
was pressing with a strange love to have him joined to her as a son;

**58** sed variis portenta deum terroribus obstant.  
but portents of the gods stand in the way, with terrors of every kind.

**59** Laurus erat tecti medio in penetralibus altis,  
There was a laurel in the middle of the house, in the high inner rooms,

**60** sacra comam multosque metu servata per annos,  
sacred in its leaves and guarded in fear through many years,

**61** quam pater inventam, primas cum conderet arces,  
which father Latinus, finding it when he laid out his first

**62** ipse ferebatur Phoebo sacrasse Latinus  
citadels, was himself said to have made holy to Phoebus,
> A perfect infinitive shortened: sacrasse is a syncopated perfect infinitive, shortened from sacravisse, 'to have made sacred'. It completes ferebatur, 'he was said', reporting that Latinus himself had consecrated the place to Phoebus.

**63** Laurentisque ab ea nomen posuisse colonis.  
and from it to have given his settlers the name Laurentine.

**64** Huius apes summum densae (mirabile dictu),  
Onto its top, bees in a dense swarm (a marvel to tell),
> The supine ending in -u: dictu is a supine, a verbal noun frozen in the ablative case, used after adjectives such as mirabile, 'marvelous'. Together mirabile dictu means 'marvelous to tell', a fixed phrase, and Vergil sets it off here in parentheses.

**65** stridore ingenti liquidum trans aethera vectae,  
borne across the clear upper air with an immense droning,

**66** obsedere apicem, ex pedibus per mutua nexis  
settled; and with their feet linked one into another

**67** examen subitum ramo frondente pependit.  
the sudden swarm hung down from a leafy bough.

**68** Continuo vates: “Externum cernimus,” inquit,  
At once the seer: “We see a foreign man,” he said,

**69** “adventare virum et partis petere agmen easdem  
“coming here, and an army making for the same quarter

**70** partibus ex isdem et summa dominarier arce.”  
out of the same quarter, and mastering the top of the citadel.”
> An archaic infinitive ending: dominarier is an old form of the infinitive dominari, 'to rule', ending in -ier rather than -i. It stands with the other infinitives of the prophecy, naming what is foretold: rule from the same quarter and mastery over the citadel's height.

**71** Praeterea, castis adolet dum altaria taedis  
Besides this: while she was feeding the altars with holy torches

**72** et iuxta genitorem adstat Lavinia virgo,  
and the maiden Lavinia stood beside her father,

**73** visa (nefas) longis comprendere crinibus ignem,  
she was seen (the horror of it) to catch fire in her long hair,

**74** atque omnem ornatum flamma crepitante cremari  
and all her ornament to burn in the crackling flame,

**75** regalisque accensa comas, accensa coronam  
her royal hair alight, alight the crown

**76** insignem gemmis, tum fumida lumine fulvo  
marked out with jewels; then, wrapped in smoke and tawny light,

**77** involvi ac totis Volcanum spargere tectis.  
she scattered Vulcan through the whole house.
> A god's name for fire: Volcanum is the accusative of Volcanus, the god's name, used here to mean 'fire', the element he governs; Latin does this with Ceres for bread and Bacchus for wine. It is the object of spargere, 'to scatter', so fire spreads through the whole house.

**78** Id vero horrendum ac visu mirabile ferri:  
That indeed was reported as dreadful and a wonder to look at:

**79** namque fore inlustrem fama fatisque canebant  
for they sang that she would herself be shining in fame and in the fates,
> A short future infinitive: fore is a short future infinitive, equivalent to futurum esse, 'to be going to be'. With inlustrem, 'shining', it forms indirect speech after canebant, 'they sang': that she would be illustrious in fame and in the fates.

**80** ipsam, sed populo magnum portendere bellum.  
but that she foreshowed a great war for her people.

**81** At rex sollicitus monstris oracula Fauni,  
But the king, troubled by the signs, goes to the oracles of Faunus,

**82** fatidici genitoris, adit lucosque sub alta  
his prophesying father, and consults the groves beneath tall

**83** consulit Albunea, nemorum quae maxima sacro  
Albunea, greatest of woods, which resounds with a holy

**84** fonte sonat saevamque exhalat opaca mephitim.  
spring, and in its darkness breathes out a savage reek.
> A word for a stench: mephitim is the accusative singular of mephitis, the sulphurous vapor that rises from volcanic springs; the English word 'mephitic' comes from it. It is the object of exhalat, 'breathes out', naming the reek the dark spring gives off.

**85** Hinc Italae gentes omnisque Oenotria tellus  
From here the peoples of Italy and all the Oenotrian land

**86** in dubiis responsa petunt; huc dona sacerdos  
seek answers in their doubt; here, when the priestess has brought

**87** cum tulit et caesarum ovium sub nocte silenti  
the gifts, and under the silent night has lain down

**88** pellibus incubuit stratis somnosque petivit,  
on the spread skins of slaughtered sheep and gone after sleep,

**89** multa modis simulacra videt volitantia miris  
she sees many shapes flitting in strange fashions

**90** et varias audit voces fruiturque deorum  
and hears voices of all kinds, and is given the company

**91** conloquio atque imis Acheronta adfatur Avernis.  
of the gods, and speaks with Acheron in the depths of Avernus.

**92** Hic et tum pater ipse petens responsa Latinus  
Here father Latinus himself, then too, seeking answers,

**93** centum lanigeras mactabat rite bidentis  
was killing in due form a hundred woolly two-year sheep,

**94** atque harum effultus tergo stratisque iacebat  
and lay propped on their backs, on the spread

**95** velleribus: subita ex alto vox reddita luco est:  
fleeces: out of the deep wood a sudden voice came back to him:

**96** “Ne pete conubiis natam sociare Latinis,  
“Do not look to join your daughter in a Latin marriage,

**97** O mea progenies, thalamis neu crede paratis:  
O my child, and do not trust the bridal chamber made ready:

**98** externi venient generi, qui sanguine nostrum  
sons-in-law will come from outside, whose blood will carry
> A relative clause of characteristic: ferant is subjunctive inside the clause qui ... ferant, 'who would carry', not the indicative ferunt, 'who carry'. The mood marks a clause of characteristic: it defines the kind of son-in-law meant, not a particular man.

**99** nomen in astra ferant quorumque a stirpe nepotes  
our name up to the stars, and from whose stock the descendants

**100** omnia sub pedibus, qua Sol utrumque recurrens  
will see all things under their feet, as far as the Sun, wheeling,

**101** aspicit Oceanum, vertique regique videbunt.”  
looks on either Ocean, turned and governed.”

**102** Haec responsa patris Fauni monitusque silenti  
These answers of his father Faunus, and the warnings given

**103** nocte datos non ipse suo premit ore Latinus,  
in the silent night, Latinus does not shut inside his own mouth;

**104** sed circum late volitans iam Fama per urbes  
but Rumor, flying wide about already, had carried them through

**105** Ausonias tulerat, cum Laomedontia pubes  
the cities of Ausonia, when the young men of Laomedon's line
> Named for an oath-breaker: Laomedontia is an adjective, 'of Laomedon', agreeing with pubes, 'the young men'. Laomedon was the Trojan king who cheated Apollo and Neptune of their wages for building his walls, so the phrase names the Trojans as descendants of an oath-breaker.

**106** gramineo ripae religavit ab aggere classem.  
made their fleet fast to the grassy rise of the bank.

**107** Aeneas primique duces et pulcher Iulus  
Aeneas and his chief captains and handsome Iulus

**108** corpora sub ramis deponunt arboris altae  
lay their bodies down under the branches of a tall tree

**109** instituuntque dapes et adorea liba per herbam  
and set out a meal, and along the grass they slide flat cakes

**110** subiciunt epulis (sic Iuppiter ipse monebat)  
of wheat under the food (so Jupiter himself was prompting)

**111** et Cereale solum pomis agrestibus augent.  
and pile the floor of Ceres high with wild fruit.
> Bread used as a plate: Cereale solum literally means 'the floor of Ceres', a flat round of bread used as a plate. It is the object of augent, 'they pile high', with wild fruit heaped on top of it.

**112** Consumptis hic forte aliis ut vertere morsus  
Here, as it happened, when the rest was gone, want of eating

**113** exiguam in Cererem penuria adegit edendi  
drove them to turn their teeth on the thin bread of Ceres,

**114** et violare manu malisque audacibus orbem  
and to violate with hand and bold jaws the circle

**115** fatalis crusti patulis nec parcere quadris:  
of the fated crust, and to spare not one of its broad quarters:

**116** “Heus! etiam mensas consumimus,” inquit Iulus,  
“Look, we are eating our tables too!” said Iulus,

**117** nec plura adludens. Ea vox audita laborum  
playing, and said no more. That word, once heard, brought

**118** prima tulit finem, primamque loquentis ab ore  
the first end of their labors; and his father snatched it first

**119** eripuit pater ac stupefactus numine pressit.  
from the speaker's mouth, and, stunned at the god in it, held it fast.

**120** Continuo: “Salve fatis mihi debita tellus  
At once: “Hail, land owed to me by the fates,

**121** vosque,” ait, “O fidi Troiae salvete penates:  
and hail to you,” he says, “faithful household gods of Troy:

**122** hic domus, haec patria est. Genitor mihi talia namque  
here is home, here is our country. For my father Anchises

**123** (nunc repeto) Anchises fatorum arcana reliquit:  
left me these secrets of the fates (I go back over them now):

**124** cum te, nate, fames ignota ad litora vectum  
when hunger, my son, on shores you do not know,

**125** accisis coget dapibus consumere mensas,  
shall force you, the food cut short, to eat your tables,

**126** tum sperare domos defessus ibique memento  
then remember, weary as you are, to hope for a house, and there

**127** prima locare manu molirique aggere tecta.  
to set the first buildings by hand and rampart them round.

**128** Haec erat illa fames; haec nos suprema manebat,  
This was that hunger. This was the last thing waiting for us,

**129** exiliis positura modum.  
to set a bound to our exile.
> An unfinished hexameter: The verse stops here, halfway through the hexameter. Vergil died before revising the poem, and about fifty lines like this remain unfinished; ancient editors called them tibicines, 'props', holding up a structure not yet complete. We leave the line as short as he left it.

**130** Quare agite et primo laeti cum lumine solis  
So come, and gladly at the sun's first light

**131** quae loca, quive habeant homines, ubi moenia gentis,  
what places these are, or what men hold them, where the walls of the people,
> Indirect question marked by mood: habeant is subjunctive because the clause is an indirect question, reported inside another sentence rather than asked outright; a direct question would use habent. Aeneas is proposing to find out who lives here, not asking it to their face, and the mood marks that difference.

**132** vestigemus et a portu diversa petamus.  
let us track it out, and go from the harbor by separate ways.

**133** Nunc pateras libate Iovi precibusque vocate  
Now pour the bowls to Jove, and call in your prayers

**134** Anchisen genitorem, et vina reponite mensis.”  
on my father Anchises, and set the wine back on the tables.”

**135** Sic deinde effatus frondenti tempora ramo  
So having spoken, he winds a leafy bough about

**136** implicat et geniumque loci primamque deorum  
his temples, and prays to the spirit of the place, and to Earth,

**137** Tellurem nymphasque et adhuc ignota precatur  
first of the gods, and to the nymphs, and to the rivers

**138** flumina, tum Noctem Noctisque orientia signa  
still unknown to him; then to Night, and Night's rising signs,

**139** Idaeumque Iovem Phrygiamque ex ordine matrem  
and to Idaean Jove, and to the Phrygian mother in her order,

**140** invocat et duplicis caeloque ereboque parentis.  
he calls, and on his two parents, in heaven and in Erebus.
> Two parents, two worlds: duplicis parentis means 'his two parents', and the ablatives caelo and erebo, 'in heaven' and 'in Erebus', mark where each one is. Venus is above among the gods and Anchises is below among the dead, so one phrase spans both.

