Aeneid I.102-209

Neptune gives the winds a proper talking to. Aeneas terrorizes the local ecosystem and offers a motivational speech.

Hurling these words out, a howling blast from the north

strikes square on the sail, and lifts the seas to heaven.

The oars break: then the prow swings round and offers

the beam to the waves: a steep mountain of water follows in a mass.

Some ships hang on the breaker’s crest: to others the yawning deep

shows land between the waves: the surge rages with sand.

The south wind catches three, and whirls them onto hidden rocks—

rocks the Italians call the Altars, in mid-ocean,

a vast reef on the surface of the sea) three the east wind drives

from the deep, to the shallows and quick-sands (a pitiful sight),

dashes them against the bottom, covers them with a gravel mound.

A huge wave, toppling, strikes one astern, in front of his very eyes,

one carrying faithful Orontes and the Lycians.

The steersman’s thrown out and hurled headlong, face down:

but the sea turns the ship three times, driving her round,

in place, and the swift vortex swallows her in the deep.

Swimmers appear here and there in the vast waste,

men’s weapons, planking, Trojan treasure in the waves.

Now the storm conquers Iloneus’s tough ship, now Achates,

now that in which Abas sailed, and old Aletes’s:

their timbers sprung in their sides, all the ships

let in the hostile tide, and split open at the seams.

Neptune, meanwhile, greatly troubled, saw that the sea

was churned with vast murmur, and the storm was loose

and the still waters welled from their deepest levels:

he raised his calm face from the waves, gazing over the deep.

He sees Aeneas’s fleet scattered all over the ocean,

the Trojans crushed by the breakers, and the plummeting sky.

And Juno’s anger, and her stratagems, do not escape her brother.

He calls the East and West winds to him, and then says:

“Does confidence in your birth fill you so? Winds, do you dare,

without my intent, to mix earth with sky, and cause such trouble,

now? You whom I—! But it’s better to calm the running waves.

You’ll answer to me later for this misfortune, with a different punishment.

Hurry, fly now, and say this to your king:

control of the ocean, and the fierce trident, were given to me,

by lot, and not to him. He owns the wild rocks, home to you,

and yours, East Wind; let Aeolus officiate in his palace,

and be king in the closed prison of the winds.”

So he speaks, and swifter than his speech, he calms the swollen sea,

scatters the gathered cloud, and brings back the sun.

Cymothoë and Triton, working together, thrust the ships

from the sharp reef: Neptune himself raises them with his trident,

parts the vast quicksand, tempers the flood,

and glides on weightless wheels, over the tops of the waves.

As often, when rebellion breaks out in a great nation,

and the common rabble rage with passion, and soon stones

and fiery torches fly (frenzy supplying weapons),

if they then see a man of great virtue, and weighty service,

they are silent, and stand there listening attentively:

he sways their passions with his words and soothes their hearts:

so all the uproar of the ocean died, as soon as their father,

gazing over the water, carried through the clear sky, wheeled

his horses, and gave them their head, flying behind in his chariot.

The weary followers of Aeneas made efforts to set a course

for the nearest land, and tacked towards the Libyan coast.

There is a place there in a deep inlet: an island forms a harbour

with the barrier of its bulk, on which every wave from the deep

breaks, and divides into diminishing ripples.

On this side and that, vast cliffs and twin crags loom in the sky,

under whose summits the whole sea is calm, far and wide:

then, above that, is a scene of glittering woods,

and a dark grove overhangs the water, with leafy shade.

Under the headland opposite is a cave, curtained with rock,

inside it, fresh water, and seats of natural stone,

the home of Nymphs. No hawsers moor the weary ships

here, no anchor, with its hooked flukes, fastens them.

Aeneas takes shelter here with seven ships gathered

from the fleet, and the Trojans, with a passion for dry land,

disembarking, take possession of the sands they longed for,

and stretch their brine-caked bodies on the shore.

At once Achates strikes a spark from his flint,

catches the fire in the leaves, places dry fuel round it,

and quickly has flames among the kindling.

Then, wearied by events, they take out wheat, damaged

by the sea, and implements of Ceres, and prepare to parch

the grain over the flames, and grind it on stone.

Aeneas climbs a crag meanwhile, and searches the whole prospect

far and wide over the sea, looking if he can see anything

of Antheus and his storm-tossed Phrygian¹ galleys,

or Capys, or Caicus’s arms blazoned on a high stern.

There’s no ship in sight: he sees three stags wandering

on the shore: whole herds of deer follow at their back,

and graze in long lines along the valley.

He halts at this, and grasps in his hand his bow

and swift arrows, shafts that loyal Achates carries,

and first he shoots the leaders themselves, their heads,

with branching antlers, held high, then the mass, with his shafts,

and drives the whole crowd in confusion among the leaves:

The conqueror does not stop until he’s scattered seven huge

carcasses on the ground, equal in number to his ships.

Then he seeks the harbour, and divides them among all his friends.

Next he shares out the wine that the good Acestes had stowed

in jars, on the Trinacrian² coast, and that hero had given them

on leaving: and speaking to them, calmed their sad hearts:

“O friends—well, we were not unknown to trouble before—

O you who’ve endured worse, the god will grant an end to this too.

You’ve faced rabid Scylla, and her deep-sounding cliffs:

and you’ve experienced the Cyclopes’s rocks:

remember your courage and chase away gloomy fears:

perhaps one day you’ll even delight in remembering this.

Through all these misfortunes, these dangerous times,

we head for Latium, where the fates hold peaceful lives

for us: there Troy’s kingdom can rise again. Endure,

and preserve yourselves for happier days.”

