Aeneid III.506-609

Whoa, who just sailed away from that island? Probably nobody.

We sail on over the sea, close to the Ceraunian cliffs nearby,

on course for Italy and the shortest path over the waves.

Meanwhile the sun is setting and the darkened hills are in shadow.

Having shared oars, we stretch out, near the waves, on the surface

of the long-desired land, and, scattered across the dry beach,

we rest our bodies: sleep refreshes our weary limbs.

Night, lead by the Hours, is not yet in mid-course:

Palinurus rises alertly from his couch, tests all

the winds, and listens to the breeze: he notes

all the stars gliding through the silent sky,

Arcturus, the rainy Pleiades, both the Bears,

and surveys Orion, armed with gold. When he sees

that all tallies and the sky is calm, he sounds

a loud call from the ship’s stern: we break camp,

attempt our route, and spread the winged sails.

And now Dawn blushes as she puts the stars to flight,

when we see, far off, dark hills and low-lying Italy.

First Achates proclaims Italy, then my companions

hail Italy with a joyful shout. Then my father Anchises

took up a large bowl, filled it with wine,

and, standing in the high stern, called to the heavens:

“You gods, lords of the sea and earth and storms, carry us

onward on a gentle breeze, and breathe on us with kindness!”

The wind we longed for rises, now as we near, a harbour opens,

and a temple is visible on Minerva’s height;

my companions furl the sails and turn the prows to shore.

The harbour is carved in an arc by the eastern tides:

its jutting rocks boil with salt spray, so that it itself is hidden:

towering cliffs extend their arms in a twin wall,

and the temple lies back from the shore.

Here I see four horses in the long grass, white as snow,

grazing widely over the plain, our first omen.

And my father Anchises cries: “O foreign land, you bring us war:

horses are armed for war, war is what this herd threatens.

Yet those same creatures one day can be yoked to a chariot,

and once yoked will suffer the bridle in harmony:

there’s also hope of peace.” Then we pray to the sacred power

of Pallas, of the clashing weapons, first to receive our cheers,

and clothed in Phrygian robes we veiled our heads before the altar,

and following the urgent command Helenus had given,

we duly made burnt offerings to Argive Juno as ordered.

Without delay, as soon as our vows are fully paid,

we haul on the ends of our canvas-shrouded yard-arms

and leave the home of the Greek race and the fields we mistrust.

Then Tarentum’s bay is seen, Hercules’s city if the tale is true:

Lacinian¹ Juno’s temple rises against it, Caulon’s² fortress,

and Scylaceum’s³ shore of shipwreck.

Then far off Sicilian Etna⁴ appears from the waves,

and we hear the loud roar of the sea, and the distant

tremor of the rocks, and the broken murmurs of the shore,

the shallows boil, and sand mixes with the flood.

Then my father Anchises said: “This must be Charybdis:

these are the cliffs, these are the horrendous rocks Helenus foretold.

Pull away, O comrades, and stand to the oars together.”

They do no less than they’re asked, and Palinurus is the first

to heave his groaning ship into the portside waves;

all our company seek port with oars and sail.

We climb to heaven on the curving flood, and again

sink down with the withdrawing waves to the depths of Hades.

The cliffs boom three times in their rocky caves,

three times we see the spray burst, and the dripping stars.

Then the wind and sunlight desert weary men,

and not knowing the way we drift to the Cyclopes’s shore.

There’s a harbour, itself large and untroubled by the passing winds,

but Etna rumbles nearby with fearsome avalanches,

now it spews black clouds into the sky, smoking

with pitch-black turbulence and glowing ashes,

and throws up balls of flame, licking the stars:

now it hurls high the rocks it vomits, and the mountain’s

torn entrails, and gathers molten lava together in the air

with a roar, boiling from its lowest depths.

The tale is that Enceladus’s⁵ body, scorched by the lightning-bolt,

is buried by that mass, and piled above him, mighty Etna

breathes flames from its riven furnaces,

and as often as he turns his weary flank, all Sicily

quakes and rumbles and clouds the sky with smoke.

That night we hide in the woods, enduring the dreadful shocks,

unable to see what the cause of the sound is,

since there are no heavenly fires, no bright pole

in the starry firmament, but clouds in a darkened sky,

and the dead of night holds the moon in shroud.

Now the next day was breaking with the first light of dawn,

and Aurora had dispersed the moist shadows from the sky,

when suddenly the strange form of an unknown man came out

of the woods, exhausted by the last pangs of hunger,

pitifully dressed, and stretched his hands in supplication

towards the shore. We looked back. Vile with filth, his beard uncut,

his clothing fastened together with thorns: but otherwise a Greek,

once sent to Troy in his country’s armour.

When he saw the Dardan clothes and Trojan weapons, far off,

he hesitated a moment, frightened at the sight,

and checked his steps: then ran headlong to the beach,

with tears and prayers: “The stars be my witness,

the gods, the light in the life-giving sky, Trojans,

take me with you: carry me to any country whatsoever,

that will be fine by me. I know I’m from one of the Greek ships,

and I confess that I made war against Trojan gods.

If my crime is so great an injury to you, scatter me

over the waves for it or drown me in the vast ocean:

if I die, I’ll delight in dying at the hands of men.”

He spoke and clung to my knees, embracing them

and grovelling there. We urged him to say who he was,

born of what blood, then to say what fate pursued him.