**141** Hic pater omnipotens ter caelo clarus ab alto  
Then the all-powerful father thundered three times, clear, out of high

**142** intonuit radiisque ardentem lucis et auro  
heaven, and shaking it himself in his hand he showed out of the sky

**143** ipse manu quatiens ostendit ab aethere nubem.  
a cloud burning with rays of light and with gold.

**144** Diditur hic subito Troiana per agmina rumor  
Suddenly the word runs through the Trojan ranks

**145** advenisse diem, quo debita moenia condant.  
that the day has come on which to found the walls they are owed.

**146** Certatim instaurant epulas atque omine magno  
They vie in setting the feast up again, and at that great omen

**147** crateras laeti statuunt et vina coronant.  
gladly stand out the mixing bowls and wreathe the wine.

**148** Postera cum prima lustrabat lampade terras  
When the next day, risen, was going over the lands with its first

**149** orta dies, urbem et finis et litora gentis  
lamp, they scatter and search out the city, the borders, the shores

**150** diversi explorant: haec fontis stagna Numici,  
of the people: these are the standing pools of Numicus' spring,

**151** hunc Thybrim fluvium, hic fortis habitare Latinos.  
this the river Tiber, here live the brave Latins.

**152** Tum satus Anchisa delectos ordine ab omni  
Then the son of Anchises orders a hundred spokesmen, picked

**153** centum oratores augusta ad moenia regis  
from every rank, to go to the king's high walls,

**154** ire iubet, ramis velatos Palladis omnis,  
all of them veiled in the branches of Pallas,

**155** donaque ferre viro pacemque exposcere Teucris.  
and to bring the man gifts and ask peace for the Teucrians.

**156** Haud mora, festinant iussi rapidisque feruntur  
No delay: ordered, they hurry, and are carried along at a quick

**157** passibus. Ipse humili designat moenia fossa  
step. He himself marks out walls with a shallow ditch

**158** moliturque locum primasque in litore sedes  
and works the ground, and his first quarters on the shore

**159** castrorum in morem pinnis atque aggere cingit.  
he rings with palisade and earthwork, after the manner of a camp.

**160** Iamque iter emensi turris ac tecta Latinorum  
And now, the road behind them, the young men were making out
> A deponent participle, active: emensi is the perfect participle of the deponent verb emetior, 'to measure out'; deponent verbs keep a passive ending but an active meaning. So iter emensi means 'having measured out the road', describing the men who have now made that journey.

**161** ardua cernebant iuvenes muroque subibant.  
the towers and steep roofs of the Latins, and came up under the wall.

**162** Ante urbem pueri et primaevo flore iuventus  
Before the city, boys and young men in their first flower

**163** exercentur equis domitantque in pulvere currus  
are training with horses and breaking chariots in the dust,

**164** aut acris tendunt arcus aut lenta lacertis  
or drawing keen bows, or from the shoulder hurling

**165** spicula contorquent cursuque ictuque lacessunt:  
tough javelins, and challenging each other at the run and the blow:

**166** cum praevectus equo longaevi regis ad auris  
when a rider, sent on ahead, brings to the ears of the aged

**167** nuntius ingentis ignota in veste reportat  
king the news that huge men in unknown dress

**168** advenisse viros. Ille intra tecta vocari  
have come. He orders them called inside the house,

**169** imperat et solio medius consedit avito.  
and took his seat in the middle, on his ancestral throne.

**170** Tectum augustum ingens. centum sublime columnis,  
A hall, august and enormous, lifted on a hundred columns,

**171** urbe fuit summa, Laurentis regia Pici,  
stood at the top of the city: the royal house of Laurentine Picus,

**172** horrendum silvis et religione parentum.  
dreadful with woods and with the awe their fathers kept for it.

**173** Hic sceptra accipere et primos attollere fasces  
Here to take up the scepter and first raise the rods

**174** regibus omen erat, hoc illis curia templum,  
was the omen for kings; this hall was their council-house,

**175** hae sacris sedes epulis, hic ariete caeso  
this the seat of their holy feasts; here, a ram slaughtered,

**176** perpetuis soliti patres considere mensis.  
the fathers used to sit down at the unbroken tables.

**177** Quin etiam veterum effigies ex ordine avorum  
More: the likenesses of the old forefathers, rank on rank,

**178** antiqua e cedro, Italusque paterque Sabinus  
out of ancient cedar, Italus, and father Sabinus

**179** vitisator, curvam servans sub imagine falcem,  
the vine-planter, keeping the curved hook beneath his image,

**180** Saturnusque senex Ianique bifrontis imago  
and Saturn in his age, and the shape of two-faced Janus,

**181** vestibulo astabant, aliique ab origine reges  
stood in the entrance hall, and other kings from the beginning,

**182** Martiaque ob patriam pugnando volnera passi.  
and those who bore the wounds of Mars fighting for the country.

**183** Multaque praeterea sacris in postibus arma,  
And much besides upon the sacred doorposts: weapons,

**184** captivi pendent currus curvaeque secures  
captured chariots hanging there, and curved axes,

**185** et cristae capitum et portarum ingentia claustra  
and crests off helmets, and the huge bars of gates,

**186** spiculaque clipeique ereptaque rostra carinis.  
and spearheads and shields and beaks torn out of ships' keels.

**187** Ipse Quirinali lituo parvaque sedebat  
He himself was seated with the augur's staff of Quirinus, girt

**188** succinctus trabea laevaque ancile gerebat  
in a short striped robe, and carried the holy shield on his left,

**189** Picus, equum domitor; quem capta cupidine coniunx  
Picus, tamer of horses; whom his wife, taken by longing,

**190** aurea percussum virga versumque venenis  
struck with a golden wand and turned about with drugs,

**191** fecit avem Circe sparsitque coloribus alas.  
Circe, and made a bird, and sprinkled his wings with colors.

**192** Tali intus templo divom patriaque Latinus  
In such a hall of the gods, on his ancestral seat,

**193** sede sedens Teucros ad sese in tecta vocavit,  
Latinus sat, and called the Teucrians in to him under the roof,

**194** atque haec ingressis placido prior edidit ore:  
and as they entered he spoke first, with a quiet mouth:

**195** “Dicite, Dardanidae (neque enim nescimus et urbem  
“Tell me, sons of Dardanus (for we are not ignorant of your city
> The name that claims descent: Dardanidae means 'sons of Dardanus', one of four names Vergil uses for the Trojans, alongside Troes, Teucri, and Aeneadae. Latinus reaches for the most genealogical one here, since his speech is about to claim that Dardanus himself once came from Italy.

**196** et genus, auditique advertitis aequore cursum),  
or your race, and we heard of you as you turned your course over the sea),

**197** quid petitis? Quae causa rates aut cuius egentis  
what do you seek? What cause, or what lack, has carried

**198** litus ad Ausonium tot per vada caerula vexit?  
your ships to the Ausonian shore through so many blue shallows?

**199** Sive errore viae seu tempestatibus acti,  
Whether you were driven off your road, or by storms,

**200** qualia multa mari nautae patiuntur in alto,  
(sailors suffer many such things on the deep sea)

**201** fluminis intrastis ripas portuque sedetis,  
you have come inside a river's banks and sit in harbor:

**202** ne fugite hospitium neve ignorate Latinos  
do not run from our welcome, and do not mistake the Latins.
> An archaic way to forbid: ne with a plain imperative, fugite, 'do not flee', is an old and formal way to forbid; ordinary prose instead uses noli or ne with the subjunctive. Latinus gives his welcome in this antique phrasing, the weight of a solemn command rather than everyday speech.

**203** Saturni gentem, haud vinclo nec legibus aequam,  
We are Saturn's people, just by no chain and no law,

**204** sponte sua veterisque dei se more tenentem.  
holding to it of our own will, in the way of the ancient god.

**205** Atque equidem memini (fama est obscurior annis)  
And I remember it myself (the report is dimmer with the years)

**206** Auruncos ita ferre senes, his ortus ut agris  
old Auruncans telling it so: that Dardanus, born in these fields,

**207** Dardanus Idaeas Phrygiae penetravit ad urbes  
made his way through to the Idaean cities of Phrygia

**208** Threiciamque Samum, quae nunc Samothracia fertur.  
and to Thracian Samos, which they now call Samothrace.

**209** Hinc illum, Corythi Tyrrhena ab sede profectum,  
Him, who set out from here, from the Tyrrhenian seat of Corythus,

**210** aurea nunc solio stellantis regia caeli  
the golden palace of the starry sky now takes on its throne,

**211** accipit et numerum divorum altaribus auget.”  
and swells the number of the gods by one more altar.”

**212** Dixerat, et dicta Ilioneus sic voce secutus:  
He had spoken; and Ilioneus followed his words with these:

**213** “Rex, genus egregium Fauni, nec fluctibus actos,  
“King, high-born son of Faunus, no black storm

**214** atra subegit hiemps vestris succedere terris  
drove us on the waves to come up to your lands,

**215** nec sidus regione viae litusve fefellit:  
nor did star or coastline mislead us about our road:

**216** consilio hanc omnes animisque volentibus urbem,  
by design, and with willing hearts, we are all of us brought

**217** adferimur, pulsi regnis, quae maxima quondam  
to this city, driven from a kingdom which once was the greatest

**218** extremo veniens Sol aspiciebat Olympo.  
the Sun looked on as he came from the edge of Olympus.

**219** Ab Iove principium generis, Iove Dardana pubes  
Our race begins from Jove; in Jove the young of Dardanus

**220** gaudet avo, rex ipse Iovis de gente suprema,  
rejoice as their forefather; our king himself is of Jove's highest line,

**221** Troius Aeneas, tua nos ad limina misit.  
Trojan Aeneas, and he has sent us to your threshold.

**222** Quanta per Idaeos saevis effusa Mycenis  
How great a storm, poured out of savage Mycenae,

**223** tempestas ierit campos, quibus actus uterque  
went over the plains of Ida; by what fates each world,

**224** Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrerit orbis,  
Europe's and Asia's, was driven and ran together,

**225** audiit et siquem tellus extrema refuso  
he has heard it, whoever is fenced off by the last land

**226** summovet oceano et siquem extenta plagarum  
where Ocean flows back, and whoever the stretched belt

**227** quattuor in medio dirimit plaga solis iniqui.  
of the cruel sun cuts off in the middle of the four zones.

**228** Diluvio ex illo tot vasta per aequora vecti  
Out of that flood, carried over so many waste waters,

**229** dis sedem exiguam patriis litusque rogamus  
we ask a small seat for our fathers' gods, and a harmless

**230** innocuum et cunctis undamque auramque patentem.  
shore, and the water and the air that stand open to all.

**231** Non erimus regno indecores, nec vestra feretur  
We will be no shame to the kingdom, nor will your name for this

**232** fama levis tantique abolescet gratia facti,  
be counted light, nor the thanks for so great a deed wear away,

**233** nec Troiam Ausonios gremio excepisse pigebit.  
nor will Ausonians regret taking Troy into their lap.

**234** Fata per Aeneae iuro dextramque potentem  
I swear by the fates of Aeneas and by his strong right hand,

**235** sive fide seu quis bello est expertus et armis:  
whether a man has tried it in good faith or in war and arms:

**236** multi nos populi, multae (ne temne, quod ultro  
many peoples, many nations (do not scorn us because unbidden

**237** praeferimus manibus vittas ac verba precantia)  
we hold out fillets in our hands, and words of prayer)

**238** et petiere sibi et voluere adiungere gentes;  
both sought us for themselves and wished to take us in;

**239** sed nos fata deum vestras exquirere terras  
but the fates of the gods drove us with their own commands

**240** imperiis egere suis. Hinc Dardanus ortus;  
to seek out your lands. From here Dardanus rose;

**241** huc repetit iussisque ingentibus urguet Apollo  
here he comes back, and Apollo drives us with enormous orders

**242** Tyrrhenum ad Thybrim et fontis vada sacra Numici.  
to Tyrrhenian Tiber and the holy shallows of Numicus' spring.

**243** Dat tibi praeterea fortunae parva prioris  
He gives you besides these small gifts out of his earlier

**244** munera, reliquias Troia ex ardente receptas.  
fortune, remnants taken up out of Troy as she burned.

**245** Hoc pater Anchises auro libabat ad aras;  
With this gold father Anchises used to pour at the altars;

**246** hoc Priami gestamen erat, cum iura vocatis  
this was what Priam wore when he gave law to his people

**247** more daret populis, sceptrumque sacerque tiaras  
called together in the old way: the scepter, the holy crown,

**248** Iliadumque labor vestes.”  
and the robes, the labor of the women of Troy.”
> The speech breaks off: The speech breaks off here, in the middle of the hexameter, on the last gift named. It is one of the roughly fifty half-lines Vergil left unrevised at his death, and we leave the English fragment as short as the Latin.

