Aeneid I.210-304

The Trojans have dinner. Aeneas's mom is worried. Jupiter reassures her via historical contextualization.

They make ready the game, and the future feast;

they flay the hides from the ribs and lay the flesh bare;

some cut it in pieces, quivering, and fix it on spits,

others place cauldrons on the beach, and feed them with flames.

Then they revive their strength with food, stretched on the grass,

and fill themselves with rich venison and old wine.

When hunger is quenched by the feast, and the remnants cleared,

deep in conversation, they discuss their missing friends,

and, between hope and fear, question whether they live,

or whether they’ve suffered death and no longer hear their name.

Aeneas, the virtuous¹, above all mourns the lot of fierce Orontes,

then that of Amycus, together with Lycus’s cruel fate,

and those of brave Gyus, and brave Cloanthus.

Now, all was complete, when Jupiter, from the heights of the air,

looked down on the sea with its flying sails, and the broad lands,

and the coasts, and the people far and wide, and paused,

at the summit of heaven, and fixed his eyes on the Libyan kingdom.

And as he weighed such cares as he had in his heart, Venus spoke

to him, sadder still, her bright eyes brimming with tears:

“Oh you who rule things human, and divine, with eternal law,

and who terrify them all with your lightning-bolt,

what can my Aeneas² have done to you that’s so serious,

what have the Trojans done, who’ve suffered so much destruction,

to whom the whole world’s closed, because of the Italian lands?

Surely you promised that at some point, as the years rolled by,

the Romans would rise from them, leaders would rise,

restored from Teucer’s³ blood, who would hold power

over the sea, and all the lands. Father, what thought has changed

your mind? It consoled me for the fall of Troy, and its sad ruin,

weighing one destiny, indeed, against opposing destinies:

now the same misfortune follows these men driven on by such

disasters. Great king, what end to their efforts will you give?

Antenor could escape through the thick of the Greek army,

and safely enter the Illyrian gulfs, and deep into the realms

of the Liburnians, and pass the founts of Timavus,

from which the river bursts, with a huge mountainous roar,

through nine mouths, and buries the fields under its noisy flood.

Here, nonetheless, he sited the city of Padua, and homes

for Teucrians, and gave the people a name, and hung up

the arms of Troy: now he’s calmly settled, in tranquil peace.

But we, your race, to whom you permit the heights of heaven,

lose our ships (shameful!), betrayed, because of one person’s anger,

and kept far away from the shores of Italy.

Is this the prize for virtue? Is this how you restore our rule?”

The father of men and gods smiled at her with that look

with which he clears the sky of storms,

kissed his daughter’s lips, and then said this:

“Don’t be afraid, Cytherea⁴, your child’s fate remains unaltered:

You’ll see the city of Lavinium, and the walls I promised,

and you’ll raise great-hearted Aeneas high to the starry sky:

No thought has changed my mind. This son of yours

(since this trouble gnaws at my heart, I’ll speak,

and unroll the secret scroll of destiny)

will wage a mighty war in Italy, destroy proud peoples,

and establish laws and city walls for his warriors,

until a third summer sees his reign in Latium, and

three winter camps pass since the Rutulians were beaten.

But the boy Ascanius, surnamed Iulus now (He was Ilus

while the Ilian⁵ kingdom was a reality) will imperially

complete thirty great circles of the turning months,

and transfer his throne from its site at Lavinium,

and mighty in power, will build the walls of Alba Longa.

Here kings of Hector’s race will reign now

for three hundred years complete, until a royal priestess,

Ilia, heavy with child, shall bear Mars twins.

Then Romulus will further the race, proud in his nurse

the she-wolf’s tawny pelt, and found the walls of Mars,

and call the people Romans, from his own name.

I’ve fixed no limits or duration to their possessions:

I’ve given them empire without end. Why, harsh Juno,

who now torments land, and sea and sky with fear,

will respond to better judgement, and favour the Romans,

masters of the world, and people of the toga, with me:

So it is decreed. A time will come, as the years glide by,

when the Trojan house of Assaracus will force Phthia⁶

into slavery, and be lords of beaten Argos.

From this glorious source a Trojan Caesar will be born,

who will bound the empire with Ocean, his fame with the stars,

Augustus, a Julius, his name descended from the great Iulus.

You, no longer anxious, will receive him one day in heaven,

burdened with Eastern spoils: he’ll be called to in prayer.

Then with wars abandoned, the harsh ages will grow mild:

White haired Trust, and Vesta, Quirinus with his brother Remus⁷

will make the laws: the gates of War, grim with iron,

and narrowed by bars, will be closed⁸: inside impious Rage will roar

frighteningly from blood-stained mouth, seated on savage weapons,

hands tied behind his back, with a hundred knots of bronze.”

Saying this, he sends Mercury, Maia’s son, down from heaven,

so that the country and strongholds of this new Carthage

would open to the Trojans, as guests, and Dido, unaware of fate,

would not keep them from her territory: he flies through the air

with a beating of mighty wings and quickly lands on Libyan shore.

And soon does as commanded, and the Phoenicians set aside

their savage instincts, by the god’s will: the queen above all

adopts calm feelings, and kind thoughts, towards the Trojans.

