Aeneid Book 2 Quotes

O queen, the sorrow you bid me bring to life again is past all words, the destruction by the Greeks of the wealth of Troy and of the kingdom that will be mourned for ever, and all the horrors I have seen, and in which I played a large part.

Aeneas

No man could speak of such things and not weep, none of the Myrmidons of Achilles or the Dolopians of Neoptolemus, not even a follower of Ulixes, a man not prone to pity.

Aeneas

But if you have such a great desire to know what we suffered, to hear in brief about the last agony of Troy, although my mind recoiled in anguish when you asked and I shudder to remember, I shall begin:

Aeneas

O you poor fools!

Laocoon

Do you seriously believe that your enermies have sailed away?

Laocoon

I tell you there are Greeks hiding in here, shut up in all this wood, or else it is a siege engine designed for use against our walls, to spy on our homes and come down on the city from above, or else there is some other trick we cannot see.

Laocoon

Do not trust the horse, Trojans.

Laocoon

Whatever it is, I am afraid of Greeks, even when they bear gifts.

Laocoon

There is nothing left for a man like me, who has no place among the Greeks, and now here are my enemies the Trojans, baying for my blood.

Sinon

But after he left the shores of this upper world, the victim of the jealousy of Ulixes and his smooth tongue (you all known about Ulixes), I was prostrate and dragged out my life in darkness and grief, brooding to myself over the downfall of my innocent friend, till, like a madman, I broke my silence and promised that I would miss no chance of revenge if ever I came back in victory to our native Argos.

Sinon

If in your eyes all Greeks are the same, and all you have to know is that a man is a Greek, then give me my punishment.

Sinon

When you Greeks first came to Troy you killed a virgin and appeased the winds with her blood.

Eurypylus

With blood you must find a way to return.

Eurypylus

They had all been afraid, but now one man was doomed, and this they could endure.

Sinon

I escaped from death, I admit it, I broke my bonds, and lay hidden all night in the reeds of a marsh, waiting for them to set sail, and wondering if they had.

Sinon

But I beg of you by the gods who know the truth, by any honesty that may survive unsullied between men, pity me in my great suffering.

Sinon

Whoever you are, from this moment on forget the Greeks whom you have lost.

Priam

You will be one of us.

Priam

I call upon you, eternal fires of heaven and your inviolable godhead.

Sinon

I call upon the altars and the impious swords from which I have escaped.

Sinon

It is no sin for me to hate these men and bring all their secrets out into the open.

Sinon

But ever since the impious Diomede and Ulixes, the schemer behind all their crimes, took it upon themselves to tear the fateful Palladium, the image of the goddess, from her own sacred temple in Troy, ever since they slew the guards on the heights of the citadel and dared to touch the sacred bands on the head of the virgin goddess with blood on their hands, from that their strength was broken and the mind of the goddess was set against them.

Sinon

No sooner had they laid down the image in the Greek camp, than its eyes glared and flashed fire, the salt sweat streamed over its limbs and by some miracle the image of the goddess leapt three times from the ground with her shield and spear quivering.

Sinon

For if your hands violate this offering to Minerva, then total destruction shall fall upon the empire of Priam and the Trojans (and may the gods rather send that on his own head).

Sinon

O my native land! O Ilium, home of the gods! O walls of the people of Dardanus, famous in war!

Aeneas

O light of Troy, best hope and trust of all Trojans, what has kept you so long from us?

Aeneas

With what eyes do we look upon you in our weariness after the death of so many of your countrymen, after all the sufferings of your people and your city?

Aeneas

You must escape, son of the goddess.

Hector

The enemy is master of the walls and Troy is falling from her highest pinnacle.

Hector

Take them to share your fate.

Hector

The last day has come for the people of Dardanus.

Panthus

Ilium has come to an end and with it the great glory of the race of Teucer.

Panthus

The horse stands high in the heart of it, pouring out its armed men, and Sinon is in triumph, spreading the flames and gloating over us.

Panthus

You are the bravest of all our warriors, and you bravery is in vain.

Aeneas

All the gods on whom this empire once depended have left their shrines and their altars.

Aeneas

Let us die.

Aeneas

The one safety for the defeated is to have no hope of safety.

Aeneas

Have you just arrived from your tall ships?

Androgeos

Come comrades, let us take the first road Fortune shows us to safety, and go where she shows that she approves.

Coroebus

Let us change shields with the Greeks and put on their insignia.

Coroebus

Is this treachery of is it courage?

Coroebus

Why have you put on this armor?

Hecuba

You are not the defender we are looking for.

Hecuba

Just come here and sit by me.

Hecuba

This altar will protect us all, or you will die with us.

Hecuba

As for you and for what you have done, if there is any power in heaven that cares for such things, may the gods pay you well.

Priam

May they give you the reward you have deserved for making me seen my own son dying before my eyes, for defiling a father’s face with the murder of his son.

Priam

You pretend that Achilles was your father, but this is not how Achilles treated his enemy Priam.

Priam

Let him know about my wicked deeds and do not forget to tell him about the degeneracy of his son Neoptolemus.

Neoptolemus

Now, die.

Neoptolemus.

Will she see her husband, her father’s home and her children and be attended by women of Troy and Phrygian slaves, while Priam lies dead by the sword, Troy has been put to the flames and the shores of the lands of Dardanus have sweated so much blood?

Aeneas

Although there is no fame worth remembering to be won by punishing a woman and such victory wins no praise, nevertheless I shall win praise for blotting out this evil and exacting a punishment which is richly deserved.

Aeneas

Where is all the love you used to have for me?

Venus

The whole Greek army is prowling all around them and they would have been carried of by the flames or slashed by the swords of the enemy if my loving care were not defending them.

Venus

It is not the hated beauty of the Spartan woman, the daughter of Tyndareus, that is overthrowing all this wealth and laying low the topmost towers of Troy, nor is it Paris although you all blame him, it is the gods, the cruelty of the gods.

Venus

Put an end to your struggle, I shall not leave your side till I see you safely standing on the threshold of your father’s door.

Venus

If the gods in heaven had wished me to go on living, they would have preserved this place for me.

Anchises

Here I lie and here I stay.

Anchises

For long years, ever since the Father of the Gods and King of Men blew the wind of his thunderbolt upon me and touched me with its fire, I have been lingering here hated by the gods and useless to me.

Anchises

Bring me my armour, comrades.

Aeneas

Give me back to the Greeks. Let me go back and rejoin the battle. Today we die. But not all of us shall die unavenged.

Aeneas

If you are going to your death, take us with you to share your fate, whatever it is.

Creusa

O, All-powerful Jupiter, if ever you yield to prayers, look down upon us, that is all we ask, and if we deserve anything for our devotion, give us help at last, Father Jupiter, and confirm this omen.

Anchises

Now I follow, O gods of my fathers.

Anchises

Wherever you lead, there am I.

Anchises

Troy is in your mighty hands.

Anchises

Whatever may come, danger or safety, it will be the same for both of us.

Aeneas

I am fresh from all the fighting and killing and it is not right for me to touch them till I have washed in a running stream.

Aeneas

I can see the flames reflected on their shields and the bronze glinting.

Anchises

These things do not happen without the approval of the gods.

Creusa

Before you lies a long exile and a vast expanse of sea to plough before you come to the land of Hesperia where the Lydian river Thybris flows with smooth advance through a rich land of brave warriors.

Creusa

The Great Mother of the Gods keeps me here in the land of Troy.

Creusa

Do not fail in your love for our son.

Creusa