**249** Talibus Ilionei dictis defixa Latinus  
At words like these from Ilioneus, Latinus holds his face

**250** obtutu tenet ora soloque immobilis haeret  
fixed in a stare, and clings to the floor without moving,

**251** intentos volvens oculos. Nec purpura regem  
rolling his eyes hard in thought. It is not the embroidered

**252** picta movet nec sceptra movent Priameia tantum,  
purple that moves the king, nor Priam's scepter, so much

**253** quantum in conubio natae thalamoque moratur,  
as that he lingers over his daughter's marriage and her chamber,
> A pair of correlatives: tantum and quantum are correlatives, paired across the sentence to weigh one thing against another: 'not so much ... as'. Here they set the king's interest in his rich gifts against his lingering over his daughter's marriage, and the second wins.

**254** et veteris Fauni voluit sub pectore sortem,  
and turns over in his breast the old lot of Faunus:

**255** hunc illum fatis externa ab sede profectum  
that this is the man, come by the fates from a seat outside,

**256** portendi generum paribusque in regna vocari  
foretold as the son-in-law, called into the kingdom on equal

**257** auspiciis, huic progeniem virtute futuram  
auspices; that from him would come a line outstanding in courage,

**258** egregiam et totum quae viribus occupet orbem.  
which by its strength would take possession of the whole world.

**259** tandem laetus ait: “Di nostra incepta secundent  
At last he says, glad: “May the gods prosper what we begin,

**260** auguriumque suum; dabitur, Troiane, quod optas,  
and their own augury. Trojan, what you want will be given,

**261** munera nec sperno. Non vobis rege Latino  
and I do not scorn your gifts. With Latinus for king you shall not want

**262** divitis uber agri Troiaeve opulentia deerit.  
for the fatness of rich land, or the plenty of Troy.

**263** Ipse modo Aeneas, nostri si tanta cupido est,  
Only let Aeneas himself, if his longing for us is so great,

**264** si iungi hospitio properat sociusque vocari,  
if he is in haste to be our guest and called our ally,

**265** adveniat voltus neve exhorrescat amicos:  
come here, and not shrink from faces that are friendly:

**266** illi pacis erit dextram tetigisse tyranni.  
part of the peace, for him, will be to have touched the ruler's hand.
> Not a cruel word: tyranni is the genitive of tyrannus, which in Vergil means simply 'ruler', without the modern sense of a cruel one. It goes with dextram, 'the hand', so the phrase is 'the ruler's hand', spoken here by Latinus of himself.

**267** vos contra regi mea nunc mandata referte.  
You in turn carry my charge back now to your king.

**268** Est mihi nata, viro gentis quam iungere nostrae  
I have a daughter, whom to join with a man of our own

**269** non patrio ex adyto sortes, non plurima caelo  
nation the lots from my father's shrine do not permit, nor the many
> Word order pulled apart: This is hyperbaton: words that belong together are separated, and the two subjects, sortes, 'the lots', and monstra, 'the omens', both stand before the verb that governs them. The repeated non holds the sentence open until that verb finally arrives.

**270** monstra sinunt: generos externis adfore ab oris,  
portents out of the sky: sons-in-law will come from foreign shores,

**271** hoc Latio restare canunt, qui sanguine nostrum  
they sing, and this is what waits for Latium, men whose blood

**272** nomen in astra ferant. Hunc illum poscere fata  
will carry our name to the stars. That this is the man the fates call for

**273** et reor et, siquid veri mens augurat, opto.”  
I both believe, and, if my mind divines any truth, I want.”

**274** haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni  
So having spoken, the father picks horses from the whole number

**275** (stabant ter centum nitidi in praesaepibus altis):  
(three hundred stood sleek in the high stalls):
> Counting by multiplication: ter centum literally means 'three times a hundred'; Latin verse often reaches a round number this way rather than stating it directly. The multiplied form sounds more formal, and Vergil counts Juno's bribe of nymphs to Aeolus in Book 1 the same way.

**276** omnibus extemplo Teucris iubet ordine duci  
he orders them led out at once, in order, for all the Teucrians,

**277** instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis;  
wing-footed, saddled with purple and with embroidered cloths;

**278** aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent,  
golden collars hang down over their chests,

**279** tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum;  
covered in gold, they chew tawny gold beneath their teeth;

**280** absenti Aeneae currum geminosque iugalis  
and for Aeneas, who is not there, a chariot and a yoked pair

**281** semine ab aetherio, spirantis naribus ignem,  
of heavenly seed, breathing fire from their nostrils,

**282** illorum de gente, patri quos daedala Circe  
out of that breed which cunning Circe made by theft from her father,

**283** supposita de matre nothos furata creavit.  
bastards got on a mother slipped in beneath his own.

**284** Talibus Aeneadae donis dictisque Latini  
With such gifts and such words from Latinus, the followers of Aeneas

**285** sublimes in equis redeunt pacemque reportant.  
come back high on horseback, and carry peace home with them.

**286** Ecce autem Inachiis sese referebat ab Argis  
But look: from Inachian Argos the savage wife of Jove

**287** saeva Iovis coniunx aurasque invecta tenebat,  
was making her way back, riding and holding the air,

**288** et laetum Aenean classemque ex aethere longe  
and out of the sky, far off, from Sicilian Pachynus itself,

**289** Dardaniam Siculo prospexit ab usque Pachyno.  
she looked down on Aeneas glad, and on the Dardanian fleet.

**290** moliri iam tecta videt, iam fidere terrae,  
She sees them raising houses already, trusting the land already,

**291** deseruisse rates: stetit acri fixa dolore.  
the ships left behind. She stopped, pinned there by a sharp pain.

**292** Tum quassans caput haec effundit pectore dicta:  
Then, shaking her head, she pours these words out of her breast:

**293** “Heu stirpem invisam et fatis contraria nostris  
“That hated stock, and the fates of the Phrygians running
> The same word, twice: fatis and fata are the same noun, fatum, 'fate', once ablative and once nominative, placed at opposite ends of the line with contraria, 'opposed', between them. The repetition states plainly that one set of destinies stands against another, the Phrygians' against Juno's own.

**294** fata Phrygum! Num Sigeis occumbere campis,  
against mine! Could they not go down on the fields of Sigeum?

**295** num capti potuere capi, num incensa cremavit  
Could the captured be captured? Did burning Troy burn
> The same verb, twice over: capti and capi are both forms of capio, 'to capture', a participle and an infinitive set side by side. The figure repeats with incensa and cremavit in the next clause, and the doubled verbs ask why what should have finished Troy did not.

**296** Troia viros? Medias acies mediosque per ignis  
her men? Through the middle of the lines and the middle of the fires

**297** invenere viam. At, credo, mea numina tandem  
they found a road. But I suppose my powers lie at last

**298** fessa iacent odiis aut exsaturata quievi.  
worn out with hating, or I have had my fill and rested.

**299** Quin etiam patria excussos infesta per undas  
No: shaken out of their country, I dared to hunt them

**300** ausa sequi et profugis toto me opponere ponto!  
through hostile water, and stood against the runaways on the whole sea!

**301** Absumptae in Teucros vires caelique marisque.  
The strength of the sky and the sea has been spent on Teucrians.

**302** Quid Syrtes aut Scylla mihi, quid vasta Charybdis  
What good to me were the Syrtes, or Scylla, what good the vast

**303** profuit? Optato conduntur Thybridis alveo,  
Charybdis? They are stowed in the Tiber bed they wanted,

**304** securi pelagi atque mei. Mars perdere gentem  
with no fear of the sea, or of me. Mars had strength enough

**305** immanem Lapithum valuit, concessit in iras  
to destroy the monstrous race of the Lapiths; the very father

**306** ipse deum antiquam genitor Calydona Dianae,  
of the gods gave up ancient Calydon to Diana's rage,

**307** quod scelus aut Lapithis tantum aut Calydona merentem?  
and what crime in the Lapiths, or in Calydon, deserved so much?

**308** Ast ego magna Iovis coniunx, nil linquere inausum  
But I, the great wife of Jove, who could leave nothing

**309** quae potui infelix, quae memet in omnia verti,  
undared, luckless, who turned myself into every shape,

**310** vincor ab Aenea. Quod si mea numina non sunt  
am beaten by Aeneas. And if my own power is not
> The verb held back: Juno names herself, ego, at line 308, but vincor, 'I am beaten', does not arrive until line 310. Two relative clauses about all she has done fill the gap, so the sentence runs the length of her record before landing on one passive verb.

**311** magna satis, dubitem haud equidem implorare quod usquam est:  
great enough, I will hardly hold back from begging whatever there is:

**312** flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.  
If I cannot bend the gods above, I will move Acheron.

**313** Non dabitur regnis, esto, prohibere Latinis,  
It will not be given me to keep him from the Latin kingdom, granted,

**314** atque immota manet fatis Lavinia coniunx:  
and Lavinia stays his wife, unmoved by the fates:

**315** at trahere atque moras tantis licet addere rebus,  
but I may drag it out, and add delay to matters this great,

**316** at licet amborum populos exscindere regum.  
but I may cut away the peoples of both those kings.

**317** Hac gener atque socer coeant mercede suorum:  
Let son-in-law and father-in-law join at this price, their own men paid down:

**318** sanguine Troiano et Rutulo dotabere, virgo,  
you will be dowered with Trojan and Rutulian blood, girl,

**319** et Bellona manet te pronuba. Nec face tantum  
and Bellona is waiting to give you away. Nor was the daughter of Cisseus

**320** Cisseis praegnans ignis enixa iugalis  
the only one who, heavy with a torch, gave birth to a marriage fire;

**321** quin idem Veneri partus suus et Paris alter  
no: Venus has a birth of her own just like it, a second Paris,

**322** funestaeque iterum recidiva in Pergama taedae.”  
and again the deadly torches for a Pergamum come back to life.”

**323** Haec ubi dicta dedit, terras Horrenda petivit:  
When she had given out these words, dreadful, she made for the earth:

**324** luctificam Allecto dirarum ab sede dearum  
she rouses grief-making Allecto from the seat of the dread goddesses

**325** infernisque ciet tenebris, cui tristia bella  
and out of the darkness below, one whose heart is set on grim wars,

**326** iraeque insidiaeque et crimina noxia cordi.  
on rages, on ambushes, on accusations that do harm.

**327** Odit et ipse pater Pluton, odere sorores  
Her own father Pluto hates her; her Tartarean sisters

**328** Tartareae monstrum: tot sese vertit in ora,  
hate the monster: she turns herself into so many faces,

**329** tam saevae facies, tot pullulat atra colubris.  
her shapes so savage, so black the snakes she sprouts.

**330** Quam Iuno his acuit verbis ac talia fatur:  
Juno puts an edge on her with these words, and says:

**331** “Hunc mihi da proprium, virgo sata Nocte, laborem,  
“Give me this labor for my own, maiden sown of Night,

**332** hanc operam, ne noster honos infractave cedat  
this service, that my honor may not give way, and my name

**333** fama loco, neu conubiis ambire Latinum  
not be broken from its place, and the followers of Aeneas not be able

**334** Aeneadae possint Italosve obsidere finis.  
to court Latinus with a marriage, or squat on Italian borders.

**335** Tu potes unanimos armare in proelia fratres  
You can arm brothers of one mind against each other in battle

**336** atque odiis versare domos, tu verbera tectis  
and turn houses over with hatred; you can carry the whip

**337** funereasque inferre faces, tibi nomina mille,  
and the funeral torches indoors; you have a thousand names,

**338** mille nocendi artes. Fecundum concute pectus,  
a thousand arts of doing harm. Shake out that teeming breast,

**339** disice compositam pacem, sere crimina belli:  
break up the peace they have settled, sow the charges of a war:

**340** arma velit poscatque simul rapiatque inventus.”  
let the young want weapons, and demand them, and take them, all at once.”

**341** Exin Gorgoneis Allecto infecta venenis  
Then Allecto, infected with the poisons of the Gorgon,
> Dyed through with poison: infecta is the participle of inficio, 'to dye' or 'to stain': Allecto has been dyed through with Gorgoneis venenis, 'Gorgon poisons', not merely carrying it. The Gorgon is named because her snakes and her petrifying stare are the weapons Allecto is about to use.

**342** principio Latium et Laurentis tecta tyranni  
makes first for Latium and the high roof of the Laurentine

**343** celsa petit tacitumque obsedit limen Amatae,  
ruler, and settles at the silent threshold of Amata,

**344** quam super adventu Teucrum Turnique hymenaeis  
whom, over the coming of the Teucrians and the wedding of Turnus,

**345** femineae ardentem curaeque iraeque coquebant.  
a woman's cares and a woman's angers were boiling as she burned.

**346** Huic dea caeruleis unum de crinibus anguem  
At her the goddess throws one snake out of her dark hair

**347** conicit inque sinum praecordia ad intuma subdit,  
and works it into her breast, down to the innermost heart,

**348** quo furibunda domum monstro permisceat omnem.  
so that maddened by the thing she may throw the whole house into ruin.

