Aeneid II 559-620

naurrrr

At me tum primum saevus circumstetit horror. obstipui; subiit cari genitoris imago, 

Then for the first time raging terror surrounded me. I was astounded; the likeness of my dear father appeared (in my mind),

ut regem aequaeuum crudeli vulnere vidi vitam exhalantem, subiit deserta Creusa et direpta domus et parvi casus Iuli.

as I saw a king of equal age breathing out his life from that cruel wound, and abandoned Creusa appeared in this house having been plundered and the misfortune of small Iulus.

respicio et quae sit me circum copia lustro. deseruere omnes defessi,

I look back and I search for what armed force should be around me. All the weary abandoned me,

et corpora saltu ad terram misere aut ignibus aegra dedere.

and they hurled their own bodies to the ground with a leap or gave their wretched bodies to the flames.

\[Iamque adeo super unus eram, cum limina Vestae servantem et tacitam secreta in sede latentem Tyndarida aspicio;

And now I will survive truly alone, when I catch sight of Helen remaining near the threshold of a shrine of Vesta and she is silently hiding in the secret abode;

dant claram incendia lucem erranti passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti.

the fires give bright light to me wandering and to me casting my eyes in every direction.

illa sibi infestos eversa ob Pergama Teucros et Danaum poenam et deserti coniugis iras praemetuens, Troiae et patriae communis Erinys, abdiderat sese atque aris invisa sedebat.

She is a common curse of Troy and her own country, and she is both fearing hostile Trojans on account of the Trojan city having been destroyed and fearing punishment of the Greeks and the anger of an abandoned husband and she had concealed herself and was hiding at the altar as a loathsome woman.

exarsere ignes animo; subit ira cadentem ulcisci patriam et sceleratas sumere poenas.

The flames kindle in his mind; furious desire comes upon him to avenge his falling country and to inflict the wicked with punishments.

'scilicet haec Spartam incolumis patriasque Mycenas aspiciet, partoque ibit regina triumpho?

“doubtless this unharmed woman will see evidently Sparta and her ancestral Mycenae, and she will leave like a queen in a triumphal procession of victory having been produced?

coniugiumque domumque patris natosque videbit Iliadum turba et Phrygiis comitata ministris?

and she will see her husband and her house and the father to her children and she will be accompanied by a crowd of Trojan women and Trojan servants?

occiderit ferro Priamus? Troia arserit igni? Dardanium totiens sudarit sanguine litus?

Priam will have perished by a sword? Troy will have burned in flames? The Trojan shore will have been drenched with blood so many times in this manner?

non ita. namque etsi nullum memorabile nomen feminea in poena est, habet haec victoria laudem;

No. And for although there is no remarkable fame in feminine punishment, this triumph obtains glory;

exstinxisse nefas tamen et sumpsisse merentis laudabor poenas,

nevertheless I will be praised to have destroyed the wicked and to have inflicted deserving punishments,

animumque explesse iuvabit ultricis flammae et cineres satiasse meorum.'

and it will be pleasing to fill up my soul with vengeful flames and to avenge the ashes of my kinsmen.”

talia iactabam et furiata mente ferebar,\] cum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, videndam obtulit

I was speaking such things and I was being carried away by my enraged mind when my kind mother reveals herself to my vision, never before so bright to my eyes

et pura per noctem in luce refulsit alma parens, confessa deam qualisque videri caelicolis et quanta solet,

and she gleams in pure light through the night, confessing her own divinity of such a kind as great as having seen a deity

dextraque prehensum continuit roseoque haec insuper addidit ore:

and restrained me grasping hold of my right hand and added this from above her pink mouth:

'nate, quis indomitas tantus dolor excitat iras? quid furis? aut quonam nostri tibi cura recessit? 

“son, what so very great anguish excites your uncontrollable rage? Why are you furious? or where has your regard for me departed?

non prius aspicies ubi fessum aetate parentem liqueris Anchisen, superet coniunxne Creusa Ascaniusque puer?

Sooner will you not observe where forsaken Anchises buried by age and whether your spouse Creusa and the boy Ascanius survive?

quos omnis undique Graiae circum errant acies et, ni mea cura resistat,

The ranks of the Greeks surround them on all sides, and, if my love did not protect them,

iam flammae tulerint inimicus et hauserit ensis. 

then flames would have carried away your family, and the hostile sword would have shed their blood.

non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacaenae culpatusue Paris, divum inclementia, divum has evertit opes sternitque a culmine Troiam.

the harshness of the gods destroys our wealth and razes Troy from its peak, not the hated to you faces of Spartan Helen and wicked Paris.

aspice (namque omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti mortalis hebetat visus tibi et umida circum caligat, nubem eripiam

Behold! (for I will now remove the whole cloud drawn over your sight that dims your human vision and casts all about dank darkness;

tu ne qua parentis iussa time neu praeceptis parere recusa):

do not fear any ordered by your mother nor refuse to obey her advice):

hic, ubi disiectas moles avulsaque saxis saxa vides, mixtoque undantem pulvere fumum, Neptunus muros magnoque emota tridenti fundamenta quatit

here, where you see a mass of buildings broken up by rocks, and torn up by rocks rising in waves of smoke from ash having been mixed, Neptune strikes the city walls and foundations having been upheaved with a great trident

totamque a sedibus urbem eruit.

and destroys the whole city from its lowest foundation.

hic Iuno Scaeas saevissima portas prima tenet sociumque furens a navibus agmen ferro accincta vocat.

Here Juno very cruel foremost occupies the Scaean gate, furious, and equipping herself with a sword calls an army of comrades from her ship.

iam summas arces Tritonia, respice, Palla insedit nimbo effulgens et Gorgone saeva.

Even now, look back, Tritonian Minerva occupied the highest fortress with a shining cloud and a cruel Gorgon.

ipse pater Danais animos virisque secundas sufficit, ipse deos in Dardana suscitat arma.

Father Jupiter himself supplies courage and auspicious power for the Greeks, he himself stirs up the gods against the Trojan weapons.

eripe, nate, fugam finemque impone labori; nusquam abero et tutum patrio te limine sistam.’

hasten flight, son, and put an end to your suffering; I will never be far away and I will place you secure on an ancestral threshold.