Aeneid IV ~ Virgil

Latin Verse A-Level OCR

At regina gravi iamdudum saucia cura

vulnus alit venis et caeco carpitur igni.

multa viri virtus animo multusque recursat

gentis honos; haerent infixi pectore vultus

verbaque nec placidam membris dat cura quietem.

But the queen for a long time already was wounded by a deep concern,

feeding it from her veins and being worn away by a hidden flame.

Often the courage of the man [Aeneas] and often the honour of his family returned

to her mind; his expressions and words imprinted on her heart

and her worry does not give peaceful rest to her limbs.

postera Phoebea lustrabat lampade terras

umentemque Aurora polo dimoverat umbram,

cum sic unanimam adloquitur male sana sororem:

‘Anna soror, quae me suspensam insomnia terrent!

quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus hospes,

quem sese ore ferens, quam forti pectore et armis!

The following dawn was traversing the land by the light of the sun

and had moved the dewy shadow from the sky,

when she spoke thus out of her mind to her loving sister:

‘O Anna, what dreams terrify me in my state of anxiety!

What a man is this new guest who has come to our home,

how noble his bearing and face, with how strong a chest and shoulders!

credo equidem, nec vana fides, genus esse deorum.

degeneres animos timor arguit. heu, quibus ille

iactatus fatis! quae bella exhausta canebat!

si mihi non animo fixum immotumque sederet

ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare iugali,

postquam primus amor deceptam morte fefellit;

Indeed I believe, nor is my belief vain, that he is sprung from the gods.

Fear betrays degenerate hearts. Alas, by what fates he

has been tossed about! What wars endured to the end!

If it did not sit in my heart so firmly that I should

not be willing to ally myself to any man by the chain of marriage,

since my first love deceived and escaped me in death;

si non pertaesum thalami taedaeque fuisset,

huic uni forsan potui succumbere culpae.

Anna (fatebor enim) miseri post fata Sychaei

coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede penatis

solus hic inflexit sensus animumque labantem impulit.

If I had not become weary of the bridal bed and marriage torch,

perhaps I could have yielded to this one temptation. 

Anna (for I will confess it) ever since the death of my poor husband Sychaeus

and the household gods spattered with a brother’s slaughter,

this man is the only one who has swayed my feelings and has driven my wavering resolve.

agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.

sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat

vel pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,

pallentis umbras Erebo noctemque profundam,

ante, pudor, quam te violo aut tua iura resolvo.

ille meos, primus qui me sibi iunxit, amores

abstulit; ille habeat secum seruetque sepulcro.’

sic effata sinum lacrimis impleuit obortis.

I recognise the signs of the old flames.

But I could wish that either the earth might first gape open for me to its depths

or that the Almighty father might drive me with a thunderbolt down to the shades,

pale shadows of Erebus and the deep night,

before I violate you or break your laws.

He who first united me to himself has taken my love

away; may he keep it with him and guard it in the grave.'

Thus having spoken, she filled her lap with rising tears.

Anna refert: ‘o luce magis dilecta sorori,

solane perpetua maerens carpere iuventa

nec dulcis natos Veneris nec praemia noris?

id cinerem aut manis credis curare sepultos?

Anna replied: ‘O, you who are dearer to me, your sister, than life, 

will you be worn away for the whole of your youth grieving and alone

and will you not have known sweet children or the rewards of love?

Do you believe that ashes or buried spirits care about that?

esto: aegram nulli quondam flexere mariti,

non Libyae, non ante Tyro; despectus Iarbas

ductoresque alii, quos Africa terra triumphis

dives alit: placitone etiam pugnabis amori?

nec venit in mentem quorum consederis arvis?

So be it: no wooers swayed you previously in your sickened state of grief,

neither in Libya, nor before in Tyre; Iarbas was scorned as well as

other leaders, that the land of Africa, rich in

triumphs, nourishes: will you still fight against a love which pleases you?

Doesn’t it occur to you in whose lands you have settled?

hinc Gaetulae urbes, genus insuperabile bello,

et Numidae infreni cingunt et inhospita Syrtis;

hinc deserta siti regio lateque furentes

Barcaei. quid bella Tyro surgentia dicam

germanique minas?

On this side, the Gaetulian cities, a people unconquerable in war,

And the unbridled Numidians and the inhospitable Syrtis surround you;

On that side, there is a region made empty by drought and the far and wide raging Barcaeans.

Why should I mention the wars arising from Tyre and the threats of your brother?

dis equidem auspicibus reor et Iunone secunda

hunc cursum Iliacas vento tenuisse carinas.

quam tu urbem, soror, hanc cernes, quae surgere regna coniugio tali!

Teucrum comitantibus armis

Punica se quantis attollet gloria rebus!

Indeed, I think with the gods as your priests and with Juno’s support

that the Trojan ships held this course with the wind.

What a city you will see this one rise to be, sister, what a kingdom you will see rise by such a marriage!

With the arms of the Trojans accompanying you,

Carthaginian glory will raise itself up!

tu modo posce deos veniam, sacrisque litatis

indulge hospitio causasque innecte morandi,

dum pelago desaevit hiems et aquosus Orion,

quassataeque rates, dum non tractabile caelum.’