**349** Ille inter vestes et levia pectora lapsus  
It slips in between her clothes and her smooth breast,

**350** volvitur attactu nullo fallitque furentem,  
coils there with no touch felt, and deceives her in her raving,

**351** vipeream inspirans animam: fit tortile collo  
breathing viper's breath into her: the huge snake becomes

**352** aurum ingens coluber, fit longae taenia vittae  
a twist of gold at her throat, becomes the band of a long fillet,

**353** innectitque comas, et membris lubricus errat.  
and binds up her hair, and wanders slick over her limbs.

**354** Ac dum prima lues udo sublapsa veneno  
And while the first infection, sliding in with wet poison,

**355** pertemptat sensus atque ossibus implicat ignem  
works through her senses and winds fire into her bones,

**356** necdum animus toto percepit pectore flammam,  
and her mind has not yet taken the flame into the whole breast,

**357** mollius et solito matrum de more locuta est,  
she spoke softly, in the usual manner of mothers,

**358** multa super nata lacrimans Phrygiisque hymenaeis:  
weeping much over her daughter and the Phrygian marriage:

**359** “Exsulibusne datur ducenda Lavinia Teucris,  
“Is Lavinia handed to exiled Teucrians to be led away,
> The gerundive of duty: ducenda is a gerundive, 'to be led away', a verbal adjective that expresses what must be done rather than simply what is done. With datur, 'is given', it makes Lavinia grammatically an object that must be handed over and taken.

**360** O genitor, nec te miseret gnataeque tuique?  
father, and have you no pity for your daughter, or for yourself?

**361** Nec matris miseret, quam primo aquilone relinquet  
No pity for her mother, whom that faithless man will leave

**362** perfidus alta petens abducta virgine praedo?  
at the first north wind, a thief making for deep water with the girl?

**363** An non sic Phrygius penetrat Lacedaemona pastor  
Is this not how the Phrygian shepherd got into Lacedaemon

**364** Ledaeamque Helenam Troianas vexit ad urbes?  
and carry Leda's Helen off to the cities of Troy?

**365** Quid tua sancta fides, quid cura antiqua tuorum  
What of your sacred word, what of your old care for your own,

**366** et consanguineo totiens data dextera Turno?  
and the right hand given to Turnus, your own blood, so many times?

**367** Si gener externa petitur de gente Latinis  
If a son-in-law is required for Latins out of a foreign people,

**368** idque sedet Faunique premunt te iussa parentis,  
and that is fixed, and your father Faunus' orders press on you,

**369** omnem equidem sceptris terram quae libera nostris  
then I hold that every land which stands free and apart

**370** dissidet, externam reor et sic dicere divos.  
from our scepter is foreign, and that the gods mean it so.
> A clause inside a noun: The relative clause quae ... dissidet, 'which differs', is packed between the adjective externam, 'foreign', and the noun terram it modifies, so the sentence only resolves at its last word. Amata is arguing a definition: any land outside their rule counts as foreign.

**371** Et Turno, si prima domus repetatur origo,  
And as for Turnus, if the first origin of the house is traced,

**372** Inachus Acrisiusque patres mediaeque Mycenae.”  
his fathers are Inachus and Acrisius, and Mycenae in the middle.”

**373** His ubi nequiquam dictis experta Latinum  
When she has tried Latinus with these words and got nothing,

**374** contra stare videt penitusque in viscera lapsum  
and sees him standing against her, and the serpent's maddening

**375** serpentis furiale malum totamque pererrat,  
evil slipped deep into her guts and wandering all through her,

**376** tum vero infelix, ingentibus excita monstris,  
then indeed the wretched woman, stirred by enormous horrors,

**377** immensam sine more furit lymphata per urbem.  
rages through the vast city, out of all measure, water-struck.
> Madness tied to water: lymphata comes from lympha, 'water', and behind it stand the nymphs believed to live in springs; it describes a mind driven out by something seen there. Latin treats this madness as coming from outside, tied to a place, which is what has happened to Amata.

**378** Ceu quondam torto volitans sub verbere turbo,  
As sometimes a top flies about under the twisted lash,

**379** quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum  
which boys in a wide ring around an empty courtyard

**380** intenti ludo exercent; ille actus habena  
keep going, intent on the game; driven by the strap

**381** curvatis fertur spatiis; stupet inscia supra  
it is carried in curved circuits; over it the young hands stand

**382** inpubesque manus, mirata volubile buxum;  
amazed and understanding nothing, marveling at the whirling boxwood;

**383** dant animos plagae: non cursu segnior illo  
the strokes give it life: no slower in her course than that

**384** per medias urbes agitur populosque feroces.  
she is driven through the middle of cities and fierce peoples.

**385** Quin etiam in silvas, simulato numine Bacchi,  
More: into the woods, with the power of Bacchus feigned,

**386** maius adorta nefas maioremque orsa furorem  
attempting a greater outrage and beginning a greater madness,
> The same comparative, twice: maius and maiorem are both the comparative 'greater', framing the two objects nefas, 'outrage', and furorem, 'madness'. Vergil used the same comparative of his own poem earlier, maius opus moveo, 'I set a greater work in motion', so this line echoes that claim.

**387** evolat et natam frondosis montibus abdit,  
she flies out and hides her daughter in the leafy mountains,

**388** quo thalamum eripiat Teucris taedasque moretur,  
to tear the marriage from the Teucrians and hold up the torches,

**389** Euhoe Bacche, fremens, solum te virgine dignum  
roaring Euhoe, Bacchus, shouting that you alone are worthy

**390** vociferans, etenim mollis tibi sumere thyrsos,  
of the girl; for it is you she takes up the soft wands for,

**391** te lustrare choro, sacrum tibi pascere crinem.  
you she rings in the dance for, you she grows the holy hair for.

**392** Fama volat, furiisque accensas pectore matres  
Rumor flies, and one heat drives all the mothers at once,

**393** idem omnis simul ardor agit nova quaerere tecta:  
their breasts lit by the Furies, to go looking for new homes:

**394** deseruere domos, ventis dant colla comasque,  
they have left their houses, they give their necks and hair to the winds,

**395** ast aliae tremulis ululatibus aethera complent,  
while others fill the upper air with quavering howls,

**396** pampineasque gerunt incinctae pellibus hastas;  
and girt in hides carry spears wrapped in vine leaves;

**397** ipsa inter medias flagrantem fervida pinum  
she herself, burning in the middle of them, holds up a blazing

**398** sustinet ac natae Turnique canit hymenaeos,  
pine, and sings the wedding song of her daughter and Turnus,

**399** sanguineam torquens aciem, torvumque repente  
rolling a bloodshot eye; and suddenly, savagely,

**400** clamat: “Io matres, audite, ubi quaeque, Latinae:  
she cries: “Hear me, mothers of Latium, wherever you each are:

**401** Siqua piis animis manet infelicis Amatae  
if any thanks for luckless Amata still stands in loyal

**402** gratia, si iuris materni cura remordet,  
hearts, if care for a mother's rights bites at you still,

**403** solvite crinalis vittas, capite orgia mecum.”  
loose the bands out of your hair, take up the rites with me.”
> A word wider than English: orgia means secret ceremonies performed by initiates, usually of Bacchus, wider than the modern English word from it. Amata pairs it with solvite crinalis vittas, 'loose the bands from your hair', undoing the public sign of a married woman.

**404** Talem inter silvas, inter deserta ferarum,  
Such, among the woods, among the empty haunts of wild beasts,

**405** reginam Allecto stimulis agit undique Bacchi.  
Allecto drives the queen with the goads of Bacchus on every side.

**406** Postquam visa satis primos acuisse furores  
When she seemed to have sharpened the first madness enough,

**407** consiliumque omnemque domum vertisse Latini,  
and overturned the counsel and the whole house of Latinus,

**408** protinus hinc fuscis tristis dea tollitur alis  
the grim goddess lifts straight off from there on dusky wings

**409** audacis Rutuli ad muros, quam dicitur urbem  
to the walls of the bold Rutulian, a city which they say

**410** Acrisioneis Danae fundasse colonis,  
Danae founded with settlers out of Acrisius' town,

**411** praecipiti delata noto. Locus Ardea quondam  
carried there by a headlong south wind. The place was called Ardea

**412** dictus avis, et nunc magnum manet Ardea nomen,  
once by our forefathers, and Ardea is still a great name now,

**413** sed fortuna fuit; tectis hic Turnus in altis  
but its fortune is gone. Here, in his high house, Turnus

**414** iam mediam nigra carpebat nocte quietem.  
was already taking his rest in the middle of the black night.

**415** Allecto torvam faciem et furialia membra  
Allecto strips off the savage face and the Fury's limbs,

**416** exuit, in vultus sese transformat anilis;  
transforms herself into the features of an old woman;

**417** et frontem obscenam rugis arat, induit albos  
and plows her foul brow with wrinkles, puts on white hair

**418** cum vitta crinis, tum ramum innectit olivae;  
with a fillet, and works a branch of olive into it;

**419** fit Calybe Iunonis anus templique sacerdos  
she becomes Calybe, Juno's old woman and priestess of the temple,

**420** et iuveni ante oculos his se cum vocibus offert:  
and puts herself before the young man's eyes with these words:

**421** “Turne, tot incassum fusos patiere labores  
“Turnus, will you let so much labor be poured out for nothing,

**422** et tua Dardaniis transcribi sceptra colonis?  
and your scepter signed over to Dardanian settlers?

**423** Rex tibi coniugium et quaesitas sanguine dotes  
The king denies you the marriage and the dowry you bought

**424** abnegat, externusque in regnum quaeritur heres.  
with blood, and an outsider is being looked for as heir to the kingdom.

**425** I nunc, ingratis offer te, inrise, periclis;  
Go on now, offer yourself, laughed at, to thankless dangers;
> An imperative used as mockery: I nunc is the imperative 'go now', but used as a fixed sneer meaning the opposite, close to English 'go right ahead'. Turnus repeats it across two lines to say he has already done what it mocks, and been paid nothing for it.

**426** Tyrrhenas, i, sterne acies; tege pace Latinos.  
go, lay the Tyrrhenian lines flat; keep the Latins safe with peace.

**427** Haec adeo tibi me, placida cum nocte iaceres,  
This much the all-powerful daughter of Saturn ordered me herself

**428** ipsa palam fari omnipotens Saturnia iussit.  
to say to you straight out, while you lay through a quiet night.

**429** Quare age et armari pubem portisque moveri  
So come: get ready gladly to arm the young men and move them

**430** laetus in arma para, et Phrygios qui flumine pulchro  
out of the gates to war, and burn the painted keels

**431** consedere duces pictasque exure carinas.  
of the Phrygian captains settled on that lovely river.

**432** Caelestum vis magna iubet. Rex ipse Latinus,  
The great force of the heavenly ones commands it. Let King Latinus

**433** ni dare coniugium et dicto parere fatetur,  
himself, if he will not grant the marriage and own that he obeys,

**434** sentiat et tandem Turnum experiatur in armis.”  
feel it, and find out at last what Turnus is in arms.”

**435** Hic iuvenis vatem inridens sic orsa vicissim  
At this the young man, laughing at the seer, gives her back

**436** ore refert: “Classis invectas Thybridis undam  
her own opening: “News that a fleet has come in on Tiber's water

**437** non, ut rere, meas effugit nuntius auris.  
has not, as you imagine, got past my ears.

**438** Ne tantos mihi finge metus; nec regia Iuno  
Do not invent such terrors for me. Queen Juno

**439** inmemor est nostri.  
does not forget us.
> A boast cut short: The verse breaks off here after five words, the shortest of the unfinished lines in this book. Turnus stops mid-boast, saying the goddess has not forgotten him, while she stands in front of him about to prove exactly that.

**440** Sed te victa situ verique effeta senectus,  
But old age, beaten by rot and worn out of the truth,
> What settles on neglect: situs names the mold, rust, or dust that settles on anything left unused. Turnus applies victa situ, 'beaten down by mold', to a woman's mind, and twelve lines later Allecto repeats the same phrase back at him, word for word.

