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?