Aeneid VII.212-322

The Trojans and the Latins are friends now, so everything is totally fine and nothing can go wrong!

He finished speaking, and Ilioneus, following, answered so:

“King, illustrious son of Faunus, no dark tempest driving

us though the waves forced us onto your shores,

no star or coastline deceived us in our course:

we travelled to this city by design, and with willing hearts,

exiled from our kingdom, that was once the greatest

that the sun gazed on as he travelled from the edge of heaven.

The founder of our race is Jove, the sons of Dardanus enjoy

Jove as their ancestor, our king himself is of Jove’s high race:

Trojan Aeneas sends us to your threshold.

The fury of the storm that poured from fierce Mycenae

and crossed the plains of Ida, and how the two worlds of Europe

and Asia clashed, driven by fate, has been heard by those whom

the most distant lands banish to where Ocean circles back,

and those whom the zone of excessive heat, stretched

between the other four, separates from us.¹

Sailing out of that deluge, over many wastes of sea,

we ask a humble home for our country’s gods, and a harmless

stretch of shore, and air and water accessible to all.

We’ll be no disgrace to the kingdom, nor will your reputation

be spoken of lightly, nor gratitude for such an action fade,

nor Ausonia regret taking Troy to her breast.

I swear by the destiny of Aeneas and the power of his right hand,

whether proven by any man in loyalty or war and weapons,

many are the peoples, many are the nations (do not scorn us

because we offer peace-ribbons and words of prayer unasked)

who themselves sought us and wished to join with us;

but through divine destiny we sought out your shores

to carry out its commands. Dardanus sprang from here,

Apollo recalls us to this place, and, with weighty orders, drives us

to Tuscan Tiber and the sacred waters of the Numician fount.

Moreover our king offers you these small tokens of his

former fortune, relics snatched from burning Troy.

His father Anchises poured libations at the altar from this gold,

this was Priam’s burden when by custom he made laws

for the assembled people, the sceptre and sacred turban,

and the clothes laboured on by the daughters of Ilium.”

At Ilioneus’s words Latinus kept his face set firmly

downward, fixed motionless towards the ground, moving his eyes

alone intently. It is not the embroidered purple that moves

the king nor Priam’s sceptre, so much as his dwelling

on his daughter’s marriage and her bridal-bed,

and he turns over in his mind old Faunus’s oracle:

this must be the man from a foreign house, prophesied

by the fates as my son-in-law and summoned to reign

with equal powers, whose descendants will be illustrious

in virtue, and whose might will take possession of all the world.

At last he spoke joyfully: “May the gods favour this beginning

and their prophecy. Trojan, what you wish shall be granted.

I do not reject your gifts: you will not lack the wealth

of fertile fields, or Troy’s wealth, while Latinus is king.

Only, if Aeneas has such longing for us, if he is eager

to join us in friendship and be called our ally, let him come

himself and not be afraid of a friendly face: it will be

part of the pact, to me, to have touched your leader’s hand.

Now you in turn take my reply to the king:

I have a daughter whom the oracles from my father’s shrine

and many omens from heaven will not allow to unite

with a husband of our race; sons will come from foreign shores

whose blood will raise our name to the stars: this they prophesy

is in store for Latium. I both think and, if my mind foresees

the truth, I hope that this is the man destiny demands.”

So saying the king selected stallions from his whole stable

(three hundred stood there sleekly in their high stalls);

immediately he ordered one to be led to each Trojan by rank,

caparisoned in purple, swift-footed, with embroidered housings

(gold collars hung low over their chests, covered in gold,

they even champed bits of yellow gold between their teeth),

and for the absent Aeneas there was a chariot with twin horses

of heaven’s line, blowing fire from their nostrils,

bastards of that breed of her father’s, the Sun, that cunning

Circe had produced by mating them with a mortal mare.

The sons of Aeneas, mounting the horses, rode back

with these words and gifts of Latinus, bearing peace.

But behold, the ferocious wife of Jove returning

from Inachus’s² Argos, winging her airy way,

saw the delighted Aeneas and his Trojan fleet

from the distant sky beyond Sicilian Pachynus.³

She gazed at them, already building houses, already confident

in their land, the ships deserted: she halted, pierced by a bitter pang.