So his voice utters, and sick with the weight of care, he pretends

hope, in his look, and stifles the pain deep in his heart.³

---

Talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella

velum adversa ferit, fluctusque ad sidera tollit.

Franguntur remi; tum prora avertit, et undis

dat latus; insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae mons.               105

Hi summo in fluctu pendent; his unda dehiscens

terram inter fluctus aperit; furit aestus harenis.

Tris Notus abreptas in saxa latentia torquet—

saxa vocant Itali mediis quae in fluctibus aras—

dorsum immane mari summo; tris Eurus ab alto               110

in brevia et Syrtis urget, miserabile visu,

inliditque vadis atque aggere cingit harenae.

Unam, quae Lycios fidumque vehebat Oronten,

ipsius ante oculos ingens a vertice pontus

in puppim ferit: excutitur pronusque magister               115

volvitur in caput; ast illam ter fluctus ibidem

torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequore vortex.

Adparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto,

arma virum, tabulaeque, et Troia gaza per undas.

Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati,               120

et qua vectus Abas, et qua grandaevus Aletes,

vicit hiems; laxis laterum compagibus omnes

accipiunt inimicum imbrem, rimisque fatiscunt.

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,

emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus, et imis               125

stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et alto

prospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.

Disiectam Aeneae, toto videt aequore classem,

fluctibus oppressos Troas caelique ruina,

nec latuere doli fratrem Iunonis et irae.               130

Eurum ad se Zephyrumque vocat, dehinc talia fatur:

'Tantane vos generis tenuit fiducia vestri?

Iam caelum terramque meo sine numine, venti,

miscere, et tantas audetis tollere moles?

Quos ego—sed motos praestat componere fluctus.               135

Post mihi non simili poena commissa luetis.

Maturate fugam, regique haec dicite vestro:

non illi imperium pelagi saevumque tridentem,

sed mihi sorte datum. Tenet ille immania saxa,

vestras, Eure, domos; illa se iactet in aula               140

Aeolus, et clauso ventorum carcere regnet.'

Sic ait, et dicto citius tumida aequora placat,

collectasque fugat nubes, solemque reducit.

Cymothoe simul et Triton adnixus acuto

detrudunt navis scopulo; levat ipse tridenti;               145

et vastas aperit syrtis, et temperat aequor,

atque rotis summas levibus perlabitur undas.

Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est

seditio, saevitque animis ignobile volgus,

iamque faces et saxa volant—furor arma ministrat;               150

tum, pietate gravem ac meritis si forte virum quem

conspexere, silent, arrectisque auribus adstant;

ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet,—

sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor, aequora postquam

prospiciens genitor caeloque invectus aperto               155

flectit equos, curruque volans dat lora secundo.

Defessi Aeneadae, quae proxima litora, cursu

contendunt petere, et Libyae vertuntur ad oras.

Est in secessu longo locus: insula portum

efficit obiectu laterum, quibus omnis ab alto               160

frangitur inque sinus scindit sese unda reductos.

Hinc atque hinc vastae rupes geminique minantur

in caelum scopuli, quorum sub vertice late

aequora tuta silent; tum silvis scaena coruscis

desuper horrentique atrum nemus imminet umbra.               165

Fronte sub adversa scopulis pendentibus antrum,

intus aquae dulces vivoque sedilia saxo,

nympharum domus: hic fessas non vincula navis

ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu.

Huc septem Aeneas collectis navibus omni               170

ex numero subit; ac magno telluris amore

egressi optata potiuntur Troes harena,

et sale tabentis artus in litore ponunt.

Ac primum silici scintillam excudit Achates,

succepitque ignem foliis, atque arida circum               175

nutrimenta dedit, rapuitque in fomite flammam.

Tum Cererem corruptam undis Cerealiaque arma

expediunt fessi rerum, frugesque receptas

et torrere parant flammis et frangere saxo.

Aeneas scopulum interea conscendit, et omnem               180

prospectum late pelago petit, Anthea si quem

iactatum vento videat Phrygiasque biremis,

aut Capyn, aut celsis in puppibus arma Caici.

Navem in conspectu nullam, tris litore cervos

prospicit errantis; hos tota armenta sequuntur               185

a tergo, et longum per vallis pascitur agmen.

Constitit hic, arcumque manu celerisque sagittas

corripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates;

ductoresque ipsos primum, capita alta ferentis

cornibus arboreis, sternit, tum volgus, et omnem               190

miscet agens telis nemora inter frondea turbam;

nec prius absistit, quam septem ingentia victor

corpora fundat humi, et numerum cum navibus aequet.

Hinc portum petit, et socios partitur in omnes.

Vina bonus quae deinde cadis onerarat Acestes               195

litore Trinacrio dederatque abeuntibus heros,

dividit, et dictis maerentia pectora mulcet:

'O socii—neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum—

O passi graviora, dabit deus his quoque finem.

Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantis               200

accestis scopulos, vos et Cyclopea saxa

experti: revocate animos, maestumque timorem

mittite: forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum

tendimus in Latium; sedes ubi fata quietas               205

ostendunt; illic fas regna resurgere Troiae.

Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis.'

Talia voce refert, curisque ingentibus aeger

spem voltu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem.

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Find the glossary for Aeneid Daily here; subscribe to receive daily posts.

1. Another word used to mean “Trojan;” Phyrgia was a region allied with Troy.

2. Sicilian

3. “I think he’s, like, clinically unbelievably depressed” —my professor