**441** o mater, curis nequiquam exercet et arma  
mother, works you for nothing with cares, and among the arms

**442** regum inter falsa vatem formidine ludit.  
of kings makes a fool of a prophetess with false alarm.

**443** Cura tibi divom effigies et templa tueri:  
Your business is to look after the gods' images and their temples:

**444** bella viri pacemque gerent, quis bella gerenda.”  
war and peace shall concern the men, whose war it is to wage.”

**445** Talibus Allecto dictis exarsit in iras,  
At words like these Allecto blazed up into rage,

**446** at iuveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus,  
and while he was still speaking a sudden shudder takes the young man's limbs,

**447** deriguere oculi: tot Erinys sibilat hydris  
his eyes went rigid: the Fury hisses with so many serpents,
> A Greek name kept whole: Erinys is the Greek name for a Fury, kept untranslated in the Latin line. Vergil uses it exactly at the moment Allecto's disguise falls away, where the plainer Latin word Furia describes only what she does, not what she is.

**448** tantaque se facies aperit; tum flammea torquens  
so vast the face she opens; then, rolling her fiery

**449** lumina cunctantem et quaerentem dicere plura  
eyes, she shoved him back as he faltered and looked for more to say,

**450** reppulit et geminos erexit crinibus anguis  
and raised two snakes upright out of her hair,

**451** verberaque insonuit rabidoque haec addidit ore:  
and cracked her whip, and added this out of a rabid mouth:

**452** “En ego victa situ, quam veri effeta senectus  
“Look at me, beaten by rot, whom old age worn out of the truth

**453** arma inter regum falsa formidine ludit.  
makes a fool of, among the arms of kings, with false alarm.

**454** Respice ad haec: adsum dirarum ab sede sororum,  
Look at this: I am here from the seat of the dread sisters,

**455** bella manu letumque gero.”  
war and death are in my hand.”
> A threat left hanging: Allecto's speech breaks off here, unfinished in the middle of the hexameter, five words after she quotes Turnus's own words back at him. We leave the English fragment as short as the Latin.

**456** Sic effata facem iuveni coniecit et atro  
So having spoken she flung the torch at the young man and fixed

**457** lumine fumantis fixit sub pectore taedas.  
the brands, smoking with black light, under his breast.

**458** Olli somnum ingens rumpit pavor, ossaque et artus  
A huge terror breaks his sleep, and sweat, burst out
> An old dative form: Olli is an old spelling of illi, the dative of ille, 'to him', out of use in ordinary prose by Vergil's time. To him, terror breaks his sleep; Vergil keeps the antique form for its weight and uses it again forty lines later.

**459** perfundit toto proruptus corpore sudor;  
over his whole body, drenches his bones and his limbs;

**460** arma amens fremit, arma toro tectisque requirit;  
out of his mind he roars for arms, gropes for arms on the bed and in the house;

**461** saevit amor ferri et scelerata insania belli,  
the love of iron rages in him, and the criminal madness of war,

**462** ira super: magno veluti cum flamma sonore  
and anger on top of it: as when with a great noise a fire

**463** virgea suggeritur costis undantis aëni  
of brushwood is heaped under the ribs of a seething bronze pot

**464** exsultantque aestu latices, furit intus aquaï  
and the water leaps with the heat, and inside, the smoking river
> An archaic genitive ending: aquaï is an old genitive singular of aqua, 'water', the ending Latin used centuries before -ae became standard. It is the same case as ordinary aquae, just spelled the way Ennius, the first Roman epic poet, would have written it.

**465** fumidus atque alte spumis exuberat amnis,  
of water rages and boils high over in foam,

**466** nec iam se capit unda, volat vapor ater ad auras.  
and the wave no longer holds itself; black steam flies to the air.

**467** Ergo iter ad regem polluta pace Latinum  
So, the peace fouled, he declares a march on King Latinus

**468** indicit primis iuvenum et iubet arma parari,  
to the first of his young men, and orders arms made ready,

**469** tutari Italiam, detrudere finibus hostem:  
Italy defended, the enemy shoved off the borders:

**470** se satis ambobus Teucrisque venire Latinisque.  
he is coming, and he is enough for both, Teucrians and Latins.
> Reported speech, verb omitted: This is indirect statement, an accusative and infinitive with no verb of saying given: se ... venire, 'that he is coming'. The doubled -que ... -que at the line's end ties Teucrians and Latins together as one audience for the message.

**471** Haec ubi dicta dedit divosque in vota vocavit,  
When he had given these words out and called the gods into his vows,

**472** certatim sese Rutuli exhortantur in arma:  
the Rutulians urge each other on to arms, each outdoing the last:

**473** hunc decus egregium formae movet atque iuventae,  
one is moved by the singular beauty of his form and his youth,

**474** hunc atavi reges, hunc claris dextera factis.  
one by his line of kings, one by a right hand of famous deeds.

**475** Dum Turnus Rutulos animis audacibus implet,  
While Turnus is filling the Rutulians with bold spirit,

**476** Allecto in Teucros Stygiis se concitat alis,  
Allecto throws herself at the Teucrians on Stygian wings,

**477** arte nova speculata locum, quo litore pulcher  
having spied out with a fresh trick the place on the shore where handsome

**478** insidiis cursuque feras agitabat Iulus.  
Iulus was driving game with snares and with running.

**479** Hic subitam canibus rabiem Cocytia virgo  
Here the maiden of Cocytus throws a sudden madness into the hounds
> Named for a river, not herself: Cocytia virgo, 'the maiden of Cocytus', names Allecto by the underworld river of wailing instead of by her own name. It is one of several such indirections Vergil uses for her in this book, each one naming a place rather than a person.

**480** obicit et noto naris contingit odore,  
and touches their nostrils with a scent they know,

**481** ut cervum ardentes agerent; quae prima laborum  
so that they would burn after the stag; and this was the first cause

**482** causa fuit belloque animos accendit agrestis.  
of the troubles, and set country hearts alight for war.

**483** Cervus erat forma praestanti et cornibus ingens,  
There was a stag of surpassing shape, huge in the antlers,

**484** Tyrrhidae pueri quem matris ab ubere raptum  
which Tyrrhus' boys had taken from its mother's udder

**485** nutribant Tyrrhusque pater, cui regia parent  
and were rearing, and their father Tyrrhus, whom the royal

**486** armenta et late custodia credita campi.  
herds obey, trusted with the keeping of the wide plain.

**487** Adsuetum imperiis soror omni Silvia cura  
Their sister Silvia, with every care, would dress its horns,
> A name that means woods: Silvia comes from silva, 'forest', so the girl's name literally means 'the woods'. Vergil leaves most of this household unnamed except by their country, Tyrrhus meaning 'Etruscan' and Silvia meaning 'woodland', so the family that starts the war carries the land's own name.

**488** mollibus intexens ornabat cornua sertis  
weaving soft garlands into them, for it was used to command,

**489** pectebatque ferum puroque in fonte lavabat.  
and combed the wild thing, and washed it in a clean spring.

**490** Ille, manum patiens mensaeque adsuetus erili,  
It, putting up with the hand and used to its master's table,

**491** errabat silvis rursusque ad limina nota  
would wander in the woods, and back again to the doorway it knew

**492** ipse domum sera quamvis se nocte ferebat.  
would carry itself home, however late in the night.

**493** Hunc procul errantem rabidae venantis Iuli  
Straying far out, this was the one the rabid hounds of Iulus

**494** commovere canes, fluvio cum forte secundo  
started as he hunted, when it happened to be drifting

**495** deflueret ripaque aestus viridante levaret.  
down the river and easing the heat on a green bank.

**496** Ipse etiam, eximiae laudis succensus amore,  
Ascanius himself too, fired with love of exceptional praise,

**497** Ascanius curvo direxit spicula cornu;  
aimed his arrows out of the curved bow;

**498** nec dextrae erranti deus afuit, actaque multo  
and no god was missing from the straying hand: driven with much
> A guided shot, unnamed guide: nec ... afuit is a double negative, 'a god was not absent from the straying hand', saying the shot was guided without naming which god or how. Either a power steadied the aim, or the aim was already wrong and a power made it land.

**499** perque uterum sonitu perque ilia venit harundo.  
noise the reed went through the belly and through the flank.

**500** Saucius at quadrupes nota intra tecta refugit  
But the wounded four-footed thing fled back inside the roof it knew

**501** successitque gemens stabulis questuque cruentus  
and came into the stalls groaning, and bloodied, with its complaining

**502** atque imploranti similis tectum omne replebat.  
filled the whole house, like something begging.

**503** Silvia prima soror, palmis percussa lacertos,  
Silvia the sister first, beating her arms with her palms,

**504** auxilium vocat et duros conclamat agrestis.  
calls for help and shouts the hard countrymen together.

**505** Olli, pestis enim tacitis latet aspera silvis,  
They, for the rough plague lies hidden in the silent woods,

**506** inprovisi adsunt, hic torre armatus obusto,  
are there with no warning, one armed with a fire-hardened brand,

**507** stipitis hic gravidi nodis: quod cuique repertum  
one with a stake heavy with knots: whatever a man found

**508** rimanti, telum ira facit. Vocat agmina Tyrrhus,  
as he searched, anger makes a weapon of it. Tyrrhus calls up his ranks,
> Anger as the weapon-maker: telum ira facit means 'anger makes it a weapon', with ira, 'anger', as the subject and telum, 'weapon', as the object. There are no proper arms here, so rage itself supplies one out of whatever a man finds while searching, rimanti, in the woodpile.

**509** quadrifidam quercum cuneis ut forte coactis  
who happened to be splitting an oak in four with wedges

**510** scindebat, rapta spirans immane securi.  
hammered home; he snatches the axe up, breathing monstrously.

**511** At saeva e speculis tempus dea nacta nocendi  
But the cruel goddess, from her watch, having got her moment for harm,

**512** ardua tecta petit stabuli et de culmine summo  
makes for the steep roof of the steading, and from the topmost ridge

**513** pastorale canit signum cornuque recurvo  
sounds the herdsmen's call, and on the curved horn

**514** Tartaream intendit vocem, qua protinus omne  
stretched out a voice from Tartarus, at which straight away the whole

**515** contremuit nemus et silvae insonuere profundae;  
wood shuddered and the deep forests rang;

**516** audiit et Triviae longe lacus, audiit amnis  
the lake of Trivia heard it far off, the river heard it,

**517** sulfurea Nar albus aqua fontesque Velini,  
Nar white with its sulphurous water, and the springs of Velinus,

**518** et trepidae matres pressere ad pectora natos.  
and frightened mothers pressed their children to their breasts.

**519** Tum vero ad vocem celeres, qua bucina signum  
Then indeed, quick to the sound where the dreadful trumpet gave
> One horn, two uses: bucina is a curved horn used both by soldiers keeping watch and by herdsmen calling in cattle. Allecto sounds it as the herdsman's signal, and what comes running in answer is an army rather than a herd.

**520** dira dedit, raptis concurrunt undique telis  
its signal, the untamed farmers run together from all sides

**521** indomiti agricolae; nec non et Troïa pubes  
with weapons snatched up; and no less the Trojan young

**522** Ascanio auxilium castris effundit apertis.  
pour help out to Ascanius from the opened camp.

**523** Direxere acies. Non iam certamine agresti,  
They have drawn up lines. It is no longer a country quarrel

**524** stipitibus duris agitur sudibusve praeustis,  
carried on with hard clubs or stakes burnt to a point,

**525** sed ferro ancipiti decernunt atraque late  
but they settle it with two-edged iron, and far and wide

**526** horrescit strictis seges ensibus aeraque fulgent  
a black crop bristles with drawn swords, and the bronze flashes,
> A crop of swords: seges means standing grain, 'a crop', paired here with strictis ensibus, 'drawn swords'. The same field that was being farmed earlier in the book now produces a harvest of iron instead of grain, and Vergil repeats the figure again in the poem's last book.

**527** sole lacessita et lucem sub nubila iactant:  
struck by the sun, and throws light up under the clouds:

**528** fluctus uti primo coepit cum albescere vento,  
as when a swell begins to whiten at the first wind,

**529** paulatim sese tollit mare et altius undas  
little by little the sea lifts itself, and raises its waves

**530** erigit, inde imo consurgit ad aethera fundo.  
higher, and then rises out of the lowest floor to the sky.

**531** Hic iuvenis primam ante aciem stridente sagitta,  
Here, in front of the first line, a young man is felled

**532** natorum Tyrrhi fuerat qui maximus, Almo,  
by a whistling arrow, Almo, the eldest of Tyrrhus' sons;

**533** sternitur; haesit enim sub gutture volnus et udae  
for the wound lodged under his throat and closed off
> One verb, two objects: One verb, inclusit, 'shut off', governs two objects, vocis iter, 'the path of the voice', and vitam, 'life'. This is zeugma: one verb fit to two senses at once, so the wound closes off both the throat and the life together.