All you need to do is ask the gods for pardon, after making holy offerings

And indulge in hospitality and weave reasons for delay,

And while winter and rainy Orion work out their anger on the sea,

And their ships are still in pieces, and while the sky is not friendly.

His dictis incensum animum inflammavit amore

spemque dedit dubiae menti solvitque pudorem.

principio delubra adeunt pacemque per aras

exquirunt; mactant lectas de more bidentis

legiferae Cereri Phoeboque patrique Lyaeo,

Iunoni ante omnis, cui vincla iugalia curae.

With these words, Anna inflamed Dido’s heart with rich love

And gave hope to her wavering mind and released her from the burden of her conscience.

Firstly, they approached the shrines and they sought peace among the altars;

They sacrifice chosen sheep, with proper observance of ritual,

To Ceres and to Phoebus and to father Lyaeus,

And above all to Juno, to whom the bonds of marriage are of concern.

ipsa tenens dextra pateram pulcherrima Dido

candentis vaccae media inter cornua fundit,

aut ante ora deum pinguis spatiatur ad aras,

instauratque diem donis, pecudumque reclusis

pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta.

Dido herself, in all her beauty, holding in her right hand a sacred dish,

She poured it out midway between the horns of the shining white cow,

And she advanced towards the rich altars before the faces of the gods,

And she renewed the day with offerings, and laying open the breasts

of the beasts, she examined the yet-breathing entrails with her mouth open wide.

post ubi digressi, lumenque obscura vicissim

luna premit suadentque cadentia sidera somnos,

sola domo maeret vacua stratisque relictis

incubat. illum absens absentem auditque videtque,

aut gremio Ascanium genitoris imagine capta

detinet, infandum si fallere possit amorem.

Afterwards, when they have parted, and the moon dims its light,

darkening in turn and the setting stars advise sleep,

she grieves alone in the empty house, and she lies upon the abandoned

couches. She both hears and sees him thought they are apart

or she holds Ascanius in her lap, captivated by the image of his father,

in the hope that she might be able to escape her unspeakable love.

non coeptae adsurgunt turres, non arma iuventus

exercet portusve aut propugnacula bello

tuta parant: pendent opera interrupta minaeque

murorum ingentes aequataque machina caelo.

The half-built towers do not rise up, the youth no longer train

in arms, or prepare the harbour or their battlements to be

safe for war: their works hang interrupted, the huge threat

of their walls and the crane level with the sky.

quam simul ac tali persensit peste teneri

cara Iovis coniunx nec famam obstare furori,

talibus adgreditur Venerem Saturnia dictis:

As soon as the dear wife of Jupiter realised that Dido was held by such an illness

and that her reputation was not getting in the way of her madness,

with these words, Saturn’s daughter attacked Venus:

‘egregiam vero laudem et spolia ampla refertis

tuque puerque tuus (magnum et memorabile numen),

una dolo divum si femina victa duorum est.

nec me adeo fallit veritam te moenia nostra

suspectas habuisse domos Karthaginis altae.

‘Indeed, both you and your son are bringing back noble glory

and ample spoils (the great and memorable power that you are),

if one woman has been conquered by the trickery of two divinities.

Nor does it escape me that you, fearing my walls, have regarded

the houses of high Carthage with suspicion.

sed quis erit modus, aut quo nunc certamine tanto?

quin potius pacem aeternam pactosque hymenaeos exercemus?

habes tota quod mente petisti:

ardet amans Dido traxitque per ossa furorem.

communem hunc ergo populum paribusque regamus

auspiciis; liceat Phrygio servire marito

dotalesque tuae Tyrios permittere dextrae.’

But what will be the end, or where now with such great strife?

Why not rather pursue everlasting peace and a pledge of marriage?

You have what you sought with all your mind:

Dido is on fire with love and has dragged the madness through her bones.

Let us therefore rule this people together with equal

authority; let her be a slave to a Trojan husband

and let her entrust her Tyrians to your right-hand as dowry.

olli (sensit enim simulata mente locutam,

quo regnum Italiae Libycas averteret oras)

sic contra est ingressa Venus: ‘quis talia demens

abnuat aut tecum malit contendere bello?

si modo quod memoras factum fortuna sequatur.

In response to Juno, Venus began (for she understood that she had spoken

with feigned intent in order to divert the kingdom of Italy to Libyan shores:

“Who in madness could decline such things

or prefer to compete with you in war?

If only fortune might favour the outcome which you suggest.

sed fatis incerta feror, si Iuppiter unam

esse velit Tyriis urbem Troiaque profectis,

miscerive probet populos aut foedera iungi.

tu coniunx, tibi fas animum temptare precando.

perge, sequar.’ tum sic excepit regia Iuno:

But I am kept uncertain by the fates, whether Jupiter wishes that

there should be one city for the Tyrians and those who set out from Troy,

and approves of peoples being merged or that the treaties be agreed.

You are his wife, it is lawful for you to test his opinion with a request.