---

Prouehimur pelago vicina Ceraunia iuxta,

unde iter Italiam cursusque brevissimus undis.

sol ruit interea et montes umbrantur opaci;

sternimur optatae gremio telluris ad undam

sortiti remos passimque in litore sicco               510

corpora curamus, fessos sopor inrigat artus.

necdum orbem medium Nox Horis acta subibat:

haud segnis strato surgit Palinurus et omnis

explorat ventos atque auribus aera captat;

sidera cuncta notat tacito labentia caelo,               515

Arcturum pluviasque Hyadas geminosque Triones,

armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona.

postquam cuncta videt caelo constare sereno,

dat clarum e puppi signum; nos castra movemus

temptamusque viam et velorum pandimus alas.               520

Iamque rubescebat stellis Aurora fugatis

cum procul obscuros collis humilemque videmus

Italiam. Italiam primus conclamat Achates,

Italiam laeto socii clamore salutant.

tum pater Anchises magnum cratera corona               525

induit implevitque mero, divosque vocavit

stans celsa in puppi:

'di maris et terrae tempestatumque potentes,

ferte viam vento facilem et spirate secundi.'

crebrescunt optatae aurae portusque patescit               530

iam propior, templumque apparet in arce Minervae;

vela legunt socii et proras ad litora torquent.

portus ab Euroo fluctu curvatus in arcum,

obiectae salsa spumant aspergine cautes,

ipse latet: gemino demittunt bracchia muro               535

turriti scopuli refugitque ab litore templum.

quattuor hic, primum omen, equos in gramine vidi

tondentis campum late, candore nivali.

et pater Anchises 'bellum, o terra hospita, portas:

bello armantur equi, bellum haec armenta minantur.                540

sed tamen idem olim curru succedere sueti

quadripedes et frena iugo concordia ferre:

spes et pacis' ait. tum numina sancta precamur

Palladis armisonae, quae prima accepit ovantis,

et capita ante aras Phrygio velamur amictu,               545

praeceptisque Heleni, dederat quae maxima, rite

Iunoni Argiuae iussos adolemus honores.

Haud mora, continuo perfectis ordine votis

cornua velatarum obuertimus antemnarum,

Graiugenumque domos suspectaque linquimus arva.               550

hinc sinus Herculei (si vera est fama) Tarenti

cernitur, attollit se diva Lacinia contra,

Caulonisque arces et navifragum Scylaceum.

tum procul e fluctu Trinacria cernitur Aetna,

et gemitum ingentem pelagi pulsataque saxa               555

audimus longe fractasque ad litora voces,

exsultantque vada atque aestu miscentur harenae.

et pater Anchises 'nimirum hic illa Charybdis:

hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat.

eripite, o socii, pariterque insurgite remis.'               560

haud minus ac iussi faciunt, primusque rudentem

contorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas;

laevam cuncta cohors remis ventisque petivit.

tollimur in caelum curvato gurgite, et idem

subducta ad Manis imos desedimus unda.               565

ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dedere,

ter spumam elisam et rorantia vidimus astra.

interea fessos ventus cum sole reliquit,

ignarique viae Cyclopum adlabimur oris.

Portus ab accessu ventorum immotus et ingens               570

ipse: sed horrificis iuxta tonat Aetna ruinis,

interdumque atram prorumpit ad aethera nubem

turbine fumantem piceo et candente favilla,

attollitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit;

interdum scopulos avulsaque viscera montis               575

erigit eructans, liquefactaque saxa sub auras

cum gemitu glomerat fundoque exaestuat imo.

fama est Enceladi semustum fulmine corpus

urgeri mole hac, ingentemque insuper Aetnam

impositam ruptis flammam exspirare caminis,               580

et fessum quotiens mutet latus, intremere omnem

murmure Trinacriam et caelum subtexere fumo.

noctem illam tecti silvis immania monstra

perferimus, nec quae sonitum det causa videmus.

nam neque erant astrorum ignes nec lucidus aethra               585

siderea polus, obscuro sed nubila caelo,

et lunam in nimbo nox intempesta tenebat.

Postera iamque dies primo surgebat Eoo

umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram,

cum subito e silvis macie confecta suprema               590

ignoti nova forma viri miserandaque cultu

procedit supplexque manus ad litora tendit.

respicimus. dira inluvies immissaque barba,

consertum tegimen spinis: at cetera Graius,

et quondam patriis ad Troiam missus in armis.               595

isque ubi Dardanios habitus et Troia vidit

arma procul, paulum aspectu conterritus haesit

continuitque gradum; mox sese ad litora praeceps

cum fletu precibusque tulit: 'per sidera testor,

per superos atque hoc caeli spirabile lumen,               600

tollite me, Teucri. quascumque abducite terras:

hoc sat erit. scio me Danais e classibus unum

et bello Iliacos fateor petiisse penatis.

pro quo, si sceleris tanta est iniuria nostri,

spargite me in fluctus vastoque immergite ponto;               605

si pereo, hominum manibus periisse iuvabit.'

dixerat et genua amplexus genibusque volutans

haerebat. qui sit fari, quo sanguine cretus,

hortamur, quae deinde agitet fortuna fateri.

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

1. Lacinium was the site of a temple of Juno.

2. A city in southern Italy.

3. Another city in southern Italy. Coastal, hence the shipwrecks.

4. The volcano considered the site of Vulcan’s forge.

5. A Titan defeated by the Olympian gods.