---

Illi se praedae accingunt, dapibusque futuris;               210

tergora deripiunt costis et viscera nudant;

pars in frusta secant veribusque trementia figunt;

litore aena locant alii, flammasque ministrant.

Tum victu revocant vires, fusique per herbam

implentur veteris Bacchi pinguisque ferinae.               215

Postquam exempta fames epulis mensaeque remotae,

amissos longo socios sermone requirunt,

spemque metumque inter dubii, seu vivere credant,

sive extrema pati nec iam exaudire vocatos.

Praecipue pius Aeneas nunc acris Oronti,               220

nunc Amyci casum gemit et crudelia secum

fata Lyci, fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum.

Et iam finis erat, cum Iuppiter aethere summo

despiciens mare velivolum terrasque iacentis

litoraque et latos populos, sic vertice caeli               225

constitit, et Libyae defixit lumina regnis.

Atque illum talis iactantem pectore curas

tristior et lacrimis oculos suffusa nitentis

adloquitur Venus: 'O qui res hominumque deumque

aeternis regis imperiis, et fulmine terres,               230

quid meus Aeneas in te committere tantum,

quid Troes potuere, quibus, tot funera passis,

cunctus ob Italiam terrarum clauditur orbis?

Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis,

hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri,               235

qui mare, qui terras omni dicione tenerent,

pollicitus, quae te, genitor, sententia vertit?

Hoc equidem occasum Troiae tristisque ruinas

solabar, fatis contraria fata rependens;

nunc eadem fortuna viros tot casibus actos               240

insequitur. Quem das finem, rex magne, laborum?

Antenor potuit, mediis elapsus Achivis,

Illyricos penetrare sinus, atque intima tutus

regna Liburnorum, et fontem superare Timavi,

unde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis               245

it mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti.

Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit

Teucrorum, et genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit

Troia; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit:

nos, tua progenies, caeli quibus adnuis arcem,               250

navibus (infandum!) amissis, unius ob iram

prodimur atque Italis longe disiungimur oris.

Hic pietatis honos? Sic nos in sceptra reponis?'

Olli subridens hominum sator atque deorum,

voltu, quo caelum tempestatesque serenat,               255

oscula libavit natae, dehinc talia fatur:

'Parce metu, Cytherea: manent immota tuorum

fata tibi; cernes urbem et promissa Lavini

moenia, sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli

magnanimum Aenean; neque me sententia vertit.               260

Hic tibi (fabor enim, quando haec te cura remordet,

longius et volvens fatorum arcana movebo)

bellum ingens geret Italia, populosque feroces

contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet,

tertia dum Latio regnantem viderit aestas,               265

ternaque transierint Rutulis hiberna subactis.

At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo

additur,—Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,—

triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis

imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini               270

transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam.

Hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos

gente sub Hectorea, donec regina sacerdos,

Marte gravis, geminam partu dabit Ilia prolem.

Inde lupae fulvo nutricis tegmine laetus               275

Romulus excipiet gentem, et Mavortia condet

moenia, Romanosque suo de nomine dicet.

His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;

imperium sine fine dedi. Quin aspera Iuno,

quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat,               280

consilia in melius referet, mecumque fovebit

Romanos rerum dominos gentemque togatam:

sic placitum. Veniet lustris labentibus aetas,

cum domus Assaraci Phthiam clarasque Mycenas

servitio premet, ac victis dominabitur Argis.               285

Nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar,

imperium oceano, famam qui terminet astris,—

Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo.

Hunc tu olim caelo, spoliis Orientis onustum,

accipies secura; vocabitur hic quoque votis.               290

Aspera tum positis mitescent saecula bellis;

cana Fides, et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus,

iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis

claudentur Belli portae; Furor impius intus,

saeva sedens super arma, et centum vinctus aenis               295

post tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore cruento.'

Haec ait, et Maia genitum demittit ab alto,

ut terrae, utque novae pateant Karthaginis arces

hospitio Teucris, ne fati nescia Dido

finibus arceret: volat ille per aera magnum               300

remigio alarum, ac Libyae citus adstitit oris.

Et iam iussa facit, ponuntque ferocia Poeni

corda volente deo; in primis regina quietum

accipit in Teucros animum mentemque benignam.

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

1. "pius Aeneas;” Aeneas’s main epithet is best translated not directly as religious piety, but as a strong sense of duty (to one’s gods, nation, and people).

2. Aeneas is the son of Venus and a mortal man, Anchises.

3. The Trojans are often called Teucrians, after the first king of Troy.

4. Another name for Venus.

5. Troy was often called Ilium. The switch from Ilus to Iulus (Julius) is significant; Vergil will quite shortly connect Aeneas’s bloodline to that of the Caesars, one of whom was a Iulus himself. In doing so, he plays lip service to Julius Caesar’s claim of divine ancestry through Aeneas (and thus through Venus).

6. The Greek city from whence Achilles and his men came.

7. Quirinus was the god representing Rome, usually depicted as the god-mode version of Romulus.

8. In Roman myth/legend, the gates of the Temple of Janus were kept closed in peacetime and opened when war began. Augustus Caesar’s ascension would usher in the “Pax Romana,” two centuries of relative peace in which the gates were closed more often than usual.