Lead on, I shall follow.' Royal Juno then responded in this way:

‘mecum erit iste labor. nunc qua ratione quod instat

confieri possit, paucis (adverte) docebo.

venatum Aeneas unaque miserrima Dido

in nemus ire parant, ubi primos crastinus ortus

extulerit Titan radiisque retexerit orbem.

‘That task will be mine. Now pay attention, I will explain to you

in a few words by what means the urgent task can be accomplished.

Aeneas and together with him most pitiable Dido

are preparing to go hunting, when tomorrow’s sun has brought forth his first rising

and with his rays reveals the world.

his ego nigrantem commixta grandine nimbum,

dum trepidant alae saltusque indagine cingunt,

desuper infundam et tonitru caelum omne ciebo.

diffugient comites et nocte tegentur opaca:

On them, I shall pour from above a black storm-cloud with hail mixed in,

while their groups of horsemen hurry and surround the glades in a cordon,

and I shall wake the whole sky with thunder.

Their companions will scatter and they will be covered by dark night:

speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem

devenient. adero et, tua si mihi certa voluntas,

conubio iungam stabili propriamque dicabo.

hic hymenaeus erit.’ non adversata petenti

adnuit atque dolis risit Cytherea repertis.

Dido and the Trojan leader will reach the same

cave. And I shall be there, if your good will is certain for me,

I shall join them in a lasting union and I shall make her his own.

This will be their wedding.’ Not opposing the one who was asking,

she assented and with her trickery having been uncovered, Venus smiled.

ut primum alatis tetigit magalia plantis,

Aenean fundantem arces ac tecta novantem

conspicit. atque illi stellatus iaspide fulva

ensis erat Tyrioque ardebat murice laena

demissa ex umeris, dives quae munera Dido

fecerat, et tenui telas discreverat auro.

As soon as he reached the huts with winged feet,

he caught sight of Aeneas laying the foundations of citadels and beginning work

on buildings. And he had a sword starred with yellow jasper

and a cloak of Tyrian purple was blazing

hanging down from his shoulders, a gift which wealthy Dido had made

and she had interwoven the fabric with a thin strand of gold.

continuo invadit: ‘tu nunc Karthaginis altae

fundamenta locas pulchramque uxorius urbem

exstruis? heu, regni rerumque oblite tuarum!

ipse deum tibi me claro demittit Olympo

regnator, caelum ac terras qui numine torquet:

ipse haec ferre iubet celeres mandata per auras:

Immediately, he went on the attack: ‘Are you now laying foundations

for Carthaginian altars and building a beautiful city, in subservience

to a wife? Alas, you are forgetful of your kingdom and your destiny!

The ruler of the gods himself sends me down from bright Olympus,

he who turns the heavens and the earth by his will:

Jupiter himself orders [me] to bring these commands through the swift breezes:

quid struis? aut qua spe Libycis teris otia terris?

si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum

nec super ipse tua moliris laude laborem,

Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli

respice, cui regnum Italiae Romanaque tellus

debetur.’

Why are you building? Or with what hope do you waste your leisure in Libyan lands?

If the glory of so great a destiny does not move you

and you are not yourself toiling at labour for your own praise,

think of Ascanius as he grows up and the hopes of your heir Iulus

to whom is owed the kingdom of Italy and the Roman land.

tali Cyllenius ore locutus

mortales visus medio sermone reliquit

et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

at vero Aeneas aspectu obmutuit amens,

arrectaeque horrore comae et vox faucibus haesit.

ardet abire fuga dulcesque relinquere terras,

attonitus tanto monitu imperioque deorum.

Having spoken in this way, Mercury

departed from mortal view in the middle of his speech

and vanished from their eyes far off into thin air.

But indeed Aeneas aghast at the sight, was struck dumb

and his hair stood on end with terror and his voice caught in his throat.

He burns to go in flight and abandon the sweet lands,

astonished by so stern a warning and the command of the gods.

heu quid agat? quo nunc reginam ambire furentem

audeat adfatu? quae prima exordia sumat?

atque animum nunc huc celerem nunc dividit illuc

in partesque rapit varias perque omnia versat.

haec alternanti potior sententia visa est:

Alas, what is he to do? With what words might he dare to get around

the frenzied queen? What first openings might he make?

And he splits his racing mind first one way, then the other

And seizes upon various options and turns all of them over.

This decision seemed better to him as he hesitated:

Mnesthea Sergestumque vocat fortemque Serestum,

classem aptent taciti sociosque ad litora cogant,

arma parent et quae rebus sit causa novandis

dissimulent;

He called Mnestheus, Sergestus and brave Serestus,

he orders them to fit out the fleet in silence and gather the men on the shore,

prepare their arms and make up [what is] the cause for

the change of plan.

sese interea, quando optima Dido

nesciat et tantos rumpi non speret amores,

temptaturum aditus et quae mollissima fandi

tempora quis rebus dexter modus, ocius omnes

imperio laeti parent et iussa facessunt.

And tells them that he meanwhile, since wonderful Dido

does not anticipate that such great love would be broken,

she is unaware that he would try to approach her and try to find the kindest

time to speak and a favourable means for his aims. Swiftly, all

of them obey his command and happily carry out his orders.