Then shaking her head, she poured these words from her breast:

“Ah, loathsome tribe, and Trojan destiny, opposed to my

own destiny! Could they not have fallen on the Sigean plains,⁴

could they not have been held as captives? Could burning Troy

not have consumed these men? They find a way through

the heart of armies and flames. And I think my powers must

be exhausted at last, or I have come to rest, my anger sated.

Why, when they were thrown out of their country, I ventured

to follow hotly through the waves and challenge them on every ocean.

The forces of sea and sky have been wasted on these Trojans.

What use have the Syrtes been to me, or Scylla, or gaping

Charybdis? They take refuge in their longed-for Tiber’s channel,

indifferent to the sea and to me. Mars had the power

to destroy the Lapiths’ vast race,⁵ the father of the gods himself

conceded ancient Calydon, given Diana’s anger,⁶

and for what sin did the Lapiths or Calydon deserve all that?

But I, Jove’s great Queen, who in my wretchedness had the power

to leave nothing untried, who have turned myself to every means,

am conquered by Aeneas. But if my divine strength is not

enough, I won’t hesitate to seek help wherever it might be:

if I cannot sway the gods, I’ll stir the Acheron.

I accept it’s not granted to me to withhold the Latin kingdom,

and by destiny Lavinia will still unalterably be his bride:

but I can draw such things out and add delays,

and I can destroy the people of these two kings.

Let father and son-in-law unite at the cost of their nations’ lives:

virgin, your dowry will be Rutulian and Trojan blood,

and Bellona, the goddess of war, waits to attend your marriage.

Nor was it Hecuba, Cisseus’s daughter, alone who was pregnant

with a fire-brand, or gave birth to nuptial flames.⁷

Why, Venus is alike in her child, another Paris,

another funeral torch for a resurrected Troy.”

---

Dixerat, et dicta Ilioneus sic voce secutus:

'rex, genus egregium Fauni, nec fluctibus actos

atra subegit hiems vestris succedere terris,

nec sidus regione viae litusve fefellit:               215

consilio hanc omnes animisque volentibus urbem

adferimur pulsi regnis, quae maxima quondam

extremo veniens sol aspiciebat Olympo.

ab Iove principium generis, Iove Dardana pubes

gaudet avo, rex ipse Iovis de gente suprema:               220

Troius Aeneas tua nos ad limina misit.

quanta per Idaeos saevis effusa Mycenis

tempestas ierit campos, quibus actus uterque

Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrerit orbis,

audiit et si quem tellus extrema refuso               225

summovet Oceano et si quem extenta plagarum

quattuor in medio dirimit plaga solis iniqui.

diluvio ex illo tot vasta per aequora vecti

dis sedem exiguam patriis litusque rogamus

innocuum et cunctis undamque auramque patentem.               230

non erimus regno indecores, nec vestra feretur

fama levis tantique abolescet gratia facti,

nec Troiam Ausonios gremio excepisse pigebit.

fata per Aeneae iuro dextramque potentem,

sive fide seu quis bello est expertus et armis:               235

multi nos populi, multae (ne temne, quod ultro

praeferimus manibus vittas ac verba precantia)

et petiere sibi et volvere adiungere gentes;

sed nos fata deum vestras exquirere terras

imperiis egere suis. hinc Dardanus ortus,               240

huc repetit iussisque ingentibus urget Apollo

Tyrrhenum ad Thybrim et fontis vada sacra Numici.

dat tibi praeterea fortunae parva prioris

munera, reliquias Troia ex ardente receptas.

hoc pater Anchises auro libabat ad aras,               245

hoc Priami gestamen erat cum iura vocatis

more daret populis, sceptrumque sacerque tiaras

Iliadumque labor vestes.'