**534** vocis iter tenuemque inclusit sanguine vitam.  
the wet road of the voice, and his thin life, with blood.

**535** Corpora multa virum circa seniorque Galaesus,  
Many men's bodies around him, and old Galaesus,

**536** dum paci medium se offert, iustissimus unus  
while he offers himself in the middle for peace, the one most just

**537** qui fuit Ausoniisque olim ditissimus arvis:  
man there was, and once the richest in Ausonian fields:

**538** quinque greges illi balantum, quina redibant  
five flocks of bleating sheep were his, five herds

**539** armenta, et terram centum vertebat aratris.  
came home to him, and he turned the ground with a hundred plows.

**540** Atque ea per campos aequo dum Marte geruntur,  
And while this goes on over the fields with Mars holding level,

**541** promissi dea facta potens, ubi sanguine bellum  
the goddess, now master of her promise, when she had steeped
> In control of a promise: potens with the genitive promissi means 'in control of what was promised', 'master of it'. Romans used the same construction of a man who had obtained an office he sought, so the phrase makes Allecto sound like a contractor reporting a job finished.

**542** imbuit et primae commisit funera pugnae,  
the war in blood and joined the deaths of a first fight,

**543** deserit Hesperiam et caeli convexa per auras  
leaves Hesperia, and through the air across the vault of heaven,

**544** Iunonem victrix adfatur voce superba:  
in victory, addresses Juno with a proud voice:

**545** “En, perfecta tibi bello discordia tristi:  
“There: your discord is finished, in a grim war.
> A word for civil war: discordia means 'discord' or 'strife', the word Romans used for the breakdown of their own state in civil war. Allecto uses it of the conflict she has just kindled between Trojans and Italians, and Latin does not separate that from Rome's own civil wars.

**546** dic in amicitiam coeant et foedera iungant.  
Tell them now to meet in friendship and make treaties.
> A command with ut dropped: coeant is subjunctive with no ut introducing it, a command embedded directly after dic, 'tell them'. Latin drops ut freely after verbs of ordering in verse, so the sentence carries two commands, dic and coeant, one straight after the other.

**547** Quando quidem Ausonio respersi sanguine Teucros,  
Since I have spattered the Teucrians with Ausonian blood,

**548** hoc etiam his addam, tua si mihi certa voluntas:  
I will add this on top, if your will toward me is settled:

**549** finitimas in bella feram rumoribus urbes  
I will carry the neighboring cities into war with rumors

**550** accendamque animos insani Martis amore,  
and light their hearts with love of insane war,

**551** undique ut auxilio veniunt; spargam arma per agros.”  
so they come in from every side to help; I will sow arms through the fields.”

**552** Tum contra Iuno; “Terrorum et fraudis abunde est;  
Then Juno, against her: “There is terror enough, and fraud enough;

**553** stant belli causae, pugnatur comminus armis,  
the causes of war stand, they fight hand to hand with weapons,

**554** quae fors prima dedit sanguis novus imbuit arma.  
new blood has stained the arms chance first put into them.

**555** Talia coniugia et talis celebrent hymenaeos  
Let them keep such a marriage as this, such wedding songs,

**556** egregium Veneris genus et rex ipse Latinus.  
that outstanding stock of Venus, and King Latinus himself.
> Praise meant as a sneer: egregium means 'outstanding', literally 'picked out of the flock', a genuine compliment in ordinary use. Juno means the opposite here, and Vergil gives her no marker of irony: the words themselves are straight praise, and only the situation turns them into contempt.

**557** Te super aetherias errare licentius auras  
That you should wander too freely over the upper air

**558** haud pater ille velit, summi regnator Olympi:  
that father would not have, the ruler of highest Olympus:

**559** cede locis; ego, siqua super fortuna laborum est,  
give up the place. Whatever fortune of these labors is left,

**560** ipsa regam.” Talis dederat Saturnia voces.  
I will handle myself.” Such were the words Saturn's daughter had given.

**561** Illa autem attollit stridentis anguibus alas  
But the other lifts her wings, hissing with snakes,

**562** Cocytique petit sedem, supera ardua linquens.  
and makes for her seat at Cocytus, leaving the heights above.

**563** Est locus Italiae medio sub montibus altis,  
There is a place in the middle of Italy, beneath high mountains,

**564** nobilis et fama multis memoratus in oris,  
well known, and spoken of by report on many shores,

**565** Amsancti valles: densis hunc frondibus atrum  
the valleys of Amsanctus: a flank of wood, black with thick

**566** urguet utrimque latus nemoris, medioque fragosus  
leaves, presses on it from both sides, and in the middle a crashing

**567** dat sonitum saxis et torto vertice torrens.  
torrent makes its noise on the rocks in a twisting eddy.

**568** Hic specus horrendum et saevi spiracula Ditis  
Here a dreadful cave and the breathing-holes of cruel Dis

**569** monstrantur, ruptoque ingens Acheronte vorago  
are shown, and a huge gulf where Acheron has burst through

**570** pestiferas aperit fauces, quis condita Erinys,  
opens its plague-bearing jaws; hidden in them, the Fury,

**571** invisum numen, terras caelumque levabat.  
a hated power, took her weight off the earth and the sky.

**572** Nec minus interea extremam Saturnia bello  
Nor meanwhile does the queen, Saturn's daughter, do less: she sets
> A craftsman's finishing phrase: extremam manum imponere is a workshop phrase meaning 'to put on the final hand', the last touch that finishes a piece. Vergil applies it here to Juno finishing the war, the same words a Roman would use of a sculptor completing a statue.

**573** imponit regina manum. Ruit omnis in urbem  
her last hand to the war. The whole number of shepherds rushes

**574** pastorum ex acie numerus caesosque reportant  
into the city out of the fighting, and they carry back the killed,

**575** Almonem puerum foedatique ora Galaesi  
the boy Almo, and the ruined face of Galaesus,

**576** implorantque deos obtestanturque Latinum.  
and they call on the gods and hold Latinus to witness.

**577** Turnus adest medioque in crimine caedis et igni  
Turnus is there, and in the middle of the charge of slaughter and the fire

**578** terrorem ingeminat: Teucros in regna vocari,  
he doubles the terror: Teucrians are being called into the kingdom,

**579** stirpem admisceri Phrygiam, se limine pelli.  
Phrygian stock mixed into the blood, and he is pushed from the door.

**580** Tum quorum attonitae Baccho nemora avia matres  
Then the men whose mothers, thunderstruck with Bacchus, are leaping

**581** insultant thiasis (neque enim leve nomen Amatae),  
in bands through the trackless woods (Amata's name is no light thing),

**582** undique collecti coeunt Martemque fatigant.  
gather in from every side, come together, and wear Mars out with asking.

**583** Ilicet infandum cuncti contra omina bellum,  
At once they all demand an unspeakable war, against the omens,

**584** contra fata deum perverso numine poscunt,  
against the fates of the gods, with the divine will turned backward,

**585** certatim regis circumstant tecta Latini.  
and they crowd round the house of King Latinus, each pressing past the last.

**586** Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistit,  
He holds out like a sea-rock, unmoved,

**587** ut pelagi rupes magno veniente fragore,  
like a sea-rock when a great crashing comes on,

**588** quae sese multis circum latrantibus undis  
which holds itself up by its own mass while many waves

**589** mole tenet; scopuli nequiquam et spumea circum  
bay around it; the crags roar in vain, and the foaming
> A noun standing free: multis ... undis is an ablative absolute, a noun and participle free of the main clause: 'with many waves baying around'. English needs a whole clause for this, where Latin needs two words in the ablative, the commonest construction in the poem.

**590** saxa fremunt laterique inlisa refunditur alga.  
stones about it, and the weed flung on its side is washed back off.

**591** Verum ubi nulla datur caecum exsuperare potestas  
But when no power is given him to beat down their blind

**592** consilium et saevae nutu Iunonis eunt res,  
resolve, and things go at the nod of savage Juno,

**593** multa deos aurasque pater testatus inanis:  
the father called the gods and the empty air to witness, over and over:

**594** “Frangimur heu fatis,” inquit, “ferimurque procella!  
“We are broken by the fates,” he says, “and carried off in the squall!

**595** Ipsi has sacrilego pendetis sanguine poenas,  
You will pay this penalty yourselves, with blood shed in sacrilege,

**596** O miseri. Te, Turne, nefas, te triste manebit  
you poor men. You, Turnus, the horror of it, the grim punishment

**597** supplicium, votisque deos venerabere seris.  
will wait for you, and you will worship the gods with vows too late.

**598** Nam mihi parta quies, omnisque in limine portus;  
For my own rest is won, and my whole harbor is at the door;
> Death as a harbor: quies here means 'rest' in the sense of death, and portus, 'harbor', is the standard image for a life's ending voyage. Latinus says the only thing left to lose is a peaceful death, since war can take nothing else from a man his age.

**599** funere felici spolior.” Nec plura locutus  
I am robbed of a happy death.” He said no more,

**600** saepsit se tectis rerumque reliquit habenas.  
shut himself inside the house, and let go the reins of affairs.
> Power as holding reins: habenas means 'reins', the standard figure for holding power: the man in charge holds the reins of the state. Latinus does not resign or get deposed; reliquit, 'he let go', says only that he stops holding them, and the kingdom runs on driverless.

**601** Mos erat Hesperio in Latio, quem protinus urbes  
There was a custom in Hesperian Latium, which the Alban cities

**602** Albanae coluere sacrum nunc maxima rerum  
kept holy from then on, and which now the greatest thing on earth,

**603** Roma colit, cum prima movent in proelia Martem,  
Rome, keeps, when they first stir Mars into battle,

**604** sive Getis inferre manu lacrimabile bellum  
whether they make ready to carry war and tears by hand to the Getae

**605** Hyrcanisve Arabisve parant seu tendere ad Indos  
or to Hyrcanians or Arabs, or to strike out for the Indians

**606** Auroramque sequi Parthosque reposcere signa.  
and follow the Dawn, and demand the standards back from the Parthians.

**607** Sunt geminae belli portae (sic nomine dicunt)  
There are twin gates of war (that is the name they use)

**608** religione sacrae et saevi formidine Martis;  
holy with awe and with the dread of savage Mars;

**609** centum aerei claudunt vectes aeternaque ferri  
a hundred bars of bronze close them, and the everlasting

**610** robora, nec custos absistit limine Ianus:  
strength of iron, and Janus the keeper never leaves the threshold:

**611** has, ubi certa sedet patribus sententia pugnae,  
these, when the fathers' verdict for fighting is fixed and sits,

**612** ipse Quirinali trabea cinctuque Gabino  
the consul himself, marked out in the striped robe of Quirinus

**613** insignis reserat stridentia limina consul,  
and the Gabine belt, unbars, and the thresholds shriek;

**614** ipse vocat pugnas; sequitur tum cetera pubes,  
he himself calls the fighting out; then the rest of the young men follow,

**615** aereaque adsensu conspirant cornua rauco.  
and the bronze horns breathe together in hoarse agreement.

**616** Hoc et tum Aeneadis indicere bella Latinus  
In this way then too Latinus was under orders to declare war

**617** more iubebatur tristisque recludere portas.  
on the sons of Aeneas, and to unbar the grim gates.

**618** Abstinuit tactu pater aversusque refugit  
The father kept his hand off it, turned away, fled

**619** foeda ministeria et caecis se condidit umbris.  
the filthy service, and buried himself in the blind dark.

**620** Tum regina deum caelo delapsa morantis  
Then the queen of the gods, gliding down out of heaven,

**621** impulit ipsa manu portas, et cardine verso  
pushed the loitering gates with her own hand, and the hinge turning,

**622** belli ferratos rumpit Saturnia postes.  
Saturn's daughter breaks the iron-shod doorposts of war.

**623** Ardet inexcita Ausonia atque immobilis ante;  
Ausonia burns, that was unstirred and unmoving before;
> Before and after in one line: ardet, 'is burning', stands first in the line, and inexcita and immobilis, 'unroused' and 'unmoving', describe the country's earlier state. Vergil holds both conditions inside one line and lets ante, 'before', do the work of separating them.