Talibus Ilionei dictis defixa Latinus

obtutu tenet ora soloque immobilis haeret,                250

intentos volvens oculos. nec purpura regem

picta movet nec sceptra movent Priameia tantum

quantum in conubio natae thalamoque moratur,

et veteris Fauni volvit sub pectore sortem:

hunc illum fatis externa ab sede profectum               255

portendi generum paribusque in regna vocari

auspiciis, huic progeniem virtute futuram

egregiam et totum quae viribus occupet orbem.

tandem laetus ait: 'di nostra incepta secundent

auguriumque suum! dabitur, Troiane, quod optas.               260

munera nec sperno: non vobis rege Latino

divitis uber agri Troiaeve opulentia deerit.

ipse modo Aeneas, nostri si tanta cupido est,

si iungi hospitio properat sociusque vocari,

adveniat, vultus neve exhorrescat amicos:               265

pars mihi pacis erit dextram tetigisse tyranni.

vos contra regi mea nunc mandata referte:

est mihi nata, viro gentis quam iungere nostrae

non patrio ex adyto sortes, non plurima caelo

monstra sinunt; generos externis adfore ab oris,               270

hoc Latio restare canunt, qui sanguine nostrum

nomen in astra ferant. hunc illum poscere fata

et reor et, si quid veri mens augurat, opto.'

haec effatus equos numero pater eligit omni

(stabant ter centum nitidi in praesepibus altis);               275

omnibus extemplo Teucris iubet ordine duci

instratos ostro alipedes pictisque tapetis

(aurea pectoribus demissa monilia pendent,

tecti auro fulvum mandunt sub dentibus aurum),

absenti Aeneae currum geminosque iugalis               280

semine ab aetherio spirantis naribus ignem,

illorum de gente patri quos daedala Circe

supposita de matre nothos furata creavit.

talibus Aeneadae donis dictisque Latini

sublimes in equis redeunt pacemque reportant.               285

Ecce autem Inachiis sese referebat ab Argis

saeva Iovis coniunx aurasque invecta tenebat,

et laetum Aenean classemque ex aethere longe

Dardaniam Siculo prospexit ab usque Pachyno.

moliri iam tecta videt, iam fidere terrae,               290

deseruisse rates: stetit acri fixa dolore.

tum quassans caput haec effundit pectore dicta:

'heu stirpem invisam et fatis contraria nostris

fata Phrygum! num Sigeis occumbere campis,

num capti potuere capi? num incensa cremavit               295

Troia viros? medias acies mediosque per ignis

invenere viam. at, credo, mea numina tandem

fessa iacent, odiis aut exsaturata quievi.

quin etiam patria excussos infesta per undas

ausa sequi et profugis toto me opponere ponto.               300

absumptae in Teucros vires caelique marisque.

quid Syrtes aut Scylla mihi, quid vasta Charybdis

profuit? optato conduntur Thybridis alveo

securi pelagi atque mei. Mars perdere gentem

immanem Lapithum valuit, concessit in iras               305

ipse deum antiquam genitor Calydona Dianae,

quod scelus aut Lapithas tantum aut Calydona merentem?

ast ego, magna Iovis coniunx, nil linquere inausum

quae potui infelix, quae memet in omnia verti,

vincor ab Aenea. quod si mea numina non sunt               310

magna satis, dubitem haud equidem implorare quod usquam est:

flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

non dabitur regnis, esto, prohibere Latinis,

atque immota manet fatis Lavinia coniunx:

at trahere atque moras tantis licet addere rebus,               315

at licet amborum populos exscindere regum.

hac gener atque socer coeant mercede suorum:

sanguine Troiano et Rutulo dotabere, virgo,

et Bellona manet te pronuba. nec face tantum

Cisseis praegnas ignis enixa iugalis;               320

quin idem Veneri partus suus et Paris alter,

funestaeque iterum recidiva in Pergama taedae.'

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

1. Referring to the idea that the world was separated into five zones of heat/sun—the two poles on either side, two more temperate regions between them, and a central equatorial zone of heat.

2. legendary first king of the region of Argos

3. a promontory of Sicily

4. a promontory near Troy

5. Likely a reference to the legendary fight between Lapiths and Centaurs that broke out during the wedding of Theseus’s bestie Pirithous.

6. Calydon was a city in Greece to which Diana, goddess of the hunt, sent a ravaging boar, to punish the king for short-changing her rites.

7. Hecuba was the mother of the Paris whose abuction/seduction of Helen sparked the Trojan war; according to legend, shortly before his birth, she had a dream of giving birth to a burning brand, an omen that caused her to cast the infant out onto Mount Ida. (He lived.)