**624** Pars pedes ire parat campis, pars arduus altis  
some make ready to go on foot over the plains, some ride high

**625** pulverulentus equis furit; omnes arma requirunt.  
on tall horses and rage in the dust; they all want arms.

**626** Pars levis clipeos et spicula lucida tergent  
Some rub smooth shields and bright spearheads bright again

**627** arvina pingui subiguntque in cote secures;  
with rich grease, and work their axes on the whetstone;

**628** signaque ferre iuvat sonitusque audire tubarum.  
and it is a joy to carry standards and hear the trumpets sound.

**629** Quinque adeo magnae positis incudibus urbes  
Five great cities, no less, with anvils set up,

**630** tela novant, Atina potens Tiburque superbum,  
make their weapons new: strong Atina and proud Tibur,

**631** Ardea Crustumerique et turrigerae Antemnae.  
Ardea and Crustumerium and tower-crowned Antemnae.

**632** Tegmina tuta cavant capitum flectuntque salignas  
They hollow out safe coverings for the head and bend willow

**633** umbonum cratis; alii thoracas aenos  
into frames for shield-bosses; others draw bronze breastplates

**634** aut levis ocreas lento ducunt argento;  
or smooth greaves out of pliant silver;

**635** vomeris huc et falcis honos, huc omnis aratri  
here the honor of the ploughshare and the sickle has gone, here all

**636** cessit amor; recoquunt patrios fornacibus enses.  
love of the plough; they melt their fathers' swords down in the furnaces.

**637** Classica iamque sonant; it bello tessera signum.  
And now the war-horns sound; the watchword goes round for war.

**638** Hic galeam tectis trepidus rapit, ille frementis  
This man grabs a helmet from the house in his haste, that one forces

**639** ad iuga cogit equos clipeumque auroque trilicem  
his snorting horses to the yoke, and puts on his shield and the corselet

**640** loricam induitur fidoque accingitur ense.  
triple-threaded with gold, and belts on his trusted sword.

**641** Pandite nunc Helicona, deae, cantusque movete,  
Open Helicon now, goddesses, and set the singing going:

**642** qui bello exciti reges, quae quemque secutae  
what kings were stirred up for war, what lines of battle followed

**643** complerint campos acies, quibus Itala iam tum  
each of them and filled the plains, with what men the Italian

**644** floruerit terra alma viris, quibus arserit armis.  
land, the nurse, was flowering even then, with what arms she burned.

**645** Et meministis enim, divae, et memorare potestis:  
For you remember it, goddesses, and you can call it to mind;

**646** ad nos vix tenuis famae perlabitur aura.  
to us barely a thin breath of the report comes gliding down.

**647** Primus init bellum Tyrrhenis asper ab oris  
First into the war goes harsh Mezentius, from Tyrrhenian shores,

**648** contemptor divom Mezentius agminaque armat.  
despiser of the gods, and he arms his columns.
> A man who scorns the gods: contemptor divom means 'despiser of the gods', from contemno, 'to scorn', with divom an old genitive plural of divus, 'god'. The catalogue opens on Mezentius as the one man defined by having no religion at all, set directly against Aeneas's pius, 'dutiful'.

**649** Filius huic iuxta Lausus, quo pulchrior alter  
Beside him his son Lausus, than whom no other was more beautiful

**650** non fuit excepto Laurentis corpore Turni,  
but for the body of Laurentine Turnus,

**651** Lausus, equum domitor debellatorque ferarum,  
Lausus, tamer of horses and beater-down of wild beasts,

**652** ducit Agyllina nequiquam ex urbe secutos  
who leads a thousand men out of the city of Agylla, who followed him

**653** mille viros, dignus, patriis qui laetior esset  
for nothing: worth a happier obedience than his father's,

**654** imperiis et cui pater haud Mezentius esset.  
and worth having had any father but Mezentius.

**655** Post hos insignem palma per gramina currum  
After these, over the grass, handsome Aventinus shows off

**656** victoresque ostentat equos satus Hercule pulchro  
a chariot marked with the palm and horses that have won,

**657** pulcher Aventinus, clipeoque insigne paternum  
the son of handsome Hercules; and on his shield he carries his father's

**658** centum angues cinctamque gerit serpentibus hydram;  
device, a hundred snakes and the hydra girt with serpents;

**659** collis Aventini silva quem Rhea sacerdos  
whom the priestess Rhea brought out in a hidden birth

**660** furtivum partu sub luminis edidit oras,  
into the shores of light, in the wood of the Aventine hill,

**661** mixta deo mulier, postquam Laurentia victor  
a woman who lay with a god, after the man of Tiryns in victory,

**662** Geryone extincto Tirynthius attigit arva  
Geryon put out, came to the Laurentine fields

**663** Tyrrhenoque boves in flumine lavit Hiberas.  
and washed his Spanish cattle in the Tuscan river.

**664** Pila manu saevosque gerunt in bella dolones  
In their hands they carry javelins to war, and cruel pikes,

**665** et tereti pugnant mucrone veruque Sabello.  
and they fight with the rounded point and the Sabellian spit.

**666** Ipse pedes, tegumen torquens immane leonis,  
He himself on foot, swinging the huge hide of a lion,

**667** terribili impexum saeta cum dentibus albis  
shaggy with its terrible bristle, its white teeth

**668** indutus capiti, sic regia tecta subibat,  
drawn over his head, so he used to come up to the royal house,

**669** horridus, Herculeoque umeros innexus amictu.  
bristling, his shoulders knotted into the cloak of Hercules.

**670** Tum gemini fratres Tiburtia moenia linquunt,  
Then twin brothers leave the walls of Tibur

**671** fratris Tiburti dictam cognomine gentem,  
and the people named after their brother Tiburtus,

**672** Catillusque acerque Coras, Argiva iuventus,  
Catillus and keen Coras, young men out of Argos,

**673** et primam ante aciem densa inter tela feruntur:  
and are carried in front of the first line, among close-set spears:
> A preposition placed second: ante and inter both follow the nouns they govern, primam aciem and densa tela, instead of standing first as prose would. This is anastrophe: Latin verse can reverse a preposition's order for the metre, putting the spears ahead of the men moving through them.

**674** ceu duo nubigenae cum vertice montis ab alto  
as when two cloud-born centaurs come down from the high

**675** descendunt centauri, Homolen Othrymque nivalem  
top of a mountain, leaving Homole and snowy Othrys

**676** linquentes cursu rapido; dat euntibus ingens  
at a fast run; the huge wood gives them room

**677** silva locum et magno cedunt virgulta fragore.  
as they go, and the thickets give way with a great crashing.

**678** Nec Praenestinae fundator defuit urbis,  
Nor was the founder of the city of Praeneste missing,

**679** Volcano genitum pecora inter agrestia regem  
a king fathered by Vulcan among the country herds

**680** inventumque focis omnis quem credidit aetas  
and found at a hearth, as every age has believed:

**681** Caeculus. Hunc late legio comitatur agrestis:  
Caeculus. A country levy goes with him, spread wide:

**682** quique altum Praeneste viri quique arva Gabinae  
men who hold high Praeneste, and the fields of Gabine

**683** Iunonis gelidumque Anienem et roscida rivis  
Juno, and the cold Anio, and the Hernican rocks

**684** Hernica saxa colunt, quos dives Anagnia pascit,  
wet with their streams, whom rich Anagnia pastures,

**685** quos, Amasene pater. Non illis omnibus arma,  
and whom you feed, father Amasenus. Not all of them have arms,

**686** nec clipei currusve sonant: pars maxima glandes  
nor do shields or chariots sound for them: most of them sling

**687** liventis plumbi spargit, pars spicula gestat  
bullets of bruise-colored lead; some carry two javelins
> Bullets shaped like acorns: glandes means 'acorns', the same word Latin uses for cast lead sling bullets shaped like one. liventis, 'bruise-colored', describes the lead itself, so the standard missile of light troops is named for its color before it has struck anyone.

**688** bina manu, fulvosque lupi de pelle galeros  
in the hand, and for a covering on the head they wear tawny caps

**689** tegmen habent capiti, vestigia nuda sinistri  
of wolfskin; they have made a rule of setting the left foot's

**690** instituere pedis, crudus tegit altera pero.  
tread down bare, and a rawhide boot covers the other.

**691** At Messapus, equum domitor, Neptunia proles,  
But Messapus, tamer of horses, the offspring of Neptune,

**692** quem neque fas igni cuiquam nec sternere ferro,  
whom it is right for no man to lay low with fire or with iron,

**693** iam pridem resides populos desuetaque bello  
suddenly calls to arms peoples long settled, and columns

**694** agmina in arma vocat subito ferrumque retractat.  
grown unused to war, and takes up the sword again.

**695** Hi Fescenninas acies Aequosque Faliscos.  
These are the ranks of Fescennium and the Aequi Falisci.

**696** Hi Soractis habent arces Flaviniaque arva  
These hold the citadels of Soracte and the Flavinian fields

**697** et Cimini cum monte lacum lucosque Capenos.  
and the lake of Ciminus with its mountain, and the groves of Capena.

**698** Ibant aequati numero regemque canebant,  
They marched matched in their numbers and sang their king,

**699** ceu quondam nivei liquida inter nubila cycni,  
as sometimes snowy swans among the clear clouds,

**700** cum sese e pastu referunt et longa canoros  
when they come back from their feeding and give tuneful

**701** dant per colla modos, sonat amnis et Asia longe  
measures through their long necks; the river rings, and far off the Asian

**702** pulsa palus.  
marsh, struck.
> The shortest broken line: The hexameter stops after two words, the shortest of the unfinished lines in this book. It falls in the middle of a simile, and we leave the English as short as the Latin, with the participle pulsa, 'struck', left hanging on its noun.

**703** Nec quisquam aeratas acies ex agmine tanto  
No one would take it for bronze-clad lines massing
> A mood for an imagined viewer: putet is a potential subjunctive standing alone: 'no one would think it', with no verb of wishing or commanding nearby. Latin uses the mood this way to describe what an imagined observer would do, placing the reader inside the simile.

**704** misceri putet, aeriam sed gurgite ab alto  
out of so great a host, but for a high cloud of hoarse birds

**705** urgueri volucrum raucarum ad litora nubem.  
driven in to the shore out of the deep gulf.

**706** Ecce Sabinorum prisco de sanguine magnum  
Look: out of the ancient blood of the Sabines, Clausus,

**707** agmen agens Clausus magnique ipse agminis instar,  
leading a great column, and himself worth a great column,
> A word that means equivalent: instar is an indeclinable noun, used with a genitive to mean 'the equivalent of' or 'the full measure of'. Clausus leads a great column, and instar says he is himself worth one, a measurement of his value rather than a compliment.

**708** Claudia nunc a quo diffunditur et tribus et gens  
from whom the Claudian tribe and clan now spreads out

**709** per Latium, postquam in partem data Roma Sabinis.  
through Latium, since Rome was given in part to the Sabines.

**710** Una ingens Amiterna cohors priscique Quirites,  
With him one huge cohort of Amiternum, and the old Quirites,

**711** Ereti manus omnis oliviferaeque Mutuscae;  
the whole force of Eretum and of olive-bearing Mutusca;

**712** qui Nomentum urbem, qui Rosea rura Velini,  
men who hold the town of Nomentum, the Rosean country of Velinus,

**713** qui Tetricae horrentis rupes montemque Severum  
the crags of bristling Tetrica and Mount Severus,

**714** Casperiamque colunt Forulosque et flumen Himellae,  
and Casperia and Foruli and the river Himella,

**715** qui Tiberim Fabarimque bibunt, quos frigida misit  
who drink Tiber and Fabaris, whom cold Nursia

**716** Nursia, et Hortinae classes populique Latini,  
sent, and the levies of Horta and the Latin peoples,

**717** quosque secans infaustum interluit Allia nomen:  
and those the Allia runs between and cuts, an unlucky name:

**718** quam multi Libyco volvuntur marmore fluctus  
as many as the waves that roll over the Libyan marble

**719** saevus ubi Orion hibernis conditur undis;  
where savage Orion goes down under the winter water;

**720** vel cum sole novo densae torrentur aristae  
or as thick as the ears of grain scorched under a new sun

**721** aut Hermi campo aut Lyciae flaventibus arvis.  
on the plain of Hermus, or in the yellowing fields of Lycia.

**722** Scuta sonant pulsuque pedum conterrita tellus.  
The shields ring, and the earth is terrified by the beat of feet.

**723** Hinc Agamemnonius, Troiani nominis hostis,  
Next Halaesus, of Agamemnon's line, enemy of the Trojan name,

**724** curru iungit Halaesus equos Turnoque ferocis  
yokes his horses to the chariot, and hauls in for Turnus

**725** mille rapit populos, vertunt felicia Baccho  
a thousand fierce peoples: men who turn with the mattock the Massic

**726** Massica qui rastris et quos de collibus altis  
soil that is lucky in wine, and those whom the Auruncan fathers

**727** Aurunci misere patres, Sidicinaque iuxta  
sent down from the high hills, and the Sidicine flats beside them,

**728** aequora quique Cales linquunt, amnisque vadosi  
and men who leave Cales, and the neighbor of the shoal-ridden

**729** accola Volturni, pariterque Saticulus asper  
Volturnus, and along with them harsh Saticulus

**730** Oscorumque manus. Teretes sunt aclydes illis  
and a force of Oscans. Their weapons are smooth-turned
> A club on a strap: aclydes are short throwing-clubs, fastened to a thong, lento flagello, 'a supple strap', so a man could pull one back after the cast. It is native Italian gear that a Greek or Roman soldier would not carry, equipment Vergil's readers would find foreign.

**731** tela, sed haec lento mos est aptare flagello;  
throwing-clubs, and it is their custom to fit them to a pliant thong;

**732** laevas caetra tegit, falcati comminus enses.  
a small round shield covers the left arm; at close quarters, hooked swords.

**733** Nec tu carminibus nostris indictus abibis,  
Nor will you go unspoken of in our song,
> The poet speaks directly: The catalogue has run in the third person for ninety lines; here Vergil switches to tu, 'you', addressing Oebalus directly. He does the same twice more nearby, and each time the shift falls on a man about to die.

**734** Oebale, quem generasse Telon Sebethide nympha  
Oebalus, whom Telon is said to have fathered on the nymph
> A personal passive with an infinitive: fertur, 'he is said', takes a nominative subject, Telon, with the infinitive generasse hanging off it, rather than the impersonal 'it is said that he fathered'. generasse is the usual contraction of generavisse, 'to have fathered'.

**735** fertur, Teleboum Capreas cum regna teneret,  
of Sebethus, when he held the Teleboan kingdom of Capreae,

**736** iam senior; patriis sed non et filius arvis  
already an old man; but the son was not content with his father's

**737** contentus late iam tum dicione premebat  
fields, and even then held down under his rule, far and wide,

**738** Sarrastis populos et quae rigat aequora Sarnus  
the Sarrastian peoples and the flats the Sarnus waters,

**739** quique Rufras Batulumque tenent atque arva Celemnae  
and men who hold Rufrae and Batulum and the fields of Celemna,

**740** et quos maliferae despectant moenia Abellae,  
and those the walls of apple-bearing Abella look down on,

**741** Teutonico ritu soliti torquere cateias,  
used to hurling the cateia in the German fashion,
> A foreign weapon in Italy: cateiae were heavy throwing-sticks that returned to the thrower, weapons Roman writers associated with tribes across the Rhine. Vergil arms south Italians with them and names the connection outright, Teutonico ritu, 'in the German fashion', giving the catalogue equipment that is foreign here.

**742** tegmina quis capitum raptus de subere cortex,  
whose head-covering is bark stripped off the cork tree,

**743** aerataeque micant peltae, micat aereus ensis.  
and their bronzed shields flash, and the bronze sword flashes.

**744** Et te montosae misere in proelia Nersae,  
And mountainous Nersae sent you too into the fighting,

**745** Ufens, insignem fama et felicibus armis;  
Ufens, marked out by report and by lucky arms;

**746** horrida praecipue cui gens adsuetaque multo  
whose people are rough beyond the rest, and used to much

**747** venatu nemorum, duris Aequicula glaebis.  
hunting in the woods, the Aequiculi, on hard ground.

**748** Armati terram exercent, semperque recentis  
They work the earth under arms, and it is always their delight

**749** convectare iuvat praedas et vivere rapto.  
to cart in fresh plunder and to live off what they take.

**750** Quin et Marruvia venit de gente sacerdos,  
There came besides a priest out of the Marruvian people,

**751** fronde super galeam et felici comptus oliva.  
dressed with leaves over his helmet, and with lucky olive,

**752** Archippi regis missu, fortissimus Umbro,  
sent by king Archippus, Umbro, bravest of them,

**753** vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris  
who used to scatter sleep over the viper race and over the water-snakes

**754** spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat  
of heavy breath, by his singing and by his hand,

**755** mulcebatque iras et morsus arte levabat.  
and would soothe their rages and ease their bites by his art.

**756** Sed non Dardaniae medicari cuspidis ictum  
But he had no power to heal the stroke of a Dardanian

**757** evaluit, neque eum iuvere in volnera cantus  
spearpoint, and the sleep-bringing songs were no help to him

**758** somniferi et Marsis quaesitae montibus herbae.  
in his wounds, nor the herbs looked for in the Marsian mountains.

**759** Te nemus Angitiae, vitrea te Fucinus unda,  
The grove of Angitia wept for you, Fucinus with his glassy water,

**760** te liquidi flevere lacus.  
for you the clear lakes wept.
> Repetition, then silence: te, 'you', opens each of three successive clauses of lament in a row, and then the verse breaks off unfinished. We leave the English fragment the same length as the Latin, with nothing added after it.

**761** Ibat et Hippolyti proles pulcherrima bello,  
Hippolytus' son went to the war too, most beautiful of them,

**762** Virbius, insignem quem mater Aricia misit,  
Virbius, whom his mother Aricia sent, a marked man,

**763** eductum Egeriae lucis umentia circum  
raised in the groves of Egeria, around the wet

**764** litora, pinguis ubi et placabilis ara Dianae.  
shores where Diana's altar is rich and easily appeased.

**765** Namque ferunt fama Hippolytum, postquam arte novercae  
For the story is told that Hippolytus, after he fell

**766** occiderit patriasque explerit sanguine poenas  
by a stepmother's craft, and paid out his father's vengeance in blood,

**767** turbatis distractus equis, ad sidera rursus  
torn apart by his panicked horses, came back again to the stars

**768** aetheria et superas caeli venisse sub auras,  
of heaven, and up under the upper air of the sky,

**769** Paeoniis revocatum herbis et amore Dianae.  
called back by healing herbs and by Diana's love.

**770** Tum pater omnipotens, aliquem indignatus ab umbris  
Then the all-powerful father, resenting that any mortal

**771** mortalem infernis ad lumina surgere vitae,  
should rise out of the shades below to the light of life,

**772** ipse repertorem medicinae talis et artis  
himself with a thunderbolt drove the discoverer of such a medicine

**773** fulmine Phoebigenam Stygias detrusit ad undas.  
and such an art, the son of Phoebus, down to the Stygian water.
> A compound coined by Vergil: Phoebigenam means 'born of Phoebus', a compound Vergil seems to have coined for Asclepius, god of medicine. Jupiter killed him for raising Hippolytus from the dead, a rule stated plainly the line before and one Aeneas has already broken, in Book 6.

**774** At Trivia Hippolytum secretis alma recondit  
But kindly Trivia hid Hippolytus away in secret

**775** sedibus et nymphae Egeriae nemorique relegat,  
places, and hands him over to the nymph Egeria and her wood,

**776** solus ubi in silvis Italis ignobilis aevom  
where alone in the Italian woods, with no name, he should wear out

**777** exigeret versoque ubi nomine Virbius esset.  
his lifetime, and where, his name turned about, he should be Virbius.
> An old spelling, a purpose clause: aevom is an old spelling of aevum, 'lifetime', with -om where classical Latin later wrote -um. exigeret and esset are purpose subjunctives: Diana hides him so that he would live out his years and so that he would come to be called Virbius.

**778** Unde etiam templo Triviae lucisque sacratis  
That is why horn-footed horses are kept away from Trivia's temple

**779** cornipedes arcentur equi, quod litore currum  
and from her hallowed groves, because on the shore, in terror

**780** et iuvenem monstris pavidi effudere marinis.  
at monsters out of the sea, they spilled chariot and young man.

**781** Filius ardentis haud setius aequore campi  
The son, no less for that, was working burning horses over the level

**782** exercebat equos curruque in bella ruebat.  
of the plain, and rushing into war in a chariot.

**783** Ipse inter primos praestanti corpore Turnus  
Turnus himself moves among the first, outstanding in body,

**784** vertitur arma tenens et toto vertice supra est.  
moves under arms, and stands a whole head above them.

**785** Cui triplici crinita iuba galea alta Chimaeram  
His tall helmet, maned with a triple crest, holds up

**786** sustinet, Aetnaeos efflantem faucibus ignis:  
a Chimaera breathing the fires of Etna out of her jaws:

**787** tam magis illa fremens et tristibus effera flammis,  
and the more she roars, and runs wild with grim flames,
> The more, the more: tam magis and quam magis are a correlative pair, 'the more ... the more', measuring one thing against another. Vergil sets the two clauses in successive lines, so the growing violence and the roaring bronze figure escalate together, line by line.

**788** quam magis effuso crudescunt sanguine pugnae.  
the more the fighting grows raw with blood poured out.

**789** At levem clipeum sublatis cornibus Io  
But Io, her horns lifted, was blazoned in gold on his smooth

**790** auro insignibat, iam saetis obsita, iam bos  
shield, already grown over with bristles, already a cow

**791** (argumentum ingens), et custos virginis Argus  
(a huge subject), and Argus, the girl's keeper,

**792** caelataque amnem fundens pater Inachus urna.  
and father Inachus pouring his river from a chased urn.

**793** Insequitur nimbus peditum clipeataque totis  
A storm-cloud of foot soldiers follows, and the shield-bearing

**794** agmina densentur campis, Argivaque pubes  
columns thicken over the whole plain: Argive young men

**795** Auruncaeque manus, Rutuli veteresque Sicani  
and Auruncan companies, Rutulians and the old Sicani,

**796** et Sacranae acies et picti scuta Labici;  
and the lines of the Sacrani, and the Labici with painted shields;

**797** qui saltus, Tiberine, tuos sacrumque Numici  
men who plow your glades, Tiber, and the holy shore

**798** litus arant Rutulosque exercent vomere colles  
of Numicus, and work the Rutulian hills with the ploughshare,

**799** Circaeumque iugum, quis Iuppiter Anxurus arvis  
and the ridge of Circe, fields where Jupiter of Anxur

**800** praesidet et viridi gaudens Feronia luco;  
presides, and Feronia takes her pleasure in a green grove;

**801** qua Saturae iacet atra palus gelidusque per imas  
where the black marsh of Satura lies, and cold Ufens

**802** quaerit iter vallis atque in mare conditur Ufens.  
looks for his road through the lowest valleys and hides in the sea.

**803** Hos super advenit Volsca de gente Camilla  
On top of all these came Camilla, of the Volscian people,

**804** agmen agens equitum et florentis aere catervas,  
leading a column of horse, squadrons flowering in bronze,

**805** bellatrix, non illa colo calathisve Minervae  
a fighting woman, not one who had trained a woman's hands

**806** femineas adsueta manus, sed proelia virgo  
to the distaff or to Minerva's baskets, but a girl hardened

**807** dura pati cursuque pedum praevertere ventos.  
to bear hard fighting, and to outrun the winds on foot.

**808** Illa vel intactae segetis per summa volaret  
She could have flown over the topmost blades of a standing crop

**809** gramina nec teneras cursu laesisset aristas,  
and not bruised the tender ears as she ran,

**810** vel mare per medium fluctu suspensa tumenti  
or held herself up on the swelling wave through the middle of the sea

**811** ferret iter celeris nec tingueret aequore plantas.  
and taken her road at speed, and never wet her soles in the water.

**812** Illam omnis tectis agrisque effusa iuventus  
All the young men, poured out of the houses and the fields,

**813** turbaque miratur matrum et prospectat euntem,  
and a crowd of mothers, marvel at her and watch her going,

**814** attonitis inhians animis, ut regius ostro  
gaping, their minds struck through, how the royal honor of purple

**815** velet honos levis umeros, ut fibula crinem  
veils her smooth shoulders, how the clasp weaves gold

**816** auro internectat, Lyciam ut gerat ipsa pharetram  
into her hair, how she carries a Lycian quiver herself

**817** et pastoralem praefixa cuspide myrtum.  
and a shepherd's myrtle with an iron point set on it.

---

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.